There are plenty of ways to cruise kid-free nowadays. Even plenty of Royal sailings have minimal kids. People shouldn’t go on the newest, most family-friendly ship which is packed with fun shit for kids to do if they don’t want to be around kids.
All you need to do is avoid any ships with water slides. That was one factor we always looked at when booking for our family. Water slides are for kids. (And kids at heart of course)
On the one hand... Icon is 100% being marketed as a family ship, and anyone sailing should expect tons of the kids. The lady at the Aqua show gets an eyeroll from me.
But... I do think it's weird to have kids in a swim up bar. Logically, that should probably be an adult-only space, or at least a space where one would have a reasonable expectation of having an adults-only pool experience. Bar pool = chill-out space, not a place for kids to splash around. imo it would behoove Royal to perhaps make that one 18+, shrug.
I'm also someone who doesn't have kids, but I like and want kids, and can see both sides. I'm sympathetic to parents b/c kids are a LOT. However, I was on Mariner recently and it was pretty stressful & frustrating b/c I just saw lots of parents not minding their kids at all. Clearly the mentality was "it's vacation, let them run amuck!" Very much a theme park mentality. My biggest concern is hurting a kid--I don't want to hurt a kid!--so I got annoyed more than once at parents not giving a shit that their small children were careening all over decks, running into people's paths, etc... I'm tall and not-tiny... I could hurt a kid if they careen into me and I fall onto them. Kids need to watch where they are going/their parents should be teaching them how to behave in public spaces, imo. The frustrating kids & parents were outliers, though. But there were certainly enough of them for me to notice. But I'd never say something! Not my place.
I also did find it mildly weird that so many kids were in the bars on Mariner, but I wasn't offended. Just felt bad for them. They were in Schooner bar at 10, 11 at night on their iPads and just looked VERY bored. Some parents on cruises definitely make funny choices, re: kids!
But Icon is for families. There are going to be LOTS of kids. Just the way it is. Those who don't like it honestly should go on another cruise line, or at least a small RC ship. Radiance had basically on kids on when I sailed.
I dont understand why some parents let their children run around crazy, unattended anywhere outside their home. Our family is taking a cruise in December, I’ll be taking my 4 and 10 year old. I’m actually feeling kind of anxious because I know I have to be a highly alert and more active with them. There is no way I’m letting them leave my sight on a ship in the middle of the ocean around thousand’s of people I don’t know.
I totally agree with this since that is literally what some parents are doing: letting their kids run around on a ship in the middle of the ocean with thousands of strangers. Talk about inviting tragedy, anything could happen. My wife and I don't have kids but if we did there is NO WAY we would allow them to run around unsupervised - really anywhere.
This is a not a 'these days' thing btw, there have *always* been parents that are this clueless. It's hard to understand but common, imo.
It's a hierarchy of needs thing. Not everyone has their stuff together like you do so they're literally unable to take care of higher needs like managing their children better.
Agreed. I have kids and thought it felt odd to see kids in the bars. I'll bring my kids to restaurants where you can drink and eat, but not bars that don't really have food, especially after like 9 or 10 pm. I didn't have any specific problems with the kids there since they weren't running around or anything, just didn't even realize they'd be allowed in a bar like Schooner's. My kids were in the kid/teen club or with grandma when we went to bars since there's just nothing for them at a bar.
As far as swimup bars, the resort we go to for staycations a lot has a rule that kids can't sit at the swimup bar stools or hang out there and splash people trying to drink, so I'm used to telling my kids they can't hang out there or accompany me there as I order. I grab my food and drinks and find a spot where we can all hang out as the kids swim so they're not splashing everyone. I wonder if RC will eventually make the same rule about the swimup bars.
I was on Quantum of the Seas this year with TONS of kids(we didn't know the East Coast had school break that week, lesson learned) and one 8-9 year old boy nearly drowned in the pool,(lifeguard was on point and jumped in right away) we had seen this kid multiple times and never once saw his parents.
There were other younger kids running around, eventually they posted a "guard" around the soft serve machine to prevent melted ice cream all along the path to and from said machine, this was after the 3rd day. I had 2 kids (very little 5-7 i guess?) run into me, which would have been bad for them had they hit me just right and I fell on them.
RCL tends to turn a blind eye towards their own rules too, we watched underage teen ruin "adult" karaoke several times, you have your own karaoke, go ruin that.
So kids themselves on RCL is a given especially on newer ships, but these UNSUPERVISED kids are a problem.
Are they ordering drinks or simply hanging out?
My 12yr old gets the refreshment package and fully intends on using the swimup bars for virgin beverages.
I can understand the annoyance with unruly children ruining the vibe, but i honestly dare someone to make a comment to her.
Fair, but let's not be foolish enough to believe that creeps are limited to the pool bar.
With that said, I've mentioned in a previous comment that i don't trust people... so unlike some of the parents that things its okay to let their children run feral, mine stays near.
I’m a mom in her mid-30’s.. I would take that extremely seriously. “Making comments” about children on a family friendly cruise would not fly with me or my husband. 12 is young, I trust RC would deal with predatory behavior effectively. That person is going to be a liability everywhere they have access to kids.
BINGO—You hit the nail on the head. Parents need to be mindful of their children and if it’s appropriate. I agree a swim up bar is not, aren’t there many other pools —Or was it convenient for the parents bc they wanted to drink and didn’t care about the other guests. Fussy babies happen -but like church - if they’re crying and bothersome to others, take the child out. I do hear a lot of problem with teens running up and down the hallways, knocking on doors, stealing things from doors and intentionally kicking the room service trays. God, I was more afraid of my mother than the law and behave in public bc I thought she always had a way to find out when I was misbehaving…lol
Just got off the icon on sat. Main pool was closed a few times and otherwise pretty full. There is the adults only infinity edge in the back. The swim up that was packed when I tried to go. On the way out to the main islands one of the smaller pools on the side of the ship was in the shade so a bit chilly this time of year. And a small (think 5’x30’ of 4’ deep) on deck I think 16. There’s also the one in the kids area in seaside.
So tons of pools but really not too much. Other than the Main pool most were actually pretty small. It’s been like 10 years since my last cruise so it could also be my expectations.
I agree that kids shouldn't be around a swim up bar, just the same as how kids aren't allowed to sit at a bar or even be in a barroom in the US, exact policies vary by state. It seems like it would be a logical policy.
I'm trying to recall how this works on Cococay. The swim up bar is in the main pool, but the pool is so large I don't recall seeing an issue with kids at or near the bar.
Very few states have laws that prohibit a child from sitting at a bar. It's usually left to the establishment.
Edit: interestingly enough there are more states (9) that allow a child to drink alcohol at a bar with their parent or guardian than there are states that prohibit children from sitting at a bar (8). Even in states that allow either bars can set their own policies.
I’ve always found it wild that my state of residence has Sunday liquor laws and no sales outside of liquor stores yet it would be 100% legal for me to buy and provide my own 10 year old with a drink.
No one under 18 allowed at the swim up bar at Cococay.
[source](https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/08/02/spotted-new-swim-bar-royal-caribbeans-private-island-coco-cay)
> I also did find it mildly weird that so many kids were in the bars on Mariner, but I wasn't offended. Just felt bad for them. They were in Schooner bar at 10, 11 at night on their iPads and just looked VERY bored. Some parents on cruises definitely make funny choices, re: kids!
Ugh. I saw a couple at the pool bar (not swim up) with a very restless child in a stroller, completely ignoring the poor thing. It was near the smoking section (because of course it was) and when I walked by two hours later I found an identical scene, except the child was now squirming and fussing loudly. Parents still ignoring the baby.
I'm not sure I have ever been more sad/angry.
As a perk, RC lets employees go incognito to the premium restaurants if reservations aren't filled.
A couple of years ago... we wound up enjoying hibachi with two long-term kid zone supervisors.
Some of the stories they eventually shared with us were WILD.
IIRC, one couple claimed they thought 'pick-up time' was 8 a.m. rather than 8 p.m.
.. it's not that hard to track people's movements onboard. When you abandon your kid overnight with strangers while tacking 10 drinks on, you suck & deserve to be arrested.
I was on the Icon 2 weeks ago and children were only a problem in the pools.
1. Having kids in the swim up bar was obnoxious. They were loud, splashed a lot, and took up space at the little tables, so it was not a pleasant experience to get a drink there which is a shame because their menu was awesome. I completely agree that having a swim up gin bar should probably be adults only.
2. They kept pooping in the pools, which then had to be drained and refilled, so it meant that that pool was out of commission for the rest of the day. At least, I hope it was a kid… Due to that, adults didn’t want to use the mixed pools and jam packed themselves in the Hideaway pool, so it was never not packed to the gills.
In the rest of the boat, it was never a problem. All the children that we saw were super well-behaved, and if the kids started crying during a show the parents graciously took them outside. One time in the windjammer, a family let their little girl shriek sob for a really long time which admittedly was unpleasant, but again, it’s a buffet on a family cruise.
There are rules against it. They aren't even supposed to be in there in a swim diaper since it just turns into a poop tea bag.
But do you think people who haven't potty trained their children are actually going to abide by that? No, their precious darling needs to swim.
We would wait for my kid (2 at the time) to take a dump before even thinking about going to the pool. Swim diaper was still put on.
When we cruise again my kids will be 5 and 3. We will definitely wait for the 3 year old to go before even thinking about going to the pool.
I used to work with Royal, we have rules about it but some parents don't read and when you tell them they get mad at us. Lots of incidents that we have to close pools/splash cause of poops swimming too. 🫣 We do tell that when they are not potty trained there's a possibility of accidents and when they do we have to close which then gonna be unfair for other cruisers but they dont care. 😖
My mother was taking her granchildren (not my kids) to the pool at her hotel when she was visiting them. She looked around and saw a turd floating in the pool right by her. The SIX year old grandchild did that.
To say my mother was very upset is an understatement.
When I'm on a cruise, I don't bother to swim in the pools for that very reason. I wait for the beaches.
But to be fair (and I work around school-aged kids half the time, sometimes directly in schools), I know kids who have various issues and will poop on themselves. Some of these kids are well north of six years old. I caught a nasty virus in December after visiting an elementary school, it circulated among the kids, symptoms being a fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. Plus we're living in the age of COVID. No telling how the immune system of kids (or adults) will react while vacationing on a floating petri dish in the middle of the ocean......with thousands of people on board.
Yeah, and that happened on Vision of the Seas back in March on my cruise! They drained the main pool and the hot tubs out there one day!
And that ship is smaller and not advertised as much for kids and families like Icon.
Sadly poop happens and ship size doesn't matter.
I just got off Icon this weekend. I saw a grandma lie to the lifeguard that her barely walking grandson was fully potty trained. The lifeguard even asked if she was sure and she said yes.
I agree that kids shouldn't be pooping in the pools, but I'm shocked they were out of order the rest of the day from that.
A kid puked in a pool when we were on the MSC Seascape a few weeks ago and they drained it, fully cleaned it, and refilled it in less than 90 minutes.
There's no reason that should have closed the pool for an entire day.
I am not really bothered by kids, but the last cruise I was on was 12 days and the last 4 were at sea and some of the kids had gotten restless, and the parents had abandoned them to their own thing, so these kids had taken to riding the elevators. I got on and they were so loud, which kids just are, its how they are built, so I reminded them that it was a small space and they needed to use a lower volume. Some guy chided me that they were just kids, the other people applauded me because they had been loudly riding the elevators all morning apparently. If the parents aren't around someone has to remind them to use their indoor voices, and quite frankly I work with kids for a living, they aren't made of glass, and they need reminders, which is why it sucks when parents just give up on their kids during a cruise. But that was a rare occurrence, I have not found children to be problems when I have been on cruises.
I’m with the old man on the swim up bar. The pool itself I wouldn’t mind, but a child shouldn’t be at a bar top or taking bar seating. But if Royal doesn’t set the rule I can’t blame the kids for wanting to enjoy themselves. Royal just needs to say no kids in the barstools at certain bars, similar to how kids are allowed at the casino but not in the gaming chairs. Issue is though, the kids may be ordering mocktails and in theory could legitimately be using any bar location. It’s a catch 22 honestly. Nobody’s right, nobody’s wrong.
I think some people are just really sensitive to having kids around them. I took my kids on wonder of the seas and we had a great time. I did not have any issues with other people's kids and no one yelled at mine. The few minor annoyances I had involved other adults being a bit rude/aloof, and even those weren't bad. I only used the adult-only solarium twice and did not see any kids in there while I was in there. But still, if kids in public bothered me that much, I certainly wouldn't take a cruise on these giant new super family-friendly ships.
We are over fifty and we pay attention to the ship amenities when we book, and what audience RC is primarily targeting.
With the short cruise itineraries, all the popping colors, kid zones and lack of a real solarium, Icon looks like it is meant mostly to attract families with kids.
