Weeks with less kids onboard?

[jeffmw]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

There is nothing quite like settling down in the solarium with a book then 10 minute later that little voice repeating...

"Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!.  Mom!. 

 

But this is a very different scenario than what we're talking about. Kids acting noticeably out-of-line in general is not something I see very often on Royal (to the point of someone's comment above, most of the bad behavior I witness on cruises is by adults).

If a kid is in the Solarium, however, that's another issue. But, I'd also argue that's not the kid's fault. The Solarium exists for the sole purpose of being an adults-only section of the ship. I've seen some complaints on here before that there are kids often in the Solarium. I haven't personally witnessed this on any cruise I've been on, but if it's an issue, Royal needs to staff up and ask the kids to leave the area. The Solarium is nothing if not an adults-only area. That's what it should be. 

[DoomSlayer]

2 minutes ago, jeffmw said:

But this is a very different scenario than what we're talking about. Kids acting noticeably out-of-line in general is not something I see very often on Royal (to the point of someone's comment above, most of the bad behavior I witness on cruises is by adults).

If a kid is in the Solarium, however, that's another issue. But, I'd also argue that's not the kid's fault. The Solarium exists for the sole purpose of being an adults-only section of the ship. I've seen some complaints on here before that there are kids often in the Solarium. I haven't personally witnessed on any cruise I've been on, but if it's an issue, Royal needs to staff up and ask the kids to leave the area. The Solarium is nothing if not an adults-only area. That's what it should be. 

I am a little unclear on what is considered adults-only (16+) in the solarium.  For example, they allow kids into the solarium to access the food there.  I think we could all agree that pools and hot tubs are 16+ because they are clearly marked, but the area itself has some loopholes allowing kids in the general area for certain reasons.

[twangster]

1 minute ago, jeffmw said:

But this is an entirely different scenario than what you're talking about. Kids being out of line is not something I see out of line very often on these boats (to the point of someone's comment above, most of the bad behavior I witness on cruises is by adults). If a kid is in the Solarium, however, that's not the kid's fault. The Solarium exists for the sole purpose of being an adults-only section of the ship. I've seen some complaints on here before that there are kids often in the Solarium. I haven't personally witnessed on any cruise I've been on, but if it's an issue, Royal needs to staff up and ask the kids to leave the area. The Solarium is nothing if not an adults-only area. That's what it should be. 

Exactly.  Entitled families.  Odds of encountering one grow with more families on board.  

That's not to say every family behaves poorly.  Most do not.  With more families on board in peak times you are more likely to encounter one. 

Just like poorly behaving elite cruisers.  With more D+ and more P on board, you are more likely to encounter a bad apple.  

Therefore by cruising off peak with fewer families on board you are less likely to be impacted by the ones who have no rules that apply to them. 

 

[jeffmw]

1 minute ago, DoomSlayer said:

I am a little unclear on what is considered adults-only (16+) in the solarium.  For example, they allow kids into the solarium to access the food there.  I think we could all agree that pools and hot tubs are 16+ because they are clearly marked, but the area itself has some loopholes allowing kids in the general area for certain reasons.

The Cafe is the cafe. I don't know the layout of all the ships, but on Oasis Class, you don't need to enter the actual Solarium to access the Solarium Cafe. Particularly on Oasis Class ships, the Solarium is a large, enclosed area that is well-defined. For me, it's pretty straightforward. Are there other ships where there is food available for all ages in the Solarium? 

[twangster]

6 minutes ago, DoomSlayer said:

I am a little unclear on what is considered adults-only (16+) in the solarium.  For example, they allow kids into the solarium to access the food there.  I think we could all agree that pools and hot tubs are 16+ because they are clearly marked, but the area itself has some loopholes allowing kids in the general area for certain reasons.

On certain ships such as Radiance, Voyager and Freedom class you need to transit through the solarium to reach the forward elevator lobby.

It's acceptable to transit through the solarium with children.  Stopping and laying on loungers or sitting in Solarium chairs with children is not transiting through the area.  

[DoomSlayer]

2 minutes ago, jeffmw said:

The Cafe is the cafe. I don't know the layout of all the ships, but on Oasis Class, you don't need to enter the actual Solarium to access the Solarium Cafe. Particularly on Oasis Class ships, the Solarium is a large, enclosed area that is well-defined. For me, it's pretty straightforward. Are there other ships where there is food available for all ages in the Solarium? 

