Would it scare you to go into port leaving the kids behind?

[G&TQ]

I don't think I could do it. I would be too afraid something would happen? What do they do if the child's parent(s) are not back on board?? What would you do if that happens?

[jam82]

Yes it would, but I've done it. I'm afraid for him any time that he is not by my side which is why I don't send him to day care. However, I'm Ok with leaving him for a few hours at time every now and then. I think that if something "really bad" happens when he was there that there would be little difference if I was on the ship or if I was off the ship. (except guilt) If some kid hits him over the head and knocks him out, I would take him to the Dr. I believe that is the same thing the staff would do. I believe that the counselors take good care of them and do everything for the kids safety. If I didn't believe that I wouldn't leave my DS even when I was on the ship.

 

By the way, I don't need to be flamed. The OP was just asking how others feel.

[tamsocal]

I would never go into port & leave them on the ship but thats just me and to each his own

[G&TQ]

jam82,

thanks for your honest response. I was not even thinking about what might happen with him. (now I feel guilty) My son goes to before and after care and of course school. I was thinking about something happening to me to keep me from getting back to the ship. We have not cruised with our son and I never worry about getting back as we plan to be back at least 1hr before we need to be. I love to watch the runners. But what would happen if we don't make it back. Do they sail off with my child? What would happen if I don't make it to the next port or back to the embarkation port in time? I am not saying it is wrong just wondering.

[kitty9]

I have been on board a ship when TWO sets of parents left their kids on board and missed the ship. There were four kids left behind, one a baby. It had to be terrible for the kids because they were all 5 and under, and the next port of call was two days away. If you take a ship's tour, the ship MIGHT wait for the group if the tour is late (I say might because I've been on ships where they didn't wait for tours as they had no choice but to sail because of tides and other issues beyond their control), but they will not wait if you miss the ship on a private tour.

[mlfallis]

I have been on board a ship when TWO sets of parents left their kids on board and missed the ship. There were four kids left behind, one a baby. It had to be terrible for the kids because they were all 5 and under, and the next port of call was two days away. If you take a ship's tour, the ship MIGHT wait for the group if the tour is late (I say might because I've been on ships where they didn't wait for tours as they had no choice but to sail because of tides and other issues beyond their control), but they will not wait if you miss the ship on a private tour.

 

This would be my fear. I know the kids would be well looked after, but what happens if we miss the boat or something happens to us on shore. What did they do with the kids?:eek:

[philsfun]

Isn't this against the ship rules?

[jam82]

It is allowed. Some lines have rules that you must be on their excursion, but as long as you are it's allowed.

 

If something happened to me on shore, I would be glad that my son was not with me. I would be a lot more scared of what would happen to him if left alone in a foreign country than if he was in child care on the ship.

 

I believe the ship would try to wait, but if they couldn't, then they would take care of him until arrangements were made for a family member to get him.

[cruzin_OH]

I have left my kids on board and would do it again. They were 5 and 2 at the time and we were in port in Belize on Carnival Legend on our first cruise. We couldn't find a good excursion to do with them and didn't know of a good beach, so we decided to leave them and just shopped in port area. It was crowded and miserably hot & humid...they would've hated it. Instead, we shopped without worry for a while and they played happily in Camp Carnival. My 2 year old even took a much needed nap.

 

I don't know that I would want to take an excursion that could potentially be late, but I wouldn't want to miss out on any port. We kept it simple and it worked for us. Everyone was happy and Camp Carnival staff has always been awesome!:)

[Kerry's Girls]

I have no problem leaving my children on board. If something happens to me, I know my children will be safe until another family member can reach them - much better than them being with me if something horrible happens and them falling under the authority of whatever country we're in. It would be awful if something happened to me or to them and I couldn't be there, but my children wouldn't be in danger, and I'm just not someone who bases my actions on the worst possible outcome.

 

Best,

Mia

[A&Jfamily]

I have no problem leaving my children on board. If something happens to me' date=' I know my children will be safe until another family member can reach them - much better than them being with me if something horrible happens and them falling under the authority of whatever country we're in. It would be awful if something happened to me or to them and I couldn't be there, but my children wouldn't be in danger, and I'm just not someone who bases my actions on the worst possible outcome.

 

Best,

Mia[/quote']

 

Totally agree. Carnival is not going to abandon the kids if something happens to mom and dad. We can't protect our kids 24/7 as much as we would like to and having the option of leaving the younger ones on board is a big plus.

