Children on Seabourn

[Jane Pond]

I wanted to reply to CruiserBunny and can't find the thread.

At least on FlyerTalk.com, if a thread is stopped,

it says 'no further' posting and remain, sor a reason

is given. I guess Dan took it off, but I didn't think it was nasty.

In fact, I rather like a bit of controversy/heated discussion, since

everyone is so happy on the Seabourn board! <G> Perhapsx if the PTB read this board, they might think about the issues raised.

 

I think I might avoid Carribean cruises from the 9th to the

29th in April. That should cover the youngsters vacations for

Easter. Vacations are not as nearly predictable as in the UK.

But then, if there is a cruise you want, you might

just go for it, considering that our two young guests

last month were toddlers and they can sail anytime

with their parents. Rob Feeney's (Guest Chef/Pride/December)

child was a babe in arms, and that's different as well.

 

Also, on this side of the pond, I think we have more choices

for kid-friendly cruises than than one does in the UK: the

Disney Boats and several Princess-type ships. They

really market to families and I think that they are also

booked for the 'family reunion' type cruises for all ages.

 

Jane

[AllisonJames]

I too would like to read this thread, as I have just booked a Caribbean cruise for next April 9 specifically to leave my children at home and enjoy an adults-only atmosphere! One of the many attractions of Seabourn for us was the lack of children -- when we cruise with our kids we go on mega-ships like RCCL Navigator of the Seas because that is the perfect environment for them, in my opinion as a parent of an 8 year old and a 12 year old I would never take them on a Seabourn cruise, there are so many other lines geared toward families. So if I sail next April 9th and there are children on the cruise I will be extremely disappointed. I am not a child-hater, obviously, since I have my own, but our last few vacations as a couple at the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton, we were overrun by kids when we had left ours with the grandparents!

[Martita B.]

Sailor's~~~I did not read any "rude" or offensive postings.......I believe we were all just stating our opinions and viewpoints.

I love children.....have two great ones! I loveeee my triplet Grandsons, but would not think of including them on a Seabourn sailing with me. A few years ago we all cruised the Caribbean on a Carnival ship.......and ALL of us had a wonderful time. We are thinking of booking again for the family. My "triplets" would be bored to death sailing with me on Seabourn......and they are 'lit City

Renaissance boys~~~~

 

Just my thoughts!

MB

[its_my_dime]

So lets summarize:

 

For the Non-US people: school age children travel from about a week before Christmas until a few days after New Years; and, depending on the calendar, about two weeks either side of Easter Sunday. They also travel during July and August and frequently June depending on their school calendar.

 

Sub school age children (say under six) travel any time during the year.

 

Neither the Seabourn nor the SeaDream are suitable for children. They have no children's facilities or activities. Many children are "bored" on these ships and tend to wander around looking for something to do.

 

However, the SeaDream, at half the Seabourn's size and with even fewer facilities, gets many more children than Seabourn for several reasons:

 

1) It is country club casual rather than formal. So, while Seabourn has alternative dining facilities, families with children are more comfortable on SeaDream.

 

2) Even though SeaDream's official policy statments to travel agents and individual bookers is to discourage children, one of the owners travels with his children on holidays as do some of the officers which effectively says that it is fine to travel with children on that ship. SeaDream is a small ship and even six or eight children become highly visible.

 

3) There is some anecdotal evidence that SeaDream offers discounts to large family groups bringing children. I was on a trip with some 32 people from an extended family; another poster had a group almost as large.

 

4) SeaDream now (for a fee) offers a cancel for any reason policy that allows bookers to defer a trip. I expect that some of those who don't want to sail with children will move their trip if they find out there are many children on board, thus increasing the concentration of children.

 

One of the reasons that some of SeaDream's passengers have raised the children's issue is that booking large numbers of children absolutely contradicts some of the statements in the ship's brochures and other materials about what type of ship the SeaDream is supposed to be and who it is designed to attract.

 

My belief is now that upscale parents have discovered these wonderful "all inclusive" ships and given that Seabourn is larger, one can expect to see more children/teenagers on Seabourn during school holidays.

 

Comments on any of the above are welcome; comments about my personal point of view are not.

[bldsld]

I don't think you can assume that Seadream and Seabourn are equivalent in terms of theiir appeal to parents with children, and I don't believe you will *ever* see the same numbers traveling with kids on Seabourn.

 

What strikes me as different is the fact that, as you alluded to in your post, Seadream is very casual at all times and throughout the entire ship, with no formal nights, and thus, a very different product from Seabourn. While both are all-inclusive, that's essentially where the similarities end. Additionally, Seadream itineraries are, by design, 7 days or less, which makes travel with kids more attractive.

