whats the youngest you would let your kids stay in the cabin next to you?

[ckekjhaze]

Im extra vigilant on vacation because there are so many unknowns. We've done AI's as a family a dozen times and always shared a room. A few times in Cancun a rowdy crowd came back from clubbing and knocked on our door, either for mischief or by mistake.

Kids can be disoriented when woken up and might open the door without thinking, no matter what your've taught them.

Never mind emergencies like fire alarms, etc. Twice we've had alarms at night, with staff pounding on the door and shouting in Spanish to head for the stairs. My kids slept through them and I had to wake them even with the strobe lights going off in the hotel room.

Connecting rooms are OK for any age, especially with the door alarms. adjacent or across the hall- probably not til mid-late teens.

An exception is class trips- my kids have been on those with 4 kids to a room but the chaperones do a final bed check and the group hires security guards that stay in the hallway all night.

 

I always think of the McCann family that lost their daughter on vacation, because they left all the children in the room and went to dinner. Probably had done it before with no problems- but they will never forgive themselves for not being there and may never find out what happened to their daughter Madeleine.

[cruisinitaly]

We are leaving our 15 1/2 and 13 1/2 year old in a cabin across the hall from us this summer, and I have to admit, I'm even nervous about that. And my almost 16 year old is 6 feet tall :) The only reason I'm ok with it is because I know neither of them are the type to sneak out. It might be safer to leave younger kids than older ones LOL

[NanciRDH]

We usually book 2 connecting cabins for our family of 5, but on a short notice cruise on Monarch of the Seas (an older ship) that wasn't possible. At the time our children's ages were 16, 11 & 3. The 16 yo is very responsible, so I had no problem leaving them in their own room. The steward was able to open the divider on the balcony, so we were able to go between the rooms without using the hallway. I wasnt worried about the little one getting onto the balcony on her own, the doors were too difficult for her to open, even the 11yo struggled with it. We recently cruised without our oldest (college interferes with off-season cruising, lol!) and we decided to keep the younger two in the same cabin with us. They're now 13&5, but the 13yo isn't as responsible as her big sister, so we felt better having them with us.

[mom22tinks]

Someone mentioned door alarms earlier in this thread. Can you pls explain what they are and where you can buy them? We decided to put our kids (ages 7 and 3) in a connecting room on our next cruise - the door will always be open AND I'll bring the baby monitor, but I still worry about one of them opening the door at night... I'd heard about these alarms but have never seen one. thanks

 

I have actually found them at the dollar store and they work fine.

[tunseeker1]

I think that however you have to book the rooms is how everyone should stay in the rooms, but I am a minority.

[Mom.to.2]

It was too late to edit when I caught this... Yes, I mean connecting rooms. I view connecting rooms as nothing more than a room with twice the space & bathrooms. I would be fine with any age child being in the other room in that case.

 

We are a little more lenient than a lot of parents though. When our oldest was two, we would routinely leave her after she went to sleep and go to a show, casino or to a specialty restaurant for a nice dinner alone. We just made sure to bring our monitor with us. We never left for more than two or three hours.

 

 

*the last part of my post was meant purely as a joke, lets see who reads my entire post before they jump all over it! Our upcoming cruise will actually be both of our children first time to cruise.

 

 

OMG, you totally had me. I read this (but not your footnote) and said to myself "*****!!! Has this person never heard of Madeline McCann??!!! Can the moderator identify this poster and call Child Services???? :eek:"

 

I've cruised with connecting cabins and would put any age child in a connecting cabin. We leave the connecting door open the entire cruise and dead-bolt the kid's exterior door. Connecting rooms are really just one large room with 2 bathrooms, 2 closets...2 of everything. The foot of our kid's beds are literally less than 3 feet from the foot of our bed. There is no monitor necessary because it's like they're sleeping in the same room with you.

 

I'm not sure at what age I'd be comfortable with a room next door or across the way. My kids are 4 & 8 now so I don't see this as an option for the forseeable future.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Don't ever leave a sleeping child alone in a cabin. They will envariably wake up and be startled by your absence and uncertain of their surroundings.

 

I did this once with my then 5 year old and he woke up and was terrified! Live and learn.

 

Never leave a child alone in a cabin until they are at least 8 and then only for short periods of time. Make sure they are aware that you are leaving because if they wake up and you are gone they are disoriented.

 

As to the original poster- connecting rooms fine. Cabin across the hall no! I trust a 5 year old more than a 15 year old. So until they are 21- you need to be in connecting rooms.

