Pick your ship. I would not pick ventura because I don't like children simple as. Sorry if that offends anyone but that's why we never had children. P and O themselves have an adults only ship which sounds like it would suit you better. The other thing is go when the kids are at school, yes there will still be children but not as many,the areas of the world you cruise also make a difference as again does individual ships within the cruise companies and the cruise company themself with some such as Fred Olson having less amenities for children that you would see on say a modern RCC ship.

Children are not as well behaved as they were that's a fact, when I was a kid in the 60s you did not run around the tables when out for a meal as one example. You can't alter the way things have gone so try to avoid been put in that situation.

I really fancy doing a cruise and our children are 9 and 12. However no way would I want to be stuck on a ship with other people's children running wild. Biased I may be, but ours are well behaved. Even 3 years ago in Mexico when they were comparatively young, we had an American lady approach us to say how beautifully dressed they were and how well behaved. It was a good hotel, and they behaved and dressed appropriately.
What cruise line should we be looking at to find 'like minded' people, who want to be with their kids, not just off load them whenever possible, but let them have fun as well?

Pam

That's a difficult one because you just don't know who your fellow passengers are going to be. My kids have always been kept under control and have good manners but we have been on ships where the responsible adults were only interested in getting as bevvied as possible and couldn't have cared less what their kids were up to or whether they were spoiling other passenger's enjoyment.

I would suggest going up to one of the higher decks if you can afford it as there is less chance of kids running up and down the corridors at night.

It's the luck of the draw I'm afraid. Wherever you holiday, there are going to be parents who do not share your views regarding the bringing up of kids. You only have to look around your own town to see that.

hello hbrac.
it should not be the luck of the draw in choosing where you stay on ship.again i will say the management have to take more responsibility patroling the ship and take action when required.
a good example i can give is when we stayed in menorca at the almerante farrugutt hotel in cala forcat a very good 3 star hotel.one day 3/4 lads around 14 years old were running and diving into the pool making it disruptive & dangerous for swimmers,sun bathers.i knew before long because we have stayed there many times in the past and knew how proffesional the management of the hotel were that the problem would be solved,true enough it wasnt long before the lads were taken to their parents and warned of their behaviour.
normality returned to the pool for the rest of the holiday.this kind of management does not happen on a cruise ship.

Thanks for the replies, sounds like we will just have to research carefully if we do it. I know we all have different attitudes towards holidays, but my idea of a cruise is for us all to see and experience as much as we can within those 2 weeks. My 12 year old was so disappointed this year, we went to a 5 star hotel in Turkey, all prepared to dress up for dinner, but no-one did. So all the lovely clothes she wanted to wear, she then felt too self conscious to amongst those in their jeans and shorts.
Cruising isn't a cheap option especially in the school holidays and I don't want to save hard only for it to be a massive let down.
I know we can't account for who else might get on that ship, but we would like to dress up for dinner and be able to get off at each stop and explore as much as possible.

Pam

NCL courtyard Villas will solve your problem, private area limited access and 2 bedroom family suites.
http://www.nclsuitesandvillas.com/

No guests so if the rest of the kids are not up to your standards you can retreat to the privacy of the courtyard.

Dressing up optional but enough do smart to make it OK just not a full showing of DJ's on formal nights.

Another option is to pick the cruises that are less popular with families.

Baltic,Fjords, and round britains have far fewer kids than the Med.

Thanks windjammer, they do look fantastic, although I suspect our budget probably wouldn't stretch to that!! Also I do want the kids to be able to meet other children ie this year we met a family that we clicked with, the children played a bit together during the day and then we met after dinner for the shows and to play card games etc with the kids. So I don't want to be isolated from other families, just to try and increase our chances of meeting like minded people. We have 2 girls, so I guess what you look for is different, to if they were boys. We are perhaps more wary about letting them wander off on their own and they do like to sit quietly on their loungers with a book or their DSs. However give them water and a snorkel and they are as happy as larry.

Having said that the same principles apply whether on the water or not. Other than in Mexico where I have to say we didn't see any kids running wild, it has happened to a greater or lesser extent wherever we've been. It just seems worse to have it on the confines of a ship.

