New Ship New Venue Needed??

Hi Folks

We are just back from our 12 night Pacific Island trip on board Explorer of the Seas.

All in all it was a very good cruise but I think it will be our last on the line and the last in the Australian area.

Why so you ask !

Well the ship was great , the food quite ok and the staff first class but the Behavior of some of the passengers was quite off putting especially a number of rowdy and out of control children

One incident in the MDR saw a large family group sitting at two large tables with adults on one and children on the other, we unfortunately were sitting at a close by table when the "children" decided to have a stand up fight including punches being thrown at each other whilst having dinner one evening, there was the normal running screaming and shouting that one associates with out of control children , the parents just sat there not lifting a finger.

This placed the staff in a very difficult position....

This family group and their children caused many an incident over the twelve days.

The Company made no attempt whatsoever to enforce the dress codes in the dining rooms , shorts , singlets baseball caps and flipflops all in evidence even on formal nights

The rowdy behavior of SOME passengers was not nice at all.

Our choice from now on is that we will travel on adult only ships as far as possible and will avoid as far as possible ships that carry large number of "Australian" families and children

So the search is now on with some of the UK P@O adult only ships being favorites but Asmara and the likes possibly Silverseas and Seabourn in contention

We are looking for cruises that are more relaxing and have less "activities and noise" your suggestions would be welcome

Kindest Regards

John

I am surprised there are so many kids this time of the year. I suppose RCI is more appealing to families, have you been on Celebrity or Princess? They are less family focused.

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I am surprised there are so many kids this time of the year. I suppose RCI is more appealing to families, have you been on Celebrity or Princess? They are less family focused.

 

 

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Hi Folks

Yes we have cruised with Both Celebrity and Princess out of Australia , whilst the Solstice is a very nice ship we dont like their attempt to make some areas closed off IE Suites only in Michaels Club and the carving out of public areas to create Blu and The suites dining room , seems like they are trying to create a first and Tourist class ship .

Princess are Ok but we feel their food was not up to standard on our last trip on Golden Princess

Hence we are seeking other options and yes we were surprised by the number of children on board considering that it was not a school holiday period

Kindest Regards

John

Hi John,

Unfortunately what you are after is going to be more difficult and more expensive the more popular cruising gets. I would have to agree with your comments about cruising from Australian ports especially over the last few years. It would seem the more popular cruising gets the more Aussie bogans it attracts. I find it is more enjoyable cruising from an American port. It seems now days more and more cruise lines are making distinctions between passengers even on Royal Caribbean with their suite class. Good luck to those who can afford a suite these days as it's not cheap. They get what they pay for. I know people who have cruised on Seabourn and loved it. It would seem to me that is what you are after a smaller ship which is more up market and less kids. Even the new Celebrity Edge is catered towards adults so maybe give that a try but even they have something similar to Norwegians Haven. As I said it's the way of the future. Michael

Hi Folks

 

Yes we have cruised with Both Celebrity and Princess out of Australia , whilst the Solstice is a very nice ship we don't like their attempt to make some areas closed off IE Suites only in Michael's Club and the carving out of public areas to create Blu and The suites dining room , seems like they are trying to create a first and Tourist class ship . Princess are okay but we feel their food was not up to standard on our last trip on Golden Princess. Hence we are seeking other options and yes we were surprised by the number of children on board considering that it was not a school holiday period.

Kindest Regards

 

John

Just as another idea could I suggest a cruise to PNG. We have done 2 most recently on the Pacific Aria and even though we have enjoyed the 14 cruises that we have been on, this one was exceptional.

It was for 14 nights visiting Alotau, Madang, Wewak, Rabaul, Kitava, Kiriwini and the Conflict Islands. Each port was unique and so diverse and interesting.

On this cruise there were a lot of people returning as they had serviced there or worked there. There was an interesting presentation each seaday by John who had worked there in the 70's as a patrol officer. When fishing some things f the ports not a lot had changed.

There were only 106 children on board and most of them were under 5.

We travel with our 16 year old daughter and she is always with us or in the room.

We also travelled on the 10th February, just was after school had gone back.

We were considering one of the Asian cruises this year but have decided to fly instead, Singapore/Siam Reap/ Hoi An for 14 nights Christmas and New Year, Very Exciting.

