Parents-how about a little help to your fellow cruisers????

[Zaniac]

Bonniemari, I recommend that next time you want to cruise on a vacation week, go on Celebrity. A different class of parents raise a different type of child.

 

Are you saying that parents on Carnival are inferior to parents on Celebrity?:confused:

 

That statement shows your class...

 

"shaking head"

[mtl kid]

Having sailed on Carnival, Costa and Celebrity I could say that there is a difference. My son does not want to sail Celebrity because there just seems to be a lot less kids on that particular line. When we sailed the Millie there were 75 kids on that spring break sailing. needless to say we did not notice the kids at all. When we sailed Costa there were 250 kids on board. We did see the kids running around but 250 kids amongst 2000 adults was not to bad. However on Carnival there were over 500 kids and because Carnival is know as a party boat, well let me tell you these kids did party. The only thing that comes to mind is that Celebrity being a more expensive line will attract more couples with no kids or small one child families. Personaly I like Celebrity but I do take into account that my son has a right to have a good time to so we sail Carnival or Costa.

[DqALEX]

Wow you should try Holland Americia but you would not like all of the wheel chairs or walkers, but everyone is over 70. People have to remember that you bought a ticket on a cruise ship that has over 2,000 people on it. On one cruise I was on there was a kid with a skate board rideing up and down the deck by the pools ( I kid you not) I was hopping he would ride that thing overboard. I have also seen so 21 and 22 year olds who have parties in ther cabins all night across the hall. Bottom line I go every year to meet people, and have fun.

[mtl kid]

DQAlex,

If a kid rides a skateboard on the ship .....it definetly becomes a Ship Security problem. That is a little overboard if you would pardon the pun. I adapt easily to most situations and let most things slide by the way side. I allow kids to be kids and I remember that my little angel is not always someone elses cup of tea. There are limits and I do expect other parents to monitor and enforce these limits. It is always the handfull of bad apples that sets the reputation for all the kids on board.

Happy sailings!

[jckvpa0]

Are you saying that parents on Carnival are inferior to parents on Celebrity?:confused:

 

That statement shows your class...

 

"shaking head"

 

That's the way I took it :eek: !!!

[nrdsb4]

Wow you should try Holland Americia but you would not like all of the wheel chairs or walkers, but everyone is over 70.

 

Not necessarily. My husband and I took a HAL eastern caribbean several years ago when we were late thirties (we're now early 40's, gulp). To our surprise, we saw many our age and younger on that cruise. We certainly did see older people as well, but they were not the majority. We had a great time on that cruise. This was a July cruise, so maybe the older folks avoid that time of the year due to the heat. It wouldn't have bothered me in the least, though, if we were the only younger people on the ship. We were there to reconnect sans kids, so we didn't really care who else was on the ship. Plus, I love older people.

[Z'Loth]

I said it before, and I'll say it again... lay down the ground rules, expectations, and consequences before the cruise even starts. Have a serious conversation about this, including what-if scenarios. Heck, I was 35 on my last cruise, and I was expected to show up to dinner with my mom.

 

If the parents wanted a vacation from parenting, they need to leave the kids at home with a sitter. Period. Having the kids roam around wild kinda takes the "family" out of family vacation. Fortunately, on my last cruise, there weren't too many kids, and most ended up in the pool or spa. (Whatever happened to "Adult-only" and "kids-only" areas?)

[bonniemari]

Robinsilver you missed the point of the original post completely.

 

If I chose to sail on Celebrity I could. I prefer Carnival-has nothing to do with socio blah blah blah as you call it and everything to do with parents being parents and making sure their children are safe while on a cruise ship.

 

Hockeyluver-I apologize if I implied that only Canadian children acted like this-I have no way of knowing if most of these unruly kids were Canadian-but what I was told that about 40% of the passengers on this cruise were Canadian.

Bad kids with bad parents come from every country.

