Teens Thrown Off Ship -- Proper Penalty?

Found this post on another site, couldn't find it on CC. Just wondering what others think of this. The right penalty?

My own experience: I love kids, but I think one of the reasons RCCL started charging for Johnny Rockets was the amount of waste. On our 1st cruise with a JR I witnessed whole sandwiches being thrown overboard by teens and younger ones numerous times.

My thoughts: the penalty (especially considering the season) was a bit harsh. Your thoughts?

" For Christmas, my husband and I gave our two grown sons and their families a cruise to Mexico on the Sapphire Princess departing and returning to Los Angeles. We were spending Christmas on the ship. It would have been the first time I had managed to get both families together in 20 years for the holiday. On Dec. 23, at sea between Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, my two grandsons, age 13 ands 15, were in a cabin of another boy they had met on the ship and they had thrown some articles of food overboard including a fork. Apparently, they were spotted on camera by security. The next day in Cabo San Lucas (Christmas Eve day), my son, his wife and the two boys were ordered off the ship by Captain Tony Herriott and had to pay their own way back to Los Angeles. Three other families whose sons were also involved were ordered off the ship. The Captain's actions devastated us all. Needless to say, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very depressing days for the seven of us that remained on board. There is now a new Christmas Grinch out there and he is the Captain of a Princess cruise ship!

Totally appropriate regardless of the season. A 13 year old is old enough to know what they did was wrong. If it were someone much younger I could see a severe warning.

There is a problem today with accountability and parental accountability in particualar. What were these little darlings doing in a cabin unsupervised? Why weren't they in the teen program?

No grinch that I can see. The kids deserved it for the act, the parents for not being responsible.

My opinion: The Captain was absolutely within his rights to do this. He is in control of his ship. Tossing anything off a cruise ship can do serious injury to anyone on the ship -- that stuff easily "blows back", and can cause harm. Not to mention harm to the wildlife in the ocean. There were six adults on this ship in your family, perhaps 2 in the other boy's family -- none of them were watching or supervising these kids? Bad behavior has consequences..for everyone.

I'm sorry your holiday was ruined. Next time perhaps the boys will behave themselves.

Yes. Nothing overboard rule is strictly enforced for very good reason. Nothing overboard really means just that.

Very sorry this happened but those young men learned a very hard lesson the very hard way. Your whole family suffered for it.

Captain acted appropriately IMO and well within the range of what most would do.

There is a long discussion of this on the Princess board.

Kudos to the captain! Totally appropriate penalty. To bad the vacation was ruined, but actions have consequences.

There is a long discussion of this on the Princess board.

I figured there'd be more info the Princess threads but I couldn't find it originally (didn't go back far enough I guess. Thanks for pointing this out, and, btw, I hope no one thinks this was my family! I'm just passing it on, and I defintely find the actions wrong, only was wondering what others thought of the penalty, and pretty much have received the type of responses I expected thus far.

Very appropriate consequences. If the kids are immature enough to do that, they're lucky they weren't climbing on the balcony railing. (and possibily falling off)

As far as I know no one has come to the Princess board and owned up to being part of the family. In fact no one on the cruise has posted about the incident.

I wonder what reward the parents gave the kids!!

I showed the earlier Princess thread to my DH. Having once been a teenage boy himself, he feels more resigned to the notion that teenage boys make stupid choices. Good parents can have teens that do dumb things. I feel pretty confident that my 13 year old DD wouldn't do anything like that, but at the risk of sounding sexist, boys that age are a lot less mature, and that age is very vulnerable to peer pressure. Was the Captain within his rights? Absolutely, but it seems harsh based on what's been reported. Throwing something like a croissant and a fork doesn't seem to be at the same level as the hooligans who throw chairs overboard. Isn't there some lesser penalty possible?

Also I can't help but feel there's a lot of schadenfreude out there in cyberspace. The other thread on this incident had lots of people wishing for huge monetary penalties and life-time bans from the cruise line.

JMHO. And I showed the earlier thread to my 13 year old to further impress upon her the need to be a model of good behavior and avoid trouble-making teens on board. Putting my flame retardant suit on now . . .

I showed the earlier Princess thread to my DH. Having once been a teenage boy himself, he feels more resigned to the notion that teenage boys make stupid choices. Good parents can have teens that do dumb things. I feel pretty confident that my 13 year old DD wouldn't do anything like that, but at the risk of sounding sexist, boys that age are a lot less mature, and that age is very vulnerable to peer pressure. Was the Captain within his rights? Absolutely, but it seems harsh based on what's been reported. Throwing something like a croissant and a fork doesn't seem to be at the same level as the hooligans who throw chairs overboard. Isn't there some lesser penalty possible?

 

Also I can't help but feel there's a lot of schadenfreude out there in cyberspace. The other thread on this incident had lots of people wishing for huge monetary penalties and life-time bans from the cruise line.

 

JMHO. And I showed the earlier thread to my 13 year old to further impress upon her the need to be a model of good behavior and avoid trouble-making teens on board. Putting my flame retardant suit on now . . .

