Have you ever used onboard babysitting services?

[flyfan]

I DO NOT want this to turn into a debate. I am aware of the potential risks & I am not asking about them. What I want to know is if you have used it, how it worked and were you happy?

 

thanks,

fly

[mmcruise]

Thanks for asking; I was too chicken to ask. I don't need anyone to comment on whether it is or isn't a good idea. I'll decide that for myself. But it would be helpful to know if anyone else has done it, and how they liked it. Thanks in advance!

 

Melissa

[Luralee]

The first time I cruised with my family was on the Monarch of the Seas. My son was 14 months old and my daughter was 3 yrs. The baby sitter was Candy from Trinadad. My daughter loved her (my son slept). 11 years later, my daughter still talks about Candy. It was a wonderful, comfortable, way to enjoy an evening with the adults. I highly recommend it.:)

[H184A]

We were on the Carnival Destiny 12/19 - 12/26. We used the group baby sitting a bunch of times on the crusie for our 7 month old. It was offered for 2 hours on sea days, and every evening from 10PM - 3AM. They also offered group babysitting in ports from 8 - noon. We did not use the port babysitting, but another family member used it for there 14month old. I highly recommend the group baby sitting on Carnival. The counslers all new my son by name, when he would arrive at night they all seemed very excited to see him. The counslers changed diapers, feed him and put him to sleep. They set up Pack and Plays in the childrens rooms. There was a nominal hourly charge for the group baby sitting it was well worth it!

[cruisead]

Some lines offer only group sitting after 10pm, and some offer in-cabin sitting. Which cruise line are you on? The only lines that still offer in-cabin sitting are Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. Others have dropped the in-cabin sitting because of liability concerns.

[woodmews]

I personally would prefer group babysitting in a strange place. We were on Carnival and my son went to the group babysitting and it was great. He was happy and we were happy. One night they had an organized event from Camp Carnival and my son stayed out later than I did and they brought the kids back to the cabins. It was great.

[flyfan]

We usually sail on Celebrity or RCCL -- upcoming cruise is on Mariner of the Seas in October (the Reali-tini Group Cruise). We will have a 2-year old and an 18 month old, so both are too young for the group programs. I'd really like to do in-cabin babysitting, at least once or twice, but wasn't sure how it works. I was also considering doing it while in port, in Nassau, as we are only in port for a few hours & I'd like to take my 2 teenage sons snorkeling (they've never been & I'm sure they will love it).

 

Thanks for the responses so far, any further input would be very much appreciated.

 

~fly

[JerseyNick]

I would definitely appreciate anybody's tales, good or bad. We are sailing on RCCL (my son is 2, so in-cabin babysitting is our only option), so I will certainly share my experience when we return. I think we are going to at least try it. My son is a daycare veteran so I am hoping he will do well. And, if I have a bad feeling about the person, it will end right there. We also got ourselves some walkie talkies with a vibrate option so that we can be in touch with the cabin at any time without bothering people. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We are sailing with a large group for a dear friend's wedding, so I am hoping we can have a few grownup hours each night, along with all the family time during the day. If we are lucky, he'll just sleep for the sitter...

 

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far!

[mmcruise]

Sorry!

[cruisead]

Not too sure you will get in-cabin sitting during port time. The sitters are crew members, and during the day they are working very hard and for many, they only get maybe an hour off to go into town, if they're lucky---but most of them will be doing their regular daily duties. You can ask, but don't be surprised if you don't find any takers to sit for three or four hours during a port day.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We've only been on Carnival and Princess so I can't address other lines. But we used the group babysitting on both (very reasonable) at night. They play a kids movie (along the type of Shriek or disney ones) and kids curl on and watch (and sometimes fall asleep so many arrive in jamas). Double check hours and deadlines carefully for signing up for in-port and nighttime babysitting as the staff wants to know ahead of time how many counselors to allow for (Princess requires a day's notice for in-port).

