Other people's attitudes

[crucero]

Every time I tell someone that we are bringing our 10 month old son along with us on our cruise, their first response is always something like, "WHY?!" in a shocked voice. I am so sick of this. Do you have any good comebacks for these people?

 

My normal response is..."Because I want to."

 

Really, my mom is working, my ILs are inept & no one else stepped up to the plate to keep him (until they found out we already paid for him to go)

 

Just venting, I suppose. Thanks for listening.

 

Oh man...only 17 more days!!!!!!!

[l929]

"Because the pet sitter refuses to change diapers."

 

or

 

"Well, he's paying..." ;)

 

 

Seriously, enjoy your cruise and ignore the negative people. My 3 y/o son started cruising at 10 months and my 19 month old started at 4 months! They just went on their 3rd and 4th cruises and we have 2 more planned in the next 6 months.

So far the only cruise line that I felt a little funny having small children on was Carnival. (Dirty looks from older pax) However RC and Celebrity were fine.

[crusinmama06]

I always say...

 

"Well on our family vacation we thought we'd overindulge and let the baby be a member of the family this week" ;) :p

[bmgaritty]

Every time I tell someone that we are bringing our 10 month old son along with us on our cruise, their first response is always something like, "WHY?!" in a shocked voice. I am so sick of this. Do you have any good comebacks for these people?

 

My normal response is..."Because I want to."

 

Really, my mom is working, my ILs are inept & no one else stepped up to the plate to keep him (until they found out we already paid for him to go)

 

Just venting, I suppose. Thanks for listening.

 

Oh man...only 17 more days!!!!!!!

 

I wouldn't be shocked - it's really no big deal. If you don't want the response then don't offer the information. People do try to make conversation...maybe that's all they are doing.

 

Have fun on your trip!

[FionaMG]

Bet nobody would bat an eyelid if you said you were taking your baby on a land-based holiday! And hardly any land-based holiday accommodations offer the range of facilities you'll have on your cruise. Have a great time.

[Julienatul]

DH and I are seasoned cruisers. We love it! We began cruising before DD was born and have continued to cruise with her. We took her the first time at 7 months and are taking her again at 12 months in October. It is a family vacation and she is part of our family. I wouldnt have it any other way. Is it a little more difficult and less relaxing than before, YES, but so is everyday life. We enjoyed ourselves on the last cruise and will again on this one coming up. Cruises are no longer just for "adults" more and more familes cruise. Ships wouldnt be creating programs for "babies" if there wasnt a need for them. There will be plenty of other families with young children on your cruise. Enjoy it! Actually on our last cruise no one made any negative comments to us at all. I am ready to tell them to mind their own business though if they do!

 

Julie

[crucero]

I always say...

 

"Well on our family vacation we thought we'd overindulge and let the baby be a member of the family this week" ;) :p

 

I LOVE IT! :D

[Ga_Girl]

Every time I tell someone that we are bringing our 10 month old son along with us on our cruise, their first response is always something like, "WHY?!" in a shocked voice. I am so sick of this. Do you have any good comebacks for these people?

 

My normal response is..."Because I want to."

 

Really, my mom is working, my ILs are inept & no one else stepped up to the plate to keep him (until they found out we already paid for him to go)

 

Just venting, I suppose. Thanks for listening.

 

Oh man...only 17 more days!!!!!!!

 

We get that, too, and I usually lose my backbone and say something like, "Well, yeah...we don't have anybody to watch him." Can you tell I'm a non-confronatational person? :) Truthfully, I couldn't bear the idea of being without him for a week. :)

 

On another note, what ship/location are you cruising because I believe we're leaving in 17 days, too!!

 

Susan

[2Cruise4Ever]

Well, one thing I always say: even if the baby is "out of sorts" and out of routine, I still don't have to cook, clean, or do dishes for an entire week. Even if you're sitting on the deck chair, tending to the baby, you're still on vacation and every crew member on board will ask you if you need anything ("Yes, please give me an I.V. drip of vodka!";)).

 

When we went on our cruise on NCL Dawn last year with our 2 kids (2 and 7 at the time), I thought for sure I'd be chasing the 2yo all over the place because she's always into everything. I was way wrong. She was so fascinated by EVERYTHING (ship, crew, ocean, food, cabin, etc) that all she did was stare wide-eyed at the start. She was absolutely enamoured. She'd point to the ocean and say, "Dis A MY Water!" and "Dis A MY Ship!" We had an absolute blast the entire week. And, like I said, I didn't cook, clean, do dishes, or a stitch of laundry for 8 days. It was pure heaven! :D

[crucero]

Ga_girl, We leave from Miami on the Elation on 9/24, but we're flying down on 9/23. I'm getting so excited!!:D

 

I want to bring him along because it is a family vacation! & I remember my mom pawning my brother & I off to my aunt when she went on some vacations & I was always so sad. I know that he wouldn't know the difference, but still...I want him to come! I just tell people, A bad day on the cruise is better than a day at work!

