Emergencies while kids left on board at port

[seashinesunshine]

If you are on shore and your child is on the ship the ship has to wait for you even if you are not with a Ship Excursion. The reason for this is that minors cannot be transported internationally without a parent or gaurdian. I read a story of a mom who was on shore the ship pulled away and then had to wait for the mom because her child, 7 years, was on board alone. I can't remember where I read the story, but it was Fox News or something like that. But then again, there are always stories that go around, on both sides of the issues.

We are plannig to leave our kids on the ship ages 13 and 15 when we go, if they want to come they can but right now they are saying they want to stay on the ship some of the time.

[Julessmiles]

I take my children with me on holiday to share the experience, to share the fun and to be together. I can't understand why anyone wants to go on holiday & pack their children off to kids clubs! They're not kids for long - make the most of your time together!!

[junglejane]

I take my children with me on holiday to share the experience, to share the fun and to be together. I can't understand why anyone wants to go on holiday & pack their children off to kids clubs! They're not kids for long - make the most of your time together!!

 

We ARE making the most of our time together. Our kids are 9 and 13. They just finished their 9th cruise over Spring Break. We mix up our vacations: land trips and cruises. Educational trips (incl. Washington DC last Spring and Colonial Williamsburg, VA the previous Fall) mixed in with beach trips or theme parks (Disneyland, Sea World). We just got off the Mariner of the Seas last week (where the kids enjoyed the rock climbing wall and ice skating rink) and as soon as school lets out at the end of May we're taking them to New York City, plus a trip to San Francisco in October.

 

But every once in a while one of the kids wants a day off in the middle of our port intensive cruises. My younger DD in particular just loves the kids' clubs on these ships. After 9 family cruises I have come to feel pretty confident about the quality of the counselors in the kids' programs. The only thing that gives me pause now is her food allergies, so I try not to leave her over a meal time or else am extra careful about their instructions for food or snacks. But even there the ship has advantages over buying her food in port, because they are used to dealing with food allergies and communication is not a problem.

 

My point is this: don't be too quick to judge other people's vacation choices. Your post implies that parents just ditch their kids in the kids' clubs to get rid of them, but in most cases I don't think that's what's happening. The kids clubs are used because the kids love them.

[Scrapchick]

We ARE making the most of our time together. Our kids are 9 and 13. They just finished their 9th cruise over Spring Break. We mix up our vacations: land trips and cruises. Educational trips (incl. Washington DC last Spring and Colonial Williamsburg, VA the previous Fall) mixed in with beach trips or theme parks (Disneyland, Sea World). We just got off the Mariner of the Seas last week (where the kids enjoyed the rock climbing wall and ice skating rink) and as soon as school lets out at the end of May we're taking them to New York City, plus a trip to San Francisco in October.

 

But every once in a while one of the kids wants a day off in the middle of our port intensive cruises. My younger DD in particular just loves the kids' clubs on these ships. After 9 family cruises I have come to feel pretty confident about the quality of the counselors in the kids' programs. The only thing that gives me pause now is her food allergies, so I try not to leave her over a meal time or else am extra careful about their instructions for food or snacks. But even there the ship has advantages over buying her food in port, because they are used to dealing with food allergies and communication is not a problem.

 

My point is this: don't be too quick to judge other people's vacation choices. Your post implies that parents just ditch their kids in the kids' clubs to get rid of them, but in most cases I don't think that's what's happening. The kids clubs are used because the kids love them.

 

I agree... My DD cannot wait for the kids club to open... It's more a case of her ditching US than us dumping her as soon as we can! She's an only child who craves fun, activity and other kids. Frankly, I think I'd be a bad parent if I refused to let her go to the kids club or made her come off the ship with us every time because I was more concerned with how I would look as a parent than making her happy as a child.

 

We spend plenty of time together and are a tight little family unit, but everyone needs time to themselves... DH and I go to the gym on the ship, DD likes to go to the kids club. It has nothing to do with not wanting to spend time together and is more about accommodating different interests. DD deserves to choose what she wants to do some of the time as well, and she CHOOSES to go to the kids club.

[junglejane]

Scrapchick, sounds like we have some similar experiences! I was reading your thread on the Celebrity board about port days in the kids club on your Baltic cruise. We are planning on booking another Med cruise possibly on the Equinox for 2011. I find it hard to believe the kids club isn't open on port days. It certainly was on the Summit in 2008. Keep us posted!

[Scrapchick]

Jungle Jane... I certainly will! Seems incomprehensible to me that there would be no kids club coverage on port days... I haven't been on X for a few years but every other line provides this service, so why should Celebrity be any different? We'll be on the Equinox next week and I'll try to find out the situation then and will let you know...

 

I imagine a few other people would choose another cruise line if Celebrity does choose to go this route.

[kitty9]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I was under the impression the ship always waits for shore excursions booked through the boat. So if the excursion is running late, the boat waits.

