Feel Like a Pariah on my Roll Call

[wintersmybaby]

I'm traveling with my two girls 6 and 3 and we're the only family on the roll call with younger kids. Not feeling too welcome, so I haven't even dared sign up for the Meet and Greet. Not a big deal, just different from my last cruise on RC. First time on NCL.

 

Anyhoo, traveling mid May, what should I expect from splash academy? Still plenty of kids? If not, will they reduce hours like I've heard of on Carnival? If not a lot of young kids guess the bonus is less crowded aqua park? Kids are so excited, as are we! :D

 

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[Stede Bonnet]

My boys will be that age when we travel Celebrity. I've seen that there will be some older children on my roll call and one person was sure to mention how well behaved her teenager was. I'm waiting till the cruise is closer to join the roll call as it is a teensy bit intimidating at the moment

[Kerry's Girls]

I've never heard of any of the major lines reducing hours due to the number of kids. The staff is on board anyway - why would they just give them more time off? Certainly not on NCL - we were on a 12 day cruise that included Egypt and Turkey with few little ones, and they were still open regular hours. Don't worry about the number of kids unless it's a really long or odd itinerary. I cruised a LOT before my twins were your kids' ages, usually on ships without very many kids due to the time of year/itinerary, and there were always enough kids to make it fun.

 

Being the sole family of young kids on a role call has happened to me a lot as well. I don't think it's as much about there not being other young families on board as there are only a very small percentage of passengers on Cruise Critic, combined with often the parents of young children have less time to be on the boards. I love meet-and-greets, but we also often skip them if there aren't kids going or, as usually happens, they're at times that don't work for a family.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Best,

Mia

Edited April 13, 2014 by Kerry's Girls

[wintersmybaby]

Sorry if the title of the post is a bit passive aggressive. Just a little rant. :eek:

 

I thought I wouldn't be able to go to an 11:00 Meet and Mingle thinking kids club ended at 11:30, but now I see it is noon. So perhaps I will sign up and kids can hang at the club or with Daddy. Probably find out a lot more I have in common with fellow passengers sans kids, and I would love to experience any higher up crew with this being my first NCL cruise.

 

Glad to hear hours shouldn't be affected. Mommy and Daddy need time, too. And since I'm at home and homeschooling, girls might enjoy a bit of a vacation from ME! :p

[Prinycesa07]

Aw, im sorry you feel like that! We are cruising on breakaway in a couple of weeks with our 3 and 4 year olds. Also the only one on my roll call with kids. But I havent felt put off at all. They told me that the kids are more than welcome to come to roll call :) I just dont know that i feel comfortable going with them and also not sure what our plans will be. Im thinking 11am on the first sea day they will be so excited, wanting to explore the ship and getting ready to get in the pools!

[6rugrats]

Sorry if the title of the post is a bit passive aggressive. Just a little rant. :eek:

 

 

Not sure how the title is "passive aggressive". Rant, complaint, etc., yes. Passive aggressive, no.

 

I wouldn't worry about any of this.

[staceyeileen]

We are getting off the Getaway the same day you are getting on! We have a 4 year old. I'm sure there will be plenty of kids on your cruise, no worries. :)

[cadien]

Someone did have an issue with reduced kids club hours on the NCL Dawn in January. I can't link from my phone but her review is on this forum if you scroll back. Dawn is in the thread title.

 

 

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[rebeccalouiseagain]

I can't speak for NCL but I did a Celebrity 8-night Pacific Coast cruise last May and there were only three children on the ship. I think the beginning of May is not a time that families with school age kids travel but there should be a few.

 

Have fun on your cruise- I'm sure you will. We had a great time on our May cruise.

[Onessa]

My boys will be that age when we travel Celebrity. I've seen that there will be some older children on my roll call and one person was sure to mention how well behaved her teenager was. I'm waiting till the cruise is closer to join the roll call as it is a teensy bit intimidating at the moment

You really need not divulge that you will be traveling with kids. Join the roll call and kind of "feel out" the other members. Take advantage of being able to ask questions about your itinerary and your cruise. I don't start out with my complete life story -- there are a lot of things that people do not come right out and say the first time they "meet" on line.