 

I agree w/ pp too about the laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc!

[stbmom]

I hate when people say that too!

We actually like our son and enjoy being around him - I guess that isn't the norm! It wouldn't be a vacation with me worrying about him. Sure, dh and I will take some vacations alone - but not a week long curise.

[Ga_Girl]

Crucero--Enjoy! We're on PoH sailing 9/25. I just thought it would be funny if we were on the same ship!

 

stbmom--I'm with you! I'd love to do a weekend trip without ds, but probably not a week long cruise...and not when he's this young.

 

Susan

[JackieH]

I can certainly understand your question. I never understand people's questions. We just recently sailed on the Carnival Valor. We had it booked 16 months in advance. We have 3 kids, their ages are 12, 7, and 2. I cant begin to tell you how many people asked "Are you taking your kids with you?"

AHHHH YES.... we are.. People always seemed so shocked when we said we were taking our kids. I always went on to explain... we take one vacation a year, we do not do weekends away or overnights anywhere, so where we go the kids go. I could NEVER imagine not taking my kids on vacation. The kids all had a blast. My 2 yr old was the best behaved one of the bunch;) . I cant wait to do another cruise with my kids.

[Onessa]

DD is now nearly 11YO and has come with us on all of our vacations - land and cruise. My normal answer (not confrontational, not anything but heartfelt) is "of COURSE!"

 

As to the "not remembering" when my DD was just three we were on the plane to New Mexico. My DH was explaining that we'd see mountains and how she had not seen mountains before - she corrected him saying "yes, water coming out of mountain" - of course she had seen the mountains when she was 8MO at Yosemite where the waterfall does come off the mountain. She'd been across the US, Canada and to Panama before her first trip to Europe - and while she has some rather odd memories of that trip to Italy at age 4 (feeding the pigeons at St. Mark's Square, playing in the ball pit with an Italian girl at a Burger King in Milan, having a postal service employee give her a yoyo in Pisa) - she does remember and points places out on return trips or on TV shows.

 

Even if she did not remember specific details of trips, I believe that the warmth and safety of being with her mom and dad, and sharing good times with them add enormously to a child's sense of self (even an infant's sense of self) - the child learns that even if they are in a strange new place, mom and dad are there, we're all having a good time, and everything is OK. Wow, is there a better thing in the whole world!!??!!

[supermom78]

You know... I wouldn't pay any attention to those people. We are sailing next week 9/17 for 7 days in which we are taking our 3 1/2 year old. He is so excited. I couldn't imagine having a vacation without my son. I would never leave him anyway. I take him everywhere we go on any trip it doesn't matter.

 

Trust me, I have had tons of people say "Oh... you are taking him" like it's a bad thing and I say "Ya it's great... I can't wait to go with the family and watch my son be so excited." It is the best!

[sector60]

can i say the same about you!!!!!!!:D

love ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:rolleyes:

[caribbean dreams]

We have been cruising every year my kids whole life and it never fails, the same question form the same people every year "why are you taking your kids" I just say because its a FAMILY vacation and they are part of the family. now they are grown and still go with us so the new thing for the same people to say is "are you paying or are they" Yes, they now pay for their own cruises for our yearly "FAMILY" vacation. But if for some reason one of them couldn't, I would gladly pay because thid is the only time our family is all together at one time anymore.

[shellie100]

We have been cruising every year my kids whole life and it never fails, the same question form the same people every year "why are you taking your kids" I just say because its a FAMILY vacation and they are part of the family. now they are grown and still go with us so the new thing for the same people to say is "are you paying or are they" Yes, they now pay for their own cruises for our yearly "FAMILY" vacation. But if for some reason one of them couldn't, I would gladly pay because thid is the only time our family is all together at one time anymore.

That is funny! I travel with my kids, but since I also travel with my parents and, sometimes, my grandparents, people often assume that I'm not paying. :rolleyes: As if it is shocking that I would actually pay to travel with my family. But I like to travel with my family (of course, I like to travel without them sometimes, too!). My parents always took us on their vacations, with the exception of one when I was 16. So, we got used to traveling as a family and, now as adults, we continue to do so. My guess is that if they were the kind of parents that left us all the time to do their own "couple" vacations, we probably wouldn't be traveling together nowadays. So, the benefits of taking children along may extend way into the future!

