Problem on 2/21 Eastern

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Oh, this is disheartening. I'll have my young children with me on our cruise and it will be a bummer if we can't enjoy the pool for fear of them getting injured by other children jumping/etc. You'd think they'd have a CM watch over making sure the pool rules are followed- since this is obviously a problem happening OFTEN... not a rarity.

 

[woody64]

This problem did not ruin my or my families cruise but is a recurring problem. We saw all sorts of parental behavior, from doing nothing to being on the verge of abusive.

It really bothered me the lack of respect this boy(I will not call him a young man) had for me. I asked each child nicely and would point out the No Jumping sign around the pool. I really wished I could have cannonballed him as I am 6' and 220 lbs, but thought that would set a bad example .

I also realize that families are on vacation and parents want some time to themselves. I don't think this should mean letting your child go wherever they want and do whatever they choose to do because we are all captive on a ship and they can't go anywhere. Being the father to a DS(9) and DS(5.5) we always sat at the pools with them. This was to make sure they were safe and followed the rules. Would I have liked to stay in my chair and sit in the sun? Sure, but as a parent you make choices and my choice was to make sure my children behaved and were safe. It is not DCL's responsibility to make sure my children follow the rules, it is mine.

We found the best times to swim on the Eastern was the morning we docked in St. Maarten. Being the first port, everyone gets off. DW goes shopping and I stay on the ship with boys and have the pools almost to ourselves.

woody(climbing off soapbox, again )

 

[Nysie]

WAY TO GO BARB! I agree with everyone here!! Don't you wish you could just smack the parents!! Well, after reading this, when we go on our cruise in July, if I see this kind of behavior, I WILL have a word with their parents!! I work in a school, and some of the kids don't listen- and they probably don't listen at home either!! They have no respect for their parents and think they can do and say anything they want!! It all starts at HOME!!(ranting over)!!

 

[bassoongirl]

We were on the 2/21 cruise with Woody. My 12 year-old daughter's biggest complaint was that there was nowhere for her to swim during the day. The Mickey pool was too "babyish" for her and the Goofy pool was literally standing room only. I give Woody credit for being brave enough to get into the Goofy pool! My daughter wanted me to swim with her but I was unwilling to risk being jumped on or smacked by someone in the pool. I sat on the edge and watched the chaos! After she gave up the idea of trying to swim, I happily headed over to the tranquility of the adult pool. The Quiet Cove pool is wonderful! It is calm, quiet and uncrowded! I am not sure what the solution is to the crowded conditions at the kids' pools, but if people helped enforce the rules it might be an improvement.

Gayl

 

[Mickeyhugger]

My sister is a retired customer service agent for an airline, and she watched over the years how tacky (sp?) and ill-mannered people have become as this is the 'whatever' generation. Parents are tired when they come home from work, so they give in to their kids, 'whatever', or they don't have the energy to deal w/a rebellious teenager, 'whatever', etc.

Don't get me wrong, I know there have always been people out there who were lazy about correcting their children, and some teenagers are next to impossible no matter how hard parents try, but more and more parents anymore don't put forth the effort. It makes me fearful for what this world will be like 20-30 years from now, because these bratty self-centered kids will be running the country.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

That's too bad. It's always appaling when parents do not see this bad behavior and do something about it. Everyone should have respect for the rules and for those around them.

Edited to add:
Last cruise I was trying to use the bathroom outside the Theatre during a movie. There were a couple kids running around the bathroom unsupervised and kept peeking under the stall door as I was trying to go to the bathroom!!!! Can you believe it??!! I kept saying, "That's not nice! You shoudln't do that!" several times to no avail. Then in my angry voice I said, "Where's your Mom or Dad?" and that didn't even stop them!!! I ONLY WANTED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM IN PRIVACY!!! Why were 5 and 6-year olds unsupervised in the bathroom????

 

[Jillie]

On our first cruise in April of 2002 there was a guy about 35yo or so who was doing cannonballs into the adult pool and yelling,"Now thats the way to do a cannonball, woman!" He would purposely jump into the water around women who were just hanging onto the side and soak them. A CM finally came over and spoke to him and he did stop until the next day when we saw him doing it again!!
We saw him all over the ship that week and called him "Charlie" as he looked scarily liked Charles Manson. He appeared to be traveling with an slightly older woman and her husband.
One day in the pool another gentleman, after witnessing these 3 and their antics, commented to me...."Just goes to show you that people can win a cruise after going on the Jerry Springer show!!"

