DH will not let our kids do Pirate Cruise

[runwad]

I've been reading a lot about it and think our DD8 and DS6 would just love it, but when i ran it past DH he said no way is he going to let them go for 2 hours on a boat trip with strangers. Anyone else have these concerns with one of their spouses??

 

[wrldpossibility]

My husband is usually very protective and careful too. We let them do many certified, official, and organized activities at home (like day camps, classes, etc), so we felt comfortable with a well-known (and loved, by the posts I read here) Disney program. I'm sure if you called (someone I'm sure knows who), Disney could give you more information about the CMs who run it, their certifications, and the ratios, things like that. Maybe that will make him feel better. I've read here that many parents wish there were a pirate cruise parents could attend with their kids, and I hope they someday have that. I'd prefer to go along too...to feel safer but also so I could see firsthand how much fun they're having! I hope you can convince him!

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

My dd did it when she was 5 and absolutely loved it. We're going back in Oct., this time with her cousin, and they're both going! My Mom said the same thing, but I didn't have any concerns at all. If there was ever a problem with it, I'm sure Disney would cancel the whole program right away. When my dd went, there were only about 16-18 kids (one of whom was a DISer's dd, who wound up being my dd's "buddy" for the day, that was really neat), and there were 3 adults, all of them female. When my dd came back my Mom asked her about it, and she told her she had a great time.

 

[NotUrsula]

Personally, I think a pirate cruise that had parents on board would just ruin the whole adventure for the kids -- what kind of pirate worth his/her salt brings Mommy along on a treasure hunt? Not having parents there is a HUGE part of what makes it so much fun for the kids; it makes them feel really grown-up and proud of themselves. BTW, The CM's are super-strict on boating safety regulations.

For the record, DS did the cruise 4 times, alone (as in, no one else that he knew beforehand was with him), starting at age 4. This year, at age 8, he decided he was too old for it. He does say that he really liked it when he was still little enough to believe the hunt was real.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm not understanding his hesitation.


Are they not permitted into any non-parent attended activity on WDW property at all?

I wouldn't hesitate to send my kids on it--if it were something we were interested in (haven't "vacationed" at Disney in a long time--small trips--but nothing that we would invest the $$$ and time in these activities as of yet, but someday!!!)

 

[mel]

Sorry, but I understand how DH feels. All it takes is a minute for something bad to happen. I feel better safe than sorry, but my DH doesn't worry like I do and usually can convince me that they will be okay. Just reassure him and maybe Disney can tell you all of the precautions they take to make sure every child is safe and that will make them feel better about it.

 

[donnajon]

My kids did this and loved it. And everything they do is out in the open. They go on the boat to the different beaches of the hotels so it;s not like they take them away to some deep dark place. You could see the boat - although it is far off. We had no hesitations with doing this. I think there are too many people around for anything to happen.

 

[vhoffman]

I was thinking of sending my kids, ages 8 & 9 on the pirate cruise this trip. However, I'm now concerned that it will be too young for them, prompted by the poster's remark that his son felt "too old" at the age of 8 to go on the cruise anymore. Actually, maybe Disney is too young for my kids now anyways? At what age do they no longer feel its "cool" to go to Disney? Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck "..........make way for other toys". How old was Jackie Paper when he became "too old" for Puff the Magic Dragon?

I don't want to go through all the hassle and expense of a Disney trip only to have my kids feel its too "baby" for them!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

My kids have done the pirate cruise the last two years. They are 5, 7 and 8 and loved it. I had no worries at all. Bobbie who ran the Pirate Cruise also ran the other children's activities and she was great. The kids team up with a buddy and are well cared for. My ds was only 4 the first time he went and loved it. DD who is now 8 can't wait to do it again.