I totally agree. I think the punishment was a little harsh. I could see if they did it and were told not to do it and got caught again or if it were something like chairs getting throw overboard, but a fork and some food???? Yes the fork could have, I suppose, changed course and perhaps hit someone who was on their balcony/deck, but I'm sure the boys never considered that. They weren't trying to be malicious or cause harm, probably just curious as to how or what happens when the items hit the water. The parents were not being unresponsible by not watching their kids - 13 year old kids should be able to venture off somewhat on their own.

I wonder what reward the parents gave the kids!!

Why do you ask that? The report from Cruisejunkie was that the entire family was "devastated" and their holiday was "depressing."

To me, your post implies that the parents involved must be monsters. The fact that you have a teen that does something dumb does not automatically mean you're a horrible parent. Maybe these kids do have horrible parents, but it's just as likely that they have good parents and they still did something stupid.

Totally appropriate since the ship or line can be fined a substancial sum for littering the ocean - and it is not just a couple of 100 dollars the starting sums begin by adding a couple of zeros.

Over and above that it was fair if all involved were told to disembark. Tough for the family involved but fair and according to the contract signed.

I read part of that thread and the source it came from, it looks like the thread may have been taken down now. The source was from a web site that only posts negative remarks and cruise ship mishaps, I cannot remember the name of it now.

My feeling is that the Captain did not make the decision based merely on a fork and a bit of food, it had to be more serious than that. But that is how stories go, the perpetrator is less guilty as time goes by, if that is your side. If you are the victim, your experience is far harsher each time the story is told.

OK, found it. Read for yourself, it's the 4th one down, Sapphire Princess:

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html

Congrats to the Captain.

The thread on the Princess side might have been poofed.

The penalty was certainly appropriate, but likely should have been a bit harsher.

I'd like to know if the entire family was tossed, or just the little hooligans, with the family following by choice.

While I do agree that IF this was the only instance of inappropriate behavior, the penalty seems a little harsh. However, when was the last time we on CC received the full untarnished story.

Who knows, this could have been the last straw for the captain. Maybe security had already had a couple of run ins with these kids. Kicked out of the casino, caught wondering the halls in the crew quarters, playing on the elevators, etc,etc.

I'm more inclined to give the Captain the benefit of the doubt and he did what he did for a darn good reason. He's earned my respect.

I totally agree. I think the punishment was a little harsh. I could see if they did it and were told not to do it and got caught again or if it were something like chairs getting throw overboard, but a fork and some food???? Yes the fork could have, I suppose, changed course and perhaps hit someone who was on their balcony/deck, but I'm sure the boys never considered that. They weren't trying to be malicious or cause harm, probably just curious as to how or what happens when the items hit the water. The parents were not being unresponsible by not watching their kids - 13 year old kids should be able to venture off somewhat on their own.

Here a prime illustration of the problem I cited with accountability. Talk about a permissive attitude! I see this almost daily on TV in more extreme situations when a local thug is arrested for a major violent crime and the next thing you see his parents crying and proclaiming what a good boy/girl he/she is and that they would never do such a thing.

Oh yeah, and the fork could cause damage to a marine animal swallowing it by mistake.

I stand by my judgement that the punishment fit the crime for both the parents and teens.

There is a long discussion of this on the Princess board.

And now, for those of us who do not go to the Princess board, can discuss it here.

I think the punishment was appropriate. And the parent's are responsible. Their teenagers obviously should not have been left unsupervised. They made the decision to do so and the consequences of that decision do reflect on them. It doesn't mean they are bad people, but it doesn't get them off the hook.

While I do agree that IF this was the only instance of inappropriate behavior, the penalty seems a little harsh. However, when was the last time we on CC received the full untarnished story.

 

Who knows, this could have been the last straw for the captain. Maybe security had already had a couple of run ins with these kids. Kicked out of the casino, caught wondering the halls in the crew quarters, playing on the elevators, etc,etc.

 

I'm more inclined to give the Captain the benefit of the doubt and he did what he did for a darn good reason. He's earned my respect.

That's a good point. I wouldn't be surprised to learn there were previous incidents with these kids.

In a different thread, I saw a (presumably) teenage poster talking about playing "ding-dong ditch" down the corridors. He thought it was just innocent fun. I'd notify security.

As a child-free 40yo, I don't tolerate misbehaving children. Which is why I don't have any!

I thought I saw it on the Carnival boards too. I remember reading about it. I wonder if it is written in some fine print somewhere not to throw anything overboard or if it is just considered common sense. If that is the case then should throwing that 'bottle' overboard yield the same consequences?

Found this post on another site, couldn't find it on CC. Just wondering what others think of this. The right penalty?[/i]

Totally over the top.

***BUT***

We're only hearing one side of things. If we heard both sides, I might think differently.

There seems to be some missing information here:

A) There were other events which led the captain to take such steps, or:

B) The families involved are bringing a law suit, or:

C) The whole story is a myth.

More information would be helpful. Was the story reported in the press?

this is where i saw it. scroll down to Jan 14 Princess sapphire

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html