Need help reassuring my 8 year old son

Take a look for a children's book called "My Ocean Liner: Across the Atlantic on the Great Ship Normandie," by Peter Mandel. It was published more than 10 years ago, so I do not know of its availability. It tells the story of an ocean crossing, though the eyes of a 9-year-old. It was wonderfully done, IMO.

I am very aware of how you feel. When we booked our first family cruise it was to Alaska and my son was only 2 months into 7 years of age. His anxiety came from something I said, so I felt very guilty. I guess it was in a bad-mommy moment I told him if he behaved badly they would not allow us back on the ship so he interpreted that to mean that we would leave him up in Alaska on shore while we sailed away!:eek: DH and I had been on a large Princess ship where the children were wild, and I do mean very badly behaved, and so I knew he would follow if given the chance. I guess I over did it.

I was very upset with myself but heck, I was just trying to impress on him that his dad and I would not tolerate any bad behaviour (he doesn't usually behave badly but I didn't want to take any chances).

I reassured him that we would never do that! But it took a long time for him to tell me why he was getting more and more anxious as the time of sailing approached.

Then on the first morning, at breakfast in the Lido, he got a look out the window and said in a loud voice "Mummy, you never told me the boat was going to move". A few people spit out their coffee at that one! He was so excited about being in Club Hal and loving being on the ship that he forgot us leaving Vancouver the afternoon before.

I know you are sailing from Seattle, but during the inside passage route we were so close to land at times it felt like we could actually reach out and touch the trees...not really, but that close. Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm Fjord are also times when you are very close to land.

Your son will have a wrist band, as others have stated, and a great staff in Club Hal who are used to children and their worries. We chose HAL because of the staff in Club Hal. My son just can't wait for the next cruise he loves it so much and his worries of being told to "get off" are long gone.

A picture is worth 1,000 words so here you go:

1of4 -that last picture is more way more than a 1000 words!!

Great photos Gail. Looking forward to meeting you and your clan next April. The other proud Canadian Gail.:):D:)

Without explaining about the Costa ship, remind him why ships cannot cruise too close to shore either.

Once he's indoors and away from decks and windows, I'm sure he will forget he's on a ship, anyway.

I'm assuming that a visit to a glacier may be part of your trip? If so, there may be icebergs (though rather small ones) that will bump into the ship. If your cabin is on the A-Deck, you will see and hear them.

Just something to keep in mind

I am also a Titanic enthusiast (in fact, I will be teaching a camp for gifted students on the topic this summer).

Reassure your son...

1) modern ships are welded, not riveted

2) summer sunlight in the northern reaches will create sunlight for the majority of the day... easy to see icebergs

3) icebergs aren't nearly as common in the Gulf of Alaska/inside passage trips... if you are scenic viewing near a glacier, you will see much smaller "bergy bits" and few chunks that would even qualify as icebergs. Consider it "crushed ice" instead.

4) lifeboats are required for all souls onboard... to have enough seats for TWICE the total people on board, so that all passengers may leave from EITHER side if the ship is listing/leaning in the water (this is actually due in part to the Titanic inquiry by SOLAS -- Safety of Life at Sea)

5) I'm returning to Alaska for my 8th trip (the 6th time via cruise) and other posters here have been more times than that!

6) the US Coast Guard has stations along the route with excellently trained crews ... no worries about being 400 miles from the mainland

7) the other ship traffic in these areas is quite busy, so there are others to come to aid quickly if a problem arises -- and their communication capabilities are FAR superior to 1912 technology

8) Lifeboats are NOT open wooden boats, so they are more safely designed compared to those that capsized or exposed Titanic passengers to the weather of the night

9) Take the safety training seriously and always be aware of your surroundings (not because of dangers of sinking, but because this is always smart when traveling with 1500-2000 strangers!)

10) Enjoy your cruise!

I hope some of this helps!

I quick scanned all the responses, but didn't see my one piece of advice, which I share from personal experience.

Be sure you prepare your son for the loud blast of the ship's horn when you depart. Our two boys were off exploring when the horn went off. Our 7 year-old screamed and fell to the deck, spread-eagled in terror; our ten year old could hardly control his laughter, but brought his brother back to us without too much mocking.

It really was pretty funny and ice cream first aid was supplied immediately.

The rest of the cruise was uneventful. but neither of them were particularly enamored of the kids club and preferred to swim, watch whales, and explore the ship.

Have a wonderful time!

