Child Safety

[nasvhillecruise]

I am SO EXCITED about my 1st cruise in March with my DS (5) & DH. I have had so many parents question me about the safety of kiddos on ships. They seem to think I'm crazy for taking DS on a ship because it would be "so easy for him to fall overboard." Does anyone have a good comeback for these types of comments? It's driving me crazy, & I can't stand people implying I'm not a good mom.

[Kerry's Girls]

Clearly the people you are talking to have not been on a cruise ship ever or in a long time. The most popular passenger decks are usually all floor to ceiling windows - not open decks. You have to search out the open decks (usually a Promenade deck where people do their walking/jogging).

 

Of course even on the open decks, the barriers make it difficult for an adult to fall overboard, let alone a child. In fact, though we've heard about intoxicated adults going overboard, and suicides, I don't remember ever hearing about a child - and there are hundreds of children on cruise ships every day. Has anyone else?

 

Best,

Mia

[NoelsCat]

You know, before we took our son on a trip to the Grand Canyon we heard "Oh, aren't you afraid he will fall over the edge" or "oh my! What if he falls!" from tons of people. None of them traveled much. As a matter of fact, the main offender has never left our state.

 

When we took him to the shore we heard worries about him drowning, getting to close to rip tides, even about sharks.

 

When we took him to Las Vegas we heard comments about smoke, child abductors, drugs, traffic and pedophiles.

 

When we took him to Washington DC we heard racist comments, warnings about the subway, and questions about why we would take him with us to museums.

 

I could go on and and on -- but I will spare you the comments from all our holiday spots since there are many...

 

My point is that he wasn't going to fall into the Grand Canyon because DH and I aren't idiots. It isn't like I was going to let him toddle around the edge. He was in our arms or in a backpack the whole time. He wasn't going to drown in the Pacific because, first off we were in the Pacific Northwest -- it's too cold to swim -- but mainly because we wouldn't just dump him in the ocean and walk away. He wasn't going to be abducted by pedophile chain smokers because it's ridiculas to think that Las Vegas is filled with that! Anyhow, you get the idea.

 

In life, there are people that my friend wisely labels "neighsayers".

 

Neighsayers are those people that have to always suck the joy out of things. You tell them you just got your first new car and they tell you about how they depreciate 40% after you drive them off the lot, how your model has so many lemons, and rail about the cost of full coverage insurance. You mention a great family vacation and they tell you that your child is going to plumet to her death into the ocean.

 

Tell me, with all the thousands of kids and babies cruising each year, don't you think the media would jump on reporting even ONE kid going overboard??

 

My advice is to tell these people to stop being joy suckers. You have researched and found that any railings outside are almost always plexiglass and nearly chest high. Moreover, you watch and take care of your child -- so it isn't like your child will be wandering unattended on the railings of ships. You might add that it's a shame that they obviously have never been able to cruise themselves -- lest they would know that their worries are unfounded. Do any of these neighsayers travel themselves?

 

I can promise that he will get something out of this trip and it won't be falling overboard. Keep looking forward to your cruise in March -- with any luck you are encouraging a love of travel and adventure for your little boy which will lessen the likelihood of him ever being a neighsayer to someone else. :)

[nasvhillecruise]

Thanks for the encouragement. I started thinking about the people saying these things, & for the most part, they lived sheltered lives and are passing these lives on to their children. There's not anything wrong with that, but I choose to let my son experience life rather than have him fear everything.

 

I'm not sure what they'll say when I mention I've found a guide in Roatan who will take all of us (including DS) on a zipline tour . . .

[Cruisin' Chick]

My hubby is a bigger worry wort than I am, but we feel good about taking our girl on cruises. We do supervise her when she's not in the kids' program. And on our last cruise, when she was 8 and supposedly old enough to sign herself in and out, we didn't give her that privilege. We had a chance to upgrade to a balcony (for free, if we'd postponed our cruise for a few weeks), but we turned that down as she was five and very active...even after a Princess rep assured us that the balcony barriers are pretty high.

 

We don't allow her in the cabin by herself and if she goes to the restroom, I do go with her and wait by the sink --it's funny to see her washing her hands and some woman will walk out of the stall and out the door.

 

For old enough children, it's good to give them a talk of what to do if somehow you're separated from them. And not to go to anyone's cabin without you, and don't allow anyone in your cabin without you there. Also no running around outside of the kids' area.

[Keith1010]

For us, one of the reasons we started to cruise was that we found that a cruise ship was a wonderful environment for the entire family. We always felt safe about our children on the ship even when they were very young.

 

With that said, we still had rules. When the children were young they would go into the Children's Programs and we wouldn't let the children walk around the ship on their own until they reached what we considered the appropriate age. So, at age 5 our children were either in the children's program or with us.

 

Have a wonderful time and I am sure that you will quickly discover how wonderful the cruise is for both parents and child.

 

Keith

[rebeccalouise]

I am SO EXCITED about my 1st cruise in March with my DS (5) & DH. I have had so many parents question me about the safety of kiddos on ships. They seem to think I'm crazy for taking DS on a ship because it would be "so easy for him to fall overboard." Does anyone have a good comeback for these types of comments? It's driving me crazy, & I can't stand people implying I'm not a good mom.

