Celebrity Cruisers don't like kids

[ProfessorMom]

My family originally planned our first cruise for last summer to Alaska on HAL, but were forced to cancel. We switched to celebrity because of smoking policies and because if the attitudes I saw in the cc boards. Many there seemed unwilling to have children assigned to their dinner table etc. They said the staff was welcoming to families, but not the passengers.

I occasionally see posts here from those who would prefer a child-free world , but it is far less often. My DH and I would be less comfortable on some of the "family" lines where the proportion of kids is much higher. I have worked with kids, and prefer not to vacation with unmanaged packs of kids where I automatically start to monitor their safety. We would prefer that our sons' attention be on the ports and our activities as a family rather than on wandering without supervision. We could send them to camp if we wanted to escape parenting responsibilities.

Note: we are choosing select dining to avoid possible child unfriendly table mates.

[paulsang]

Being raised in a home where the mentality is children should be seen, not heard, disruptive kids drive me crazy! But, as many pointed out previously, it is usually the parent's fault. I have friends - for real- and their children are nightmares! Itis the result of backlash-parenting. THEIR parents were so strict and disciplined that they don't want that for their kids.... wrong thing to do by the children.

 

I have one friend who's son is Autistic (I admit I don't understand the spectrum). He needs structure and routine. that's his life...gotta be in the box. She thought nothing of throwing him in the back of the car, and driving 1500 miles to Florida to see me, then take him on a cruise! When he got here...he was in meltdown mode. Didn't even ask what he was like on the cruise....but heard it wasn't pretty.

 

While she was here, she couldn't figure out why he was acting this way!!! Finally, my friendship mouth kicked in and I laid it out for her. Jeesh...After axample after axample....she saw the light. She was in denial that her son was special needs to the degree he was. He is not a normal kid that can roll with the punches, and it is not fair to him to keep treating him as such. It is also not fair to her other kids, or heself, for that matter.

 

Anyway, I like kids...just don't want them in my personal space!!:eek:

[gentlemancruiser]

We have been on 3 Celebrity Cruises in the last few years with our small boys. (Now ages 4 & 6). The adult atmophere really brings out their best behavior, and earns the respect of fellow passengers. I am continually impressed at how they "sense" it is a special and fancy place and turn on their best etiquette.

 

They also really enjoy wearing the tuxes and suits, and I can't tell you how many other cruisers said they looked foward to seeing their outfits each day and watching their proper behavior during dinner in the MDR. It really means a lot to hear this from people. Since there typically not a tons of kids on board, we felt our children were treated exceptionally by other passengers and staff. Also, a lot of people get to know them on the ship, so it if fun for them.

 

I think you and your family will enjoy Celebrity quite a bit. It's not a "go wild, crazy environment", but it is fun and fancy....and that's how we went about it with our kids.

 

Very well said.

 

Some cruise lines cater more towards younger cruisers. Lines such as RCCL, Carnival and Disney offer events and shore excursions that are more appealing to families and children. For example I wouldn't suggest taking kids on a long HAL cruise because they'd be board to death.

I've never witnessed a passengers being rude to well behaved children.

[outerspaceguy]

Note: we are choosing select dining to avoid possible child unfriendly table mates.

 

I think that is unnecessary. If your table mates want to switch, they have the option to do that. (I have in fact done that before: the others did not have kids, but one guy was a big "wino"... he was only willing to talk about exactly one thing at dinner every night, and he and the sommelier got along great.)

 

Me? I have alcoholics in the family and do not drink. As such, the dinner conversation about wine (for several hours each night) was... unappealing.

 

A British couple sitting at our table switched out to another table the day before I did. At the end of the cruise, I wonder if it was just him and sommelier :eek:

 

Bottom line: if they want to change tables, they can certainly do so.

[SusieV]

My husband and I aren't a big fan of kids on cruises either- cruising is a romantic vacation for us and we don't want to deal with badly behaved or noisy children (especially in venues like the specialty restaurants).

