No, we have never found kids to be a problem on any cruiseship, it is scaremongering by a minority of adults some of whom are a greater danger than the kids! Of course the children will be having a good time, like most of the adults, but that does not make them a problem! We were on Ventura for 14 nights in October, there were 350ish children on board and no problem encountered. Incidentally, we are not trying to cover up for kids, our party was 5 adults so no vested interest in kids. Some adults obviously forget they used to be children themselves!

Most of the negative stuff about Ventura is from the "traditional" P&O'ers finding it hard to accept the cruising industry has moved on, and now provides excellent family facilities to rival any quality land resort.

i was just using the ventura as a example about children on cruise ships.

2 years ago we were on the LEGEND OF THE SEAS,royal caribbean. we came across children having a free hand around the ship.
taking over a pool,jumping & diving in.up & down the lifts.for me it's not a problem until you come face to face with it,then it becomes a problem that's needs sorting out.

for me it's quite obvious on a cruise that the ship company turn the other cheek when it comes to childrens antics on ship.

the time will come when one of the big cruise companies takes action against parents who allow their children to roam the ship unattended.

I must admit I do wonder when I see parents state that they didn't see their kids all day as they were off with their new friends. Now I'm not saying they were up to no good, but the parents have no idea what exactly they are up to.

luci

the most worrying aspect for the cruise industry looking into the future is will it take a fatal accident involving a child on board ship to make cruise companies take notice that leaving children unattended on ship during the evening is a dangerous practice.it will happen eventually.

Unfortunately I have been on many cruises where children are allowed the run of the ship. The parents' thinking seems to be that they cannot get lost (or even more feeble - they are on their holidays too). Some parents have no consideration for other passengers - their little darlings are having a good time and that is what is most important. The worst I have experienced has been the Island Escape where the Captain (more than once) came over the loudspeaker and asked parents and guardians to ensure that the children in their care behaved themselves. Did it work? Of course it didn't - some of the parents in question were too busy taking advantage of their free all inclusive packages. Cruises can be a wonderful holiday for children but these are the children whose parents are interested in culture, visiting new places, eating new foods and having new experiences. However cruising (on some lines) has become the equivalent of the standard 2 week holiday in Spain with the "Great English Breakfast", chips with everything, bringing children into bars until the early mornings and keep them quiet by letting them do what they want and providing them with copious quantities of soft drinks. I do remember being a child and my parents taught us manners, I am not a P&O (old style P&O) groupie. I simply think that cruising should be accessible to everyone but not everyone is suited to cruising.

i agree mtek with your comments.the question i would also like to pose,a few years down the line is will some cruise lines through neglect evolve a reputation of BENIDORM on water (the british will know what i mean) if they continue to allow the problem to escalate.it could well become the norm on ships to leave the young kds alone and let them do what they want.

i dont thave a problem with kids on ships,but parents while cruising with children have a duty towards other passengers and make sure they know where & what their kids are up to.if the parents cant do it or dont want to then it's up to the ship management to do it.

I have to wonder if the telling point in Sam's original post is that many of the original points eminate from the Ventura. Reading the original Ventura reviews, it struck me that many were coming from P&O regulars who were comparing it with other P&O ships, rather than comparing it with RCI, NCL and the other family oriented ships Ventura is intended to compete with.

Our experience on Navigator OTS this year was that the main pools were overrun with kids a lot of the time, but by and large, the adults only solarium pool area was enforced, so we had a haven and the kids had a space they could get on with it.

Our 14 year old spent most of his time at events associated with the ship's youth programme, and the one possible negative point that we saw was that was that on two occasions they were sent off on scavanger hunts (by the ship's staff) during which they may have inadvertently annoyed one or two people.

