Parents-how about a little help to your fellow cruisers????

We just returned from the Valor 1/1/-6 sailing and my only word to what I saw was-I was absolutely stunned at the behavior of kids and parents (mostly 6-17 yrs old). Just where in the world were the parents of the little darlings we hear and read so much about on this board? Apparently not on this cruise.

First I will say that the cruise part-food, cabin service, shows and staff were exceptional and I have not one complaint about that part. This was my 18th cruise and 12th on Carinval and I love to cruise on Carnival. These things to me are a parental responsiblity problem-NOT A CARINVAL PROBLEM.

But I was appalled at some of the things that I say regarding children.

I will be the first to admit that I hate crusing with a lot of kids and usually pick times to go when there will be few onboard. I knew that most of our schools in USA went back right after New Years but what I didn't know was the neighbors to our north (canada) did not go back to school til this week. Plus we had friends that wanted to go on a cruise and spend NYE in Miami. I a mother but my child was 22 before I took him on his first cruise. When we took our 10 yr old grandaughter she was either with me, my DH or Camp Carnival. Never alone and she knew why and never complained about it.

So instead of listing the behavior I saw I am going to list a few rules maybe parents of these little darlings should follow.

1. Instead sitting in the casino at 1:30 in morning repeating for over an hour saying I guess I need to go check to see where my 12 yr old daughter is- why not get up and go do it. To me my 12 year old would be much more important than being on a winnng streak.

2. If your kid is under or over the age of 18 don't be rude to the casino personel and tell them they are over 18 and you are the parents-when he explains to you that he must actually see the ID tell your kid to go to his cabin and get his ID- do not cuss out the pit boss cause you think he is calling you a liar-he told you twice the camera had to see him actually checking the ID. Never saw the kid come back with the ID. I think the personel in the casino were overwhelmed-way to many kids playling slot machines-got to give the staff credit they did the best they could but it wasn't enough.

3. Probably not a good idea to have your 8 and 9 yrs old girls sitting in the middle of the steps on the 6th floor at 2 in the morning alone-just talking.

4. Tell them beforehand that the elevators have cameras and if they are caught pushing the button on every floor they will be caught and and they won't be able to leave the cabin for the remainder of the cruise. After about the 5th time this happened to me I told the 4 little girls I heard they took you to the brig and decided whether or not it warranted cutting a finger or two off it I reported them.

5. Might me nice to teach your kid when he is his rollerblades and knocks over some 70 yr old women and she falls down instead of laughing as he skates off he might want to stop to check on her and say excuse me. Better yet tell the little brat to leave the rollerblades at home.

6. Teaching them manners might help also-please, excuse me for breaking in front of you in the line and thank you might help.

7. When you think your 15 yr old is seasick but he finally admits to having done 6 shots of rum the night before-instead of blaming the motion of the boat-get a clue I'm 46 and 6 shots of rum would make me sick. He's another one that needed to be sent to his cabin for the remainder of the cruise-but next night there she was joking with her hubby if the boy was doing 7 shots that night.

8. My compliments to the lady on deck 6 who finally after listening to the kids playing tag at 6:30 in the morning opened her door and stopped one kid who her neighbor (our friends) said was about 7 asked the kid where and what cabin here parents were in-she threw on her robe and escorted the child down to the 2nd floor woke up the parents and returned the kid to her parents and told here what she had been doing.

I could go on but I've probably pissed enough parents off to last a lifetime but please-you must realize out of 5000+ passengers and crew combined the odds are pretty darn good that at least one or two child predators or peodophiles is on the same ship your children are on.

Canival security was a joke-did see one tell a kid not to climb up on the rail on the hottub enclosure and jump in the pool. Also told a lady to get the kid with the diaper out of the pool. Come to think of it they probably had there hands full on the lido with this bunch-so maybe I should not call them a joke but just extremely busy week for them.

The Valor is a beautiful ship staffed with an exceptional staff. Can't say enough good things about Ngyuen our cabin steward and John our waiter at dinner-both got extra tips. The wine stewart had my diet coke waiting for me everynight at dinner and he also got a tip. Our waitress in the casino (who same kids called the **** waitress cause see checked ID) got a big tip also cause she always knew I wanted a cold diet coke in a can with no ice. So my hats off to the staff.

Just one more thing-to the couple that had the 4 well beautifully dressed well behaved children we saw at dinner everynight and several times thruought the cruise my hats off to you-maybe you could write a book on cruise ettiquette/dress for the rest of the jerks who bring these little brats.

Embarkation was a breeze-contrary to what one so called expert on this board said-not only did we have priority check in through the Skippers club we also had priority boarding-we were escorted from the checkin all the way through security all the way up the picture taking. We got to the pier around 11:30 and were onboard within 15 mintues.