[shellie100]

You know... I wouldn't pay any attention to those people. We are sailing next week 9/17 for 7 days in which we are taking our 3 1/2 year old. He is so excited. I couldn't imagine having a vacation without my son. I would never leave him anyway. I take him everywhere we go on any trip it doesn't matter.

 

Trust me, I have had tons of people say "Oh... you are taking him" like it's a bad thing and I say "Ya it's great... I can't wait to go with the family and watch my son be so excited." It is the best!

 

Have fun!!!! My 3-1/2 yr old is going on his FOURTH cruise in November (It's only my hubby's third, LOL!). He's addicted to cruising. He's not really into the kids club yet, since he doesn't know anyone, but we just bring along the DVD player to entertain him when we are relaxing on the balcony. Only five days to sail away for you-how exciting!!!

[cmacf1]

This will be a venting post, so please excuse me in advance! I am just so sick of people slamming children and those with children. (This anger in me comes from the responses to a post, not the one on this board, but one on the Princess threads concerning not having a crib reserved even though this particular family requested one.) There are some posts there (and elsewhere) that are just full of sarcasm and nastiness and while people say "I'm entitled to my opinion," does that give them the right to be unkind? To state that ALL babies on board a cruise will annoy other passengers is just ludicrous, though that is what was written in one particularly vitriolic post. I'm sure those of us on this board (or I certainly hope those of us on this family cruising board) try by all means to make sure our children do not annoy other people. I know I certainly do. I go out of my way to make sure we're not bothering those around us, including those in neighboring hotel rooms. I wish there would be a cruiseline that allowed only adults over a particular age (don't know the age) so that those who are so bothered by children could leave those of us who love to travel with our whole families alone. Yes, we could all go only on Disney or Carnival cruises (as another poster on that thread advised,) but there was nothing that I read on any of the cruise websites that stated "Children not allowed." If that was the case, I'd look elsewhere. And if cruiselines really wanted to discourage families, would they have kid's programs or even carry ANY cribs at all? Even HAL (which, as one poster in that thread that obviously so irked me said, caters to older people) has a kid's program.

 

One caveat -- in my anger, perhaps I read those posts wrong and children or those of us with children were not being slammed. If that is the case, I rescind my above comments. Being a mom of two kids, I'm particularly sensitive to criticism of my two nearly perfect angels (ok, so they're not quite angels, but I can take them out in public without worrying about them bothering people, though there are some people I'd love them to bother!) :D

[crusinmama06]

This will be a venting post, so please excuse me in advance! I am just so sick of people slamming children and those with children. (This anger in me comes from the responses to a post, not the one on this board, but one on the Princess threads concerning not having a crib reserved even though this particular family requested one.) There are some posts there (and elsewhere) that are just full of sarcasm and nastiness and while people say "I'm entitled to my opinion," does that give them the right to be unkind? To state that ALL babies on board a cruise will annoy other passengers is just ludicrous, though that is what was written in one particularly vitriolic post. I'm sure those of us on this board (or I certainly hope those of us on this family cruising board) try by all means to make sure our children do not annoy other people. I know I certainly do. I go out of my way to make sure we're not bothering those around us, including those in neighboring hotel rooms. I wish there would be a cruiseline that allowed only adults over a particular age (don't know the age) so that those who are so bothered by children could leave those of us who love to travel with our whole families alone. Yes, we could all go only on Disney or Carnival cruises (as another poster on that thread advised,) but there was nothing that I read on any of the cruise websites that stated "Children not allowed." If that was the case, I'd look elsewhere. And if cruiselines really wanted to discourage families, would they have kid's programs or even carry ANY cribs at all? Even HAL (which, as one poster in that thread that obviously so irked me said, caters to older people) has a kid's program.

 

One caveat -- in my anger, perhaps I read those posts wrong and children or those of us with children were not being slammed. If that is the case, I rescind my above comments. Being a mom of two kids, I'm particularly sensitive to criticism of my two nearly perfect angels (ok, so they're not quite angels, but I can take them out in public without worrying about them bothering people, though there are some people I'd love them to bother!) :D

 

Oh feel free to vent away. We do that alot on this family board. One poster on the RCCL board was told by one cruiser that it would be "rude" if she allowed her toddler to start eating before the other's food arrived. I mean, this was a toddler for God's sake and some mac n cheese. :rolleyes: And of course, I got in trouble for jumping on the person who said it was rude. I guess we all just get hyper sensitive and tired of the bs spouted off.