Regarding parental respoinsibility, Sam I agree 110%. Regarding the question of a fatality, a few years ago, a 15 year old girl from here in Ireland was lost from a ship (I think it was Costa Magica in the Caribbean), and that made major headlines for several weeks.
It was very much in my mind when I cruised for the first time this year with a 14 and 15 year old, and my wife and I laid down very clear rules and guidelines, a breach of which would result in cabin confinement for at least a day.

One of the key rules was if a crew member (whether captain, stewart, bartender or laundry worker) says "Jump", the only correct and acceptable response is "How high?"

I wasnt going to get involved in this discussion as we have been over this topic quite a few times. But reading some of the comments I feel their is a bit of snobbery crepping in here. Kids are Kids and despite what some folks are saying they have the right to have a good time. And most kids are very well behaved. Yes I agree, parents should know were their kids are. And most of them do (even though they are taking advantage of the AI in the Bars) !!. Regardless of the ship, all familiies, large and small are entitled to the same luxuries as the adults. Anyone mentioned the Adults who probably have no kids with them, staggering out of the bars at 2 or 3 in the morning, singing and doing what people do with a few to may sherberts. No because maybe that is acceptable. !! I rest my case.

Colin B Northern Ireland

colinbredin wrote:

I wasnt going to get involved in this discussion as we have been over this topic quite a few times. But reading some of the comments I feel their is a bit of snobbery crepping in here. Kids are Kids and despite what some folks are saying they have the right to have a good time. And most kids are very well behaved. Yes I agree, parents should know were their kids are. And most of them do (even though they are taking advantage of the AI in the Bars) !!. Regardless of the ship, all familiies, large and small are entitled to the same luxuries as the adults. Anyone mentioned the Adults who probably have no kids with them, staggering out of the bars at 2 or 3 in the morning, singing and doing what people do with a few to may sherberts. No because maybe that is acceptable. !! I rest my case.

Colin B Northern Ireland

Absolutely! Well said.

I have done cruises with my children and they are not allowed to run around or roam the ship! I have to say though that when we have been we have never really encountered any problems with other peoples kids running riot either The last cruise we went on in 2006 one table of Americans actually commented on how well behaved my daughters were at the evening meals and how they always said please and thank you to the waiters and all other stuff. That made me proud I can tell you

But I also agree with colin we saw many an adult in the casinos rolling our drunk at all times of the night

As in most things it is the minority that causes the problems.
We were on Thomson Spirit in October and there were only a few children, presumably because it was term time, however there were a group of about 6 -8 children between the ages of 8 to 10 at a guess who were literally just roaming the ship at night, God knows where their parents were.
As well as running up and down the stairs they were running the full length of the promenade deck for a good half hour each night, obviously shrieking,pushing and laughing as children do.
The obvious danger to themselves was that they were just at the side of the rails of a large boat travelling at speed in darkness, one night after rain it was very slippery on deck but the children were still there running about.
I am not moaning at the kids, just amazed at some parents once they are on holiday.
On a previous Spirit cruise we all watched in amazement as a woman, sat at a front table in the show lounge with buggy at side of her, calmly put her baby on her knee, changed its nappy, cleaned the child up etc, stuffed dirty nappy into pocket of buggy and carried on drinking and talking.
The previous day she had changed the same baby's nappy on the table of the outdoor cafe at the lido self service restaurant whilst we were all watching a cocktail demonstration.
Everyone elses faces were a picture!

again the management of the ship comes into question.that lady should have been told to take the child out of public view and change the child there.