 

I have left my youngest son on board twice while we took the oldest on a ship-based excursion; I did want the "guarantee" that CCL would wait should we be running late. We did it in Costa Maya for the ruins at Chachobeen one year, and then in Belize for a kayak/snorkel. Both were morning excursions and we were back on board after lunch, where we picked him up from camp. He never missed us a moment.

[sandytoes03]

I have no problem leaving my children on board. If something happens to me' date=' I know my children will be safe until another family member can reach them - much better than them being with me if something horrible happens and them falling under the authority of whatever country we're in. It would be awful if something happened to me or to them and I couldn't be there, but my children wouldn't be in danger, and I'm just not someone who bases my actions on the worst possible outcome.

 

Best,

Mia[/quote']

 

I think you have a good philosophy.

 

My Dh and I might do this on our next cruise for a little while, while we're at the private island. I guess that's a little different than being in a POC though.

[sprockie]

I have no doubt the children would be safe on board with the staff. However, what I wouldn't be able to live with is how worried/hysterical/stressed they would be without me for a day or two, and I without them.

We missed our ship ourselves before we had kids in St. Thomas. It's easier than you think - overcrowded ports, traffic problems etc. It took years off our lives and it was just the two of us. I can't even imagine what it would be like with kids on board as the ship sails away.

[MamaParrotHead]

I wouldn't ever do it.

[5waldos]

I wouldn't leave the kids on board- if I am going to be left behind, I'd want my kids with me. But also unless we are talking wee babes here, I take the kids on trips to have an adventure with me. Why would I go and have an adventure and leave them behind?

[addicted to cruising]

I have left mine on board as well...my children are a bit older than what is posted here. Their first cruise they went with us everywhere as they were 10 and 13. however my youngest really prefers to spend his time on the ship so he often will come into port with us then return before the rest of us plan to. Our last cruise he was 13 and returned to the ship at each port, we just take him back to the ship and indicate that he is to be in the room 1hr before we sail and we tell him what that time will be...no exceptions. That way we are all accounted for in plenty of time should there be a problem. I must say the first time I was a bit nervous about doing this, but I feel he is very safe on the ship and he is old enough that if something were to happen to us in port he could easily take direction from the ship staff. We sail in Dec and I know he will be planning to hang on the ship much of our port time. That is what he enjoys about cruising!

[emms]

We left ours on board, but they are teenagers and had such a good time on board they didnt want to get off!!

We did worry a bit though in Barcelona, waiting 40 minutes for the HOHO bus in the centre , but we still managed to be back on board about 3 hours before we were due to leave (waste a meal we had paid for and some valuable sunbathing time, not going to happen):)

[addicted to cruising]

I wouldn't leave the kids on board- if I am going to be left behind, I'd want my kids with me. But also unless we are talking wee babes here, I take the kids on trips to have an adventure with me. Why would I go and have an adventure and leave them behind?

 

 

I guess each person has their own reason for leaving their children. In my case my son doesnt always enjoy the rest of the families "adventure". He may want to do certain things with us but then prefers to return to the ship to enjoy his cruise on his own terms...afterall that is why we cruise so each of us can spend time togehter as a family and yet personalize our trip to what each of us likes as an individual.

[Julienatul]

Absolutely it would scare me. There is no way to contact you off the ship so for me it is not an option. God forbid if something ever happened. Plus I enjoy experiencing the ports with my kids. That is where the learning takes place and the exposure to different cultures. It makes it that much more memorable to see it through the eyes of a child.

[Onessa]

DD will accompany us on any full blown excursion -- DD, DH and I are fortunate to have very similar interests (although DH refused to snorkel with us in Hawaii, but he was happy enough sitting on the boat watching us). We will often do something in the morning all go back on board for lunch and then DH and I will go back into the port city just to wander and shop a bit.

 

On such occassions, when she was younger DD would do the afternoon program on board, now she's 14YO (15 in less than 2 weeks!) and for the last few years will stay in the cabin doing her homework or reading for a few hours while DH and I go explore. Usually DH and I will only be gone for 2-2.5 hours at the most.

 

I'm paranoid when it comes to getting back to the ship -- and have had what my DH calls mild panic attacks while in port obsessing about getting back to the ship. He humors me so we are rarely not back on board with at least an hour and a half to spare.

[Warm Breezes]

We did it while we were in Nassau on our first Disney Cruise. DD was 4 and DS 7. Our freinds went with us with kids the same age, so they each had a friend in their age group on-board. We went for a short trip to the Atlantis Casino 1/2hour to an hour tops and then we did a little shopping at the straw market. While in the straw market DD had the kids club send me a text on the little pagers they gave us. She was crying and she wanted her Mom. Luckily we were within minutes of the ship and I got to her fairly quickly. She thought we had left her "forever" (drama queen at a young age). She never really took to going to the kids clubs and to this day (she is now 13) rarely participates in them. That was the first and last time we left them on the ship without one of us on-board.

