Can teens disembark the ship...

[cruzinchris]

...without a parent or other adult?

 

If a group of teens are cruising together or even meet on board a ship, can they disembark to explore a port without adult supervision?

 

Just call me curious...

Chris

[Christapie]

Don't know the official answer, but if my 2 teens want to go on the islands by themselves, they had better just book a cruise without me to begin with. BTW, they are 17 and 18.

 

Go ahead and call me a prude, but...........

[Toto2Kansas]

...without a parent or other adult?

 

If a group of teens are cruising together or even meet on board a ship, can they disembark to explore a port without adult supervision?

 

Just call me curious...

Chris

 

I have never seen any signs or read any rules saying they can't. But I would hope that parents would not go along with this in a foreign country. That would be just looking for trouble................as the drinking age varies and ID's are rarely checked. Not to mention other problems that can arise as there are some very shady characters in some of these ports just waiting to pounce on a group like this.

[jennew]

as the mom of 4 teens (who have been on previous cruises with us) I would simply ask if you think it would be a good idea? I would not THINK of letting my teen explore a foriegn country without me with them- NO WAY.

 

That said, you know your kids better than I do. You make the call.

[cruzinchris]

My reason for asking has nothing to do with whether or not I would have a teen traveling with me. My only DD is 33, married, and has two children of her own. As a parent, I definitely would not have allowed my teen to disembark a ship unescorted by a responsible adult.

 

I have been following the case of missing Alabama teen, Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba more than a year ago. Reportedly, Natalee may have had an earlier "runaway" episode while on a cruise in Costa Rica. The family may have been on the Dawn Princess, but this hasn't been confirmed, nor has the exact time of said cruise other than it was sometime during Natalee's junior year in high school (2004).

 

This possible runaway episode is currently being discussed on a few crime-related message boards, and I was curious about whether or not Natalee could have left the ship alone or if she went missing while on a shore excursion, shopping, etc.

 

If anyone knows whether or not a teen can disembark a cruiseship without a parent or other adult, I would appreciate your sharing the information. Thanks for your help.

Chris

[causeyoutdoor]

My very responsible 16 year old son took a ship based zipline tour without us in Belize and had no problems getting off or on the boat. That was the Grand Princess in January. At other times, I have been with either my 16 or 14 year old at the pier side shops and they will want to get back on the boat and I will send them back to the ship (all 200 yards of it) by themselves - no problems. My kids have been cruising since they were 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 and understand that other countries (and other US Cities) are not like Orange County, California. So they exercise some caution. My 16 year old has also traveled to Peru without us (on a school sponsored trip) and was completely comfortable getting around. But please understand, they know that if they were to go to shore without our knowledge or get into any trouble, it would be the last time they a cruise ship that they were getting on. My 16 year always says "I am just happy to be going along." He has friends that would never get brought on a cruise ship famiyl vacation because their parents can not trust them.

[sailinglisa]

Yes, they can get off on their own. Seen it many times on my cruises.

[bigsky]

JMO but I don't think it's a good idea at all. You can have the most responsible kids, but it's others you have to worry about too. :eek:

Your teens loose in a foreign country??....not good.

[rcicruiser1015]

Yes they are allowed. I let my kids get off by themselves (15 and 18) or with friends as long as they are in a group in ports such as Key West or Grand Cayman, but wouldnt even think about it in places like Jamaica and San Juan. To me it just depends entirely on where it is/

[mek]

DH and I will be traveling with two teens, (16 and 17 ), next month. There is a chance that the 17 year old might occasionally want to stay on board while the rest of us go on shore. If this is the case, we have already decided that we will take his key card with us so he can't leave the ship until we return.

[jean s]

:cool: When my now 25 year old son was 16 (and a very responsible teen) we were all on a cruise. We had gotten off the ship in the morning and it started to rain so we returned to the ship. I decided to take a nap and my husband went to work out in the gym. Our son told us he would be in the teen center. That night at dinner in the dining room one of the teenagers at our table commented on the beaded necklace he had on. My son responded that he got it on the island. At this point he got my attention. I looked at him and said, "Oh no you didn't." My husband gently said, "You should tell your mother what you did now." My son then proceeded to tell me how he got OFF the ship without our permission with some new found friends. Somehow my husband had seen him returning from the tender. My husband had already spoken to him about this poor choice. After that we always took our son's key card. Needless to say he received a consequence when we returned home. To this day when we go on cruises (now without him) he reminds us of this event. We had made a real point of making him realize this was a dangerous action. Personally I think it is extremely dangerous for teens to get off the ship without an adult. Oh and by the way our son shared with us many years after this event....he and his friends had just made the final tender back to the ship. When I asked what he would have done if they had missed the ship his answer was, "Oh they would have brought us to the ship by helicopter!" We assured him he was dreaming!

[MarkMichaels]

Just a quick thought for those of you that take your teens card to keep them from leaving the ship. All they have to do is go to the ships desk and tell them he lost it, they will ask his name and room and poof, he'll have a new card.

 

My son lost his card in the arcade on RCI last year, went to the desk and they gave him a new one. He was only 10 at the time, no id, no parent, new card.

 

Mark

[travelpeon]

Sounds like Cruise Lines might want to think about their current policies. While it is just as dangerous as a teen leaving a Las Vegas Hotel Room while parents are out, it seems all the worse that the ship may sail away without your child on it.

 

There wouldn't be a room to come back to if it has sailed away...

