RCI is not a Baby Sitter

[Bookit]

TwelveOhOne,

 

Thanks for updating about the week break (Texas) in the Plano area -- a new one for me, and I like to keep up with them! :D

[springtxbill]

I cannot understand the way some people parent.

The trouble is that some don't.

[Jacquelyn11]

I remember when I was in school in the 60's and 70's that kids in the 4-H club would show the animals they raised, veggies or flowers they had grown, or things they had made at the state fair for judging. I know in GA they don't seem to promote this anymore. Do they do this in other states? I was wondering if this was a reason they had "Fair Week".

 

My husband and son just went on a 4-H trip to Rock Eagle. The lessons were more ecology and survival skills minded. I guess they don't need to know "secrets to grow the biggest pumpkin" anymore!

 

Back on the subject, we cruise the end of May prior to Memorial day because most school systems in other states are not out for the summer yet. My kids last day is May 20th 2005. Ga schools tend to go back the 2nd week of August, so they get out eariler. FL schools are even before that! We have a few scattered days in the fall, but usually the two weeks at Christmas and the first week in April for Spring Break.

 

Jacquelyn :D

[KStevens79]

No flames here and I didn't read all the other posts.

Don't know where there is "fall break," my kids never had one. Just two weeks at Christmas.

Sorry things were so out of hand. Makes you wonder what these kids are like at home...

[Sophie]

I work at a High School and know just how much things can get out of control with kids. Especially younger ones. The new freshmen we get every year learn very quickly that we don't tolerate bad behavior.

 

Sorry you had to put up with this on your cruise. We always cruise when there are very few kids for this reason.

[Just_Cruising]

It probably does not help that Adventure Ocean runs both kids-only and family scavenger hunts for the different age groups with incentives for winning. So needless to say, even the more disciplined kids have trouble controlling themselves with prize coupons at stake. Maybe the cruise line can be contacted about eliminating this specific activity to at least control some of the "damage" on a couple of the days...

[springtxbill]

Turning glasses full of liquid ove at the Winjammer and laughing as you walk is not part of a game.:)

[robc]

Well, I guess I will step into this mess and tell you my perspective. I too was on this cruise with my two sons (8 yo). Plano,TX and Keller, TX public scholls were on fall break and there were a LOT of kids on this cruise. I also heard the numerous announcements fron the CD and Captain. I was not in the large group that had booked but the one you were referring to was 80 familes (I was told).

 

The problems I noticed were isolated and did not bother me that much. We kept our sons with us or in the kids club. The only running around they did was at the pool. However, I did see a lot of unsupervised children (or what seemed to be unsupervised children) but most were not causing any trouble.

 

I don't think the scavenger hunts are a problem. On this cruise I did not see any running wild kids participating in a scavenger hunt. I did see several well behaved familes and children.

 

I think this problem was a triangle. (1) There were some irresponsible parents no doubt. I know one young child was completely unsupervised for at least 8 hours on a sea day. I know because he spent the time with us and our sons. I know his parents had no idea where he was and didn't seem to care. (2) This particular ship has woefully inadequate facilities to entertain kids. Rhapsody is a beautiful ship and the crew very friendly but the kids club for my sons age group (6-8) was about 20 ft by 15 ft. The teen area was small as well. As a result, we had to spend time with our children and entertaining them (GASP!) but I think many didn't care to do so. The problem would have been better had the facilites been better/larger. We have sailed some of the newer ships and this does not seem to be as big a problem because more attention/space is given to these kids facilities. An example of this problem/ship design - the 24 hour cafe that served hot dogs, hamburger and pizza, the standard kid fare - is located in the Solarium, a traditional adults only area. This didn't seem to make sense to me. (3) It is hard to keep teens in tow. They want to do their own thing. Because the facilities were so small they tend to hang around in groups and sometimes in places where most of us wish they weren't.

 

Having said all that, I am not sure there is a great solution. To me, this issue did not ruin my cruise as I noticed it only a few times. We had a great time regardless. I do think that I will restrict my future cruises with kids to the larger ships which are prepared to handle them and keep this type ship for my adult only cruises. You NEVER know how many kids will be on a cruise but unless you sail the more exclusive lines there always will be. There are plenty of adult only activities and these were well enforced.

[Sea Island Lady]

My son is on Fall Break this week. His break last a full week and we think it is ridiculous! We would have preferred he have an extra week of summer.

 

When a new schedule was announced for our city schools two years ago, and "Fall Break" came up, we could not believe it! Parents here decided that their children need another vacation just because they are out of school, so off they go.:rolleyes: It is a great cheaper time to cruise, but just because kids are out doesn't mean it has to be "vacation" time.

 

We just returned from an 17 day cruise and land trip while my son was IN school. Why did we not wait until he could go with us? ... He already had a cruise this past summer. What is he doing this week while on his school break? ...WORKING and resting at home!

 

Some kids are spoiled rotten, but I am proud to say that my son knows that rude behavior is not accepted and he knows better than to cause trouble. Shame on parents that do not watch their kids and teach them how to respect others.

[michaelsmom]

expect it to be harder to find times when all kids are in school. Plano does have a fall break last week and many school systems are off this week.

 

across the country, many states (North Carolina is the latest) are mandating start dates that make year round school nearly impossible. Our state, georgia, will consider such legislation this year.

 

My sister in law went to Disney (she lives in Plano) one fall break and said she new 1/2 the people there.

[Maria65]

Just an FYI, the children of NJ will be on cruises departing 10/30 and 10/31 this year. The teacher's convention is Thursday and Friday following election day. Some districts here have given up and just give the whole week off because so many NJ families choose to travel this week.