[BonnieSte]

I have stepped on so many peoples toes for talking about those little angels. the 7-8 year olds in the elevators, teens playing catch in the corridors at midnight, kids yelling and screaming at the dinner tables (hint for parents- they don't want to be there, take them to the buffet!) My favorite... ta da da dum dum dum... the pool area is mobbed, no chairs anywhere in the sun but behold a mom of 4 has saved chairs all day for her kids that never show up! URGH!!! My daughter laid on the deck beside a "saved" chair for over an hour and a half then finally removed the towl and got in, about 1/2 hour later a lady comes and starts yelling at her. My daughter, without being mouthy, informed her that the staff told her to remove it since she hadn't been there for over an hour. Every time we saw that lady on the ship we got an evil eye.

[iluvdoxies]

Robinsilver--so glad to hear that there are no misbehaving children on Celebrity===jees give me a break.

[dznymom]

Of course parents need to be responsible for their kids. I think everyone is in agreement on that. But the bottom line is that this is a problem on many Carnival sailings, and I think Carnival could and should take some steps to make it a little better. These are some suggestions.

 

1. Limit the number of children onboard. Princess does this and other lines probably do as well.

2. Enforce a curfew.

3. Enforce the Adult Only areas. Disney does a very good job with this.

4. Have a mandatory 'information' session when kids are signed up for Camp Carnival. Have the Captain do a 5 minute chat about ship's rules.

5. Have a Code of Conduct agreement that is signed by parents and kids/teens.

6. Group families with smaller children in one dining room at one seating. Have a minimum age for late seating.

 

I know these won't solve all the problems, but it could help with some of them. I am sure there are other ideas.

[caprcorn28]

I also agree whole heartedly. In fact, I think it's more of a problem for the privileged kids who seem to get everything handed to them on a silver platter.

 

I would agree with this and the fact that class has nothing to do with well-behaved/rule following children.

 

Firstly, I know of a private, Catholic high school that costs a small fortune at attend in my area that has a higher pregnancy rate than either of the local public high schools. Sad. Definitely not following (religion) rules there...But their parents have money...It's a status thing to attend there...

 

Then, in the other direction of town, there are a lot of low-income housing townhomes - I have met a lot of parents that live there (thru sports/kids my children know) that do a great job with their kids/manners/etc. A lot of times these parents are single and working hard to survive. They don't have a lot of money...

 

It just depends on the parents...individually. Nothing else.

[funinthsun]

We all think it won't happen to our kids,....until it does. The fifteen year old that went overboard should be THE wakeup call to all of us.

 

I was onboard with my 2 kids (12 DS and 14DD) and I was with them most of the time or required checking in and curfews. I had a very large disagreement with my DD one night when she wanted to go back out "with all of her friends" . I told her I was sorry that she felt slighted, but that I loved her and did not feel it was safe for her to be roaming around the ship all night long. PERIOD. She went to bed and got over it. I felt bad, but I got over it. It was difficult, for a brief moment I almost gave in. When I got back and heard about that poor family of the girl that went overboard, I felt (and still do) so bad for them, but grateful that I was able to stick to my rules and give her the right message. I think "she got it" when she heard about that girl, too.

[zqvol]

We just returned from the Valor 1/1/-6 sailing and my only word to what I saw was-I was absolutely stunned at the behavior of kids and parents (mostly 6-17 yrs old). Just where in the world were the parents of the little darlings we hear and read so much about on this board? Apparently not on this cruise.

 

First I will say that the cruise part-food, cabin service, shows and staff were exceptional and I have not one complaint about that part. This was my 18th cruise and 12th on Carinval and I love to cruise on Carnival. These things to me are a parental responsiblity problem-NOT A CARINVAL PROBLEM.

 

But I was appalled at some of the things that I say regarding children.

