cruise line family policies guide

8/6/2019 Cruise Line Family Policies Guide

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Cruise Line Policiesthat impact Family

Cruise PlanningCreated by CruiseWithMike

Each Cruise line has different policies which can have major impact on planning

your families next cruise. This is the most complete guide to all of these policies

for each major cruise line including river cruises.

2011

Mike Berryhill

CruiseWithMike.com

5/4/2011


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http://twitter.com/cruisewithmike CruiseWithMike.com (623) 340-0675

Introduction

Here is a comprehensive Handy Reference Guide, containing an overview and breakdown of the various

cruise line providers and their policies, which can have an effect on Family Cruise Planning. Contained in

this information will be policy information broken down by the various Cruise Lines with regards to:

Pregnancy Restrictions on CruisingMinimum Age for Infants to be able to Cruise

If there are Nursery and Baby Sitting Services On Board

If there are Childrens Programs offered on their Cruise Ships

Unaccompanied Minor and Minimum Age (in staterooms) requirements

Minimum Drinking Age Restrictions

Additionally, wherever there has occurred a special requirement, an exception is stated, or any major

variation has been noted by a particular cruise line over the prevailing industry standards, we have

indicated by an asterisk (*) in the Reference Guide meaning that the reader should consult the Special

Remarks or Comments sections for that particular cruise line in question.

We hope that this information will be a valuable resource guide for you and your cruise planning

purposes. It should be noted that the policy information herein contained was current as of the date of

the publishing of this article. It is also possible that changes may have occurred to particular policies and

practices, which we may not be aware of, as the cruise lines frequently change, and revise their stated

(written) policies.

We certainly would appreciate your bringing to our attention any changes in policy which you might

come across in a effort, that we might update this information for others to be able to use also. We

publish this Information FREE OF CHARGE, for the use by the Cruising Public, and in particular for ourProfessional Friends and Colleagues within the Cruise Line Industry.

You will note that with respect to Luxury Cruise and River Cruise providers, that our information

contained herein is somewhat limited. This is primarily due to the fact that for the most part such

providers do not offer any organized childrens activities or specialized venues for their exclusive

enjoyment. While many of these types of lines do in fact allow children, most (if not all) strictly reserve

the right to limit the number of children under the age of three years on their sailings. In addition,

during our research for this booklet, we found that many of the River Cruise providers strongly

discourage children under the ages of 8 years of age, as the river cruise experience and daily exploring

activities are generally felt to neither attract nor hold a young childs shortened attention and patience

capabilities.

However, when planning a Family Cruise Vacation (as you will see in this Guide) there are many different

cruise lines that do cater to the Family, and do offer complete childrens programs and services.

We hope you and your (clients) Family enjoy a wonderful Cruise Adventure!-Cruise with Mike


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Cruise Line Industry Standards in General

The following is a brief description of the generally acceptable cruise line industry standards with

respect to family cruise planning. We use this terminology since most of the cruise line providersgenerally will follow similar policies and guidelines with respect to how they handle such various

situations.

Pregnancy Restrictions - Most of the cruise line providers require that in order to cruise those female

passengers who are pregnant, must not have entered into their 24th week of pregnancy at some period

of the duration of their cruise sailing. Even though cruise ships generally have physician and nurses in

fully equipped medical facilities, they are not specialists in the field of Obstetrics. Also for pregnant

females who are cruising, they generally require a letter from their OB/Gyn. specifying that they are

within the time stipulation requirement, and that both mother and fetus are in good health and able to

cruise, and additionally that their pregnancy is not considered an at risk type of pregnancy prior to

being able to board the ship.

Infant Restrictions Most cruise lines require the minimum age in order to cruise be at least 6 months

of age. While there are some that may stipulate their age requirements based on length of cruise, or

region of the world a cruise may involve, those specific situations if applicable are contained herein.

Unaccompanied Minors and Minimum Age (in-stateroom) Occupancy RequirementThe vast majority

of cruise line providers specify the Minimum Age for Unaccompanied Minors, as well as the Minimum

Age for Occupancy alone within any stateroom is 21 years of age. While many have exceptions to these

requirements for cases of Traveling with Families, or if chaperoned, please refer to the information

further in this guide.

