Cruise holidays are the epitome of relaxation—you don’t have to cook a single meal, your rooms are made up for you, and the unbeatable knowledge that you can go to sleep in one country and wake up in another, giving you a day to explore as much as you want.
The bonus is that your children can tag along for the ride, offering them adventures that some people wait a lifetime to experience.
While the vast majority of kids on cruise ships behave, everyone has seen out-of-control children running down the halls, jumping into pools, or playing unsupervised in adult-only areas.
In an attempt to control these unruly young people, Royal Caribbean offers kid and teen clubs where parents can drop off their children.
The younger kids are bound to the club until their parents come to check them out, while the older clubs are more open to allowing teenagers to come and go as they choose.
Now, though, Royal Caribbean wants to give parents better tools to monitor their children while on board.
In addition, the cruise line has considered some new rules to make more spaces adults-only, at least after certain hours.
“It’s probably time for us to take a look at the curfew, » Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley said on the Utopia of the Seas preview cruise in July.
« I think the idea of curfews in some of the bars is a great idea. And you know what they say: Everybody loves their kids, but they’re not so fond of everybody else’s kids.”
Currently, the cruise line has a 1am curfew for all passengers 17 years and under. That curfew does allow passengers 17 and under to be out and about as long as they are with their parents.
Aside from the solarium and the casino (where you have to be 18 to play), Royal Caribbean does not have age restrictions on its ships. That includes its bars, and recent efforts to make its bars more all-ages have been made as the cruise line has embraced mocktails and other alcohol-free beverages.
The line has decided, however, that making it easier for parents to keep track of their kids may also make it easier to stop them from misbehaving.
Therefore, Royal Caribbean has been testing a new tracking wristband for kids on Icon of the Seas and plans to offer the same technology on Star of the Seas, the upcoming second Icon-Class ship.
« One obvious benefit of the technology is that if parents look away for a few moments and their child goes missing, they’ll be able to track them down quickly, » Cruise Passenger wrote.
That will reduce stress and free up the crew from having to look for missing children, but it will also bring an added benefit concerning behaviour.
« There is also a good chance it could have a preventative effect; kids are less likely to do something naughty or go somewhere they’ve been told not to if they know that their parents can see their location, » the website added.
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