 

That is not the case. I've been on cruises when the ship has left, even when ship sponsored tours were not back. There are numerous reasons why a ship must leave, and they most certainly cannot stay if a situation arises where they have no choice.

 

I've been on a cruise where the parents of two families missed the ship, and there was three days before they could catch up. These kids were miserable. We saw them with their "caregivers" and they were not happy, and a couple of them were crying. They MIGHT get good care, but the impact on children if something like that happens cannot be measured.

[seacrcsvz]

Wow - apparently everyone has some strong opinions on this topic. Let me just remind you, that I started this thread to hear everyones opinions and advice, feedback and stories. Of course we all parent differently, but that doesn't make any one person's ways superior or inferior to anothers. Let me just say that I for one, am thrilled to vacation with our kids, but I also love the opportunity to spend a little alone time with my husband.

I am a stay at home mom; I gave up my professional career to stay home and raise my children myself, and am thrilled that I was able to do so. Not all parents are so lucky. I spend each and every day with my children, I take them to all their sports and clubs, go swimming with them, read to them, take them on outings and excursions. We are posted overseas right now, so we also have the opportunity to travel with the kids extensively. Our three year old is already on his second passport! The kids have been all over Chile, Patagonia, Argentina, pretty much every Caribbean island out there, Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Mexico, USA, Canada, England, France, Greece, Australia... The list goes on. Now we are looking at taking them for a three week trip through Spain, then get on our cruise ship for 9 days (Spain, Canaries, and Morocco), and then a few more days in Spain before heading home. Every day that we are travelling we have something amazing planned for the kids. Every day we will spend as a family, and enjoy our time together. I look forward to seeing them experience new things, new cultures, new foods, new languages. We share these experiences together as a family! But this one day of our cruise isn't a great port day for kids - there really isn't anything they will enjoy. This one day, we thought that they might really enjoy having a day in the kids club, and we will certainly enjoy a bit of time on our own. In the past, they have always attended kids club and have always enjoyed it. They begged to go somedays, and my husband and I had to get over feeling guilty that we weren't spending the day with them - they wanted to be at kids club. We always checked in on them regularly, and they were always happy. The three boys are together in the club, and that helps since they have their brothers to rely on.

I can imagine the horror the kids would feel if for some bizarre reason we didn't return to the ship, but I can also imagine that if we were injured, they would be better off there than in some small town in Morocco with no one to care for them. Having each other to lean on is an amazing thing, and I have seen my kids rely on one another, comfort one another, etc several times! It wouldn't be easy, no, but nor would sitting in a hospital in another country where they don't speak the language and they don't understand what is going on either. I do put my trust in the kids club staff - one has to trust other people with their children. You send them to school and hope that the teacher is a good one (but you trust that the school board has hired the best they can), you take them to the doctor and ask their advice, and rely on it to do the best for your child - you have to trust. Given the overwhelming odds that something would happen and both my husband and I were unable to return to the ship (obviously if one of us were hospitalized, the other would return to the ship), I think it is a safe risk that we can take, with the comfort of knowing that our kids are in good hands.

[Quixotic]

For me, personally, I'm not ready to leave the kids onboard while we are on shore. Yes, I fully intend to use the Kids' Club (AO on FOS), so that DH and I can enjoy some night shows but I don't want to be off the boat without them. This is our first family cruise, so maybe I'll chill out more for the next one. My kids are 7 and 6, and incredibly adaptable, so I am not as worried about them as I am about ME. :)

[RoadTripFanatic]

I take my children with me on holiday to share the experience, to share the fun and to be together. I can't understand why anyone wants to go on holiday & pack their children off to kids clubs! They're not kids for long - make the most of your time together!!

Trust me I don't "pack" my kid off to the children's center. She loves going. Any chance she can be in there she is there. She is an only child and loves to have the opportunity to play with other kids to get a break from Mom and Dad. :) We also make the most of our time together on vacations. We take her on all of our excursions and make sure she has quality parent time. Sometimes she will ask while we are out can she go back to the ship? She's ready to go play with the kids. The majority of mom's that I know who cruise will tell you the kids want to go play.

 

We left DD on the ship once to go to the beach to snorkel. She was 4. We ended up at reef that had a bar but no beach. DD would have been miserable. Yes, I was a nervous wreck during the time. My only saving grace was the fact I could see the ship from the snorkel sight. :) I haven't heard any horror stories of people having their child on board while they where gone.

[beachchick]

I take my children with me on holiday to share the experience, to share the fun and to be together. I can't understand why anyone wants to go on holiday & pack their children off to kids clubs! They're not kids for long - make the most of your time together!!

 

There's a huge difference between "packing" kids off to the childrens programs for the duration of the cruise and taking them for some quality time with other children and a trained crew who will enhance their cruise experience! It's not necessary to be together 24/7 to have a good family holiday. Some parents want to do that and that is, of course, fine; others want a good deal of family time interspersed with adult time/kids in the childrens program time. And I don't hear any parents saying that they "force" their children into the programs. Most children seem to have a wonderful time enjoying the programs. There is not a thing wrong with that. Yes, they are kids for only a short time, but that's also reason enough for them to enjoy many activities, meet new people, and learn adaptability.

