How much freedom for kids on the ship?

[tassycatt]

Next cruise will be with my daughter, she will be 12 at the time. I dont think she will be doing Camp Carnival as we will be doing things together during the days. I know in the evenings she may want to check out the kids night club or maybe do something if she meets some new friends. I dont want to be a hovering mom but at the same time, its a big ship and I dont want her wandering by herself.

 

Anyone have any pointers for me. Also, I was considering walkie talkies. Do I buy these myself or do they have them to rent on board?

 

I appreciate any input!

[Celebrating40]

Next cruise will be with my daughter, she will be 12 at the time. I dont think she will be doing Camp Carnival as we will be doing things together during the days. I know in the evenings she may want to check out the kids night club or maybe do something if she meets some new friends. I dont want to be a hovering mom but at the same time, its a big ship and I dont want her wandering by herself.

 

Anyone have any pointers for me. Also, I was considering walkie talkies. Do I buy these myself or do they have them to rent on board?

 

I appreciate any input!

 

I can't really speak to the idea of your daughter being 12 and giving her the freedom to wander the ship. My daughter is almost 17 and I gave her entire run of the ship when we went on the Triumph in February. She is very responsible and not one of those trouble maker teens. She made new friends and was off with them the entire time. I think it's an individual thing. You know your child best.

 

Also, friends have used walkie talkies and they wind up being left behind, or, better yet, my friend wound up with both handsets...lots of good that was doing LOL. I understand that there is interference on board with others using walkie talkies as well. Good luck to you!

[*Mach*]

I can't help with the kids activities but I can tell you that the walkie talkies (on board cell phones...) are only available for parents with children enrolled in Camp Carnival activities and then only if they are between six months and five years... You'll need to get your own.

You should be aware that folks have varying degrees of success with walkie talkies... the most powerful providing the best service...

:)

[mosiegirl]

We just got off the Imagination on April 15th, with our 12 yr old daughter.. she was in the Circle C club with the other 12-14 yr olds.. I think personally, they give them too much freedom.. freedom to come and go as they please on their own.. I know they are not babies, but..

 

The person in charge, merely guides them in activities and sets them free from that point.. so we told our daughter where we would pick her up and where we would expect her to be at certain times.. We too, didn't want her wandering around the ship by herself.

 

No..they wont rent or give you walkie talkies or pagers for this age group.. you may want to bring your own. We plan to do that in October.. have bought them already.

 

As long as you have a meeting place, and she has a watch, she should be fine. She will love it.. my daughter did, and can't wait to go back in October.

[Jolimont]

I have a 13yo only child and we'll take her best friend (12yo) on our upcoming cruise. Both girls are athletic but not really street-wise. Having lived in large cities I don't trust anyone. I appears from this web site (http://www.cruiselawnews.com/articles/sexual-assault-of-minors/) that leaving a child alone in a cabin is a concern, which I didn't know.

 

Last time our daughter cruised with us she was 11 and we gave her the freedom to check herself out of camp for the first time. That turned out to be no problem, she's extremely compliant and careful, but I was nervous. We checked up on her every 2-3 hours and knew where she was at all times.

 

I assume a cruise ship is no safer than NYC or any large city, despite the vacation relaxed feel. But our kids are growing up and we need to give them some rope so they can learn to trust themselves. But, I do know that there are surveillance cameras everywhere on a ship, but probably not in private cabins, so be careful there.

[Crazy4Koko]

You know your daughter best, and you know what you are comfortable with. If a friend could go with her on the trip..all the better..but...

 

 

We traveled with our 13 and 16yr olds back in October. Caity (13) frequently went off with her group of friends in the evening hours to see the late movie..what I noticed that when she returned to our cabin, she was always accompanied by some of the kids who had come knocking earlier in the evening to ask if she could go! I wonder if it is an unwritten rule with 'some' kids that you never travel anywhere alone? She may have been the 'third wheel', but never noticed, and I appreciated the idea that either she didn't want to walk back alone, or they wouldn't let her.

[ramrax4]

I personally would be uncomfortable giving my daughter the run of the ship. Things do and can happen. You will be on board with 2,000+ total strangers and crew from various countries. Would you turn your child loose in a town you know nothing about? I don't mean this in a judgemental way at all, just a word of caution, don't let yourself be lulled into a false sense of security...you should treat your cruise just like you would if you were going to any other unfamiliar place.

