Teen "house arrest" on the Oasis

[Langley Cruisers]

I said it before and I will say it again....no kid is put on house arrest with security placed at his door just for staying out.....even if they had to make an announcement at 4am waking up everyone on the ship....there is obviously much more to this story than was disclosed to the passengers.

 

Yes, it is mentioned in post # 163 - not sure if everyone caught it...

 

 

I was on the same cruise. The announcement was made a little after 4:00am and repeated about two times. After that (about 4:30am) the announcement was made twice in the cabins A couple of hours later DH and I went to to promenade cafe where a guest service staff member happened to be walking in and DH asked her what happened this morning. She told him that a 15 year old boy was missing and that NOW he will be confined to his cabin because he did the SAME thing the night before!:eek:

 

The Captain apologized at his next noon announcement for disturbing the guests earlier that morning.

.

.

[K1200S]

Hang them from the yard arm or walk the plank! :D

None of RCI ships have yardarms:cool:.

[How'sBartCruisin'?]

So did yours...

 

On your way to 5,000+. :rolleyes:

[Aquahound]

None of RCI ships have yardarms:cool:.

 

RCI's version of a yardarm....conveniently with 3 hooks - one for the teen and one for each parent. ;)

 

[K1200S]

RCI's version of a yardarm....conveniently with 3 hooks - one for the teen and one for each parent. ;)

 

Sounds good to me:D

[hbr777]

A couple of cruises ago an adult (33 year old female) was reported missing. After several attempts to locate her the captain came on and said it was protocol to turn the ship around and head back to the last port. He was not too pleased when the woman turned up in someone else's cabin. So, even though they know what is "likely" they still have to go through the motions and acknowledge that someone might have gone overboard. Needless to say, the comedian had a field day since the whole ship knew her name, age and physical description.

 

I wonder: do they actually go back to the last port? Doesn't that mess up the schedule something fierce?

[reallyitsmema]

I wonder: do they actually go back to the last port? Doesn't that mess up the schedule something fierce?

They will try to figure out the last time the person was seen or the last time the person's seapass account was used for a purchase or to enter their cabin. They will also check video camera footage starting at the last point they know the person was somewhere. In the past, ships have found footage of someone going over the railing or in the Smith case, they had casino footage. Based on the information they can gather, they then make a decision as to what the next step will be. If they don't find anything helpful, as it seems like was the case with this child, they make announcements and try to flush them out of where ever they are, which actually makes things less complicated.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

This is mine from 2009

 

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=18656290&postcount=5

 

It was controversial then but still comes up from time to time. DD is almost 17 now. The only time she missed her curfew on the ship was as described by someone else - she lost track of time playing cards in an area with no clock. I found her about 1:20 - 1:30. She now walks herself back to the cabin but the other rules are essentially the same

 

I have also been in the Solarium when security was looking for a missing person (adult in this case) a little after 2am

 

 

I like you!!! ;)

I really like your style of parenting, firm yet not over bearing, all in the best interest for your child. Things they don't quite understand at the time, but years later they will and will thank you for this!

 

***

[richardb]

I just got off Oasis today.

 

A 15 year old male did not come back to his cabin on Thursday. His mother noticed at 4 am that he had not returned. She had not seen her son since dinner.

 

Two announcements had to be made to locate the boy, waking up a ship of 8,000+ crew and guests at 4 am. The boy was located in another person's cabin.

 

The captain made his disgust known with his own noon announcement admonishing parents to parent their children. I was also at his session an hour later where he takes questions about the ship, and this topic came up. He was very blunt about his disgust with the situation.

 

The captain put the boy under cabin arrest so to speak; he was not allowed out of his cabin for the last full (sea day) of the cruise and one parent had to remain with him at all times.

 

Some people felt the punishment was too harsh - others, not harsh enough.

 

I wonder if they would have made them disembark, if it hadn't been a sea day?

 

Hope the parents demanded some OBC and future cruise credit for having their last day "ruined". :rolleyes:

[akcruz]

Here is a contract I have posted on here before, pulled together from a lot of different posts on CC. We used this when our kids were younger, now that they are older we just remind them of the rules and they start reciting them! Will it keep them from doing any of these, maybe not, but it hopefully will at least make them think twice.

 

 

First of all we want all of us to have fun. This should be a relaxing, enjoyable vacation. We hope that noting our expectations and rules before we depart will avoid any misunderstandings on-board. Note that violation of these rules will result in you being required to stay with us or in your cabin and therefore you will not be able to participate in any of the teen activities. These rules are not in place to say that we do not trust you, but to ensure we can all enjoy our trip.

