If you cruise with your kids I have a ?

[Kymberlyfarr]

I am just curious to those of you that cruise with your (non-adult) children at what age you let them go off to do things alone, or without another adult? In other words, unsupervised. Our son is too young but my husband and I have a difference of opinion on when that would be appropriate. Lol

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I don’t have any little ones but I do have grandchildren. A cruise ship is a large city. At what age would you turn your children loose in a large city?

[smokeybandit]

Ours is 10 and we let him explore on his own some but only for brief periods.

 

You'll see plenty of teenagers out and about on their own and for the most part all are well behaved.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

Our son is 12, and this is the age we started letting him return to and hang out in the cabin by himself. We still don't let him roam around the ship on his own. He isn't interested in the kid/teen club, so that isn't part of our consideration.

[kw1816]

As always with things like this - it's not about age but how responsible you feel they are. I have twin girls, same biological age - miles apart in responsibility/maturity. 

 

I'd be happy for one to go off by herself for a short while, but not the other. Fortunatley they hunt in a pack 😉. We're about to go on the Wonder, this will be their 3rd cruise (my 370th something) but first time for all of us on a ship the size of the Wonder. Last cruise was on the Grandeur and we were happy for them to wander off on their own. We'll give it a day or so and see how we feel on the Wonder. They're about to turn 12.

 

I'm always of the opinion that parents know their kids best , and are in the best position to judge.

[bt6799]

We're taking our kids on their 1st cruise in Feb.  Youngest will be 14 and I am ok w him coming/going as he pleases, as long as he checks in periodically.  Don't know if I would have been comfortable w that if he was younger, but as others have said, each kid is different.

[LuCruise]

I think the first time was on our Symphony cruise in 2019.  Our kids went together and our older one was responsible for our younger one.  So they were around 13 and 9. They just explored the ship (e.g. didn't go swimming or any of the major activities)

They went off for an hour or so and met us back at the cabin.  Went well.

[Gemina]

Our first cruise our boys were 11, 9 and 8 and we were comfortable with the three of them exploring the ship together, grabbing ice cream, etc. Obviously no water activities and with very firm expectations for behaviour. We knew we could trust them to tattle on each other if someone was out of line so I felt very comfortable with the arrangement.  

[mjkacmom]

10+.

[kw1816]

11 minutes ago, Gemina said:

We knew we could trust them to tattle on each other if someone was out of line so I felt very comfortable with the arrangement.  

Oh that is so true 🤣

[CruiseWendy]

Being an avid cruise in their own right I let my kiddo @ 11 explore the ship on their own. We had the safety discussion, reinforced behavior is the exact same as with me, I knew approximately where they were off to and we had mandatory check-in's.  It will also say it was a great way for me to sip my drink on the balcony and send my kiddo out for pizza to bring back 😃

Edited August 12, 2022 by CruiseWendy

[S.A.M.J.R.]

12 years, 3 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days at the time of embarkation.  If they're younger than that, they should be with an adult at all times!  

 

Seriously, it depends on the child.  There are some kids that would handle it just fine around 10 years old.  There are others that should be supervised well into their 20s (just kidding).  It doesn't matter what others have done. You know your child best.  

[Cutigerlady]

We have let a 9 yo go with his 14 yo brother to do things like play ping pong, get pizza/drink, play basketball, play mini golf, etc.  We also let him go back to the room to go to sleep.  My child is very black and white though, he follows rules to the T and does exactly what we ask of him.  We left a 15 yo on the ship while we got off to have lunch in Jamaica.  He slept the majority of the time and then went to get a smoothie and lunch.

 

We do pay for internet for every member of our family, so we can communicate with our phones at all times.  My kids know that they need to text us when they move to a different location.  We also have dropped in on them at various places to make sure they were behaving and that they were in the location they told us.  

[MommaBear55]

At 13 our kids were able to negotiate taking a bus or subway into Boston to go to classes or do specific activities. I would say 10 or 11 on a ship. 

[nferr]

The kids usually meet other kids and start hanging out together. I'm talking once they get a little older. The last thing they want to do is sit around with their parents. We cruised many times with our daughters and never had a problem. We let them go off and explore and would set meet up times.  They tend to hang around in a few main spots and of course there's the kids and teens areas. 

[ONECRUISER]

Though I'll admit depends on the Kid as my Nephews/Nieces 12-14. But my Kids and now Grand Daughter 10yrs old, all were/are lot more mature and aware of surroundings then their Cousins...

Edited August 12, 2022 by ONECRUISER

[Chicky2181]

My oldest is just about 12.  I personally would not let her roam on her own at this point and I’m honestly not sure when I would let her.  With That said I know people who let their little kids have free roam on cruises.  It’s just not for me. 

