Can the kids stay on the ship?

[HurricaneSally]

Goodness gracious... I didn't know what I thought was a pretty simple yes or no question was going to open such a can of worms! Everyone sure does have some interesting opinions/judgments/advice. The internet sure is a great place! :)

 

It's a cruise "chat" board, so what we do is chat, lol.

[Emi's Mom]

Goodness gracious... I didn't know what I thought was a pretty simple yes or no question was going to open such a can of worms! Everyone sure does have some interesting opinions/judgments/advice. The internet sure is a great place! :)

 

Yes the internet is a wonderful place and your simple question this morning kept us entertained ALL day! :p Thanks so much! BTW...you had the first post and the hundreth, how cool is that?:)

[sea-cruise]

Ok...Let's all have a contest and see who can stuff the most worms back in this can...:D :D :D

[Saintsfan007]

And you grew up to be a Saint's fan? Ain't buying it!:D

 

jc

 

Very funny!! Being a Saints' fan, I have had years of abuse, both from the Saints, and the other team's fans. This past year, we were one game from the Super Bowl, so it's about time that we finally can remove the bags from our heads!!! :p :p :cool: :cool:

[Hatsoff389]

Very funny!! Being a Saints' fan, I have had years of abuse, both from the Saints, and the other team's fans. This past year, we were one game from the Super Bowl, so it's about time that we finally can remove the bags from our heads!!! :p :p :cool: :cool:

 

Your Saints look like they are going to be even better this year, especially offensively. Hopefully my JETS are in good hands with Eric Mangini.:D Back to cruise talk now.....

[wlee]

NHR322,

I have 2 boys, 12 and 15 whom I consider very responsible. They have traveled many times with us, on cruises as well as work related trips, where I have to leave them alone. I feel very comfortable leaving them alone as long as they stay in the room, and don't open the door for anyone, except for maybe room service if they expect it. We travel a dozen times a year and they've never gotten in trouble.

Since you obviously know that you can trust your kids, like I know that I can trust mine, I think it would be ok to leave them if they stayed in the room. If they get hungry, have them order room service. Thay way you don't have to worry about any weirdos out there and safety is less of an issue.

[Hatsoff389]

NHR322,

I have 2 boys, 12 and 15 whom I consider very responsible. They have traveled many times with us, on cruises as well as work related trips, where I have to leave them alone. I feel very comfortable leaving them alone as long as they stay in the room, and don't open the door for anyone, except for maybe room service if they expect it. We travel a dozen times a year and they've never gotten in trouble.

Since you obviously know that you can trust your kids, like I know that I can trust mine, I think it would be ok to leave them if they stayed in the room. If they get hungry, have them order room service. Thay way you don't have to worry about any weirdos out there and safety is less of an issue.

 

I hope I can travel a dozen times a year at some point in my life.:)

[wlee]

I hope I can travel a dozen times a year at some point in my life.:)

 

Unfortunately, most of the travel is work related.:eek:

But we take our kids with us whenever we can without missing too much school, so that we can make the best of it and have some family fun!

[pcur]

I just read through this entire thread. Fascinating. I want to compliment everyone for keeping it so civil, even though there were a lot of posters not in agreement with the OP.

 

Shame on Flagger, however, for his comments. Truly tasteless and uncalled for.

 

To answer a question: they know the age of any passenger because it's encrypted on their SeaPass card. When you insert it into the reader getting off or on the ship, it shows your picture, and all the information they have on file, including your age. (Remember the docs we all fill out with our birthdates?).

 

So, I will venture a guess that no one under 18 is allowed off the ship unless accompanied by someone over 21.

 

My opinion: I'm totally biased. I had a very difficult teenage son, I also trusted him as far as I could throw his 6'3" body, so I am not one to make suggestions here. However, it's the unknown factors that would make me say no-go if I were the OP: delays getting back, one of the kids gets sick in the cabin, etc.

[Obaybee..tryingthisagain]

It's the nature of the boards. You get opinions. Some of them are not to your taste, but it's part and parcel of it.