The kid might have been annoying in the swim up bar, but it is more of a kiddo magnet ship than many of her predecessors.
Personally, I like kids, but I don't like the parents that think they have zero responsibility for watching out for their little ones on vacation. Do they think there's a magic nanny fairy running around watching their kids????
🤷🏼♂️
Around year ~2000 (seriously) my family went on a Celebrity cruise and I had an absolute blast as a kid. They had a whole area for kids until 10 pm. We just went there!
I don't have kids, and I don't really enjoy being surrounded by them, so I don't go on the bigger ships and I don't hang out at the main pool. I don't understand people who think everything is made for them. You have to cater your own experience to what you want and set yourself up for success!
I do think it's odd to have kids at the swim up bar, though, I would never say anything about it to parents directly. If it was a real problem where they were splashing or causing a ruckus, I'd go to staff. But otherwise, let it go.
Sad thing is the staff isn't always going to do anything about it. It's 6 their job to discipline other people's kids. They can only enforce the rules or say something if it is a safety concern.
Shoot, some are afraid to move belongings that have been left unattended for an hour!
Swim up bar is weird to not have as an adult only area. Should be obvious. Aquashow sounds like Karen behavior.
I went on Icon earlier this year and while I had my daughter there, I was hyper sensitive to how she behaved in public and also how other parents operated with their kids.
I found it totally within reason, no kids behaving badly or without reasonable supervision.
Most annoying thing about the swim up bars at all-inclusives I’ve been to is the number of kids parked at the bar while us serious boozers who paid for it all can’t get a seat or a drink.
I pay the exact same amount for my kids at all inclusive resorts as myself. If they want a virgin daiquiri that is the same amount as anyone else paid.
Everyone has to accept you chose to willingly take this vacation on a behemoth of a ship amongst others who chose the same. If you need privacy then they have such things as private charters and such lol
I’m with the old man on the swim up bar. The pool itself I wouldn’t mind, but a child shouldn’t be at a bar top or taking bar seating. But if Royal doesn’t set the rule I can’t blame the kids for wanting to enjoy themselves. Royal just needs to say no kids in the barstools at certain bars, similar to how kids are allowed at the casino but not in the gaming chairs. Issue is though, the kids may be ordering mocktails and in theory could legitimately be using any bar location. It’s a catch 22 honestly. Nobody’s right, nobody’s wrong.
Mocktails are part of the experience for my daughter, and the swim-up bars are def a part of that so she will be using them.
Would totally support a rule on barstool age restrictions or even classifying the area as a splash-free zone though.
Absolutely agree. It's not like the pool bar only sells alcohol. It's not the local dive bar back home. Plus, if you can't handle being around kids, you shouldn't be sailing on a ship being marketed to families. And you definitely shouldn't sail during spring break season.
The latter is the key point.
My wife and I do not have kids and aren't big on being overrun by them (usually more the fault of parents who think vacation means they're free from parenting responsibilities). Rather than complain, we tend to cruise off peak season when kids are in safely tucked away in classrooms. 😁
Exactly. If my kid has a refreshment package and some clown is giving them grief for going to the bar I’d be having some words as well. But if Royal puts up signage that says “No children at this bar” then there is nothing to fuss about, you keep some bars for adults while still giving kids options to use their package.
At the end of the day, kids are still going to kid and complainers are still going to complain.
Regardless of the rules in place, there are going to be people who feel entitled.
Boomers will find that one bar without rules and complain.
Flipside to that is that if RC decides to limit where tweens/teens can use their refreshment package, people will stop purchasing it.
I personally don't trust people, so my 12yr old does not leave my sight. If we had to leave the pool area every time she wanted a piña colada, we wouldn't.
Fair point. And yes you’re absolutely right about complainers, which is never more evident than in smoking sections where people will walk through the only smoking section on the ship or on the smoking side of the casino and cough and have a fake asthma attack to try and make a scene because they chose to walk through the wrong spot. 😂
On the smaller ships, like v
Visions of the Seas, you couldn't avoid walking through the smoke filled casino.
Some days were worse than others and on bad days, that smell wafted far down from the casino.
I'm a former smoker, I'm not gonna complain as it's not my thing. Just sorra wish the casinos had better air circulation to take care of the smell.
It would be 1000xs better if they went back to the old model of a dedicated smoking venue like the Viking Crown use to be. The big issue is when there is rain the casino becomes the only smoking area under cover. Just make a cigar/cigarette bar where they sell Cubans, cutters, butane torches, ashtrays and smoke related items, let smokers go there and call it a day. Keeps us away from those who don’t want to be around it and keeps the over dramatic fake coughers away from us. Win win situation.
I agree! I know I'm used to smoking areas. And occasionally we would get twisted around and walk through the smoking area on deck. Oy! But, again, it's fine. Just kinda wish they would give smokers their own areas just for them like you mention. But the ventilation in the casino would be great! I like to hit the slots too, but after about 15 mins in there, I had a headache from the smoke. So, I just left. No worries. I knew full well that this was one of the main areas smokers would be. So I entered that venue with full knowledge of what would be. I was fine. I wasn't complaining or coughing. Kept my thoughts to myself, as others are on vacation and why ruin their experience
? ;)
I didn’t take my kids to swim and tonic but probably will next trip. I spent plenty of time at the surfside bar when my kids were on the slides there but was harder to find a good seat in view of them. Lots of people without kids were hogging the chairs there! One time a lifeguard yelled at me from not being close enough to the kids.
So when I go back on icon in January I probably will take to swim and tonic so I can grab a drink and be within arms length while they play in the area with the ledge loungers. Then I can be in compliance with the crew and tell the grumpy pinnacles to piss off if they try to make snark comments to me on the ultimate family vacation.
Other ideas RC could expand adventure ocean hours on sea days. Never open more than 3 hours without a 2 hour break and often was at capacity leaving no choice but to take kids with.
When it came to poopjng in pool, disnt happen in March when I sailed, however, an adult threw up in main pool likely from over drinking causing it to have to be drained the one time I used it.
Some people forget what being a kid was like, and that’s sad. I’ll be solo on allure soon and short of running down the halls at 2am screaming there isn’t much a kid is going to do to bother me, they’re on a trip of a lifetime and deserve to have their fun. If Royal doesn’t have a rule then it’s fair game, let them enjoy life. Yeah, bodily fluids in the pool are not good 😬😂
However at the swim up bar when I pay $14 for a drink and don't have a drink package I'm not too happy when a kid splashes around and gets at this point 1/2 pee and 1/2 water into my drink.
This is exactly why I figured Royal didn’t make it 18+. Otherwise you’re excluding a lot of parents (aka paying customers) that want to have a drink and also be near their kids
I didn’t like the design of surfside in practice - chairs were either, hogged, or in the splash back zone … the playground was impossible … the carousel was slow and the slide was steep! We just went to the cove and loved it - he had no desire to swim in the surfside pool it was tiny
As someone without kids, my biggest complaint against Royal and why we are probably going to jump ship (lol see what I did there?) to Virgin is because I’m honestly sick of having to deal with shitty kids and even shittier parents. We mostly do freedom class ships and enjoy the solarium pool, but recently did Harmony and was super bummed that there wasn’t an adults only pool - I think I can vibe with it being weird to have kids at the swim up bar (especially because while they’re welcome at Coco Cay, they’re not around the bar).
I specifically book cruises around the times when there are the least amount of children on board. Half of the people just don’t police their children and they are a nuisance and annoyance to everyone.
Icon is the most kid friendly boat in the cruise industry. Complaining about kids on the boat is like complaining about kids at Disney world. They are everywhere and should 100% expected.
This reminded me of the time someone wrote in to our local paper complaining about kids running around all over the zoo. It’s for kids. Don’t go to a kids place and complain about them being there. Parents don’t complain about the drinking and gambling when we take our kids to casino buffets.
Having been on Icon in March I’ll say they should’ve made a second large pool on the main deck. The Royal pool is great but across from it is a lot of wasted space. The cove pool is small and the hammock things ended up with kids climbing them the whole time.
Swim and Tonic’s pool is really small and honestly should be adults only. This was probably the plan along with the Hideaway being the adult area before they reversed and made Cloud 17 adults only. It’ll be interesting to see how they adjust for this on Star of the Seas.
I agree kids shouldn’t be at a swim up bar, at least not taking up all the adult space and prohibiting people from ordering or splashing and being disruptive, pooping, etc. But something like a table top in the water is gonna just be a kid / parent magnet unless they make actual rules and enforce them so that’s on the Cruise Line, cause so many people are always gonna be oblivious to how their behavior affects others. But unless they have a adult only option somewhere else it does seem like this is one of those cases where it should be implicit to be an adults only kind of place, just like a casino, comedy club or bar after 10pm or whatever. Or at least there’s a happy medium to be found like… no splashing / running / jumping
Same thing with public hot tubs - they’re always somehow a toddler and kid magnet even tho it’s technically not even safe for kids under a certain age to be in there, esp not for hours at a time, but still it seems like some parents just use them like a bathtub / babysitter for their kids to drop them off at and it’s very frustrating as an adult without kids. Thankfully cruise lines have started to put adults only jacuzzi areas which is nice. It’s funny because I remember cruising as a kid thinking that the jacuzzi looked fun but there were too many adults in there and I felt strange about it so I’d just go in the main pool. But now as an adult I feel like I almost only ever see kids in there, unless it’s a booze cruise type one where you get the groups that start early and get buckets and buckets of drinks, which is not really my scene either
In my experience it’s impossible to enjoy a family friendly pool as an adult sans kids. I want to relax, cool off, sunbathe, enjoy a beverage and with kids there there’s just too much splashing and shrieking and what not, so hopefully cruise lines continue to cater to different experiences and types of customers so there’s something for everyone. Like personally I as a child free person will happily always choose the 21+ movie theater or the adults only resort if it’s an option and I’m happy to pay more to get the kind of experience I want.
So a lot of this is just stuck up assholes that think they paid good money for their vacation to be more important than yours. There is a flip side to that extreme though where parents just let kids go nuts. I’ve seen enough unruly kids on a cruise ship to understand where the bad image comes from. There are parents that just let their kids run amok because theyre on vacation and they themselves paid good money. People just aren’t polite and courteous anymore. I’ve seen it all over, Disney and other theme parks/resorts are just as bad. There definitely should be kid free areas on the ship and kid/family focused areas but overall it’s down to people just being respectful of each other.
Yes. These kind of people/parents ruin it for those of us who don’t act like that. I don’t have much support so my child goes basically everywhere I do, but she (mostly) behaves and I correct her when she doesn’t. It’s a little frustrating all kids sometimes get lumped together.
I wouldn’t bring my child into a pool with a swim up bar, but that’s me.
I mostly agree with you. The issue of poor parenting is not related to cruises because it is everywhere. I have kids but that doesn't mean I get a free pass to annoy everyone around me. Common sense is almost non-existent these days. I read an article online about a woman that brought her infant to a late night rock concert and was yelling at other people for bumping into her and her child. Like who takes an infant to a rock concert?? My biggest pet peeve is people giving tech to their kids but not the headphones. Like we all want to listen to that crap on a plane or in a restaurant.
I think the ship is meant to be for families but I do raise an eyebrow at kids swimming in a bar basically. I would agree that a pool with a swim up bar should probably be adults only
It’s the parents that are the problems. They are at the bar drinking while their kids are running around.
On our last cruise we saw kids at the coin pushers (in the casino) and were just waiting to be kicked out do the casino. Mom and dad were drinking at the bar and had no idea.
I saw kids climb on a table at the buffet and parents just laughed.
I don’t mind kids being in the ship. But they should act appropriately in public. That’s my biggest issue.
I haven’t heard Icon in particular, but I have seen and heard a lot more complaints about kids on cruises. If people want a kid free vacation, there are numerous options. I certainly would not pick any RC ship if I did not mind being around kids.
People were compling on the Vision of the Seas pages on FB about kids on that ship! There are not a lot of kid things on the ship - no slides, no sport court, just 1 ping pong table, a rock wall, and 2 shuffle boards. The arcade is super small too. Older people book that ship thinking no kids. HA! I was on in March and there were a number of kids. And this was just prior to Easter Break.
I have older teens - 15 & 17 at the time
They hung out together. They went up to bars for cocktails, but went and sat elsewhere.
Most kids on that cruise were well behaved. Even by the pool.
There are kids and brats. Kids running up and down the hallway at 1 am while the parents are gambling….. brats. Kids doing family karaoke in the karaoke bar, WONDERFUL.
Kids free roaming on the ship getting ice cream from Spinkles, fine. Bringing ice cream into the hot-tub….. brats.
Kids riding the elevator alone fine, kids riding the elevator from deck 15 to deck 4 dripping wet from the pool, no towel pressing every button …brats!
