A Baby Gap

[jfhandel]

Hello All

 

Every now and again some posts a question on the forum about facilities for the under twos, whether that's about babysitting, the practicalities of looking after them at night, or who will change their nappy.

 

And every now and again I pop up and say, "oh yes, Cunard and P&O will do that for the under 2s, and for free". And I know this because I'm fortunate enough to have travelled on both and, in the spirit of "if you like our service tell your friends, if not tell us" I'm very happy to tell everyone else about this particular service that these two lines provide.

 

Just like all parents, we really value the time we get to spend with our little boy on our cruises, and during the day its only the odd hour or two when we've felt the need to pop him into childcare and wonder off elsewhere.

 

But we really value our evenings - not least as it gives us a chance to collapse from spending the rest of the day running around after a toddler! So we love the ability to put him into a night nursery where he will have his own cot and he can go to bed at the normal time. He keeps his routine, and we have quality time enjoying everything the ship has to offer in the evenings. And, since neither of the lines we have used charge for this, there no sense of resentment at paying for another extra.

 

The problem is, hardly any other lines seem to do this. RC have just started on the Oasis/Allure of the Seas; otherwise its in-cabin at $10 an hour. NCL don't really put the little ones to sleep. Princess doesn't even take under 3s, nor does Celebrity (at least not unaccompanied).

 

We'd really like to try different lines, but feel its a big gap for those of us with younger children, particularly the under twos.

 

BTW this isn't a criticism of people who choose to keep their little ones up, or who choose to remain in their cabins in the evening, or take their little ones with them in the evening...but wouldn't some of you like a break, if you were given the chance?

 

Just a moan really, but would be interesting to see if others felt the same way. Who knows, could we exert a bit of people power to get the lines to change?

 

JFH

[bigpuma]

Disney Cruise Line will take children 3 months to 3 years in their nursery. They charge $6/hour.

[poppan]

I would like childcare for the younger kids, yes... and I would have gone on Cunard or P&O but I live in the US so the itineraries that would have worked for us were rather limited.

 

I ended up doing the next best thing... I picked a line that at least offered in-cabin babysitting for a fee (we ended up on Celebrity).

 

I just hope the lines that are currently offering babysitting, don't discontinue it.

[sandytoes03]

There was a thread a while back about RCI charging for Oasis and Allure nursery facilities. Don't know what the outcome was. Hope they don't . . .

[sharktums]

I guess I try to look at this whole thing in a more positive perspective.

 

25 years ago when my parents cruised with me as a small child there was nothing available for kids, let alone babies and toddlers. I remember on a few cruises (The Fairwind, other Cunard cruises, etc.) if there were enough kids, sometimes they would offer one activity a day with a random 'counselor'.

 

Things started going more mainstream and I remember cruising The Big Red Boat and Carnival as a preteen and teen and having more kids activities, but still barely any dedicated space even.

 

Now I have my own toddler, and more and more families are traveling in general (not just cruising). I even got to see an introduction of a baby and toddler play class three times a day on Royal Caribbean, and saw my daughter go from the baby group, to the toddler group, and on our next cruise in March I get to 'drop her off' at the 'Big Kids Club' (as she now calls it!).

 

Do I wish I had the Oasis or Disney nursery's for my daughter for the last three years? Sure, but the time flies, we were able to spend more time as a family, and now she'll probably abandon me for the kids clubs for the next 10 years!

 

Full disclosure - We did try the in-room babysitting on RCCL once and were kind of disappointed and never did it again.

[highbridge5]

My kids are older than 2 but I am sure that Carnival will "babysit" for kids younger than 2 during the Camp Carnival babysitting hours from 10 PM to appx 3 AM. ($6/hr). Last week on the Pride, I saw several parents drop off toddlers in the evening along with pull-ups and the counselors were fine with being responsible for putting the toddler in the pull up as needed.

 

At night, the young kids (2 to 5 year olds) were given pillows and they vegged on the floor watching a movie. I did not see any little ones (under twos) and since the only grownups allowed in camp were the counselors, my view was limited to what I could see on the video monitors in the hall and the view from the gate.

 

I don't know if babysitting after 10PM is really all that useful. We did go to an 11:45 "adult" comedy show. If I had little ones, I might have used the babysitting for that.

 

In my experience, I rarely stayed up past 10PM when my kids were under 2 years old. Last week, I had to set an alarm to go get my 9 year old at midnight because he wanted to stay up late and I did not.

 

hb5

[Eclipsepearl]

We actually put off doing a cruise until our youngest turned 3 for exactly this reason.

 

We're in Europe so there's less selection here, especially since dh insists on the Med (no N. European cruises :mad:)

 

I love spending time with my kids, and do a lot of it since I lost my job :rolleyes: but I liked getting a break too. Sometimes what I wanted to do wasn't really toddler-friendly and I found that stage to be the most difficult for travel.

[crusinmama06]

jfhandel - you have touched on what I have been screaming from the rooftops around here for about the past 2 years. ;) The good news, it IS getting better. :D

 

The bad news is, it is SLOWLY getting better.

 

I am hoping to see success with the Oasis and Allure nursery on Royal Caribbean, and that the trend will spread FLEETWIDE. Which....fingers crossed, may cause nurseries to pop up on Carnival AND NCL.

 

I feel that Princess, HAL and Celebrity will be the last mainstream cruise lines to move into the Under 2 market.

 

I don't know why Carnival doesn't lower their Under 2's babysitting time and accept them at 7pm, let mom and dad out for a few hours at night.

 

I DO know why they charge the babysitting fees. There is a huge price difference between the price of a Cunard sailing and the price of a Carnival sailing. There are Carnival sailings that start at $119 with $99 for 3rd/4th rates - not happening on Cunard. :) So Cunard can afford to pay those Nannies to watch the Under 2's.

 

So I don't mind that Carnival charges babysitting fees. I don't mind that Royal Caribbean and Disney charges nursery fees. I just want to see them offer them for the Under 2's. Give mom and dads a break in the evenings and give more families a chance to cruise with the young ones.

[momofsamandeden]

This was our dilemma about the cruise we are booking next month for this fall. While we want to bring our children we know that the 3 and six year old will be fine in the late night babysitting yet I would rather that they sleep in the cabin however if we bring our youngest she will only be 15 months so we would still have to have her unless we choose a line that does the in cabin thing which is not guaranteed. The last time we cruised with a one year old we chose a line that did the in cabin babysitting just for that reason and by the time we went to sign up for it at 3 p.m. on sail day they were booked.