They are REALLY pushing Kids Sail Free. Too Bad.

[MDTrip]

Too bad Celebrity is really pushing "kids sail free."   Less kids is one of the reasons I choose Celebrity. They might be ruining this. 

 

[bermadu22]

We were on the Summit a year and a half ago, and honestly I can't recall seeing a lot of kids onboard. Very few if any, and if there were kids onboard they were well behaved. Celebrity doesn't seem like it's very child oriented, though they do have kids clubs for the ones that do get brought along on a cruise. I also think a lot of families like action oriented cruise lines with things like zip lines and go karts and other novelty things like that. Maybe some families will migrate toward Celebrity. School vacation times would be the cruises to avoid if you want to avoid lots of kids.   

[Alsmez]

49 minutes ago, MDTrip said:

Too bad Celebrity is really pushing "kids sail free."   Less kids is one of the reasons I choose Celebrity. They might be ruining this. 

 

 

I agree - even though their ships don't have the child-friendly amenities of Royal, etc., many first-time cruisers just book what they see as the best deal rather than researching the ship or line. We always cruise when school is in session but also choose Celebrity as insurance against too many kids on board. I hope they drop this line of marketing before they ruin a great adult experience.

[florisdekort]

Ah a kid haters unite thread 🤣 

[hcat]

Seems inconsistent with recent X  re classification of some cabins on M class as  capacity for 3 instead of 4... 

Families of 4 could not book these cabins...

Edited March 13, 2019 by hcat

[Bo1953]

I must chime in here on this...

 

The children we have encountered children and teens, mainly in the OVC and in the dining rooms..

 

Yes, encountered them in the elevators and all were well behaved and courteous for the most part, more so than some of the adult passengers, IMO!

 

This goes for our sailings to Bermuda during the summer as well as Alaska during the summer and a few of our Caribbean sailings during school holidays...

 

As such, I Am not sure of the reason the OP has disdain for children and teens during any sailing unless they have had poor experiences and exposures on X with this group???

 

If so, please let us know about it as opposed to the blanket statement...

 

bon voyage

[K12Guy]

26 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

I must chime in here on this...

 

The children we have encountered children and teens, mainly in the OVC and in the dining rooms..

 

Yes, encountered them in the elevators and all were well behaved and courteous for the most part, more so than some of the adult passengers, IMO!

 

This goes for our sailings to Bermuda during the summer as well as Alaska during the summer and a few of our Caribbean sailings during school holidays...

 

As such, I Am not sure of the reason the OP has disdain for children and teens during any sailing unless they have had poor experiences and exposures on X with this group???

 

If so, please let us know about it as opposed to the blanket statement...

 

bon voyage

I'm in agreement with you on this. Those we've encountered on Celebrity have been fairly delightful and not a problem. Some of the adults acted like they might be reliving their childhood, however. Not so pretty.

 

That said, we made the mistake of taking a four night Princess cruise out of Los Angeles fall of 2017. The children aboard that ship were a different story, but probably because they were left to explore and exploit the ship without parental awareness. In most cases adult supervision was unseen. I think it's important for those of us entering out second childhood to remember we have already been children, much like those of today in fact.

[Cruise it or lose it]

I have kids and grandkids. I can usually let other people's kids' behavior wash over me. As long as I am not running after them. If they are not my responsibility.

Live and let live.  Kids are our future.

 

Now if one of them bites me for no good reason... Just kidding.

[jaapie]

We are not children haters, we have children who are now adults. I have plenty of patience with teenagers doing stuff like pushing all the elevator buttons, etc. (I have sons and remember what they got up to when they were that age). What we can't stand is when we are trying to have a nice meal in the evening and a baby or 2 or 3 year old is having a hissy fit and screaming and spoiling the evening for dozens of people while the parents often just let the children carry on crying and whining, the parents should have the consideration to leave the dining room and take the children to the buffet or put them to bed (the kids are probably tired anyway) and then getting room service for themselves in the cabin. 

[jaspersmommy]

It's quite rude to assume people are kid-haters simply because they prefer a child-free vacation.  Many who prefer not have children on board have raised their own families and have been wonderful parents, grandparents, etc.  Others just aren't used to having children around.  I've spoken to people on board that babysit their grandchildren while the parents work, and as a result they just want a quiet, child-free cruise.  

 

Everyone's entitled to their preference when they're paying big bucks for a vacation.  

 

[Bo1953]

40 minutes ago, K12Guy said:

I'm in agreement with you on this. Those we've encountered on Celebrity have been fairly delightful and not a problem. Some of the adults acted like they might be reliving their childhood, however. Not so pretty.