Cruise ships for the most part are safe and fun and your daughter will have a great time, definately check out the kids clubs...you might be surprised.

[Crazy4Koko]

I was fortunate that the girls usually hung around together..and you'd be surprised how 'local' they actually stay. I have some great pictures of them doing one of the many line dances on the lido deck at 11:00 at night because they didn't know we were watching them!! Even when they were on their own, I usually knew what they were doing, where they had been, and where they were going... they sought us out often, without even being asked during the day!

 

 

Anything can happen anywhere, and you're right ramrax, we shouldn't have a false sense of security..but at the same time have to let our kids use the skills we've taught them. I'm not so sure that our kids are comfortable going anywhere by themselves, especially since they won't have cell phones to text with onboard! :D

[Kristi Williamson]

We have four kids ages 16, 12, 10 and 7. We just returned on Sat. from a cruise and this is what we do:

 

1. The two youngest (both girls) are too young to sign in and out, so no worries there.

 

2. The 12 year old JUST turned 12 and we had him moved to the 11 year old group because we don't feel he's responsible enough to wander around on his on. I wouldn't let him wander around the mall for hours alone on a Saturday with scads of strangers there, so I ain't doing it on a ship. Kind of a "duh" thing for us...

 

3. The 16 year old is extrememly responsible and has been allowed to sign in and out since age 14. Before that he was not allowed to leave the Circle C area (now he's in Club O2) EVER. We let him know that if we checked and he wasn't in the Circle C area or the arcade he'd be beside us non-stop the rest of the cruise. Our kids know we mean business and we never caught him gone from those two places. (they are typically right beside one another)

 

4. The oldest has had a walkie talkie since the age of 14. We bought our own. He still has to carry it, we just don't call him on it as much because he's earned the right to some freedom by having excellent behavior through out every cruise he's been on. (we even had a couselor tell us that his level of responsibility and intentionally removing himself from the trouble makers was pretty rare and they really appreciated him) The youngest son isn't quite there yet, so therefore he's still stuck in the sign in/sign out room until he can get himself a little grown up going on.

 

5. Every single one of our children have a set of rules that they memorize and have to repeat back to us. Yep...literally.

 

The rules are as follows:

 

1. You are NEVER allowed into anyone else's room, even to use the restroom.

2. Don't sit your drink down and come back and drink it. EVER.

3. You are not allowed to walk anywhere with a crew member if it's not a public place. EVER.

4. If they were EVER caught acting inappopriately the vacation for them stopped. They would be glued to our sides for the duration of the cruise and since this would tick momma and daddy off they'd be wise to act right. Inappropriate includes, but is not limited to, bad elevator behavior, bad pool behavior, and treating the elderly with disrepect, this includes not moving their kiddie booties out of the way and allowing them OFF the elevator before storming the elevator. (personal peeve of mine...kids and adults should get out of the way so the elderly can safely exit the elevator! If they fall, they actually CAN get badly hurt!)

5. Don't be dumb. (not kidding!) My kids are clear on what dumb behavior is. (I'm sure most of us on here are, too!) :D

 

We're not stooges, either. The 12 and 10 year stayed till 3am for the party on this last cruise. They loved it and the counselors walked them back to the cabin just like they said they would. It's the first time we allowed them to that, and it was great. Just be smart and they'll be fine!

[CanadianTwosome]

We've taken walkie talkies on a couple of cruises, with varying degrees of success as Host Mach was saying. It has something to do with the metal in the construction of the ship I think. We only actually used them a couple of times anyway, though, so we stopped wasting luggage space on them.

 

My daughter was 12 on our last cruise, and it was the first time she didn't spend any time in the kid's group - but we were on the NCL Epic, and it wasn't so much that she wasn't interested as there were just too many other things to do. Make sure your daughter attends the first night orientation so that she has an opportunity to meet as many of the kids as possible and to get a feel for the group. After that, she'll be able to make an informed decision about when and if she wants to go back.

