Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley has said “it’s probably time” to think about ways to expand and enforce Royal Caribbean’s kids curfew.
Currently, the cruise line has a curfew of 1 am for all passengers 17 years and older. It is unclear in which ways the curfew might be expanded.
Bayley said: “It’s probably time for us to take a look at [the curfew]. I think the idea of curfews in some of the bars is a great idea.
“And you know what they say, everybody loves their own kids, but they’re not so fond of everybody else’s kids.”
The issue was raised by a travel agent at a talk on Utopia of the Seas. The agent claimed she’s received complaints, with some clients even leaving Royal Caribbean due to the amount of poorly behaved children.
She described scenes such as kids splashing drinks at the swim-up bar and crawling through people’s legs on late-night dance floors.
Cruise passengers themselves have long debated the issue. Tracy Strawbridge, for instance, said in a group: “We need a curfew, they are feral when not being supervised. Let us stress, not all children are feral and unsupervised when travelling, only those that are allowed to be!”
Another, Pepper Dickson, reported:
“My sibling’s family is being booted off of a ship 8 time zones from home. A child had an altercation with another child and is currently confined to the stateroom with a guard outside. One parent must be with the child at all times for fear the isolation would cause the child to self-harm.
“So this is an interesting turn of events and completely uncharted territory, particularly because this child is not a trouble-maker EVER.”
Some senior staff at the talk floated ideas of making the curfew earlier, especially for areas that are generally designed for adults.
Royal Caribbean has a free kid’s program on all ships, however, after 10 pm, there is an hourly charge.
This comes at a time when some cruise companies are promising adults only cruises. Virgin Voyages, Sir Richard Branson’s cruise line is geared to an 18+ audience, while Viking has long touted its policy of no kids on their ships.
Princess just this week announced that their family-friendly Park19 adventure area will not open, despite heavy promotion in the lead up to the launch of the new Sun Princess.
What are people saying?
Cruise passengers appear divided on the issue. While many have experienced behaviour from kids and teens that aren’t ideal, many others believe that Royal is a kid’s line and that cruisers need to accept that kids will be a part of their cruise.
Cruisers such as Rowan Humphries feel they have worn the brunt of bad behaviour on cruises.
“In March this year, my wife and I were on Quantum of the Seas and there were heaps of feral kids causing trouble by the staircases near the buffet, getting ice cubes and throwing them down the mid-ship elevator shaft, stealing do not disturb magnets from doors, forcing their way into the lifts before others come out.
“I confronted a few of them and warned them to show respect for others or I’ll find their parents. They didn’t like that and eventually, they were reported by others and their room was guarded until arrival back in Brisbane. From what we were told they have all been banned from RC ships for their behaviour. I think RC is doing a good job with that it’s their ship their rules. Phew, what a story!”
Marie Cochrane cruises with her daughter and says a curfew change would make her feel safer.
“Extremely happy with this, I travelled with a 16-year-old daughter and panicked when she wasn’t in the room at midnight, luckily, security found her pretty quickly once I raised the alarm. It children aware of curfews, and they don’t need to be out all night with the drunks anyway.”
Nathan Challis is another cruise fed up with noises from children.
“There were kids running up and down the hallway late at night on our cruise. It made a hell of a noise. The worst bit was the parents were there with them. We could hear them talking loudly. Some people are very inconsiderate.”
Sarah Rowlands Rayder is calling for an earlier curfew.
“Yep absolutely, it’s set now at a 1 am curfew, and for kids that is ridiculous. On our last cruise, there were kids running up and down the ship with parents nowhere in sight and they would run into you and run off. It was very frustrating.”
Lin Smithy has even witnessed kids getting escorted back to their rooms due to misbehaving.
“I saw a kid, about 10 years old, in wet swimming clothes was escorted back to his room (a few doors from mine) by a security and the security guy was warning his parent about “not allow kids roaming unsupervised”. Been on Quantum 3 times, Ovation once, and kids on RCI need a curfew.”
Howard Farthing says he’s experienced young kids running amuck late at night.
“We’ve witnessed teenagers, some about 12 – 13 roaming around, playing with the lifts late at night without supervision.”
Cruisers talking points
The general points coming out of the discussion are
- Should there be an earlier curfew for kids or is it simply on the parents to better supervise their kids?
- Should there be segmented curfews? E.g. 1 am for 16 – 18 year olds, but earlier times for younger children?
- Could Royal Caribbean help the problem by adding free after-hours childcare?
- Should curfews be ship-wide, or limited to particular areas?
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