NCL Written Policy of Not Leaving Ship with Children at Splash Academy

[Asawi]

1 hour ago, Albinroo said:

Yes, that is why I suggested doing things WITH their kids on or off the ship instead. 

Well spoken!

This reminded me of when I took my then 7-8 yo daughter to London. This was going to be HER trip with her calling all the shots. Except for one day that was going to be my day. It was a full day trip to Stonehenge and Bath and some other stops. I really stressed that this day was for ME, but the rest of the trip was all about her. Once back home people asked her what  was the best during the trip. Guess what! Stonehenge! And the bus ride.

Why do I tell you this? To point out that kids can suprise you!

(Gosh, now I actually remember the bus ride guided in English. We're Swedish and I had a busy time translating pretty much EVERYTHING. One surprisingly interested kid! 😁 We now sometimes travel together in Spain. Payback time with her speaking Spanish, me not 😁)

[Albinroo]

2 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Well spoken!

This reminded me of when I took my then 7-8 yo daughter to London. This was going to be HER trip with her calling all the shots. Except for one day that was going to be my day. It was a full day trip to Stonehenge and Bath and some other stops. I really stressed that this day was for ME, but the rest of the trip was all about her. Once back home people asked her what  was the best during the trip. Guess what! Stonehenge! And the bus ride.

Why do I tell you this? To point out that kids can suprise you!

(Gosh, now I actually remember the bus ride guided in English. We're Swedish and I had a busy time translating pretty much EVERYTHING. One surprisingly interested kid! 😁 We now sometimes travel together in Spain. Payback time with her speaking Spanish, me not 😁)

We're Swedish too! And this fall break I'm taking my oldest son (10 years) on a cruise where he'll get to decide a lot - but one day we'll be going to Pompeii since that's on my bucket list so I hope the English speaking guide and tour will be interesting for him as well. Perhaps even the best part 🙂 

Veru useful to have multilingual kids, I can only hope one of them learns Spanish one day!

[BirdTravels]

On 9/7/2023 at 10:43 PM, florida_gators said:

We've been on almost 20 cruises, but only one prior cruise with NCL.  We worked with a cruise consultant in deciding to take our 3 and 5 year old children on a European cruise (instead of locally in the Caribbean).  Our cruise consultant (as well as many other customer service reps) assured us multiple times that there is plenty of babysitting on board, and that my wife and I could therefore enjoy the shore excursions together (such as in Paris, which is about 3 hours away from the port).  We were now just told from another consultant that while our children are at the Splash Academy (since NCL doesn't offer "babysitting"), that one parent must be on the ship at all times and available to pick up a child within 10 minutes (or else face fines).  We had the consultant verify this with a supervisor.  We've had a horrible time already booking this cruise with NCL, and this ruins our European cruise.  Has anyone else experienced this?  Did we miss a written policy?  We're past the deadline to cancel without penalty, so we're trying to decide what to do.  With other cruise lines, we've always been provided a cell phone when our children are left on ship in case we need to return.

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

First and foremost, don't call the kids club "babysitting" because that has a different connotation to the person you are talking to. 

 

Attached are the terms and conditions of the Splash Academy. 

 

You can see from the example program, there were no planned activities while the ship was in port. 

 

Splash Academy Only.pdf

 

 

[CruiseMH]

8 hours ago, Albinroo said:

Yes, that is why I suggested doing things WITH their kids on or off the ship instead.

 Doing something WITH the kids? At the same time at the same place ?

Don`t tell that all these young and modern parents these days. 😉

 

 

[cxc362]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

First and foremost, don't call the kids club "babysitting" because that has a different connotation to the person you are talking to. 

 

Attached are the terms and conditions of the Splash Academy. 

 

You can see from the example program, there were no planned activities while the ship was in port. 

 

Splash Academy Only.pdf 709.67 kB · 3 downloads

 

 

Thanks for posting this! I showed it to my daughter from your live thread yesterday and she’s more excited for Splash Academy than she was before she saw the activities.
 

She loved Splash Academy on the Gem and the Star (in fact she was sad in advance of the Star cruise that there were no sea days because her time there would be less than it could have been), but she’s older now and we haven’t cruised in 4 years.

 

I think being able to see what’s available in advance was very helpful for her (by extension and me).

[mjkacmom]

I have 5 kids, and have put them in kids clubs on many vacations, heck I use to belong to gyms with free childcare just for a break (SAHM). However, parents really should make sure they can be reached and get to the kids club in a reasonable amount of time, in case the child is sick (I’ve had that happen twice), has an accident, or just wants to leave (this isn’t paid daycare). I could see leaving older teens if they really didn’t want yo get off of the ship (my kids always wanted to get off).

[sanger727]

Poster is a one hit wonder. I seriously doubt this is legitimate. I can't imagine any parent thinking it's ok to leave their kids on the ship with no responsible adult while they travel to a location 3 hours away.

[Albinroo]

36 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

Poster is a one hit wonder. I seriously doubt this is legitimate. I can't imagine any parent thinking it's ok to leave their kids on the ship with no responsible adult while they travel to a location 3 hours away.

