“If parents can’t control their kids behaviour then they should be punished too”

Cruise Passenger readers always have plenty to say about what’s going on in Australian cruise, and in the broader cruise community. In Your Say, Cruise Passenger looks at the issues our readers are writing to us about on our blogs, posts and newsletters. 

This week cruise passengers were back discussing the behaviour of young kids on ships. After a few teens on a Royal Caribbean ship were filmed climbing between their stateroom balconies, Cruise Passenger readers had plenty to say.

The feeling is while kids do have responsibility for their own behaviour, its ultimately up to the parents to make sure their kids stay out of trouble. This has led to many Cruise Passenger readers calling for stricter punishments for parents, such as bans.

Cheryl Berne said: “If they survive their stupidity, the ships captain should put them off the ship & confine them to the cabin with a guard until they dock. If the parents dont want to supervise the children, the staff ( not the passengers) should. I have cruised many times & put up with parents who think they are on holidays & the passengers will monitor their kids.

“Once we overheard a mother ask her husband ” have you seen Sally because I haven’t seen her all day”

Julie Logan said: “Tell them it isn’t allowed and then move the whole family to a small interior room and when you are at the next port let them know they are leaving the ship and banned until the youngest child is 18.”

Anna Kemp said: “Next port off the ship, the whole family. If parents can’t control their kids behaviour then the parents should be punished too. It’s appalling behaviour which can ruin your holiday.”

Ria Darby summed up what most cruisers seem to be feeling: “The kids and their parents to be off loaded at the nearest next port. – it is unacceptable behaviour, if a kid fell off and into the sea there would be an uproar. Not the cruise lines faults it is the parent for letting kids run wild without any discipline.”

Cruise Passenger readers also continue to be divided on Carnival Cruise Line.

Peta Tuckerman said: “Carnival may be a budget line…but gosh we had a great time on our last cruise! We took our son who would have been maybe 3 at the time, and it was one of the best cruises we’d been on! Loved everything about it, and our son stayed with us the whole time, he was too anxious to go too kids club…we were never short of things too do…we went on the Splendor and in the past we’ve sailed P&O and RC…we did love them all…but wanted to recommend Carnival as a great cruise line.”

Another cruiser Anthony Pitkin wrote: “A budget line – in every meaning of the word”.

Elsewhere, cruisers continue to ponder the reasons that we won’t be seeing Disney back in Australia.

Adam Troy believes its about greed: “Disney is way too expensive, it’s just not popular anymore. The magic is gone, replaced with corporate greed.”

However, other cruisers were dismissive of this, saying “the magic is well and truly alive on board!” and “rubbish”.

Bernadette Cain believes a new ship could have helped things. “I think if they bought out one of the other Disney ships they would have sold out. I’m saving to do the Adventure as its not that far to fly if we can get cheap flights or a cruise package deal.”

Please keep those comments coming!

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