How Late Do You Let Your Kids Out? Age Range??

[Kenster]

Frankly, I believe that kids running around loose on the ship, unsupervised, are much less likely to be "molested by some pervert" as they are to be a nuisance to other passengers. There has rarely been a night when packs of pre-teens, some as young as five or six, have been running and screaming up and down the aisles between the cabins until quite late at night; running through the public decks bumping into people; hogging the kareoke; doing cannon balls in the hot tubs (where they are not allowed) etc. Why do some parents feel they can abdicate their responsibilities on cruise ships? People are always claiming that "my dear sweet children" are very responsible for their age, and they may well be. I'm sure their not going to be out doing drugs or robbing the gift shops. But they also need to have been taught about respecting others and how to behave properly in public places.

And even if you allow your kids some freedom, and I have nothing against that, please give them strict orders to not roam the decks where the cabins are. This is for their own safety as well as the peace and quiet of ALL the guests.

I will say, in all fairness, that we have rarely encountered problems with teenagers. It is the grade school/junior high set that can be a nuisance when left unsupervised.

Please don't label me as a child hater. We are the parents of two, now grown, sons and a granddaughter whom I would love to take on a cruise some day. My wife and I were both teachers for many years. We love children, but there are places they should not be, and there are places where they should not be left alone, and there are places where they must be taught to behave respectfully and responsibly. And it is up to you, the parents, not adult strangers, to control and monitor them.

That way, EVERYONE is safe and EVERYONE has fun!!

Hope you all enjoy your upcoming cruises. Ours is only five days away!!

[crusinpsychRN]

My children were never out of my sight after dinner. During the day I'd be by the pool and they could wander a bit but always checked in and frequently.

 

At home their bedtime was 8pm. When they got to 9th grade they asked to negotiate that and we agreed on 9pm. The next day they both said forget it, they're going to bed at 8pm.

 

I see kids in my psychiatric practice and inevitably they look at me like I'm an alien when I ask their bedtime. They don't have one. Then the parents wonder why they are in Juvenile Justice, out stealing cars and smoking dope.

[trock]

funky duplications!

[trock]

11 and 12 yr olds 'roaming' the ship alone (I say shaking my head in paranoid disbelief)

 

It must be me.. I do not have children.. I have a neice and four nephews all under 5. We live in a two family home.

I could not imagine my sister or myself allowing them to stay out til 10pm when they are 11 yrs old other than camp carnival.. and even that would be a stretch.

Wondering the ship is wondering a small city. Its a vacumn.

It would make me a wreck!..

[trock]

dups dups dups

[halos]

You've already got enough opinions to look at. I just wanted to post to say that you're a very cool grandparent!!!!!! :) It's awesome that you're taking the grandkids on a cruise and I hope you have a FABULOUS time!!!!!!

Your grandchildren will remember this always.

 

(I think grandparents are one of the best things in life!!! :D )

[pastorfrank]

...because I have no idea what we're going to do w/ our older boys in Aug. We've never cruised before & I conjure up all sorts of terrible scenarios. I do trust them but I don't trust anyone else on the ship! I have images of people dragging one of my boys into a cabin ... or a psycho maniac hurling one of them over the railing! I even have wondered if the kids' club staff can handle all those little ones (I have a 4 yr old) if a psycho came by. Yes, I know my thoughts are irrational but I still have them. I just hope dh & I can make the right decisions & still enjoy ourselves when we're apart from the boys.

 

I know!!! We are the same way!! We have cruised as a couple 4 times now...this is the first cruise: Aug 9 on Glory...that our two teenagers (14,13) are going with us...and I keep having nightmares about my daughter having her drink drugged or being grabbed and pulled into a room to be molested...sends shivers up my spine.

 

Now I know that this is an extreme rare thing that happens on cruise ships...extremely rare...but I can't help but be paranoid...which is funny because I am not normally this way.

 

We plan on giving our teens a 1:00pm curfew and a hourly check-in (when they are not with us via walkie/talkie type thing). Our hope is they hang out with Club "C" but no matter what we understand that this will be a different type of cruise for me and my wife....and we just have to be okay with it.

[Carnival Game]

I know!!!

We plan on giving our teens a 1:00pm curfew and a hourly check-in....and we just have to be okay with it.