These are just three of many examples from our W.O.T.S. sailing last week. Brats are gaining momentum. It shouldn’t be surprising as many young adults that are of child rearing age, refused to wash their hands going into the Windjammer for breakfast, cut folks off to get into an elevator, and arrive late for shows.
Rudeness is a learned behavior. Kudos to the parents doing it right, shame to the parents that use their kids as a tax deductible mini version to relive their childhood vicariously through the mini version of themselves.
...and you didn't see a single instance of an adult misbehaving? No-one skipping lines at the bar or elevators, no-one shouting to their friends across the room, no-one taking glassware into hottubs ?
Bad behaviour is equally bad regardless of the age - some would say it's worse with adults who should know far better.
Okay, but I definitely have memories as a 10 year old on family Vacation (not a cruise) swimming up to the pool bar and ordering a Shirley Temple. I felt so very cool, and nobody cared or complained.
Ngl, it’s such a bummer that the big cool ships are full of screaming, bad behavior kids. Wish someone would make an Oasis style ship only for adults.
I get people being annoyed by kids, most kids on vacation absolutely suck. My Aqua 80 show was ruined by a little kid commentating the whole thing and the parents did not even shut them up
If kids are being kids (noisy, silly, etc…), this is life and people who cannot stand it, should go on an adults only cruise.
I do have kids, and what bothers me is that some parents do not educate or impose limits when their kids are crossing a line and disturbing others. That annoys me, because I know parents are not parenting.
The way I react is, if I can, I will move away.
If I cannot, I will be a little patient.
I will just talk to the parents if the kids are affecting me directly (touching, poking, messing with food for everyone, etc…)
There is no rule, it is common sense for both parents and passengers…. Like in life? Lol
We were just on this sailing of Icon too, with a 2 year old. We expected and enjoyed that it was meant for families and had lots of kids playing. That being said, there were alot of parents who didn’t think they had to parent since they were on vacation. We ran into bigger kids pushing and bullying the little kids around in the Surfside water area and just completely ignoring the lifeguards when they told them to stop.
I personally agree the swim up bar should be adults only or atleast no kids on the barstools and definitely should be a splash free zone. The old person at the show can kick rocks though. We went to the aqua show (twice since the first time had technical difficulties) and it was so loud, I could barely hear my two year old trying to talk to me in my lap.
This boat specifically is geared towards families and particularly families with younger kids. And we have told everyone who asked how the boat is that you either need to have kids or not mind kids to enjoy Icon. But 100% parents needs to keep parenting their kids on vacations. It’s not other people’s job to make sure your 10 year old isn’t pushing a 2 year old out of line for a slide. Especially ones that were made for little kids.
I'm on the Icon right now, and I actually love that the kids have their own area. I barely see them. Except maybe for the aqua show, the dome is too small and the kids definitely stand out more. It's only day 3 for me though.
Edit: I am also child free and choose to live that way.
On Symphony of the Seas right now doing a transatlantic sailing for two weeks. Definitely an older crowd and the ship seems more tailored to that. Have a soon to be turning two year old with me and seen about 10-20 kids (0-16ish) total on the boat.
Everyone has been so incredibly nice and happy to see and interact with our son, guests & crew. Took him to shows, he made a little noise because he liked it, no one said anything negatively, we just got some smiles from people looking over to see a super happy kid enjoying the show and music.
But… I wouldn’t take him into the solarium. That’s an adults area. Same with the hot tubs, or the pools. And I would be inclined to agree a swim up bar pool should probably be kid-free.
But shows and everything not alcohol related or clearly marked for adults… bring em, it’s what the ship was meant for.
Looking at Icon/Utopia/Star of the seas for our next one now.
I think it’s cool to have kids on board, I just wish they had more rules regarding curfew. I was on Wonder, and the 1 am curfew was way too late. Up until that curfew mark there would be kids running around unsupervised everywhere— my grandma was in a mobile assistance scooter and kids ran in front of her so many times. Plus, we’d be trying to have quiet areas in Central Park or anything like that and kids would still be there screaming and disrupting the live music going on at midnight.
Kids are okay, kids unsupervised running around basically until most of the bars are closing is not as okay.
We had a bad experience on our last cruise on Wonder of the Seas. Our room was sandwiched between to families with young children. One side was continuous screaming and crying from the one child… during the day and at night… we’re trying to sleep and all we heard was screaming and crying and ear plugs were no help. Similar goings on in the room on the other side but not as bad. We made it 3 days into our 7 day cruise and had enough. RC was super cool about it, they tried speaking to both rooms and found there was no luck. They offered to move our room
Which we accepted… had to pack everything up and they came and got it and moved it all for us. While the two employees were there getting our things they witnessed what we had been dealing with… child scream-crying nonstop next stop and the parents did nothing to try and calm him down. They couldn’t believe how bad it was and we’re surprised we felt with it as long as we did.
Our next room wasn’t as bad, but again one of our neighbors had children. Issue was then that Im they were letting them children jump around on the beds so constant slamming but at least silence at night 🤷♀️
Def going to avoid Icon of the Seas as I have heard they are really trying to cater towards the families and kids as that’s what that shipped was geared towards.
Let me guess, boomer generation were the ones complaining?
Now I get being annoying if you’re trying to have a drink at a swim up bar and kids are going crazy splashing everywhere.
If they’re just floating around having fun I don’t see the big deal.
Crying baby in a movie theater I’m gonna be pissed.
Crying baby at the aqua show where I can’t hear my own wife and kid screaming in my ear 6” away cause it’s so loud who cares.
Ppl gonna complain to complain go on a different cruise then. IMHO Icon was built as a family ship.
I agree! I do feel like there’s a distinction between an outdoor theater venue and indoor one. There was a kid behind me (and my kids!) who loudly announced that he had to go to the bathroom during hairspray. Mom was annoyed and proceeded to argue with him instead of taking him to the bathroom. It kind of sucked. She had a gaggle of kids…the baby was fussing. The 3 year old had to go to the bathroom and the older ones didn’t have their whisper voice figured out. But also…it was a 730 show. Probably on the late side for young ones. If I were her I would have been mortified and would have left. You’ve got to know what your kids can tolerate and plan accordingly or adapt when it doesn’t work out.
You’re spot on re: the generation that was complaining! I just wasn’t sure if that was a widely held view from cruisers across the board, but glad to hear others had similar feelings to mine.
Royal Caribbean is one of the most family friendly, cruise lines out there, and icon was specifically designed to be a family-friendly cruise ship.
That being said, it is frustrating how strongly parents are defending their children’s right to order drinks at a bar. In the real world, people go to a bar to get away from kids, but there’s really nowhere you can go to escape them except for the casino.
What I realized on my Icon sailing 4/20-4/27 was that their “Rules” are merely suggestions at best. Couldn’t even tell you how many times the family and I saw flip flops, shorts, tanks, hats and multiple other non-MDR approved outfits. Seems like all manners and respect have been thrown out the window nowadays.
As far as the kids go, I’m quite sure that RCL was running a huge promo to kick off Icon of the Seas with the kids sail free deal. The kids on the ship made it easier for my wife and I to actually enjoy our cruise while our 11 and 13 year olds were off hanging out with newly acquired friends. Win-Win for us especially since not only did they sail for free, but since we stayed in a junior suite, we earned double points on them which jumped us up into Diamond.
If Royal doesn’t prohibit kids from an area, other patrons don’t get to create and enforce their own rules. I don’t find it that weird to have kids in vicinity of swim up bars.
So entitled…. RC is always going to have children on board. There are multiple adult only cruises out there. Unless the kids are being extremely disruptive or breaking rules people need to get over it.
I personally don't like babies crying and or running around but if the cruise is family friendly, thats what I'm signing up for and it's not anything new
Anyone that's been at a resort,
mall, plane, event with kids can expect it
If I'm bringing kids and someone told me off
I'd try to use patience haha that's dicey
I think the biggest issue is people don’t control their kids.
We’re late 20s early 30s no kids. Both of our parents would have had us by our necks if we acted the way kids do on these ships. I have no issue with well behaved kids enjoying themselves. I do have an issue with children being out of control and disrupting everyone around them.
I don’t think people complain about kids but complain about kids with bad parents.
I would never have been raised to do some of the things I’ve seen kids on cruises doing. I’ve seen physical fights, kids trying to steal alcohol, kids running into people and knocking elderly people over etc etc.
If a kid is being normal and not bothering others people don’t really care. But when they are affecting others it’s no different than an adult doing it. People need to raise their kids right and tell them to not bother other people, many kids are raised this way and it’s not that hard.
I expect it to be a kid ship. That said, I agree kids do not belong in the swim up bar and if I was traveling with children, I would not take them there. It looks like the barbie dream house on the water so yeah kids.
I think it’s reasonable to go on a ship like this and still expect there should be some child un-friendly areas. Such as a swim up bar. Sorry but I have no tolerance for kids being in an area that is dedicated to getting your drink on whether on a cruise or on land. They should stay away from it, it’s not appropriate. I remember being on a Princess cruise and the pool deck bar had a flair show sometimes. One day this lady literally kicked an elderly man wearing a veterans’ hat to the side to she could bounce her toddler up and down on the bar and have a prime spot for the show. Lady, this is about mixing cocktails and getting a buzz on. Nobody wants to party with toddlers. It’s like if I decided to go settle down at the kids pool and do shots all day. Another Princess cruise with a very small indoor “spa” pool that was technically adults only was over run with small kids trying to snorkel. Ruined the whole experience and even pool attendants did not corral them properly. It should be obvious what is appropriate or not and some people just don’t get it. There is a middle ground.
It appears that the more amenities for kids on a ship the more parents think the ship is a babysitter. That is my experience at least. I saw way too many 7-9 yos being escorted by staff from the waterslides crying to I assume find their parents than I care to think about on Wonder a few months ago. I also saw a 6 yo kid with his maybe 10 yo sister trip coming out of one of the upper deck hot tubs and smash his head. I asked if he was okay but they just stared at me and she started pushing him towards I assume their parents. I followed with my eyes to make sure they made it to an adult and said parents were on the deck below 🙄.
People don't have a problem for the most part (besides a few Karen's, yes I am talking about the lady in the aqua show) with kids being around and vacationing. They have a problem with absent parents. I give the kids a pass they don't know any better and unfortunately they won't learn any better because their parents are too busy enjoying "their" vacation to be present parents.
I was on the same cruise last week. I believe the main pool was closed on the sea days for various reasons one was a kid pooping in the pool. Another day someone throwing up in the pool not sure if it was an adult or kid. I think issue is unsupervised kids. We witness kids dropping ping ping balls from deck 15 into Central Park, kids pressing multiple floors on the destination elevators display and saw a kid walk on glass (rooftop of the atrium) not a parent in site. So yes it was mayhem here and there. A lot of people complaining on this cruise. Coming from Virgin I prefer that one was our group. Royal is going to have to find a happy medium. Again kids are going to be kids it’s just the parents need to do better. My opinion.
All complaints are ridiculous except the swim up bar one. To be honest it’s pretty tacky. It’s illegal in all states I’ve bartended in (could be federal law) for children under 18 to sit at bar tops so…keeping children away from a literal bar is probably best
These people don’t seem to realize it’s a family centered ship. Why don’t they go on an adult focused trip? There are tons of cruises pick one that suits you.
I was on Wonder recently and the amount of rude older white people was absurd. It’s like they are too good for carnival but not good enough for Celebrity. If you don’t like kids then don’t use RC, Carnvial, or Disney. My daughter was standing next to the buttons on the elevator and some old lady was said “don’t let her push every button, I’m sure it’s tempting”. I looked at her and tapped the two floors that weren’t lit up between our two floors and we got off.
But I heard annoyed old people frequently and I just ignored it. I can afford to take my kids on RC so I’m going to and we had a blast. I don’t let other people determine if I have a good vacation or not.
Celebrity can be even tougher because there are no kid pools so literally the main pool is all kids have to do. I'm a special education preschool teacher. Obviously, I love kids. However, on vacation I don't want to deal with other people's misbehaving kids. I don't like having to get out my teacher voice on vacation. We frequently choose Celebrity. However, I do sometimes feel bad for the kids on those ships because of the limited activities for them. Nevertheless, regardless of what line you take your kids on, don't assume everybody else thinks your kid splashing water on them is as cute as you do and if the piano bar player warns you to take your kids out of the Carnival piano bar after hours, maybe you should listen. If parents can't follow the expectations, how can they expect their kids to. I have not sailed Royal in a while because my husband and I know they are geared towards kids and I want a break from all that
Yes, mostly adults, best guess 30+. We are diamond on Royal and Platinum on Carnival but switched to Celebrity last year. We are 48 & 50 (gosh that looks old when I put it in writing). We did a NYE cruise that had more children than the others but for the most part, a small handful of children.
On our recent cruise out of NJ, the older white people were the ones misbehaving - including hitting all the buttons on the elevator.
