Hubby's Concerns

[mzche1999]

Hi,

We are thinking of taking our 3 and 6 year old on their first big vacation. My husband's reservations about cruising is the fear of one of them falling overboard. We cruised aboard the Holiday in 01' (before kids) and I don't even remember seeing anything that would cause alarm.

I think he will be more open to others who have done this before. We are currently thinking of the Carnival Pride. Any advice about this ship would also be great.

 

Hugs,

Chelle

[crusinmama06]

There has never (as far as we know) ever been a child that has "fallen overboard". That situation is reserved for the drunk adults or people who want to end their lives.

 

So as long as your 3 and 6 year old aren't drunk...you'll be ok. :p:D

 

But seriously...the kids won't spend anytime on the upper decks alone.

 

The best cabin (if it's in your budget) to get with kids is actually a balcony cabin with a fold out couch (not uppers, don't want them to drop out of the upper bunk, that can and does happen).

 

Use common sense. Don't let them out on the balcony on their own. They won't be able to open the balcony door, believe me it's tough. And don't let them stand on the chairs on the balcony.

 

This is a shot of my kids on a balcony on RCCL Freedom...they were 3 and 7 here (the oldest was 48" tall at the time). The railings will soar over your children's heads.

 

[cb at sea]

For small children, it's virtually impossible for them to "fall" overboard! The rails are much higher than they are tall! The 3 year old will never be out of your sight, anyway, right?

He's worrying about nothing. He's more likely to fall over than the kids!!!!

[CatherineL]

Hi there - I had the same fear when we did the Disney cruise a few years ago. I don't see that it would be so easy for a child to fall and obviously, he won't be running round on his own, so you should be fine.

[chipmaster]

Hi,

We are thinking of taking our 3 and 6 year old on their first big vacation. My husband's reservations about cruising is the fear of one of them falling overboard. We cruised aboard the Holiday in 01' (before kids) and I don't even remember seeing anything that would cause alarm.

I think he will be more open to others who have done this before. We are currently thinking of the Carnival Pride. Any advice about this ship would also be great.

 

Hugs,

Chelle

 

Its easy to start thinking of these kind of what ifs with young children. I can confirm what the others have said. The railings are high and no way can anyone slip thru. As the OP said anyone who falls over is either drunk or doing truely stupid things.

 

On 3 cruises with kids as young as 2 we never had a worry.

 

Your kids will be safe and you'll have a blast! Here is another picture showing the railing around the edge on Princess

[2kidsforus]

We have taken our two kids on three cruises in the past three years and have the fourth planned for this march. Cruising is a win/win vacation for everyone. The kids loved the kids club, our daughter came back each night with fancy hats and makeup on like a princess, and we enjoyed dinner alone in the specialty restraunts. Kids will not fall overboard, unless you pick them up and throw them over yourself. We have had a suite, two ajoining balcony cabins, and an outside cabin. Go for the suite or ajoining cabins, kids have their space and you have yours!! Enjoy!

[mjmalino]

I was actually worried before our first cruise, but it really wasn't anything to worry about. Here is a picture of my son (9 YO at the time) and 54"

[ncmomof2]

Here's a couple more reassuring pix. This was on the old Carnival Celebration before it was retired. Notice that on this older ship although there were spaces between the railing that a child could conceivably climb through, they'd filled in the spaces with rope mesh. I haven't seen such spaces on newer ships. DS was not quite 3 (~40" tall) and DD turned 8 on the cruise (~51" tall). In the pic of DS by himself, there is an additional wooden railing out of sight above his head -- you can see it in the pic of the two of them together.

 

[mzche1999]

WHEW! I just wanted to thank everyone for their input! The pictures of your gorgeous children has reinforced that it is time for our boys to get some serious vacation fun under their belts. I had hubby read each of your posts and it has really put his mind at ease.

Now, I am just researching to get the best rate on our room. Thanks again!

 

Hugs,

Chelle

[readytolose]

I'm glad I read this thread.

 

We have our cruise booked for April and I've still been worried about the 2 year old falling overboard. I couldn't remember from our first (and only) cruise if there were spaces between the railings that he would be able to crawl through. We won't be taking our eyes off him but it still was a worry for me.

 

The pictures have put my mind more at rest!

[fisherhum]

I completely agree with all the other posts about it being difficult for a child to get over the railings. Just in case you decide to go on a different ship, here's a picture of the kids in front of our balcony on RCL Rhapsody of the Seas. They were 6 and 4 at the time.:cool:

[MinnieGi]

Thank you for asking this question b/c it is my BIG concern too!!!!!! I have a 4yo who is a climbing monkey and I am nervous about taking him onto the cruise. It will be just me and my two kids, the 4yo and 8yo DD. 8yo DD's dance team is dancing on the Carnival Sensation in June and I want to bring DS too but I'm just nervous about him and his climbing. I liked seeing everyone's pictures and how high the railings are especially that many seem to be straight up without railings. Now the one picture of the railings with only mesh scares me, DS would be scaling that no problem. Does anyone know what kind of railings the Sensation has?? Thanks!