What we are looking at is a Caribbean cruise for April 2010 as it falls in the year of our 20th wedding anniversary. The problem is when you push the boat out as far as your budget will allow, your expectations are so much higher. Not having cruised before, it's knowing which lines to avoid as much as anything. If I was booking a hotel and the description said lively and close to bars I would avoid it like the plague, but how do I decide between cruiselines? Perhaps my posts have come across as being anti other peoples kids, which I'm definately not, for the children making new friends is all part of the holiday. If there were no other children, they would very quickly tire of each other's company (typical sisters) it's just that previous posts about the behaviour of kids on ships got me a bit worried!!

Pam

This topic has been covered 100 fold.
Bash the kids time again and their parents.
Those of you who think your kids are so wonderfull should hide in the bushes or behind the thunnel on your cruise ship and watch your wonderful kids in action. You will be surprised. !!!
As Ive said before kids need to enjoy their holidays as much as the parents so cut a bit of slack and stop beating the kids up.
This is a forum for advice so please advise and not slag off parents and kids.
The ships are there to be explored so let the kids wonder about and explore.

regards
Colin B

I'm not sure if a previous review/post of one of our cruises on the Thomson Spirit is still available to view.It was the cruise from hell where my kids were stalked for 2 weeks by 2 chavs who beat up a girl that my girls had met onboard for the simple reason that she was attractive.

Perhaps that's what ColinBredin is referring to in his "beating up the kids comment".

One of the girls had apparently been excluded from school and there was alot of screaming, swearing at the parents and other passengers as well as dalliances with various crew members in the lifeboats. The parents freely supplied these under age girls with alcohol. Our holiday was ruined and we had to accompany our kids around the ship lest they came across these girls.

The security team on board were worse than useless despite our complaints.

Still. karma eventually prevailed when the girls, who had their own cabin ran up a huge bar bill and the family were refused disembarkation until they paid up. Alot of the passengers got off the ship very happy !!

Most ships have extensive supervised kids programs so the meeting up with others is part of on board experience and most kids seem to adapt quickly, many parents find it difficult to get time with their own they are having such a good time.

One advantage of NCL for families is there is a greater variety of food choices and no set times for dinner so family eating can be easier to accomodate over fixed dining.

One of the problems with the ships is that due to the more confined spaces any bad apples can become an irritation(adults included) very quickly and some kids are very good at leading others astray.

keepupwith wrote:

Not having cruised before, it's knowing which lines to avoid as much as anything. If I was booking a hotel and the description said lively and close to bars I would avoid it like the plague, but how do I decide between cruiselines? Perhaps my posts have come across as being anti other peoples kids, which I'm definately not, for the children making new friends is all part of the holiday. If there were no other children, they would very quickly tire of each other's company (typical sisters) it's just that previous posts about the behaviour of kids on ships got me a bit worried!!

Pam

My advice would be to avoid Carnival, not from personal experience but what others have said about that line. You want the children to dress up so that means avoiding Norwegian also. We have used Island, Thomson, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Cunard (QM2), Celebrity, Norwegian and P&O and, as parents of 3 children (now adults), would consider Royal Caribbean as giving the best "mix" for a family. There is enough glitz and fun, but with formal nights too. Typical 7 nighter would be 2 formal, 2 semi-formal and 3 informal and pro-rata for 10- 14 nights etc.

We have NEVER found children a problem on any of our 11 cruises, but encountered many adults who were a significant challenge!

The only advice I can give about the Caribbean is to go for a 10-14 night cruise. If you go for the shorter ones e.g. 4, 5, and even 7 night ones, certain lines sometimes attract the "booze cruisers" looking for a cheap deal, although cheap deals will not be available during the main school holiday, presumably it is the Easter spring break you are looking at?

Royal Caribbean have a few ships in the Caribbean, and their new signature ship, Oasis launching in December 2009 will be almost new in April 2010, but is absolutely massive with upwards of 4500 passengers. Independence of the Seas is still fairly new, and very large also. There is so much on these ships to attract children. There are children's clubs which are superbly organised, of course you can take all of that, or leave it all, or use some of it....the beauty of cruising is that you choose!

We discovered cruising between 4 and 5 years ago, and really wish we had discovered it when our children were the age of yours. Would highly commend it to you.