 

[runwad]

Nope my husband would never let the kids do unsupervised stuff at disney or anywhere in public without us. He worries about the kids being abused with all the nuts out there, and of course he works in social services and is around abused children and their nut case parents all day so he is super protective of our kids..ie they are NEVER allowed to go into public restrooms alone one of us always has to go with them. This is more what he is concerned about on this cruise. Maybe they are too old? I don't think the 6 yr old would be but he'd never let the 6 yr old go alone so I thought the 8 yr old could go and we could go to MK with the 11yr old and ride some rides, but I guess not. Oh well.

 

[TinkerbellMama]

Nope my husband would never let the kids do unsupervised stuff at disney or anywhere in public without us. He worries about the kids being abused with all the nuts out there, and of course he works in social services and is around abused children and their nut case parents all day so he is super protective of our kids..ie they are NEVER allowed to go into public restrooms alone one of us always has to go with them. This is more what he is concerned about on this cruise. Maybe they are too old? I don't think the 6 yr old would be but he'd never let the 6 yr old go alone so I thought the 8 yr old could go and we could go to MK with the 11yr old and ride some rides, but I guess not. Oh well.

I am not quite THAT protective, but I would never allow a 4 year old to go on this cruise "alone" as some have posted. I don't think it's neglectful at all to do so...they ARE supervised and I'm sure the CMs are well-trained and very professional, etc. It is just my comfort level. I have never left my baby with anyone, and I grew up in a home where babysitters were an incredibly rare thing because it was hard to find trustworthy childcare. For me it is not so much the worry of molestation (although I, too, worked in social services and saw horror stores everyday, yikes!), but the idea that there are so many kids and so few adults, and they're on the water. In an emergency, my kid certainly wouldn't take priority over any of the others. To be frank, although it is WAY WAY WAY down the list of reasons we will homeschool, I am concerned anytime there are numerous children and few responsible adults. Makes me very nervous! I watch my child like a hawk (without being intrusive...he still plays as any normal child, but I am always supervising) and the idea of him running wild on a boat with lots of other kids scares me, LOL! I WOULD let an older child go on the cruise, if he (or she!) really wanted to and knew how to swim independently. That is just my personal comfort level. I think if the children want to go and are older, there is no reason a parent couldn't try to investigate the safety features of the boat/background of the CMs in order to feel comfortable with it. JMO, and yes I know I am quite protective compared to the general population!

 

[NotUrsula]

DS does feel he's too old for the Pirate Cruise, but he absolutely doesn't feel too old for WDW! Not even close. He *loves* WDW, and that is not for lack of exposure to zoomier thrill rides--we have AP's at USIOA, and while he loves those coasters, when he has to choose between WDW and USIOA, he picks WDW every time.

In re: to the Cruise: He's just not a credulous kid. He never believed in Santa Claus, and he never believed that characters were real, either. He still likes the boat ride part of the cruise. He thought that the "treasure hunt" part of the cruise was really cool until he realized that the treasure was planted, and that the CM's knew where it was all along. After that, he started thinking that all of the pretend hunting was kind of a lot of time spent for no really good purpose.

 

[rhiannonwales]

Im going through this now with my DH.He says no way, not leaving him alone.I say whats the big deal? He's 7, knows how to swim ( in case something happened ) they all wear life jackets, they are all given safety rules.Yes there are 16 kids on board with 2 or 3 CM's. There are 22 kids in his class with 1 teacher and no aides.The ratio is better at Disney than school, but we send him alone to school every day.At school hes left unsupervised with scissors.
Now i'm not critisizing anyone here AT ALL. I think you have to be comfortable and know your kids style/limitations.I would NEVER have left him at 4, he was not ready for it at 4.At 7 i feel he is.For me and my son, i feel that he is getting to the point where i have to step back (just a little) and let him learn to handle himself.Yes bad things can happen.But bad things can happen even when your'e being as careful as you can be.Do you live your life in fear?I dont.I pick and choose whats REALLY worth worrying about.To me, although no place is entirely safe, WDW is possibly one of the safest places for my kids to be. If i have to let go and let him test his wings i'd rather do it at one of the safest places.I think hes safer in WDW than he is anywhere in my neighborhood.