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Did our first, and maybe our last cruise on Oasis of the Seas last year. That ship is built for families and I believe that is the RCI approach to cruising. I'd never say never but I doubt you get this couple on a RCI ship again. The itinerary and time frame would both have to fit us perfectly.

We cruised with Princess on a Sydney return New Caledonia/Vanuatu last January school holidays and while there were quite a few children on board we never really noticed them. They had their own clubs including a teenager only disco. No fancy wave pools or zip lines but plenty of old fashioned activities to keep them occupied. Different ship, different activities resulting in different behaviour patterns maybe.

I'll second the PNG cruises, we were on the Pacific Jewel August 2016, not many kids and majority of cruisers would have been 60+ in age and we had a great time even though we are in our mid 40's and our group had 3 kids in it too, (homeschooled) so it was a history and geography lesson as well.

Just as another idea could I suggest a cruise to PNG. We have done 2 most recently on the Pacific Aria and even though we have enjoyed the 14 cruises that we have been on, this one was exceptional.

 

It was for 14 nights visiting Alotau, Madang, Wewak, Rabaul, Kitava, Kiriwini and the Conflict Islands. Each port was unique and so diverse and interesting.

 

On this cruise there were a lot of people returning as they had serviced there or worked there. There was an interesting presentation each seaday by John who had worked there in the 70's as a patrol officer. When fishing some things f the ports not a lot had changed....

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Was he as good as he makes out? He's all over our Roll Call and has upset some people. I for one don't like non paying passengers lecturing Roll Call members before they even 'get the lecturing gig'. Sort of makes you a bit negative towards them to start with. Sorry to everyone who thinks I'm hijacking the thread but it's a pretty open topic.

Was he as good as he makes out? He's all over our Roll Call and has upset some people. I for one don't like non paying passengers lecturing Roll Call members before they even 'get the lecturing gig'. Sort of makes you a bit negative towards them to start with. Sorry to everyone who thinks I'm hijacking the thread but it's a pretty open topic.

Loved our PNG cruise!! and yep he was all over our Rollcall as well......not on the cruise.

Confusing people re tours as he promotes one company. Someone on our Rollcall was orgainsing a CC group tour and he was advising different info re payments and meeting points.

I am with you, ok to offer some info if it is requested and you have done the tour as a guest etc.....don't troll the Rollcall......post it on the Ports of Call forum, even there you can only post in response to a request.

John, we have sailed twice on VOS and last year saw what you experienced on EOS with respect to dress codes in the MDR, but this year a great improvement, we saw the Maitrd send guest back to change into more appropriate wear for dinner.

I haves sailed on HAL, Cunard and Oceania, you will fine either of these lines, have very few and I mean usually less than a dozen. They predominantly cater for majority of adults, and I have enjoyed cruising on all three.

Loved our PNG cruise!! and yep he was all over our Rollcall as well......not on the cruise.

Confusing people re tours as he promotes one company. Someone on our Rollcall was orgainsing a CC group tour and he was advising different info re payments and meeting points.

I am with you, ok to offer some info if it is requested and you have done the tour as a guest etc.....don't troll the Rollcall......post it on the Ports of Call forum, even there you can only post in response to a request.

Thanks for your reply. It makes me feel a lot better to know others noticed the same thing. He's had a lot of posts removed and really upset one passenger who sounded quite young and has not returned to the Roll Call. The Volunteer Lecturer gig is pretty cushy. He's just back from a free cruise Sydney to Osaka.

I am just back from a 3 dayer on Explorer of the seas.... I was sincerely hoping that the longer cruises would have a different dynamic to the "booze cruise" tag, but seeing this post I am concerned that they don't. our first night we had to return to Sydney Harbour to allow a passenger who was ill be transferred to hospital....... at the same time a group of passengers were also put off for being drunk and fighting. lots of littlies in the pool/spa with their parents who were definitely not toilet trained and were in swim nappies...not asked to leave.

we had a junior suite...it was dusty, the skirt around the bed was hanging off because the Velcro was missing from about 1/4 of it.

service in the bars and dining room was terrible....ok not terrible every night...the 3rd night was good because we had such abysmal service on the 2nd night. I finally got a glass of wine at dinner when dessert came out!!!!!!

definitely no more quick and cheerful cruises for me.

belinda

To right there. Did a trans Pacific on Carnival Legend 2 years ago. There was 60 under the age of 18 out of 2800. Wow incredible. I didn't go to adults area to packed but family pool was great.. Other cruises been on have about 400-600 kids ok. At least there fast around ship, unlike other passangers when you need to get somewhere.. Lol:D

Try the longer and more oddball itineraries - PNG, dry docks to/from Singapore, even the Trans-Pacifics have many less children aboard.

