Inspiration Passengers Missed the Ship!

[richfret]

It's not just kids that do this but adults also. In March on a Liberty cruise, we did the Panama train tour. During a half hour shopping tour, one guy was 15 minutes late in returning and had the biggest grin on his face when he finally got to the bus. He thought he was really cute. Then at the next stop, an older women decided to go to the bath room as the bus was leaving. That made us another 15 minutes late. When we got back to the train for the return trip, the entire train was waiting for our bus. We were then notified that the train could not leave for another 45 minutes because it runs on a single track and we had missed our turn. A freight train was replacing our train.

 

We just got back to the ship in time and missed all chances of shopping at the pier. In both cases, the responsible people thought nothing of holding up an entire train. If you can expect this from adults then certainly it will happen with children.

 

In the above cases, the tour directors should have left without them and they could have taken a taxi at their expense. But then, you would have read their notes how Carnival cheated them. With the kids, the ship left as it should have. The only solution here is tough love.

[K.T.B.]

Actually, at 18 you're an 18 year old.

 

In some states you're no longer a minor, in some states you still are. Legally, there is no set universal magic age at which you suddenly become an adult. It depends on circumstances and the particular situation and the laws in the jurisdiction.

In case you missed it, I refer to this post:

 

And has already been posted in this thread, in all but 4 states in the USA you are an adult at 18, no situational, no circumstantial .. you are an adult.

[Hogladyrider]

Ok, Im a little confused. Since Carnival paid for the return flights and hotel, etc. Do they bill the 18 yr olds or their parents?

 

Let me clarify the above statement. Carnival DID NOT pay for the hotel or the return airfare for these two young men. Carnival did pay for the ship to shore phone calls the mother made to the other boy's stepdad to keep him advised of what was going on.

 

The hotel and airfare were put on one of the boys credit cards, which I do not know if the credit card is in the boy's name or his mom's name.

 

The excuse given to stepdad for missing the boat was - "the other boy bought a Rolex for $70 in Calica and the time wasn't set to ship time".

 

These boys must think their parents just fell off the turnip truck!

 

I agree with some of the earlier posts that it seems that divorced parents kids are not as disciplined as needed and that seems to be the case here because the older of these two boys will not even be required to pay off the credit card, mom is just glad he is safe and sound.

 

More later.......................as the news is reported to me.:p

[mrdood]

And has already been posted in this thread, in all but 4 states in the USA you are an adult at 18, no situational, no circumstantial .. you are an adult.

 

Geez Mike you are so stuck on absolutes, even in this post you state exceptions, those would be situational - living in Michigan for example, there are also circumstances where you can petition the court before you are 18 and also circumstance where someone can be declared incompetent at any age and are under the guardianship of another adult and do not meet the legal requirements as an adult - this is a large population and very common as I work in the insurance industry and we are forced to provide minor coverage for 35 year olds.

 

So no, being 18 does not automatically make you an adult legally depending on situation (location) or circumstances (court determination).

 

...and to those posting about who paid, Carnival's MO in the past is to pay for the flights etc, then charge it to the Sail and Sign of the person per their cruise contract that was responsible for expenses occurred by anyone in their cabin under 21. When you board you agree to the contract and you are responsible for those you have in your charge under 21, and as has been said, those contracts have held up, Carnival has a HUGE legal staff!

[Astronomer]

If it had been my boys I would not have made the choices their parents made. I would have flown into action without a moments hesitation.

I would be on the phone immediately calling all the restaurants on that island searching like mad for buss-boy jobs for them so they could start earning enough money to buy themselves a plane ticket home. :cool:

[K.T.B.]

Here's the Age of Majority chart per state: http://marriage.about.com/cs/teenmarriage/a/majority.htm

 

In MOST cases it is 18. So the law is fairly clear here.

 

So now you just need to find out which state these kids are from and then you can decide if they're legally adults or not. But while they were in Mexico, they were definitely considered adults.

[Hogladyrider]

Both of these yoiung men reside in Central Florida.:)

[Cruise, J.D.]

As others have posted, the nearly universal age of majority in the United States is 18. There are exceptions both ways (emancipation, liquor and handgun purchases, etc . . .).

 

However, none of this really matters as far as liability in this situation. Liability for actions while in Mexico? See Mexican law. Liability for actions while on a cruise ship? See cruise contract and maritime law.

 

If Carnival did pay anything to get them back, they didn't have to, and Carnival could recover from the boys or other possible parties based on a variety of legal and/or equitable theories for the costs incurred.

[Voyager]

Sometimes he's capable of using the toilet on his own...:rolleyes:

What had happend was that we were in San Francisco (we were rerouted due to a hurricane in Cabo) and DH decided he was going to walk to the grocrey store & pick up a bottle of vodka for the cabin. We were waiting by some shops for about an hour and he never showed up...it was 8pm when we finally decided to return to the ship & by that time I was very worried (was he mugged? arressted? lost???) The pursers desk would not page him and he was not in the cabin. I asked the check in crew if they could tell me if he had gotten back on the ship & he had, so I did not want him to get off again to go look for us. Lo & behold, there he was...in the dining room...ordering dinner...I was very relieved...then very mad. He had walked right by us and never thought to look around because he thought we were somewhere else!

