AOS Splashaway Bay Disappointment

[drrich2]

Got off Adventure of the Seas 7-day Feb. 17-24th 2018 southern Caribbean cruise yesterday morning. Trip had its high and low points, as cruises go, we had some fun and I hope to post a general trip report later. First, there's an issue anybody with a potty-trained kid even an inch under 42" tall needs to know if said kid likes water slides.

 

Splashaway Bay has a purple water slide that's height-restricted to 42 inches, and they've got a thing the kid stands on with a disc-like top the kid's head reaches or doesn't. Our little girl is 4 years old, turns 5 in early March, and looked like she was about an inch short. She's close to dead center on pediatric growth charts for height, so this issue may affect a lot of kids.

 

She wasn't allowed on the purple slide. That's a sad disappointment, but we switched over to the simpler little yellow slide in the adjacent part, called the Baby Splash Zone. It's not just the fun of the slide, but socializing with other kids using it that mean a lot to our little girl.

 

A crew member told us she can't use it without a swim diaper. Didn't matter that she's potty trained & we made that clear; what mattered is the sign says "Children must enter with a clean swim diaper" (amongst other things), and he 'had a boss.' No issue was made of the sign also saying 'This facility is for use by children in diapers and those not completely toilet trained.'

 

He said we could use the purple slide, but the 2 female crew policing that said no. I took one of them over to talk to the guy; he may or may not have talked to a superior (was on a walkie talkie for something); nothing changed, except we were told the towel dispensing area had swim diapers. Okay, wife went & got one.

 

It didn't fit out daughter! We had some pull ups we use at night (since our daughter drinks diluted Pediasure at night and needs them then, though well-potty trained through the day) and Jami stuck that on her. Looked bloated and ridiculous but our daughter got to play. The thing later had some sort of 'gel blow-out,' Jami said.

 

We saw other kids obviously without swim diapers not bothered. I think the issue with ours was she had a bikini bottom sort of thing so it was blatantly obvious.

 

A few observations:

 

1.) It's ridiculous to put out slides for tiny kids, and bigger kids, and leave out a middle group that are potty trained but not quite 42 inches tall, and basically tell them they can't slide (without a swim diaper, which parents won't know in advance to bring, the ship doesn't stock in larger sizes & you're out in the ocean on one of the ships with water slides!).

 

2.) If you are in this situation, consider getting your kid a baggy pair of swim trunks (use some made for boys if you need to).

 

3.) If you can find swim diapers in your kid's size, bring them, because you probably won't be getting them onboard! (Assuming your kid's potty trained & outgrown that stage).

 

Does anyone know whether other cruise lines with ships with water slides make this a problem for customers? Is this an issue on Carnival or Norwegian Cruise Line, for example?

 

Richard.

 

P.S.: Happy cruising all...if you're at least 42 inches tall, or a baby, anyway...:rolleyes:

[schmeed]

Bummer. 1” under is just silly.

[ncfd32]

It's a liability thing. We always get season passes to King's Island and even if our son is 1/16" shy of the required height, he can't go. Sorry that it affected your vacation :(

[cb at sea]

She'll grow..no worries...and she will NOT remember this, unless you make it an issue. Not everyone gets to do everything whenever they want, all the time...fact of life.

 

I'm sure you were more upset than your little girl. The rules are in place for a reason. Are the rules sometimes silly? Of course they are! Many of the cruise line rules and regs make no sense at all....but you have a choice whether to take a vacation with "silly" rules, or not!

[constable145]

My little one is about just under 2 inches shy of the 42 inch requirement.

 

I too wish they had they slides more geared to kids. If the adult slides are 48 inches than the little kid ones should maybe be 36?

 

But.. They're not. It is a liability thing. The manufacturer recommends 42 so imagine if they allowed a 41 inch tall kid on the slide and something happened?

 

Cruise fares would you up Becuase they'd get their ass sued.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Hopetotravel]

The same thing happened to us today when we went to Splashaway. Two of my grand kids which are 5 and 6 got to use the purple slide. Their brother who is almost 4 and potty trained in the day was a hair too short for the purple and they wouldn't let him go on the little one because he didn't wear a swim diaper. What a dumb rule. And saying " she'll grow no worries and won't remember and no one gets to do everything " is not the point. We know they'll grow but to a 4 year old that gets left out of having fun on a slide because they're potty trained is stupid. They may not remember in a few months but right now when they can only watch kids that are smaller getting to go on it, it matters believe me. We saw at least 3 more get turned away. No one was happy

[lbjen]

There’s obviously a disconnect between the height restriction on one slide and the swim diaper requirement on another. Hopefully if enough of you point it out to the company in your cruise surveys, they can fix it.

[drrich2]

Good points. I get that for the purple slide there will be a height cut off, and always kids a bit shorter. Disappointing but that we could accept.

 

But when there's another slide for smaller kids, stands to reason those too short should be able to use it. Since many of these kids have long since been potty trained and grew in the meantime, their families won't be packing swim diapers unless someone warns them.

 

Either potty trained kids too short for the purple slide should be able to use the yellow slide without a swim diaper, or else the ship should have a range of swim diaper sizes on hand to accommodate these kids.

 

A cruise line often billed as 'for families' (as I've seen Royal said to be on this forum) that bills itself as bringing the 'Wow' ought to be better prepared for a situation reasonably expected to come up a lot.

 

"Not everyone gets to do everything whenever they want, all the time...fact of life."

 

Very true, but is that the attitude Royal Caribbean wants to project? Would make for some killer marketing ads. I can picture it now, 'Royal Caribbean...because you can't always get what you want! Don't miss our latest Wow sale!';)

 

"She'll grow..no worries..." Granted, and I don't plan to cruise within the next year. I'd like to get the word out to others so they don't blunder into this issue like we did. Anyone with water park-loving little kids knows this will be an issue for some.

 

Richard.

[cruisegirl1]

We had a similar issue on Majesty. Our 3 1/2 was too short for the kids water park and only non potty trained kids were allowed in the baby splash zone.

 

We were all a bit disappointed. Just to make matters worse, we missed coco cay the first day, had rain in Nassau and then had windy cold day in Freeport, so there was no swimming or beach time the entire trip. We finally had some sun the afternoon after Freeport and she asked to go to the watermark. She was the only one who braved the water in the area but was denied because she was potty trained.

 

Too old (potty trained ) for one water park, too little for the other. Her only option was the shallow area of the full pool. Pool water was very cold and not a good option.

We never questioned the lifeguard as we understood he was just doing his job.

 

M