Children on board?

[grannygristle]

Have just had a cruise booking for myself and teenage daughter refused on the basis that the ship has already reached it's 'full child capacity' - there are still suites available but only to adults. It sails in approx 8 weeks! She would be paying the full adult rate due to occupancy rules.

 

My question is:

 

Is this a self imposed quota/rule by the cruiseline or is there some over-arching maritime law that governs this?

 

Thank you

 

BTW - have cruised before just not able to change my username! :)

[Traveler353]

I have never heard of such a thing. This just does not sound right. I would contact the cruise line directly and talk to someone else. :confused:

 

Also: I believe that you can contact the mods to have your name changed.

[grannygristle]

Thank you for the prompt response.

 

TBH I'm hoping that it's a self inflicted rule and could, therefore, be changed. Did wonder though whether there was a child:adult ratio thing that need to be adhered to :confused:

 

Have emailed the company and will follow it up with a phone call tomorrow if I hear nothing back. Will let you know the outcome.

[LHT28]

I think Princess limits the amount of children onboard their ships

[GORDONCHICK]

There is a capacity of how many the children's programs can hold on a sailing.

[grannygristle]

I don't think these offer 'Kid's Club' facilities as such but could be a reason why.

 

Not Princess - Fred.Olsen! (Wonder if it's more to do with having older clients and not wanting to attract too many younger families - seems a bit odd though!)

[Langley Cruisers]

Perhaps it has to do with the smaller sized life jackets for children? I don't know.

[LHT28]

I don't think these offer 'Kid's Club' facilities as such but could be a reason why.

 

Not Princess - Fred.Olsen! (Wonder if it's more to do with having older clients and not wanting to attract too many younger families - seems a bit odd though!)

That could be it

they do not want a 100 kids running loose ;)

[chipmaster]

I'm suspicious of this, if you have your heart set on the cruise why not just book as two adults? Accept for the moment that you can't use the supervised kids / teen clubs.

 

Do they have quotas on other categories of cruises; seniors, etc.

 

Unless they can site a safety issue this is simply not a beliaveble story.

 

Have just had a cruise booking for myself and teenage daughter refused on the basis that the ship has already reached it's 'full child capacity' - there are still suites available but only to adults. It sails in approx 8 weeks! She would be paying the full adult rate due to occupancy rules.

 

My question is:

 

Is this a self imposed quota/rule by the cruiseline or is there some over-arching maritime law that governs this?

 

Thank you

 

BTW - have cruised before just not able to change my username! :)

[uppitycats]

Fred.Olsen -- isn't that a primarily European line? Seems like I ran into some strange rules it had about something else, too -- number of people with disabilities they would accommodate at one time (even though not all of the people with disabilities were asking for any sort of accommodation..)

 

I hope this works out.

[Bonnie J.]

How old is your daughter? We JUST got off the Fantasy. There were 197 kids on board. The following week, right now, there are 800 kids on board - schools out in a lot of places! This was announced.

Call the cruise line directly and just try to book and see what they say .....and let us know!

[BroncosFan2010]

I thought I heard the Princess limits the # of kids on board, or used to. This might be a smaller ship/line, because I have never heard of a mass market line doing that other than Princess, and I am not sure they do that anymore.

[grannygristle]

I'm suspicious of this, if you have your heart set on the cruise why not just book as two adults? Accept for the moment that you can't use the supervised kids / teen clubs.

 

 

That's not an option here - if I try that online it cannot accept the passenger details of the 16 year old (guess it knows how old she is from the d o b). The travel agent cannot do it either - she tried to make a phone booking today but when we got to d o b that's when they rejected the booking.

 

Maybe it's one of the oddities about this company!

[grannygristle]

Fred.Olsen -- isn't that a primarily European line? Seems like I ran into some strange rules it had about something else, too -- number of people with disabilities they would accommodate at one time (even though not all of the people with disabilities were asking for any sort of accommodation..)

 

I hope this works out.

Yes, they limit to 4 or 5 (or some such number) wheelchairs on each voyage!:eek:

[grannygristle]

Will just have to wait until the morning and check for a reply! If not I will call them and try to get to the bottom of things.

[beachchick]

It's not a maritime law, but I know that a few cruise lines make their own capacity limitations for children/teens. If Fred Olsen is one of those lines, there may not be anything you can do about it, except ask to be placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations that include children/teens. Could it be because Fred Olsen doesn't have regular dedicated childrens/teens programs and facilities, so what they do provide during school breaks is limited to accomodate only X number of passengers younger than 18?

 

beachchick

[lady_cruiser]

I never heard of Black Watch so I decided to google her. WOW! She looks like an awesome luxury ship and hope your daughter decides to go. It would be ashame if she misses out on this cruise. While you didn't mention her age in your original post I am sure there will be other teenagers around the ship that she can meet up. Maybe around the pool area. And if you can afford to pay the additional adult rate for her I would say that if this was me and I had a chance to sail on her I would book this cruise in a heart beat.

[spongerob]

It might be an adults-only cruise. Some European lines do this (P&O does).

[LHT28]

Luxury line + mature cruisers = limited children

 

They probably have a number they use for each cruise for maximum number of children... when they reach that magic number that is it no more children.

 

I agree with the post above ask to be put on a waitlist in case the number of children decrease

[Sekhmet]

Some misleading information creeping in - Fred. Olsen is not a luxury line. It is a Norwegian family-run company which owns a number of older ships (Black Watch, for example, was built in 1972, and only carries around 800 passengers) and operates them very successfully targeting a mature clientele, primarily British. The ships are quite traditional, with entertainment geared towards its older audience, and have few facilities for children. I've not heard of a "child quota", but wouldn't be too surprised if there were one.

[grannygristle]

Right it's sorted. We've booked.

 

This morning the online faciltiy allowed me to book 1 adult and 1 child in a different category suite. I went right through to the 'enter your card details here' page.

 

At this point I phoned the Travel Agent who, in turn, phoned FO. The booking was allowed (in the original grade suite) after a bit of 'shuffling' (her words not mine). So we're on and travel in 8 weeks!

 

Why we weren't allowed to book yesterday I'll never know (and have given up caring tbh :D)

 

We're on Braemar (previous cruises both on Black Watch) and I'm paying adult rate for her due to room occupancy but I don't mind - I'm sure we'll have a great time.

 

Thank you to everyone that replied.