Children on Board - Marina and Riviera

Whilst I know that Oceania does not actively encourage children and I have seen very few on board the R Class ships, I wondered if being larger ships Marina and Riveria attract more children, particularly in July and August. What are peoples experiences of these two ships?

We were on Riviera last July,doing the med.Only saw 2 children on board then.

Very few if any children on board any of the ships because that is the way most of Oceania guests want it. Nothing for them to do. Other cruise lines cater to them and want them, not Oceania. Love my kids and grand kids, but sometimes we need a break and Oceania does that for us.

When there have been children onboard there are usually only a few unlike the main stream lines where you can get 100+

Very few to no children on board due to adult environment. Exception is a few Alaska cruises and a few advertised for families.

I am on Riviera at the moment, there are more children than I have ever seen on Oceania ships.

I am on Riviera at the moment, there are more children than I have ever seen on Oceania ships.

How many are there?

The most we have seen on 1 sailing were 8

maybe we were lucky ;)

I am on Riviera at the moment, there are more children than I have ever seen on Oceania ships.

Yikes. I am holding put hope there would be very few kids on our August cruise on the Riviera. It's one of the reasons we booked Oceania and not another cruise line.

I like kid's, but I wonder why people take kid's on a ship that doesn't have a planned program for them. It's really not fare to the kid's. And we may enjoy a 2 hour dinner, the kid's don't.

Yikes. I am holding put hope there would be very few kids on our August cruise on the Riviera. It's one of the reasons we booked Oceania and not another cruise line.

How many would be too many for you ?

Yikes. I am holding put hope there would be very few kids on our August cruise on the Riviera. It's one of the reasons we booked Oceania and not another cruise line.

If you want to avoid kids also avoid booking June, July, August and Christmas. You do so at your own risk. Personally, I'd rather stay home.

'More' children, three instead of two? ;p

Maybe we were lucky. There were about 10 from age 7 to 18 on a Caribbean cruise during Christmas vacation a few years ago. Two played mini golf with their father, a small group played ping pong, the two youngest played with dolls. Nobody screamed, cried, ran, or made any loud noises. It looked like the parents were on top of everybody's game.

I have seen much worse on Princess ships with the same low number of youngsters: ice cream cones in the hot tub (with parents) hogging the pool by constantly jumping in and crawling out (with father), chasing each other up and down stairs, grabbing bread from the buffet with hands (without parents). Nobody wants those kids and parents.

There are at least 20 children of differing ages on board, I feel this gives the cruise a completely different ambience to the other Oceania cruises we have been on.

How many would be too many for you ?

Good question. Maybe 50.

Good question. Maybe 50.

More than about 4 would be too many for me and zero would be perfect. :):):)

More than about 4 would be too many for me and zero would be perfect. :):):)

+1 we always cruise off season just to avoid children. It is what makes O special along with Crystal where we had 3 last fall. The beauty of Crystal we only saw each one once. PErfect!

Good question. Maybe 50.

You probably would be fine then :)

We have sailed July & August because that is when the ships go where we want

We have had 0 children to max 8 on any given cruise even on the Caribbean ones

Like I said maybe we have been lucky

We cruise all the time, Oceania, Regent and Crystal. We have taken the entire family (18) several times. I must say all the younger kids were well mannered. No one treated them unkindly. Personally I have done my "thing" having brought up so many--8 grands, 5 great grands and we do not bring them any more, but when we did we put the fear of --- in them and they were really, really good.

By the way, I know the numbers don't add up, but that was before we had "them all". LOL. Another thing, I made the parents take them out of school for a week, and one son did homework with all of them during that time. Bottom line, you don't get home free during school season...sometimes there are kids.

I like kid's, but I wonder why people take kid's on a ship that doesn't have a planned program for them. It's really not fare to the kid's. And we may enjoy a 2 hour dinner, the kid's don't.

Some parents actually see vacation as a time to spend quality time with their kids. They do not consider sending kids to the clubs. Maybe particular itinerary suites families better than others for example. Oceania does have smaller ships and interesting it is.

Tatka - You hit the nail on the head. This was an opportunity to spend quality time with the kids and the grands. We are a large, cohesive family and we love our kids, all of them. They were with us all the time and we arranged family tours and had "school" for an hour or so every afternoon. I was thankful that one of my sons was able to help with the math. The kids all got credit for the time we spent. We had two tables for dinner. No noise and jumping around. Kids did fine.

Tatka - You hit the nail on the head. This was an opportunity to spend quality time with the kids and the grands. We are a large, cohesive family and we love our kids, all of them. They were with us all the time and we arranged family tours and had "school" for an hour or so every afternoon. I was thankful that one of my sons was able to help with the math. The kids all got credit for the time we spent. We had two tables for dinner. No noise and jumping around. Kids did fine.

Sounds very nice. Good for you and your lucky grands!

Sadly some people just don't want kids around. We did spend all the time with them as well as the parents. This is time you never get back. They are mostly all grown now (the grands) and they have their own kids. Sadly those kids will never get to know the great "family time" we all had together. We did all private tours so no one would be disturbed, and we only let them in the pool for short times..never when they were in diapers. They were taught that children should be seen and not heard. We are very proud of them. Since some/many of the grands were very close in age they enjoyed playing with one another. We generally have a large suite where they have room to play and DVD's.

I agree with one other poster...people on this board are throwing tantrums. Perhaps it is other parents who do not make a quality family affair that gives all of them a bad name.

We are lonely now that they are all grown and spread around the country. We wish we could live those days over.

I think this discussion comes down to the fact that you cannot generalize - like with most things in life.

Not all children (or their parents) are the same.

Speaking for myself, and maybe for some others, I would not be disturbed by a few "children that are seen but not heard" but would be disturbed by even a single child "that is seen and heard" all the time.

So simply stating that there should or should not be children onboard does not adequately address the issue.

Many on this board may remember the incident described here about a 3 year old whose parents celebrated his birthday in Jacques with balloons all over the place and the kid running circles around the table. I don't think many of us would want to have dinner there that night. OTOH, if that child was siting and behaving as everyone else at Jacques, he/she would not be noticed and few would mind his/her presence there. I have been on a cruise where parents watched in amusement as their 4-5 year old "darling" girl joined the floor with the dancers during their performance - not only inappropriate but dangerous for both the dancers and the child. Obviously IMO neither those parents nor the child should have been on Oceania.

As others have said, I prefer a well behaved child with responsible parents to a boorish adult.

JMO.

I think this discussion comes down to the fact that you cannot generalize - like with most things in life.

Not all children (or their parents) are the same.

Speaking for myself, and maybe for some others, I would not be disturbed by a few "children that are seen but not heard" but would be disturbed by even a single child "that is seen and heard" all the time.

So simply stating that there should or should not be children onboard does not adequately address the issue.

Many on this board may remember the incident described here about a 3 year old whose parents celebrated his birthday in Jacques with balloons all over the place and the kid running circles around the table. I don't think many of us would want to have dinner there that night. OTOH, if that child was siting and behaving as everyone else at Jacques, he/she would not be noticed and few would mind his/her presence there. I have been on a cruise where parents watched in amusement as their 4-5 year old "darling" girl joined the floor with the dancers during their performance - not only inappropriate but dangerous for both the dancers and the child. Obviously IMO neither those parents nor the child should have been on Oceania.

As others have said, I prefer a well behaved child with responsible parents to a boorish adult.

JMO.

Totally agree.

And anyone who has actually spent some time in France will have noticed that French families patronize French restaurants - even fancy places.

So those who think that kids in Jacques will automatically ruin the experience only betray their lack of awareness of French culture and life.