Hi Folks

 

We are just back from our 12 night Pacific Island trip on board Explorer of the Seas.

 

All in all it was a very good cruise but I think it will be our last on the line and the last in the Australian area.

 

Why so you ask !

 

Well the ship was great , the food quite ok and the staff first class but the Behavior of some of the passengers was quite off putting especially a number of rowdy and out of control children

 

One incident in the MDR saw a large family group sitting at two large tables with adults on one and children on the other, we unfortunately were sitting at a close by table when the "children" decided to have a stand up fight including punches being thrown at each other whilst having dinner one evening, there was the normal running screaming and shouting that one associates with out of control children , the parents just sat there not lifting a finger.

 

This placed the staff in a very difficult position....

 

This family group and their children caused many an incident over the twelve days.

 

 

The Company made no attempt whatsoever to enforce the dress codes in the dining rooms , shorts , singlets baseball caps and flipflops all in evidence even on formal nights

 

The rowdy behavior of SOME passengers was not nice at all.

 

 

Our choice from now on is that we will travel on adult only ships as far as possible and will avoid as far as possible ships that carry large number of "Australian" families and children

 

 

So the search is now on with some of the UK P@O adult only ships being favorites but Asmara and the likes possibly Silverseas and Seabourn in contention

 

We are looking for cruises that are more relaxing and have less "activities and noise" your suggestions would be welcome

 

Kindest Regards

 

John

What a shame, I would have complained to the maitre de so that there are adults sitting with them or they are excluded from the MDR.

Hi Folks

 

Yes we have cruised with Both Celebrity and Princess out of Australia , whilst the Solstice is a very nice ship we dont like their attempt to make some areas closed off IE Suites only in Michaels Club and the carving out of public areas to create Blu and The suites dining room , seems like they are trying to create a first and Tourist class ship .

 

Princess are Ok but we feel their food was not up to standard on our last trip on Golden Princess

 

Hence we are seeking other options and yes we were surprised by the number of children on board considering that it was not a school holiday period

 

Kindest Regards

 

John

Most of the cruise lines do this and offer special areas just for extra paying guests or those with loyalty perks. Airlines, trains and hotels do it too, although in some cases it is slightly less visible. Perhaps P&O is more your style where everyone is equal and is not excluded form any of the public areas.:D

Hi John,

 

Unfortunately what you are after is going to be more difficult and more expensive the more popular cruising gets. I would have to agree with your comments about cruising from Australian ports especially over the last few years. It would seem the more popular cruising gets the more Aussie bogans it attracts. I find it is more enjoyable cruising from an American port. It seems now days more and more cruise lines are making distinctions between passengers even on Royal Caribbean with their suite class. Good luck to those who can afford a suite these days as it's not cheap. They get what they pay for. I know people who have cruised on Seabourn and loved it. It would seem to me that is what you are after a smaller ship which is more up market and less kids. Even the new Celebrity Edge is catered towards adults so maybe give that a try but even they have something similar to Norwegians Haven. As I said it's the way of the future. Michael

I agree, my first cruise was Explorers first foray into Australian waters, Singapore to Perth and there were a lot less children than just out of Australian ports, never saw any misbehave.

That being said, a lot of adults can behave like kids too when they have had a skinful.