 

We did bring our 14 month old son on an X cruise in December at the request of my mother (since it was her wedding cruise) and it definitely wasn't a relaxing vacation so he won't be coming on future cruises with us for quite some time (he wasn't bad- we just had to spend time being parents and entertaining him instead of relaxing and doing our own thing). The staff loved him and made a big fuss over him (as did many of the passengers) but we did get a few rude comments from some other pax. Our son was extremely well behaved in public areas and was in bed by 6:30pm every night so he didn't have to do anything to get those glares. One I remember in particular was taking him to Cafe al Bacio to get a chocolate chip cookie (we don't give him treats like that at home but it was his vacation too!) and he got glared at just for being there and sitting quietly on the bench eating his cookie. I thought that was a little uncalled for.

[cruise kitty]

I have no problem with kids on cruises, however, I do have a problem when they are in the adult areas, please, if you bring your kids do not bring them into the adult pool areas. I also would love to see an area of the MDR set aside specifically for families. Perhaps the areas near the exits/entrances would work, so if a child was having a problem, the parent could quickly get them to a more peaceful area without disrupting the other diners.

[roe2ship]

There is a thread on the Carnival board about many cruisers not wanting kids on Cruises. It was started on March 22, and it already has over 450 posts. A few of those posts intimated that people that sail Celebrity really don't like to see kids cruising. We are taking our first Celebrity cruise a week from today, please say that it isn't so.

I wouldn't worry too much about this....every cruiseline forum has these discussions once in a while. If you think about it, even if that is true that some people who sail Celebrity don't like to see kids cruising, would that really make you cancel your cruise?? I know I certainly wouldn't....who cares what they like or don't like.

[Peteymil]

Well behaved children are always welcome.

 

Well put. When my children were younger, I insisted that they were. And when they were not (which of course happened), we went back to the cabin and took a time out.

[pacheco18]

I heartily agree with the prior posts about undisciplined children. The problem is not the kids; it's the parents.

 

That being said, even though I personally would prefer not to have any children on board, I recognize that there will likely be some even if I choose a sailing that is less likely to attract families.

 

It's a big ship. I can move if I do not like who is around me. So can you. In fact, many times I have moved away from some pretty offensive adults.

 

Everyone is welcome. No one is trapped next to any child or adult. Those who enjoy kids will engage your children and be delighted by them. Those of us who do not will go elsewhere on the ship.

 

It's not much different from the real world.

[Kellie Poodle]

I don't mind well-behaved children on a cruise. I definitely DO mind irresponsible parents.

 

I'm a grandma of 10, so I don't dislike children, but on a cruise, I prefer to not be seated at a table with children. BTDT, bought the tee shirt

 

About a month before sailing, I let the dining room know what type of table I'd like to be seated at and my requests are honored. If not, we just ask politely to be moved.

[alj1208]

One more thing to add to this thread: The difference I saw between Carnival and Celebrity was the grossly intoxicated young "adults" on Carnival. We were on Eclipse March 5 with our 4-year-old. At most ports, a Carnival ship was shadowing us. The Carnival passengers were also at the beaches. I am not trying to insult Carnival passengers in general, but I will tell you that we saw a number of very intoxicated young people acting very inappropriately, and those young people came from the Carnival ship. To be sure, they were in the minority, but they made a very bad impression, and I was glad my child wasn't exposed to that on the Celebrity ship. For me, that makes X a lot more family-friendly than Carnival or any other cruise line that attracts that kind of behavior.

[Glendakayself]

We asked to be seated with a family from our rollcall with a three-year-old on our last Celebrity cruise. They were worried that the child might bother others if they were assigned to a table with unsuspecting folks. We made a lasting friendship with the parents and grandparents and had a delightful time with the little girl. The waiters all came to our table each night competing for her attention with special treats. It was a delightful time each and every evening. Among our fondest cruise dinner memories. The child loved the kids' program and went every day.