But thats just me, i think that every parent has to decide whats best for them, and i respect those choices.I just wanted to give you my opinion.
Sherrie

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I can understand the trepidation. As others have said--they are in life jackets and in all the years that Disney has been doing this--we have not seen 1 headline of kid overboard. Not a 1.

I say this also as a homeschooling momma--who, if she attended convention this year, will not let her baby participate in the childrens program b/c they are taking all the kids off site to an alligator farm. I am much more leary of my young child going on a bus with strangers on Orlando highways without me than I am of a boat.

I respect the choices, but given the ages, I just don't understand.

Not that I am being flippant about placing my child in perceived harms way. If this were anywhere but US soil--I wouldn't do it...just b/c I fear that should harm come my childs way, the person responsible for it would basically not be responsible for it, KWIM.

As far as WDW--my family has gone since I was 4. We have my sister and my brother and to this day we still plan Disney get togethers. For us it never gets old and we never saw it as an uncool thing to do.

 

[emh1129]

My DH agrees with your DH completely (and so do I, actually). We would never let our ds do that.. although he will be one month shy of 5 years old when we're at WDW, so he is a little bit younger than your youngest.
When I mentioned it to my DH he looked at me like I was nuts
It's just not something we're comfortable with- even if each adult had all the credentials in the world, that doesn't tell me about their character.. I'm overprotective, but that's ok. I can be

 

[Mom to Jordan]

I think safety aside, you have to repect your husbands feelings. It's part of raising a child together. I am too quite over protective and DH not always quite as much so. Anyway we are a few hours from this really cool natural water slide that lands into a huge deep pool. DS is a great swimmer but DH is not. He absoluty could not Handle DS doing this when he was younger and even now insist that he wear a life jacket even though few kids do.
It is one of those things that I just have to respect his views on.
What if someting were to happen and he had said no? What would that do to your relationship?
My inclination is that they would be fine but the confort level for both DH and I would not allow DS to do the cruise at that age.

Jordans' mom

 

[maps]

My husband sounds just like yours. Very overprotective, always with the "what if".
When my kids moved up to the preschool rooms in daycare, he noticed they had real hammers and screwdrivers for their "construction interactive play area". He freaked out about that and the certified teachers assured him this was something in all the education journals and really important for their development...blah, blah, blah. Besides, they've been doing this for years and haven't had any injuries.

Along comes my son and guess who sheepishly came up to me holding an incident report one day. The teachers all dreaded having to tell us that my son had hurt himself with the hammer (surprise, surprise)

The point of this, we all know are children the best and know what we feel comfortable with.

 

[turnlisa]

My oldest DS went on this when he was 7. Absolutely loved it. I didn't have any worries since they were very strict with the kids about the life jackets. My DS is also a really good listener. I think determining if the child is too old is your call. My DS is now 9 and can't wait to do this again. We did make him do the Wonderland Tea Party with my youngest DS when he was 8 and he liked that as well. I think it depends on if your child still likes to do the imaginative things and likes to be part of a group. My kids love that sort of thing. If you are concerned about the boat, what about the Wonderland Tea Party? My youngest DS will be doing that again this trip and can't wait. It is only an hour, highly supervised and NO parents allowed. Lots of fun for the kids!

And for the parent who worried about their kids being too old for Disney, banish the thought! I never plan on getting too old so why should kids?

 

[robinb]

I've been reading a lot about it and think our DD8 and DS6 would just love it, but when i ran it past DH he said no way is he going to let them go for 2 hours on a boat trip with strangers. Anyone else have these concerns with one of their spouses??

Nope. I think your DH is being overprotective. My DD went on the Pirate Cruise twice, once at 5 and again at 6. She loved it both times. While I respect that you and your DH make the right choices for your family, I really don't understand the "anything can happen!!!!" mindset.

 

[pedro2112]

Nope. I think your DH is being overprotective. My DD went on the Pirate Cruise twice, once at 5 and again at 6. She loved it both times. While I respect that you and your DH make the right choices for your family, I really don't understand the "anything can happen!!!!" mindset.

I concur.