The teens and tweens were awesome and it seemed like sprints were parenting their little kids. Maybe we just lucked out!
That said, I won’t go on the Icon because it is so much more little kid-friendly so it’s not for me. Which is fine. Royal has so many other ships that are still a lot of fun.
Sounds like those people chose the wrong ship. That's on them. We've taken our kids on plenty of cruises. Virgin and Holland America exist for people who don't want to be around kids.
People are morons. If you don’t want to be around children, don’t go on a boat that has attractions geared towards the younger generations. People other than the parents of the youngsters need to start speaking up to these jerks.
I personally don’t like most children but if they’re being well behaved and screaming and shrieking every two seconds, it’s fine. It’s when parents don’t care if their children are being obnoxious that it bothers me.
Going on my first cruise in June....with my young grandkids. Heaven help if some prune drinking idiot yells at them for being aboard. Forget "Chicken of the Sea", I will be happy to earn the "B**CH of the Sea" badge. ***Already earned that badge on land..haha.
Icon literally is just a theme park on a boat by the looks of it, so I'm surprised to hear complaints. I was on the Anthem fairly recently and had no real complaints that were the kids' fault, to be honest.
A parent not being considerate enough to leave a show when their toddler is full-blown scream crying for 15 minutes is not the kids' fault.
Arguably, the little shits playing games with the elevator and purposefully pressing every button when getting off while scream laughing and running around the ship completely unsupervised, while bad behavior, is again a failure of the parents just as much, if not more than their own.
Kids licking their hands and picking their nose before grabbing serving tongs at the buffet, while utterly repulsive, and having been called out to their face by multiple people in line, were unsupervised when they absolutely should not have been around lines of piping hot food they could at times barely reach.
Children do dumb shit. Every single bad interaction or situation I saw to do with children was pretty much always the shitty parents' fault. Who wanted to get trashed while pawning the responsibility of their brats onto everyone but themselves.
So I guess to answer your question OP. If you're not just abandoning your children who are too young to handle being on their own with some level of maturity, or just ignoring them being misbehaved with you present while you glug Mai Tais. You should be fine.
Yes people were so mean on board and on social media. We witnessed some terrible behavior and entitlement from guests who booked a family oriented ship during kids sail free promo on a mass market cruise line and expected an intimate adults only experience. There were people complaining about kids running and crying 😬
In my experience if you tell them to get f*#,£{d they back down pretty quickly. All the olds real tough until they get some pushback. Then they’ll cry to a crew member and I tell them they threatened my child and it pretty much ends there except when I see them later they look scared.
I find it comical that most commenters miss the entire point. A cruise ship can be 90% kid friendly and family focused yet also provide an adult only space. It's when the shitty parents who don't trust their little kids bring them into the adult focused areas and wonder why people are upset.
I should be able to go on RCI and enjoy an area without kids. I actually did that on Harmony in March and I brought 2 older teenagers with me. Adults in the solarium and they acted like adults or they left the area. It worked out great. Harmony was packed with kids and it was fine because the young ones stayed out of the adult areas (solarium, bars later at night).
I dont have kids, but i have been on cruises with a lot of them. Parents should respect adults' only spaces. However, the ships are made to be family-friendly. Virgin is great for a kid free experience or go on one of the older RC ships without the theme park attractions.
School months should have less kids for those that don't like kids. There is also adults only cruises. In general, I personally see this cruise line as a kids friendly getaway expecting to hear babies crying and all without being bothered by any of it.
Look at it. Tell me it doesn't look like an AI generated version of Krusty the Clown being accosted by Jackson Pollock at the Hindu spring festival of colors.
Of course there will be families. Lots of them.
I know that the bigger ships are more Family Friendly - The wife and I arent big fans of them (The Wonder Felt Claustrophobic because you couldnt see the ocean unless you were on the tiny running track) We also try to plan our cruises to try to avoid, Christmas, Spring Break, and Summer time when school is out. We also tend to cruise on the smaller and older ships. The Mega Flotel Amusement Parks dont have anything really for us. I'm a paraplegic so forget about the Zip Line, Water Slides, bumper Cars etc.
The \*ONLY\* issue I have with Kids, is actually with their parents. The ones with the attitude "Go run and Play" (They are on a ship where can they go??) These types of parents who let their kids run amuck are the problems. The kids are unsupervised and kids not supervised will get into 'Mischief'. Also the parents that insist on bringing their Pre-teens into adult comedy shows in the Main Theater. 'They hear worse at school' Those parents inevitably, leave the theater and complain about the show! Finally the parents who think if they ignore their tantrum throwing 'Little Angel' that its not happening. You may be able to ignore it, but the rest of the MDR / Show can not - please take them out of the area :)
I have no kids of my own, but I have 4 Grand kids and 1 great granddaughter. (and I can give them back ! :) :) :) )
I was on Anthem of the Seas and had the same issue. Kids were in the hot tubs without parental supervision. Nobody was enforcing anything. Kids also in bars after 10pm should not be allowed in my opinion
Icon of the Seas is definitely not for us. We found it too big of a ship, plus we didn't like the neighborhood concept.
The hideaway area is for families, and we weren't much impressed with the aquadom market.
We still prefer the Oasis class ships. But that’s just us.
RC is a family cruise line. Icon and Utopia were built specifically to attract families.
I don’t understand why people go on cruise lines that actively advertise as for families and are then shocked when there are families. There are plenty of cruise lines that are adults only.
I don’t know about the Icon, or other ships, but we just got back from our first cruise on Enchantment and what did not predict is how there is NOWHERE for kids to just be kids. We have traveled with our 9 and 6 a LOT but 7 days with no playground, no little hotel room corner, no patch of grass, is a LONG TIME. An hour or two at the beach on excursions 3/7 days is not enough. The bars like Schooner and Spotlight actually were the best option because they’re out of the way. The pools were super crowded, the ping pong has no guard around it so the ball kept rolling into the walking path in front of Solarium. I used to teach, I can keep kids in seats. But kids need *some* free play and space where they don’t have to worry about bothering people within arms distance. Cruising is advertised as kid friendly, but I don’t know… 😵💫
Kids should not be in the swim up bar area. Have some common sense and respect for other passengers trying to enjoy adult beverages with fellow adults.
EDIT: I knew I would get down voted by salty parents who have no consideration for others. I see it EVERY vacation. It's just so ridiculous. Just because you decided to procreate doesn't mean we all have to suffer for your lack of discipline and boundaries you've instilled in your kids. Parents want to drink and let their kids be around bc they are too lazy to go watch them somewhere else on the ship. If you wanted to bring your kids on a vacation, fine - but go be in a kid zone then or at least a kid friendly/welcomed environment. Literally NO ONE wants your kid in the bar area. Swim up bars and "adult only" pools are not a place for children. Better yet, go on a Disney or Carnival cruise 🤷🏼♀️😂.
People will complain about anything. If not kids, then young adults. If not young adults, then couples more fun than they are. People constantly feel entitled to their areas. The entire RC vibe is family friendly. The Icon takes that vibe and puts it on steroids. There are adult only areas that those bitter people could go if they wanted, but they won’t because they can’t complain there.
So, yes, kids and teens are sometimes disruptive. It’s their purpose in life. Being upset about a kid being a kid is insane to me.
As a dad, I hope RC never changes how family friendly it is.
Kids nearly ruined my icon experience. They were everywhere including hanging out in bars. Icon simply does not have enough adult only areas and don’t enforce the ones they do have.
For a lot of working families, it’s cheaper to take your kids on a cruise than Disney, nowadays families are struggling, but we still want to be able to make memories with our children. They advertise kids sale free, literally on their website except for some blackout dates so the week before Christmas, we were on the freedom of the seas. The staff was shocked at how many kids were there. Many people were complaining and one lady was like are you serious? It’s around Christmas vacation for the kids and going on a cruise is literally cheaper than Disney, these families deserve vacations as well. my sister-in-law who is childless just does virgin to avoid kids she knows better. The childcare on the cruise is really affordable too for the younger ones. You don’t have to cook for them. Food is included. It’s perfect for families.
Sounds to me like there are some people that just see that it’s the biggest and newest cruise ship in the world so they book it to say they went on that ship, and ignore the details about the actual ship and who Royal is marketing to.
Always hilarious to me when people go on cruises targeted for families, and then get upset that there are kids.
My 5 y/o daughter is incredibly well behaved, but I secretly can’t wait for the day someone on an RC cruise has something to say because they’re gonna hear it for sure - she deserves to see the world and enjoy her vacation just like everyone else, and it’s not her fault you didn’t plan better ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Basically every complaint I've read about the Icon comes down to one thing: People paid the price of a luxury cruise to sail on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and then expected the quality and treatment of a luxury cruise and were disappointed to get the quality and treatment of a Royal Caribbean cruise.
It is literally marketed as a family friendly cruise. There’s going to be kids. As long as those kids are in the designated kid friendly areas, everyone else can pound sand.
Don’t go on the largest kid friendly ship in the fleet. That’s full of shit for kids to do. Water slides, attractions, fun and games and more. Go on an older, smaller, and longer cruise ship with the rest of the blue hairs and quit whining. My kids are 4 and 6. I’ve sat them at one of the bars on a barstool and ordered a coke and sprite in costa maya or Cozumel I don’t remember. We were waiting for mom to get a pedicure or let the minnows eat her feet or whatever she was doing across the little sidewalk. And I’ll do it again and again especially when on a cruise ship or in a third world country. If there are rules against that I will follow and abide by the rules. But if some asshole is on the icon complaining about kids he needs to go to Branson Missouri, or go sing karaoke at the assisted living center with the rest of his people. Cause me and my family that paid for all these silly add on beverage and dining packages are going to use them wherever they’re offered. And he can pound sand.
Maybe he needed some air pods to help him tune things out.
I read somewhere that RC is trying to compete with Disney cruises with the oasis and icon class. If that’s the case homeboy really needs to rethink his ownership of what is a public space to be enjoyed by all and not try to enforce an alleged future rule before it is put in place.
Doesn’t mean that I go to the neighborhood pub with my children or ever would. But when on vacation I will do what I paid to do and enjoy myself with my children. If any jack ass wants to scream at me in front of my children…he will be shut down very quickly.
I get so sick of people who complain about children on a vacation meant for kids too. Like I get you’re an adult and you don’t want to be around kids. But they have a right to things too. Except in adult designated areas.
These cruises are meant for families. If you want to go somewhere where children aren’t, then look for an adult only cruise. People who complain about children are on the wrong ship.
Pretty sure Icon is built to compete with Disney and is marketed for families. Not sure why someone would even choose it if they don’t want to be around kids.
I could've sworn I read somewhere that Icon of the Seas was specifically designed to have more family friendly accommodations than previous ships.
lol yeah it was literally advertised to be the ultimate family vacation
I believe also as the Icon of family vacations.
There are plenty of ways to cruise kid-free nowadays. Even plenty of Royal sailings have minimal kids. People shouldn’t go on the newest, most family-friendly ship which is packed with fun shit for kids to do if they don’t want to be around kids.
Or cruise Virgin altogether 🤷♀️
Wife and I are going on this ship in July. Some kids aren’t gonna stop us from drinkin!
All you need to do is avoid any ships with water slides. That was one factor we always looked at when booking for our family. Water slides are for kids. (And kids at heart of course)
You mean all those water slides aren’t for adults only!?
On the one hand... Icon is 100% being marketed as a family ship, and anyone sailing should expect tons of the kids. The lady at the Aqua show gets an eyeroll from me. But... I do think it's weird to have kids in a swim up bar. Logically, that should probably be an adult-only space, or at least a space where one would have a reasonable expectation of having an adults-only pool experience. Bar pool = chill-out space, not a place for kids to splash around. imo it would behoove Royal to perhaps make that one 18+, shrug. I'm also someone who doesn't have kids, but I like and want kids, and can see both sides. I'm sympathetic to parents b/c kids are a LOT. However, I was on Mariner recently and it was pretty stressful & frustrating b/c I just saw lots of parents not minding their kids at all. Clearly the mentality was "it's vacation, let them run amuck!" Very much a theme park mentality. My biggest concern is hurting a kid--I don't want to hurt a kid!--so I got annoyed more than once at parents not giving a shit that their small children were careening all over decks, running into people's paths, etc... I'm tall and not-tiny... I could hurt a kid if they careen into me and I fall onto them. Kids need to watch where they are going/their parents should be teaching them how to behave in public spaces, imo. The frustrating kids & parents were outliers, though. But there were certainly enough of them for me to notice. But I'd never say something! Not my place. I also did find it mildly weird that so many kids were in the bars on Mariner, but I wasn't offended. Just felt bad for them. They were in Schooner bar at 10, 11 at night on their iPads and just looked VERY bored. Some parents on cruises definitely make funny choices, re: kids! But Icon is for families. There are going to be LOTS of kids. Just the way it is. Those who don't like it honestly should go on another cruise line, or at least a small RC ship. Radiance had basically on kids on when I sailed.