[barbon2]

Hi Sweet

This is "off topic" but I was wondering what ship your group is doing this coming December.

Hope all is well !!

Barb

[kitty9]

Some points to ponder. Why is it that the well behaved kids are never seen or heard even if there are 200 of them, but you can get a group of 20 kids who behave like uncontrolled idiots who ruin a lot of the cruise for most of the ship. We were on a 14 day Canal cruise, where the 20 kids from an extended family rode roughshod over the entire ship. These kids were the ones who threw feces in the pool and set off a stink bomb in the disco. They were the ones who constantly swore, the most vile language at the activities staff every single day, got into food fights in the buffet and MDR among other things. But on the same cruise there was a group of teen girls from a school in Argentina who were incredibly well behaved. These 50 teens were fantastic and never caused a problem, despite the fact that many were there sans parents.

 

Another point---does anyone ever find it interesting that you never hear of a parent on ANY of these boards who will admit their kids have been a problem? Plus, these kids are all honor students? If some newbie came here, they would think cruises are filled with perfect angels with A averages. Maybe the parents who eschew parenting on cruises don't post here? Unlike others, I have seen a lot of out of control kids on cruises. From smoking pot in the stairways to pounding on cabin doors at 3am, to taking over elevators for their own private playrooms, to putting fake room service order cards on cabin doors, I've seen it all.

[lisiamc]

I don't like to cruise with ill-behaved children (or ill-behaved adults either, for that matter.) To be honest, I don't really notice the well-behaved children, because they're happy and not causing a ruckus.

[NJ Fred]

It is the parents and grandparents who act prepubescent that get on my nerves.

[CruisingChick]

We started cruising when my son was 10. He was 12 when we took our first Celebrity cruise. Not only we fall in love with Celebrity but so did he. If you are cruise during the summer or school vacation times there are plenty of kids on board and no Celebrity and their passengers do not hate kids. Celebrity has a good children's program.

[pacheco18]

It is the parents and grandparents who act prepubescent that get on my nerves.

 

We were on an Oceania cruise a while back where kids are rarely found. There was one infant on board with parents and grandparents. Why these people brought an infant on a Mediterranean cruise . . ?

 

The infant was well behaved. Did not cry. Sat quietly or slept. The grandparents, on the other hand, drove us (and everyone else on board) nuts! -- talking baby talk to the baby at the top of their lungs and making noises to entertain the baby. It was as if they wanted everyone on board to notice the baby. It also seemed they were everywhere we went (we even ran into them post cruise at a cafe in Rome). We kept moving to get away from them.

 

Again, it's not the kids . . . .

[gelo7]

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their sincere replies. We have always traveled with our children and frankly, this has never been our radar. No one has ever looked at us funny or made us feel unwelcome, other then typical looks a bald, muscular ex football player with dark sunglasses gets:rolleyes: After reading several posts about children, I spoke to my wife about this, and a "light bulb" came on. Throughout our travels, without fail, some woman (always a woman) comes over to us to tell us how well mannered our children are. And if I may be my bold and outspoken self, we often wondered if they were impressed or surprised that these Black children were so well spoken and well mannered. But, now I see that people are surprised when children in general are well behaved.

[pacheco18]

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their sincere replies. We have always traveled with our children and frankly, this has never been our radar. No one has ever looked at us funny or made us feel unwelcome, other then typical looks a bald, muscular ex football player with dark sunglasses gets:rolleyes: After reading several posts about children, I spoke to my wife about this, and a "light bulb" came on. Throughout our travels, without fail, some woman (always a woman) comes over to us to tell us how well mannered our children are. And if I may be my bold and outspoken self, we often wondered if they were impressed or surprised that these Black children were so well spoken and well mannered. But, now I see that people are surprised when children in general are well behaved.

 

I always make a point of going up to parents (in a restaurant) when the children are well behaved to tell them so. I find it the exception and not the rule, so don't be surprised if you are praised for your good parenting -- it's not a racial issue at all -- bad parenting comes in all colors.

