This discussion is for those planning on cruising with children who are old enough to be "on their own" on a ship. I have read in a few other discussions that people typically have great experiences on cruises, except for an incidence or two of having to exercise extreme patience for young cruisers and their newly found freedom on a ship.
On my last cruise with my husband, we expected that there would be several kids on board since it was during the Christmas holiday. What we didn't expect was some of the behavior that we saw from the children of other cruisers.
Let me be specific. On our first sea day, there were 2 young boys (about 12 or so) that grabbed 2 ice cream cones each from the Lido deck cafeteria, were running all around the Lido rubbing ice cream all over each other and throwing it at each other. A handful of cruisers were hit with flying ice cream as well as a trail of ice cream dribble that traced their path around the pool area. One of the boys then put a mouth full of ice cream in his mouth and deliberatly spit it out on the poolside entertainment stage. Needless, to say, I was aphalled by this behavior, and being a teacher, refused to simply complain and overlook their actions.
I kept my eyes out for an adult responsible for these 2 young men and happened to spot them talking to a woman. I approached her politely, introduced myself and calmly described the boys behavior for the past 1/2 hour. Luckily, she was shocked and (whew) completely on my side and took care of her parenting business! After that, any time I saw those same boys on the ship, they were behaving appropriately.
Moral of the story is this....
Parents travelling with kids; PLEASE have lots of conversation regarding appropriate behavior on a cruise. Some kids really need to be reminded that their newly found freedoms come with responsibilities as well. Everyone is on the ship to relax and have a good time, and can do so if the young ones have a good idea of what proper cruise etiquette looks like.
Thanks!
This discussion is for those planning on cruising with children who are old enough to be "on their own" on a ship. I have read in a few other discussions that people typically have great experiences on cruises, except for an incidence or two of having to exercise extreme patience for young cruisers and their newly found freedom on a ship.
On my last cruise with my husband, we expected that there would be several kids on board since it was during the Christmas holiday. What we didn't expect was some of the behavior that we saw from the children of other cruisers.
Let me be specific. On our first sea day, there were 2 young boys (about 12 or so) that grabbed 2 ice cream cones each from the Lido deck cafeteria, were running all around the Lido rubbing ice cream all over each other and throwing it at each other. A handful of cruisers were hit with flying ice cream as well as a trail of ice cream dribble that traced their path around the pool area. One of the boys then put a mouth full of ice cream in his mouth and deliberatly spit it out on the poolside entertainment stage. Needless, to say, I was aphalled by this behavior, and being a teacher, refused to simply complain and overlook their actions.
I kept my eyes out for an adult responsible for these 2 young men and happened to spot them talking to a woman. I approached her politely, introduced myself and calmly described the boys behavior for the past 1/2 hour. Luckily, she was shocked and (whew) completely on my side and took care of her parenting business! After that, any time I saw those same boys on the ship, they were behaving appropriately.
Moral of the story is this....
Parents travelling with kids; PLEASE have lots of conversation regarding appropriate behavior on a cruise. Some kids really need to be reminded that their newly found freedoms come with responsibilities as well. Everyone is on the ship to relax and have a good time, and can do so if the young ones have a good idea of what proper cruise etiquette looks like.
Thanks!
I also think that parents should be reminded to actually spend some time with their kids. Once you take them along, it becomes a family vacation, IMHO.
LisaP <-- mom to a 14-year-old veteran of 23 family cruises
Excelent post and I agree completely with the advise and your actions in notifying the parent. Your (whew) comment was also appreciated as there are some parents who's children can do no wrong and would have accused you of being the villian, picking on her poor darlings. Very happy that was not the case here.
Rich makes a very good point as well about choosing your timing and cruiseline carefully so your cruise meets your expectations. I like RCCL and Carnival very much off season but refuse to sail them during times when kiddos are out of school. That way I only have to be on guard for the adults (and minimal numbers of children) who can't behave with civility. Fortunately there have been only a few of the poorly behaved in my cruising experiences.
As a fellow traveler with a similar story as Lisa - our son is going on 14 and has cruised 20 times I think - let me say that even on the "kid intensive" cruises most of us parents hate the spoiled apples too. All I can do is ensure that my son isn't a participant, and he never has been because we instilled proper discipline in him while growing up.
But still we are bound to the school schedule as to when we can take cruises. I really hate it when I see people on our cruises who obviously have an issue with all the kids aboard. They aren't happy, and it ruins it for them. And they also often harbor anger towards me for no real reason other than I have a kid on "their" cruise. All I can think of is "you people weren't thinking when you booked this, or you have a lousy agent".
I love the idea of a mix of cruisers, including kids! When it comes to pool-side "people watching", kids are the best. They really know how to have a good time, however, the boys I'm referring to were a little more than tolerable. I too am very thankful that the mom, in this case, was very receptive to my concerns, as it should be. I guess the kids shouldn't be singled out when it comes to bad cruise etiquitte...but at least they are young and have a chance to learn...adults with bad cruise etiquitte? Hmmmm....a lost cause I'm afriad!
After introducing the little ones to Davey Jones' locker, Robert yells, "Child Overboard!" and quickly vacates the scene. Robert to be observed later sipping rum punch poolside and contentedly whistling "I Shot the Sheriff."
Linear Mode
