Cruising with Children
A couple of weeks ago, a prominent cruise creator published a video questioning whether or not people should take children cruising during the cruise restart. It was, I believe, based on someone’s post who had recently cruised with MSC, a cruise line I know very little about. The poster complained that their children were bored and there were no activities for children on the ship. The video and ensuing comments also criticized parents who would subject children to cruising during a pandemic, possibly exposing them to Covid-19. As we were preparing to sail with our children and grandchildren (ages seven and nine), this video raised some alarms.
We were within one week of sailing with Royal Caribbean and as far as we knew, they were still operating their children’s programming. I had to call their customer service to ask about pre-cruise testing so while I had them on the line, I asked about children’s activities. I was assured that their Adventure Ocean was still operating. As far as the harsh criticism I was seeing on many cruising social media accounts for those taking children on cruises, I believed that my grandchildren would be safer on a cruise ship than most U.S. elementary schools at this point.
My kids paid for the cruise and are definitely ‘Royal Loyal’ and were also sure that their children would enjoy the cruise. While there was never a plan to cruise on another line, it is worth noting that at the time of our sailing, Carnival had cancelled its kids’ programming for children under 12 and Norwegian wasn’t allowing children on their ships at all. This was our granddaughters’ first cruise and they were just a little nervous. The youngest of the two told me that what she really wanted to do, day one, was visit the kid’s swimming area, which we did. I was impressed. There were never less than three lifeguards focused on the little swimmers and a fourth went around every 30 minutes or so, cleaning railings. Because Royal was sailing at a lower capacity and many children had already started school, the pool area was not crowded at all. We all had a blast.
On boarding day, we all attended the open house for Adventure Ocean, Royals children’s club onboard the Allure. It was bright and clean and very kid friendly. The hours were limited and each child could spend no more than 20 hours in the program during the cruise. We reserved the times for the girls when we knew we were planning on an event for vaccinated passengers only. We were unsure how excited they would be to be relegated to ‘day care’ while the adults (two of whom they hadn’t seen in almost two years) were enjoying ‘real’ cruising. Our fears were unfounded. They LOVED Adventure Ocean and begged to go back as often as we could get them in.
I wanted to add that I spent several years working with children in various circumstances. I was greatly impressed with Royal’s approach to their children’s programming. Somehow, they managed to completely engage the children in the activities and with the other children while physically distanced. The girls would come back and teach us games they had played and show us cool things they had made.
I hope we will have another occasion to cruise with these kids, or our other grandchildren for that matter. I want them to see cruising and traveling as an adventure but also as an opportunity to learn about other cultures and history. We were quite limited in getting off the ship with them and, in fact, they only got off the ship at CocoCay, Royal’s private island. There was so much to do there but not really an educational stop.
You have to do your own research. We cruised on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas the week of August 22nd. I can only share what we experienced during that sailing. The pandemic is still a fluid situation and there is no telling what the next sailing might hold. You will need to weigh the pros and cons and safety protocols for yourself and your family. No one can make that decision for you, especially a social media creator. Please keep in mind that many YouTube creators purposely sensationalize the current conflicts in cruising to boost their numbers. For the most current information, check with your travel advisor or the cruise line.
I can tell you, however, that this was definitely a good time and a great cruise line for our family.
