Warning for Parents with Teens
 

I just sailed Royal Caribbean's "Mariner of the Seas". The ship was gorgeous, the staff friendly, the food was good to average, and the workout room was great. Get a balcony room if you can - its the best!

HOWEVER, I have a 13 year old and a 16 year old. Therefore, if Royal Caribbean hosts a teen event, then I expect RC to also provide adequate supervision at that event. This was not the case. The ship has a room called "Fuel", dedicated to teens from 14 to 17 years of age. Most kids in that age group spend thier evenings there. Now, I did feel that RC was sending the wrong message by having thier activities run well past midnight - even a co-ed sleepover! You can imagine the popularity contests I was winning here - my kids were in bed at midnight every night. On our last night, I decided to check in at "Fuel" at 11:30. (You know how kids are when they around a new, short-term group. They can get out of hand because they're now in a new group and don't have to worry about a reputation like they do at home.) When I arrived, there was hardly what I would call "supervision". I found these kids - ages 14 to 17 - bumping, grinding, making out, and groping eachother in the middle of a dark dancefloor among blaring music, disco lights, and couches like they were in a college bar. My advice - if you decide to let your kids participate in this, check on your kids often and unannounced. I got the chance to watch my kid for about 10 minutes before she spotted me, and thank God she wasn't getting into trouble. But don't depend on RC to watch your kids, thier environment, or at least hinder them from sharing bodily fluids.

Im not trying to be sarcastic here but my 15 year old son just read this message and the first thing out of his mouth was "have you ever been to a high school dance?" Oh well, I think you are probably a good parent. We need to know what our kids are up to.

I'm lucky, I won't have to deal with this. Once my daughters reach puberty I'm sending them to the convent.

Cath - thanks for the post. I'm sorry but co-ed sleepovers, give me a break. What is really the purpose?

Cath1977,You did so well as a caring parent!!

I find it hard to believe that a for-profit enterprise would run an event for teenagers without supervision. If something ws to happen in a group of underage passengers, the company would be so open to lawsuits, Just in terms of protecting the company, the profits, and his own job, I would expect the president of the company to not let something like this happen.

I have been on a Royal Caribbean cruise, however, and the attitude that seemed to prevail was "we've cashed your check and from here on we just don't care."

Hi Cath,

I'm sailing this ship in September. I don't have any children yet but other than this incident, how was your overall experience?

That's why it's great to be able to send siblings together. They can look out for each other, and are usually pretty willing to "tattle" on each other! ;)
What did your 13 year old do at night since she wasn't old enough for "Fuel?"

Lucky for you you wern't on "Soverign of the Seas".

While I was in the adult nightclub there were kids that weren't old enough to even drive in the nightclub drinking.

When I pointed out to the staff that this was clearly for 21 and over they said that they didn't want to upset the parents of the young ones and they didn't do anything about it.

Guess that's one way to keep an eye on your children.

Thanks for the reminder to check on my kids (different cruise line, though) when we go in 3 weeks.

I have always taken the approach that I do not trust anyone (or any organization, company, etc.) that I do not have experience with to watch out for my kids - maybe that is why I am named the strictest mother on earth by my kids - maybe I am cynical, but I would not have assumed a cruise line would provide adequate supervision for teens (although I would expect it to for younger kids).