Cruise ship leaves Nassau with kids on board under supervison of uncle ;-)and late parents on land

[aaarcher86]

On Cruise Critic, someone said they asked the staff of one cruise line (can't remember which one) what would happened if the parents didn't make it back in time. The staff told them that a staff member would be assigned to stay with the kids 24 hours a day and the parents would be charged by the hour for babysitting services.

Makes sense. But I feel like parents that would run late and put their kids in that position would also be the ones to start a news story that the staff was inappropriate or made the kids uncomfortable etc.

It just seems like all the worst possibilities could be avoided by requiring one parent to stay at all times with their kids.

 

[ronandannette]

On Cruise Critic, someone said they asked the staff of one cruise line (can't remember which one) what would happened if the parents didn't make it back in time. The staff told them that a staff member would be assigned to stay with the kids 24 hours a day and the parents would be charged by the hour for babysitting services.

Just musing here, but I wonder what that kind of experience that would be for the child(ren) involved. Would they be allowed out and around or just sequestered to their cabin to limit liability? How would a difficult kid be handled, or kids with special needs? Seems like minefield of risk - but it must hardly ever actually happen.

And as for the babysitting fees; if it's not codified anywhere in the cruise contract I'm not sure they could just arbitrarily assign those charges.

 

[Disney Ella]

Just musing here, but I wonder what that kind of experience that would be for the child(ren) involved. Would they be allowed out and around or just sequestered to their cabin to limit liability? How would a difficult kid be handled, or kids with special needs? Seems like minefield of risk - but it must hardly ever actually happen.

And as for the babysitting fees; if it's not codified anywhere in the cruise contract I'm not sure they could just arbitrarily assign those charges.

Those are all good questions. It does sound like caring for the children could definitely be a liability issue for cruise lines if there were complaints about the babysitting. Of course, I have no way of knowing if the information the cruiser got from the staff member was correct, but they have to have some provisions in place. I'm sure that the experience would not be fun for the kids. Some kids might not have a problem with the whole thing, but mine would have been traumatized if DH and I missed the ship and left them alone when they were young.

 

[diznygirl]

So how is it okay to leave the kids in the kid's club to have fun with staff while parents are off doing something else, but not okay to have the kids in the presence of the same kids club with the the same staff when parents idiotically miss the boat?

The cruise staff takes care of kids all the time. They are quite capable. Whatever the situation.

 

[Kellykins1218]

Honestly, this is probably why I won't do DCL. I could be entirely wrong, but I feel like there'd be so many kids just running around chaotically.

Actually, we're always surprised by how rarely we see kids when on DCL. The kids clubs keep them busy and don't move them through the main parts of the ship. Most kids we do see are with family. The teens really aren't bad either. Never seen more than 2 or 3 together at a time and have never noticed any being rowdy.

 

[aaarcher86]

Actually, we're always surprised by how rarely we see kids when on DCL. The kids clubs keep them busy and don't move them through the main parts of the ship. Most kids we do see are with family. The teens really aren't bad either. Never seen more than 2 or 3 together at a time and have never noticed any being rowdy.

That's nice to know. I just picture a ship with more kids than adults and everything is crazy!

 

[ronandannette]

Those are all good questions. It does sound like caring for the children could definitely be a liability issue for cruise lines if there were complaints about the babysitting. Of course, I have no way of knowing if the information the cruiser got from the staff member was correct, but they have to have some provisions in place. I'm sure that the experience would not be fun for the kids. Some kids might not have a problem with the whole thing, but mine would have been traumatized if DH and I missed the ship and left them alone when they were young.

Mine too and we certainly never had any "plan" in place or talked through what the possibilities were with him. A pp upthread (might have been Hadley) said they, as a family, had discussed a bunch of contingencies with their kids just in case. That is VERY smart , although we were never "smart" enough to think of it. Blessedly, we never had a situation that led to regrets.

LOL - we though we were geniuses just to have told DS not to ever go into anybody's cabin and to always have a designated meeting place by one of the pools!

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

We were in Nassau on Saturday and the NCL shipped docked left a couple behind. It happens all the time, I'm still not sure why this made headlines other than just playing up the child angle.

 

[Arielle22]

We were in Nassau on Saturday and the NCL shipped docked left a couple behind. It happens all the time, I'm still not sure why this made headlines other than just playing up the child angle.

I think it was the mom dramatically dropping to her knees that caught people's attention.

 

[NHdisneylover]

We were in Nassau on Saturday and the NCL shipped docked left a couple behind. It happens all the time, I'm still not sure why this made headlines other than just playing up the child angle.

Yep--there is no real story here at all---just news agencies looking for drama and fluff instead of doign serious journalism.

 

[AKpooh]

I live in a major port of call for the state of Alaska and people get left behind all the time. they pay for their own airfair back too. I have no sympathy for the mother none....before even taking this cruise it is layed out when to be back and be back on time or you will be left. I am glad the kids had someone there...