Thanks Hamrag, that's really helpful. I've had some quotes from the scottish cruise centre,which I assume are for Princess cruises. as they are all for ships with Princess in the name. The 'dress' mix sounds good, I wouldn't want formal everynight as personally I'm a smart casual/casual sort of person on holiday, it's just that our eldest really enjoys going smart, goodness knows where she gets that from!!
We are looking at the Easter break, so I know we will be risking the spring breakers. Do the cruiselines have rules on teenagers travelling with parents? A hotel we stayed at previously did, so no groups of lone teenagers, it had to be family groups which seemed to stop any problems.
Thanks again, picking a cruise seems a bit daunting and I'm just scared of getting it wrong. As the family holiday organiser it is a huge responsibility!!

Pam

I understand they don't let anyone under 21 on without parents.

I just wanted to say that if you are looking at the Caribbean, I have read that it is wise to avoid cruises which depart from San Juan, Puerto Rico as they will be full of Puerto Ricans, who apparently are a little too jolly for British tastes and also, of course, speak Spanish rather than English.

keepupwith wrote:

I wouldn't want formal everynight as personally I'm a smart casual/casual sort of person on holiday, it's just that our eldest really enjoys going smart, goodness knows where she gets that from!!
Thanks again, picking a cruise seems a bit daunting and I'm just scared of getting it wrong. As the family holiday organiser it is a huge responsibility!!

Formal in the cruise world is TUX,DJ/ ball gown,posh frock.(aka black tie, ok girls get a way with sparkle tops.)

smart casual/very very smart is OK even on the ships that do casual.

very few ships insist on informal(jacket/tie) even if thay say they do, they accept/mean smart/resort casual.

It really does depend on what you consider dressing up/smart.

Unless you stick to up market non American the basic is smart/resort casual with formals thrown in

Many thanks for all the help everyone, I shall bow out of this topic now before I risk sending it

Thanks very much again, all the tips are much appreciated. Just need to decide if I'm brave enough to take a gamble.

Pam

I popped in to this thread because it looked interesting and it is!!!!! What a lot of different attitudes people have but the one strong thread running through most of the comments is that the cruise lines do seem to be very reluctant to deal with the problems that arise and perhaps with good reason. I have a friend whose husband was set upon by a childs father because he dared to complain that a child had thrown his possessions (book, sun lotion, prescription sunglasses and personal towel) in to the swimming pool. The father of the culprit, (who was a child of around 11 or 12 years old), thought that the chap in question should 'back off' and allow his little one some 'child time' and 'not be such a moaning f........ b.........!!! The chap concerned objected to this (all spoken in front of the child and friends) and asked the guy to temper his language in front of children and received a punch in the face for his trouble! The chap concerned spoke to someone in the pursers office to report the incident but never heard another single word about the whole thing!!!! Had this happened to me or mine, the police would have been waiting at Southampton when the ship docked a few days later!!!

I didn't have any similar experience but have seen extremely badly behaved children on board, particularly on a cruise on RCI's Legend of the Seas. Each and every day children used the hot tubs as a playground, sometimes with as many as 12 children in each tub! The only time I ever saw adults in the tubs was at lunch time while presumably the little angels were having lunch. Before you say anything Colin, let me just tell you that the notices up around hot tubs on land or at sea, are there for medical reasons. Children should never spend time in hot tubs. I am not a medic but have had this explained to me and can quite see why they should not be in there. It is simply NOT a question of spoiling their fun, it is dangerous for them!!! Having said that, WHY do the parents allow their children to ignore these signs? I have seen these same signs prohibiting anyone under the age of 18 using hot tubs on every ship I have ever been on but they have simply been ignored. Do the parents feel no responsibility for either the health of their children or rules in general???.

Again, on this cruise, at 11.45pm in the theatre, there was a bunch (about 7 or of children harrassing the comedian on stage. The children were unaccompanied and their language was choice. Where were the parents I wonder? Just to add insult to injury, they were sitting just feet away from the Cruise Director who was laughing at their antics!!! I suspect this was a form of banking good points for when he himself had to get on stage to close the show.

