Should I expect rude comments?

[lexxity]

Eclipse I am going to have to disagree with you. Giving a small child/infant a drink on take off and landing helps their ears to "pop" and stopp pressure building up. Also if you have paid for premium, business or first then you are just as entitled to fly in there as someone who's company has more than likely paid for their seat. Also the extra space is going to make your life that little bit easier. Childcare is not the responsibility of the F/A's though. Unless you fly Gulf Air of course who have sky nannies.:D

[srlafleur]

 

And she says "Well I just couldn't imagine"

 

GRRRRRR :mad:

 

I think that's less rudeness and more ignorance. When my kids were quite little, I got the same incredulous response when I said I was taking them to Disney - "Oh, but they're too young, they'll never remember it". And attitudes about how much of a pain it is to travel with children.

Thing is, it's amazing what they do remember, and anyway, what about making memories for ME? (my 3yo's face seeing Mickey the 1st time - priceless) Wouldn't have been the same if they were "old enough". Plus, whenever my husband and I have vacationed alone, our main topics of conversation have been along the lines of "this child would love this", "the other would love that", "we should bring the kids here". We still do that now that they're all grown.

My SIL and BIL complained about the "difficulty" of driving 4 hours to visit us with their 2 kids (both older than our youngest), even as we're sitting in their living room, 4 hours away from our home, with our 4 kids. I always found that pretty ironic.

I always found the kids to be pretty portable, and adaptable.

I can see the other side of the coin to some extent, because I have been subjected to the kids whose parents are oblivious to their behavior and how it may be impacting others around them. For example, the loudest toddler I've ever heard creating more havoc in 1st class than a whole plane bound for Orlando, while his parents totally ignored his stomping -hard- around the cabin (yes, with the seatbelt sign lit) and his non-stop top of lungs verbalizations going totally unchecked. "DAD, DAD, DAD, DAD" "NO, NO, NO, NO!" I would have been totally sympathetic if the parents had made ANY attempt to correct the child's behavior. Indoor voice, seatbelt, maybe? Had the attempts failed, at least we would have known they tried.

[jetskier]

For our upcoming Sept 2nd cruise, the first poster on our rollcall starts out with.

 

"I did my first cruise on thanksgiving last year on the GRAND pincess great trip too many kids. So this time I checked with at least HISD and they are back in school oh yeah baby. booked an aft cabin this time should be cool sitting out there watching the wake."

 

I replied with:

"I hate to break it to you but we are sailing with two kids. I think we are next door to your cabin. We can take our girls on the 7-day with them missing less days of school because of the Labor Day Holiday. I am sure there are other families doing likewise."

 

Dave

[lostie]

Eclipse I am going to have to disagree with you. Giving a small child/infant a drink on take off and landing helps their ears to "pop" and stopp pressure building up. Also if you have paid for premium, business or first then you are just as entitled to fly in there as someone who's company has more than likely paid for their seat. Also the extra space is going to make your life that little bit easier. Childcare is not the responsibility of the F/A's though. Unless you fly Gulf Air of course who have sky nannies.:D

 

I was thinking the same thing about the drinking also but I didn't want to get into an arguement. My pediatrician told me to nurse or give a bottle at take off and landing b/c swallowing helps ears pop. Did it everytime I flew with both my babies and never had a problem. Same reason people chew gum.

[crusinmama06]

For our upcoming Sept 2nd cruise, the first poster on our rollcall starts out with.

 

"I did my first cruise on thanksgiving last year on the GRAND pincess great trip too many kids. So this time I checked with at least HISD and they are back in school oh yeah baby. booked an aft cabin this time should be cool sitting out there watching the wake."

 

I replied with:

"I hate to break it to you but we are sailing with two kids. I think we are next door to your cabin. We can take our girls on the 7-day with them missing less days of school because of the Labor Day Holiday. I am sure there are other families doing likewise."

 

Dave

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA good reply! We ALWAYS used to travel THAT week with our kids. Labor Day holiday is a great time to travel. He is going to be in for a rude awakening.

[PattyW]

I think the biggest problem is that there is a big difference in what one person thinks of as “well behaved” and what another person thinks of as “well behaved.”

 

There are a lot of people who get irritated when they hear children laughing (admit it, with young kids sometimes it’s hard to tell whether they are laughing or screaming/crying) or with children’s need to move and talk (shifting in their seats, whispering loudly to mom) and be amused (they take issue with a young child simply playing with toys at a restaurant dinner table).