 

IMO, there's no reason it has to be one extreme or the other: Either parents keep their children with them all day and night, every day and night or they park the children in the kids clubs all day and night, every day and night. There can be a happy and healthful combination. OTOH, I wouldn't tell parents who don't use the childrens programs at all that they are "wrong" for their preferences any more than I'd welcome them criticizing our parenting choices.

 

I'm sure there are parents who would be appalled that in addition to the many trips (camping and otherwise) we enjoyed with our daughter every year, my DH and I took one trip (sometimes a long weekend and sometimes as much as a week) every year without our daughter. Other family members and very close family friends enjoyed having the time to build strong relationships with her. She was always excited to have her special time with other people she loved (and who she knew would spoil her rotten while we were gone). As for our daughter, she seems to be unscarred by it and, in fact, is a well adjusted woman, who loves to travel, adapts easily, interacts well with all kinds of people, is educated, and now has a child of her own. Had we been cruising while she was growing up, you can bet she would have enjoyed some time (not all the time!) in the childrens programs and we would have enjoyed that bit of couple time.

 

beachchick

[Onessa]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has ever left their kids onboard during a shore excursion, particularly a long one? We have left ours while we wandered around some of the port stores, that sort of thing, but what about for a long shore excursion. I'm wondering specifically how any emergency situations would be dealt with. For example, what if one of the kids is sick or injured and we can't be reached. Or what if we have an emergency and don't make it back to the ship? I just don't know how the ship would deal with such a situation - maybe the different cruise lines have different policies. Anyone's information or experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Sarah

 

Taking a ship's sponsored excursion is generally recommended if you are thinking about doing this. They will try to hold the ship if the excursion is delayed. If there is an on-board emergency, the ship will have a much better chance of getting ahold of you. We were on a cruise where WE were back on board and DD went to the kids' club for the rest of the afternoon -- one of the boys in the activity fell oddly and broke his arm, his parents were on a ship's sponsored excursion and the ship did contact the parents. The excursion was on its way back, the mom did say that the line offered to send special transport for them, but since they were so close to port, they declined. It was a very simple break and the ship's infirmery took care of it. This was about six or seven years ago on RCCI.

 

(if anything my DD was more freaked out by the whole thing than the boy :) -- we came to get her for dinner and she was sitting next to one of the counselors - Dizzy was his nickname - and he explained what had happened and said that our DD had seemed a bit disturbed, so he was letting her hang a bit closer with him. He's the same guy that had on an earlier cruise noticed that DD who had refused to participate in the talent show, seemed to want to do so, mid talent show -- he came over and encouraged her and seemlessly had her play a piano piece. It is a testament to the counselors that they really are screened to be "good" with kids.

 

Minimally, take a copy of the ship's contact information for that port and the line's main number with you (and make certain everyone in your party on the excursion has a copy). This way you will be assured of some way of getting in touch with the ship if anything happens.

 

Your child(ren) should also know who to contact on-board if there are any problems or if they are concerned about anything.

 

I never did this myself. Occassionally DD (now 14YO) will stay on board while DH and I explore very near the port for an hour or two. And even then we have international calling enabled on our phones and she knows that she can use that if anything happens.

[junglejane]

To me the much tougher question is the young teenager. I feel pretty confident leaving my 9 year old in the kids program while I'm in port. I always take an international cell phone and the phone number of the port agent that they publish in the daily newsletter. I feel that she is well supervised and my main concerns are about what they feed her (she has food allergies). I try to avoid leaving her during lunch.

 

But now our older DD is 13 and has aged out of the supervised port day programs. I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable leaving her for an extended period, but we did leave her for about two hours when we were in Mazatlan and took a taxi to the Golden Zone. She had strict instructions about where she could and couldn't go onboard. Mostly she is happy to go with us to the ports, but every once in a while she'd rather stay on board when we want to go check something out or go to the land based internet cafe.

[Onessa]

. . . But now our older DD is 13 and has aged out of the supervised port day programs. I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable leaving her for an extended period, but we did leave her for about two hours when we were in Mazatlan and took a taxi to the Golden Zone. She had strict instructions about where she could and couldn't go onboard. Mostly she is happy to go with us to the ports, but every once in a while she'd rather stay on board when we want to go check something out or go to the land based internet cafe.

 

DD's (14YO) been with us on at least four cruises since "aging out". We generally have had at least one port each trip where we've done a morning activity and she's "bowed out" of an afternoon stroll in port. She generally uses this time to do her homework and does not leave the cabin. Once she had a friend in and they watched a movie.

 

One of her shipboard friends (when they were only 12YO!) was the oldest in a family of four kids -- the parents would leave the 12YO on board to cut costs of excursions :eek:!