Stupid Kid Question

[3GR8Sons]

Actually my question is stupid, not the kid.:)

 

We will be cruising with MIL and 3 kids ages 13, 11, and 8. We want to have the little guy with MIL, and the two older kids in their own cabin. Will anyone care if the older kids sleep in a cabin without an adult? I realize we will need to do our booking so that there is at least one adult in each cabin, but once we get there will anyone care if the kids stay in the cabin?

 

Also-on formal nights can the younger kids get by with just a dress shirt with a tie and slacks? My older 2 kids have suits, but my little one does not and I don't want to buy him a suit just for this cruise. They like to eat the good food in the dining room when we are on vacation.

 

Thanks.

 

Jenna

[MercedMike]

I am assuming that the kids will be next door or across the hall from you. In that case, you don't even need to book an adult in each cabin. Just have your TA tell Princess the situation, and mark all cabins NO UPGRADE. There are exceptions to the rules for children traveling with parents in an adjacent cabin. They just don't want a bunch of teenagers running wild all over the ship. If your TA tries to tell you to book an adult in each cabin and change while on board, find a TA who is not so lazy and will do it right. You might want to get a "baby monitor," just for peace of mind.

 

Your youngest will look great in a dress shirt and tie and slacks on formal night. Everyone will love him. Good for you teaching the kids to like formal dining!

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[cruisePRN]

your youngest son will be fine in a dress shirt and tie :D

[quincytoo]

Your little one will look great :) Take lots of pictures of him cause the next few years will be hard to get them to dress up.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I would be nervous having the kids in their own cabin, especially if there's an emergency at night. Definitely make sure the cabins are truly together and mark the bookings "no upgrade" and make sure your TA knows not to accept any upgrade or change.

[OceanLiner]

I posted this earlier as part of a response on the Princess Board, about "Cabin Hoping":

 

The only time this would really be a problem is if the child was moving to a room with another child with no adult in the room, i.e....a parent and a child book an outside room and the other parent and a child book an inside room, then after boarding both parents move to the outside and both kids move to the inside, now you have two kids staying in a room alone. I have seen this attempted on Carnival, HAL, and DCL with very bad results. The parents would be locked in their room with the kids running in the hall or begging at the door to be let in. The Hotel director on each ship was not very pleased.

Please understand that I really hope you are asking this question to determine if you should do this, not as a way of validating your decision. I have personally witnessed what you are considering on three different lines, and each was a disaster. The little ones were frightened at night and things just went down hill for them, the parents, and everyone in every room in the area. I am not flaming you in any way for posting this thread, in fact if you are really thinking of doing this I really commend you for posting this thread to hear all of our experiences. BTW: if I remember correctly the Hotel directors informed the parents that they would all be asked to leave at the next port if this continued.

 

Could you get connecting rooms?

[kidznp]

If your kids were not in the cabin with you or in an adjoining cabin, it seems it would be very difficult to supervise them or be aware of their comings and goings. Would you be comfortable in booking a separate room for them at a hotel? What if one of them gets sick at night and needs you?

 

Either adjoining cabins or booking one "family" cabin for grandma and kids and another for parents would seem a safer solution. Certainly, one adult should have direct knowledge of where each kid is at all times, especially at night.

[Pam in CA]

You can probably do it but ask yourself whether you'd leave your kids home alone for the night. I know people do this but unless the kids are right next door or across the hall, I'd be very uncomfortable with them totally on their own. A ship is not your home -- it's literally a foreign country with all kinds of people onboard.

[OceanLiner]

You can probably do it but ask yourself whether you'd leave your kids home alone for the night. I know people do this but unless the kids are right next door or across the hall, I'd be very uncomfortable with them totally on their own. A ship is not your home -- it's literally a foreign country with all kinds of people onboard.

 

Wow, ecellent comment; not just for this thread but for all to rememeber.

[ggprincess2004]

You can put the kids in their own cabin, immediatley across the hall or adjacent to you. Princess permits this - do make sure you tell them no upgrade!

Since I would put kids in their own hotel room, immediately next to mine, I would also put kids in their own cabin on a ship - immediately next to or across from mine. Mom and Dad do deserve some privacy, and this does not mean that they abandon parenting responsibilities in any way. We've done it in the past and it worked out well.

