Cruise lines face a challenge when it comes to deciding when to get involved in disputes.
In many cases, a cruise line must decide whether confronting a guest when a minor rule gets broken is worth the effort. That's most evident when it comes to dress codes and pool deck chairs.
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In theory, the rules require men to wear pants and collared shirts at dinner in the main dining room and in any specialty restaurant.
But dealing with an angry passenger forced to walk back to their cabin to change at dinner could be a major disruption. On the other hand, allowing that passenger to wear shorts and break the dress code might prompt some other passengers to grumble, but it has little or no practical effect on those cruisers or their dinner.
The same is true on the pool deck. Passengers who leave their chairs for an extended period are supposed to move their items off the chairs. Having the staff free up the chairs might make a few people happy, but the cruisers whose items were moved might get furious and blame the people who are now sitting in "their" chairs.
For the cruise lines, confronting someone in a situation like this is not worth the loss of goodwill and, however rare, potential injury. And that means that in many cases they try to enable people to solve their own problems.
Carnival Cruise Line has doubled down on this solution, even in situations where lazy or bad parenting creates a negative situation for other passengers.
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Image source: Carnival Corporation.
Carnival leaves screaming babies to parents
Most people would agree that when a baby is crying in a public place, it's the parent's responsibility to remove the child until it calms down. Some parents, however, have different views about when their child's behavior creates a disruption for other people.
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald recently addressed a parenting situation and made the cruise line's position clear.
"DW and I went to dinner tonight in the Normandie [main dining room]. There was a screaming baby who screamed the whole time and the crew did nothing Heald. Why?. Totally ruined ours and everyone’s meal," one passenger wrote to the brand ambassador.
Heald's response was not all that sympathetic.
"Babies cry. Babies scream. I am sure the chap who posted this cried when he was a baby, I can’t see how we evolved as a species with the disadvantage of a crying baby in your cave, wouldn’t it attract sabertooth tigers? It’s like ringing a bell: 'dinner is ready?'" he answered.
Heald followed by asking his followers for their opinions.
"OK, seriously. It is the parents' responsibility, isn’t it? Or is it the waiter who should be saying “Please take your baby out of the dinning room.” And did it really ruin “everyone’s meal?” he asked.
(Heald regularly misspells "dining" room as "dinning" room.)
Carnival passengers blame the parents
Heald's post drew more than 1,900 comments, and the vast majority of them agreed with him.
"Yes, babies scream and cry but it's the parents' responsibility to get up and take their baby to a quiet place to calm down instead of allowing the baby to continue disrupting everyone else's dinner," shared Pam De Marco.
Steph Reeder agreed.
"It is the responsibility of the parents, not the crew. I'll bet that diner isn't a parent or has never had a bad night. In our world, one of us would've taken the baby outside of the dining room while the other ate and then switched off so the first parent could eat. But, then again, not everyone lives in our world," she wrote.
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Many responses blamed the parents for not taking action.
"Bad manners are the fault of the parent, not the child. Nobody wants to hear a screaming baby while they're trying to enjoy their meal. If the parents couldn't get the child under control, they should leave," added David Pecora.
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Some agreed with Heald but were more forgiving than other passengers.
"To me a crying baby is the same as everyone singing happy birthday every 2 minutes. Is it fun for me? No. Does it ruin my evening? Also, no. Everyone has the right to enjoy their evening and we may not always like how they do, but they have also paid," posted Johanna Walter.
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