Independence OTS kicks off multiple families!!

[mtchg]

Just got off the Independence of the Seas July 3rd 14 niter. All in all, the Indy lived up to her Freedom Class "Oh Wow" reputation; we had a wonderful time.

 

The Captain, CD and staff did have to deal with bands of roving teenagers unattended by any parents DESPITE warnings that there be no unattended children after 1am, and daily printed and even verbal reminders from the Captain himself that parents must assure children are not running on the decks, the staircases; and generally being disruptive.

 

I give the staff credit for meaning business. I have it on excellent authority that one family was told to leave on the third day in Gibraltor, and two families, despite the fact there was only one sea day left before returning to Southampton were forced to disembark in Vigo, Spain.

 

I've read a review already posted about this sailing, and apparently Gloria, the reviewer felt this was such a problem it diminished her enjoyment greatly. It was not as much an issue with us; but we DID notice unattended teens causing a bit of a raucus now and then.

 

I look for even greater consequences from RCI in the future for this behavior. The bottom line? Parents; if you take your under age children on a cruise...it is YOUR repsonsibility to control them, or your vacation could come to a premature, unpleasant and very expensive end.

 

 

Mitch

[gerif]

Kudos to your captain.

[NorbertsNiece]

Kudos to your captain.

 

Ditto. Would love to see a review posted by one of the disembarked families....

[Caliterp07]

Sounds like everyone got fair warning and then some. Good for the captain.

[Retired LEO]

Great news. We need to see more of this.

[FR8]

Yeah we had a couple families kicked off the EOS back in March because of their kids. One was a teenager urinating all over the ship, on elevators, steps, first stop him and his father were tossed. Then another was causing problems on the ship and had been warned, St Lucia he tried bringing pot back onboard, they sent him and his family away with the locals.

[Puffinater]

I think we are seeing a bit more of this. On cruises with a large amounts of kids we are seeing "Deck Patrol" staff later in the evening.

[foxesden1]

what country were these kids from? talk about a down market cruise..

 

peeing? was he drunk? OMG that is just.. OMG

 

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG how gross..

 

T

[MyNameIsGermy]

I look for even greater consequences from RCI in the future for this behavior. The bottom line? Parents; if you take your under age children on a cruise...it is YOUR repsonsibility to control them, or your vacation could come to a premature, unpleasant and very expensive end.

 

Well said!

[catlady27]

what country were these kids from? talk about a down market cruise..

 

peeing? was he drunk? OMG that is just.. OMG

 

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG how gross..

 

T

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. Where was that child raised? and by whom? wolves?

[MikeNJ1109]

If the kids were that out of control, then absolutely time to kick them and the families off. The parents are, ultimately, responsible for the actions of their young ones, and getting thrown off sends the right message.

 

The above being said, I would certainly hope and expect that the treatment is exactly the same for any Adults who are out of control ... kick them off as well.

 

We have noted, generally, that most of the kids on board are better behaved then many of the adults on board. To show that their are consequences to actions, seeing the cruise ship have the rocks to kick off the offending people is actually a good thing.

 

Michael

[spanner14]

Wow, I'm glad to hear this - that the families were kicked off ship, not that they were misbehaving :)

 

Not in a million years would my DD be allowed to behave like that and good on the Captain for giving the families fair warning, then making them disembark.

[Onessa]

If the kids were that out of control, then absolutely time to kick them and the families off. The parents are, ultimately, responsible for the actions of their young ones, and getting thrown off sends the right message.

 

The above being said, I would certainly hope and expect that the treatment is exactly the same for any Adults who are out of control ... kick them off as well.

 

We have noted, generally, that most of the kids on board are better behaved then many of the adults on board. To show that their are consequences to actions, seeing the cruise ship have the rocks to kick off the offending people is actually a good thing.

 

Michael

My neice and her family recently got back from an RCCI cruise. Neice had just turned 20YO and was verbally abused and physically grabbed by a drunk in the Solarium -- screaming that "kids" were not allowed in the Solarium. Fortunately one of the pool attendants intervened and security was called to deal with the guy - he got hauled off. My BIL made a formal complaint with the ship about the incident - they took down the info, the ship's staff "apologized", and that was it.

 

The same guy, two days later got sick in a passageway all over a peice of art hanging on the wall. This guy, somehow, wasn't thrown off the ship, and in this case it did "ruin" my BIL's family's trip -- neice was, understandably, not comfortable.

 

So if some teens are being a bit loud, it is ok to toss them off the ship; but if a "responsible" adult gets blindingly drunk, and threatens another pax, he is allowed to continue on his trip? I'd like a better explaination from the OP as to what the "disruptive" behavior was that caused these families to be tossed. Two incidents of public drunkeness, assult, and destruction of property seem to me to be more than just a "ruckus".

 

Everyone must be held responsible for behaving properly.

[negc]

 

So if some teens are being a bit loud, it is ok to toss them off the ship; but if a "responsible" adult gets blindingly drunk, and threatens another pax, he is allowed to continue on his trip? I'd like a better explaination from the OP as to what the "disruptive" behavior was that caused these families to be tossed. Two incidents of public drunkeness, assult, and destruction of property seem to me to be more than just a "ruckus".

 

Everyone must be held responsible for behaving properly.