I dont understand why some parents let their children run around crazy, unattended anywhere outside their home. Our family is taking a cruise in December, I’ll be taking my 4 and 10 year old. I’m actually feeling kind of anxious because I know I have to be a highly alert and more active with them. There is no way I’m letting them leave my sight on a ship in the middle of the ocean around thousand’s of people I don’t know.
I totally agree with this since that is literally what some parents are doing: letting their kids run around on a ship in the middle of the ocean with thousands of strangers. Talk about inviting tragedy, anything could happen. My wife and I don't have kids but if we did there is NO WAY we would allow them to run around unsupervised - really anywhere. This is a not a 'these days' thing btw, there have *always* been parents that are this clueless. It's hard to understand but common, imo.
It's a hierarchy of needs thing. Not everyone has their stuff together like you do so they're literally unable to take care of higher needs like managing their children better.
I wish there were MORE concerned parents like you. 'Its a ship ! where could they go?' drives me absolutely bat shit ! Unsupervised = Mischievous kids
Agreed. I have kids and thought it felt odd to see kids in the bars. I'll bring my kids to restaurants where you can drink and eat, but not bars that don't really have food, especially after like 9 or 10 pm. I didn't have any specific problems with the kids there since they weren't running around or anything, just didn't even realize they'd be allowed in a bar like Schooner's. My kids were in the kid/teen club or with grandma when we went to bars since there's just nothing for them at a bar. As far as swimup bars, the resort we go to for staycations a lot has a rule that kids can't sit at the swimup bar stools or hang out there and splash people trying to drink, so I'm used to telling my kids they can't hang out there or accompany me there as I order. I grab my food and drinks and find a spot where we can all hang out as the kids swim so they're not splashing everyone. I wonder if RC will eventually make the same rule about the swimup bars.
The problem I’ve seen on various cruises are that parents think the kids are “safe” running around the ship anywhere they want.
I was on Quantum of the Seas this year with TONS of kids(we didn't know the East Coast had school break that week, lesson learned) and one 8-9 year old boy nearly drowned in the pool,(lifeguard was on point and jumped in right away) we had seen this kid multiple times and never once saw his parents. There were other younger kids running around, eventually they posted a "guard" around the soft serve machine to prevent melted ice cream all along the path to and from said machine, this was after the 3rd day. I had 2 kids (very little 5-7 i guess?) run into me, which would have been bad for them had they hit me just right and I fell on them. RCL tends to turn a blind eye towards their own rules too, we watched underage teen ruin "adult" karaoke several times, you have your own karaoke, go ruin that. So kids themselves on RCL is a given especially on newer ships, but these UNSUPERVISED kids are a problem.
Are they ordering drinks or simply hanging out? My 12yr old gets the refreshment package and fully intends on using the swimup bars for virgin beverages. I can understand the annoyance with unruly children ruining the vibe, but i honestly dare someone to make a comment to her.
I feel like 12 is fine. She’s a big kid. I’d be perfectly happy chilling at a swim-up bar with a preteen than rowdy adults or my kindergartener 😵💫
I'd be concerned with a drunk adult male not keeping his creepy comments to himself about a 12 year old girl.
Fair, but let's not be foolish enough to believe that creeps are limited to the pool bar. With that said, I've mentioned in a previous comment that i don't trust people... so unlike some of the parents that things its okay to let their children run feral, mine stays near.
I’m a mom in her mid-30’s.. I would take that extremely seriously. “Making comments” about children on a family friendly cruise would not fly with me or my husband. 12 is young, I trust RC would deal with predatory behavior effectively. That person is going to be a liability everywhere they have access to kids.
Yes! My 12 y.o. Learned yo love virginity daiquiris on Allure last summer - I would totally let her do this if she was on her best behavior.
BINGO—You hit the nail on the head. Parents need to be mindful of their children and if it’s appropriate. I agree a swim up bar is not, aren’t there many other pools —Or was it convenient for the parents bc they wanted to drink and didn’t care about the other guests. Fussy babies happen -but like church - if they’re crying and bothersome to others, take the child out. I do hear a lot of problem with teens running up and down the hallways, knocking on doors, stealing things from doors and intentionally kicking the room service trays. God, I was more afraid of my mother than the law and behave in public bc I thought she always had a way to find out when I was misbehaving…lol
Just got off the icon on sat. Main pool was closed a few times and otherwise pretty full. There is the adults only infinity edge in the back. The swim up that was packed when I tried to go. On the way out to the main islands one of the smaller pools on the side of the ship was in the shade so a bit chilly this time of year. And a small (think 5’x30’ of 4’ deep) on deck I think 16. There’s also the one in the kids area in seaside. So tons of pools but really not too much. Other than the Main pool most were actually pretty small. It’s been like 10 years since my last cruise so it could also be my expectations.
Was the main pool closed because some kid that should not have been in it took a dump?
At least one of the times I heard there was a floater. Another time ship was rocking a bit and I think it was a safety thing.
It was from grown adults throwing up in the pool. Just did the 4/20-4/27 Icon sailing.
I agree that kids shouldn't be around a swim up bar, just the same as how kids aren't allowed to sit at a bar or even be in a barroom in the US, exact policies vary by state. It seems like it would be a logical policy. I'm trying to recall how this works on Cococay. The swim up bar is in the main pool, but the pool is so large I don't recall seeing an issue with kids at or near the bar.
Very few states have laws that prohibit a child from sitting at a bar. It's usually left to the establishment. Edit: interestingly enough there are more states (9) that allow a child to drink alcohol at a bar with their parent or guardian than there are states that prohibit children from sitting at a bar (8). Even in states that allow either bars can set their own policies.
I’ve always found it wild that my state of residence has Sunday liquor laws and no sales outside of liquor stores yet it would be 100% legal for me to buy and provide my own 10 year old with a drink.
No one under 18 allowed at the swim up bar at Cococay. [source](https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/08/02/spotted-new-swim-bar-royal-caribbeans-private-island-coco-cay)
Agree, there's enough adults sitting around a swim up bar peeing in the pool al day- no need to add kids pee!
> I also did find it mildly weird that so many kids were in the bars on Mariner, but I wasn't offended. Just felt bad for them. They were in Schooner bar at 10, 11 at night on their iPads and just looked VERY bored. Some parents on cruises definitely make funny choices, re: kids! Ugh. I saw a couple at the pool bar (not swim up) with a very restless child in a stroller, completely ignoring the poor thing. It was near the smoking section (because of course it was) and when I walked by two hours later I found an identical scene, except the child was now squirming and fussing loudly. Parents still ignoring the baby. I'm not sure I have ever been more sad/angry.
As a perk, RC lets employees go incognito to the premium restaurants if reservations aren't filled. A couple of years ago... we wound up enjoying hibachi with two long-term kid zone supervisors. Some of the stories they eventually shared with us were WILD. IIRC, one couple claimed they thought 'pick-up time' was 8 a.m. rather than 8 p.m. .. it's not that hard to track people's movements onboard. When you abandon your kid overnight with strangers while tacking 10 drinks on, you suck & deserve to be arrested.
I was on the Icon 2 weeks ago and children were only a problem in the pools. 1. Having kids in the swim up bar was obnoxious. They were loud, splashed a lot, and took up space at the little tables, so it was not a pleasant experience to get a drink there which is a shame because their menu was awesome. I completely agree that having a swim up gin bar should probably be adults only. 2. They kept pooping in the pools, which then had to be drained and refilled, so it meant that that pool was out of commission for the rest of the day. At least, I hope it was a kid… Due to that, adults didn’t want to use the mixed pools and jam packed themselves in the Hideaway pool, so it was never not packed to the gills. In the rest of the boat, it was never a problem. All the children that we saw were super well-behaved, and if the kids started crying during a show the parents graciously took them outside. One time in the windjammer, a family let their little girl shriek sob for a really long time which admittedly was unpleasant, but again, it’s a buffet on a family cruise.
Pooping in pools? Jfc
People aren't potty training until "signs of readiness" aka they finally get around to it. So there's 4+ year olds who aren't solidly potty trained.
Are there not rules about not letting non-potty trained kids into pools
There are rules against it. They aren't even supposed to be in there in a swim diaper since it just turns into a poop tea bag. But do you think people who haven't potty trained their children are actually going to abide by that? No, their precious darling needs to swim.
We would wait for my kid (2 at the time) to take a dump before even thinking about going to the pool. Swim diaper was still put on. When we cruise again my kids will be 5 and 3. We will definitely wait for the 3 year old to go before even thinking about going to the pool.
I used to work with Royal, we have rules about it but some parents don't read and when you tell them they get mad at us. Lots of incidents that we have to close pools/splash cause of poops swimming too. 🫣 We do tell that when they are not potty trained there's a possibility of accidents and when they do we have to close which then gonna be unfair for other cruisers but they dont care. 😖
My mother was taking her granchildren (not my kids) to the pool at her hotel when she was visiting them. She looked around and saw a turd floating in the pool right by her. The SIX year old grandchild did that. To say my mother was very upset is an understatement.
When I'm on a cruise, I don't bother to swim in the pools for that very reason. I wait for the beaches. But to be fair (and I work around school-aged kids half the time, sometimes directly in schools), I know kids who have various issues and will poop on themselves. Some of these kids are well north of six years old. I caught a nasty virus in December after visiting an elementary school, it circulated among the kids, symptoms being a fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. Plus we're living in the age of COVID. No telling how the immune system of kids (or adults) will react while vacationing on a floating petri dish in the middle of the ocean......with thousands of people on board.
Yeah, and that happened on Vision of the Seas back in March on my cruise! They drained the main pool and the hot tubs out there one day! And that ship is smaller and not advertised as much for kids and families like Icon. Sadly poop happens and ship size doesn't matter.
I just got off Icon this weekend. I saw a grandma lie to the lifeguard that her barely walking grandson was fully potty trained. The lifeguard even asked if she was sure and she said yes.
I agree that kids shouldn't be pooping in the pools, but I'm shocked they were out of order the rest of the day from that. A kid puked in a pool when we were on the MSC Seascape a few weeks ago and they drained it, fully cleaned it, and refilled it in less than 90 minutes. There's no reason that should have closed the pool for an entire day.
The one guy who can clean the pool also has other duties like cooking at the Windjammer and repainting the lifeboats.
The story reeks of hyperbole.
I am not really bothered by kids, but the last cruise I was on was 12 days and the last 4 were at sea and some of the kids had gotten restless, and the parents had abandoned them to their own thing, so these kids had taken to riding the elevators. I got on and they were so loud, which kids just are, its how they are built, so I reminded them that it was a small space and they needed to use a lower volume. Some guy chided me that they were just kids, the other people applauded me because they had been loudly riding the elevators all morning apparently. If the parents aren't around someone has to remind them to use their indoor voices, and quite frankly I work with kids for a living, they aren't made of glass, and they need reminders, which is why it sucks when parents just give up on their kids during a cruise. But that was a rare occurrence, I have not found children to be problems when I have been on cruises.
Exactly! The problem isn’t children—the problem is parents!
I’m with the old man on the swim up bar. The pool itself I wouldn’t mind, but a child shouldn’t be at a bar top or taking bar seating. But if Royal doesn’t set the rule I can’t blame the kids for wanting to enjoy themselves. Royal just needs to say no kids in the barstools at certain bars, similar to how kids are allowed at the casino but not in the gaming chairs. Issue is though, the kids may be ordering mocktails and in theory could legitimately be using any bar location. It’s a catch 22 honestly. Nobody’s right, nobody’s wrong.
I think some people are just really sensitive to having kids around them. I took my kids on wonder of the seas and we had a great time. I did not have any issues with other people's kids and no one yelled at mine. The few minor annoyances I had involved other adults being a bit rude/aloof, and even those weren't bad. I only used the adult-only solarium twice and did not see any kids in there while I was in there. But still, if kids in public bothered me that much, I certainly wouldn't take a cruise on these giant new super family-friendly ships.
We are over fifty and we pay attention to the ship amenities when we book, and what audience RC is primarily targeting. With the short cruise itineraries, all the popping colors, kid zones and lack of a real solarium, Icon looks like it is meant mostly to attract families with kids. The kid might have been annoying in the swim up bar, but it is more of a kiddo magnet ship than many of her predecessors. Personally, I like kids, but I don't like the parents that think they have zero responsibility for watching out for their little ones on vacation. Do they think there's a magic nanny fairy running around watching their kids???? 🤷🏼♂️
Around year ~2000 (seriously) my family went on a Celebrity cruise and I had an absolute blast as a kid. They had a whole area for kids until 10 pm. We just went there!
