Thread: Have there been reports of child molestation?

My wife and I have been talking about the possibility of taking our two girsl (ages 4 and 5) on a cruise next year. We are both concerned about the child care on board and the fact you just never know who will be watching your children. I don't watch the news and haven't for some time now. So do you know if there have been issues in the past of kids being molested while in care of the child care employees on a ship?

I have never seen a report mentioning any incidents of that nature.
Most cruise lines offer a kids program that include some evening hours. These are done in groups. Some of the lines also offer an additional service of being able to hire an off duty staff member to "babysit" in your cabin. If there was ever to be a problem that would be the more likely source.

Lee, I know that Disney's bread and butter is making a fabulous cruising experience for every child. No one else has come close, but Royal Caribbean is trying - they have partnered with Fisher Price and Crayola for their children's programs. I don't know much about Carnival's children's programs, but they are working hard to become known as a family cruise line as well. In order to get families to travel, they would have to have a no tolerance policy for molesting children. But if you have any doubts, stick to cruising when there will be LOTS of children, so that yours will always be part of a group, as John mentioned.

Definitely go on a cruise with many, many children. The counselors have to go through a background check. The cruiselines wouldn't want to risk even a charge of molestation. There's always a change that someone would get through the crack, but there's also the risk for teachers (I hope I'm not scaring you there). But there is safety in numbers. Remind your girls to come to you if there's any, any problems, even (and especially) if an adult threatens them.

One thing that worries me is when I seem kids walking off by themselves on a ship. Some programs allow kids at a specific age to sign themselves out. We had the choice on our last cruise (for the 8-12 year olds) and we chose the "we sign our daughter out" option. Some other kids got to sign themselves out. You just don't know who might have a cabin between the kids area and your cabin.

Interesting thread...some of us would never give this a thought I suppose, assuming the lines have the background checks etc to insure all is perfect with the staff. As we know, nothing though is perfect Dh and I thought the kid's club staff on HAL was just so so- let's face it the line is not exactly catering to kids anyway. Celebrity on the other hand was fabulous with our daughter. They offered a diverse program even on port days.

The programs on the cruise lines RC and Carnival that we have used were very professional and kept the children in groups. I have not heard anything negative about it and I am sure that if there were any incidents that the media would somehow catch wind and carry it away as they do with all news.

I think there is probably more of a risk when the children aren't in the kids program... even going to and from.

While we would hope that the kids' staff would have had an extensive background check, we would also know for a fact that all of your fellow passengers have not.

Of course, your 4 or 5 year old wouldn't be roaming alone, but some do choose to allow their 10 or12 year olds to do so.

Lee i have never seen such a report of abuse by Cruise employees.. I have heard some stories about "guests" trying to do unspeakable things with children.... but in those stories the children were always middle teenagers,,,..

Nothing can beat pure monitoring of you children's activities...... and it never hurts to be very early occasionally to pick up your children....

Bottom Line is ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE... use your good judgment and you will be fine... i say by all means let you youngsters get a feel for what mommy and daddy like about cruising!

Joey

I think it's been covered pretty well. As others have said, I'd be more concerned
when the kids are not in the organized programs. I have had many clients that have also had great experiences with the kids program on Celebrity.