 

As for freedom on board, what you're comfortable with may be different than what I'm comfortable with. At 12 (and even this year at 13), I'm not ready to let my daughter 'loose'. Check out the family board and do a search for 'rules', and you should find some very useful threads about the limits parents set for their kids. For us, the most important one at this point is that we know where everyone is at all times. Even if we don't have walkie talkies, there are still plenty of ways to communicate, including having set meeting times. In my experience, there has never been an activity on a ship that has taken so long I couldn't check in once in a while. Even when our daughter is in the kids' club, one or both of us would walk by every so often to see if she wanted to stay or go and that sort of thing. She's old enough now to sign herself in and out, but so far we've never taken advantage of it. On the cruise when she was 11, we were on a short cruise, so when we weren't in port she was having fun in the club, and on the last one she was with at least one of us the entire time. We always pick her up in the evening and walk her to the cabin, also. Once the booze is flowing at night, I'm just not comfortable with a girl walking down empty corridors alone (especially an inexperienced 12 year old who is 5'10" and has the body of a 22 year old).

 

I doubt even when she's older our rules will change much. My mom joined us on our last cruise, and at 79 we still made sure that everyone knew where everyone else was at any given time. We eat all of our meals together, so even if everyone's got their own plans in between, that gets us together at least three times a day. It's just so easy to keep each other posted (including using post-it notes!!), and we have found that it makes for a very stress-free cruise. Even if you have to walk 'all the way' to where another family member is to tell them your plans have changed, everywhere on the ship is only a few minutes away, and for us it's worth the peace of mind. :)

[AWCHIEF]

Is there anything more annoying than someone in an onboard elevator screaming into a walkie talkie trying to talk to someone buried down in the bowels of the ship? Louder does not make the reception any better. Tons of solid steel between them and they expect the radios to work. :eek:

[patti226]

We went on a family cruise in Feb. and my grandson was 12 he had freedom but also had rules to follow, such as a curfew and he always ate breakfast and dinner with us. He also went into the ports with our family. He was really good about following the rules had he not there would have been a price to pay. He made friends and hung out with them alot and just because you are on a ship and dont think you wont see your child we were always seeing him and his friends while they were going around doing activities and such. We were even know to just drop by the teens center for a little peek he never knew when we might show up. There was 22 family members on this cruise so he had to be on his toes alot with all his aunts, uncles and cousins around. But he did like alittle bit of freedom.

[MsBrownize]

We went on the Fantasy in April for Spring Break and my son is 12. He was excited about being in the Circle C and meeting new friends and that's exactly what he did. We also had rules - dinner together each night, what time he'd have to be back at the cabin - and we'd leave Post-It notes if we missed each other in the cabin. Of course, I still worried, BUT that is only because that is what I do! :o

 

I contemplated walkie talkies too, but my DS is trustworthy (so far) and I decided to wing it with the post-its and rules... Worked out great for us, considering there were over 1000 kids on our cruise!

[Crusin6]

Next cruise will be with my daughter, she will be 12 at the time. I dont think she will be doing Camp Carnival as we will be doing things together during the days. I know in the evenings she may want to check out the kids night club or maybe do something if she meets some new friends. I dont want to be a hovering mom but at the same time, its a big ship and I dont want her wandering by herself.

 

Anyone have any pointers for me. Also, I was considering walkie talkies. Do I buy these myself or do they have them to rent on board?

 

I appreciate any input!

I take it this is her first cruise? and she is 12? so, many here might say she is old enough to be on her own...but take it from me....DH, our 4 dd's and myself have traveled and cruised alot......

 

 

here is the bottom line......

 

it is a ship of 3000 strangers from all walks of life and all corners of the Earth...and some of those corners of the Earth would consider a 12yo...marriageable:eek: age...just sayin'

 

so if you are in the habit of bringing your daughter to a new city/town and letting her wander off by herself...by all means let her do it on the ship

 

but...and since this is the first cruise you have taken in a long time.....

 

my thinking is this...and I have plenty of experience with 12 yo's...

 

 

she will be overwhelmed the first few days...so will you as a lot has changed in 20 years.....and will want to stay by your side.....which is great...because then...

 

it becomes a family vacation!!!!!

 

 

My dd's are given all the freedom they want on a cruise.....but for some reason....we all stick together...and have great fun....

 

your dd can accompany you anywhere but the Casino before 11pm or so.....and enjoy all the entertainment, shows etc....and...the great thing is...

if you call it a day by 11pm...you get to rest up..for the next great day....