 

One of my all-time favorite posters, just passed away. He was anti-kid. Notoriously so. He'd always pop in and tell people to leave their, "kiddies" at home. I actually miss his opinions. Just shows, there are all kinds and the world is a MUCH more interesting place for it.

 

My experiences on the CC boards with people with vastly differing opinions have always been very surprising. People I thought I would avoid like the plague, have become dear to my heart. It's an odd and precious place.

 

 

 

I only know most of the members from what they post.

I too miss reading Folgy. I never agreed with him about the children but his posts were usually to the point, usually politically incorrect and never boring to read. I even started calling my kitten poopaloopa for no particular reason lol. My husband looks at me like I am losing it every time :p

I have been a member for several years now. I've had my feathers ruffled and even had my own pity party and left for awhile but I realized while I was away I missed most of regulars I grew to know.

 

Anyway, I digress. When I saw your post about Folgy I had to respond.

[flagger]

I just read through this entire thread. Fascinating. I want to compliment everyone for keeping it so civil, even though there were a lot of posters not in agreement with the OP.

 

Shame on Flagger, however, for his comments. Truly tasteless and uncalled for.

 

To answer a question: they know the age of any passenger because it's encrypted on their SeaPass card. When you insert it into the reader getting off or on the ship, it shows your picture, and all the information they have on file, including your age. (Remember the docs we all fill out with our birthdates?).

 

So, I will venture a guess that no one under 18 is allowed off the ship unless accompanied by someone over 21.

 

My opinion: I'm totally biased. I had a very difficult teenage son, I also trusted him as far as I could throw his 6'3" body, so I am not one to make suggestions here. However, it's the unknown factors that would make me say no-go if I were the OP: delays getting back, one of the kids gets sick in the cabin, etc.

GARSH I am SOOOOOOOOO thrilled to be singled out by someone coming late to the came. Obviously someone misses the point of sarcasm and humour. Shame on you for making a personal uncalled for attack. But thank goodness for that new ignore button.

 

Please provide proof that no one under 18 us allowed off the ship unless accompanied by someone over 21. As mentioned in by me and others, there is no way for security to know whether a minor is with one set in front or behind the under 18 passengers. It ain't the job of the cruiseline to be babysitter and check.

[whyrlygig]

To those in the know.... I was under the impression that all excursions were contracted through but not operated by RCI. Is this correct?

 

Even if the ship "sponsored" excursion is on time, there are any number of reasons why you or DH may still not make it back to the ship on time. I wouldn't take the chance.....

[wlee]

Although very unusual, I've heard of the ship leaving behind one or two guests that wandered off on their own excursions, and no one knew where they were, but I've never heard of the ship leaving behind a whole group of people who are on an excursion. I could be wrong (I'm sure someone will tell me if I am:) ), but once when I was on an excursion that was running late, the company called the ship, to let them know we would be late and the ship waited for us. I would guess that all the excursion companies would all have contact with the ship to be able to inform them if a group would be late, and the ship would not leave a whole group behind.

As far as what if the kids get sick... my kids know enough if they are sick to lay down and take an aspirin or pepto-bismal or whatever. Me being there wouldn't make them feel any better, we're talking only a couple of hours here. It's not like the OP's kids are 5 or 6. And what if some weirdo was on the ship? Well, again, very unlikely, but that's why I think the OP should tell the kids to stay in the room, even tho the OP didn't want to keep them in the room. Or tell them the only place they are allowed to go is the teen group room. That also would prevent any incidents involving other people, or any accidents like falling around the pool area. Just bring a dvd player and some movies or hand held video games to keep them occupied. Also I would bring a walkie talkie set, just in case.

[Nliedel]

To those in the know.... I was under the impression that all excursions were contracted through but not operated by RCI. Is this correct?

 

Even if the ship "sponsored" excursion is on time, there are any number of reasons why you or DH may still not make it back to the ship on time. I wouldn't take the chance.....

 

You can either take a ship sponsored, or contracted shore excursion, or you can go off on your own and take a private one. 99.9% of all shore excursions advertised by the ships are contracted. I put the .01% in there for the odd instance I know nothing about.

[LoriLinay]

I won't get the parent of the year award for this one, but it will answer the question about kids getting off the ship.