 

[woody64]

Great story Jillie!

woody

 

[crisi]

We had the Goofy pool to ourselves on Sea Day on our recent Wonder cruise. Got there about 7:30 and grabbed a later breakfast from the buffet (maybe 8:30). Then the Mickey slide was open, so my kids moved over - that pool was also very manageable until 11:00. The pools were great whenever we were docked as well. So mornings, evenings and shore days are good - see a movie at 3:00 in the afternoon.

In defense of poor parenting - you never really know what is going on. Some children can be very difficult - but God Forbid you spank a child in public and have social services visit you for child abuse. I've had people take me to task for putting my tantrum throwing three year old under my arm and removing her from a store ("You shouldn't manhandle your child like that, she acts like that because you aren't treating her with respect!" "Lady, you live with her for a month and see if you treat this behavior with respect!") I have friends who do foster care - and it takes several years of good care to turn a poorly behaved child into a well behaved one (when you CAN pull it off - sometimes its a losing battle). After having a difficult child and watching people parent difficult children - I try not to judge other parents. Its possible that they've chosen to focus on bigger battles currently than good pool manners - that the trip is a reward for getting through drug treatment - and we will worry about table and pool manners later.

 

[nswift]

It is amazing what parents will put up with. I would have been mortified if my kids had acted as many of you have described! My kids are not perfect (as I am sure none of yours are either), and I am sure they have tried to push the envelope, esp on vacation, but it is the parents JOB to rein them in. We have certainly become lax regarding our childrens behavior. I have heard children talk about how "abusive" other parents are when disciplining their kids..and I don't mean physical punishment. We throw that word around far too much (abuse). The parent that allowed the child too kick her, was CERTAINLY not doing that child a favor!
My mother did pass down her legacy...all I had to do was to 'look' at my kids the right way, and they know they better stop whatever it was they were doing? Made my life very nice.
I have a 15 and 16 yo...where would they swim? Sounds like there isn't really a place for them. I would prob be stressed out watching all the craziness anyway As a past owner of a child dev center, it is hard not to automatically say something (politely) to the children.
Like your style Barb

 

[Disneycrazymom]

This has me worried. My kids would like to swim but I don't want to be a part of this craziness. Do the children act this way at the clubs too? I don't know if I want mine to have to put up with this all day. Mine are FAR from perfect but will be spending some "quiet time-out" in the cabin if they behave this way at the pool.

 

[westjones]

My kids found the Lab calmer than the pool. I think part of the problem is that the pools are not really all that big and there are a lot of people trying to get in them. The 'jumping' in is something that kids do at pools all the time, but at this pool, there are just too many people in a very small pool to do that and it causes problems.

I am going to try the suggestion from the 1st page of this thread by ZebraStripes, and go earlier in the day with my kids so they get to enjoy the pool. After it was mentioned, I do remember on the 7 day cruise taking one of my daughters to the Mickey pools in the morning right before the Mickey Slide was open and she had a great time in a 'not so crowded' pool. I forgot all about that, but will try it again next time.

Now we have always sailed in September (low season), so I have no idea how crazy the club/lab might get during peak season. My girls have always found things they enjoyed to do in the kids program and it is one of the highlights of their cruise.

I think the key to the kids program is to let your kids look over the schedule and pick out the activities they want to join in. Don't have them stay in the program if there is something they do not really want to do. We have twins and there will be many times you will find one twin in the Lab and one twin with us (because she doesn't like the activity at that time).

DJ

 

[PhotoLisa]

Originally posted by nswift
My mother did pass down her legacy...all I had to do was to 'look' at my kids the right way, and they know they better stop whatever it was they were doing? Made my life very nice.
I have a 15 and 16 yo...where would they swim? Sounds like there isn't really a place for them.

My children (even now that they are grown) know that look extremely well! LOL My two older children talked about "the look" not long ago and reminded me how scared they would get if they saw those eyes!

My 14-yr-old swam at night during Stack activities.

Courtney spent a lot of late nights in the stack with the other teens. From what she told me, there were no less than 30 teens in the stack at night doing whatever activities they wanted. Some nights were basketball on the front of the ship, others were in the pool. I'm sure I don't know half of what they did!

She told me this afternoon that even though the weather was not perfect at CC last Friday, she had a better time this trip than 2 1/2 years ago. What was the difference? She was with the teens. Their Wild Side excursion was cancelled but they still went snorkeling and attempted to stand on surfboards at the teen beach. They enjoyed hanging out together.

Lisa