While the vast majority of kids on cruise ships behave, everyone has seen out-of-control children.
Sometimes that's just kids doing kid things. Maybe they're running in the halls, jumping into the pools, or otherwise just being kids. In other cases, they're unsupervised in adults-only areas or being actively disruptive.
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In many cases the issue isn't the children: It's that their parents seem to have decided that parenting ends once they board a ship.
Royal Caribbean offers kid and teen clubs that enable parents to drop off their children. The younger kids are bound to the club until their parents come to check them out. The teen clubs are more open to allowing teenagers to come and go as they choose.
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When you see a misbehaving child or teen on a cruise ship, it's hard to know whom to blame. Yes, mom and dad might be ignoring their child in favor of some adult beverages, but it's also possible the parents aren't being willfully negligent and simply assume their kids are behaving.
It's impossible to force parents to be responsible, but Royal Caribbean wants to give them better tools to keep track of their kids, In addition, the cruise line has considered some new rules to make more spaces adults-only, at least after certain hours.
Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
Royal Caribbean considers a rule change
One of the biggest challenges for Royal Caribbean is enforcing its rules. Kids under 18, for example, are not allowed in the adults-only solarium found on every ship in the fleet.
The problem is that the staff in the solarium are hesitant to kick out the kids. In general they won't step in simply because someone is under 18. They may get involved if kids get into the pools or are being disruptive.
Waiters and lifeguards are not security officials. In many cases nothing happens when underage people are in areas where they are not allowed because no one who is qualified to remove them is available.
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That makes a possible rule change floated by Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley seem as if it probably won't work.
“It’s probably time for us to take a look at the curfew," he said on the Utopia of the Seas preview cruise in July. "I think the idea of curfews in some of the bars is a great idea. And you know what they say: Everybody loves their kids, but they’re not so fond of everybody else’s kids.”
Currently, the cruise line has a 1 a.m. curfew for all passengers 17 years and under. That curfew does allow passengers 17 and under to be out and about as long as they are with their parents.
Royal Caribbean has a technology fix
Aside from the solarium and the casino (where you have to be 18 to play), Royal Caribbean does not have age restrictions on its ships.
That includes its bars, and recent efforts to make its bars more all-ages have been made as the cruise line has embraced mocktails and other alcohol-free beverages.
The cruise line, however, does believe that making it easier for parents to keep track of their kids might make it easier for them to keep their children in line.
It has been testing a new tracking wristband for kids on Icon of the Seas and plans to offer the same technology on Star of the Seas, the upcoming second Icon-Class ship.
"One obvious benefit of the technology is that if parents look away for a few moments and their child goes missing, they’ll be able to track them down quickly," Cruise Passenger wrote.
That will reduce stress and free up the crew from having to look for missing children, but that's not why the tech may improve shipboard behavior from minors.
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"There is also a good chance it could have a preventative effect; kids are less likely to do something naughty or go somewhere they’ve been told not to if they know that their parents can see their location," the website added.
At the end of the day, while a tool like this might prove useful, a parent has to want to control their children in order to keep them in line.
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