 

Does that mean you will never see children on Seabourn? No, there will always be certain itineraries during the summer where the occasional family with kids will travel. Most of the time, the kids will be well-behaved (that has been our experience as passengers on Seabourn during the summer saililngs, and we don't have kids), but for people who are concerned that there be no children onboard, avoid August and you will lessen the odds.

 

Denyse

[Jim Avery]

Ill try again. Posted earlier this day and my post was removed. All I said was that Its my dime is right. Remove any obnoxious posts but keep the thread. My post also included the fact that I found it strange that entire threads have been removed from SD and SB boards. Any pressure on you host Dan? Why was my post removed? Like to know the rules.

Thanks,

Jim.

[Cruise Miriam]

Hi, folks.

 

Sometimes threads are moved to a behind-the-scenes area so that Laura and I can review them. If you have any questions or concerns about your own postings, please email me at supervisor@cruisecritic.com or Laura at manager@cruisecritic.com with your questions or concerns. Discussions about Removals of posts or threads are not allowed on the message boards.

[cruisr]

Hi all,

 

I am speaking from experience here. My son, who is now 14, started sailing on Seabourn with me when he was 8. He has been on 3 Seabourn sailings. He has been twice with just me and once with our whole family including 3 cousins who were ages 11, 15 & 19 when he was 10. The children who sail on Seabourn are usually well traveled and have traveled the world and usually stay (with their parents) at the better hotels and fly business class or first class. I was on the April 7 Seabourn Legend and their was a 3 year old who was well behaved and the hit of the ship. I have never seen a badly behaved child.

 

No Seabourn does not have an official children's program but then again on most sailings, there is usually only one day at sea (sometimes none). There is not much chance for the kids to get bored. On the two summer sailings I did with my son, on one sailing there was 10 kids on the other 18. I have also been on (sans son) in the summer when there were about 22 kids. The great staff, Jan, Eric, Michele, etc put together a kids Trivia and a Kids Putting competetion on the day at sea.

 

The only bad thing about bringing kids on Seabourn is what happened to me. About a month after being on Seabourn we were at the Grand Floridian in Disney. I come out of the bathroom and find my son on the phone. I asked him who he was calling and he said, "I'm calling room service. I want to order some pasta, strawberries, ice cream and a Shirley Temple" I told him to put the phone down, we were not on Seabourn any more and if he wanted that, I'd have to pay for it. I know I'm a bad Mom because I made him hang up. He has to wait until his next Seabourn cruise for that.

 

Once Seabourn, always Seabourn (with or without kids)

 

Bon voyage

[Jane Pond]

I would also consider avoiding the week of the US Thanksgiving Holiday, which is the 4th week in November. It is different from the Canadian holiday, which I cannot find.

 

Jane

[flamboyant 1]

Nice to see another Flyertalker here as well. I have the same username on FT.

 

cruisr, nice story about the room service, I always feel the same...

[Jane Pond]

Yes, I noticed!

 

Jane in PHL

[cruisecrazyone]

BTW, CruiserDan is the last person to ever censor anything--trust us! Perhaps the "bosses" of Cruise Critic stepped in. We dislike any kind of censorship and love to hear from everyone here! Our vote, if anyone is asking for it, is "no children on Seabourn"! (Although as we have posted before, most of the "ankle biters" we have encountered on Seabourn were much more mature and "better behaved" than I am!) Cruise on!

[whirl'dcruzr]

one of the reasons we book seabourn is the lack of little tykes - who wants to see little kids when you're hanging out at the bar? working out in the gym? having dinner? the last seabourn we were on was not at all tame, and little ones would not have been welcome.

[Winner]

Are you sure you were on Seabourn? What exactly do you mean by "not tame"? On all our Seabourn cruises--including those with lovely children--I don't remember any wild (as opposed to tame) behaviour.

[whirl'dcruzr]

lots of laughs - we had also travelled with two other couples we met on previous cruises, and knew some of the bar staff and managers and entertainers from prior cruises, so it was like being with old friends - and of course a two week cruise always allows for more familiarity.