• You are not to enter any cabins other than ours. It does not matter if it is the cabin of a new friend or someone we know (unless one of us expressly approves this).

• No one else is to enter our cabins.

 

• If you are in your cabin alone – hang the do not disturb sign on the door. This should prevent any RCCL employee from entering. Please ensure you remove it when you leave the room.

• You are not to drink any beverage unless it is handed to you by a family member or an RCCL staff member. You are not to drink from anything you have let out of your sight. Some people have been known to slip drugs into other people’s drinks. This is a lifelong rule that should be followed in any social situation.

 

• We expect to know where you are on the ship. We will use notes in our cabin to let each other know where we can be found.

• You are not to loiter or play in the stairwells, hallways, or elevators. Activities such as “knock and run” or calling other cabins to hang up will not be tolerated.

 

• We will decide on a curfew each night. The ship’s curfew is 1 AM since you are under 18. We have the right to require you to be in the cabin earlier if we feel the need.

• Your Sea Pass is tied to my credit card. It is to be used only by you. You may not buy other people drinks, snacks, arcade games, or souvenirs. You have a budget of $xx. If you exceed this budget without our approval, you will need to reimburse us.

• If you loose your Seapass you are to immediately notify one of us.

 

• We expect to eat dinner together most nights. There is flexibility if there is an alternate activity you would prefer to attend as long as we have discussed it in advance (at least that morning).

• If there are kids you would prefer to hang out with instead of the teen club, I need to meet them.

• If you order room service, you must tip the delivery person. We will provide a small amount of money for this.

 

• If we arrange a check-in time and you miss it then you are “grounded” for the next 24 hours. This means that you must stay with us or in your cabin.

 

• No visits to the outside areas of the upper deck at night alone.

 

• Put anything of value into the cabin safe. Cell phones are only to be taken out of the safe when we ask you to. Texts and calls are expensive and not in your budget.

• Do not leave the ship without one of us.

[okiecruiser71]

Let's just hope someone isn't getting an unwanted souvenir 9 months from now.

[Breezy72]

This is a great list! I've printed it off and will "tweak" it to suit my kids. Hope you don't mind. :)

 

Kids need structure and if they know the rules prior, then they can't use the "I didn't know" cop out!

 

 

 

Here is a contract I have posted on here before, pulled together from a lot of different posts on CC. We used this when our kids were younger, now that they are older we just remind them of the rules and they start reciting them! Will it keep them from doing any of these, maybe not, but it hopefully will at least make them think twice.

 

 

First of all we want all of us to have fun. This should be a relaxing, enjoyable vacation. We hope that noting our expectations and rules before we depart will avoid any misunderstandings on-board. Note that violation of these rules will result in you being required to stay with us or in your cabin and therefore you will not be able to participate in any of the teen activities. These rules are not in place to say that we do not trust you, but to ensure we can all enjoy our trip.

 

• You are not to enter any cabins other than ours. It does not matter if it is the cabin of a new friend or someone we know (unless one of us expressly approves this).

 

• No one else is to enter our cabins.

 

 

• If you are in your cabin alone – hang the do not disturb sign on the door. This should prevent any RCCL employee from entering. Please ensure you remove it when you leave the room.

 

• You are not to drink any beverage unless it is handed to you by a family member or an RCCL staff member. You are not to drink from anything you have let out of your sight. Some people have been known to slip drugs into other people’s drinks. This is a lifelong rule that should be followed in any social situation.

 

 

• We expect to know where you are on the ship. We will use notes in our cabin to let each other know where we can be found.

 

• You are not to loiter or play in the stairwells, hallways, or elevators. Activities such as “knock and run” or calling other cabins to hang up will not be tolerated.

 

 

• We will decide on a curfew each night. The ship’s curfew is 1 AM since you are under 18. We have the right to require you to be in the cabin earlier if we feel the need.

 

• Your Sea Pass is tied to my credit card. It is to be used only by you. You may not buy other people drinks, snacks, arcade games, or souvenirs. You have a budget of $xx. If you exceed this budget without our approval, you will need to reimburse us.

 

• If you loose your Seapass you are to immediately notify one of us.

 

 

• We expect to eat dinner together most nights. There is flexibility if there is an alternate activity you would prefer to attend as long as we have discussed it in advance (at least that morning).