I quick scanned all the responses, but didn't see my one piece of advice, which I share from personal experience.

Be sure you prepare your son for the loud blast of the ship's horn when you depart. Our two boys were off exploring when the horn went off. Our 7 year-old screamed and fell to the deck, spread-eagled in terror; our ten year old could hardly control his laughter, but brought his brother back to us without too much mocking.

It really was pretty funny and ice cream first aid was supplied immediately.

The rest of the cruise was uneventful. but neither of them were particularly enamored of the kids club and preferred to swim, watch whales, and explore the ship.

Have a wonderful time!

I will not be surprised if I do the same thing....

Then on the first morning, at breakfast in the Lido, he got a look out the window and said in a loud voice "Mummy, you never told me the boat was going to move". A few people spit out their coffee at that one! He was so excited about being in Club Hal and loving being on the ship that he forgot us leaving Vancouver the afternoon before.

That sounds like something my son would say. :)

We chose this cruise as an introduction to cruising for him. Plus it's something my husband and I have been wanting to do for years.

I'm just hoping if the scenery doesn't interest him that the kid's club might. I just never know what he's going to like or dislike.

4) lifeboats are required for all souls onboard... to have enough seats for TWICE the total people on board, so that all passengers may leave from EITHER side if the ship is listing/leaning in the water (this is actually due in part to the Titanic inquiry by SOLAS -- Safety of Life at Sea)

Even I didn't know this and that greatly reassures even me. Thank you for the info!

Our two boys were off exploring when the horn went off. Our 7 year-old screamed and fell to the deck, spread-eagled in terror; our ten year old could hardly control his laughter, but brought his brother back to us without too much mocking.

I never even thought about that! Thank you for mentioning it. I almost did the same thing the first time that happened on our first cruise. I wasn't expecting it in the least and I probably looked like I was about to faint. I will definitely be finding some YouTube videos to acquaint him with the sound. :)

Also, prepare him for the sound the toilets make......not the normal sound the one at home makes! Sure took me off guard the first time all those years ago....

Maybe you could try to get a officer to talk to him. Just the uniform might be enough for him to see that they know how to sail a ship. Maybe once he see how professional they are he will be calmer. They could explain to him that the ship will rock and they will be wave and not to worry. I am sure that ship staff has dealt with this before and maybe they might be able to help out in some way.

You might just want to make lightly of it by telling him what happened on Titanic happened along time ago before ships had modern navigation systems.

Whatever you do ... don't mention anything about Costa Concordia!

LuLu

If your son is into technology, one thing that might counter his fear is a chartplotter app for an ipad/android tablet or even a handheld GPS that has some form of nautical chart installed. It will let him know exactly where he is and show him that, even though a shoreline is not visible, it's really not all that far away.

I have an older unit, an Oregon 400C that is mostly used for coastal sailing but gets taken on cruises as well. It was an interesting point of reference on our last inside passage cruise, allowing us to identify towns as we sailed past. My son and I spent time on deck with the GPS pinpointing our exact location, looking for channel markers, etc... Our running joke was that, should we see the Captain, we'd inform him that we were ready to help should he lose all charts.

Many low-cost apps are available for tablets, just make sure you get one that has offline maps available.

YMMV but it was a fun distraction with my family.

I never even thought about that! Thank you for mentioning it. I almost did the same thing the first time that happened on our first cruise. I wasn't expecting it in the least and I probably looked like I was about to faint. I will definitely be finding some YouTube videos to acquaint him with the sound. :)

You could watch some sailaways over the webcam, too. Go to the Port Everglades webcam: www.portevergladeswebcam.com.

On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, you can watch the ships sail from FLL, tooting on their way out of the channel. Not as much activity now as there is in the winter but still some (I think).

You could watch some sailaways over the webcam, too. Go to the Port Everglades webcam: www.portevergladeswebcam.com.

On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, you can watch the ships sail from FLL, tooting on their way out of the channel. Not as much activity now as there is in the winter but still some (I think).

Yes. There are still a couple of Princess ships, a Carnival ship and the two huge Royal Caribbean behemoths.

Its funny how different kids can be at different ages.

When my youngest DS was 8, nothing would have been cooler to him than the ship hitting an iceberg and us all having to man the lifeboats .....I yi yi that kid *LOL*.

Oldest DD would have been scared to death over the idea. She was always the scaredy cat. We couldn't take her to WDW because she was so petrified of people in costumes. She sure grew out of that , and now she isn't afraid of anything.