[2sea]

hi- I just found this sight about children on seabourn.. I too have taken my children along.... yes they were the only children on board. My youngest was 4 and the older one 6. Are longest stay was 25 days. They now are 16 and 20... Yes they were MY responsiblity and NEVER were the children a problem. We have been going for 12 years off and on, and I think our last trip like this will take place in the summer of 06, after the leaving exam in june of 06 and the older one will be finishing college. I have always taken into consideration the other passengers when ever I had the children on the ship. But when travelling alone with two children the smaller ship and the wonderful ports of call was to hard for us to pass up. We have wonderful memories and very good penpals from these trips. zIn fact a class project for both children was something called "Flat Stanley/Flat Agnes"..... and both children,different years meet people on the boat as pen pals and their "Flat" went to wonderful places with these pen pals. Very educational. Hope that helps

[Chairsin]

but I seem to be bothered by Cruisr's comments about her children at the Grand Floridian taking advantage of room service as if they were on Seabourn -- I don't think it is cute for anyone age 6 or 60 to abuse the unlimited room service policy on board Seabourn.

[Iamboatman]

Huh? Why is it you mention kids and the negative inference is immediate? Nothing Cruisr said even marginally inferred her child abused Seabourn's room service. It's not the ordering a piece of cake and a soda that is abusive (or even having a full dinner served course-by-course), but the charges for room service by the hotels.

[mcboo]

Iamboatman,

I have to agree with you. Having personally sailed with Cruisr and knowing her for a long period of time. I can guarantee that there is no abuse whatsoever of the Seabourn room service policy. I feel she was just educating her extremely well behaved son as to the difference between an all-inclusive product such as Seabourn and a pay as you go product such as the mouse house.

I waited a while to post a reply to this because I wanted someone else to take a look at the previous comment and give their opinion.

 

Chairsin,

I wouldn't be surprised if you have sailed with Cruisr as she is a VERY frequent sailor on Seabourn. She is truly a class act and has raised her son in the same manner. Maybe you have sailed with him also. He is the perfect little gentleman that every parent would be proud of.

 

Just my opinion

mcboo:) :) :)

[Daneite]

I have to agree with Iamboatman, but as mcboo said I did not want to be the first to post. Brian disagrees with me but I felt that cruisr was just being honest, no abuse to the stewardess it is their job afterall. We never ask them to do to more than is essential and I feel cruisr was doing the same, her son was a fare paying passenger and as such used the room service. she did not say he used it over and over again at all times of day and night so where is the problem? We used room service at 2am once, but only once, others use it every night as we are entitled to, 24 hour room service is what we pay for.. I would draw the line at expecting the stewardess to draw my bath for me, but it is Seabourn who promotes this, so why should we question it? Why then should we expect the crew to study photographs so that they can "know" your name? It is all part of what we know as Seabourn,we either use it or not but don't question others who use what is promoted.

[simonv]

One week in the middle of February is a ski week for some private schools in US and resorts are overrun with kids. Unfortunately each school has different schedule so it's becomes about two week period. We used to go to Hawaii when our children were small, and flights were full of kids. If children bother you, I'd avoid cruising close to US. The vacation is only a week, so faraway places are unaffected.

[cruisr]

Hi all,

 

Just to quell any thoughts that room service was over used or abused by my family: The Seabourn room service I spoke of was a one off when the adults were off the ship for a while. The kids (mine and my brother's) ages at the time, 10, 11, 15 & 19 were in my suite. They did order room service and it was the only time they did. They were all watching a video and they got hungry. Yes, I was illustrating this story to show that it is wonderful to sail on Seabourn as it is all inclusive. Room service at the Grand Floridian would be very expensive. That's what I love about Seabourn, its all paid for up front. Thanks McBoo and Iamboatman for your support.

 

Once Seabourn always Seabourn.

Bon voyage

PS I must admit, I always order room service breakfast. I hope that does not make me a criminal.....LOL

[CruisinMatt]

PS I must admit, I always order room service breakfast. I hope that does not make me a criminal.....LOL

 

Handcuff me - I order breakfast daily too! ;) (as well as the occasion afternoon snack :eek: )

[mcboo]

I luv room service on Seabourn.

 

On our most recent sailing Ollie and I actually had Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner served in-suite all on the same day. Never thought of it as abuse of the system.

Breakfast is always room service. The abuse would be me entering the dining room for breakfast at an early hour. Very Scary thought.

 

Hi Cruisr,

Guess you have to sail more with your son so everyone can see what a perfect gentleman he is.

 

mcboo:) :) :)

[bldsld]

Mcboo, one of the things I live for is breakfast ensuite on Seabourn. I have never set foot in the dining room or veranda for breakfast on any cruise; I need a pot of coffee before I can even take the "do not disturb" sign off the door!!! :-)

 

When are you next sailing?

 

Denyse