 

I will be the first to admit that I hate crusing with a lot of kids and usually pick times to go when there will be few onboard. I knew that most of our schools in USA went back right after New Years but what I didn't know was the neighbors to our north (canada) did not go back to school til this week. Plus we had friends that wanted to go on a cruise and spend NYE in Miami. I a mother but my child was 22 before I took him on his first cruise. When we took our 10 yr old grandaughter she was either with me, my DH or Camp Carnival. Never alone and she knew why and never complained about it.

 

So instead of listing the behavior I saw I am going to list a few rules maybe parents of these little darlings should follow.

 

1. Instead sitting in the casino at 1:30 in morning repeating for over an hour saying I guess I need to go check to see where my 12 yr old daughter is- why not get up and go do it. To me my 12 year old would be much more important than being on a winnng streak.

 

2. If your kid is under or over the age of 18 don't be rude to the casino personel and tell them they are over 18 and you are the parents-when he explains to you that he must actually see the ID tell your kid to go to his cabin and get his ID- do not cuss out the pit boss cause you think he is calling you a liar-he told you twice the camera had to see him actually checking the ID. Never saw the kid come back with the ID. I think the personel in the casino were overwhelmed-way to many kids playling slot machines-got to give the staff credit they did the best they could but it wasn't enough.

 

3. Probably not a good idea to have your 8 and 9 yrs old girls sitting in the middle of the steps on the 6th floor at 2 in the morning alone-just talking.

 

4. Tell them beforehand that the elevators have cameras and if they are caught pushing the button on every floor they will be caught and and they won't be able to leave the cabin for the remainder of the cruise. After about the 5th time this happened to me I told the 4 little girls I heard they took you to the brig and decided whether or not it warranted cutting a finger or two off it I reported them.

 

5. Might me nice to teach your kid when he is his rollerblades and knocks over some 70 yr old women and she falls down instead of laughing as he skates off he might want to stop to check on her and say excuse me. Better yet tell the little brat to leave the rollerblades at home.

 

6. Teaching them manners might help also-please, excuse me for breaking in front of you in the line and thank you might help.

 

7. When you think your 15 yr old is seasick but he finally admits to having done 6 shots of rum the night before-instead of blaming the motion of the boat-get a clue I'm 46 and 6 shots of rum would make me sick. He's another one that needed to be sent to his cabin for the remainder of the cruise-but next night there she was joking with her hubby if the boy was doing 7 shots that night.

 

8. My compliments to the lady on deck 6 who finally after listening to the kids playing tag at 6:30 in the morning opened her door and stopped one kid who her neighbor (our friends) said was about 7 asked the kid where and what cabin here parents were in-she threw on her robe and escorted the child down to the 2nd floor woke up the parents and returned the kid to her parents and told here what she had been doing.

 

I could go on but I've probably pissed enough parents off to last a lifetime but please-you must realize out of 5000+ passengers and crew combined the odds are pretty darn good that at least one or two child predators or peodophiles is on the same ship your children are on.

 

Canival security was a joke-did see one tell a kid not to climb up on the rail on the hottub enclosure and jump in the pool. Also told a lady to get the kid with the diaper out of the pool. Come to think of it they probably had there hands full on the lido with this bunch-so maybe I should not call them a joke but just extremely busy week for them.

 

The Valor is a beautiful ship staffed with an exceptional staff. Can't say enough good things about Ngyuen our cabin steward and John our waiter at dinner-both got extra tips. The wine stewart had my diet coke waiting for me everynight at dinner and he also got a tip. Our waitress in the casino (who same kids called the **** waitress cause see checked ID) got a big tip also cause she always knew I wanted a cold diet coke in a can with no ice. So my hats off to the staff.

 

Just one more thing-to the couple that had the 4 well beautifully dressed well behaved children we saw at dinner everynight and several times thruought the cruise my hats off to you-maybe you could write a book on cruise ettiquette/dress for the rest of the jerks who bring these little brats.

 

Embarkation was a breeze-contrary to what one so called expert on this board said-not only did we have priority check in through the Skippers club we also had priority boarding-we were escorted from the checkin all the way through security all the way up the picture taking. We got to the pier around 11:30 and were onboard within 15 mintues.