Children will be children, they make noise, they have little concept of the impact of their behaviour on others, they love running around, exploring, playing in lifts (pressing a button and getting a reaction is probably a result of numerous computer games). A lot of children have responsible parents who instill good manners and these are a joy to encounter on holidays. These children are usually polite, unobtrusive (to anyone other than their families) and still manage to enjoy themselves. However there is a problem in that a growing number of families believe it is OK to take their children out of school to go on a cruise (cruises being a fairly expensive holiday but cheaper for families out of school holiday time), don't even attempt to justify this by exposing the children to another culture, don't make provision for the entertainment of the children, don't supervise them properly (in the mistaken believe that they cannot come to any harm on a ship), allow them stay up until all hours in adult bars and in an often smoky atmosphere. I have seen children fed a diet of soft drinks and chips, not being allowed in the main dining rooms because their parents can't be bothered getting showered and changed for a meal but prefer to eat at a buffet. I have seen parents being informed that their children are not permitted into a particular venue (often because of the late hour or the content of a comedian's repertoire) and telling the children to go off and they will meet them in a particular place in an hour or so. I have shared tables with families with very well behaved children (not little adults but well behaved for children) who are able to make some effort at conversation with strangers. I am not a snob, I simply believe that society has rules for a reason and society runs best when those rules are adhered to. I believe in enjoying my holiday in a way that does not negatively impact on others. Children are not the problem on cruises - its the parents who are the problem - parents who are lazy, irresponsible and uncaring of others (and that sometimes includes their own children.

I echo the comments about parents. Of course children are going to have fun on a cruise - who wouldn't at their ages? Sadly a few parents think they can escape their responsibilities and allow their kids to roam freely and get up to whatever kids get up nowadays. The only problem we had on this year's cruise was a couple of noisy teenagers outside our cabin. A polite word did the trick - that's all that was required.

Unfortunately cruise snobbery still persists and is only likely to worsen as cruising becomes more and more popular.

i would'nt go as far as snobbery.

because you are on limited space,ie even though it could be a big ship,you can still come across rowdy kids.night after night,with no parents in sight.

It's the parents of the kids that are the problem. We went with Thompsons this April around the med & to be honest some of the childrens behaviour was terrible. An example, the parents sit boozing, while the kids are jumping into the pool, wetting everyone through, screaming & shouting. (Average age 15/16yrs old)They also took the jacuzzi over & ate burgers in there. They roamed about at night & one evening we had to step all around them as they lay all over the stairs. Some were drunk & quite obviously underage. The toddlers running about all over the stage while the karaoke on also caused problems. On more than one occasion a message was put out, but did the parents take any notice, you must be joking! Yes I am a parent & my children are not perfect, but they were never allowed to run riot, they had manners & I have always known where they were! It will be an adults only one next time! Besides mine are grown up now & I don't want my holiday ruined by someone elses that can't behave in public!

sam1, you say there are 4 of you going on Ventura, is that all adults or are you taking children? I would assume from the title of your post you are not with children, so I pose the question why are you going on a family ship if you feel kids are a nuisance.

Whilst I appreciate everyone wants to experience different ships with different cruise companies, but I do feel that you are tainting your cruise before you've even begun!

We have cruised a few times with our children and set boundaries, Now whilst I understand there are many who don't do that for their kids, I do think that is a minority. If I were to see a child messing around I would report it to a staff member and let them deal with it, but never have I seen kids taking over bars or pools ..... not sure which ships you have been on then if that's the case.

Children should be able to enjoy themselves whilst on holiday, they are very lucky nowadays to have such luxury holidays because I had to wait until I was 33 to step on board a cruise ship.

I absolutely agree that we deem it acceptable for adults to come steaming out of bars late at night and making noise down corridors, or worse still, swearing and fighting. Believe me, I'd rather be on a ship full of kids than some of the adults I have come across whilst cruising.

theenchanted1 wrote:

I absolutely agree that we deem it acceptable for adults to come steaming out of bars late at night and making noise down corridors, or worse still, swearing and fighting. Believe me, I'd rather be on a ship full of kids than some of the adults I have come across whilst cruising.

Well said, we have encountered some of those adults too!!

on the ventura next year it will be 4 adults.
i have to repeat myself i do not have a problem with children on ships,it's nice to see families enjoying themselves,but the fact is there is a problem on cruise ships with children roaming the ship unattended,especially at night.
the management on the ships are very poor dealing with this problem.