 

That said, we made the mistake of taking a four night Princess cruise out of Los Angeles fall of 2017. The children aboard that ship were a different story, but probably because they were left to explore and exploit the ship without parental awareness. In most cases adult supervision was unseen. I think it's important for those of us entering out second childhood to remember we have already been children, much like those of today in fact.

I must add, that frequently parents were not seen, yet these children /teens were well behaved IMO. 

 

Yes there was some running and loud bantering from time to time, but not yet out of hand or obnoxious, as far as I was concerned. 

 

I walked with a few teens early in the morning and they took off for the OVC and older teens late night enjoying their soft drinks and dancing. 

 

Now RCCL and similar is a whole different story as is Princess. 

 

Bon voyage 

[crusinthrough]

4 hours ago, MDTrip said:

Too bad Celebrity is really pushing "kids sail free."   Less kids is one of the reasons I choose Celebrity. They might be ruining this. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Alsmez said:

 

I agree - even though their ships don't have the child-friendly amenities of Royal, etc., many first-time cruisers just book what they see as the best deal rather than researching the ship or line. We always cruise when school is in session but also choose Celebrity as insurance against too many kids on board. I hope they drop this line of marketing before they ruin a great adult experience.

 

You may be have out grown Celebrity.  Luckily, there is Virgin Voyages, which may be perfect for you.  18 and over...

[florisdekort]

4 hours ago, jaspersmommy said:

... and as a result they just want a quiet, child-free cruise. 

 

 

Then they should book a child free cruise line like Viking or an adults only resort instead of complaining about children on a line that has always allowed them.  But I guess intolerance is just a sign of the today’s world. 

[justcrusn]

I have mixed feelings here. At first I thought the OP was a big old grouch.

Then my DW, the sweetest grandmother in the world AGREED with him!

She said i want adult time, no getting splashed in the pool, no running, loud noises etc.

Love the kids most of the time, just let them cruise on Carnival

[Bo1953]

2 hours ago, justcrusn said:

I have mixed feelings here. At first I thought the OP was a big old grouch.

Then my DW, the sweetest grandmother in the world AGREED with him!

She said i want adult time, no getting splashed in the pool, no running, loud noises etc.

Love the kids most of the time, just let them cruise on Carnival

j - has your dw encountered such behaviour on a X sailing to any great degree?

 

If so, I would be surprized. Is there some running? Is there some splashing? Of course there is, yet not to the degree, even remotely, as that on one of the super mass market ships which cater specifically to children/teens.

 

We have always felt that 'Adult time' was in tact and not disrupted during our sailing.

 

I do understand how children/teens and others can disrupt ones sailing, no question about it, yet to say that they are major distruptors on a X sailing, has not been our experience at all, if they were then we would jump ship for sure...

 

IMO and MO only, all parents who bring their children/teens on X go to great lengths to provide their fellow passengers with peace of mind that their children/teens will respect others, most times.

 

Have there been incidents of child/teen mis-behaviour? Of course, yet how many have been encountered?

 

As I stated before, personally I have encountered more 'adult' mis-behaviours than children/teens and that could be attributable to the ship having more adults on-board too.  LOL

 

bon voyage

[Pier290]

I love that they are offering this promo!  Although the cruise fares went up so the kids can sail "free"......I think it's a great way for grandparents who want to take their grandkids on a cruise as well.....

Since the "free" isn't "free" here....the majority of families still won't bring their kids on Celebrity because it doesn't have all the crazy additions that Royal or Carnival has.... water slides, Rock climbing, ice rinks, etc etc....

So it's safe to say I'm sure these kids sail "free" itineraries won't be inundated with children !!

[Alsmez]

6 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

 

 

You may be have out grown Celebrity.  Luckily, there is Virgin Voyages, which may be perfect for you.  18 and over...

 

Yes, we will absolutely consider Virgin going forward. However, as others on this thread have mentioned, preferring a child-free vacation doesn't mean we are child haters. It simply means we prefer not to vacation with a lot of them (or their parents, who quite honestly are often a bigger problem than the kids). IMO it is rather short-sighted of Celebrity (and its parent company) to alienate its historical target demographic to try to attract families, given that that will undoubtedly mean stealing business from Royal. They are two separate products and I am happy to have a choice when cruising - I would hate to see Celebrity turn into "Royal lite" just as I'm sure Royal cruisers would hate the reverse.

[Bo1953]

3 minutes ago, Alsmez said:

----------------------

I would hate to see Celebrity turn into "Royal lite" just as I'm sure Royal cruisers would hate the reverse.

I really believe that the chances of this happening is very remote, mainly due to the difference in fares, passenger demographics, Chic Nights and/or itineraries.

 

I Am sure once parents and children/teens understand that there are NO amusement parks aboard, X would be vetoed as 'too boring' without setting foot aboard.