 

Because of this, a parent might think - oh the baby was really good at dinner - she loved those stuffed animals we brought with us. But the tablemate might say, the toddler at our table kept screeching all meal long and he was banging this toy on his plate for 30 minutes. Also as a parent, you put up with a lot of things.

 

For example, right now, we are desperately trying to teach our 4 year old that whining will not get her what she wants. Why? Because whining is one of the most annoying sounds to listen to. At home, we ignore her completely until she speaks to us in a normal voice. We’re actually making progress. Now, on Friday, we are going to be on a 4 hour plane ride followed by a 6 day cruise. What to do? Ignore her? Can’t do it - it’ll irritate people. Give her what she wants - that’ll ruin all our progress so far. Remove her from the area - impossible on a plane and on the cruise - we’ll she’s probably whining because she wants to leave and go do something else, so that would be giving in. It’s quite the catch 22. We’ll probably opt for giving her what she wants, but it pains me to even think about it.

[Cuizer2]

For our upcoming Sept 2nd cruise, the first poster on our rollcall starts out with.

 

"I did my first cruise on thanksgiving last year on the GRAND pincess great trip too many kids. So this time I checked with at least HISD and they are back in school oh yeah baby. booked an aft cabin this time should be cool sitting out there watching the wake."

 

I replied with:

"I hate to break it to you but we are sailing with two kids. I think we are next door to your cabin. We can take our girls on the 7-day with them missing less days of school because of the Labor Day Holiday. I am sure there are other families doing likewise."

 

Dave

 

If you are going to do it, do it right. You should have said ...

 

"I am the principal of XYZ school in (put name of small town here). Every year the entire school takes a one week field trip to a foreign country to learn more about its culture. This year we decided to do something different and cruise the Caribbean. I, the 30 teachers, 30 teachers assistants, 10 office staff, 60 other parents and 600 students are really looking forward to our cruise on the Grand Princess. The students are generally well behaved, though they tend to be rather energetic, so we booked them all in the aft cabins to keep them away from the rest of the passengers as much as possible. The ones who won citizenship awards last year are being treated to balcony cabins. The rest have inside cabins. I hear that there is another school group joining us. I hope that principal is a member of CC and joins our rollcall."

[lostie]

HAHAHAHAHAHA good reply! We ALWAYS used to travel THAT week with our kids. Labor Day holiday is a great time to travel. He is going to be in for a rude awakening.

 

I am a teacher for Philadelphia school district and our students are not due back until the Monday AFTER Labor Day. Since summer camps let out before that, a lot of parents will take vacation that week!

[Onessa]

I am a teacher for Philadelphia school district and our students are not due back until the Monday AFTER Labor Day. Since summer camps let out before that, a lot of parents will take vacation that week!

 

In WI the law is that school cannot start until after Labor Day and, yes, jsut about all of the summer programs for kids are closed the week before Labor Day. At least three families at my DD's elementary school are cruising that week.

[JCSM-Mom]

"I came on this cruise to get away kids". So the BIL wittingly says......"and I cam on this cruise to get away from a$$holes, I guess we're both disappointed" :D:D

Have fun on your cruise, your kids will love it, so will you. I know I can't wait for ours. Please let us know how everything went on your return.

 

I LOVE that. No one has ever had the nerve to say anything about my kids to my face anyway, and the crew seems to love having kids. We've even had crew give our kids gifts, my son finally grew into the socks a the wine steward gave us on the Mercury when he was 14 months.....:D she was young and just thought they were soooo cute so she bought them in port....how nice is that?, we never even drank wine but she made sure to come by several times every night to see my son. The crew on this ship was exceptionally nice to my son on this cruise.

[JCSM-Mom]

I expected rude comments on my first cruise with my toddlers because of these boards' date=' but only received positive words and attention from passengers and crew. We've been on three cruises together (my twins are 2-1/2), and the only thing anyone has ever said is "They're not even going to remember this" - as though having fun together doesn't count unless they can report it back to me when they're grown!

 

The funny thing is - I DID hear rude comments when I cruised with my husband in a wheelchair. "I should bring one of those so I get special treatment too" and the like. Clearly, there are rude people everywhere, but they have bigger problems than children or wheelchairs on board, so if you encounter one - and you probably won't - don't let them affect your vacation.