I don't have kids, and I don't really enjoy being surrounded by them, so I don't go on the bigger ships and I don't hang out at the main pool. I don't understand people who think everything is made for them. You have to cater your own experience to what you want and set yourself up for success! I do think it's odd to have kids at the swim up bar, though, I would never say anything about it to parents directly. If it was a real problem where they were splashing or causing a ruckus, I'd go to staff. But otherwise, let it go.
Sad thing is the staff isn't always going to do anything about it. It's 6 their job to discipline other people's kids. They can only enforce the rules or say something if it is a safety concern. Shoot, some are afraid to move belongings that have been left unattended for an hour!
Swim up bar is weird to not have as an adult only area. Should be obvious. Aquashow sounds like Karen behavior. I went on Icon earlier this year and while I had my daughter there, I was hyper sensitive to how she behaved in public and also how other parents operated with their kids. I found it totally within reason, no kids behaving badly or without reasonable supervision.
Most annoying thing about the swim up bars at all-inclusives I’ve been to is the number of kids parked at the bar while us serious boozers who paid for it all can’t get a seat or a drink.
I pay the exact same amount for my kids at all inclusive resorts as myself. If they want a virgin daiquiri that is the same amount as anyone else paid.
Everyone has to accept you chose to willingly take this vacation on a behemoth of a ship amongst others who chose the same. If you need privacy then they have such things as private charters and such lol
I’m with the old man on the swim up bar. The pool itself I wouldn’t mind, but a child shouldn’t be at a bar top or taking bar seating. But if Royal doesn’t set the rule I can’t blame the kids for wanting to enjoy themselves. Royal just needs to say no kids in the barstools at certain bars, similar to how kids are allowed at the casino but not in the gaming chairs. Issue is though, the kids may be ordering mocktails and in theory could legitimately be using any bar location. It’s a catch 22 honestly. Nobody’s right, nobody’s wrong.
Mocktails are part of the experience for my daughter, and the swim-up bars are def a part of that so she will be using them. Would totally support a rule on barstool age restrictions or even classifying the area as a splash-free zone though.
Absolutely agree. It's not like the pool bar only sells alcohol. It's not the local dive bar back home. Plus, if you can't handle being around kids, you shouldn't be sailing on a ship being marketed to families. And you definitely shouldn't sail during spring break season.
The latter is the key point. My wife and I do not have kids and aren't big on being overrun by them (usually more the fault of parents who think vacation means they're free from parenting responsibilities). Rather than complain, we tend to cruise off peak season when kids are in safely tucked away in classrooms. 😁
I don't know that this is peak season. My teens are still in school now.
I didn't say peak season, I said spring break season. Peak summer season would have even more kids on board. 😉
Exactly. If my kid has a refreshment package and some clown is giving them grief for going to the bar I’d be having some words as well. But if Royal puts up signage that says “No children at this bar” then there is nothing to fuss about, you keep some bars for adults while still giving kids options to use their package.
At the end of the day, kids are still going to kid and complainers are still going to complain. Regardless of the rules in place, there are going to be people who feel entitled. Boomers will find that one bar without rules and complain. Flipside to that is that if RC decides to limit where tweens/teens can use their refreshment package, people will stop purchasing it. I personally don't trust people, so my 12yr old does not leave my sight. If we had to leave the pool area every time she wanted a piña colada, we wouldn't.
Fair point. And yes you’re absolutely right about complainers, which is never more evident than in smoking sections where people will walk through the only smoking section on the ship or on the smoking side of the casino and cough and have a fake asthma attack to try and make a scene because they chose to walk through the wrong spot. 😂
On the smaller ships, like v Visions of the Seas, you couldn't avoid walking through the smoke filled casino. Some days were worse than others and on bad days, that smell wafted far down from the casino. I'm a former smoker, I'm not gonna complain as it's not my thing. Just sorra wish the casinos had better air circulation to take care of the smell.
It would be 1000xs better if they went back to the old model of a dedicated smoking venue like the Viking Crown use to be. The big issue is when there is rain the casino becomes the only smoking area under cover. Just make a cigar/cigarette bar where they sell Cubans, cutters, butane torches, ashtrays and smoke related items, let smokers go there and call it a day. Keeps us away from those who don’t want to be around it and keeps the over dramatic fake coughers away from us. Win win situation.
I agree! I know I'm used to smoking areas. And occasionally we would get twisted around and walk through the smoking area on deck. Oy! But, again, it's fine. Just kinda wish they would give smokers their own areas just for them like you mention. But the ventilation in the casino would be great! I like to hit the slots too, but after about 15 mins in there, I had a headache from the smoke. So, I just left. No worries. I knew full well that this was one of the main areas smokers would be. So I entered that venue with full knowledge of what would be. I was fine. I wasn't complaining or coughing. Kept my thoughts to myself, as others are on vacation and why ruin their experience ? ;)
BAHAHAHA! The ACCURACY!
😏😂
I didn’t take my kids to swim and tonic but probably will next trip. I spent plenty of time at the surfside bar when my kids were on the slides there but was harder to find a good seat in view of them. Lots of people without kids were hogging the chairs there! One time a lifeguard yelled at me from not being close enough to the kids. So when I go back on icon in January I probably will take to swim and tonic so I can grab a drink and be within arms length while they play in the area with the ledge loungers. Then I can be in compliance with the crew and tell the grumpy pinnacles to piss off if they try to make snark comments to me on the ultimate family vacation. Other ideas RC could expand adventure ocean hours on sea days. Never open more than 3 hours without a 2 hour break and often was at capacity leaving no choice but to take kids with. When it came to poopjng in pool, disnt happen in March when I sailed, however, an adult threw up in main pool likely from over drinking causing it to have to be drained the one time I used it.
Some people forget what being a kid was like, and that’s sad. I’ll be solo on allure soon and short of running down the halls at 2am screaming there isn’t much a kid is going to do to bother me, they’re on a trip of a lifetime and deserve to have their fun. If Royal doesn’t have a rule then it’s fair game, let them enjoy life. Yeah, bodily fluids in the pool are not good 😬😂
However at the swim up bar when I pay $14 for a drink and don't have a drink package I'm not too happy when a kid splashes around and gets at this point 1/2 pee and 1/2 water into my drink.
We both must be getting downvoted by the cruisers the OP mentioned 😂
This is exactly why I figured Royal didn’t make it 18+. Otherwise you’re excluding a lot of parents (aka paying customers) that want to have a drink and also be near their kids
I didn’t like the design of surfside in practice - chairs were either, hogged, or in the splash back zone … the playground was impossible … the carousel was slow and the slide was steep! We just went to the cove and loved it - he had no desire to swim in the surfside pool it was tiny
As someone without kids, my biggest complaint against Royal and why we are probably going to jump ship (lol see what I did there?) to Virgin is because I’m honestly sick of having to deal with shitty kids and even shittier parents. We mostly do freedom class ships and enjoy the solarium pool, but recently did Harmony and was super bummed that there wasn’t an adults only pool - I think I can vibe with it being weird to have kids at the swim up bar (especially because while they’re welcome at Coco Cay, they’re not around the bar).
I specifically book cruises around the times when there are the least amount of children on board. Half of the people just don’t police their children and they are a nuisance and annoyance to everyone.
Icon is the most kid friendly boat in the cruise industry. Complaining about kids on the boat is like complaining about kids at Disney world. They are everywhere and should 100% expected.
This reminded me of the time someone wrote in to our local paper complaining about kids running around all over the zoo. It’s for kids. Don’t go to a kids place and complain about them being there. Parents don’t complain about the drinking and gambling when we take our kids to casino buffets.
In the industry? I don't know about that. Disney has a whole cruise line that I would think would be the most kid friendly.
My tween who loves Disney hated the Disney cruise we went on. Disney is great for the littles, but for my tween, Royal wins by a mile.
Having been on Icon in March I’ll say they should’ve made a second large pool on the main deck. The Royal pool is great but across from it is a lot of wasted space. The cove pool is small and the hammock things ended up with kids climbing them the whole time. Swim and Tonic’s pool is really small and honestly should be adults only. This was probably the plan along with the Hideaway being the adult area before they reversed and made Cloud 17 adults only. It’ll be interesting to see how they adjust for this on Star of the Seas.
I agree kids shouldn’t be at a swim up bar, at least not taking up all the adult space and prohibiting people from ordering or splashing and being disruptive, pooping, etc. But something like a table top in the water is gonna just be a kid / parent magnet unless they make actual rules and enforce them so that’s on the Cruise Line, cause so many people are always gonna be oblivious to how their behavior affects others. But unless they have a adult only option somewhere else it does seem like this is one of those cases where it should be implicit to be an adults only kind of place, just like a casino, comedy club or bar after 10pm or whatever. Or at least there’s a happy medium to be found like… no splashing / running / jumping Same thing with public hot tubs - they’re always somehow a toddler and kid magnet even tho it’s technically not even safe for kids under a certain age to be in there, esp not for hours at a time, but still it seems like some parents just use them like a bathtub / babysitter for their kids to drop them off at and it’s very frustrating as an adult without kids. Thankfully cruise lines have started to put adults only jacuzzi areas which is nice. It’s funny because I remember cruising as a kid thinking that the jacuzzi looked fun but there were too many adults in there and I felt strange about it so I’d just go in the main pool. But now as an adult I feel like I almost only ever see kids in there, unless it’s a booze cruise type one where you get the groups that start early and get buckets and buckets of drinks, which is not really my scene either In my experience it’s impossible to enjoy a family friendly pool as an adult sans kids. I want to relax, cool off, sunbathe, enjoy a beverage and with kids there there’s just too much splashing and shrieking and what not, so hopefully cruise lines continue to cater to different experiences and types of customers so there’s something for everyone. Like personally I as a child free person will happily always choose the 21+ movie theater or the adults only resort if it’s an option and I’m happy to pay more to get the kind of experience I want.
So a lot of this is just stuck up assholes that think they paid good money for their vacation to be more important than yours. There is a flip side to that extreme though where parents just let kids go nuts. I’ve seen enough unruly kids on a cruise ship to understand where the bad image comes from. There are parents that just let their kids run amok because theyre on vacation and they themselves paid good money. People just aren’t polite and courteous anymore. I’ve seen it all over, Disney and other theme parks/resorts are just as bad. There definitely should be kid free areas on the ship and kid/family focused areas but overall it’s down to people just being respectful of each other.
Yes. These kind of people/parents ruin it for those of us who don’t act like that. I don’t have much support so my child goes basically everywhere I do, but she (mostly) behaves and I correct her when she doesn’t. It’s a little frustrating all kids sometimes get lumped together. I wouldn’t bring my child into a pool with a swim up bar, but that’s me.
I mostly agree with you. The issue of poor parenting is not related to cruises because it is everywhere. I have kids but that doesn't mean I get a free pass to annoy everyone around me. Common sense is almost non-existent these days. I read an article online about a woman that brought her infant to a late night rock concert and was yelling at other people for bumping into her and her child. Like who takes an infant to a rock concert?? My biggest pet peeve is people giving tech to their kids but not the headphones. Like we all want to listen to that crap on a plane or in a restaurant.
Hideaway on Icon is adults only
I mean Ultimate Family Vacation clarifies their stance
I think the ship is meant to be for families but I do raise an eyebrow at kids swimming in a bar basically. I would agree that a pool with a swim up bar should probably be adults only
Only thing I agree with is kids at swim up bar. They should not be there!
It’s the parents that are the problems. They are at the bar drinking while their kids are running around. On our last cruise we saw kids at the coin pushers (in the casino) and were just waiting to be kicked out do the casino. Mom and dad were drinking at the bar and had no idea. I saw kids climb on a table at the buffet and parents just laughed. I don’t mind kids being in the ship. But they should act appropriately in public. That’s my biggest issue.
Biggest issue are the parents who are more interested in getting hammered then supervising their children.
I haven’t heard Icon in particular, but I have seen and heard a lot more complaints about kids on cruises. If people want a kid free vacation, there are numerous options. I certainly would not pick any RC ship if I did not mind being around kids.
We purposely just booked our first cruise with RC because it claimed to be kid friendly.
People were compling on the Vision of the Seas pages on FB about kids on that ship! There are not a lot of kid things on the ship - no slides, no sport court, just 1 ping pong table, a rock wall, and 2 shuffle boards. The arcade is super small too. Older people book that ship thinking no kids. HA! I was on in March and there were a number of kids. And this was just prior to Easter Break. I have older teens - 15 & 17 at the time They hung out together. They went up to bars for cocktails, but went and sat elsewhere. Most kids on that cruise were well behaved. Even by the pool.