Allure is an Oasis Class ship and you have to enter the Solarium doors to get to the Cafe, which also serves as a specialty restaurant at night, Samba Grill, which also allows kids.

[jeffmw]

Just now, twangster said:

On certain ships such as Radiance, Voyager and Freedom class you need to transit through the solarium to reach the forward elevator lobby.

It's acceptable to transit through the solarium with children.  Stopping and laying on loungers or sitting in Solarium chairs with children is not transiting through the area.  

Yeah, that I definitely will do with my kids, but I try to walk straight through the area and not stop. Honestly, the Solarium (particularly on those ships) isn't that interesting for kids anyway. There are tons of loungers and seating in the main pool areas. It's one thing on Oasis Class where the Solarium is a huge, beautiful area with a panoramic view off the front of the ship. There's not much to do on the Freedom Class Solariums except walk through them.

[DoomSlayer]

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

On certain ships such as Radiance, Voyager and Freedom class you need to transit through the solarium to reach the forward elevator lobby.

It's acceptable to transit through the solarium with children.  Stopping and laying on loungers or sitting in Solarium chairs with children is not transiting through the area.  

This has been how I treat it when I have kids with me -- pass through only.  And casino too.  We will walk through the casino to get to a theater or something, but my kids know it is passthrough only and if they want to press buttons, we will go to the Arcade later.

[Xaa]

A child was walking through the Solarium one morning at 6 AM and thought to himself "imagine the entitlement of these adults hogging these chairs when they are all back in bed sleeping".  The irony was lost on him and RC staff did nothing about either entitlement.

True story.

[Jolly Ogre]

Also to avoid more children is to take longer cruises...At least 7 days. We had the worst encounter with children on 4 day cruise around the same time of year (after 

Thanksgiving and before Christmas) than we did on 7 day cruises.

[WAYNO]

[Rakaia]

On 5/21/2023 at 7:17 AM, twangster said:

Well behaved guests of all ages are welcome.

It's the misbehaving guests regardless of age that are the problem.  Some entitled parents go on vacation from their parental duties when they cruise.  Most parents do not.  It's the bad apples that impact us all.  

THIS.  

I've always said it's the parents that take a vacation from parenting that are the issue. Kids will be kids therefore parents shouldn't stop being parents.  If I hear the excuse "but it's their vacation too" to excuse bad behavior, I'm going to scream. 

I still remember the (rum-soaked double fisting) mom that yelled at a full hot tub I was in, that had just stopped her spawn from fighting, biting and trying to drown each other. "HEY! YOUS GOT A PROBLEM....YOUS TALK TO MEEEEE *hiccupburp*"  The kids were perhaps 4 and 6? Completely unsupervised. Lady, we would have talked to you first....if you had been there! 

We take our elementary school-aged daughter out of school to cruise in the "off-season" (at least for now while it's still easy to keep up with her schoolwork...we work every morning!). I use it as an opportunity to teach respect and good manners. Zero tolerance for any behavior that disrupts others. Like you said, I do see that there are a lot of good parents out there doing the same. It's a shame that there are those that don't. Wrecks it for all. 

[ScottD]

9 hours ago, Rakaia said:

We take our elementary school-aged daughter out of school to cruise in the "off-season" (at least for now while it's still easy to keep up with her schoolwork...we work every morning!). I use it as an opportunity to teach respect and good manners. Zero tolerance for any behavior that disrupts others. Like you said, I do see that there are a lot of good parents out there doing the same. It's a shame that there are those that don't. Wrecks it for all. 

This is exactly what we do. We took our grade schooler out for a week this year and doing it again at the start of next school year, it's the only way 1. we can afford it, and 2. the only way I would want to go... I love kids and having them on board, but I don't know if I could handle a summer vacation cruise full of kids!  The school year cruises are perfect, some kids for him to play with if he choose, but not enough to drive me crazy. 

[Bea2023]

On 5/23/2023 at 9:33 AM, Floatingby said:

On this cruise it's because we're going with a group who invited us along but I don't dislike kids and am not looking for an adults only vacation. My question was simply asking if there would be less onboard during this week. Perhaps I was hoping for a shorter line at the giant slide.

