How well behaved are children?

[kej1]

During summer weeks where there are family and children specials, how well behaved are the children?

[ededmd]

As one who has cruised with my own children on Regent, I'll say I think it is really a game of chance. Overall I thought the children were fine. But all it takes is one bad apple (whether it be a child or adults not parenting) for you to notice. It is impossible to predict the particular people with whom you will be cruising. It could be great or less so.

 

One comment about a behavior I found inappropriate was dining in Compass Rose with the parents at one table and the children (all early elementary school or preschool) at another. This obviously was designed for the comfort of the adults to have their adult time however the children were then functionally unsupervised, crawling on the floor, wandering around the table...

 

Again bear in mind, we were with my children of a similar age. We just tried to be seated away from them.

[Roland4]

On Mariner in Alaska June 2009.

 

Kids Sail Free and there were +/- 780 people on a ship with an"advertised capacity" of 730. Mariner Suite down the hall had THREE rollaways in it!

 

- two teens having a "sword fight" with shuffleboard cues. Medical emmergency call at dinner and one ends up with TWO broken arms. Apparently Mom sat and watched it happen and saw nothing wrong with it.

 

- Prime 7 at 7:30. One table of six kids raising "holy hell", the adults at the next table, completely oblivious to the fact "the children" were ruining everyone's else's experience!

 

On the other hand;

 

- parents with three well behaved children of various ages on a couple of our tours

 

- large group, from very young to pre/early teens apparently in care of JAD having a great time

 

As the previous poster said, it is impossible to predict.

[fizzy]

We have always found any kids to be pretty great, although on one Bermuda cruise we had to make an issue of a diapered baby being held in the pool with the mother. It was clear that staff preferred not to enforce the rule and a call to reception was required to fix the problem.....which happened again.... and I gave up. Of course it was not the fault of the baby.

[traveller333]

I have cruised quite a few times with children from babies to teens and rarely remember any problems. I can't imagine having small children in CR at their own table. That could be upsetting if seated in their proximity.

 

As for the baby in the pool with Mom, hopefully baby had the waterproof swimmer diapers which are made for the pool.

[fizzy]

Actually, NO diapers are waterproof or foolproof and are not allowed.

[Keith1010]

While we have not sailed Regent we have had children on other luxury lines such as Silversea and Crystal and the Silversea cruise was during a promotion where they had more children than during any sailing that summer. In general we have found the children to be very well behaved, but just like adults children are not all the same so no one can guarantee how each one will act.

 

Keith

[RachelG]

It only takes one bad apple to spoil the barrel, but in general, most kids I have encountered on Regent (including my own when they fell into the kid category, which has been a few years now) are very well-behaved. Most bad behaviour is not the fault of the kid, but rather poor parenting where the parent or grandparent lets the kid run loose without supervision.

There was a very cute little girl on our Norway cruise, probably about age 5 or 6, whose grandfather allowed to run all around the computer room unsupervised. Not her fault--he had probably forgotten the amount of attention a child that age requires, particularly when in a setting that is really not meant for that age child. And she acted fine when Grandma was around.

But I have mostly encountered very polite young people who knew how to behave and interact with adults.

[Travelcat2]

On Mariner in Alaska June 2009.

 

Kids Sail Free and there were +/- 780 people on a ship with an"advertised capacity" of 730. Mariner Suite down the hall had THREE rollaways in it!

 

- two teens having a "sword fight" with shuffleboard cues. Medical emmergency call at dinner and one ends up with TWO broken arms. Apparently Mom sat and watched it happen and saw nothing wrong with it.

 

- Prime 7 at 7:30. One table of six kids raising "holy hell", the adults at the next table, completely oblivious to the fact "the children" were ruining everyone's else's experience!

 

On the other hand;

 

- parents with three well behaved children of various ages on a couple of our tours

 

- large group, from very young to pre/early teens apparently in care of JAD having a great time

 

As the previous poster said, it is impossible to predict.

 

Agree with your post almost 100%. The only correction is that the Mariner advertises a capacity of "700" (which only makes the scenario worse).

 

We are currently on Silversea with two very well behaved children (around 12-14). They dress formally when required. have never been disruptive and are always polite. If your child can meet this description, luxury ships will be fine (albeit boring) for children.