 

. . . If at some point you feel a bit more comfortable, you might want to ask if a certain activity is "family friendly" and break the ice

[AlohaPride]

I'm so sorry the welcome you've received has been so chilly. We, too, are the only ones with kids in our roll call (6, 5, and 3) but we've had an amazing welcome. A few of the members have even asked about my girls' favorite colors. I hope what's going on in your roll call changes.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Some people are just colder than others. Most of the cruises we're going on are during school months, so my son will be one of the few little ones. I'm okay with that- more attention in the nursery :)

 

We did an 11-night Panama Canal cruise for our honeymoon. There were 3 kids on the ship that I recall. I thought it was wonderful for a family to be able to experience such a great trip together. I don't think many people minded onboard. The kids clubs still ran for those kids.

 

I toured a ship 2 years ago on Holland America. I stopped in to the kids club and talked to the girl who would be working for a repo cruise (Fort Lauderdale to Quebec). She said there were 4 kids on the cruise. She said that it makes her job easier and she can give them more attention. She was the only kids club crew member that was scheduled on the ship for that cruise. So some cruise lines will ship people around depending on the season/demand.

 

All in all, don't feel bad! It's YOUR vacation just as much as those crummy people on the roll call.

[Stede Bonnet]

You really need not divulge that you will be traveling with kids. Join the roll call and kind of "feel out" the other members. Take advantage of being able to ask questions about your itinerary and your cruise. I don't start out with my complete life story -- there are a lot of things that people do not come right out and say the first time they "meet" on line.

 

. . . If at some point you feel a bit more comfortable, you might want to ask if a certain activity is "family friendly" and break the ice

You are right that I don't have to give full information and the group seems reasonably friendly. I just need to put my toe in the water

[Cruisin' Chick]

My daughter's fourth cruise and her first on Princess was in mid-February. She was only one of three 5-year olds on board. The program didn't get their hours, just combined more ages and didn't do all of the activities (for example, there was a science program when there were plenty of kids on board, but for her cruise, they didn't do those activities, but did give each kid a little bean bag toy).

 

I joined Cruise Critic after after booking our 2005 cruise and she had no interest in going to the meet and greet on that cruise or the next two cruises we went on after that (she was 8, 13, and 15 on those cruises). In fact, one of my fellow roll callers kept wondering if she would ever meet "the girl," but finally did during New Years Eve, when my girl showed up to party.

[cbsmama]

Well, I posted on the roll call for our 2015 Celebrity cruise and mentioned that we will have our 5-yr-old.

 

Yeah, no posts since then. Whatevs.

[wintersmybaby]

Ya, exactly, cbsmama. It's not like people seem mean, just one comment hoping there won't be that many kids and that the ones there will be "hidden". When I commented back to say we probably wouldn't be doing the same things anyway and shared how excited my girls are and posted a couple pics of them playing with their Barbie cruise ship, no response at all. As a matter of fact, no one commented on the roll call for a whole day. O well.

 

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[wintersmybaby]

Ya, exactly, cbsmama. It's not like people seem mean, just one comment hoping there won't be that many kids and that the ones there will be "hidden". When I commented back to say we probably wouldn't be doing the same things anyway and shared how excited my girls are and posted a couple pics of them playing with their Barbie cruise ship, no response at all. As a matter of fact, no one commented on the roll call for a whole day. O well.

 

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[Prinycesa07]

Well I, for one, wish myself and my 3 and 4 year olds were sailing with you guys!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Ya, exactly, cbsmama. It's not like people seem mean, just one comment hoping there won't be that many kids and that the ones there will be "hidden". When I commented back to say we probably wouldn't be doing the same things anyway and shared how excited my girls are and posted a couple pics of them playing with their Barbie cruise ship, no response at all. As a matter of fact, no one commented on the roll call for a whole day. O well.

 

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One thing I've found about CC is that there are a ton of people who feel if they even see a kid, their whole day is ruined. And if they're on a cruise, they don't want to even know there's kids on board as that would ruin their vacation. I think between kids and curmudgeons, I've found the second type to be more problematic by far.