 

Best,

Mia[/quote']

 

I always thought that was an interesting comment too....I don't know if they'll remember when their grown, but if I ask my kids today about their cruises they rememeber stuff....granted they mix them up, don't remember the ship names, ports etc...(shoot, sometimes I do that myself :o)....but they remember they were there. Not to mention video and photo's my kids love to look at them and funny thing about that is when the see them they remember different stuff from me, from their point of view. They also remember camping, road trips and other vacations.....nagging alot lately about camping. :D Guess it's the nice weather.

[JCSM-Mom]

We're on Celebrity (for other reasons than our offspring) and on that board, many of them are very anti-children.

 

The cruise I wrote about earlier with my son was on Celebrity. It was his first cruise. The staff and people couldn't have been nicer. It's probably just the 'boards' for some reason people feel more comfortable about complaining about kids.

[Eclipsepearl]

The cruise I wrote about earlier with my son was on Celebrity. It was his first cruise. The staff and people couldn't have been nicer. It's probably just the 'boards' for some reason people feel more comfortable about complaining about kids.

 

Glad to hear it!

[teencruiser18]

I hope we don't get any nasty remarks. My parents have 5 kids, ranging in age from 3 to 18(me). The three year old is adopted, and spent the first two years of her life in a Siberian orphanage. While she understands EVERYTHING we say, she often cannot vocalize what she wants and gets frustrated. She also has behavioral problems from the orphanage. I or my parents generally remove her when she's being fussy, but I'm sure she'll be able to be heard wherever we are!

[barvn]

I cruised last September with my triplets (they were 4 at the time). We did not hear any negative remarks. We did hear a lot of nice comments (about the way they looked and how well behaved they were). Most of all many people commented how much they missed their kids everytime they saw us together. We have another cruise booked for November and can't wait!

Enjoy your cruise with your family!

[lostie]

I cruised last September with my triplets (they were 4 at the time). We did not hear any negative remarks. We did hear a lot of nice comments (about the way they looked and how well behaved they were). Most of all many people commented how much they missed their kids everytime they saw us together. We have another cruise booked for November and can't wait!

Enjoy your cruise with your family!

 

With triplets you probably hear comments all the time anyway (not rude ones, just people in awe that you have trips!)

[timmy1958]

Look at it his way - you need jerks in the world like that who would make dumb, rude comments just so that you have a measuring stick by which to decide that you're not one of them! :)

 

My wife and I will be traveling with our newborn (who isn't born yet, but due any day) sometime next year. I have no intention of allowing some narrow minded fool to rain on our parade. Go and have fun, and ignore anything even remotely negative.

[CruiseDreaming]

Well this thread has made me feel a little better. We are taking DS on his first cruise in 59 days and I have to say reading other threads on CC for a while now has made me nervous about comments I would receive. I know that I won't be one of those parents who completely ignores unruly behavior--indeed he knows I expect good behavior. Our son is 5, but he's on the tall side and very articulate so most people think he's older so I'm always a little concerned that people will have higher expectations thinking he is older. He as wanted to cruise for a while now so thanks for all the advice you gave the OP and the rest of us in the same situation.

 

Kerrie:)

[crusinmama06]

Well this thread has made me feel a little better. We are taking DS on his first cruise in 59 days and I have to say reading other threads on CC for a while now has made me nervous about comments I would receive. I know that I won't be one of those parents who completely ignores unruly behavior--indeed he knows I expect good behavior. Our son is 5, but he's on the tall side and very articulate so most people think he's older so I'm always a little concerned that people will have higher expectations thinking he is older. He as wanted to cruise for a while now so thanks for all the advice you gave the OP and the rest of us in the same situation.

 

Kerrie:)

 

You just have to IGNORE the comments you read on CC. I assure you that the general cruise population, including the staff, will be VERY nice to your child.

 

I hear soooo many nice comments all over the ships we go on that it cancels out the negatives I read on CC. :D

[barvn]

With triplets you probably hear comments all the time anyway (not rude ones, just people in awe that you have trips!)

 

There are actually books out there with all of the comments that are made to parents of multiples. It is amazaing the things that they will ask you. From how you conceived, your delivery, your financial situation, your work status, any many more. Then you get the people that just Thank God that it didn't happen to them. You can only imagine how it feels to hear a comment like that when you had trouble conceiving and all you do is pray to God to give you a child (then get Blessed with 3). I learned very early on to just keep walking...