 

Gi

[ncmomof2]

Now the one picture of the railings with only mesh scares me, DS would be scaling that no problem. Does anyone know what kind of railings the Sensation has?? Thanks!

 

I can't tell you about the Sensation, but that was my pic and I can tell you that not all decks on that ship had railings like that -- most were solid. So, theoretically, you could avoid the problem decks. However, that pic was taken right by the kids' splash pool. I just looked at the Sensation's deck plans, and they don't have a pool like that, so no worries there. See if you can find pix that show the railings around the WaterWorks, that would probably be the place he would run around the most. I do have to say that my little guy (in the pic) is a climbing monkey too and he never tried to climb that railing -- partly because he could already see through it. He was much more likely to try to find a way to climb near solid railings because he wanted to be able to see. Luckily, that was a much more difficult proposition, so it was never an issue.

[guk]

I too was really nervous as my DD is always climbing, I was convinced that she'd be able to climb the railing on the independence although everyone else said not but just reasoned she'd never be on her own anyway, always people about to stop her climbing if for some horrid reason I did temporarily loose her and the chances of her falling in a pool was more likely to happen than overboard, yet that didn't plague me like falln overboard. Just kept her in buggy or glued to me when on decks with the railings as could never relax fully when out on deck with her ued to get very stoppy if anyone dared pck her up near railing also. I was probably just oversensitive as everyone we were with kept telling m I was paranoid!!!

[brenderlou]

We have a 4 yr old that has been on several cruises with us and the only thing I ever worry about is what our sign and sail total will end up being :eek:!!

 

Seriously though, another thing I have noticed about the rails is that they seem to be built at an angle. Here's an example of the angle and the deck:

 

rail deck

/_________

 

the bottom line is the deck so the rail is tilted in a little on the ships we have been on. I think that also hinders little ones from climbing but our daughter has NEVER climbed on a rail and we are always with her unless she's in the kid's camp.

[dolphinwyo]

We were in an extended balcony room on the Pride last week (missing it right now!), anyway - we traveled with a DD, 7, and DS, 4, and had no worries. Rules set for the balcony - never out on balcony without adult, don't stand on chairs, etc. and they really took them to heart. The pools on the Pride Lido deck are on decks with glass window walls, no railings near them, Camp Carnival isn't near any railings at all - interior at front of ship. I have had people tell me they would never cruise with kids as they would be afraid they would fall overboard, but after 3 cruises, I tell them it would be really difficult - you would have to not be watching your children at all in order for that to happen. My DS is a climber, always has been, but he took the railings and balcony talks seriously - just looked down at the water, that was enough to instill some healthy fear. Enjoy the Pride if you decide on that ship - we loved it!

[alohagirl808]

We had the same worries too with our 4 yr old son. We took our very first cruise on the Pride in a balcony cabin. We set the ground rules up front...no going on the balcony by himself and no standing on chairs. My son is not always a conformist at home, but he did follow these rules. Here's pictures...

[CKEA_Cruising_Family]

Hi Chelle - When are you considering the Pride? I'll be on the 5/30 sailing with a 3 and 5 year old. :D

 

Christine

[rebeccalouise]

No worries about the children falling overboard.

 

But, and this might just be me, I would never allow my kids to use those waterslides on Carnival unless we were docked. They give me the willies, even when the ship isn't moving!

[Eclipsepearl]

I just wanted to add that when we were on the Celebrity Galaxy a couple of summers ago, there were railings where a child could fall. They were nowhere near any of the children's facilities and there was no risk of falling overboard. In theory, a child could fall on to a lower deck, which could be serious, but anything bordering the sea was secure.

 

This was an older ship on a cruise line that caters to, but doesn't heavily market to families. There were very few of these types of railings, in areas we didn't spend much time. Virtually all the rest were well high enough and had no spaces to crawl through.

 

Keeping an eye on them should do the trick. Just don't assume all railings around the ship are totally safe. You wouldn't let them climb on any railings anyway, no matter what was on the other side. Just common sense.

[Terpnut]

One other thing that I've posted before, but will say again here, is that many stateroom balconies and most deck railings do not overhang the ocean! If I or a child were to jump off these balconies, you'd land on either someone else's balcony or a lifeboat cover. Many aft stateroom balconies, for example, are tiered so they almost all overlook another aft balcony directly below. On RCI Radiance-class, as another example, jumping off virtually all the non-hump, mid-ship balconies above deck 7 would result in you landing on a deck 7 balcony.

 

So IF all the reassuring posts here still don't give you 100% peace of mind AND you still want a balcony stateroom, I suggest you book one of these types of staterooms. My wife REALLY worried about the risks of kids falling or jumping overboard but once she realized that most balconies on many modern cruiseships don't line up vertically, she felt much better!