 

So they'll be out of everyone's way after lunch then? :D

[pastorfrank]

So they'll be out of everyone's way after lunch then? :D

 

:) 1:00 AM...my last post had a typo I guess...either that or we are really strict parents and want our teenagers in bed after lunch :)

[Bunkie103]

Just returned from the Imagination and this is the first time we paid much attention to the kids, but I guess that was because we had our DGDs (8 and 11) with us. I was amazed to see packs of young children roaming the ship alone at night. Now, I must admit we never heard anyone running up and down the hallway or really any noise at night. Our girls spent some time in Camp Carnival, but when not there they were with one of us.

[In2why]

I see 'responsible' kids all the time. I work at a bowling alley and on Saturday nights we have "rock-a-bowl". It is from 10pm to 1:30 am and has a DJ. Lots of beer and amazingly enough lots of preteens and teens. The adult pulls up to drop them off and is gone. I don't know whether they think we are babysitters or what (we aren't).

 

Anyways some of these kids wait for Mom or Dad to pull away then a few minutes later up pulls a car and they hop in. Then there are the young ladies (about 14 maybe) outside on the cell phone while I sat and had a smoke that called 4 or 5 people trying to find a ride at 1 am. I am guessing their parents had no idea where they even were. Or the Mom who called to speak to her child at 11pm and was very angry when we told her we had called over the PA for him repeatedly and he wasn't answering. She showed up screaming at us because we didn't know where her 12 year old was.....never mind that he wasn't on our list and had never even been there according to our records. (of course I wanted to ask her why in the he** she thought it was acceptable for her 12 year old to be in an adult venue until 1:30 without an adult). Of course there are real responsible kids that actually stay. There was a real cute young lady that didn't wear panties under her skirt and then would join the limbo contest. I think she wound up in the backseat of a young man's truck that night. Actually I think there was more than one young man with her. Of course you might ask why don't I protect these kids. Well you see I am there behind a bar. Not there to watch the few kids that parents have sh*ite for brains. It is a family place and it is great when parents and their preteens come in and make a night of it. It is also cool when older teens make a date night of it. But increasingly more and more kids are coming without an adult.....and they are either acting like idiots...or trying to act like adults.

[jimswims]

My son is now 13 and my daughter is about to turn 10.

 

They have never been allowed go to any part of the ship unless they are with a parent or in a Kids Crew program. They have been fine with this. However, since my 13 year old will be almost 14 on the next cruise, there may be some testing of this and we may have to think about some allowances that we think are reasonable during the sea days. He will have supervision in the evenings or he will stay in the cabin. We do try to plan our day with the kids in mind so the activities on board and shore excursions are family events.

 

We will be prepared with a plan for the 13 year old if he asks but I know my daughter and she is a great kid but there is no way that I would allow my 10 year old to be anywhere on a ship without a parent or in the Kids program.

 

I am also not a big fan of the 2- way radios. We do not use them but on our last cruise, there were quite a few families with them and the volume was up on the kids set and the parents were calling a lot to find out where they were. It happened in shows, at dinner, at the pool, in the bathroom, you get the picture. I am sure that the volume was way down on the parents side, but the kids were way up and lots of us could hear.

[momof296&02]

I guess i am the mean strict mom my 11 yr old will be with us at all times.

i will not allow him to roam around the ship. he can do stuff with camp carnival but thats it.

 

 

The above post could've been written by me! I completely trust my son, it's everone els that worries me.

[SL HomeschoolMom]

Our boys were 12 and 14 on their last cruise. They usually came back to the cabin the same time as us, around 1 - 1:30 am. They always needed to be together, never alone. We ran into them often on the ship, and knew they always hung out by the pizza later in the evening. They have travelled extensively, and would be more horrified than most adults at people running or talking in the halls. They are also in a cadet program that believes in giving responsibility, so my older one is regularly in charge of 30 younger teens. In my case, I was not concerned about their safety together, but I would not have wanted them alone anytime, during the day or evening.

[Tbay-eh]

First question: Do you let your pre-teens (12) or 13/14 year olds stay out in the evening by themselves?

 

Second question: If you do how late do you allow?

 

If you don't' date=' what do you allow? [/color']

 

In other words.....how much freedom do you allow in the evenings?

