Influencer couple denies leaving kids alone on cruise

By Julia Buckley, CNN

(CNN) — For most people, dinner on a cruise ship is a time to relax.

But when influencer couple Abby and Matt Howard decided to kick back with a dinner à deux, they ended up kicking up a storm.

The Arizona couple, who have 5.3 million followers on Tiktok, as well as 1.3 million and 677,000 Instagram followers individually, have had to furiously deny that they left their children alone on a cruise ship while enjoying their couple’s dinner.

Abby Howard posted over the weekend on Instagram that on a seven-day cruise, the couple had taken their kids – aged one and two – to dinner for the first five nights, but “it became apparent that they weren’t enjoying it and therefore we weren’t either.”

“So then we switched our dinner time to after their bedtime and FaceTimed the monitors while we ate,” she posted.

“And that worked out muchhhh (sic) better for everyone!”

Many followers understood her post as saying that they left the kids unattended in the cabin in order to go to dinner. When Howard deleted the post after a few hours, the suspicion only increased.

The couple have now posted a new video, in which they deny the children were left alone. They say that they were traveling with Abby’s extended family, including her grandmother.

“We had someone with our children at all times on this boat,” said Matt Howard, calling people’s suspicions “completely untrue.”

“We love our children more than anything in the entire world,” he said.

Abby Howard admitted in the video that she could see why the phrasing of her initial post caused people to believe the kids had been left alone. She deleted it because of the confusion, she said.

She said that their two children sleep in “blackout tents” even at home, each of which has a space to fit a monitor – which they use even if the couple are in the room with them.

Matt Howard had previously shared an Instagram video of his cabin, stating that the couple were sleeping in separate rooms, each with one child.

“We’re always concerned about them,” said his wife on the video addressing the controversy, adding that they “tag team” at family dinners so that one parent is physically with the children while the other checks the monitors.

The couple thanked their family for helping to watch the children during the cruise, and also thanked the public.

“Thank you so much to those of you that were concerned about the safety and wellbeing of our children,” said Abby Howard.

“We have not, would not, will not ever leave our children unattended, we would never ever want to put them in harm’s way in any way.”

CNN has contacted the Howards for comment.

It’s not known which cruise line the couple were traveling with, although Matt Thiemann, a cruise specialist travel agent and CEO of Everbliss Vacations, said he believes they were on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, which has a maximum capacity of 4,000 travelers, by the looks of their posts.

Cruise ship childcare

Many cruise lines offer childcare options.

Royal Caribbean offers group childcare programs as well as group-sitting for three to 11-year-olds from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. MSC Cruises has a kids’ club for tots until 9 p.m., with parents able to drop off their kids until 7 p.m., while Holland America Line states in its conditions that children must not be left alone anywhere on the ship.

Leaving a child in a locked room may seem relatively safe, but Thiemann advises against it.

“It is generally not safe for a child under eight to be left alone at home, and a cruise ship cabin is no different,” he said. “Parents might think it is a safe, locked space and while there are very strict procedures for accessing a cabin, there are cabin stewards, maintenance personnel and crew who can access the cabin. If it has a balcony there is greater risk of an accident or even becoming locked out on the balcony.

“Toddlers can be inquisitive, fall out of bed onto the hard floor or choke on something. There are just too many unexpected things that could happen when children are left alone in a cruise cabin or hotel room.”

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