One great thing is that your cabin steward will know those kids belong to you from day one. Your cabin steward is in no way a babysitter, but he/she is an ally and will be pretty aware of your kids comings and goings. This is helpful for kids that are late sleepers (but yours are pre-teen so that may not be an issue). If you set the rules before going on board, everyone should have a great trip. Rule one: buddy system. Non-negotiable. Rule two: Be ready on time and dressed appropriately. Then the three toddler rules 1. Be polite, 2. Don't whine, 3. Don't make a mess.

Also, your youngest one will be fine in a dress shirt and tie, no suit coat.

Your kids will probably enjoy the Princess kids program, and be eager to participate in most of the activities that are offered there. Ours were torn between joining the adults for dinner v. missing the evening activities! You might want to consider anytime dining, so that you can adjust "family" meal times to allow the kids to participate in the evening kids program.

Have a wonderful cruise!

[3GR8Sons]

Thanks for all your comments I appreciate them. To answer some of your questions/comments:

 

My oldest will be only a few weeks shy of his 14th birthday. People hire HIM to babysit their kids, so yes, I do leave them at home. Do other people not leave teenagers home alone?

 

The older 2 kids will be booked in a room between DH and I and my MIL/youngest child not elsewhere on the ship. My older 2 kids will definitely sleep later than any of the rest of us.

 

They are not "running wild" kind of kids. We do not permit it. I assure you the running wild would end before any cabin steward got involved!!!! I can understand the concern but I don't see it as an issue.

 

When we travel we use walkie talkies to keep in touch with the kids. We eat all of our meals together. We have periodic check ins with the kids every day and we make sure the kids make it back to the room each evening (times vary based on what we're doing the next day) before we go to sleep so I don't think keeping tabs on them will be difficult. We like our kids and they like us so we see quite a bit of them when we cruise.

 

My kids are foodies. They will do anything for good food, including putting on a jacket and tie!!! On our last cruise the waiter brought out the kiddie menu for the kids and they were crushed. They asked the waiter if they could eat the "real food" or if they had to eat off the kids menu.

 

Thanks again for all of your comments.

 

Jenna

[SandDragon]

Then the three toddler rules 1. Be polite, 2. Don't whine, 3. Don't make a mess.

 

Why just apply this rule to toddlers? Equally applicable to everyone over toddler-age and probably most appropriate for adults.

 

Maybe Princess should add it to the rule book. Come to think of it - should be applied to CC posts also.

[VIKINGCRUISER]

You can probably do it but ask yourself whether you'd leave your kids home alone for the night. I know people do this but unless the kids are right next door or across the hall, I'd be very uncomfortable with them totally on their own. A ship is not your home -- it's literally a foreign country with all kinds of people onboard.

 

 

Well said. I agree 100%. I myself would not be able to sleep at night with that arrangement :( , no matter how responsible the oldest child is, but thats just me!

[lizi116]

We just got off the Caribbean Princess. We had 2 inside rooms side by side. The kids (9& 12) shared a room, and they were perfectly fine!!!

Also, My DS (12) wore a shirt and tie and was also perfectly fine!

[DrivesLikeMario]

We've cruised with our teen sons 15 times so far. We've always had a way to go between the 2 cabins via the balcony, or an adjoining door, when on cruises.

 

When at hotels, we get 2 rooms and sometimes, we haven't had an adjoining door. (Talk about nerve-wracking leaving them alone next door to us!) What we did is exchange 1 room key so they could get into our room and we could get into theirs at any time. This would work on the ship too. Also, you can use the phone to call them, and this is actually easier than going between the cabins.

 

Explain to your kids that they should not open their door for ANYONE other than their cabin steward and you (of course). If anyone else comes to the door, they should call you first and ask if they should open it, just to be safe.

 

Set a curfew at night if they aren't going to be with you and make it a reasonable hour - not midnight or later!

 

Remember to bring their iPods, Nintendo DSs, etc. and have fun! ;)

[ggprincess2004]

Why just apply this rule to toddlers? Equally applicable to everyone over toddler-age and probably most appropriate for adults.

 

Maybe Princess should add it to the rule book. Come to think of it - should be applied to CC posts also.

 

Thanks! Well, I think these rules start for toddlers, and apply throughout life. I mean, they cover just about everything that needs covering - attitude, personal responsiblity.... I could go on and on. But we labeled them the three toddler rules since 2-3 year olds can start working on those issues at that young age.

[ggprincess2004]

Thanks for all your comments I appreciate them. To answer some of your questions/comments:

 

 

They are not "running wild" kind of kids. We do not permit it. I assure you the running wild would end before any cabin steward got involved!!!! I can understand the concern but I don't see it as an issue.