 

Debarkation was somewhat of a nightmare-5 ships in port that day but we made it home safe and sound and for the most part had a great time. You can bet the next time I cruise anywhere near a time that there is a possibitily of school being out somewhere I will ask my TA to find out how many kids will be onboard.

What a great post. If people took these suggestions to heart not only would cruising be better but so what society in general!

[zqvol]

I agree with your post about misbehaved kids but WOWI really dont like the way you implied that they were all Canadian !!! Are there no parents out there in the States or other countries that cruise with thier kids? We have been on a couple cruises and my girls have not met too many Canadian kids!!

 

" I knew that most of our schools in USA went back right after New Years but what I didn't know was the neighbors to our north (canada) did not go back to school til this week"

I didn't see anything implying that they were Canadian.

[zqvol]

DQAlex,

If a kid rides a skateboard on the ship .....it definetly becomes a Ship Security problem. That is a little overboard if you would pardon the pun. I adapt easily to most situations and let most things slide by the way side. I allow kids to be kids and I remember that my little angel is not always someone elses cup of tea. There are limits and I do expect other parents to monitor and enforce these limits. It is always the handfull of bad apples that sets the reputation for all the kids on board.

Happy sailings!

The skateboard should have never been allowed on board to begin with, nor the rollerblades that the OP talked about.

[marktac]

I can't believe I read the whole thing!!! We've been on 14 cruises, both with our kids, alone, and now with a 7-year old for whom we are guardians. We've gone in the summer, on holidays, and in the middle of the winter. Never have I seen major disruptions caused by rambunctious kids like is regularly described here.

 

Now, we've seen kids act up. We've also seen a drunk or two. We've had purple haired old "ladies" (and I use the word loosely here) behave like the stereotypical 6-year old whiner when they can't move here or there fast enough, or the bagel they didn't get yesterday isn't on the buffet today.

 

Catch my drift? People are people. I refuse to let an idiot or two get under my skin enough to ruin my vacation. We also keep a rein on our kids, as do the vast majority of parents on a cruise. To indict the whole because of the behavior of a few is very narrow minded and petty, IMHO.

 

This person thinks this matter is been beaten to death. Nuff said.

 

MarkT

[walkswife]

My brothers wife is from Darlington. Her parents used to own a bar there called the First Ward Inn. We live outside Madison in Waunakee, WI

Eat Cheese or die! Ha!:)

 

I'm from Door County.....your discipline sounded like a Wisconsinite:rolleyes: . Been down your way many times, youngest swims Badger State Games every year.

[KBfromNC]

We just returned from the Valor 1/1/-6 sailing and my only word to what I saw was-I was absolutely stunned at the behavior of kids and parents (mostly 6-17 yrs old). Just where in the world were the parents of the little darlings we hear and read so much about on this board? Apparently not on this cruise.

 

First I will say that the cruise part-food, cabin service, shows and staff were exceptional and I have not one complaint about that part. This was my 18th cruise and 12th on Carinval and I love to cruise on Carnival. These things to me are a parental responsiblity problem-NOT A CARINVAL PROBLEM.

 

But I was appalled at some of the things that I say regarding children.

 

I will be the first to admit that I hate crusing with a lot of kids and usually pick times to go when there will be few onboard. I knew that most of our schools in USA went back right after New Years but what I didn't know was the neighbors to our north (canada) did not go back to school til this week. Plus we had friends that wanted to go on a cruise and spend NYE in Miami. I a mother but my child was 22 before I took him on his first cruise. When we took our 10 yr old grandaughter she was either with me, my DH or Camp Carnival. Never alone and she knew why and never complained about it.

 

So instead of listing the behavior I saw I am going to list a few rules maybe parents of these little darlings should follow.

 

1. Instead sitting in the casino at 1:30 in morning repeating for over an hour saying I guess I need to go check to see where my 12 yr old daughter is- why not get up and go do it. To me my 12 year old would be much more important than being on a winnng streak.