 

• If there are kids you would prefer to hang out with instead of the teen club, I need to meet them.

 

• If you order room service, you must tip the delivery person. We will provide a small amount of money for this.

 

 

• If we arrange a check-in time and you miss it then you are “grounded” for the next 24 hours. This means that you must stay with us or in your cabin.

 

 

• No visits to the outside areas of the upper deck at night alone.

 

 

• Put anything of value into the cabin safe. Cell phones are only to be taken out of the safe when we ask you to. Texts and calls are expensive and not in your budget.

 

• Do not leave the ship without one of us.

[tasbm1]

On our last cruise, our 16 year old son had a midnight curfew with the exception of a few 11pm curfews because we had early excursions. He even set the alarm on his watch 10 minutes before curfew so he would have time to make it back to our cabin. One night it was exactly 11:59pm and he came in huffing & puffing like he had just run a race. He told us that he & his friends were at the front of the ship and he ran all the way back to our aft cabin because he knew if he walked he would be late, and grounded for the next day. Hubby and I poked each other and smiled!

[galavant3]

I wonder: do they actually go back to the last port? Doesn't that mess up the schedule something fierce?

 

I can't say for sure but the captain did turn the ship around so I'm guessing that's what would have happened had the person not turned up. And yes, it would have been a huge deal. Also a big deal was that all cabin attendants were instructed to do a cabin by cabin search. I'm sure that interfered with their regularly scheduled duties. To this day I cannot understand how she didn't hear her name being called repeatedly. The good news is that she did turn up safe and sound (a bit embarrassed, I'm sure). I did get the sense from the captain that there was some sort of penalty levied. She really did disrupt the cruise pretty significantly. We don't recall seeing her after she was located (based on her physical description she was hard to miss) so maybe she was confined to her cabin.

[akcruz]

This is a great list! I've printed it off and will "tweak" it to suit my kids. Hope you don't mind. :)

 

Kids need structure and if they know the rules prior, then they can't use the "I didn't know" cop out!

 

No problem, please do, that's how I got it!

 

Also, make sure they are aware of the consequences if one of the rules are broken and review BEFORE the cruise.

[loubetti]

Here is a contract I have posted on here before, pulled together from a lot of different posts on CC. We used this when our kids were younger, now that they are older we just remind them of the rules and they start reciting them! Will it keep them from doing any of these, maybe not, but it hopefully will at least make them think twice.

 

 

First of all we want all of us to have fun. This should be a relaxing, enjoyable vacation. We hope that noting our expectations and rules before we depart will avoid any misunderstandings on-board. Note that violation of these rules will result in you being required to stay with us or in your cabin and therefore you will not be able to participate in any of the teen activities. These rules are not in place to say that we do not trust you, but to ensure we can all enjoy our trip.

• You are not to enter any cabins other than ours. It does not matter if it is the cabin of a new friend or someone we know (unless one of us expressly approves this).

• No one else is to enter our cabins.

 

• If you are in your cabin alone – hang the do not disturb sign on the door. This should prevent any RCCL employee from entering. Please ensure you remove it when you leave the room.

• You are not to drink any beverage unless it is handed to you by a family member or an RCCL staff member. You are not to drink from anything you have let out of your sight. Some people have been known to slip drugs into other people’s drinks. This is a lifelong rule that should be followed in any social situation.

 

• We expect to know where you are on the ship. We will use notes in our cabin to let each other know where we can be found.

• You are not to loiter or play in the stairwells, hallways, or elevators. Activities such as “knock and run” or calling other cabins to hang up will not be tolerated.

 

• We will decide on a curfew each night. The ship’s curfew is 1 AM since you are under 18. We have the right to require you to be in the cabin earlier if we feel the need.

• Your Sea Pass is tied to my credit card. It is to be used only by you. You may not buy other people drinks, snacks, arcade games, or souvenirs. You have a budget of $xx. If you exceed this budget without our approval, you will need to reimburse us.

• If you loose your Seapass you are to immediately notify one of us.

 

• We expect to eat dinner together most nights. There is flexibility if there is an alternate activity you would prefer to attend as long as we have discussed it in advance (at least that morning).

• If there are kids you would prefer to hang out with instead of the teen club, I need to meet them.

• If you order room service, you must tip the delivery person. We will provide a small amount of money for this.

 

• If we arrange a check-in time and you miss it then you are “grounded” for the next 24 hours. This means that you must stay with us or in your cabin.