[CapsR1]

"The rules are as follows:

 

1. You are NEVER allowed into anyone else's room, even to use the restroom.

2. Don't sit your drink down and come back and drink it. EVER.

3. You are not allowed to walk anywhere with a crew member if it's not a public place. EVER.

4. If they were EVER caught acting inappopriately the vacation for them stopped. They would be glued to our sides for the duration of the cruise and since this would tick momma and daddy off they'd be wise to act right. Inappropriate includes, but is not limited to, bad elevator behavior, bad pool behavior, and treating the elderly with disrepect, this includes not moving their kiddie booties out of the way and allowing them OFF the elevator before storming the elevator. (personal peeve of mine...kids and adults should get out of the way so the elderly can safely exit the elevator! If they fall, they actually CAN get badly hurt!)

5. Don't be dumb. (not kidding!) My kids are clear on what dumb behavior is. (I'm sure most of us on here are, too!) :D"

 

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE your rules and will probably use them when our son is age appropriate.

 

I totally understand where you are coming from and am sure that your kids abide by your rules because they know the consequences ahead of time.

 

Kudos to you for taking control and maintaining a great relationship with your kids. Thanks for posting!!!

[angiegal]

I agree with what many have said- you know your kids best! Our kids are 15 (DS) and 12 (almost 13) (DD) and they do have freedom to wander the ship with some guidelines:

1. They are never allowed to be alone! Ever! They meet their friends at Circle C or Club 02 or some designated area. They can hang out there or somewhere else as long as they are with at least two other kids. At night, we met them and walked back to the cabin with them.

2. Don't enter anyone else's room and don't let anyone else in ours!

3. We have almost every meal together. We also see two shows together each cruise and a few activities together each day.

4. We have check-ins every 2-3 hours, sometimes in the room, sometimes on the lido deck.

5. Infraction of any of the rules means you are leashed to me for the rest of the cruise! Believe me, my kids know we mean it on this!

 

This is the first year my daughter has had this much freedom and we had no problems. We were on the fantasy which is a small ship, so we frequently ran into our kids. Like someone else already said, we see our kids when they don't realize we're watching.

 

I will add that this was our kids' fourth cruise and we have lived in many different areas, some big cities, some small, and we've traveled quite a bit, so they are "street smart", probably more so than a lot of kids their age. But they also know that they don't know everything and that not everyone out there is trust worthy.

Again, this is how we treat our kids, but you'll know what's best for your kids. I would suggest that you wait until you are on the ship and experience it a bit (and she how your kids react) before you make a decision.

[bunchesofun]

I too am thankful for the rules posted. I just printed them out and am putting them in my cruise folder to take. My daughter just discovered that a boy from her school is going to be on the same cruise so she's starting out knowing someone.

[NYOB]

We have four kids ages 16, 12, 10 and 7. We just returned on Sat. from a cruise and this is what we do:

 

1. The two youngest (both girls) are too young to sign in and out, so no worries there.

 

2. The 12 year old JUST turned 12 and we had him moved to the 11 year old group because we don't feel he's responsible enough to wander around on his on. I wouldn't let him wander around the mall for hours alone on a Saturday with scads of strangers there, so I ain't doing it on a ship. Kind of a "duh" thing for us...

 

3. The 16 year old is extrememly responsible and has been allowed to sign in and out since age 14. Before that he was not allowed to leave the Circle C area (now he's in Club O2) EVER. We let him know that if we checked and he wasn't in the Circle C area or the arcade he'd be beside us non-stop the rest of the cruise. Our kids know we mean business and we never caught him gone from those two places. (they are typically right beside one another)

 

4. The oldest has had a walkie talkie since the age of 14. We bought our own. He still has to carry it, we just don't call him on it as much because he's earned the right to some freedom by having excellent behavior through out every cruise he's been on. (we even had a couselor tell us that his level of responsibility and intentionally removing himself from the trouble makers was pretty rare and they really appreciated him) The youngest son isn't quite there yet, so therefore he's still stuck in the sign in/sign out room until he can get himself a little grown up going on.

 

5. Every single one of our children have a set of rules that they memorize and have to repeat back to us. Yep...literally.