 

But for a rollcall for a cruise that's a year away, I wouldn't try to take it too personal that it's quiet. Sometimes a roll call doesn't even really start going til closer to the sailing date, and sometimes it stays active the whole time. Just take a mental note of the screen name of the naysayer and it could be possible to avoid them, or maybe even bring your kid to the meet and greet and make sure your kid shakes his hand.:D

[Cruisin' Chick]

I guess I confused the two of you. I see just one of you is talking about a 2015 cruise.

[The Mister]

We're booked our second cruise for this November. I think we were the only family with young kids in our roll call for our first (maybe one more? I know there were a couple of families with teens / adult children), which was last October, and so far we're the only ones for the cruise that is still 6 1/2 months out.

 

However, the first was Carnival and the next one is NCL, so I didn't see, nor do we anticipate seeing, any curmudgeon-like posts like you describe, even though we sailed / are sailing in the off-season (another hurrah for homeschooling!). I expect if we were doing Princess or Celebrity, we would maybe see a bit more of that.

 

Second point: I think one of the reasons NCL / RC run the "kids sail free" promotions is to try to bump up their off-season attendance in the kids' clubs. I.e., trying to cut down on bored / furloughed kids' club staff, which affects turnover.

 

(Same reason you can get a brand new air conditioner for below cost in November - it's more work and costs more to hire and fire seasonal employees than to keep experienced ones employed and gaining experience.)

[jlrn366419]

I'm traveling with my two girls 6 and 3 and we're the only family on the roll call with younger kids. Not feeling too welcome, so I haven't even dared sign up for the Meet and Greet. Not a big deal, just different from my last cruise on RC. First time on NCL.

 

Anyhoo, traveling mid May, what should I expect from splash academy? Still plenty of kids? If not, will they reduce hours like I've heard of on Carnival? If not a lot of young kids guess the bonus is less crowded aqua park? Kids are so excited, as are we! :D

 

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I wish there were more families with kids on the roll calls too. It seems like cruise critic is pretty heavily populated by cruisers without kids or with grown kids.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I wish there were more families with kids on the roll calls too. It seems like cruise critic is pretty heavily populated by cruisers without kids or with grown kids.

 

Unfortunately, IMO, I've seen a lot of nasty comments on CC about kids. And not acted upon by the mods. I've also noticed an anti-anti-smoker atmosphere too on CC (that if you say something about wanting to be away from smokers or being glad that there's more restrictions on smoking...your post will be more likely deleted than the anti-kid ones). Maybe because I'm pro-kid and anti-smoking, I notice this more, but I think these biases exist here.

[cruiselovincouple]

We brought our then 19 month old son on his first cruise in 2012, it was a 14-day to Hawaii on Princess so I was preparing myself for some negative opinions but I received nothing but a warm welcome and kindness from everyone on our roll call. I've also seen some harsh opinions regarding kids but it seems that most of these are born out of folks being subjected to kids displaying obnoxious behavior that is unchecked by their parents. I don't feel it's kids in general that these cruisers dislike, it's badly behaving kids with or without adult supervision.

 

My son has flown with me about 8-10 times now and I've only had a single bad experience with someone who sat down in front of us, turned around and snarkily remarked " I hope that baby will be quiet." There were only about 20 people on the plane at that point with plenty of empty seats and yet this person chose to sit RIGHT IN FRONT of us. So I looked him square in the eye and said, "A 2 year old toddler boy? It's unlikely. You probably will want to move." And he did. And you know what? My 2 year old toddler boy wound up being quiet. It has definitely been my experience tho that 95% of people are understanding and kind when parents are doing the best they can to keep their child(ren) in line. It's just that 5% that can be so hard sometimes. On the flip side, I've much more frequently encountered other parents, aunts and grandparents who purposely sit next to me so I won't have to sit by any negative nellies. These people are always such a blessing.

 

OP, I'm sure you'll find plenty of people on board who are kind and welcoming. If your roll call winds up being resistent to youngins, you just wait until you're onboard and get all the smiles and "oh how cute!!" remarks. :D

 

~Lisa :p

[BLAMBKY]

It happens with teen "children" parents too. My first roll call was wonderful. The second one, not so much. Actually inquired (privately) about how to take my name off the roll call list.:o Of course, the invite was still in my cabin....

The chilly, non existent welcome on our roll call made me worry about our cruise. Turned out it was an awesome cruise! :D I am ready to go again but lesson learned, watch before I post.