[Responder]

Agree with your post almost 100%. The only correction is that the Mariner advertises a capacity of "700" (which only makes the scenario worse).

 

We are currently on Silversea with two very well behaved children (around 12-14). They dress formally when required. have never been disruptive and are always polite. If your child can meet this description, luxury ships will be fine (albeit boring) for children.

 

At .45 minute, is it that urgent to post a correction that certainly won't change the course of history?

 

Even a war stops. I can imagine what's forthcoming when you have free internet again.

[room010]

In all honesty I don't think that Regent is really geared towards young children and suspect this is a deliberate policy. Many people choose Regent specifically to get away from the kids (theirs and other peoples!). Kids' facilities are limited - nowhere near as extensive as on more 'family' oriented lines so boredom is always a risk - and bored kids tend to be disruptive kids. As usual the problems usually arise from poor parenting rather than feral kids.

[elmwood]

Room010, you made me giggle with your choice of the word "feral." It wasn't on Regent, but on our recent Christmas cruise on the Paul Gauguin where there was a posse of children, all related and belonging to an extended family group, ranging in age from six to thirteen, perhaps seven or eight of them whom my son christened "The Ferals." When they were with their parents, aunts/uncles and, to a lesser extent, their grandparents they were fine. Unfortunately, they often weren't. Memorable Feral sightings were the time they swarmed the breakfast buffet and stood smearing bread with nutella (no plates) until the maitre d' politely offered them plates and pointed to a table at which point they ran off, bread in hand. They also burst into one of the lectures on Polynesian history playing hide and seek and were taken to task by the lecturer. Their grandmother was in the audience and hustled them out very quickly.

 

Having said that, there were many other children and teenagers on this cruise (my own son included) and their behaviour was impeccable. It truly depnds on how the children on board are expected to behave by their parents.

 

We are heading to Alaska ourselves at the end of June (minus our own teenager who is off in Venezuela on an expedition) so it will be interesting to see how this cruise is in terms of the number of children on it.

[room010]

On our recent Voyager WC sector there was only ONE child aged about 10 who seemed very lonely and bored because really there was nothing for her to do. As far as I know she was doing the whole WC trip! We didn't even see her in the pool. She could usually be found sitting alone outside the casino late at night waiting for her parents :mad:

[jhp]

room010, I was on the same cruise, and it was pitiful the way she would sit out there at night, nothing else to do and entertaining herself. One could never complain she was disruptive in the least. Parents taking kids on Regent cruises that don't have programs for this age should target them as family time, not gambling time. I am not child allergic at all (have 4 of my own), and don't mind them at all on my cruises. Rather, I just felt sorry for this little girl, as she was a sweetie. They were not on the whole WC.

[Denton56]

We've had very, very, few children on our Regent cruises but we have gone during the school year. I would think Regent cruises would be very boring for younger kids unless their parents planned everything around them. It sounds like our cruise in Alaska the end of the month may have more kids than we're used to but that's ok, I generally find kids fun and entertaining.

[Travelcat2]

We have also seen very lonely children on board. However, the OP asked about children during the summer and school breaks. The number of children during these times seems to depend upon the itinerary. Alaska cruises have the most children by far. According to the crew, they have around 100 children per week during the summer. On port intensive itineraries, such as the Baltic, there are a handful of children that are kept busy with tours, the Mariner Club, etc.

 

In terms of behavior, some/most(?) will be fine. In warmer climates, you can expect them in the swimming pool and jacuzzi. There is running by the swimming pool, etc. Pretty typical kid stuff. On the other hand, it only takes one or two out of control children (or, as I see it, out of control parents who let their children run wild) to be disruptive. We have seen children rolling down the isles in the theater during.

 

We avoid cruises during school breaks and summer vacation. However, if there were an itinerary that we wanted and is only available during the summer, we'd do it.

[nosmothj]

During summer weeks where there are family and children specials, how well behaved are the children?

 

Most children behave far better than the adults I find.

[TheSeaAroundUs]

Most children behave far better than the adults I find.

 

:D

 

^- that's all I had to say, but it tells me it needs at least three characters, so I'm typing more.

 

I tender my apologies in advance for a frivolous post!!!!