 

I didn't mean to imply that the cabin steward would be involved in any "running wild" discipline, rather that he/she would probably know if they had crawled out of the cocoon by 9 or 10 or 11 am for some breakfast....

 

My kids are foodies. They will do anything for good food, including putting on a jacket and tie!!! On our last cruise the waiter brought out the kiddie menu for the kids and they were crushed. They asked the waiter if they could eat the "real food" or if they had to eat off the kids menu.

 

My step-kids were pretty much foodies as well, so having dinner with the family almost always won, but with anytime dining, you can go to the formal dining early - before the evening activities at the kids center start - if you wish to do so.

 

Thanks again for all of your comments.

 

Jenna

 

Have a great family trip!!!!!!:)

[jff50]

My oldest will be only a few weeks shy of his 14th birthday. People hire HIM to babysit their kids, so yes, I do leave them at home. Do other people not leave teenagers home alone?

Do you leave them at home alone overnight? Do other people hire him to babysit overnight?

 

I would not allow a 13 year old and an 11 year old to stay in their own cabin unless it adjoined mine, with a door/direct access connecting it to my room (I don't think Princess has these. Princess does have family suites that hold 5 people, but they are hard to come by.

[jff50]

We just got off the Caribbean Princess. We had 2 inside rooms side by side. The kids (9& 12) shared a room, and they were perfectly fine!!!

Kind of like my daughter's response when I ask her to stop doing something that I am not comfortable with--"I haven't gotten hurt yet"

[Familycruzer11]

We've cruised a few times and always get the kids their own cabin - always right next to ours. On Princess we get balcony rooms and we 'connect' the balconies. Your room stewards can make it so they stay open.

 

I also have my own key to the kids room. My dd and her friend were 12 last time and will be 13 this time.

 

We did book an adult in each room because I did not know (until now) that Princess allows you not to, but the booking names it is not a big deal for us. We are all one family, so the charges don't matter, and you can get as many keys to as many rooms as you want.

 

I find the kids live up to the responsibility and behave well in and out of the rooms.

 

It is a vacation for all of us and we find this reduces the tension of small quarters,one bathroom and privacy and gives us the most value for our money considering how much time is actually spent in the room.

 

Having said this, we are considering a large family suite for a European cruise, but Carribean will always be side by side

[Toto2Kansas]

Do you leave them at home alone overnight? Do other people hire him to babysit overnight?

 

I would not allow a 13 year old and an 11 year old to stay in their own cabin unless it adjoined mine, with a door/direct access connecting it to my room (I don't think Princess has these. Princess does have family suites that hold 5 people, but they are hard to come by.

 

After some of the things I have seen onboard ships, I totally agree with this. If you wouldn't leave your kids alone in a hotel room by themselves, why in the world would you leave them in their own cabin alone without any adult supervision? It has nothing to do with the kids, how responsible they are or anything else. Some don't realize how many staff members actually can access these cabins in the middle of the night. It just isn't worth taking the chance.....................it wouldn't be an 'OPPS' if something horrible should happen, it would be life altering.

[3GR8Sons]

Do you leave them at home alone overnight? Do other people hire him to babysit overnight?

 

I would not allow a 13 year old and an 11 year old to stay in their own cabin unless it adjoined mine, with a door/direct access connecting it to my room (I don't think Princess has these. Princess does have family suites that hold 5 people, but they are hard to come by.

 

He does babysit for his brothers but not overnight. I wouldn't have a problem with him babysitting overnight if I was sleeping right next door though. Most of the time he babysits we aren't right next door.

 

Jenna

[Meditrina]

We recently sailed to Alaska with our 3 daughters - twins 14, and an 11 year old. They had their own cabin, and we had no trouble at all. We were also told that we had to book cabins with an adult in each cabin, but could switch once we boarded, which is what we did.

 

We did have our 11 year old sleep in our cabin a couple of nights, because her older sisters were busy with the teen activities (they can go until 1 am) and weren't going to be back to their cabin until late, and that worked out fine as well.

 

Our kids are very responsible, babysit other kids, and knew the rules (don't open the door to anyone, keep the do not disturb sign in the door when they were in the room, and DO NOT DISTURB other passengers, among others) ahead of time. We also made sure they had a key to our cabin, and we had a key to theirs. We did tip their room steward extra - mainly because they tended to leave their cabin messier than I would have let them if they'd stayed in our cabin.

 

Also - it turned out that the majority of the kids that they met at the teen center were also in their own cabins - with parents in seperate cabins.