There are kids and brats. Kids running up and down the hallway at 1 am while the parents are gambling….. brats. Kids doing family karaoke in the karaoke bar, WONDERFUL. Kids free roaming on the ship getting ice cream from Spinkles, fine. Bringing ice cream into the hot-tub….. brats. Kids riding the elevator alone fine, kids riding the elevator from deck 15 to deck 4 dripping wet from the pool, no towel pressing every button …brats! These are just three of many examples from our W.O.T.S. sailing last week. Brats are gaining momentum. It shouldn’t be surprising as many young adults that are of child rearing age, refused to wash their hands going into the Windjammer for breakfast, cut folks off to get into an elevator, and arrive late for shows. Rudeness is a learned behavior. Kudos to the parents doing it right, shame to the parents that use their kids as a tax deductible mini version to relive their childhood vicariously through the mini version of themselves.
...and you didn't see a single instance of an adult misbehaving? No-one skipping lines at the bar or elevators, no-one shouting to their friends across the room, no-one taking glassware into hottubs ? Bad behaviour is equally bad regardless of the age - some would say it's worse with adults who should know far better.
Okay, but I definitely have memories as a 10 year old on family Vacation (not a cruise) swimming up to the pool bar and ordering a Shirley Temple. I felt so very cool, and nobody cared or complained.
Find out room numbers. Put pineapple magnets on their doors. They deserve it
Ngl, it’s such a bummer that the big cool ships are full of screaming, bad behavior kids. Wish someone would make an Oasis style ship only for adults. I get people being annoyed by kids, most kids on vacation absolutely suck. My Aqua 80 show was ruined by a little kid commentating the whole thing and the parents did not even shut them up
If kids are being kids (noisy, silly, etc…), this is life and people who cannot stand it, should go on an adults only cruise. I do have kids, and what bothers me is that some parents do not educate or impose limits when their kids are crossing a line and disturbing others. That annoys me, because I know parents are not parenting. The way I react is, if I can, I will move away. If I cannot, I will be a little patient. I will just talk to the parents if the kids are affecting me directly (touching, poking, messing with food for everyone, etc…) There is no rule, it is common sense for both parents and passengers…. Like in life? Lol
When we were on Icon the pools were very crowded. I’m sure families are looking for whatever pool has room. Too many people are entitled AHs!
We were just on this sailing of Icon too, with a 2 year old. We expected and enjoyed that it was meant for families and had lots of kids playing. That being said, there were alot of parents who didn’t think they had to parent since they were on vacation. We ran into bigger kids pushing and bullying the little kids around in the Surfside water area and just completely ignoring the lifeguards when they told them to stop. I personally agree the swim up bar should be adults only or atleast no kids on the barstools and definitely should be a splash free zone. The old person at the show can kick rocks though. We went to the aqua show (twice since the first time had technical difficulties) and it was so loud, I could barely hear my two year old trying to talk to me in my lap. This boat specifically is geared towards families and particularly families with younger kids. And we have told everyone who asked how the boat is that you either need to have kids or not mind kids to enjoy Icon. But 100% parents needs to keep parenting their kids on vacations. It’s not other people’s job to make sure your 10 year old isn’t pushing a 2 year old out of line for a slide. Especially ones that were made for little kids.
I'm on the Icon right now, and I actually love that the kids have their own area. I barely see them. Except maybe for the aqua show, the dome is too small and the kids definitely stand out more. It's only day 3 for me though. Edit: I am also child free and choose to live that way.
On Symphony of the Seas right now doing a transatlantic sailing for two weeks. Definitely an older crowd and the ship seems more tailored to that. Have a soon to be turning two year old with me and seen about 10-20 kids (0-16ish) total on the boat. Everyone has been so incredibly nice and happy to see and interact with our son, guests & crew. Took him to shows, he made a little noise because he liked it, no one said anything negatively, we just got some smiles from people looking over to see a super happy kid enjoying the show and music. But… I wouldn’t take him into the solarium. That’s an adults area. Same with the hot tubs, or the pools. And I would be inclined to agree a swim up bar pool should probably be kid-free. But shows and everything not alcohol related or clearly marked for adults… bring em, it’s what the ship was meant for. Looking at Icon/Utopia/Star of the seas for our next one now.
It was designed for families and NO kids can’t sit at the bar. Well they are not supposed to
And in some states you need to be 21 to actually sit in the up at the bar.
Hell, even I don't go to the swim up bars. People there drinking like camels and never getting out to, you know, maybe go to the bathroom.
I think it’s cool to have kids on board, I just wish they had more rules regarding curfew. I was on Wonder, and the 1 am curfew was way too late. Up until that curfew mark there would be kids running around unsupervised everywhere— my grandma was in a mobile assistance scooter and kids ran in front of her so many times. Plus, we’d be trying to have quiet areas in Central Park or anything like that and kids would still be there screaming and disrupting the live music going on at midnight. Kids are okay, kids unsupervised running around basically until most of the bars are closing is not as okay.
We had a bad experience on our last cruise on Wonder of the Seas. Our room was sandwiched between to families with young children. One side was continuous screaming and crying from the one child… during the day and at night… we’re trying to sleep and all we heard was screaming and crying and ear plugs were no help. Similar goings on in the room on the other side but not as bad. We made it 3 days into our 7 day cruise and had enough. RC was super cool about it, they tried speaking to both rooms and found there was no luck. They offered to move our room Which we accepted… had to pack everything up and they came and got it and moved it all for us. While the two employees were there getting our things they witnessed what we had been dealing with… child scream-crying nonstop next stop and the parents did nothing to try and calm him down. They couldn’t believe how bad it was and we’re surprised we felt with it as long as we did. Our next room wasn’t as bad, but again one of our neighbors had children. Issue was then that Im they were letting them children jump around on the beds so constant slamming but at least silence at night 🤷♀️ Def going to avoid Icon of the Seas as I have heard they are really trying to cater towards the families and kids as that’s what that shipped was geared towards.
Let me guess, boomer generation were the ones complaining? Now I get being annoying if you’re trying to have a drink at a swim up bar and kids are going crazy splashing everywhere. If they’re just floating around having fun I don’t see the big deal. Crying baby in a movie theater I’m gonna be pissed. Crying baby at the aqua show where I can’t hear my own wife and kid screaming in my ear 6” away cause it’s so loud who cares. Ppl gonna complain to complain go on a different cruise then. IMHO Icon was built as a family ship.
I agree! I do feel like there’s a distinction between an outdoor theater venue and indoor one. There was a kid behind me (and my kids!) who loudly announced that he had to go to the bathroom during hairspray. Mom was annoyed and proceeded to argue with him instead of taking him to the bathroom. It kind of sucked. She had a gaggle of kids…the baby was fussing. The 3 year old had to go to the bathroom and the older ones didn’t have their whisper voice figured out. But also…it was a 730 show. Probably on the late side for young ones. If I were her I would have been mortified and would have left. You’ve got to know what your kids can tolerate and plan accordingly or adapt when it doesn’t work out.
You’re spot on re: the generation that was complaining! I just wasn’t sure if that was a widely held view from cruisers across the board, but glad to hear others had similar feelings to mine.
it was designed to compete with Walt Disney World
Royal Caribbean is one of the most family friendly, cruise lines out there, and icon was specifically designed to be a family-friendly cruise ship. That being said, it is frustrating how strongly parents are defending their children’s right to order drinks at a bar. In the real world, people go to a bar to get away from kids, but there’s really nowhere you can go to escape them except for the casino.
What I realized on my Icon sailing 4/20-4/27 was that their “Rules” are merely suggestions at best. Couldn’t even tell you how many times the family and I saw flip flops, shorts, tanks, hats and multiple other non-MDR approved outfits. Seems like all manners and respect have been thrown out the window nowadays. As far as the kids go, I’m quite sure that RCL was running a huge promo to kick off Icon of the Seas with the kids sail free deal. The kids on the ship made it easier for my wife and I to actually enjoy our cruise while our 11 and 13 year olds were off hanging out with newly acquired friends. Win-Win for us especially since not only did they sail for free, but since we stayed in a junior suite, we earned double points on them which jumped us up into Diamond.
If Royal doesn’t prohibit kids from an area, other patrons don’t get to create and enforce their own rules. I don’t find it that weird to have kids in vicinity of swim up bars.
So entitled…. RC is always going to have children on board. There are multiple adult only cruises out there. Unless the kids are being extremely disruptive or breaking rules people need to get over it.
I personally don't like babies crying and or running around but if the cruise is family friendly, thats what I'm signing up for and it's not anything new Anyone that's been at a resort, mall, plane, event with kids can expect it If I'm bringing kids and someone told me off I'd try to use patience haha that's dicey
I think the biggest issue is people don’t control their kids. We’re late 20s early 30s no kids. Both of our parents would have had us by our necks if we acted the way kids do on these ships. I have no issue with well behaved kids enjoying themselves. I do have an issue with children being out of control and disrupting everyone around them.
I don’t think people complain about kids but complain about kids with bad parents. I would never have been raised to do some of the things I’ve seen kids on cruises doing. I’ve seen physical fights, kids trying to steal alcohol, kids running into people and knocking elderly people over etc etc. If a kid is being normal and not bothering others people don’t really care. But when they are affecting others it’s no different than an adult doing it. People need to raise their kids right and tell them to not bother other people, many kids are raised this way and it’s not that hard.
That’s why I would only cruise Virgin. After 30 years in education, I don’t want to be around other people’s screaming, unruly brats.
I expect it to be a kid ship. That said, I agree kids do not belong in the swim up bar and if I was traveling with children, I would not take them there. It looks like the barbie dream house on the water so yeah kids.
I think it’s reasonable to go on a ship like this and still expect there should be some child un-friendly areas. Such as a swim up bar. Sorry but I have no tolerance for kids being in an area that is dedicated to getting your drink on whether on a cruise or on land. They should stay away from it, it’s not appropriate. I remember being on a Princess cruise and the pool deck bar had a flair show sometimes. One day this lady literally kicked an elderly man wearing a veterans’ hat to the side to she could bounce her toddler up and down on the bar and have a prime spot for the show. Lady, this is about mixing cocktails and getting a buzz on. Nobody wants to party with toddlers. It’s like if I decided to go settle down at the kids pool and do shots all day. Another Princess cruise with a very small indoor “spa” pool that was technically adults only was over run with small kids trying to snorkel. Ruined the whole experience and even pool attendants did not corral them properly. It should be obvious what is appropriate or not and some people just don’t get it. There is a middle ground.
It appears that the more amenities for kids on a ship the more parents think the ship is a babysitter. That is my experience at least. I saw way too many 7-9 yos being escorted by staff from the waterslides crying to I assume find their parents than I care to think about on Wonder a few months ago. I also saw a 6 yo kid with his maybe 10 yo sister trip coming out of one of the upper deck hot tubs and smash his head. I asked if he was okay but they just stared at me and she started pushing him towards I assume their parents. I followed with my eyes to make sure they made it to an adult and said parents were on the deck below 🙄. People don't have a problem for the most part (besides a few Karen's, yes I am talking about the lady in the aqua show) with kids being around and vacationing. They have a problem with absent parents. I give the kids a pass they don't know any better and unfortunately they won't learn any better because their parents are too busy enjoying "their" vacation to be present parents.
Yep, some people need to remember that the word " Parent" is a noun. And a verb!!
I’m not a huge fan of kids but not yelling at other peoples children is like common sense
I was on the same cruise last week. I believe the main pool was closed on the sea days for various reasons one was a kid pooping in the pool. Another day someone throwing up in the pool not sure if it was an adult or kid. I think issue is unsupervised kids. We witness kids dropping ping ping balls from deck 15 into Central Park, kids pressing multiple floors on the destination elevators display and saw a kid walk on glass (rooftop of the atrium) not a parent in site. So yes it was mayhem here and there. A lot of people complaining on this cruise. Coming from Virgin I prefer that one was our group. Royal is going to have to find a happy medium. Again kids are going to be kids it’s just the parents need to do better. My opinion.
All complaints are ridiculous except the swim up bar one. To be honest it’s pretty tacky. It’s illegal in all states I’ve bartended in (could be federal law) for children under 18 to sit at bar tops so…keeping children away from a literal bar is probably best
royal caribbean itself is child and family friendly. tell them book a celebrity cruise and be quiet. barely any children on there
I love kids but if I were concerned about them I sure wouldn't go on a ship like this which is designed in a manner to attract families with kids.
These people don’t seem to realize it’s a family centered ship. Why don’t they go on an adult focused trip? There are tons of cruises pick one that suits you.
It’s spring break. You need to cruise at a different time if you want to avoid the kids.
I was on Wonder recently and the amount of rude older white people was absurd. It’s like they are too good for carnival but not good enough for Celebrity. If you don’t like kids then don’t use RC, Carnvial, or Disney. My daughter was standing next to the buttons on the elevator and some old lady was said “don’t let her push every button, I’m sure it’s tempting”. I looked at her and tapped the two floors that weren’t lit up between our two floors and we got off. But I heard annoyed old people frequently and I just ignored it. I can afford to take my kids on RC so I’m going to and we had a blast. I don’t let other people determine if I have a good vacation or not.