 

• No visits to the outside areas of the upper deck at night alone.

 

• Put anything of value into the cabin safe. Cell phones are only to be taken out of the safe when we ask you to. Texts and calls are expensive and not in your budget.

• Do not leave the ship without one of us.

 

When I was 15 I had never been on a cruise (but on some fabulous land vacations with my parents). I was always a "good boy", and was also learning to fly airplanes at the time, and was studying the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR), which make the above look like a day at the beach in comparison! Imagine at 15 having to learn 40 times that, and take a test on it!

 

This is certainly a good idea, and I would enforce such as should other parents.

 

Write up the regulations and then give them a test! I was 15 in 1973, and this is not 1973 these days when it comes you young people. It's a different world.

[Breezy72]

Oh, no, so sorry ... I was not directing my comments at you or your kids.

 

There are just so many people on these boards, or that we've met in "real life" that are so convinced their kids have never snuck out or done whatever-it-is-the-parents-have-forbidden ... your kids are too young for that, anyway! :)

 

Ok, thanks for clarifying that!:) Being new to these boards, I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot and have my kids stereotyped as trouble makers!

 

They are awesome, and being a "domestic diva" plays a huge part in that. I am fortunate, unlike so many in this day and age, as I do have the option to stay home and oversee their actions. There is very little they get away with that I don't know about! ;)

The worst thing my youngest did recently was go through almost 50 glow sticks while camping when I specifically told her and her cousin that two/night was the limit! Ya, not enough badness to require water boarding, but I think you get the gist of where I'm coming from. :p Kids will push limits!

 

When kids get around other kids, they make poor decisions because they just want to fit in. (yep, we all did it!:rolleyes:) We, as parents, have to instill good behavior and hope that some of it sinks in when that child is put to the test.

Apparently, we all have made good choices at some point in our young lives as we are all alive, on this forum, and griping about kids on cruise ships making bad decisions! Could be worse huh!:D

[bajathree]

I agree 100%, and too bad not everyone can have enough sense to know this. However, with sense, we wouldn't have such an active thread and the usual miserable antogonists. ;)

 

Like!

[J 'B' Cruisin']

Really?:eek:

 

I would assume that the 15 YO hooked up with some other teens and was in a cabin.

 

And I would wager it happens often.

 

No offense but that speaks to the maturity of someone to assume that who's supposed to be in a role of total control as the Captain would be. He has protocols he has to follow and assuming someone is 'hooking' up isn't a luxury he can afford.

[J 'B' Cruisin']

To the OP, my DW and I were ALSO at the Q&A with the Captain. It was OBVIOUS that he was EXTREMELY ANGRY with the parents. He literally addressed the question for about 5 minutes. He gave more details than the early morning announcements and did say and I quote "the mother noticed her son missing when she woke-up around 4am". He got a thunderous applause from the crowd in attendance at the Q&A when he reiterated that parents need to parent their children and their vacation isn't a vacation from their responsibilities. Hearing the earlier person comment on the fact that this was the second time would definitely explain the confinement to quarters. The captain did explain that in-fact, the son and one of the parents were confined to quarters for the remainder of the cruise.

 

As for Contracts, whether you read the entire thing or not, it's YOUR responsibility to know what is in there because you are acknowledging you will follow it. If you sign a contract to purchase a home or a car, you're responsible for knowing the rates, terms etc. so you can't use that as an excuse.

 

Lastly, as minors, parents ARE responsible for their children's actions. If your child damages the ship in anyway regardless of how "perfect" you think he/she is and regardless of how "perfect" a parent you think you are, you WILL be responsible for monetary damages and not the child.

 

I'm glad the boy is OK and it wasn't a case of someone falling overboard or foul play, but my DW and I definitely believe the punishment given suited the offense. Tons of people were wondering what happened that day when they were woken up by cabin announcements and I wouldn't want to be responsible for 8,000+ people being robbed of some necessary Zs.

 

Jason

[softsands]

Really?:eek:

 

I would assume that the 15 YO hooked up with some other teens and was in a cabin.

 

And I would wager it happens often.

 

Never 'assume.'

[bbbearden]

I finally made it through all 15 pages of this thread, WOW, that is a lot. After reading it all, I am still forced to conclude that the parents erred badly and the captain acted properly.

[janetz]

Now can we put this thread to bed? :D

[SpeedGeek]

Now can we put this thread to bed? :D

 

Is it past curfew? :D

[K1200S]

Is it past curfew? :D

Not for me