[RockHoundTX]

My kids had already done a dozen plus cruises by the time they were 10. Heading to get an ice-cream by themselves or pizza (i.e., 10-15 minutes unobserved) started at about 8. Full freedom (checking in and out of kids club, etc.) started at 10 but we had pre-defined meeting times about every 2 hours. Basically set a couple of hard and fast rules (no riding on elevators, no going into people's rooms, etc) that they knew they could not break if they wanted to keep their freedom.  At 12 they just had to meet us for dinner and be back in the room by midnight. Both were mature for their age (son was already taking college classes when he was 10). If you see a bunch of kids at MDR breakfast or brunch, it is likely my kids at the head of the table (for what-ever reason, this just their "thing"). 

 

That being said, I have been on a few cruises where I saw 13-14 year olds that REALLY needed adult supervision (but then again, I have seen some 23-34 year olds that REALLY needed adult supervision as well 😉 

[RCCL Fan]

We took a phase in approach.

 

It started with when we were at dinner and she had to go to the bathroom, we would allow her to walk to it and come back alone.   I think this was like around 10 years old.   

 

We were uber mindful of time, and making sure we would go to check if we felt something was taking too long. 

 

Small morsels of freedom.  Ok you can leave here and go directly back to the room,  or you can leave go get pizza and come back here.   We would slowly increase responsibility.

 

My daughter is of course 13 going on 35 in terms of maturity and safety. 

 

we have started inviting friends for her more, and given them more freedom since they are in pairs, but have lectured a lot about the dangers and  how quickly things could go awry.

[xxHadleyxx]

It depends so much on the kid and how responsible and how comfrotable they are.  It also depends some on the ship (how big is it, how crowded is that sailing, etc).

 

My kids are grown now, but the first time we were comfortable with them regularly off on their own was a smaller ship (Disney Magic) on a TA that was only 60% occupised.  By day 2 we knew many of the fellow passengers and even before boarding we knew a lot of the crew from past cruises.  The kids knew the layout of the ship well and were comfortable approaching crew for help, etc if needed.  I think they were 8 and 10 on the trip.  I would probaly not have felt comfortable with them being on a sold out oasis class sailing on their own at that age. 

 

By age 11 or 12 we were comfortable with our kids on their own but checking in, on pretty much any ship we sailled, and usually booked gty staterooms and ended up putting the kids in one and adults in another, (so not always right near by).  The kids had been sailing their whole lives, were used to a lot of freedom going on their own with public transit in Europe, etc.

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by xxHadleyxx

[brillohead]

Add me to the list of "it depends on the child, not the age".  

I was babysitting other people's children when I was 10yo (and this included children in diapers).  On the flip side, I have "babysat" kids as old at 14yo.  Kids mature at significantly different rates. 

IMO, if you're comfortable with your child riding their bike (or taking public transit or walking or whatever) to a friend's house that is a quarter of a mile or more away, they're probably fine to navigate a cruise ship on their own. 

 

This is assuming that you have had discussions about safe behavior, proper behavior, and what to do in case anything or anyone gives them the heebie-jeebies (and these are conversations that people should be having with their children starting at the preschool level -- it's not a one-and-done conversation). 

For example, does the child know what to do if they get lost and/or can't find a family member (in general, and on a cruise ship)?  I taught my son to look for an employee in uniform, or to look for "a mommy" (woman with children with her), or look for a "grandma" (white-haired little old lady).... this is something that any 3yo can understand and remember.  

Does the child understand what they are/aren't allowed to charge on their SeaPass card?  Is the child responsible enough to follow those rules?

Does the child understand safety measures regarding going into other people's staterooms?  How about the fact that they are NOT allowed to climb up on ANY railing ANYWHERE on the ship -- not only could they die, but if they don't die, the entire family could be kicked off the ship for violating the code of conduct.  (and there are cameras EVERYWHERE -- they WILL get caught)

More so than any age number, the answers to these issues will determine whether the child is ready to venture out on their own.

[RandomUser123]

I will say it depends on the child. My kids are 8 and 4 so cannot answer yet for my kids but they do enjoy the kids clubs. I would say for most kids 12 is a good age but there are probably some who are 10 and mature enough. 

[ramja96]

21 hours ago, kw1816 said:

I'm always of the opinion that parents know their kids best , and are in the best position to judge.

 

And there are some parents who don't know their kids at all. 🙄

[island lady]

Please parents...do remind your children about manners.  

 

If you want to let them free roam....that's fine...just teach them about respecting others.  

 

This last time we were on Harmony in an OS...there were many times wild young children were running down the hallway late at night screaming and laughing.  They of course thought it was soooo funny to ring our door bell, which woke me up way too many times.  I had to call to have the door bell disconnected.  

[Jkaczanowski]

We allowed our kids to start going places by themselves on a ship at about 10 or 11.  Granted, it was one of the Disney ships, so a little smaller than an Oasis class.  There were also VERY solid rules about where they were allowed to go - public areas only, no staterooms, no adult spaces.