Safety concerns

[Kissimmee_Family]

The Hannah 9, wants to roam free. Kevin, her 7 year old brother is saying "me too". I'm thinking maybe with some restrictions this should be ok, in a group, when we know where they are going, that sort of thing. The wife is saying "NO WAY".

I guess the first question should be, is there a Ship rule on kids roaming on their own and what are the pros and cons from those that have cruised before.

 

[dzneprincess]

The 9 year old will be allowed to check out of the club alone, if you let her. The 7 year old will not. You must be 8 to have that priviledge. Personally, I set ground rules for my kids, and they are allowed to check out of the clubs. BUT NOT to roam the ship. They are to have a destination in mind and go there. Ther are to be a 1 of 3 pre determined areas at all times or there will be heck to pay. They have not let me down yet. You know your kids, and only you and you wife can decide if you DD is mature enough to handle this priviledge. You will get many varied opinions on this matter ,as it is a hot topic aorund here.

 

[alexandrew]

I would never let my 9 yr old have sign out discretion on our upcoming cruise- It's not that I don't trust him, it's the 1796 other passengers I dont trust......

 

[hopelea]

You are going to get a wide variety of replies with this question........In the end, do what makes you feel comfortable and don't worry about what other people say.

On our first DC, my dd's were 9 & 7. No, I didn't allow them to check themselves out. I was worried about the other passengers. My youngest has never met a stranger.

This upcoming cruise, my dd's will be 11 & 9. Yes, they will have sign out privelages, with guidelines. Older one has to escort the younger one. I don't care if they walk 10 feet apart as long as they can see each other.

Do what makes you comfortable! HTH

 

[DVC Ian]

What about just physical safety of kids on a ship. Having never been on a cruise, is it fairly safe from the basic danger of a child accidentally falling overboard? (high guard rails?)

 

[mommasita]

I agree with the previous posters.. This decision has to be one you are BOTH in aggreance to!! If one of you is not, then the vacation will not be enjoyable... As for other people's opnions: you have to do what you are comfortable with.....

And no, it is hardly possible to fall off the ship accidentally... There is plexiglass high enough to prevent this.. One would have to place something in front of it, and climb over....

 

[DrCavin]

Who wants to bet this gets ugly????

 

[littlemuffin]

That is a bet I think I could really make some money on!!

I think it depends on the maturity of the child and setting appropriate limits.

I think when they are with another child it also helps.

 

[coleland]

You know your kids best, but I personally would not feel comfortable letting my 9 and 7yo children roam free.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

The Hannah 9, wants to roam free. Kevin, her 7 year old brother is saying "me too". I'm thinking maybe with some restrictions this should be ok, in a group, when we know where they are going, that sort of thing. The wife is saying "NO WAY".

I guess the first question should be, is there a Ship rule on kids roaming on their own and what are the pros and cons from those that have cruised before.

IMO I would say no only because you can never trust who is on the ship with you. God forbid someone somehow tricks your kids into their room with them. 7 is really young and what if the 7 yr old gets seperated from the 9 yr old.

My son is speech delayed so I have to play worst case senario out in my head but you never know what kind of people are attracted to a Disney Cruise just because of the amount of children there KWIM? I would risk on cautions side. They will be without you at the kids clubs. There they have freedone but controlled and not with an entire ship of strangers around them.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

What about just physical safety of kids on a ship. Having never been on a cruise, is it fairly safe from the basic danger of a child accidentally falling overboard? (high guard rails?)

That is pretty safe. The guardrails even have plexi over them to make it harder to climb but nothing is guaranteed. I am in a completely different position with my son than you are with your children so I have to worry more than the average parent.

 

[westjones]

My twins DDs were 11 on our last cruise and that was the first time (after 5 other cruises) that we let them check themselves out. BUT we had a room on deck 5 right around the corner from the lab and the only place they could go was to the room and the Lab would page us to tell us they went back to the room. Then we would go and meet them.

Next year they will be 12 and we have the same room and plan to have the same rules. I wouldn't have let them do this at age 9, but then I am one of those over protective moms (my kids are usally the last to be able to do anything).