Oh I absolutely think it is legitimate, and that once the OP realized it's not possible to leave them in club when in  Port they chose another cruise. Perhaps I have less faith in some parents than you do...

[MouserNY]

I agree! That parent's post was no surprise to me. I see it all the time. I have a 10 year old and believe me, a lot of his friends parents been dropping them off to parks, playgrounds, you name it, with no supervision for the past 4 years already. I'm always more concerned, like okay. 

[yakcruiser]

I remember seeing a you tube video a while back on pier runners where a lady ran up to the ship as it was sailing away screaming her kids were onboard. Luckily their uncle was onboard to look after them.

[nimbex1970]

Bring a sitter/care giver you trust with you.  They can share the cabin with the kiddos. Be with them when you hit Paris, stay with them at night so you can experience the shows and night life.  We did this when the kids were younger.  Everyone had a great time. We spent all day with the kids, and had this person to be with them when it was bed-time so we could go out at night! The sitter had the day to herself to enjoy.  It worked out for everyone.

[minabruuke]

Years back we were on an excursion in Curacao which ended with a family in utter panic. They'd left their teen onboard with another teen. The two teens decided they wanted to go to the beach; they didn't ask their parents but thankfully did have phones. Dad got a call towards the end of the excursion. The kids had met some local teens at the beach and went to their house to hang out (yikes!!!). The kids couldn't figure out how to get back to the ship, didn't take enough money for the return taxi and couldn't properly explain to Dad where they were. All aboard time was in less than an hour.  I have no idea how it ultimately turned out but it was a horrible situation. 

 

As a past high school teacher, I've seen even the best behaved and smartest kids make some really stupid decisions, especially when dealing with peer pressure. Of course, there are plenty of teens that would know better than to do something as irresponsible as the two in the above story.  But even leaving older kids/teens on the ship can be risky.  In addition to concerns that others have raised, older kids most likely could walk right off the ship. You can't count on security realizing that it isn't their parent in front of or behind them. 

[Paddymunich]

Wow.

What an outpour of judgmental comments. All very short of calling them bad parents.

I personally would not leave my 6y old alone on the ship while I go on shore but I still understand and respect other people's choices. Some advice here is pretty true, being that far away in case of an emergency is risky.

 

Florida_gators, can't help you with your options now but I'd say in future delve a bit deeper in the cruise line's website. With the help of Google. Somewhere you'll find detailed conditions for all amenities of the ships.

[Albinroo]

1 hour ago, Paddymunich said:

Wow.

What an outpour of judgmental comments. All very short of calling them bad parents.

I personally would not leave my 6y old alone on the ship while I go on shore but I still understand and respect other people's choices. Some advice here is pretty true, being that far away in case of an emergency is risky.

 

Florida_gators, can't help you with your options now but I'd say in future delve a bit deeper in the cruise line's website. With the help of Google. Somewhere you'll find detailed conditions for all amenities of the ships.

To be fair, I think some of the harsher comments were a result of the way the OP posed the question on the first place; like their holiday would be ruined if they couldn't leave their (very young) kids somewhere while they go away on a lenghty excursion. 

On the other hand, other cruise lines do allow this and it's one reason we will choose to cruise with Princess rather than NCL this coming winter (other reasons being their menu looks good and they still service cabins twice daily), but we're not planning to leave the kids there in each port and go away. Rather we are open to leaving for a short beach break for a couple of hours in case our oldest two prefers to stay in the club. I would of course hate for them to be left in there in case something were to happen to us while we were off ship and didn't make it back in time - on the other hand I am confident they would be well taken care of and can handle it at that age. I would personally not feel the same about a three year old.

[skittl1321]

13 hours ago, minabruuke said:

Years back we were on an excursion in Curacao which ended with a family in utter panic. They'd left their teen onboard with another teen. The two teens decided they wanted to go to the beach; they didn't ask their parents but thankfully did have phones. Dad got a call towards the end of the excursion. The kids had met some local teens at the beach and went to their house to hang out (yikes!!!). The kids couldn't figure out how to get back to the ship, didn't take enough money for the return taxi and couldn't properly explain to Dad where they were. All aboard time was in less than an hour.  I have no idea how it ultimately turned out but it was a horrible situation. 

 

As a past high school teacher, I've seen even the best behaved and smartest kids make some really stupid decisions, especially when dealing with peer pressure. Of course, there are plenty of teens that would know better than to do something as irresponsible as the two in the above story.  But even leaving older kids/teens on the ship can be risky.  In addition to concerns that others have raised, older kids most likely could walk right off the ship. You can't count on security realizing that it isn't their parent in front of or behind them. 

 

The ship let minors off without a guardian?!

[mjkacmom]

9 minutes ago, skittl1321 said:

 

The ship let minors off without a guardian?!

They’re not supposed to but they can get by.

[skittl1321]

5 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

They’re not supposed to but they can get by.

Wow- what a disaster!

 

(I sailed with kids for the first time ever on MSC, and I'd literally be holding my daughter, and when they scanned her sail card, the officer would ask "who's the guardian", and then check my photo against her account.)

[mjkacmom]

17 minutes ago, skittl1321 said:

Wow- what a disaster!