Debarkation was somewhat of a nightmare-5 ships in port that day but we made it home safe and sound and for the most part had a great time. You can bet the next time I cruise anywhere near a time that there is a possibitily of school being out somewhere I will ask my TA to find out how many kids will be onboard.

Thaks for your post, but you are wasting your breath... all the parents on CC are perfect parents, their children are all perfect angels :D :p LOL, or at least you would think that from reading the posts!!

I agree 100%!!!

Yeah Goingcrusin I know I'm wasting my breath-but I felt better getting it off my chest-hoping the part about child predators just might sink in and save one child.

Yeah Goingcrusin I know I'm wasting my breath-but I felt better getting it off my chest-hoping the part about child predators just might sink in and save one child.

It does feel better to get it off your chest. I love kids, but I will say I have worried about some I have seen on cruises... all hours of the night, doing God knows what, parents are clueless as to what they are doing. There are sick people everywhere, and a cruise ship is no exception... it's very scary. Aside from the antics they pull, the safety issue should be first and foremost in a parents mind... news such as the 15 year old that fell overboard, and other horror stories, will hopefully make people stand up and realize that just because it is vacation, does not make it safe :(

I personally loved your post and hope it does hit home with some...

I don't think you are wasting your breath...

you are correct to assume that not everybody on that ship is a superior citizen... Crew or passenger...

Thanks for the post...

Lisa

Here, here! Great post. That's why we only cruise in September. One Christmas cruise was enough.

Hi,

I have a post over on the family boards that is getting kids ready to cruise. I was hoping for more replies. My kids are the younger teen age. I get nervous when I see wild kids. We make sure our kids go to bed when we do. We do not stay out late. Plus My dd's like to go to bed early. On one of our trips we wanted to go out and the girl's wanted to stay in and have room service. The food came and I was getting ready to leave I looked at them and the youngest was asleep and the older dd had a sandwich to her lips and was sleeping. It was so funny I got a picture of her. We give rules and they listen because it's boring stuck n a cabin for a vacation. We are giving new rules this next cruise. Even though I have kids I agree with you. I'am a watchful parent.

I totally agree. Parents of these children need to realize the dangers of letting these children run wild.

My kids are 13 and 15 and I completely agree with you and your observations. While I think it is ok for kids to have fun on cruises and depending on their age, have some freedom, there is still a time and a place for that. Not to generalize but irresponsible kids likely have irresponsible parents. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree :)

Great post!

First I will say that we have been cruising with our children since they were 5 & 8, and only our second cruise was on Carnival. We always go a week that is school vacation in the Northeast, so there are alot of children. Bonniemari, I recommend that next time you want to cruise on a vacation week, go on Celebrity. A different class of parents raise a different type of child. Hopefully, Cruisecritic will not pull this post. When my younger son was only about 7 or 8, he was at the pool and wanted to jump in, but first turned to the woman sitting on the edge next to him and asked her if it was OK because he might splash her. My children may not be angels at home, but they have been taught how to behave in public since they were babies.

I agree with your post about misbehaved kids but WOWI really dont like the way you implied that they were all Canadian !!! Are there no parents out there in the States or other countries that cruise with thier kids? We have been on a couple cruises and my girls have not met too many Canadian kids!!

" I knew that most of our schools in USA went back right after New Years but what I didn't know was the neighbors to our north (canada) did not go back to school til this week"

Really appreciate this post. I personally have no children, and - to be honest - I'm not a great fan of them. My mother and I will be cruising with my 16 year old nephew later this year and disobedience and/or disrespect will not be tolerated. He's a good young man and don't feel we'll have any issues. I have taken note of all the issues you pointed out here and the issues I've seen in other posts. I want him to have a wonderful vacation but it will not be done at the expense of others.

Before our July cruise we "discussed" rules and expectations with our 4 boys. We received many compliments about their behavior. However.....I discussed consideration with a couple of other kids whose parents were missing in action. (Kids were around 10 years old, running the halls, yelling, playing hide and seek, jumping from steps, etc!) This all occurred after midnight! YIKES!:eek:

One thing I did notice and discussed with my 16yo. Teen club finished around 1am. By then, I was beat. (probably many others in room by that time too!) We asked the kids to walk quietly to the room. They were one door down from us but had to come into our room to talk to us. We did not hear many other kids their age out and about so their parents must have talked to them too! Also, we made the rounds to the teen club around 12 to check on them. They can have freedom only as long as: they are safe; they are respectful of others; and they follow "our rules!"

Forgot to add..we love kids!

I teach 3rd grade and DH is a pediatrician! But rules and consideration of others are extremely important in our family!!

