Mrs H Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Irresponsible parents and badly behaved children on recent RCI cruise! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs H Posted April 26 Author Share Posted April 26 5 minutes ago, Mrs H said: Irresponsible parents and badly behaved children on recent RCI cruise! My recent (25/3/24 - 3/4/24) RCI cruise from Sydney to Pacific Islands was the most disappointing cruise I have ever experienced! While the wonderful crew and the most comfortable ship, Ovation of the Seas was much appreciated and enjoyed, sadly, my disappointment was due to the most unpleasant, arrogant and ignorant fellow passengers (almost 3000 total) and their offspring (approximately 2000 total.) The parents were loud, pushy and completely oblivious to their badly behaved children who ran amok everywhere, yelled on top of their voices at all hours and were never disciplined. It was impossible to get away from them including the Solarium area which was supposedly designated for adults... Supposedly! Why did RCI not care about adults who did not wish to be subjected to such behavior? I felt badly for the officers and crew who had to work in such an unpleasant environment. One morning our table witnessed an 8-year-old boy yielding a knife and scraping the Solarium window for at least 10 minutes. He was in full view of his parents! He then proceeded by samurai-style waving the same knife in his baby brother's face. At this point, one of the men at my table knocked/gestured to the boy to stop, to much displeasure of his relatives. The next morning, the same group almost hissed at us - how dare we prevent a serious injury to the baby and damage the Solarium window! On the subject of passengers reserving lounges for hours and never coming back to them, I had borrowed a pillow from an empty lounge in the Solarium area to help support my back - within 1/2hr, there was a woman angrily asking me if I took HER PILLOW? An officer who was at the time by my side was most embarrassed at this but again, couldn't do much other than bring me another cushion! By the way there were tons of empty but "reserved" lounges with nobody sitting in them at the time! Needless to say, I'll NEVER sail with RCI again! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Lamb Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 You know, It isn't just a problem on Royal. In fact, I have found that Royal is probably more responsive than the rest. Why don't you try Carnival next time and see just how much you enjoy the joys of unsupervised children! Just sayin'! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Caribbean Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 @Mrs H It's unfortunate you had an experience like this! If you are cruising with a family-friendly line like RCL, you can expect to see lots off this. It's not uncommon. I don't think il behaved children are pleasant, and it's unfortunate so many children are unruly today. I have many observations as to why children in this day and age are particularly unsatisfied and unruly, but that is beside the point. If circumstances like this are a deal breaker for your cruise experience, you should try another cruise line that is geared towards older adults or adults-only cruises. There are many other cruise lines that you will enjoy that don't come with this crowd. Every parent/child is different, and you can't expect all children to be well behaved or parents to respond appropriately to poor behaviors. That would be an unrealistic expectation. As @Jim Lamb stated, CCL isn't any better. You have to realize these are kid-friendly cruise lines, and most of its ships are designed/geared towards children. It would be better to try another cruise line like HAL, Princess Cruises, or Virgin Voyages and see how it compares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Lamb Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 On 4/26/2024 at 1:27 PM, Cruising Caribbean said: @Mrs H It's unfortunate you had an experience like this! If you are cruising with a family-friendly line like RCL, you can expect to see lots off this. It's not uncommon. I don't think il behaved children are pleasant, and it's unfortunate so many children are unruly today. I have many observations as to why children in this day and age are particularly unsatisfied and unruly, but that is beside the point. If circumstances like this are a deal breaker for your cruise experience, you should try another cruise line that is geared towards older adults or adults-only cruises. There are many other cruise lines that you will enjoy that don't come with this crowd. Every parent/child is different, and you can't expect all children to be well behaved or parents to respond appropriately to poor behaviors. That would be an unrealistic expectation. As @Jim Lamb stated, CCL isn't any better. You have to realize these are kid-friendly cruise lines, and most of its ships are designed/geared towards children. It would be better to try another cruise line like HAL, Princess Cruises, or Virgin Voyages and see how it compares. Hey Cruising, that was sarcasm, not a compliment. Carnival is the worst for kids running wild. For the most part the parents that book a "family" vacation on a Carnival ship are looking for someone to babysit their brood for a week so they don't have too! The last Carnival we were on there were 4 young teens in the room next to ours that were unsupervised as their parents were staying in another cabin halfway down the hall. The walls were shaking all night every night and reporting it to the ship made no difference in the behavior, if anything, it got worse! Carnival equals "Walmart" cruising! Pajamas in the main dinning room, people breaking in line at shows, and all around bad behavior. Carnival has unfortunately been it's own worst enemy in this subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Sisters Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 @Jim Lamb I see the sarcasm! CCL does have ships filled with kids and families. It's basically one of the most family-friendly lines, alongside RCL. The kids clubs on CCL are really awesome and the programs run throughout the day, giving parents plenty of opportunities to take a break. Unfortunately my kids are hit or miss with the kid's clubs, and I don't force them to stay. I opt for a wider range of cruise lines because my kids really don't care about the clubs very much. That's a shameful experience! CCL should have tried to do something about the stateroom next to yours. The pajamas in the dining room issue is a big pet peeve of mine. I can't stand that. If you want to be comfy and wear loungewear, just dine in the buffet. It's important to at least be courteous and try to look decent for the MDR. The prices are lower for CCL and the shorter itineraries are very popular amongst the rowdy crowd. If you look at longer/more exotic itineraries, you will notice a shift in the crowds. Not all CCL ships/itineraries are the same. You can find a different culture on each ship, particularly if you book something that's not a weekend getaway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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