2011

Cruise Line Policies

that impact Family
Cruise Planning
Created 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.

Mike Berryhill
CruiseWithMike.com
5/4/2011
 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 Cruising

Minimum Age for Infants to be able to Cruise
If there are Nursery and Baby Sitting Services On Board
If there are Children’s 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 our
Professional 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 children’s 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 child’s 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 children’s programs and services.

We hope you and your (client’s) 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 providers
generally 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 Requirement – The 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 today’s 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 children’s 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.

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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
<means AT A TIME PRIOR TO, OR BEFORE

Major Cruise Line Policy on Pregnancy and Under Age Accommodations and Amenities
CruiseLine Pregnancy Min.Age Drinking Nursery/SitSvc Child Activities Unc.Minor Other Remarks

Azamara <24wks AP 6mo.* 21(*) NONE/NO NONE 18yrs(*) SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS
<24wks6dys
Carnival EM 6mo.* 21 YES/YES Yes /Age 2-17 21(*) SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS

Celebrity <24wks AP 6mo. 21 YES/YES Yes/Age 3-17 21(*) SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS

Costa <25wks DB 6mo. 18/21* YES/YES* Yes/Age 3-17 21/25* SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS

Crystal <24wks AP 6mo.* 21 In Room SVC* Yes/Age 3-17 18(*) SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS

Disney <24wks EM 12wks 21 YES/YES* Yes/Ages 0-17 21 SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS

Holland
Am <24wks AP 6mo. 21 NONE/YES* Yes/Age 3-17 21/25* SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS

MSC <27wks AP No Min. 21 NONE/NO Yes /Age 3-17 21 SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS

NCL <24wks DB 6mo. 21/18-20* YES/YES* Yes/Age 3-17 21* SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS

Oceania <6Mos. EM 6mo. 21 NONE*/NO NO/NONE 21 SEE SPECIALCOMMENTS

Princess <24wks DB 6mo.* 21(*) YES/YES* Yes/Age 3-17 21* SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS
Royal
Caribbean <24wks AP 6mo. 21 YES/YES Yes/Age 3-17(*) 21 SEE SPECIAL COMMENTS

PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING PAGE FOR SPECIAL COMMENTS SECTION

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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 themselves
if 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 children’s 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 Line – Has 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 children’s 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 children’s 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 America – There are a few little differences here with HAL. First let’s 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 Menus
are 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 Cruises – Oceania’s 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 Casino’s 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 children’s programs are some
pretty neat stuff for the wee passengers among us!

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