 

2. If your kid is under or over the age of 18 don't be rude to the casino personel and tell them they are over 18 and you are the parents-when he explains to you that he must actually see the ID tell your kid to go to his cabin and get his ID- do not cuss out the pit boss cause you think he is calling you a liar-he told you twice the camera had to see him actually checking the ID. Never saw the kid come back with the ID. I think the personel in the casino were overwhelmed-way to many kids playling slot machines-got to give the staff credit they did the best they could but it wasn't enough.

 

3. Probably not a good idea to have your 8 and 9 yrs old girls sitting in the middle of the steps on the 6th floor at 2 in the morning alone-just talking.

 

4. Tell them beforehand that the elevators have cameras and if they are caught pushing the button on every floor they will be caught and and they won't be able to leave the cabin for the remainder of the cruise. After about the 5th time this happened to me I told the 4 little girls I heard they took you to the brig and decided whether or not it warranted cutting a finger or two off it I reported them.

 

5. Might me nice to teach your kid when he is his rollerblades and knocks over some 70 yr old women and she falls down instead of laughing as he skates off he might want to stop to check on her and say excuse me. Better yet tell the little brat to leave the rollerblades at home.

 

6. Teaching them manners might help also-please, excuse me for breaking in front of you in the line and thank you might help.

 

7. When you think your 15 yr old is seasick but he finally admits to having done 6 shots of rum the night before-instead of blaming the motion of the boat-get a clue I'm 46 and 6 shots of rum would make me sick. He's another one that needed to be sent to his cabin for the remainder of the cruise-but next night there she was joking with her hubby if the boy was doing 7 shots that night.

 

8. My compliments to the lady on deck 6 who finally after listening to the kids playing tag at 6:30 in the morning opened her door and stopped one kid who her neighbor (our friends) said was about 7 asked the kid where and what cabin here parents were in-she threw on her robe and escorted the child down to the 2nd floor woke up the parents and returned the kid to her parents and told here what she had been doing.

 

I could go on but I've probably pissed enough parents off to last a lifetime but please-you must realize out of 5000+ passengers and crew combined the odds are pretty darn good that at least one or two child predators or peodophiles is on the same ship your children are on.

 

Canival security was a joke-did see one tell a kid not to climb up on the rail on the hottub enclosure and jump in the pool. Also told a lady to get the kid with the diaper out of the pool. Come to think of it they probably had there hands full on the lido with this bunch-so maybe I should not call them a joke but just extremely busy week for them.

 

The Valor is a beautiful ship staffed with an exceptional staff. Can't say enough good things about Ngyuen our cabin steward and John our waiter at dinner-both got extra tips. The wine stewart had my diet coke waiting for me everynight at dinner and he also got a tip. Our waitress in the casino (who same kids called the **** waitress cause see checked ID) got a big tip also cause she always knew I wanted a cold diet coke in a can with no ice. So my hats off to the staff.

 

Just one more thing-to the couple that had the 4 well beautifully dressed well behaved children we saw at dinner everynight and several times thruought the cruise my hats off to you-maybe you could write a book on cruise ettiquette/dress for the rest of the jerks who bring these little brats.

 

Embarkation was a breeze-contrary to what one so called expert on this board said-not only did we have priority check in through the Skippers club we also had priority boarding-we were escorted from the checkin all the way through security all the way up the picture taking. We got to the pier around 11:30 and were onboard within 15 mintues.

 

Debarkation was somewhat of a nightmare-5 ships in port that day but we made it home safe and sound and for the most part had a great time. You can bet the next time I cruise anywhere near a time that there is a possibitily of school being out somewhere I will ask my TA to find out how many kids will be onboard.

 

I feel for you!!!

We are the parents of a 6 year old (who WILL be with him at all times OR he will be at Camp Carnival come March on the Miracle) and I find it appauling how some people allow their kids to misbehave and than blame it on the other passengers OR staff!!!