 

bon voyage

[Byron_1978]

29 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

IMO and MO only, all parents who bring their children/teens on X go to great lengths to provide their fellow passengers with peace of mind that their children/teens will respect others, most times.

I think I can weigh in here considering we have taken our son on 2 Celebrity cruises in the past.

The first cruise: Norwegian Fjords on Eclipse -> our son was 1.5 years old

The second cruise: Mediterranean on Reflection -> our son was 3 years old

 

On both cruises, we had second seating and did a few nights of specialty dining.

The only dining place we did not take him to was Murano.

 

Not once did we receive any complaint about him. He was always very quiet during dinner (and we had everything with us to keep him that way: iPad, coloring books, noiseless toys, ...). If he had tried to make a scene, one of us would have immediately removed him from the dining room.

We did receive a lot of positive comments during both cruises, both from staff and from other passengers.

 

I do agree with some of the statements above. We actually love Celebrity because there are fewer kids on board. The ones we did see on board were generally well behaved.

 

Too bad that he wants different ships now with lots of things to do for him...So that is what we will do...

 

Further, I think the goal of this promo is to spend as little money as possible.
Celebrity knows that many families will not sail with them. Having a promo like 'Kids sail free' will not cost them that much money. However they are perceived as giving a nice promo.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Byron_1978

[hcat]

Ads are geared towards filling the ships.

School and summer break times are times many families like to cruise..just avoid those dates if you  want fewer children on board

 

Children  per se are never the problem

Inattentive patents are! Most kids on X are well  supervised, well dressed & behaved.  Nice to see families enjoying the Celebrity style!

 

 

[Bo1953]

10 hours ago, Alsmez said:

 

I agree - even though their ships don't have the child-friendly amenities of Royal, etc., many first-time cruisers just book what they see as the best deal rather than researching the ship or line. We always cruise when school is in session but also choose Celebrity as insurance against too many kids on board. I hope they drop this line of marketing before they ruin a great adult experience.

Then by far, X would almost never be the 'best deal' for families...

 

Do a comparison and it will be obvious.

 

The adult experience on X is minimally impacted as X has Day Camps for children/teens which are off the beaten path and well attended.

 

bon voyage

[mfs2k]

4 hours ago, florisdekort said:

 

Then they should book a child free cruise line like Viking or an adults only resort instead of complaining about children on a line that has always allowed them.  But I guess intolerance is just a sign of the today’s world. 

 

I disagree.  I have two grown daughters who are now in their late 20's. I love kids but I don't want a "family oriented" vacation. It's not about intolerance.  It's about choice. 

 

Celebrity met my needs for price, itinerary, demographics, and ship size and amenities.  I'm tolerant of kids onboard but without all waterslides, ziplines, rock climbing walls and playground, Celebrity isn't catering to children.  

 

Now, with this promotion, they seem to be trying to attract children.  While that's great for families, it's not so great for people who think like I do. 

[TeeRick]

In general Celebrity ships do not have a lot of kids compared to the only other line I have sailed (RCCL). If the OP does not want to sail with a lot of kids on board (their vacation choice which does not imply they hate kids) then the solution is to sail a longer destination itinerary particularly during the school year.  When we have done this we could count the kids on one hand.  Usually the problem is non-attentive parents and not the kids.

[tallnthensome]

I have 9 and 11 year old daughters that cruise with us. We are leaving on the NCL Bliss for 15 days to the Panama Canal in two weeks. I also have our first Celebrity Cruise booked for next year in April in the Silhouette for 12 days. That will be their 6th cruise. They've been on Carnival, Royal, NCL, and MSC. I've explained to them that the Silly is about itinerary, and not an amusement park style cruise. They understand and are well behaved. Obviously I am pleased to see kids sail free although it didn't apply to our particular cruise. We are aware of the demographics and lack of children on Celebrity but that won't stop us from booking if the price is right. I can see that Celebrity wants to attract more families and why not? Why have two in a room when a family of four like mine may bring more profits. A lot of Celebrity's faithful are getting older and even dying off and it's almost as Celebrity wants to reinvent itself and the Edge is an indicator and KSF. I don't think X will ever be like Carnival or the other lines when it comes to kid ratios but you're sure to see more with KSF promotions. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by tallnthensome

[Willow1213]

We chose Celebrity for this cruise knowing we were leaving our 5 year old home with grandparents. Yes, kids do sail free but I do not feel like X ships are geared towards his age group. There seems to be lots for older tweens/teens with STEM activities etc but it would not be my choice for kids activities for the under 8 set. I won’t mind seeing other children on the ship, I’ll just gear my activities in the other direction if it starts to bother me for any reason. The solarium and casino it is!