[GA almost empty nester]

We went on a Royal Carribean cruise several years ago, and our daughters slept in the room next door. We all kept key cards for each others rooms, and they had to phone us before they could open their door. They did great.

 

I think you should be willing to let them sleep in an adjacent room if you are willing to let them sign themselves out of the "kids club". You just have to have clear rules about their need to keep you informed of their whereabouts. Ours generally knew where to find us, and also knew that if they weren't in kids club or their room, then they needed to be hanging out around the pool so we could find them easily. We would tell the girls our plans whenever they went off to kids club. We did check on them regularly too, that was the price they paid for sign out privileges.

 

The biggest rules were 1) they were not allowed in anyone else's cabin EVER, and 2) they were not allowed to open their door to anyone besides us -

including ship personnel.

 

Have fun:-)

 

Cathy

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Let me say this- we got into all kinds of trouble on cruises when I was a teenager. I ended up being lured into the crew quarters by the band leader and he attempted to molest me but I high-tailed it out of there. I was 15, he was 25 and American. He was friendly with my mother on the ship and I assumed he was interested in her (she was 40ish). So when he invited me to the crew area I was curious to see how they lived.

 

Just so you know- the crew has no real qualms about hitting on young girls. When my sister was twelve and Indonesian crew member french kissed her in a lounge area. She told me years later!

 

I saw a male crew member flirting with a young girl with braces on Holland America and even the other crew member working with him was giving him dirty looks. The young girl loved the attention.

 

Your daughters will never tell you about this. I never told my mother about it. So don't be blind to this and don't let your children go unattended around the ship for long periods of time. Especially at night.

[Kristi Williamson]

We have four kids ranging in age from 16 to 7 and we always get connecting cabins. Until they can afford to pay for themselves, that's how we'll be traveling. :D

 

My personal opinion is that kids don't need to be in a cabin where they can sneak in and out at all hours, and whether anyone likes it or not, seperate cabins leaves that door wide open! The funny thing is, our oldest is extremely mature and I actually don't think he would sneak out; we've actually "tested" him a few times in other areas of life and he's always made the "right" choice...but, I'm also not stupid. There's no way to KNOW and it's not worth chancing it to me. Just my opinion, but it's one I'm not going to change.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

When my very mature, well-behaved, 17 year old son and I sailed on Norwegian we had connecting room. I go to be early and he would come in around midnight so I never worried. He made friends with some other teens and didn't cause any trouble that I am aware of....

 

Until I downloaded the pictures on my digital camera and saw him in an inside cabin with five other teens having a great time with girls and large open bottles of smuggled rum. This is just ordinary teen behavior so don't fool yourself. Gotta say I have sons but if I had daughters I'd make sure I knew what they were up to!!

 

and let me say this... that was the last cruise I took him on. Now he is 23 and is in law school and does his own thing. Teens can get into all kinds of trouble... glad I get to rest up before my younger one turns 13!

[Warm Breezes]

On the Destiny last year, DD who was 13 and DS who is 16 stayed in the adjoining room next door. This was our first time getting 2 rooms and it worked great for us. DS is the type who will look out for his little sister and neither of them are the type to seek out trouble (they prefer not to embarrass themselves). They had a key to our room and we had a key to theirs so we could check on them at any time. On the Glory this July we will have rooms across the hall from each other and on the EPIC in December we will have adjoining rooms again. We like the extra room and 2 bathrooms that having 2 rooms provides. My kids have proven to us that they are mature enough to handle it and we trust them to do so. I don't think we will ever go back to 4 in a room again. It's especially tough when trying to fit us all in when DS is 6'8", DH is 6'4" and DD is 5'11". The extra room is awesome.

 

IMHO the age you let your kids do it, depends on the maturity of the kids and whether or not you trust them to stay out of trouble. Some kids have earned that trust and some have not. You know your children best.

[Cavners5]

We will have our DS-14 1/2 anf DS-10 in a connecting room on our upcoming cruise. Our DD-6 will be staying with us. I know my older one would not dare sneek out, cause his little brother would tell on him:D

[kabukijuul]

We are a little more lenient than a lot of parents though. When our oldest was two, we would routinely leave her after she went to sleep and go to a show, casino or to a specialty restaurant for a nice dinner alone. We just made sure to bring our monitor with us. We never left for more than two or three hours.

 

 

*the last part of my post was meant purely as a joke, lets see who reads my entire post before they jump all over it! Our upcoming cruise will actually be both of our children first time to cruise.

 

Don't joke about this...on our last cruise we met a dutch couple with a just turned 2 year...we saw them late one night and I asked where their son was and the dad proudly held up his baby monitor.