It always amazes me how we of a culture that are raising a bunch of kids that have NO manners OR regard for other people. Not saying ALL are like that but a majority of and I fear for my sons generation when they become adults someday with having had no training in discipline and/or manners or courtesy of others!!!!

Come on folks....do you not realize that a ship is NOT accident proof or worse yet predator proof???? Leaving your kids/pre-teens/teenagers unattended for the entire night not knowing where they are or who they are with can lead to trouble OR being in places they have no business being!!!!

It sucks that you had to deal with this and i can imagine it makes for a sour taste in your mouth regarding cruising with kids.....

When will we get it????? :confused:

[halos]

When will we get it????? :confused:

 

i dunno. I often wonder what made things go in this direction. :confused:

[cruznlobo]

I took my kids and their cousins (all 3 of them were 15 years old) on a cruise.

The first night they were in the pool misbehavin' (splashing and not being courteous). I had a talk with them (Daddy's lecture). They behaved for a bit then later on the second day (during the heat of the day) they started again. I made them sit on the edge of the pool and watch everyone else having fun. They were not allowed in. The next 2 days, you should have seen the little angels. It took a little bit of tough love but they behaved after that.

BTW.....They had a 9 pm curfew unless with an adult. They also had 2 hours (any 2) of study time in the cabin. They made me proud on this when I popped in on them and they were actually studying.

[conan3699]

It's the parents responsiblitly. I have a daughter age 6 and she travels with us. There is a reason we only have one. She is extremely well behaved. We have had many compliments on her. We use kids like your are talking about as an example for her on how not to behave. We don't want to be around that behavior either. Its just simple. Regarding the elevator, we allowed our daughter to ask fellow passangers what floor they were going to and if she could press the botton. They love that. Much better than just letting them hit every floor. We taught her manners in the dining area. ect forks, waiter pushing chair in ect... If you can't be a parent to your kid on your vacation then leave them at home and have a good time without them. As for us we do both, but we enjoy taking her to see the world. Its a great family vacation if you just set the rules and be a parent. Had to add my two cents in here. I am sick of other parents who are just not caring about their kids or who are trying to be cool to their kids, ruining it for me.

[Dabbler]

We were just on the Victory and there was 1080 children on board and that number is up to the age 18. But I did not notice that many kids. My girls are 11 and they were very well behaved.

 

Yes they did get taken out of one of the hotubs because it was marked adults only, but the one for kids was under maintance, at the same time security removed a few adults smoking and eating in the pools also.

 

I did notice that around 11 or 12 at night the teens would come out and take up 3-4 tables in a big group start munching on pizza like all teens do and yes they got a little loud but they were in a large group and they all wanted to talk.

 

My girls also loved eating there weight in Ice Cream, and in the evening in the Lido once they were finished there bowl of Ice Cream they put there dishes away at one of the stations so the table was clean for someone else as there are very few staff in that area at night.

[GoinCruisin]

Yes they did get taken out of one of the hotubs because it was marked adults only, but the one for kids was under maintance, at the same time security removed a few adults smoking and eating in the pools also.

 

 

There's a "kids" hot tub??? Where is it located?? Near the wading pool?? I've never been to any of the kids pools, I didn't know they had a kids hot tub...

[Katz A Prowl]

Here Here! I was reading through the thread and low and behold someone mentions that "class" issue again. About how well-behaved children come from a different "class". I was gonna let it slide this time because I have said in other threads over and over again about how behavior has nothing to do with socio-economic standing. I am glad someone else said it and I had to add my kudos in agreement.

 

 

Just to add........class is a state of mind not a measure of wealth. Wealth and parenting have nothing to do with each other. I am sure that the parent who ends up looking for their missing child on the ship only to find the child molested, injured or even worse, dead, would be the first one to blame the cruise line. I would have to say it would be the parents fault. Hopefully the parents of all kids will read throught this post and pay attention to what we are all saying.