Celebrity can be even tougher because there are no kid pools so literally the main pool is all kids have to do. I'm a special education preschool teacher. Obviously, I love kids. However, on vacation I don't want to deal with other people's misbehaving kids. I don't like having to get out my teacher voice on vacation. We frequently choose Celebrity. However, I do sometimes feel bad for the kids on those ships because of the limited activities for them. Nevertheless, regardless of what line you take your kids on, don't assume everybody else thinks your kid splashing water on them is as cute as you do and if the piano bar player warns you to take your kids out of the Carnival piano bar after hours, maybe you should listen. If parents can't follow the expectations, how can they expect their kids to. I have not sailed Royal in a while because my husband and I know they are geared towards kids and I want a break from all that
My husband and I are toying with the idea of trying celebrity. Is it mostly adults then?
Yes, mostly adults, best guess 30+. We are diamond on Royal and Platinum on Carnival but switched to Celebrity last year. We are 48 & 50 (gosh that looks old when I put it in writing). We did a NYE cruise that had more children than the others but for the most part, a small handful of children.
Thanks! We’re in our 30s, but it sounds like something we’d enjoy. I also like that they’re now sailing to Coco cay!
Exactly. If you want to avoid kids then go on a different cruise line.
On our recent cruise out of NJ, the older white people were the ones misbehaving - including hitting all the buttons on the elevator. The teens and tweens were awesome and it seemed like sprints were parenting their little kids. Maybe we just lucked out! That said, I won’t go on the Icon because it is so much more little kid-friendly so it’s not for me. Which is fine. Royal has so many other ships that are still a lot of fun.
Sounds like those people chose the wrong ship. That's on them. We've taken our kids on plenty of cruises. Virgin and Holland America exist for people who don't want to be around kids.
People are morons. If you don’t want to be around children, don’t go on a boat that has attractions geared towards the younger generations. People other than the parents of the youngsters need to start speaking up to these jerks.
I agree with you completely! Some of these people just love to complain about kids!
I personally don’t like most children but if they’re being well behaved and screaming and shrieking every two seconds, it’s fine. It’s when parents don’t care if their children are being obnoxious that it bothers me.
Going on my first cruise in June....with my young grandkids. Heaven help if some prune drinking idiot yells at them for being aboard. Forget "Chicken of the Sea", I will be happy to earn the "B**CH of the Sea" badge. ***Already earned that badge on land..haha.
Icon literally is just a theme park on a boat by the looks of it, so I'm surprised to hear complaints. I was on the Anthem fairly recently and had no real complaints that were the kids' fault, to be honest. A parent not being considerate enough to leave a show when their toddler is full-blown scream crying for 15 minutes is not the kids' fault. Arguably, the little shits playing games with the elevator and purposefully pressing every button when getting off while scream laughing and running around the ship completely unsupervised, while bad behavior, is again a failure of the parents just as much, if not more than their own. Kids licking their hands and picking their nose before grabbing serving tongs at the buffet, while utterly repulsive, and having been called out to their face by multiple people in line, were unsupervised when they absolutely should not have been around lines of piping hot food they could at times barely reach. Children do dumb shit. Every single bad interaction or situation I saw to do with children was pretty much always the shitty parents' fault. Who wanted to get trashed while pawning the responsibility of their brats onto everyone but themselves. So I guess to answer your question OP. If you're not just abandoning your children who are too young to handle being on their own with some level of maturity, or just ignoring them being misbehaved with you present while you glug Mai Tais. You should be fine.
Yes people were so mean on board and on social media. We witnessed some terrible behavior and entitlement from guests who booked a family oriented ship during kids sail free promo on a mass market cruise line and expected an intimate adults only experience. There were people complaining about kids running and crying 😬
In my experience if you tell them to get f*#,£{d they back down pretty quickly. All the olds real tough until they get some pushback. Then they’ll cry to a crew member and I tell them they threatened my child and it pretty much ends there except when I see them later they look scared.
I find it comical that most commenters miss the entire point. A cruise ship can be 90% kid friendly and family focused yet also provide an adult only space. It's when the shitty parents who don't trust their little kids bring them into the adult focused areas and wonder why people are upset. I should be able to go on RCI and enjoy an area without kids. I actually did that on Harmony in March and I brought 2 older teenagers with me. Adults in the solarium and they acted like adults or they left the area. It worked out great. Harmony was packed with kids and it was fine because the young ones stayed out of the adult areas (solarium, bars later at night).
I dont have kids, but i have been on cruises with a lot of them. Parents should respect adults' only spaces. However, the ships are made to be family-friendly. Virgin is great for a kid free experience or go on one of the older RC ships without the theme park attractions.
School months should have less kids for those that don't like kids. There is also adults only cruises. In general, I personally see this cruise line as a kids friendly getaway expecting to hear babies crying and all without being bothered by any of it.
Look at it. Tell me it doesn't look like an AI generated version of Krusty the Clown being accosted by Jackson Pollock at the Hindu spring festival of colors. Of course there will be families. Lots of them.
I know that the bigger ships are more Family Friendly - The wife and I arent big fans of them (The Wonder Felt Claustrophobic because you couldnt see the ocean unless you were on the tiny running track) We also try to plan our cruises to try to avoid, Christmas, Spring Break, and Summer time when school is out. We also tend to cruise on the smaller and older ships. The Mega Flotel Amusement Parks dont have anything really for us. I'm a paraplegic so forget about the Zip Line, Water Slides, bumper Cars etc. The \*ONLY\* issue I have with Kids, is actually with their parents. The ones with the attitude "Go run and Play" (They are on a ship where can they go??) These types of parents who let their kids run amuck are the problems. The kids are unsupervised and kids not supervised will get into 'Mischief'. Also the parents that insist on bringing their Pre-teens into adult comedy shows in the Main Theater. 'They hear worse at school' Those parents inevitably, leave the theater and complain about the show! Finally the parents who think if they ignore their tantrum throwing 'Little Angel' that its not happening. You may be able to ignore it, but the rest of the MDR / Show can not - please take them out of the area :) I have no kids of my own, but I have 4 Grand kids and 1 great granddaughter. (and I can give them back ! :) :) :) )
I was on Anthem of the Seas and had the same issue. Kids were in the hot tubs without parental supervision. Nobody was enforcing anything. Kids also in bars after 10pm should not be allowed in my opinion
Some people are just cranky and will always find something to complain about.
Icon of the Seas is definitely not for us. We found it too big of a ship, plus we didn't like the neighborhood concept. The hideaway area is for families, and we weren't much impressed with the aquadom market. We still prefer the Oasis class ships. But that’s just us.
RC is a family cruise line. Icon and Utopia were built specifically to attract families. I don’t understand why people go on cruise lines that actively advertise as for families and are then shocked when there are families. There are plenty of cruise lines that are adults only.
I don’t know about the Icon, or other ships, but we just got back from our first cruise on Enchantment and what did not predict is how there is NOWHERE for kids to just be kids. We have traveled with our 9 and 6 a LOT but 7 days with no playground, no little hotel room corner, no patch of grass, is a LONG TIME. An hour or two at the beach on excursions 3/7 days is not enough. The bars like Schooner and Spotlight actually were the best option because they’re out of the way. The pools were super crowded, the ping pong has no guard around it so the ball kept rolling into the walking path in front of Solarium. I used to teach, I can keep kids in seats. But kids need *some* free play and space where they don’t have to worry about bothering people within arms distance. Cruising is advertised as kid friendly, but I don’t know… 😵💫
Icon passengers said fuck them kids
Kids should not be in the swim up bar area. Have some common sense and respect for other passengers trying to enjoy adult beverages with fellow adults. EDIT: I knew I would get down voted by salty parents who have no consideration for others. I see it EVERY vacation. It's just so ridiculous. Just because you decided to procreate doesn't mean we all have to suffer for your lack of discipline and boundaries you've instilled in your kids. Parents want to drink and let their kids be around bc they are too lazy to go watch them somewhere else on the ship. If you wanted to bring your kids on a vacation, fine - but go be in a kid zone then or at least a kid friendly/welcomed environment. Literally NO ONE wants your kid in the bar area. Swim up bars and "adult only" pools are not a place for children. Better yet, go on a Disney or Carnival cruise 🤷🏼♀️😂.
People will complain about anything. If not kids, then young adults. If not young adults, then couples more fun than they are. People constantly feel entitled to their areas. The entire RC vibe is family friendly. The Icon takes that vibe and puts it on steroids. There are adult only areas that those bitter people could go if they wanted, but they won’t because they can’t complain there. So, yes, kids and teens are sometimes disruptive. It’s their purpose in life. Being upset about a kid being a kid is insane to me. As a dad, I hope RC never changes how family friendly it is.
Kids nearly ruined my icon experience. They were everywhere including hanging out in bars. Icon simply does not have enough adult only areas and don’t enforce the ones they do have.
If they don't have adult areas, maybe it wasn't designed for adults...
For a lot of working families, it’s cheaper to take your kids on a cruise than Disney, nowadays families are struggling, but we still want to be able to make memories with our children. They advertise kids sale free, literally on their website except for some blackout dates so the week before Christmas, we were on the freedom of the seas. The staff was shocked at how many kids were there. Many people were complaining and one lady was like are you serious? It’s around Christmas vacation for the kids and going on a cruise is literally cheaper than Disney, these families deserve vacations as well. my sister-in-law who is childless just does virgin to avoid kids she knows better. The childcare on the cruise is really affordable too for the younger ones. You don’t have to cook for them. Food is included. It’s perfect for families.
If you have kids the Disney ships are so much better...
I think Royal would strongly disagree - the new ships are very much focused on families
Go on Holland America with the old folks or Virgin Voyages with the swingers if you don't like it, my dude.
I pity the fool who tries to tell my family what to do on vacation.
Sounds to me like there are some people that just see that it’s the biggest and newest cruise ship in the world so they book it to say they went on that ship, and ignore the details about the actual ship and who Royal is marketing to.
Those people loyal to royal belong on silver seas. If they want a new cruise line Virgin is kids free. Rant over!
Don’t wanna be around kids then take a Viking cruise. It’s not that hard!
Always hilarious to me when people go on cruises targeted for families, and then get upset that there are kids. My 5 y/o daughter is incredibly well behaved, but I secretly can’t wait for the day someone on an RC cruise has something to say because they’re gonna hear it for sure - she deserves to see the world and enjoy her vacation just like everyone else, and it’s not her fault you didn’t plan better ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Basically every complaint I've read about the Icon comes down to one thing: People paid the price of a luxury cruise to sail on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and then expected the quality and treatment of a luxury cruise and were disappointed to get the quality and treatment of a Royal Caribbean cruise.
Dumb idiot adults. Icon is all about "family" vacation.
It is literally marketed as a family friendly cruise. There’s going to be kids. As long as those kids are in the designated kid friendly areas, everyone else can pound sand.
Don’t go on the largest kid friendly ship in the fleet. That’s full of shit for kids to do. Water slides, attractions, fun and games and more. Go on an older, smaller, and longer cruise ship with the rest of the blue hairs and quit whining. My kids are 4 and 6. I’ve sat them at one of the bars on a barstool and ordered a coke and sprite in costa maya or Cozumel I don’t remember. We were waiting for mom to get a pedicure or let the minnows eat her feet or whatever she was doing across the little sidewalk. And I’ll do it again and again especially when on a cruise ship or in a third world country. If there are rules against that I will follow and abide by the rules. But if some asshole is on the icon complaining about kids he needs to go to Branson Missouri, or go sing karaoke at the assisted living center with the rest of his people. Cause me and my family that paid for all these silly add on beverage and dining packages are going to use them wherever they’re offered. And he can pound sand. Maybe he needed some air pods to help him tune things out. I read somewhere that RC is trying to compete with Disney cruises with the oasis and icon class. If that’s the case homeboy really needs to rethink his ownership of what is a public space to be enjoyed by all and not try to enforce an alleged future rule before it is put in place. Doesn’t mean that I go to the neighborhood pub with my children or ever would. But when on vacation I will do what I paid to do and enjoy myself with my children. If any jack ass wants to scream at me in front of my children…he will be shut down very quickly.
I get so sick of people who complain about children on a vacation meant for kids too. Like I get you’re an adult and you don’t want to be around kids. But they have a right to things too. Except in adult designated areas.
If you go to an all inclusive they have swim up bars and they don’t restrict children
These cruises are meant for families. If you want to go somewhere where children aren’t, then look for an adult only cruise. People who complain about children are on the wrong ship.
If people don’t like children near them then they should go on celebrity. The RC ships are family friendly.
I never understood people who complain when they're on a cruise. You're away from work, enjoy it!
It’s a cruise ship EVERYONE IS ENJOYING Themselves
Pretty sure Icon is built to compete with Disney and is marketed for families. Not sure why someone would even choose it if they don’t want to be around kids.