 

This will be our grandkids first cruise. We never had to worry about this before. Our GD is a mature 12 years old....very responsible. However, she is only 12! The other two are 11 & 8...so I think I have that covered.

 

Then again, maybe not........the 8 year old, must stick with us or within eye shot.

:cool: What is their curfew at home, think of the ship as a city but with most of the people adults or early adults. Would you allow even a mature 12 year old out late to mingle with these people. There are all sorts of personalities out there. There are as many weirdos, stalkers and God forbid pedifiles as there would be in any city. I'm not saying this to scare you but too many people feel that it is totally safe but from reading previous threads this is not always the case. It is your call.:cool:

[CruiseCtrl]

Our boys have been on cruises with us when they were 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14. They are the same age so the first rule is always stick together. As they were younger they spent time away from us only in the kids Camp. We tried the walkie-talkie system when they were 10, 12 but basically have eliminated it now. We had them tell us their plans for the evening, which usually involved hanging with kids they met, sometimes in Camp sometimes not. During the sea days, we'd run into them all the time "accidently" and we knew where they were hanging out (usually the basketball courts) so we'd walk by and check on them from time to time.

 

Our biggest issues were once my son walked/ran into a post and had a huge bump on his head. So no running - ever became a rule. Eating at the buffet just before dinner - so no snacks after 3 became a rule. Meet in cabin 1/2 before dinner became a rule, because they were late once. If you have a change of plans, location let us know.

 

The best way for the kids to do this was to phone you and leave a message if you're not there. They could do this from their cabin, or from any phone near the stairs/elevators.

 

Curfew was at midnight, unless there was a legit reason. Some kids camps programs ran until midnight so we gave them to 12:15 to check in.

 

I think during the age 10, 12 we gave them more freedom than they were ready to handle (lax routines, bedtimes, too much soda, eating icecream etc), but by 14 we had it down and it worked out well for everyone. We let them know these were privilages and would be reigned back if they could not handle the resonsibility.

[Nuttycruisegirl]

My son is a mature 14....My rules would be....Must be in the cabin for the night when I am. If he has something going on that is important to him, I will wait for him in a public area till it's over. (like the bar on promenade) And he has to check in every 2 hours unless he is staying in one spot.... (like the karaoke bar) and even then I would drop by and discretely check on him. Plus..If he had a group of friends that he ran with regularly, I would want to meet their parents and know their room numbers. This being said, I think the walkie talkies are great and would allow a bit more freedom. May seem over the top but to me it gives him enough freedom and me some peace of mind. :)

[pauline664]

Thanks everyone for your comments...........I like the leaving a note idea.

Also...I am wondering if instead of walkie talkies we could use our text message on the cell phones??

 

I guess I will insist on meeting her "new ship board" friends......

 

One good thing is that we absolutely require everyone be present for ALL meals..........!! That is 3 check in times right there.

 

We will have to see how it goes and who the friends are' date=' I still think 11 pm is an appropriate time for a 12 year old.........if that!!![/color']

 

I trust her.........it's everyone else I don't trust:eek:

 

I was told on some ship they have whats called DECT phones you could check to see if maybe they will have them on your ship usually it does cost to get these DECT phones from what I am told.

And as far as the other I think that I can speak for myself and my DD that her two dd's will not be allowed anywhere on a cruise ship without myself or there mom. I have a firm belief that at even 11 and 12 there current ages that children left unattended on a cruise ship is like dropping them off at a mall by themselves and since I nor my DD do not allow them to do that we will not be allowing them to just "roam about" the ship by themselves. (besides they would miss us too much!!!!) ( I think?!!!:confused: )

[babyher]

Had my DD and her friend both 16 with us on the Miracle 2 weeks ago. As I wrote earlier gave them a midnight curfew , which was flexible if there was some event going on.

 

One thing I told them. Late at night no going out on a deck outside. Its nearly desserted ,dimly lit, its noisy with the ships engines and the exhaust fans and the wind. There are dark little corners that no one may walk by for quite a while and no one would be able to hear you if you were in trouble.

 

At least inside in public areas, if they are approached or cornered by anyone and they feel threatened in anyway they can scream like hell and someone will hear them and if anything , someone coming to see what the commotion is will scare the offender away.