You can't blame a cruise line for the behavior of the passengers. We did a RCL Voyager cruise out of Sydney to the Pacific Islands on Feb 24. We thought the cruise would be fairly child-free being it was only a couple of weeks after school started. WRONG!! There were 500 of the little darlings on board and none of them seemed to attend their organized programs. But having said that, there were never any issues or problems with that bunch of kids. Each cruise is different, even on the same cruise line or the same ship

You can't blame a cruise line for the behavior of the passengers. We did a RCL Voyager cruise out of Sydney to the Pacific Islands on Feb 24. We thought the cruise would be fairly child-free being it was only a couple of weeks after school started. WRONG!! There were 500 of the little darlings on board and none of them seemed to attend their organized programs. But having said that, there were never any issues or problems with that bunch of kids. Each cruise is different, even on the same cruise line or the same ship

What is it about parents taking kids out of school willy nilly? You can't tell me they are all home-schooled. A parent with a child of school age has a responsibility to have the child in school IMO. A cruise to the Pacific Islands is generally not a high educational itinerary for most passengers. I can see why education departments are trying to crack down on kids missing school for holidays.

Perhaps I should duck and run now from all the parents/grandparents who do cruise with school age children in term time.

To those who commented on P&O Australia's PNG trip and not seeing many kids. We have done that trip, plus another with P&O in school holidays. Was panicking that it would be over run with the little darlings but it seems P&O limit their kids to what their Kids Club holds and keep them well occupied. I did not see any bad behavior. Not like my sister who did a carnival cruise which ended up with half the passengers as kids, it was chaos.

Mind you my cruise line of choice is Princess and we have never had a problem with them.

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What is it about parents taking kids out of school willy nilly? You can't tell me they are all home-schooled. A parent with a child of school age has a responsibility to have the child in school IMO. A cruise to the Pacific Islands is generally not a high educational itinerary for most passengers. I can see why education departments are trying to crack down on kids missing school for holidays.

Perhaps I should duck and run now from all the parents/grandparents who do cruise with school age children in term time.

Couldn't agree with you more. We were absolutely astounded by the numbers

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What is it about parents taking kids out of school willy nilly? You can't tell me they are all home-schooled. A parent with a child of school age has a responsibility to have the child in school IMO. A cruise to the Pacific Islands is generally not a high educational itinerary for most passengers. I can see why education departments are trying to crack down on kids missing school for holidays.

Perhaps I should duck and run now from all the parents/grandparents who do cruise with school age children in term time.

I can answer this (as someone who has taken kids out of school). Our workplaces require staff to rotate when they take their leave (ie. the entire team can't all be on leave in July school holidays). Also, most work places have certain times of the year when they are really busy & you can't take leave. Take into account most families have 2 parents working (with different busy periods in their jobs). The reality then becomes that its not always possible to take leave during the school holidays.

Personally, we only take the kids out of school if there is no other option. Even then we try to tack it onto the end or start of term so as not to disrupt their learning too much. They also bring school work with them and are able to log in to their classroom where ever we can get internet access.

Yes, have seen that a bit on RCL this past few years - as they increase their local capacity.

Best way to avoid it is generally the longer, and/or more expensive cruise, the less likely it will happen. E.g. was even pretty opposite on our Ovation cruise this year which was RCL but it was still expensive. e.g. lots more people dressed up than usual as well. But heading to south pacific islands, on a cheaper cruise, for 1-2 weeks it gets a lot more 'casual.'

I think it also depends on the schools where the kids may (or in this case do not) go. Some schools are very strict with allowing kids to miss school for any reason other than illness.

What is it about parents taking kids out of school willy nilly? You can't tell me they are all home-schooled. A parent with a child of school age has a responsibility to have the child in school IMO. A cruise to the Pacific Islands is generally not a high educational itinerary for most passengers. I can see why education departments are trying to crack down on kids missing school for holidays.

Perhaps I should duck and run now from all the parents/grandparents who do cruise with school age children in term time.

No duck and cover required for me but I will give you my 5 cents worth. Visiting some of our closest neighbours and seeing how different they live to the way we live is very educational. As is learning to wait your turn, seeing immigration and custom procedures, being exposed to other currencies, and becoming aware that not everyone is the same as you but we all have to get along, adults and children, just the same.

Something else to think about.

Everyones case in different.

We have a 16 year old daughter who has CP is unable to walk and uses a wheelchair. She has just returned from her 13th cruise.

A cruise is a great way for Mum and Dad to have a break from the normal life of housework, cooking and cleaning as well as caring for a disabled child.

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