[karatemom2]

I'm firmly in the camp of stating that parents should do what is comfortable and feels right for them and their family. It is so amazing to me that even on a family board the posts are often so judgmental of other's parenting choices. The children's programs onboard are excellent and very safe or none of us would allow our children to go at all. If a parent feels comfortable going into port while the child remains on the ship I don't see a problem with that. We have friends who have done it on several occasions without a problem.

 

Our kids have always come with us on our port excursions, but then again they have always been old enough to enjoy whatever it is we have planned. I did make an exception last year in Skagway when we went back into town to do a little shopping and my 16 year old son decided to stay onboard and play board games with some friends. He would have been miserable shopping and frankly it is his vacation too. We had a clear understanding of his schedule in meeting with his friends and our schedule in returning to the ship. It worked out fine and I would likely consider it again in the future under the right circumstances.

[Scrapchick]

Thank you, Karatemom2, for being a voice of common sense and reason. I hesitated to even post in this thread because of the unfortunate way things tend to degenerate and become very judgmental on topics like this....

 

I have left my DD in the kids club on many occasions while ashore, and especially when she was younger. She's 9 now and it's still like pulling teeth to get her to come off the ship sometimes, but at least she's old enough to remember where she went and what she did now.

 

I have great confidence in the kids club staff and the safety procedures on board and feel sure my child is safe in their care. We rarely do ships tours and usually do our own thing in ports. We have never missed a ship in all our cruises (listed below) and would never take unneccesary risks, knowing our DD was on the ship.

 

I have talked to kids club staff about this and what they do in the event the parents do not return, and have heard about some of the silly people who have left their kids on board and then gone off on a 2 day tour to Moscow etc (yes, heard that really happened!)

 

Personally, I have no problem with it and would rather know my child is in the care of the kids club than wandering the ship on her own. That bothers me a whole lot more. To each his own. Every family does it differently. However, I will speak for myself and say that I refuse to live my life in fear and terrified of the "what if??" scenarios that others are concerned about. So no, I am not scared to leave my child on board the ship while I go off into port. We are very experienced cruisers, all three of us, and nothing I have seen in my 16 years of cruising has caused me to do things differently.

 

And that is just my opinion...

[quincytoo]

Thank you, Karatemom2, for being a voice of common sense and reason. I hesitated to even post in this thread because of the unfortunate way things tend to degenerate and become very judgmental on topics like this....

 

I have left my DD in the kids club on many occasions while ashore, and especially when she was younger. She's 9 now and it's still like pulling teeth to get her to come off the ship sometimes, but at least she's old enough to remember where she went and what she did now.

 

I have great confidence in the kids club staff and the safety procedures on board and feel sure my child is safe in their care. We rarely do ships tours and usually do our own thing in ports. We have never missed a ship in all our cruises (listed below) and would never take unneccesary risks, knowing our DD was on the ship.

 

I have talked to kids club staff about this and what they do in the event the parents do not return, and have heard about some of the silly people who have left their kids on board and then gone off on a 2 day tour to Moscow etc (yes, heard that really happened!)

 

Personally, I have no problem with it and would rather know my child is in the care of the kids club than wandering the ship on her own. That bothers me a whole lot more. To each his own. Every family does it differently. However, I will speak for myself and say that I refuse to live my life in fear and terrified of the "what if??" scenarios that others are concerned about. So no, I am not scared to leave my child on board the ship while I go off into port. We are very experienced cruisers, all three of us, and nothing I have seen in my 16 years of cruising has caused me to do things differently.

 

And that is just my opinion...

And a very good opinion it is :)

I agree with everything you and KM2 posted so add me to the yes, I would (and have left) our son on ship while we had a port beach day in Antigua (something he would have hated) we made sure we were back at 2:30 and the ship left at 6.

[junglejane]

Our kids have been on 9 cruises and we have left our younger DD in the kids program on several occasions when she preferred not to accompany us off the ship. I have a lot of confidence in the professionalism of the programs on the ships we've been on. To me, the problem comes when your kid is a young teen, say 13 or so. Too old for the kids program but too young to be left unsupervised on the ship. With my 9 year old, I know that she will be supervised in the kids program and can't sign herself out on a port day. She makes the choice to stay on the ship with the full knowledge that she stays in the Fun Zone until we get back. But there's no such option for my 13 year old, so she doesn't get the same choice!