 

As wwkla said....it's about communication....not control...;)

 

I dont know, sounds like you should have had the "communication" before you put the squeeze on "control". Really, the last time you 'spoke" you were both in port? The next time you see him he his sitting having dinner? What was your husband thinking? I dont know how old your husband is but hiss actions were very immature or he was just not thinking. Either one being the case, would make me very nervous. This scenerio does not sound like good communication skill to me ONE BIT.

 

So It just goes to show you that 18, 38, 58... sometimes age has nothing to do with how a person behaves.

 

Edited: Gosh, he didnt even give a hoot that you were still in Port either!

[Umbarger]

Parenting is ongoing, whether the kids are 18 or 28. Bailing out an irresponsible kid who is 18 or 28 is irresponsble parenting. If you keep bailing them out at 18, you can pretty much bet you will still be bailing them out at 28, 38, etc!!

 

This is so true. My mom kept bailing my brother out of situation after situation thru his life. She still does and he is now 50 years old! :eek:

[Astronomer]

While having them working at buss boy jobs I would also encourage them to sell any game-boys or watches or other trinkets they had to help try to come up with the money faster for a plane ticket home.

Ok I am teasing a little bit, but we don’t always bail our kids out, ( fortunately it hasent come up often ) it is why we helped ( help, not just buy it ) buy them their first car at 16, but the insurance premium ( or their part of it ) was on them.

They get a ticket, insurance goes up, they pay all the increase.

If they don’t have a job, they didn’t need a car

Pretty simple really.

[K.T.B.]

Both of these yoiung men reside in Central Florida.:)

And in Florida 18 makes you legally an adult. :) Note, I didn't say responsible adult......

[Emmabelle]

Hogladyrider,

 

thanks for the updates. ;)

[ehogan]

We took our three children, 16, 18 and 20 on a cruise and had no problems. However, sign and sail cards were with us at all times, when we went ashore we went together and they were well aware that this was a very special privilage since it was on our dime and we expected them to behave properly both off and on the ship. I'm sure they would have liked more freedom, but in my opinion teenagers and too much freedom are a very bad mix.

 

They lived up to our very high expectations and did us proud. They are now 25, 27 and 29 and are still doing us proud.

[coolestwife]

I dont know, sounds like you should have had the "communication" before you put the squeeze on "control". Really, the last time you 'spoke" you were both in port? The next time you see him he his sitting having dinner? What was your husband thinking? I dont know how old your husband is but hiss actions were very immature or he was just not thinking. Either one being the case, would make me very nervous. This scenerio does not sound like good communication skill to me ONE BIT.

 

So It just goes to show you that 18, 38, 58... sometimes age has nothing to do with how a person behaves.

 

Edited: Gosh, he didnt even give a hoot that you were still in Port either!

 

The situation was actually quite funny...sort of a comedy of errors. We were supposed to wait for him in exactly one spot and we moved down some stairs & we assumed he would see us standing in front of the stairs instead of at the top of the stairs...well he walked up, looked one way and we happened to be looking the exact opposite direction at that moment, so we missed each other....trust me DH & I are well know for our Keystone Kops-esque behavior....

The point of my story was to let you guys know that Carnival will put an alert on your children's S&S cards stating that they cannot leave the ship with out you...not to beleaguer DH's & my communication skills (or, in some peoples opinion, lack thereof). ;)

[Astronomer]

That is one short leash you keep your hubby on Coolestwife! :eek:

 

( I dont know if you noticed, but my wife Moondance has started posting, dont give her any ideas ;) )

[coolestwife]

That is one short leash you keep your hubby on Coolestwife! :eek:

TTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:p :D

 

 

( I dont know if you noticed, but my wife Moondance has started posting, dont give her any ideas ;) )

 

Ahhh....good to know....

('cause I need to make sure she's up to date on all the F-Deck threads...:p )

[Luvsdaislands]

I know my child and this sounds like something my oldest son would do and he is just 15!!! As a "single" parent there is often pressure to give my kids some freedom but in a foreign country I think I would just have to be the "uncool" mom and have them pout, get mad, mumble under their breath...they would get over it and be fine with it and life will go on.

I guess the big debate here is whether the parent should had let them go off alone being that they are 18 years old??!! And it really boils down to their maturity level. And being teens a hundren things could have been going through their heads..."we missed the ship so we might as well party and suffer the consequences later" or "let's stay here and show her how grown we are" or they could been mad with her and wanted her to worry but didn't think about their actions........people act on impluse all the time!!!

