Why Royal Caribbean’s new wristband tracking won’t fix badly behaved kids on ships

• Royal Caribbean has announced it will implement a wristband tracking system for young children onboard Star of the Seas.
• While this idea was originally thought to be part of a solution to misbehaving children onboard ships, its current execution is more tailored towards safety than changing behaviour.
• Here’s why the new system won’t be a magic for misbehaving kids on family ships.

Royal Caribbean has announced that it will be officially implementing a new strategy to tackle this problem, with the cruise line to offer children tracking on its new ship Star of the Seas.

How it will work is that kids will wear tracking bracelets that allow parents to look at their application and see where their kids are, under “Find My Kid”.

The hope is that this system will not only help kids who may get lost or need help finding their parents, but that it can also work as a preventative barrier against bad behaviour, with kids less likely to act out if their parents know exactly where they are on the ship.

The program was being piloted on Icon of the Seas, and has had enough success that Royal Caribbean is going to implement it on Star of the Seas. If the program continues to be a success, Royal Caribbean could implement the technology fleet-wide.

Some other cruise lines actually have this already, such as Princess. However, it’s more significant to see Royal Caribbean move forward with this, as there’s a much higher ratio of kids to adults on the ships.

While it’s promising to see Royal Caribbean is working on strategies and plans in this area, the reality is that the kids’ tracking bracelets are unlikely to be the solution to bad behaviour for kids.

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Why ‘Find My Kid” won’t fix bad behaviour on ships

• First of all, while the idea was originally floated alongside the idea of earlier curfews and other ways to rein in the behaviour of kids, its current execution serves as more of a safety feature than a strategy to prevent or limit poor behaviour. The feature works best at the moment for finding your young kids if they get lost on the ship, or simply keeping an eye on where they are.
• This system would likely have to be put into place alongside other rules such as earlier curfews, more child-restricted areas or free kids clubs at night, in order to make an impact on the behaviour of younger cruisers. 
• The bracelets are only for kids who are up to 12 years of age. While many cruisers do complain about younger children, the bulk of issues reported by cruisers have more to do with teenagers and slightly older kids, who won’t be part of the “Find My Kid” system. 
• While the hope is that the technology will be put into place across the whole fleet, it’s far from confirmed if this will go ahead. Given the sheer size of ships like Icon of the Seas and Star of the Seas, this feature may be reserved only for Royal Caribbean’s biggest ships, where staff might feel that kids tracking is extra necessary. 
• While Royal Caribbean was satisfied with the results of the pilot program, there have also been worries that this new system could exacerbate the current issues of wayward behaviour. This is due to fears that the tracking could lead to more parents letting their kids wander the ship freely, knowing that they’ll be able to find them later on. This could mean parents are more willing to just let their children wander around the ship alone, instead of keeping them supervised or taking them to the kids’ club. For example, some cruisers have raised the question of why three to 12-year-olds would even be alone on the ship in the first place.

What are cruisers saying?

As mentioned, some cruisers are a bit confused as to why this tracking is required, and believe that young kids should be with their parents or in the kids’ club.

One cruiser wrote: “Three to 12! What parent in their right mind would need to track a three to 12-year-old? They wouldn’t be out of my sight, unless in a club, at that age.”

There are definitely worries this could lead to more kids running around: “Imagine being stuck on this with 1000 “uncontrolled” kids!!”

Others feel more positively about the system and believe it will bring peace of mind.

“I have no intentions of letting my children run wild by any means like these comments suggest. But it definitely will give parents a little bit of peace of mind if anything were to ever happen and they get out of our sight.”

Another cruise echoed this sentiment.

“I love this because this is why I get Wi-Fi for my 12-year-old. She does not run around like a lunatic.

“She knows there are rights and privileges and responsibilities.”

Some cruisers even think it’d be handy to have this for all passengers, including adults. 

“Should be considered for all ages. My husband and I can’t hear the phone chime on the app. It would be great to know if they are on the port or starboard side heading to meet as planned. Also great for the multi-generational groups.”