You have to decide what you are comfortable with regarding your children. I would take into consideration how hard it is to find your room. Our room (on deck 5) was very easy to get back to. When we were on deck 7 *I* would get lost looking for our room at times.

Here is a link that lets you look at the deck plan. This is of deck 5 where the kids club/labs are located:

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/disneycruiseline/ratesanddates/ships/deckindex?id=Deck5

We were in room 5020 and will be next time, so you can see our room was right around the corner from the lab. You can click on the other decks to see where other rooms are located. See if you are comfortable with your child going from deck 5 to your room.

DJ

 

[DrCavin]

That is a bet I think I could really make some money on!!

I think it depends on the maturity of the child and setting appropriate limits.

I think when they are with another child it also helps.

Here is usually what threads that ask these kind of questions turn into... this one got really ugly quickly, probably the uglest thread on this board I have read in a long while....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=732529&highlight=check

 

[aprilgail2]

IMO I would say no only because you can never trust who is on the ship with you. God forbid someone somehow tricks your kids into their room with them. 7 is really young and what if the 7 yr old gets seperated from the 9 yr old.

Not even someone tricking the kid into going in their room...its as simple as them opening the door to their room and pulling them in! No way would I let my 9 year old walk around a ship with 1500+ strangers but hey...different strokes for different folks...

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Not even someone tricking the kid into going in their room...its as simple as them opening the door to their room and pulling them in! No way would I let my 9 year old walk around a ship with 1500+ strangers but hey...different strokes for different folks...

OMG I never thought of that!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for bringing that up. Wow the kids are gonna walk with adults behind so they are in sight. I could never figure out what room they would be in if that happened. OMG!

 

[zeldacruiser]

My brother and sister-in-law started conservatively with my almost-9-year-old niece. At first, she could only be checked out of the club by her parents, and they had planned that it would remain that way. At some point during the second day (and I can't remember specifically what changed their minds) they decided it would be OK for her to check herself out, and it worked fine - her main goal was always to go get more pizza! She did not get to roam the ship by herself, as the teens do; she was either in the club, with her family or getting pizza.

I think you are smart to ask the opinions of others here, formulate a plan, and then amend if necessary to be more conservative or liberal after you get the feel of the ship and how your child is behaving on the ship.

 

[spotdog]

I am a 45 yr old aunt who has been considering taking my Neice10 and Nephew8 on a cruise. I have cruised several times before with Disney.

I know, at these ages, the Lab will let them sign themselves out if I allow it. I would definately want to be paged first and told where the kids were headed. Back to the room for TV or to play/relax would be OK. To the movie theatre with a new "child" friend or sibling would probably be OK.

A no pools, no going into someone elses stateroom and definately, no trying to leave the ship, rule would be discussed.

 

[SchultzFamily]

When we cruised last August our DS was 15 and DD was 10 (a month short of 11). Of course we gave him more freedom than her,we did let her sign herself out of the club but we had to be paged with her destination before she could leave. We had very specific rules about behavior and no one was allowed to go in anyone else's room. As it ended up DD made friends with 10 year old twins who were right next door to us so she never ended up walking alone, the 3 of them always walked back to the room together and a couple of times they went to Scoops for ice cream together. I do feel better with the younger one not being alone and we were lucky to meet such a nice family right next door.

 

[HappyLawyer]

i don't see letting my dtr roam anywhere until after college- yes i know too overprotective here, but seriously, i would tell them they have free reign while they are in kids club, they just cannot leave, i would not let dtr sign out without supervision but that is just me.
good luck

 

[westjones]

I'm curious how many of you who have cruised with your children before still say they won't let 11 year olds or above check themselves out or go for drinks/food on deck 9.

The reason I ask is because I NEVER thought I would let my kids do something like that, but because I have been on the cruise before and my girls know the ship very well (we have cruised 6 times), we do let them sign out and go back to the room and wait for us, also we have let them go up on the deck 9 for food or drinks.

I think it is hard to explain the 'feel' of the ship until you have been on it. Now, we do have our room on deck 5 where they do not have to walk by lots of rooms (that makes me nervous). AND I have twins, so they always have a buddy system going, so that helps.

DJ