[shipshape sam]

We like to sail Celebrity as the demographics are for an older, more mature passenger.

 

We also like to sail, when possible, for longer than 7 days which many times rules out families with children due to school.

 

Having said that, we have seen numerous kids (small and teenagers) who were very well behaved on all our cruises(all cruise lines). On Celebrity, for the most part, there are not many children, so taking children on may mean that they and just a few other kids their age are on board.

 

We have seen on other cruise lines, terrible behavior by kids (teenagers) and have seen adults exhibiting terrible behavior, including an altercation due to saving a row of seats at a production show(Princess). We have seen adults behaving badly over pool chairs, both in the saving of and the displacement of prior persons stuff(HAL/Celebrity/RCL) or getting publically drunk/throwing up(Carnival).:( So..... I would not suggest bad behavior is limited to kids and avoid kids for that reason alone.

 

We took our kids on cruises when they were younger(teenagers when we first started to cruise) and (to our knowledge, they behaved). For sure they behaved while with us. We are looking forward to taking our grandchildren on future cruises and I am sure we will consider Disney/RCL over Celebrity as our first choices. There will be more things for kids to do, more kids for them to interact with and they still are around adults and have to behave.

 

We love sailing Celebrity. Just measure your choice with the choice of the demographics that make up the passengers and have a GREAT cruise. We use to take our kids out of school each year to go skiing before high school (Had not been introduced to cruising). Then, it became much harder for them to miss a week of school.

[mek]

I have traveled with my grandchildren on several cruises, but we have always either dined with other families or by ourselves, which is the way I personally think it should be with kids. When traveling without them, I simply do not want to have children at my table regardless of how well behave they might be, which IMHO, does not make me a child hater. I have no problems with children on cruises and expect them to have fun, but I do want them to be supervised, and stay out of adult only areas.

[Casino Player]

There is a thread on the Carnival board about many cruisers not wanting kids on Cruises. It was started on March 22, and it already has over 450 posts. A few of those posts intimated that people that sail Celebrity really don't like to see kids cruising. We are taking our first Celebrity cruise a week from today, please say that it isn't so.

 

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO gelo7: Those that don't want to cruise with kids on board will choose to cruise when kids are in school. All lines will have fewer kids then. During times when kids are not in school all cruise lines tend to have more kids on board. Also, certain cruise lines tend to have more children than others.

 

That said, Celebrity has a good children program. You and your family will enjoy your cruise.

[kat228]

Eh, I don't like children. Doesn't mean I don't expect to see them on a cruise. Or in a grocery store...

 

I'm also a Disney fanatic. So you know, I kind of just accept that they're a part of vacation. If I really didn't expect to see any children, I would book a vacation at a "couples only" place.

[FLSteve11]

 

Another point---does anyone ever find it interesting that you never hear of a parent on ANY of these boards who will admit their kids have been a problem? Plus, these kids are all honor students? If some newbie came here, they would think cruises are filled with perfect angels with A averages. Maybe the parents who eschew parenting on cruises don't post here? Unlike others, I have seen a lot of out of control kids on cruises. From smoking pot in the stairways to pounding on cabin doors at 3am, to taking over elevators for their own private playrooms, to putting fake room service order cards on cabin doors, I've seen it all.

 

I think it's pretty much the people who are on CC and post on here are those that are at least fairly serious about cruising and wouldn't let their kids run wild. There are thousands of people on a cruise, and only a small percentage are serious enough about it to sign on here and post. I also don't think parents really believe their kids are perfect angels 24/7. Really, who is? No one. Personally I have not seen that many roudy kids on my cruises. Maybe I overlook some of them, but even before having a daughter of my own it was never an issue. There were a few here and there, but I wouldn't say it's many based on there being hundreds of kids on each cruise. I would say drunks in general have been roudier then kids overall, at least on my cruises.