At what age do child roam around loose on cruises?

I've never cruised, but back in the 60s I "crossed" with my family. Even my *very* strict parents (didn't let me wander 3 blocks from home in our small college town until I was 14) let me wander about loose, just checking back in periodically by the time I was 9.

What is the general age now? Kiddo will be on a cruise with hubby, and it will be mid-fall and thus far only 7 children above 6 are booked, and the line says the organized kids events aren't going if there are less than 20 children (which is fine by us, it's just kiddo will be itching to be footloose, and he'll stand out). What say ye?

Only you know your child and his/her " street smarts". Some parents are sure there's a pedophile lurking behind every door waiting to pounce on any passing child, and other parents feel comfortable letting their kids experience a little independence. Provided you establish some simple ground rules your child fully understands and complies with I don't think there should be a problem. Other parents take a much less tolerant approach. Let the flaming begin!!

Wasn't a pedophile on a cruise ship just sent to jail?

I feel that children are fine in the ship organized activities as long as their parents drop them off and pick them up (not sure what the age should be on this requirement).

The more think about it the more variables there are.

I'm not only thinking of the possible harm that can come to your child but to the yelling, screaming, running, etc. that children tend to do when they are not supervised. Going on a cruise ship is a vacation and some parents think they can let their children literally run around crazy and that they will be someone else's problem.

IMO, no one other than the parents are responsible for their children -- both for their safety and their behavior around others in public places. Parents that embrace that responsibility are perfectly capable of determining if and for how long their child can be out of their immediate presence.

This is such a tough one because it depends on the child. I have seen 12/13/14 year old children roaming on their own and extremely well behaved and have seen 15/16/17 year old teenagers acting horribly.:confused:

I agree with the previous poster...it just depends on the child. Even if they are well behaved, I would still be apprehensive in certain situations. (what time of day/night is it?).

I am sure, you as parents, will make the correct decision and have a wonderful time.:);)

This really all is based on the age of the children but also on their maturity.

No matter their maturity we also had guidelines for our children and even at the right ages we had set times to meet up, etc. and a lot of rules.

Keith

Agree with the above. I set ground rules for our teens including a time they had to be back in the cabin. Unfortunately there are those out there that will prey on children even on cruise ships (and IIRC the one that was just sentenced molested kids in the hot tubs with hundreds of people around).

I've never cruised, but back in the 60s I "crossed" with my family. Even my *very* strict parents (didn't let me wander 3 blocks from home in our small college town until I was 14) let me wander about loose, just checking back in periodically by the time I was 9.

 

What is the general age now? Kiddo will be on a cruise with hubby, and it will be mid-fall and thus far only 7 children above 6 are booked, and the line says the organized kids events aren't going if there are less than 20 children (which is fine by us, it's just kiddo will be itching to be footloose, and he'll stand out). What say ye?

The ship is a small city and today is nothing like the 60's. How old is the child and until what time are they allowed to be out on their own at home?

"It depends on the child". What would have been your opinion about *your* child, assuming they are of normal physical and mental health, and a normal IQ and a normal sense of not letting strangers touch you or take you anywhere unless they say your family code word?

What is "done"? At your side until age 21? How about 16? What age children do you see walking about?

(I'm not so worried about kiddo running about bothering other people. If anything he is too concerned about how other people view him, and would hate to deserve any approbation. I also realize children change, and do go through spunky stretches. I also won't be there, and hubby is not always the best judge of "what is done". I mean, are people going to track him down and tell him horror stories the way someone might if you left a sleeping baby in the car while you got out to buy a paper from a vending machine, with baby in sight the whole time .... because that happened to him.)

YMMV, there are two elements to the wander independent

1) What is the child/children's maturity along and also in a crowd. Kids that are the best along can somtimes go crazy with the crowds

2) Where you are.. there are children that are very mature and responsible at a young age, but where you'd leave them along has nothing to do with their maturity and behavior but the enviroment.

For my kids they were allowed to wanter "togather" when they were 7 and 9, but even my youngest who is 11 now is NOT allowed to wander alone on a ship.