One Luv

Luvsdaislands

[momofzeke]

This is so true. My mom kept bailing my brother out of situation after situation thru his life. She still does and he is now 50 years old! :eek:

 

I have a brother-in-law like that. He is 55, unemployed, and lives with his mother! :eek: She and my FIL would have been much smarter to make him own up to his mistakes when he was young ~ maybe he wouldn't be such a loser now. :rolleyes:

 

Back on topic: my sons are 20 and 23. When we cruised a few months ago, there was never any question of them going off on their own while in ports. We all stayed together, and we still managed to have a blast. Same thing 2 years ago, when they were 18 and 21. They did not have the option of going off on their own.

[Virga]

::growl, boo, hiss:: I hit the backspace button and lost my post! Lost a bit of my train of thought, but here I go

 

I was 18 when I went to college, and my family has not given me a cent since then. I bought my own car, paid my own bills, got good enough grades that the school paid for my tuition... I would have laughed out loud if my mom told me that I "wasn't allowed" to do something.

 

As I see it, 18 is something like a deadline, where a parent should be darned sure that their kid has the skills, knowledge, and common sense to make their own decisions. If you've done a good job, they've got the ability to logic out the easy questions, and the sense to ask trustworthy people with more experience to help them out with the hard ones.

 

If your 'child' isn't responsible enough to spend a day at port when he is 18, you've done something wrong. He could go join the army tomorrow (and come home under a folded flag in 6 months) so if you've really done such a poor job of preparing them to make decisions that they can't be trusted to catch the boat, we're all in a world of crap.

 

 

***the word 'you' here is not directed at anyone in particular - I'm not trying to be offensive, just trying to make a point.

[sea_u_onboard]

Virga - I agree 100% - BUT (you knew that was coming) I don't require my 18 yo son to stay with us because I don't trust him to make good decisions. I require him to stay with us because we are in a foreign country where things could happen that are out of his control - even with him using good judgement (which he has). I just feel that staying together is a good thing for all - even as adults in port we all go to the same things - might sound boring to some - but you just never know what could happen. It's not like you are in a different state or anything where it would be easy to cope with situations. Once we are back on the ship or in the US he is free to do as he pleases - he's a big boy - he has never objected or raised any concerns about staying with us. There is something to be said about family togetherness.

[Virga]

Well, there stands the fact that if he's responsible, he wouldn't really plan on going around a foreign country alone - it's not really safe, no matter what age you are, because there will ALWAYS be things you can't plan for. I've been involved in search and rescue since I was in my early teens - now I tend to travel (even for pleasure) in 'pairs of pairs' - so that noone has to be alone in unfamiliar territory, even (especially!) in an emergency.

 

Everything I believe aside, if you are taking a family vacation, and the family is paying, it's completely within your 'rights' to have certain expectations, even if those limit personal choice - and that was *his* choice when he let you pay the bills. I'm confidant that if through some set of unlucky circumstances your son had missed the boat, he would have found some way to contact the ship immediately, instead of 8 hours later by way of local police. Instead of that happening, though, he knew when to take good advice, and you'll not have to deal with it.

 

An ounce of prevention...

[sea_u_onboard]

You are right on target.

[sweetpea-2]

Oh how you have to love teenagers who "know it all" - been there done that, but the trying times they cause for their parents.

 

One of my co-workers received a frantic phone call from a friend who is currently onboard Inspiration. It seems this mom, had taken her 18 year old son and a friend (my co-worker's stepson) on this cruise as a graduation present.

 

Well the two young men flatly instruction the mom to please allow them to have some fun and not be under her thumb all the time and for her to cut the strings loose.

 

Well guess what? These two young men were in port at Calica and were busy doing what most 18 year old "men" do, partying and they missed the ship when it left port headed back to Tampa.

 

Needless to say the mom was frantic. Carnival staff stepped up to the plate, notified local police and had a Carnival rep in Claica searching for the boys. At 2 am EST this morning my co-worker received a call that the teens had been found and they were safe and Carnival was checking them into a hotel and providing monitoring of their whereabouts until they were put on a commercial airline flight back to Tampa. All of course, at the passengers expense.

 

The mom phoned my co-worker today at noon and she is so upset over all this, though grateful her son and friend are safe. It was not her fault but what a way to end up a cruise.

 

All these ship to shore phone calls and the hotel and airlines are for the two young mens account and my co-workers plans on enforcing his stepson to pay off the bills on his own.

 

Years down the road it will be looked at and laughed at but for now this mom on ship went thru a lot of emotional anguish over her missing son and friend and the boys are showing no remorse!

 

I am glad I am not in her situation....sadly today allot of kids think they know it all and then after all is said and done, they show no remorse like you said......hope she makes him pay her back....but do you think he will ever truly know what she went thru ??? Have my doubts....

[momof4boys]

Sea_u_onboard...you stated it perfectly. (Much better than I did) My boys are responsible, but when we sail, we are not in the good ole USA. My boys enjoyed everything we did last year and are really pumped about what we plan to do this time. We will stay together (all 15 of us) and we will have a blast! :D