[stbmom]

You know what is so funny - the same people saying terrible things about kids have some of the most rude adult behavior I have ever seen! Who cares when a child start eating. Okay - so a child is doing a little bit of crying - there are some adults that talk loud, smoke, bump into others without saying "excuse me", and handle buffet food with their hands.

My child has just as much of a right to see the world as everyone else. Its not like they get on the ship for free or something. Some folks assume kids are going to be fussy or moody. If you know your child and their schedule, you can avoid most "break downs". But, if they happen to have a break down it is no different from an adult that drinks too much and makes a fool of themself somewhere.

These "kid haters" really do annoy me!

[Onessa]

You know what is so funny - the same people saying terrible things about kids have some of the most rude adult behavior I have ever seen! . . .

 

On our last AK cruise, our DD (then about 8) joined us at the dinner table most evenings. She would order off of the kids menu and her food would come when our first course came, so she was done before we had even gotten our entre's. There was one other family with a 14YO son at our table (the 14YO only ate with his parents once all cruise - which was ok with them, so it was ok with me).

 

So DD brought a book and would read at the table. A woman at a table two away from ours came over one evening to tell her (in a VERY loud voice) that her mother told her that reading at the table was rude. A diner at an ajoining table made me SO happy when he pointed out that Emily Post always said that pointing out another person's ettiquette lapse was worse than any ettiquette laspe and was only appropriate when the offending behavior was hurting someone else - and, he continued, since HER behavior obviously had hurt my daughter's feelings, he was duty bound to point it out - several other diners applauded and many stopped by to say kind words to my DD. So there are really more kind and tolerant people out there than boors!

 

BTW the offending woman was also the same woman who bumped into an assistant waiter when he clearing dishes from her table, in her haste to get to the window (where my DD had just pointed out there was a large "pod" of porpoises swimming along the ship). He dropped several dishes and she never even looked back, let alone apologize.

[soccermomsrule]

Yes I agree there should be a cruise then runs strictly for adults who do not want to look at or hear kids. I think they have a resort called "SANDALS" for that reason!!!

 

I look at it this way.... I work full time and so does my DH. We are running between work and school for one child and daycare for our baby,and who is dropping who where etc.. If you are parents who work full time, part-time, or you are a super hard working stay at home mom or dad -- you need a vacation with your kids so you can see them and spend quality time and build memories together. How many of you tell your kids you will play with them in a minute so you can throw wash in or get dinner started. In this world of hustle and bustle - I for one want to take one family vacation a year and I don't want to apologize for my children.

 

Let it be known that in 2003 our first child was 4 years old we took him on his first cruise on Rccl. --- two years prior to that vacation... back to back we did Disney -- I don't want to go to Disney every year!! that is a working vacation -- I need to sit for a minute.

 

So anyway... we purposely DID NOT go tot he formal dining room -- We went to the Windjammer buffet everynight with our then 4 year old - and a woman stopped me on the formal night and asked why were we coming upstairs to the windjammer dressed in a formal gown and my husband and son in tux' -- I replied to her "we didn't want to bother anyone in the dining room with our little boy" She had the gaul to say "Thank you -- I can't stand kids in the dining room!!" -- I glared at her and said " Then WHY are you going to the WIND JAMMER???" She walked away from me-- Then I said to my husband - "Never again!-- Next cruise we are going to go to the formal dining room EVERYNIGHT!" and if our son acts up we would handle it ! We took our next cruise in 2005 and everynight we went to dinner and if the people around us didn't like it - I didn't care -- Our son was good as gold, well he was 6 years old but sometimes that doesn't matter!

 

Now this year we are taking our now 7 year old son and as an added BONUS for the people who can't stand kids our now daughter

( yes I took a cruise last year almost 5 months pregnant) will be going on 7 months old by the time of travel and we are going to park her coach in the dining room - and if people don't like it they can go to the Wind Jammer!!!

 

So to all of you that have kids bring them!!!! Kids only think you are"cool" for so long so take advantage of this adventure and Have a great vacation! ;)

[cathi007]

Cucero, I totally understand, when my son was 18 months my hubby and I took a trip to Hawaii without him. As soon as we got on the airplane we were so sorry we didn't bring him. We were gone for 11 days, and we knew he was safe with my parents, but all the same the entire trip we kept saying that we wish he was with us. Now he is 20 and his sisters are 17 & 14 and this is our third cruise with the kids and we have been on 2 vacations a year with the kids, we wouldn't have it any other way. Before you know it they are away in college and you can never have that time back. Enjoy your children as much as you can, theres time for you and hubby later. Enjoy your cruise and your baby and tell ppl you want to be with him!