Until my kids were in their mid-teens, they had to physically check in with me between activities. I didn't mind letting them go here or there for specific reasons...but just "roaming"???? No way.

a 27 day south Pacific cruise will have very few children onboard. so for the kids club to have a minimum of 20 kids participate is going to be quite hard.

If your kids are roaming- just set up rules for them-- like they must always stay in pairs and NOT going into cabin areas should be musts.

One quick test, is the child allowed to go to the mall without adult supervision? The same threats apply here.

One quick test, is the child allowed to go to the mall without adult supervision? The same threats apply here.

Interesting. We let our kids walk around the ship on their own before I would let them be on their own in a shopping mall. I never considered the threat to be the same on any of the cruise ships/lines we sailed with relative to a shopping mall.

Keith

I'm going to answer your question with another question.

How serene would you feel allowing your child to roam independently & freely (even w/ periodic check-ins) around a hotel resort complex, an amusement park, a midsized airport, or a small sports stadium unaccompanied for the duration of a vacation?

Like a cruise ship these places are generally a set of self contain temporary small "communities", with all the complications that involve a bunch of relative strangers together for the first time. As the child's parent it will be up to you to make the initial assessment of how secure the cruise enviroment is, and I do suggest waiting till on board to make this judgement. In other threads it has been posted a ship needs to be big enough to house, feed, and entertain all of it's passengers and support the crew (potentially a few hundred to a few thousand people). So even when a ship is referred to as small you're still looking at a venue that is at least the size of a football field per however many decks the ship has.

So do take any precautions that you see fit with your child, including writing down and drilling to memory with the child the rules for the vacation. Remember that it easier to loosen an established restriction as a reward than to place a new one based on newly discovered facts. Especially once one is able to reason out for themselves that something was allowed before but unable to see current consequence as to why the new restriction applies to them.

Also the parent(s)/guardian(s) will need to be flexible. That may mean that the parent/guardian needs to trade off or delay an adult activity that they wanted to do, to accompany the young cruiser to an activity area. Another option is to budget and pay extra for private babysitting, if available.

Many (not all) children do tend to make "friends" fast where ever they go, but what they consider a friend an adult would see as an acquaintance based on a singular shared interest. Personally on the the 8 cruises I've been on I've seen relatively shy children (as young as 9) that just want to belong with a group get talked into things that they would not do on thir own by others their age (minor things like canon balls into the pool or entering the gym unaccompanied). I'm not saying don't let your child go off w/ a similar aged acquaintances made on the ship, I'm saying just make sure there is a chaperone that agrees with the rules you establish. Someone that is able to make a good judgement call and reason w/ those that can't make a quick decision to keep themselves out of trouble/danger in a new enviroment.

In the case of my own son he did not cruise until he was 11, at which time he was allowed to sign himself out of the children's camp to eat at the buffet (& main dining room) or return to the cabin provided he notified us first by hand held radio. If he was found by us any where else not previously approved by us, he knew he would be confined to the cabin or kid's camp w/out sign out privileges. As he aged we allowed more public areas of the ship to be visited, ie. the arcade and pools. But until he was 18 and held responsible by the cruiseline for his own actions he still needed to inform us before leaving a planned activity's venue for a new part of the ship.

every ship has a curfew. if they are NOT participating in organized kids club activities or in the kid's club/lounge.. they must be in the presence of their parents( or in the cabin) as early as 11 pm and as late as 1 am.

many Kids clubs do NOT offer the option of self checkout until the kids are like 10.. you may deny permission at any time even if they are of an age.

My guess is, if there are truly that few kids on board they will all end up together anyway out of sheer boredom/desperation.

Too many variables to consider. I prefer to wait until on board and get a feel for that first evening. My 11yo last cruise was given signin/signout privilege with the requirement that he checkin by walkie talkie when he was leaving the youth program. When he checked in he has to let us know where he was going and his authorized destinations were limited to the pool, sport deck, buffet, arcade, and our cabin. He knows that failure to comply results in the loss of the priviledge. This worked out very well and we always found him where he said he would be.

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

Interesting. We let our kids walk around the ship on their own before I would let them be on their own in a shopping mall. I never considered the threat to be the same on any of the cruise ships/lines we sailed with relative to a shopping mall.