Minimum Drinking Age The minimum age which typically cruise line providers require in order to

consume alcoholic beverages is 21 years of age. Some of the cruise lines have exceptions to this rule

depending on situations, and locations of departure, or arrival countries. However, most require the age

of 21 even when ported in countries where the drinking age may be less than 21 years of age.

Nursery Facilities on Board This situation varies and is dependent on the specific ship, and cruise line

you are traveling on. While we would generally say the answer to this question is yes, we refer you to

this planning guide matrix table and Special Comments Sections for further and more specific

information.

Baby/Child Sitting Services on Board While this service varies much more widely by the cruise lines,

but is generally found on many of todays ships. However, may vary as to whether they offer such

services in group settings (with age restrictions) or whether (as some lines provide), only in-room sitting

services are available. Be sure to make note, if your cruise line requires advance reservations for such

service(s) as well.

Organized Child Activities These services and facilities are generally found on most cruise lines (except

for Luxury and River Cruise Providers). The generally accepted range of ages serviced are from age 3, up


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to age 17. While most cruise ships have childrens venues, activities, and specialized menu services

available, you may find that certain cruise lines actually go above and beyond in catering to this

specialized niche cruising market known as children.

Cruise with Mike

Specific Cruise Line Policies and Requirements

Please refer to the below Matrix Table for information regarding specific cruise line provider policies

with regards to specific topics.

Keys to Information Matrix Table

Abbreviations:

AP means at any point or duration of a cruise sailing

EM refers to the time of Embarkation (beginning of) a cruise sailing

DB refers to the time of Disembarkation (ending of) a cruise sailing

No Min means no minimum age requirement is stipulated (case by case basis)

SVC refers to SERVICE

Symbols:

* means to SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS for further information for a specific topic


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SPECIAL COMMENTS REGARDING CHILD AND PREGNANCY POLICIES

AZAMARA Children must be a minimum of 12mos. of age to cruise, if sailing has (3) three or more

consecutive sea days. While the normal minimum Drinking age is 21, for sailings to Europe and South

America where legal drinking ages are lower; Minors between 18yrs and 20yrs may consume alcohol on

board provided they are accompanied by parent or legal guardian, and have a signed waiver on file with

cruise line.

CARNIVAL Cruises Children must be at least 12mos. of age for Transatlantic, Hawaii, and South

American Sailings. They do have a Nursery for ages 2 and under, is considered Baby Sitting (fee related).

Children who are sailing with Parents, Grand Parents, or Legal Guardians can be in a room by themselvesif they are at least 18 years old. All others must be at least 21 years of age, or in the accompaniment of a

supervising adult passenger. (May be other restrictions for balcony accommodations). Even though

allowances are made for under 21 Married/Lawfully joined passengers, the Lawful Age for Alcoholic

consumption is 21yrs.

CELEBRITY Cruises While Celebrity follows much the standard industry policy requirements, they do

have a nice childrens feature called VIP Pass (for Kids) which while there is a service fee associated with

this item, it allows for certain discounts for kids related services such as Babysitting, etc. Be sure to

check it out. Also as for their minimum age in a stateroom, they will relax that somewhat if there are

parents, grandparents, or legal guardians over 21 years of age in adjoining staterooms

COSTA Cruises- Ok there are some definite differences with this Cruise Line, primarily due to their being

Foreign owned. First expectant mothers have an additional week than with most other cruise lines. The

Legal Age for Alcohol Consumptions depends 21 for US Ports of Embarkation, and 18 at Non Us Ports of

Embarkation. While they do offer group babysitting service (fee service), they require a minimum one

day advance reservation for same. While the typical age to be allowed in cabin alone is 21, they do say

that for certain (seasonal) sailings they may require at least one person responsible to be at least the

age of 25 years. Sounds like they have dealt with Spring Break College passengers at least once before!