In another lounge at the top of the ship, children as young as about 5 were using the layout of this very very large lounge as a running/chasing track. When they tired of that, the occupied every bar stool and then when that became boring, they paid brief visits to their parents who were sitting in the smoking area. When bored with that, they again began the game of chasing, often involving running through the dancing couples on the dance floor. All of this within sight of their parents. Eventually the little treasures got tired and promptly stretched out on the banquette seating and went to sleep!
A female lighting jock in this lounge told two of the older kids to stop running around and got a mouthful of foul abuse for her trouble so perhaps it isn't surprising that cruise lines are reluctant to do anything because of the reactions of the parents. The L J did take their cabin number and said she was reporting them to the Captain and I hope she did!

So Sam1, I can easily understand your apprehension!!! Children are not the problem!!!! Parents are!!!

I have a friend on Ventura in the Caribbean right now so I will hear all about it when he gets back (Departed 5th January) Certainly at the early stages he felt it was all fairly dull and precious with a lot of cruise snobs!!! I am quite sure though that by now they will have found many new friends and will be having a great time (the dull bit was during the first 24 hours and it certainly seemed to be hotting up!!!) If you are on that cruise Sam1, I hope you are having an absolute ball and if not on that one, I will see if my friend can impart any information to you before you set sail! Whatever else happens, take the bad with the good and just enjoy yourself!

To Sam1

Most of all, I really hope that you do enjoy your cruise, perhaps by now you may have even embarked.

I have just returned from a cruise and I did meet some delightful children on board, as usual there were some chidren who most passengers wished had remained at home, however, in fairness to them, their behaviour did improve when reminded of the danger, i.e. jumping into a full pool, was not the most sensible thing to do, and most passengers although they would have prefered, the minority behaved more respectfully, it didn't actually ruin their holiday. On the whole, there the number was much less than than the previous cruise on the same ship I went on 5 months earlier.

To a degree I think it is pot luck, I have been on both upmarket formal and informal cruises and both types have included angelic and mischievous children, I've met children so lovely I could have brought them home, while a minority were a nightmare to other passengers and other children, so I do think luck has some part. I have also seen a 2 year old rescued after she fell into the pool, left in the care of her underage siblings while her parents were ashore, and a baby held in parents arms in the hot tub for some considerable time, and in both cases, while inappropriate behaviour, it cannot be said, the child caused the problem.

Please let us know, about your cruise when you get back.

JTJ

I couldn't agree more Judeobscure (Ooops probably got the name wrong!) I think Sam1 may actually be aboard so fingers crossed that there aren't any naughty parents on Ventura right now.

It is very much 'luck of the draw' but I do wish we could have more faith in cruise lines taking action, but that is a bit of a forlorn hope. I am sure we have all seen the 'sunbed' problem first hand but only once have I ever seen a member of staff take any action whatsoever against the bedhogs!!! He, poor lad, got very short shrift from some of the passengers concerned, but it did definitely have an effect in that sunbeds were not hogged in quite the same numbers as before! Most of the offending passengers were as quiet as lambs because they knew very well they had been naughty! It would be so so easy to police the sunbed question but it strikes me that the cruise lines are unwilling to offend anyone in this competitive field. I personally think that is a short sighted attitude! How overjoyed we would all be to know that we could get a sunbed at any time without rising at 5am to stake a claim!!! We would be equally pleased at some restraints being put on over boisterous unruly children. I love to hear children laughing and having fun but not at the expense of adults so cannot wait until cruislines get the nerve to police the unruly parens!

I too am looking forward to your review Sam1. I like the look of Ventura and would like to know if she lives up to expectations.

Magsi,
wasnt going to say a word. !!! lol
Anyway I do know what you mean. Kids can be little f'ers. I know if my child was misbehaving and even worse, being cheaky and fowlmouthed to anyone, and especially to an adult. She would feel the back of my hand across her arse. (Parents who are against slapping please do not respond because I will not take you on over this) A slap didnt do me any harm.
Anyway back to the subject. Yes if kids step out of line and the parents are reluctant to sort them out then its up to the Ship management to step in and throw them off the ship if the bad behaviour persists. In the case of the parent assulting the other passenger. I would have reported him to the police. Or at least tell the Ships management you will. You will probably get the ship management to respont more quickly as it dos'nt look good when pc plod comes on board. Dosnt matter which country you are in. The plods will always attend when there has been an assault on an individual.
In the whole most kids are great. Yes you do get the odd bad apple. (Adults and kids)
regards
Colin B Northern Ireland