[lostie]

There are actually books out there with all of the comments that are made to parents of multiples. It is amazaing the things that they will ask you. From how you conceived, your delivery, your financial situation, your work status, any many more. Then you get the people that just Thank God that it didn't happen to them. You can only imagine how it feels to hear a comment like that when you had trouble conceiving and all you do is pray to God to give you a child (then get Blessed with 3). I learned very early on to just keep walking...

 

People don't mean harm, it's just hard for people to imagine taking care of 3 babies at once. It is a blessing however. I agree that all those questions aren't the business of strangers. MOST people would be able to handle trips if that shoe was placed on their foot, but until it happens it's hard to imagine.

[momonthego17]

There was a poll on the Celebrity Cruise board and 15% said they didn't want children on their cruise at all. Most did accept them if well-behaved.

 

So 85% of the population likes well- behaved kids and 15% don't like kids at all. Sounds about right. I would question anyone who said that they like badly behaved kids or adults for that matter.

 

So the vast majority of people don't have a problem with kids on ships. How refreshing! Cruising is a generational type adventure. Many grandparents invite their adult children to travel and the only way this is doable is to bring the grandkids. So grandparents aren't going to say "no kids" allowed because that would mean fewer family vacations.

 

Anyway, I don't like Royal Caribbean because the kids are all over the ship- they take over the pool and hot tub, etc. So even I, a parent, don't enjoy kids everywhere! I like children to be in the youth programs!

 

My DH, 2 DD's (4 & 6 then) and I sailed last year on Majesty of the Seas because of a great "kid" price and I thought the ship might be overrun with children, but it wasn't. We didn't hear any negative comments about our DD's and they ate with us in the Main dining room 2 out of three dinners (one dinner was with the AO, pizza night) and we had a great time. I hope we strike gold again with RCCL when we sail this September!

[Nliedel]

I've cruised with my kids and without and never had an off comment. Of course, I've not cruised with my autistic son. I'm nervous about that, but we've got almost a year, till we try it.

 

People are going to be turkey's everywhere. I had a kid meltdown in Target, once and a woman followed me into the parking lot to tell me I should have given him whatever he wanted. I just don't parent that way. I would have dragged him out of the store, but we needed to get food.

 

My boys did well on their last cruise. Most nights they were too pooped to pop!

 

If someone is rude, just chalk it up to their stress level. People get very stressed about their vacations. Face it, it's a lot of money and they want what they want. A cruise ship is a place of some compromise. That's hard for some people to understand. Keep your kids in reasonable control (They should be allowed to have fun, but one elevator button at a time) and if someone's rude, you are not the problem.

[Nliedel]

Want to add that RCI is jus great with kids.

 

Also, I was once 320 pounds. I heard MANY more rude comments about that, than any of my children, ever. Even the autistic kid, who can be a bit of a handful.

[ebedore]

:mad: If my last cruise on Grandeur was my first cruise I would never cruise again. Let me tell you two cases that just hurt me so badly:

 

During the muster drill where you are lined up shoulder to shoulder with fellow passengers, my 14 yr old and I were eagerly anticipating the week ahead. They place you with the smaller person in front of you. So this lady turns to talk over her shoulder to her husband (but you know she was pretty much direcly talking AT me and she says "Who would waste all that money to bring a kid on a cruise". I was floored at the stab! Her husband was so apologetic knowing that she meant it for him but clearly seeing that she said that to me. You could have picked me off the deck right then as I was crushed at the insensitivity.

 

Unfortunately later that cruise another hit. I was sitting in Windjammer with my son at one of the tables along the front windows. Thsi is the place where the next row of tables back are set one step up but lined up with your lower front table. It is almost as if they are one big table so you are sort of sitting with whomever is at the next table. So these two couples start their conversation about how these families come on and do not pay the same fare and how they always cheat their servers in tips and that makes their costs higher and they have to tip more because of it. From my experience on the Muster, I turned to face her directly and started talking to my son and explained how proud I was of his behavior and how he acts more mature than most of the so called adults on the ship. I also said that even though it costs exactly the same for him to cruise as any adult, he is fun to explore with.

 

It has been a month and I am still upset by it. Why do some people insist on ruining other people's vacations?