[AmyinVail]

It feels like calm waters, so I'll venture in...... we're going on Holland America which doesn't take kids under 3 in their group kid's club, so are also tossing around the idea of an in-cabin sitter-I know that on HAL, getting a sitter is by a volunteer basis from the staff, so it's not a guaranteed thing. One DD is 2 and our other DD is 10, so I would feel comfortable knowing the oldest one had her eyes on the sitter. The walkie-talkies are a great idea...we have some somewhere. If I really like the sitter, maybe we could do some shows w/ our oldest DD, too....i don't know....haven't heard much about in-cabin sitters, so this is a great post!!

[CASkippr]

JerseyNick,

 

Please post about your in-cabin babysitting experience when you return from your cruise. We are sailing in July and plan on using this option. Like AmyinVail, we have an older child (she'll be 16 when we cruise and the youngest will be 2 1/2) so we will have the oldest around to help 'check in' on the sitter. We are sailing near our 25th wedding anniversary so we are hoping to enjoy at least one romantic dinner! :D

[Lurontravel]

We used an in-cabin sitter on Constellation (celebrity) in 2002 for our 9 month old about 3-4 times. They sent some very nice (a couple of time the same one) sitters. Our other child was in the kids program. It was money well spent. We were very comfortable with the young ladies they sent. We gave them a key (the 9 mos olds) so that she was not stuck in the cabin if she didn't want to be for whatever reason, and when we came back from dinner we peeked in to find the baby happy or asleep, and went out for a little more fun time sans children. My husband has a rather paranoid wife when it comes to babysitters for her children, and I would have paid the girl her minimum and sent her on her way if I was not comfortable right off the bat.

[JSR]

We used in room sitting when our daughter was 3 years old. We had a lovely women, though I do not remember her name. Our daughter had fun and was sound alseep when we returned to our room. Our daughter is now 9. Oh my, time does fly

[madge62]

Hi. We were recently on the Mariner and my sister used both the "late night party zone" for her 8 & 9 year old daughters, where they charge $5/per kid/per hour and they stay at Adventure Ocean and she also used in-room babysitting one evening. She arranged it through guest services, they ask for your request to be 24 hours in advance. The sitter came to the cabin (we had connecting cabins) at 9 and stayed until 12:30 or so. The youngest, who's 2, was already asleep in our cabin and wasn't even aware of the sitter's presence. My nieces had a great time, they watched some TV, played cards with the sitter and she even ordered room service for some snacks. When my sister and b-in-law got back, the kids were sound asleep and the sitter was sitting the chair reading. I met her and she was very nice, I believe she worked in the housekeeping department. I can't quite recall the cost although it seemed reasonable for 3 kids. It was nice to be able to spend some casino time with my sister!

[wadeod]

we are going to alaska in June and want to go on a train excursion but do not want to take the one year old. Does princess have group babysitting for 1 year olds?

[cs1]

we used in room sitting on the radiance and it was fine. we had the same sitter every evening and our son loved her.

i think princess does not have any private sitting services in room and although they do have a toddler room on many ships, they will not watch children under 3. you must accompany your child to the toddler room.

cs

[michelle10863]

Will Carnival page you if there is a problem, like with the regular camp carnival, during the night group babysitting? We hope to be sailing with our then just 2 yr old (he is just about one now). I'm a SAHM so he will not have experienced a group setting like that and I was wondering if they would page us if there was a problem (although at 10pm I would think he would just sleep thru the whole thing).

