Would you let your kids sail in their own cabin?

[melissa@cruisecritic]

Costa Cruises recently announced a family promotion with attractive children’s pricing. But, in a change from the norm, children don't need to be third or fourth passengers in a single stateroom in order to qualify for these lower rates. Instead, Costa will be allowing children younger than 17 to stay in cabins by themselves, whereas most cruise lines' rules state one person in a cabin must be at least 18 or 21 years of age. Click here for the full story.

Would you let your kids sail in their own cabin? Vote in our poll and be sure to share your opinion below!

[Arwenmark]

No I would not but I know many would and HAVE, I was once unfortunate enough to be in a cabin next to four children, no adult they were actually on another floor! the oldest child appeared to be between 12 and 14 and it was HORRIBLE.

[melissa@cruisecritic]

It'll be interesting to see how many passengers have broken other lines' rules as far as kids staying in a cabin unsupervised...thanks for posting!

Originally Posted by Arwenmark

No I would not but I know many would and HAVE, I was once unfortunate enough to be in a cabin next to four children, no adult they were actually on another floor! the oldest child appeared to be between 12 and 14 and it was HORRIBLE.

[wrp96]

On RCCL, you can book your own children into a stateroom directly across the hall or next door to your own room. They've had this policy for a while.

[melissa@cruisecritic]

Thanks for sharing those details! We've added that further example to our story.

Originally Posted by wrp96

On RCCL, you can book your own children into a stateroom directly across the hall or next door to your own room. They've had this policy for a while.

[notentirelynormal]

My kids stayed in their own cabin by our third cruise. The were closely monitored and near us - like across the hall.... most of the time. Not all kids are noisy and obnoxious. Mine knew the rules of behavior and followed them. Believe me, my DS would have told on my DD if she didn't and she knew she was responsible for her brother. She was 12 and he was 8 the first time. Even home they were not wild kids. I'm sure I'll get comments back that "ya sure, when you weren't around they really weren't" but don't bother. I know my kids and don't really need them judged by what other people's kids do. Besides, now that they have kids of their own, they'd have 'fessed up and told me. I got compliments then and I still get compliments about what nice people they are.

[cb at sea]

None of the cruiselines really care who sleeps where--that "must have an adult" thing is for booking purposes only. They want to make sure adults are ON the cruise--not just booking for underaged cruisers who will be on their own. I mean, I'm sure there are families with, say, 8 children and they will need 3 or 4 rooms....no way will you be able to book an adult in each room...and that's ok!

[cruiserbryce]

Its impossible to say that kids at age XX are mature enough or not to sail in their own cabin

[kitty9]

If they are older teens and are in a cabin right across the hall, then I see no problem. But I've seen many parents who want to have their kids who are under the age of 10, alone in cabins. That's a very bad idea. I guess parents don't realize that anyone with a master key can get in the cabin, and that could spell disaster.

[cutrat]

We have booked seperate cabins for our kids for five of our past cruise. They are always across the hall and I have never had a problem. We on the other hand tend to stay together and travel as a family and we don't let our kids roam free once on board. The only time that they are not with us is when we have dinner at Portifino's or Chop's which we do once per cruise to have some adult time. In fact Carnival has always booked them alone without a parent in the cabin, same with Royal Caribbean.

[Happy ks]

We've booked our kids in their own cabin for several years now. Actually, we book one parent and one child in each cabin and have new keys made once we board. The ship has no problem with this scenario, but the computers at the cruiseline won't allow the booking any other way.

Our family is like the above (cutrat) in that we pretty much stay together all week, our kids (now late teens) have never enjoyed the organized kids clubs very much. To date, other than them wanting to sleep late, we haven't had any issues with them in their own cabin. We do get a spare key for their cabin, so we can enter whenever we want. We would also not consider having them anywhere other than immediately across or next to us on the ship.

[Towncar T]

Our children were 19 and 16 when they took their first (Carnival) cruise with us earlier this year. They are well behaved, so it wasn't a problem. However, I wouldn't even consider leaving them in their own cabin if they were under, say, 14 years of age. It's not fair to them or to other passengers.

[Akheila]

it would depend oon their ages...and frankly if they could handle it....but I wouldn't want them on another part of the ship...they would need to be next door or across the hall.

[cherylandtk]

For me it depends not only on the age of the kids, but also the current maturity level being demonstrated by said kids.

[Northshorecruisers]

On our Princess cruise my 16 y/o and his 18 y/o friend were in an inside cabin down the hall from us. It worked out fine. Having the extra bathroom is worth every penny.

On our next cruise, my now 18 y/o son will be sharing an inside with his 25 y/o brother. I'm sure they'll just sleep there as we have gotten an aft suite with large balcony for us

[NorbertsNiece]

Originally Posted by Akheila

it would depend oon their ages...and frankly if they could handle it....but I wouldn't want them on another part of the ship...they would need to be next door or across the hall.

Ditto. Couldn't put it better myself.

[sthrnbll]

Yes if the rooms adjoined. I have a 15 year old and 9 year old who are deathly afraid of the rath of dad

[jean s]

My son is an adult now but I would have allowed him and a friend (our sone is an only child and we always brought a friend) to have a cabin either beside us or across from us. He was pretty good at following rules. We also kept a very close eye on him always.

[simplelife]

If the kids are only in their cabins for showering, dressing, and sleeping, I see no problem with them being in a separate cabin near the parents if they normally do these things on their own when not vacationing. By age ten or so this should not be a problem.

[kruzin']

Would you leave your kids in their own room in a hotel at home? Sometimes passengers leave their common sense at home because they feel nothing could happen bad on a cruise..How about looking into getting adjoing rooms..You and your kids might be fine with separate rooms but remember you are sailing in tight quarters with 1000+ strangers..