Carnival passengers call for earlier kids curfew after series of incidents

• Carnival cruisers have received notices that outline the importance of children supervision and adhering to curfew.
• This comes off the back of several recent incidents regarding passenger behaviour.
• Cruisers are feeling that a 1am curfew isn’t enough, and want an earlier curfew or other measures implemented.

Carnival passengers have been receiving reminders about the importance of parental supervision onboard and the cruise lines 1am curfew for children, however, many cruisers feel like this isn’t enough.

Cruisers have shared photos of their letter from Carnival that serves as a reminder for Carnival’s “Have Fun. Be Safe” guidelines, which included reminders of what personal devices can be brought on board, smoking rules and even the banning of handheld fans,a seemingly random ban that stirred a lot of controversy.

In regards to curfew and children, the notice read: “Children must always be supervised. Guests 17 and under must be out of public areas by 1:00am unless accompanied by an adult from their travelling party. This is strictly enforced.”

It also mentioned behaviour guidelines in guest corridors, another common compliant from cruisers towards younger children onboard ships.

“Please refrain from running and making noise (including shouting/screaming) in hallways, since doing so disrupts other guests who may be resting/sleeping in their staterooms.”

Now, this isn’t exactly coming from nowhere.

The behaviour of younger kids on ships has long been a debate amongst cruisers, with many cruisers feeling that poor parenting to blame for incidents of misbehaviour on ships.

In recent months this issue has been thrust further into the spotlight, after a nine-year old acted so poorly on a ship they found themselves banned for life and another cruise passenger was beaten unconscious by younger cruise passengers.

Solutions have been suggested from cruise lines piloting tracking devices for kids onboard, and even more direct calls from cruise passengers for kids onboard to be ‘put on leashes’.

Carnival is even currently offering some adults-only casino-focused cruises, which are rumoured to be the pilot program for a larger roll out of adults only cruises.

Therefore, it makes sense that with the note in question, Carnival would want to clearly clarify that it is aware of this issue, and will be looking to enforce rules on cruises.

However, there appears to be a strong sentiment from cruisers that Carnival’s 1am curfew isn’t strict enough, and not only should the curfew be earlier, but other measures should be put into place as well.

Cruise passengers say a curfew is not enough

Many cruisers appear to feel that a 1am curfew does not go far enough to address the behaviour of kids on cruise ship.

One cruiser wrote on a popular online Carnival forum: “Curfew should be earlier- parents need to be with their kids at least at bedtime- I feel 11pm is excerptible as it’s a good ending of the day and gives a time to touch base with teens and hear what they did during their day ! And then others can not be disturbed!’

Another cruiser concurred, feeling like there is no reason for kids to be out and about at that time.

“1:00 am curfew for those under 17 – should be changed – no reason they should be out at that time…sorry, go ahead and truly call me a “Karen” on this one.”

This sentiment echoed amongst many guests.

“I still think the curfew at 1 AM for kids is too late unless they’re with their parents. In my opinion, it should be no later than 11 PM for kids.”

One cruiser even called for a curfew as early as 10am.

“We just got off the Mardi Gras yesterday, so many kids running wild. 1am is way too late, 10pm should be the curfew. Anything later than that, they should require them to be with a parent/adult over 21. 

“I feel like so many parents just get on the ship and let the kids just run free and aren’t checking in with them or what they are up to.

“There were groups of 15 plus kids just sitting on stairs in the hallway hanging out, blocking paths and cussing

“We had kids running down the hallway knocking on doors. I can’t tell you how many times we came out in the hallways or elevator areas to find ice cream cones or ice cream all over the floor.”