 

The rules are as follows:

 

1. You are NEVER allowed into anyone else's room, even to use the restroom.

2. Don't sit your drink down and come back and drink it. EVER.

3. You are not allowed to walk anywhere with a crew member if it's not a public place. EVER.

4. If they were EVER caught acting inappopriately the vacation for them stopped. They would be glued to our sides for the duration of the cruise and since this would tick momma and daddy off they'd be wise to act right. Inappropriate includes, but is not limited to, bad elevator behavior, bad pool behavior, and treating the elderly with disrepect, this includes not moving their kiddie booties out of the way and allowing them OFF the elevator before storming the elevator. (personal peeve of mine...kids and adults should get out of the way so the elderly can safely exit the elevator! If they fall, they actually CAN get badly hurt!)

5. Don't be dumb. (not kidding!) My kids are clear on what dumb behavior is. (I'm sure most of us on here are, too!) :D

 

We're not stooges, either. The 12 and 10 year stayed till 3am for the party on this last cruise. They loved it and the counselors walked them back to the cabin just like they said they would. It's the first time we allowed them to that, and it was great. Just be smart and they'll be fine!

Excellent advise and guidelines!

[Raylynn]

My 10 yo Nephew just got back from a cruise with his father and step-mom on the Fantasy and the club he was in allowed them free roam of the ship, alone, for a scavenger hunt. He didn't like it and when he found his parents, stayed with them. They never looked for him when he didn't go back and he was not allowed to sign himself out so it sounds like they don't really keep up with your kids that well. I thought that was pretty scary. Anything could have happened to him yet they never questioned his disappearance. Thankfully nothing happened before he found his parents. Some kids at 10 may be able to safely be alone, but I feel more that age shouldn't be. I think he made a smart choice.

[Houston Texas Mom]

Our daughter is an only child and cruised the first time with a friend this year, at 15. In addition to the rules everyone else has posted, ours was that she can never walk around the ship alone. We were quite happy to walk her friends back to their room or whaever was necessary. Never hd any problems--DD is very sensible, and never be alone trumped all other rules.

[Bigun60]

My granddaughter turned 15 on our cruise 2 weeks ago. In addition to most other rules posted I also told her she is not to walk close to the outside railings. Kids get to pushing and shoving each other and it's too risky for an accident to happen by the railings. Probably sounds crazy to some travelers.

:rolleyes:

[mcmail]

:mad: I appreciate being able to feel safe about your children on a ship, but I just returned from a Carnival Fantasy cruise, where the children (approx 10 -- 15) were absolutely running wild over the ship. There was NO supervision whatsoever. Kids were wrestling in the lobbies, pushing all of the elevator buttons, racing from one set of elevators to the other, dropping ice cream cones in the elevator, screaming and yelling. This is not an exaggeration, this was actually happening to the amazement of my wife, me and 6 more adults in our party. PARENTS BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR KIDS IF YOU ARE TAKING THEM ON A CRUISE. :mad:

[Jasalth]

This cruise I will be letting my 13 yr old DS pretty much do as he pleases. He isn't one of the "normal" type kids though. I have told him in the past about some of the things kids do on cruise ships, and he actually got this look and asked me "Where were their parents?!?" I trust him to be smart about where he is and what he is doing. We are going on an off-time cruise for kids though, so I will have to fully scope out the situations with the pool and such the first few days to decide if he can go up to the pool alone.

 

My 13 yr old really has never been into camp type activities. It's not his thing and he would rather just have some quiet time w/o his brother around so I can see him being my balcony buddy a lot with a book :)

 

My other DS will be 10. He has always LOVED the kids actives, to the point on past cruises we would see him for meals and to get off the boat. He is the exact opposite of his brother. I wouldn't trust him being alone even for the scavenger hunts.

 

I agree you never know who is on the ship with you, so it really is dependent on the child themselves.

[bplazo]

I never let my daughter have run of the ship at 12. At that age they should be in the kids club or with the parent.

[bplazo]

:mad: I appreciate being able to feel safe about your children on a ship, but I just returned from a Carnival Fantasy cruise, where the children (approx 10 -- 15) were absolutely running wild over the ship. There was NO supervision whatsoever. Kids were wrestling in the lobbies, pushing all of the elevator buttons, racing from one set of elevators to the other, dropping ice cream cones in the elevator, screaming and yelling. This is not an exaggeration, this was actually happening to the amazement of my wife, me and 6 more adults in our party. PARENTS BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR KIDS IF YOU ARE TAKING THEM ON A CRUISE. :mad:

 

The cruiseline security should have escorted these children to their cabin.