 

Keith

IMO, malls are a bit safer as they don't have bedrooms available so close to where a child is roaming.

Wasn't a pedophile on a cruise ship just sent to jail?

 

I feel that children are fine in the ship organized activities as long as their parents drop them off and pick them up (not sure what the age should be on this requirement).

Yes, there was a pedofile on a cruise ship sent to jail. He was also the "children's activity supervisor" in the kids club with free access to lots and lots of children. You shouldn't assume a child is "safer" in a child care facility. Pedofiles often try to find a position- childcare, school teacher, coach, youth leader- where they have unsupervised access to lots of kids.

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2012/02/articles/sexual-assault-of-minors/cunard-child-supervisor-arrested-for-sexually-molesting-child-during-cruise/

IMO, malls are a bit safer as they don't have bedrooms available so close to where a child is roaming.

You know we were very protective of our children. Probably more protective than most other people we know. We did not let them go to malls or be most places on their own. Even when they first drove we were very protective.

They began to cruise with us at relatively young ages. When young for the youth programs they went into the programs. As teenagers that began to change. We had good rules for them. We had set times to meet. We were very clear on this.

With that said, I never worried about them being on their own on the cruise ship given all of this. It was one of the few places that we felt that we could give them some independence.

We were not naive. And as I say you will not meet too many people who were as protective as we were.

But we felt fortunate that we could give them freedom on a cruise ship.

Maybe it was the cruise lines we sailed on.

Can something happen anywhere? Sure.

It can even happen to an adult and to put this in perspective when in port I would never let my wife go out on her own. I think going in a pair makes sense.

Anyway, things do happen even at schools or places of worship.

Life is about choices and balances. While we were protective, we definitely gave more freedom on the cruise ship.

Bottom line. It all depends on ages and then each child.

Two adults can be very different and the same applies to two children.

Keith

I allowed my 12 year old daughter the freedom to roam on our cruise last summer. However, she is very mature and responsible and was almost always in a group with 2-3 other kids her age. Between myself and my husband, my two teen sons, and the parents and older siblings of her friends, there were plenty of people around the ship watching out for them. They were very rarely in a place (other than the kids club) where there wasn't someone they knew nearby. We did prep her in advance about rules such as not going in someone's room, not accepting drinks from strangers, etc. We left notes and phone messages regularly. Oh, and the fact that she's a 2nd degree black belt doesn't hurt!

OTOH, when my kids first cruised in 2001, my oldest was only 8 and I wouldn't have dreamed of letting him or the others out of my sight!

every ship has a curfew. if they are NOT participating in organized kids club activities or in the kid's club/lounge.. they must be in the presence of their parents( or in the cabin) as early as 11 pm and as late as 1 am.

 

many Kids clubs do NOT offer the option of self checkout until the kids are like 10.. you may deny permission at any time even if they are of an age.

 

My guess is, if there are truly that few kids on board they will all end up together anyway out of sheer boredom/desperation.

I have sailed Princess, Royal and Carnival and never saw a curfew. and if there was a curfew it is not enforced

when they areold enough to be paying for their cruise then they can roam as they please

every ship has a curfew. if they are NOT participating in organized kids club activities or in the kid's club/lounge.. they must be in the presence of their parents( or in the cabin) as early as 11 pm and as late as 1 am.

 

many Kids clubs do NOT offer the option of self checkout until the kids are like 10.. you may deny permission at any time even if they are of an age.

 

My guess is, if there are truly that few kids on board they will all end up together anyway out of sheer boredom/desperation.

Sorry, but this is not true. There are a few that have curfews and thats it and they are rarely inforced. :)

Obviously this is a difficult subject. There is a board that addresses family issues -- here is a link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49 . IMO, the OP is the best person to determine whether or not her child can be left alone. And to the poster who does "not care" if their child(ren) disturb others...... shame on you!:mad:

I have sailed Princess, Royal and Carnival and never saw a curfew. and if there was a curfew it is not enforced

It was clearly printed( albeit in small print) on the daily planners on Enchantment last week. as for enforcement.. ehh I was in bed LONG before that so I have no idea.