Economial fares is what makes it easier to afford to be able to cruise, so it's on ships that attract families with kids - I totally get it.  I would like to relax without kids running around, but cannot afford the higher prices cruises.  So I just try to look for dates where there will be minimal youngsters onboard.

[RCIfan1912]

On 5/24/2023 at 4:05 AM, ScottD said:

This is exactly what we do. We took our grade schooler out for a week this year and doing it again at the start of next school year, it's the only way 1. we can afford it, and 2. the only way I would want to go... I love kids and having them on board, but I don't know if I could handle a summer vacation cruise full of kids!  The school year cruises are perfect, some kids for him to play with if he choose, but not enough to drive me crazy. 

Ya know this is so funny because we also pull our son out of school for cruises. October next month and then February 2024 and then again next October. The fares and KSF are just too good to pass up. I though also lately have been worrying about people being pissy or giving dirty looks to us because these should be kinda "kids free" or people book because there shouldn't be many kids. So I'm worried about people being pissy. 

[Xaa]

10 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

So I'm worried about people being pissy.

I wouldn't worry about it.  Pissy people are going to be pissy regardless.  Your son has the exact same rights (except of course for age based activities) on the ship as other passengers.  Their fare is paid.

Will kids sometimes be noisy?  Sure, but the worst behavior I see is always by adults.  

[RCIfan1912]

15 minutes ago, Xaa said:

I wouldn't worry about it.  Pissy people are going to be pissy regardless.  Your son has the exact same rights (except of course for age based activities) on the ship as other passengers.  Their fare is paid.

Will kids sometimes be noisy?  Sure, but the worst behavior I see is always by adults.  

This is true. Some adults really, really annoy me especially when they mistreat the crew and act like they are their personal slave.  

[Jolly Ogre]

As long as the kids/ 20-30 somethings are well behaved then I don't mind them. Same with the adults... come on people we are on vacation it is not the purge.

[jbrinkm]

On 5/23/2023 at 8:54 AM, twangster said:

For several decades Royal didn't have all that.   Water slides, the big full sized slides didn't exist until Liberty added some and Harmony was launched with them in 2016 just seven years ago.  Contrast that to the creation of the company fifty five years ago.

We chose Royal Caribbean for a family cruise the first time in 2014 for the unlimited free ice cream machine on the pool deck (my youngest heard from his friend who did a Royal Cruise the year before) and the Dreamworks characters - we didn't really care about any of the Dreamworks characters but it indicated to us that it was a family/kid friendly line. I'm not saying that to contradict you - just what we thought about then as family focused is SO much different now than it was then...

On 5/23/2023 at 9:58 AM, twangster said:

The other point I'd like to make is this...

Everyone repeats the tag line that Royal is a family cruise line.  Yet the make up of cabins on all classes before Icon is hardly family friendly. 

Double occupancy cabins for two guests dominate Royal ships.  Cabins for families, those that accept 3 or 4, or more than 4 guests are a minority.    They often sell at a premium. 

So while the activities are geared for families, the ship cabins are not.

Absolutely this. So many posts around families in staterooms are about how to fit on that darn couch with 2 people. We loved our family staterooms on the Freedom class ships when the kids were younger with 2 overhead Pullman beds. The kids loved those beds so much and it was much easier to share a room with elementary aged kids in that configuration. 

[BigKarl]

On 5/23/2023 at 5:54 AM, twangster said:

For several decades Royal didn't have all that.   Water slides, the big full sized slides didn't exist until Liberty added some and Harmony was launched with them in 2016 just seven years ago.  Contrast that to the creation of the company fifty five years ago.

Royal has changed substantially over the past six to seven years and shifted into the kid first cruise line it is becoming with the latest class, Icon of the Seas.

Many return guests are long time customers that have sailed many ships no longer in the fleet.  They are vested heavily into the loyalty program.  It will take time for these long time customers to accept that Royal has changed and most of that change has been more recent.  They didn't change, Royal did. 

This was their "go to" cruise line.  They were loyal to Royal.  It will take them time to transition to a new go to cruise line.   

And while your at it,  "Get off My Lawn!"

 

[OCSC Mike]

38 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

the Dreamworks characters

I will never forget my very young niece being so scared of Shrek at the character breakfast in the MDR that she hid under the table.