Crystal Cruises Currently their pregnancy policy reads must be less than 6 months at any portion of the

sailing, but their wording for 2012 policy gets in step with pretty much all others as it reads Less than

24 weeks. Also important to note, that while Crystal allows children under the age of 3 yrs., they do

maintain the right to limit the total number of those passengers on any sailing. Crystal offers in room

babysitting service only (fee service) with a maximum of three children together. As with many of the

Cruise Lines they allow for a relaxation of the minimum age in a room, but in the case of two or more in

any room, one of which must be at least 16yrs of age, which means for children under age 16, they will

need to be in room with mom and dad, or Grandparents if they to arrange to have them sail too.


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Disney Cruise LineHas some truly different approaches to Children, for expectant Moms they are right

in line with Industry Restrictions. However, as for the youngest passengers infants only have to be 12

months old to actually cruise on Disney. Additionally, Disney includes these passengers in their

babysitting services that are rendered on board, and they even have many of their childrens offered

activities, that allow the infants the ability to be in attendance. It would be impossible to list here not

only the several one-of-a-kind childrens activities that Disney provides (live shows and Disney

characters) let alone all of the techy new offerings on their latest ship the Dream. Suffice it to sum up

Disney by saying if you have kids, there will be things that they would only be able to experience on a

Disney Cruise Vacation.

Holland AmericaThere are a few little differences here with HAL. First lets talk Nursery, there is none.

Baby sitting (which they call kid sitting) and is only for ages 3 and above. With respect to Minors

traveling in rooms by themselves the age requirement is 21 years of age. Additionally if there is a large

group of passengers sailing together under the age of 25, HAL requires 1 chaperone over the age of 25

for every 5 passengers in the group who are not 25 years of age.

MSC Cruises Children 11 and under sail FREE!, they are only charged for the Govt. Taxes. Additionally

Children 11 and under, receive up to a 30% Discount on Shore Excursions. Special prepaid My Teen

cards may be purchased for all on-board purchases the teens (ages 12-17) may make. Special Kid Menusare available on board. While there are no babysitting services, should parents be off the ship on an

excursion, children may be in the Kids Club areas, and will be escorted to the dining area, for a meal

from the kids menu.Additionally, MSC is the only cruise line we found in our research that has no

minimum established age in order to cruise.

NCL Cruises While NCL is a bit more tolerant in that their pregnancy policy states time restriction at

the end of the sailing rather than at any time during the sailing as most lines do. NCL does permit

alcohol consumption by minors age 18 to 20 years of age (provided ship is in international waters, and

parent or legal guardian is on board) absent the parent/guardian there is a waiver which can be printed,

signed, and faxed by the parent/legal guardian to transfer their permission to another responsible party

over the age of 21, who is overseeing the minor. Babysitting is in Group Only (fee service), with no in-

stateroom sitting service available. Two persons under age21 years are allowed to travel in a stateroom

together, provided that the sailing has been purchased under a family planned event, and there is at

least one person in the family plan reservation over the age of 21 sailing in the adjoining stateroom.

OCEANIA CruisesOceanias wording per pregnancy says will not permit those who are past their 6th

month of pregnancy. While Oceania (as well as most all luxury lines) does not offer babysitting services,

they do have a limited amount of cribs available for use on their vessels. Minimum age to enter and play

in the Casinos is 18 years of age.

PRINCESS Cruises- Minimum Age for passage is 6 months, except for sailings to Africa, South America,Asia, or the Exotics (Australia and Polynesia) where the minimum age is 12 months of age. Legal Age for

purchasing and consumption of alcohol on board is 21 years, except for the Sun and Dawn Vessels when

sailing in the Australian Markets where the legal age is 18 years of age. While the stated age for

unaccompanied minors in a room is 21 years of age, 2 or more persons under the age of 21, may be

permitted to occupy a stateroom together, provided one of which is at least 16 years of age, and there is

family (with at least one person over the age of 21 years of age) sailing in the adjacent stateroom on

that same cruise.


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Royal Caribbean While everything as far as requirements was pretty Industry Standard, I felt I needed

to make mention of their comprehensive kids program features which are done in connection with

Crayola, Fisher Price, as well as DreamWorks. So it rather sounds like their childrens programs are some

pretty neat stuff for the wee passengers among us!

Cruise with Mike

cruise line family policies guide

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