 

In 2001 I was in a port and my kids were still asleep. I wanted to run to the end of the pier and get some foreign coins as a souvenier. I left my kids alone in the cabin. I left them a note and told them they would be grounded forever if they left that cabin. :) I got off the ship, and at the end of the pier were some of the COOOOLEST street performers that I knew my kids would love. We had walkie talkies. I went BACK to the ship and for whatever reason, the line to get back on was about 4 miles long. (kidding) So I buzzed them with the walkie talkies and told them to come out. Never thought about it because I was standing outside the ship. 15 minutes or so later, off they come. They were 11 and 12. I was NOT visible from the exit, nor did anyone question them leaving.

 

When I look back at what might have happened, I shudder.

 

To the OP, follow your gut. Kids don't come with instructions and either do parents. We have to just do our best and take a lot of sedatives. ;)

[pcur]

Please provide proof that no one under 18 us allowed off the ship unless accompanied by someone over 21.

 

It's really hard to provide anything to someone who is ignoring me, but as I stated above "I will venture a guess" is what I stated about under 18 pax leaving the ship.

 

I just think thinly veiled comments about someone buying and smoking dope is tasteless and uncalled for. Also, last I checked, coming into threads late isn't against board rules, and I did read every single one of the over 100 posts first, so I knew the general tone and subject matter.

 

Have a great day, Flagger!!

[nrh322]

Wow... this keeps going and going.

 

I do have to say that I'm impressed that everyone here seems to be being really pleasant - in spite of the fact that some of y'all vehemently disagree with the general situation I put at hand.

 

I was thinking about it last night and wanted to give a wee bit of background to let everyone know where I'm coming from and why I think that my kids will be unlikely to suffer dire emotional and/or physical consequences from spending about 3 to 4 hours alone on our family vacation. Granted, I don't really have any reason to justify my actions to a group of strangers, but I'm new to the whole message board thing in general and I'm finding this an amusing and somewhat cathartic process. :)

 

For my 14th B-day, my Mom bought me a NASDS (I'm really dating myself) scuba certification course. I did my first set of open water dives in Cozumel. My parents did not come with me. I went with a group of people from the dive shop. I had my own hotel room. I am still alive. It was the first of many trips of this sort that my parents allowed me to go on.

 

My parents also allowed me to spend 6 weeks of every summer at summer camp. They also allowed me to go to school (versus homeschooling me - which is something that is becoming very popular these days for some unfathomable reason). They allowed me to spend the night at friend's houses. My curfew in highschool was, "be home in time for graduation."

 

Now - I KNOW that a lot of kids would self destruct with that much freedom. I, however, did not. I was more often than not the designated driver for my friends that did have curfews. I graduated 2nd in my class from high school with a FULL scholarship to UCSD. By giving me the trust and freedom to make my own choices, my parents gave me the reasoning skills to learn to make good ones. Maybe that is why in 9th grade I was at home studying for a biology exam when three of my dearest friends flipped their car on US-59 going about 90 mph? I chose studying over skipping school, getting drunk, and getting dead...even though at the time I knew that I would not have gotten in trouble at home for skipping and I certainly didn't know that they were going to die.

 

I know my kids as you know yours. I have been teaching my kids to make good choices since they had the mental faculties about them to make any choices at all. I'm still hoping that I'll be able to bring them diving with us because it is something I hold near and dear to my heart and something I very much want to share with them now that they are old enough to participate. If they can't come, they can't come - there will be other trips. I will be careful with our arrangements to ensure that we get back with time to spare before the ship sails. I will also make sure that they have the information that they need in order to make good choices for themselves.

[LoriLinay]

My curfew in highschool was, "be home in time for graduation."

 

 

 

Thank you soooo much for the HUGE laugh! I could say that to my son, and he'd be home by 11 the same night (almost 18 years old), my daughter (age 16) would need a search party sent out...

[Cruisegirl6]

This sure brings back a recent memories. My son who is 17 had a party to go to with all his friends, and I knew many of his friends, they were always over my house, decent good kids...anyway, one of them had a party at their house but it was a very late party and my son really wanted to go but begged me he can go this one time and stay out late, very late. I gave in and told him to be back by 3am. Needless to say, he went and was HOME by 1:15am. hahahahaha (this party was half an hour away)

 

The next day I asked him why he came home that early he said other kids he didn't know were drinking and he didn't like the way they were acting so he left.