 

I think you have misrepresented the behavior of the teens who, along with their families, were disembarked from the cruise. It wasn't a matter of them being "a bit loud". Certainly the unruly passenger you describe should have received the same fate, and it seems unfathomable that he wasn't, but at least two of the incidents mentioned in prior posts referred to repeated incidents of public urination by a teenager, and an attempt by another to smuggle drugs onto the ship. Do you consider such actions to be simply "disruptive behavior"? I agree with your final statement but we don't live in a perfect world and the failure to properly handle the incident that you describe doesn't mean that the officials on the other ships should have overlooked the incidents that they experienced.

[aldewitt]

Ditto. Would love to see a review posted by one of the disembarked families....

 

Me too. I would have the opportunity to lecture the errant parents on the greater consequences of bad parenting.

[FR8]

what country were these kids from? talk about a down market cruise..

 

peeing? was he drunk? OMG that is just.. OMG

 

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG how gross..

 

T

 

The one urinating all over was a US kid, him and his father were on the ship together, his father spent all his time at the bars. It took the first couple days at sea to catch the kid, but they had him on camera several times. Due to our group we talked with the Chief of Security nearly every day, we were kept up on all the happenings, but no names. They got more than a few warnings.

 

I think the 2 incidents the other poster was talking about, specially the physical contact, would have forced me to pursue it farther, making sure something was done to make her feel safe.

[abhb]

We were on Mariner a few weeks ago. Around midnight we were going back to our rooms with a bunch of tweens in the elevator. When we got out on our floor (9) there was security standing right there. We got out and he held the elevator door opened and gave them a lecture about their behavior. He told them if he saw them again, he would escort them back to their rooms.

 

We talked to him a few minutes later and he told us they (RCCL) are cracking down on minors at night without parents. He said that at 1 am, if they are still roaming around, they are taken back to their rooms and the parents must keep them in their rooms.

 

It is about time:D

[foxesden1]

was he drunk? or just pissed at his dad for being drunk.. so he wanted some attention.

 

t

[FR8]

was he drunk? or just pissed at his dad for being drunk.. so he wanted some attention.

 

t

 

Not that I know of, one instance there was a bathroom right around the corner from where he was urinating, probably just wanted attention.

[Lynnees]

was he drunk? or just pissed at his dad for being drunk.. so he wanted some attention.

 

t

 

Does it really matter?

[Onessa]

I'd like a better explaination from the OP as to what the "disruptive" behavior was that caused these families to be tossed.

 

I think you have misrepresented the behavior of the teens who, along with their families, were disembarked from the cruise. It wasn't a matter of them being "a bit loud". . . .

 

What part of the OP's post did I misrepresent?? "Disruptive" and "ruckus" were directly from the post.

 

It was FR8 who mentioned something about HIS cruise and the mis-deeds that caused two groups to be escorted off that ship, but I still would like the OP to explain from her "excellent authority" what caused the groups on HER cruise to be kicked off.

 

F8's story about drug possession seems to be a slam dunk. I'm just wondering what DOES it take to be tossed off?

[aldewitt]

Neice had just turned 20YO and was verbally abused and physically grabbed by a drunk in the Solarium -- screaming that "kids" were not allowed in the Solarium. ...

 

The same guy, two days later got sick in a passageway all over a peice of art hanging on the wall. This guy, somehow, wasn't thrown off the ship,...

 

Two incidents of public drunkeness, assult, and destruction of property seem to me to be more than just a "ruckus".

 

Everyone must be held responsible for behaving properly.

 

I doubt if you would get much argument from those of us who behave. If we wanted to put up with the drunk and disorderly crowd we'd book on Carnival. I think most of the ships tolerate drunkeness (even blind drunkeness) because it contributes to the bottom line, and most drunks are not anything more than loud. Because they don't let you take your own alcohol on, the only drunkeness there is is public drunkeness. I can't see being drunk as a reason to give you the heave ho.

 

But assault, public urination, and wandering the ship in packs of teens after 1 a.m., that I can see as a threat to the good order of the ship. If one of my kids had peed in the hallway, I would have made sure he had a rather painful life lesson to underscore why we don't do that in public. And if one of my kids had ever cost me a cruise, I think some form of military school would have been the only answer.

 

Like the others on here, I applaud kicking the bad parents and the demon spawn off the boat.

[negc]

What part of the OP's post did I misrepresent?? "Disruptive" and "ruckus" were directly from the post.

 

It was FR8 who mentioned something about HIS cruise and the mis-deeds that caused two groups to be escorted off that ship, but I still would like the OP to explain from her "excellent authority" what caused the groups on HER cruise to be kicked off.

 

F8's story about drug possession seems to be a slam dunk. I'm just wondering what DOES it take to be tossed off?

 

I spoke only to the post which referenced the teenage miscreant who was guilty of frequent public urination and the one who tried to smuggle pot onboard, both of whom were disembarked along with their families. Their offenses were not a matter of simply being "loud" and I am afraid that in reading your post I did not see that you were not referring to those instances. In the experience of most of us, disembarking a passenger for violating the guest conduct policy is not a frequent occurrence and I would tend to believe that any passengers who experienced that fate were guilty of much more than simply being too loud. As I said, I believe that the lout whose behavior spoiled your neice's vacation should have suffered a similar fate but I don't think that you can conclude that there is somehow a double standard being applied.

[MidLothian]

Wow, good for RCI.

 

It's great to see people who think they can hold everyone else hostage to their own disruptive behavior can't always get away with it.

[Cruzaholic41]

To the Officers of IOS, I say Kudos!