 

My friend looked at me the other night at dinner and said there was no way he would leave his 8 year old daughter in the youth program on ships. He is also the one that tells me that he wouldn't like a cruise because he wouldn't have enough time in each port.

 

So... I read between the lines.... he doesn't want to take a cruise and is trying to scare his wife (the one that wants to go) from going.

 

The fact is that cruising is way safer than land travel. On land, someone can snatch your child and they would be gone forever. On a ship, there is no where for someone to run and the youth counselors are excellent. The kids are very safe and happy on board. My son loves being there and I feel that he is in great hands every time.

 

A cruise is a great family vacation and whoever is making you feel bad is either jealous or uneducated.

[CanadianTwosome]

My hubby is a bigger worry wort than I am' date=' but we feel good about taking our girl on cruises. We do supervise her when she's not in the kids' program. And on our last cruise, when she was 8 and supposedly old enough to sign herself in and out, we didn't give her that privilege. We had a chance to upgrade to a balcony (for free, if we'd postponed our cruise for a few weeks), but we turned that down as she was five and very active...even after a Princess rep assured us that the balcony barriers are pretty high.

 

We don't allow her in the cabin by herself and if she goes to the restroom, I do go with her and wait by the sink --it's funny to see her washing her hands and some woman will walk out of the stall and out the door.

 

For old enough children, it's good to give them a talk of what to do if somehow you're separated from them. And not to go to anyone's cabin without you, and don't allow anyone in your cabin without you there. Also no running around outside of the kids' area.[/quote']

 

Kids can sign themselves out at 8? I shudder to think what a parent would be thinking that would agree to that!!

 

I don't actually think it's funny that anyone leaves a washroom anywhere without washing their hands. On a cruise ship, it's even worse - that's how norovirus outbreaks happen!

 

To the OP, perhaps you should ask your friends if they let their children walk down the street... they could fall off the curb!! I had a friend who did and he broke his ankle... he was just turning around to say something to the rest of us and one little misstep and 'Oops!' They might also consider not taking their children to malls or other structures that have open floor plans... railings are railings after all!! ha ha ha

 

I agree with the sentiments about sour grapes... people who haven't done things like cruises, rather than saying 'wow, I wish we could do that', instead say 'that's a terrible thing to do and here's why...' I say too bad for them! Sour pusses!!

 

Enjoy your cruise! I'm sure you'll love it and so will the rest of your family!! :)

[nasvhillecruise]

Canadian Twosome,

I agree with you about kids being able to sign themseveles out at age 8. I probably let DS do more than he should, but I'd NEVER think about letting him wander the ship as he wanted at that age.

 

What's ironic about one of the cruise naysayers is that their son tends to be a bully & has hurt my son twice (once badly enough to go to the emergency room). Hanging out with their son is actually MORE dangerous, I assume, than the cruise would be. That's pretty scary when the kiddos are both under 6!

[rebeccalouise]

Listen, in 1996 I took my then 8 year old son on a cruise to Alaska. There were about 10 kids onboard, since it was the first week of June and public schools were still in session (my son went to private).

 

He had no interest in the youth program or the other kids for that matter. What he liked doing was walking around the ship and had a sense of freedom. He had his little map of the ship and I guess I wasn't ultra scared of pedophiles then. The trip was great and everyone on board knew my son by name. He was chatting with people and crew members and they thought he was cute as a button.

 

I now have a 7 year old. I don't know how I will feel when he is old enough to sign himself out of the kids program. We are all much more worried these days about pedophiles. It is a shame that we have to be- but we do have to be. I do think that cruise ships are safer than land though- simply because the culprit would be easy to find and that would deter most people from doing this.

 

I think allowing kids to go somewhere and have a meeting place within 30 minutes is fine. We all have to give our kids a bit of space and cruise ships are really safe in my view.

[CanadianTwosome]

Sadly, I don't think we necessarily need to be more aware of the dangers of pedophiles than any other time in human history... I just think that we ARE more aware of it. They've always been there, we just didn't see it on the news.

 

I couldn't agree more about having a meeting place and maintaining supervision to the best of one's ability. I don't think that has to mean 24/7 joined at the hip type supervision, but setting time limits and rules about where your child is allowed to go alone and how you expect them to go there is important. On our last cruise, we allowed our daughter to go places by herself on occasion, but we had her tell us exactly where she was going and why, established the route she was to take in case we thought it was taking too long and went looking, and of course, gave her a time limit as to how long we thought it should take. On our upcoming trip, we will also have walkie talkies with us (we left the case by the back door last December, but I've got them on MY packing list this time) so that we can check in any time if we get separated.

 

As a child, I was on two cruises where there were also very few children. Family cruising just wasn't the norm then. There also weren't the kid's programs that there are now. My sister and I made friends among the few other kids that were there and we had fun with them. We were all very well behaved and didn't engage in any dangerous behaviour, from what I saw of the other kids, anyway. Who knows, while we weren't hanging out I suppose they could have been climbing on the railings! :p

[gazingm42]

I think we have heard a high percent of drunks falling over than kids. My kids have cruised since they were 4 and never have worried. I will admit I did not

get a balcony at that age. But even the rails on the open decks I just made sure we watch them like we would on any busy road. We explained to them

before we left and once we got on the ship the saftey rules of the ship.