[CougarMom]

I have decided that when I retire, cruise ship babysitting is my dream job. I am a certified early childhood teacher, and am currently directing a campus childcare facility that specializes in babies/toddlers. Do you think anyone will hire an old lady who wants to rock babies all day.:D

[momtopaige]

I will be cruising next month on RCI's Navigator with my daughter who will be 2 weeks away from her first birthday. Has anyone had a similar experience? Can I get the in room babysitting if she is 2 weeks away from 1 yr. old? Thanks.:confused:

[redd2cruise]

Wow:) ! What a great thread. We will be on our 1st cruise in 2 week aboard CCL's Imagination. I was planning on useing the group sitter one evening so we could have an adult night. Of course I was a bit leary about it. Your posts have made me feel a much more comfortable about leaving my 2, 4, & 6 yr olds with the group sitter.

 

Thanks

[mmcruise]

We're just back from our cruise today, and I wanted to post right away to tell everyone how well our babysitting experience turned out. I went straight to the guest relations desk before we'd even seen our cabin to request a babysitter every night from 8pm-1am (PS- we only actually made it out that late once, but we paid her the full amount each night anyway). It costs $8 for 1-2 children, which is what we pay high school kids at home. They sent us a lovely woman named Adela, from Nicaragua, who works in maintenance but is training for Explorations desk. She was available every night except the first night, when they told us she'd be available from 11:30pm-1am. I asked if she could come by to meet my son beforehand, so she stopped by at 7pm to meet us. I also wanted to use my mommy radar to see if she "felt" right to watch him, and everything seemed A-OK so we had her come back later on and we went out for an hour. Then every night after that, we'd bathe and dress DS in his PJs, order a hamburger or hot dog from room service, and then feed him while we dressed for dinner. Adela showed up at 8pm and took him to the arcade or to hear the music in the Centrum, then put him to sleep while we were out. By Wednesday night, he heard her at the door, and said "Bye mommy! Bye daddy!" On Thursday and Friday night, he met her at the door and said "We go for a walk now?" and they toddled off down the hall. I liked doing it consistently every night; I think it created a nice routine for him in a strange place, and it was worth every penny. You have to pay in cash (no SeaPass), so be sure to bring some $$ or be ready to pay $5.50 US in ATM fees on the ship. We were on board for a wedding, and two of our friends also had babysitters each night, and all were delighted. We wrote her a thank you card with a tip on the last night; she made it a perfect vacation - daytime was for family, nighttime was for playing with friends (for him and for us). Since my son's 2 1/2 and too young for their kids program, this was perfect. The other two children were about 1 1/2 and 4 1/2. I forgot to ask if you can get babysitting in port - I'm so sorry! We forgot everything during the cruise! But, I hope this will help someone.

 

Counting down till we can do it again...

[Partyofthree]

Thank you for all of the information. We are taking our 1 year old on the Voyager in a couple of weeks & I definitely wanted to use the in-room babysitting (one of the reasons we decided to take a cruise & use RCCL in particular), but I was very nervous about it. We even bought a pair of 2-way radios so we could leave one w/ the sitter in case there were any problems. And thanks for the tip about it being cash only- nobody at Customer Service told me that. I am glad it worked out for you & hopefully we will have as nice a sitter as you had for your child.

[NewportJulie]

We just returned from the Mexican Rivieria on HAL. We hired babysitters 3 times for DD 4.5 yrs and DS 2.5 yrs. The sitters were front-office gals who wanted to make extra money during their off-hours and once we had the girlfriend of an officer who was vacationing for the week. They we all wonderful, and DD even cried on the last day when she found out we couldn't take her favorite sitter home with us.

 

Make your reservation as soon as you board, for the maximum you think you'll need so you have first dibs. You can always cancel. Another couple travelling with us was not able to get a babysitter halfway into the trip because they were all booked up.

 

We paid $13/hr ($8 for 1st child, $5 for ea addl). It is cash only. Because our kids are so young, we didn't trust in-cabin sitting (although it was an option on HAL) we always had the sitters take them to Club HAL which requires kids under 5 to be escorted by an adult. Our kids had an 8 yr old cousin in the club too so he kept an eye on things, although we felt very comfortable with eveything anyway.

 

We also carried walkie talkies, just in case they needed to contact us. They never did ;)