[bUU]

I'm hoping we're "safe," given that it is a three-night cruise, heading home on the Monday after school has already started-up again.

[CathyG]

You know what wrong with these posts? The people that should be reading them aren't!! I hope I never cruise with a group like you did.

[spatz]

My husband and I just got off the Explorer of the seas last week. We expeirenced about ten unruly darlings. My husband is handicapped and we were trying to get on the elavator when the kids came running off and just about knocked him down. I told them to stop running but they just laughed at us and continued to play on the stairs and the elavators. When we got to out floor and tried to get off there they were again . Just running and being a nusiance. But there were also some very polite kids on board that were very well-behaved. Just goes to show parents make the difference.

 

just linda

[dougp26364]

but I don't know what can really be done.

 

What can be done? Make the parents responsible for their childs behavior. Putting a few of them off the ship at the next port would not only solve the problem for that trip but for future trips as well. Those irresponsible parents would be ticked at RCI and go somewhere else. Word of mouth would eventually get around and others would either keep an eye on the childs behavior, enforce their childs behavior or find a vacation other than a cruise.

 

Kids will be kids. I remember doing stupid stuff when I was a teenager. I also remember keeping it within limits because I knew what would happen at home if I went to far. I would be held responsible for my actions.

[caribbeandiva]

[quote name='Maria65']Just an FYI, the children of NJ will be on cruises departing 10/30 and 10/31 this year. The teacher's convention is Thursday and Friday following election day. Some districts here have given up and just give the whole week off because so many NJ families choose to travel this week.[/QUOTE]
Can you say where these cruises are leaving from? I have a horrible sinking feeling in my stomach.:eek:

[bUU]

Parents are already responsible for their children's behavior. I think Fraize's question is how to operationalize that maxim. I believe your suggestion isn't practical: Unfortunately, misbehaving children are somewhat of a sacred cow in our society, especially when no physical harm or substantial property damage was incurred.

[FSHLOT]

Now everyone has me worried!!!...We are scheduled for a Thanksgiving week cruise in '05 on the Voyager.We usually cruise in Sept.,due to the fact that kids are just returning to school.We try to avoid what happened on this poor couple's cruise!!But being that the kids are gonna be off that week,do you think there will be alot of kids on a Thanksgiving cruise?......Boy,i sure hope not!!!....I don't mind kids,but when i'm on vacation,i don't want a bunch of SCREAMING kids running around and being obnoxious!!!....HAPPY CRUISING...BILL(FSHLOT)

[imsulin]

Thanksgiving Cruise on the Voyager - expect LOTS of kids!! Any time there is a scheduled break for major Holidays, you can just bet that lots of families with kids will be onboard!! Fall Break (a week in October) has been a standard thing not just down here (AL), but across most of the US for several years. In fact, if you look at the Disney World prices, they go down in September, but go back up to summer rates in October, and than down again in November until Thanksgiving. Many school districts are now starting school in early August (like down here), so that they can get in 9 weeks of school before the first grading period, and then Fall Break kicks in - a week off in October. I'm not at all surprised that the OP had such a dismal experience with the unsupervised (dare I say it...brats?) kids. Sympathetic - YES!!! Nothing I hate more than a bunch of kids making cruise life miserable for everyone! Just not surprised.

[Fraize]

[quote name='bicker']...how to operationalize that maxim...[/QUOTE]
I think what can be done is a reasonable deposit be paid by the parents bringing kids on board. They get it back if there are no reported instances of bad behavior. Of course, this deposit needs to be small enough to not heavily discourage children on board (some were downright delightful), but large enough to encourage good behavior.

[sayhello]

[quote name='Maria65']Just an FYI, the children of NJ will be on cruises departing 10/30 and 10/31 this year. The teacher's convention is Thursday and Friday following election day. Some districts here have given up and just give the whole week off because so many NJ families choose to travel this week.[/QUOTE] Totally OT here, but you really have to wonder how many of these NJ families have made provisions for absentee ballots? This kind of encourages folks to forget to vote, seeing as they'll be far, far away on election day.... :(

sayhello

[goodml]

[quote name='FSHLOT']Now everyone has me worried!!!...We are scheduled for a Thanksgiving week cruise in '05 on the Voyager.We usually cruise in Sept.,due to the fact that kids are just returning to school.We try to avoid what happened on this poor couple's cruise!!But being that the kids are gonna be off that week,do you think there will be alot of kids on a Thanksgiving cruise?......Boy,i sure hope not!!!....I don't mind kids,but when i'm on vacation,i don't want a bunch of SCREAMING kids running around and being obnoxious!!!....HAPPY CRUISING...BILL(FSHLOT)[/QUOTE]
There are usually MANY kids on board the week of U.S. Thanksgiving. We quite often sail either the week before or the week after because there are usually great deals for either of those two weeks. Last year, we sailed on the Victory the week before Thanksgiving and there were 60 kids on board. One of the counsellors for the kid's program told me they were expecting over 500!! the following week. You may want to beg your employer for a different week off!:)

[bUU]

So how do folks identify which child was the culprit in an instance of observed bad behavior? Regardless, I cannot imagine such a "deposit" resulting in anything other that heated outrage from parents, and incredibly horrendous publicity for the cruise line.

[DON M.]

[quote name='bicker']I'm hoping we're "safe," given that it is a three-night cruise, heading home on the Monday [i]after [/i]school has already started-up again.[/QUOTE]
I have heard 400 kids have been booked on your cruise and they all smoke.

[FSHLOT]

Thanks for the responses guys and gals!!...I will definetly be thinking about this one.It's a repositioning cruise,and got a really great deal.If the boat will be having over 200 kids i will be planning a different trip!!What good is a deal if you don't have fun?!!