 

Another time recent again, some girl called him up asking for him to pick her up that she needed a ride home, he leaves to pick her up comes home and says he saw her, she wasen't in trouble with the law but her friends were and that is why she needed a ride, he ended up just leaving her telling her she was high and didn't want her in his car.

 

On New Years Eve we were invited to a party in the neighborhood my son went for awhile and a friend of his called. He left the party to be with some kids at school, before we knew it he was back within the hour said that they were drinking and didn't want any part of it or them. He spent new years with us and we had a great time together.

 

So you see, we know our own kids by being their parents and seeing their actions and behavior. You go, have a great time on your dive trip, its something I always wanted to learn and do just didn't get around to it yet but I will. Have fun your kids will be just fine, like my son proving how responsible he is to me I am sure your kids have proved it a number of times with you.

[nrh322]

Thank you soooo much for the HUGE laugh! I could say that to my son, and he'd be home by 11 the same night (almost 18 years old), my daughter (age 16) would need a search party sent out...

 

 

Like I said... We all KNOW our own kids. If I had to guess, you probably wouldn't have to think very long about entrusting your son with all sorts of various responsibilities... your daughter, on the other hand, might need tighter reins! LOL! :D Isn't it great how two kids, with the same genetics and the same environment can be so different? It kind of puts that whole nature vs. nurture thing right out the window!

[nrh322]

This sure brings back a recent memories. My son who is 17 had a party to go to with all his friends, and I knew many of his friends, they were always over my house, decent good kids...anyway, one of them had a party at their house but it was a very late party and my son really wanted to go but begged me he can go this one time and stay out late, very late. I gave in and told him to be back by 3am. Needless to say, he went and was HOME by 1:15am. hahahahaha (this party was half an hour away)

 

The next day I asked him why he came home that early he said other kids he didn't know were drinking and he didn't like the way they were acting so he left.

 

Another time recent again, some girl called him up asking for him to pick her up that she needed a ride home, he leaves to pick her up comes home and says he saw her, she wasen't in trouble with the law but her friends were and that is why she needed a ride, he ended up just leaving her telling her she was high and didn't want her in his car.

 

On New Years Eve we were invited to a party in the neighborhood my son went for awhile and a friend of his called. He left the party to be with some kids at school, before we knew it he was back within the hour said that they were drinking and didn't want any part of it or them. He spent new years with us and we had a great time together.

 

So you see, we know our own kids by being their parents and seeing their actions and behavior. You go, have a great time on your dive trip, its something I always wanted to learn and do just didn't get around to it yet but I will. Have fun your kids will be just fine, like my son proving how responsible he is to me I am sure your kids have proved it a number of times with you.

 

 

Please consider suggesting to your son that if he's ever in a situation like the one you mentioned above (italized) again that he call the girls parents or send her home with the police. I understand why he didn't want her in his car and that was a sound decision, but I'm sure that as a kind and responsible young man, he would have been devastated to hear that she ended up not getting herself home safely. I think the saying goes...it's better to lose a friendship than a friend.

[Cruisegirl6]

Nrh322: Oh he did just that spoke to the policeman that came over to him who asked my son if he take the girl home and he said yes then as they were walking to his car he noticed she was high and giggly so he told her he was not taking her walked back to the police and explained to them why. The girl was taken home by another policeman. :)

[nrh322]

Nrh322: Oh he did just that spoke to the policeman that came over to him who asked my son if he take the girl home and he said yes then as they were walking to his car he noticed she was high and giggly so he told her he was not taking her walked back to the police and explained to them why. The girl was taken home by another policeman. :)

 

 

He's not even my kid and that makes me so proud it brings tears to my eyes! What a great kid! :D Mega kudos! You should be super proud of yourself. You're doing a great job. :):):)

[Host Karen]

The OP was not soliciting comments on her parenting skills. Since this thread is moving off topic, it is now closed.

 

Karen

HostKaren@CruiseCritic.com