 

1. Instead sitting in the casino at 1:30 in morning repeating for over an hour saying I guess I need to go check to see where my 12 yr old daughter is- why not get up and go do it. To me my 12 year old would be much more important than being on a winnng streak.

great opertunity to ask if she was the one you saw walking into a cabin with 3 older guys...give that Mom a good scare that she obviously needs!

3. Probably not a good idea to have your 8 and 9 yrs old girls sitting in the middle of the steps on the 6th floor at 2 in the morning alone-just talking.

same as above....

5. Might me nice to teach your kid when he is his rollerblades and knocks over some 70 yr old women and she falls down instead of laughing as he skates off he might want to stop to check on her and say excuse me. Better yet tell the little brat to leave the rollerblades at home.

Great chance for a cardio workout for the nearest gentleman to chase the kid down and "catch" him for ship's secuity...bruise included at no extra charge!

These ideas are my own, after seven years of dealing with rude and unruly kids and parents who have no right to be parents!

Rude and boorish children can really ruin a trip for others, can't they? I can't believe what some parents let their children get away with, are they just lazy or are they afraid if they discipline their children their children won't like them? I just don't get it!

I forgot to add that my 16 yr old daughter has also complained to me about the way some kids act on the ship and wonders where their parents are. My kids *16 and 14* both know that if they misbehave they will be confined to the cabin. thankfully we have never had to do this.

On our 12/25 Conquest cruise my DH and I would get up every morning around 6:00 and go up to the track to run. Every morning we would see kids (boys & girls) who were still out from the night before. The reason I know this is because I have two children and I know they do not get up at 6:00 a.m. to go hang out with their friends. In many cases these would be children we'd seen all over the ship the night before. At night we'd see kids about 13/14 years with younger children with them. It appeared that the older children were supposed to be watching the younger ones. Mix 14 yr old boys and girls and you can imagine just how well they were watching their younger siblings. These children weren't running in the halls, making noise but the fact that they were out, unsupervised, at all hours really bothered us. To me it's the same as letting your child run the street of a small town at night with people they don't really know. I have no trouble imagining how a child could simply disappear off one of these ships and their parents not realize for hours that they are gone. I wonder why there's no curfew for children on these ships.

Bonniemari,

Bravo!!!!!

I am constantly amazed that some parents are so careless with their kids' safety on board . How parents can just let their kids roam freely about a cruise ship unsupervised --not knowing where they are, who they're meeting, and/or what they are doing?

Soccermom #3, I agree with you completely.

Bonniemari, so sorry you had to deal with that on your cruise.

BRAVO!!

Great post. Although the parents who need to see that probably don't read.

BRAVO!!

Great post. Although the parents who need to see that probably don't read.

don't or can't?

All of my past 6 cruises have been during spring break, summer vacation, and thanksgiving break, so we have been on the cruise at the worst time for children. My cruise companion was a teacher so we had no choice, even though we chose to go childless ourselves. One thing I did notice, was that the majority of children were reasonalby well behaved, however there was a handful of misbehaving children that always stood out. The sad part is this handful makes it look bad for the whole. But have you ever noticed with 2000+ passangers onboard, you always seem to see the same people over and over???? Where are the other 1950 passengers? So those 5 to 10 unruly children will show up around every corner, sadly.

Also, next cruise, no teacher, and no school breaks, hopefully. (2/12/06)

I think what happens is that parents feel a sense of security due to the limited space that there is onboard a ship. This is all false, of course. There is way too much of everything on board to not get into SOME kind of trouble, and this goes for anybody. Adults, or most of us, have the ability to stay out of it. Any ship is really a floating city, and as mentioned, a good cross-section of life is onboard at any given time. People forget that very quickly. Common sense and boundaries fly out the window. What is not tolerated at home becomes acceptable because "we're on vacation". I no longer have tolerance of other parents and their stupidity, and I know that I quickly make enemies on most of my cruises on the Lido deck because I do not hesitate to say something to either the child or the parent. And I have been there, with my youngest now 18. I may smile at the first dumb act; after that, its" where's your parents?" Anybody's first thought should be off safety for their child and themselves. This clearly isn't going on when they are not being kept track of.

Ok, I will quit now! This is only MHO.:D

The statement about sailing on Celebrity and a different class of parent seems to infer that the behavior will be somewhat better. As a teacher I have taught some very priveleged children and they are in many ways more snots than those who have not had everything handed to them on a silver platter. I'm surprised that cruise ships haven't instituted a curfew on ships also and I think it would be warranted given behavior I have witnessed and experienced.

On many of the pricier ships there are far fewer children because parents with 2-3 kids are virtually priced out of that market, hence fewer problems, but I don't think it has anything to do with class.