 

Do teen centers supervise teens and keep them until a parent comes to pick them up? This might seem silly for a 17 year old (as some might be allowed more independence to roam certain public areas of the ship) but very useful for a 13 year old.

[CleoChase]

I question whether the ship would just sail away if a teen who is a minor had not returned on board. Not that I would want to test this theory... But I know that we have been delayed leaving at least 2 ports because someone under 17 was not on board and was alone in a foreign port. Both times they made an annoucement and said that they were giving the minor's parents time to pack so that they could get off. Both times the teens made it back to the ship, before the parents could get off.

 

Can you imagine the negative publicity that the cruise line would get if they knowing left a minor in a foreign country by themselves.

 

Now once they are 18, all bets are off, they are no longer a minor.

 

It should ultimately the parents respondsibility to police their children.

[TJM001]

There would be additional consequences if one were to take away a yougster's key card. For example, he or she would not be able to get back into their cabin if they left it. Often youngsters have a soda sticker on the card. If that were the case, they would be unable to order a soda the entire time the parents were off ship.

Take the kids ashore with you.

[bjboothman]

If anyone knows whether or not a teen can disembark a cruiseship without a parent or other adult, I would appreciate your sharing the information. Thanks for your help.

Chris

 

Certainly they can - there is nobody at the door matching up children/teens with their guardians as you walk off the ship. I suppose if a parent were concerned about the possibility of a teen escaping, they could hold their kids' keycards/id so they would not physically be able to get past security.

[Nitemare]

There would be additional consequences if one were to take away a yougster's key card. For example, he or she would not be able to get back into their cabin if they left it. Often youngsters have a soda sticker on the card. If that were the case, they would be unable to order a soda the entire time the parents were off ship.

Take the kids ashore with you.

Oh my goodness! No sodas!?!?!?!?! How would they survive!!!?!?!?!

[Tatka]

It really depend on the level of maturity, but I think leaving ship by themselves for teens under 16 is not appropriate, but 17-18??? Why not? At this age most of them drive their own cars, work etc. If they are responsible , then nothing is wrong with letting them go alone (preferable with friends of course) on shore.

[Tatka]

It really depends on the level of maturity, but I think leaving ship by themselves for teens under 16 is not appropriate, but 17-18??? Why not? At this age most of them drive their own cars, work etc. If they are responsible , then nothing is wrong with letting them go alone (preferable with friends of course) on shore.

[TJM001]

In response to Nitemare's post, of course the kids would survive quite nicely without sodas. I was merely trying to make the point that the cards are used for many other purposes on board ship in addition to embarking and disembarking.

[HotJet]

We have had personal experience with this issue to share.

 

At least on Carnival it is possible to remove the disembarkation privledges on your teens cards by visiting the Purser's Desk. This allows him to keep his card. We did this when our 15 yo decided he would rather stay onboard while we left the ship for a shopping trip.

 

We know this worked because despite our "chat" about him staying on the ship he did attempt to leave with some friends. When he swiped his card at the security desk to leave it alarmed and security refused him exit. His 15 and 16 yo friends were allowed to exit. He was miffed when we returned.....we had an interesting "chat" that evening....life lesson learned.

 

I would suggest you check with whatever cruise line you are on and see if this option will work.

 

Parent of Teens (grey hair to prove it):)

[prarie cruiser]

I don't have any teens, but my thought is anyone can get off the ship if they just punch their cruise card in the appropriate slot! This would probably apply to an 8 year old too, if the kid was in a line of people getting off and no one would notice.

 

Should they get off alone or with other teens? I sure would hope parents would love their kids enough to accompany them off the ship. Some of those ports are very, very different than home and teens could be quite vulnerable, even if he/she is a responsible teen in their normal world. However, perhaps the exception to this is a ship sponsored excursion. I don't know what the rules are for the age limit on those.

 

Should parents be off the ship without their teens? Again, a difficult question. If your teen is mature enough to sail on to the next port without you, in case you miss the ship, then I don't see a problem!

 

Just my two cents worth.

[mek]

Well, if he can't get back in the room for two or three hours, I don't think it would be the end of the world. He won't starve, restrooms are available - can't think of any reason why he would have to go back. Besides, we probably will take him, but there is always a chance he won't want to go every day. Without ID or an adult, I don't believe the purser would give just him a key - if that is the case, then anyone could get a key for any cabin. :eek:

[ahracer]

Good question.

 

As a parent with three kids two of which are teenagers I can tell you regardless of the rules that there is no way they are getting off the ship by themselves. Too much can go wrong anywhere let alone a strange city in another country with different laws. No matter how responsible a teen is they are not going to be prepared to deal with situations that could arise when someone in a uniform decides to prey on them. Remember these ports are in 3rd world countries and if you think there isn't crooked police, military, customs officers that wouldn't use their power to intimidate a teen you are sadly mistaken.

 

Scott

[lrm]

On our cruise from Alaska--we left our then 13 & 15 year old sons with a Princess kayaking excursion group and went exploring in town. We planned to meet them on the dock as they returned. The excursion was cancelled--but the decision was not made for 15 minutes after we left. Our sons did reboard the ship---but did not return to the room as they thought we would be informed.

We were at least able to find out that they had made it back on board safely by checking with security. We would not have let them roam free--even in Alaska--as teens do not always use the best judgment, no matter how mature they seem. We don't worry as much on the ship--but have a check-in system in place that gives them some freedom, but also gives us peace of mind (mostly). My sons have traveled extensively---but each new situation and place presents new challenges and issues. lrm