 

(I sailed with kids for the first time ever on MSC, and I'd literally be holding my daughter, and when they scanned her sail card, the officer would ask "who's the guardian", and then check my photo against her account.)

I don’t think little ones would pass, but my 16 year old did once.

[skittl1321]

3 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I don’t think little ones would pass, but my 16 year old did once.

Does their cruise card not ping that they are a minor on NCL?

That's what caused it, it scanned and a light went off.

[minabruuke]

24 minutes ago, skittl1321 said:

 

The ship let minors off without a guardian?!

Yes, and those minors' own parents left them on the ship without a guardian. The teens weren't signed into any programming where an adult was responsible for monitoring them while their parents were off the ship 

 

I honestly do not have a clue as to if there is any official policy on this but I do know that I have never noticed any ship checking that minors getting off the ship were with their own guardians. Whether or not security bares any responsibility in doing so per the cruise contract, I have no idea. If those teens were surrounded by other adults, would there be anything to alert security to the fact that they weren't with their guardian? 

[skittl1321]

3 minutes ago, minabruuke said:

Yes, and those minors' own parents left them on the ship without a guardian. The teens weren't signed into any programming where an adult was responsible for monitoring them while their parents were off the ship 

 

I honestly do not have a clue as to if there is any official policy on this but I do know that I have never noticed any ship checking that minors getting off the ship were with their own guardians. Whether or not security bares any responsibility in doing so per the cruise contract, I have no idea. If those teens were surrounded by other adults, would there be anything to alert security to the fact that they weren't with their guardian? 

 

I mean, I have no idea on NCL.

I just know that on MSC, it alerted to the need for a guardian, and they asked who her guardian was and checked my ID, despite me holding her (so clear assumption I was the guardian.) I saw it happen for a teen too, whose mother was a few people behind her. 

 

For sure, parents have a lot of the responsibility here, there is a lot that could have gone wrong with a minor left on the ship with no adult responsible. But I'm just shocked a minor was able to get off the ship without a guardian. That IS a breakdown in security.   (Actually, based on this- some cruiselines do allow minors off the ship on their own. NCL's policy isn't clear, as it only mentions shore excursions.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/your-guide-to-cruise-line-age-policies  But CCL, for instance, would only need to be 16 to leave for a port.)

[minabruuke]

Just now, skittl1321 said:

 

I mean, I have no idea on NCL.

I just know that on MSC, it alerted to the need for a guardian, and they asked who her guardian was and checked my ID, despite me holding her (so clear assumption I was the guardian.) I saw it happen for a teen too, whose mother was a few people behind her. 

 

For sure, parents have a lot of the responsibility here, there is a lot that could have gone wrong with a minor left on the ship with no adult responsible. But I'm just shocked a minor was able to get off the ship without a guardian. That IS a breakdown in security.   (Actually, based on this- some cruiselines do allow minors off the ship on their own. NCL's policy isn't clear, as it only mentions shore excursions.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/your-guide-to-cruise-line-age-policies  But CCL, for instance, would only need to be 16 to leave for a port.)

I am glad to hear that MSC does this; it seems like the responsible path. I could see parents getting frustrated with such a policy if they wanted to send their kids off the ship with a close friend or other family member but a little inconvenience is worth it to keep kids safe. I am guessing that there are many different policies out there and it may also vary based on the ports.

 

If I remember correctly, these teens were 16 or 17.

[sanger727]

9 hours ago, Paddymunich said:

Wow.

What an outpour of judgmental comments. All very short of calling them bad parents.

I personally would not leave my 6y old alone on the ship while I go on shore but I still understand and respect other people's choices. Some advice here is pretty true, being that far away in case of an emergency is risky.

 

Florida_gators, can't help you with your options now but I'd say in future delve a bit deeper in the cruise line's website. With the help of Google. Somewhere you'll find detailed conditions for all amenities of the ships.

 

I've seen many people posting about leaving their child on the ship while they go to port. Planning to leave your kids on the ship while you go somewhere 3 hours away in a foreign country isn't ok. You might drop you kids off at a day care while you go to work. I would hope you wouldn't drop them off at daycare and then take a day trip to another state where you couldn't get back in a reasonable amount of time. 

 

I've had co-workers who dropped their kids off at their normal daycare. And it wasn't out of the ordinary for them to have to go and pick their kid up halfway through the day over an illness or behavioral issue.

Edited September 15, 2023 by sanger727

[reveur15]

It remember me a family cruise, we were all together (2 adults 3 kids 16,18 & 20) at harvest cay private island. My youngest boy (16 1/2 years) forgot something in the room, so he got back to the ship ALONE. But when he wanted to come back to join us they refused to let him get out without an adult. He had no way to tell us what was happening. He had to wait that one of us came back to the ship because we were worried he didn't come back. 

Being on a private island, I didn't think it could be a problem, but I understand why they do that, and I agree with them.

Edited September 15, 2023 by reveur15

[IAcruising]

16 hours ago, Paddymunich said:

Wow.

What an outpour of judgmental comments. All very short of calling them bad parents.

 

 

 

No. Not "short" at all. They are bad parents. Period. Done.