brainstorming some ideas for emergency preparedness while cruising with kids?

[eskiemomo]

I've been following the Concordia story and needless to say feel anxious about taking our toddler on a cruise we've booked this spring. We're not cancelling, but I want to work on a little emergency preparedness list for our family...

 

I'm just brainstorming here, but welcome cc members' input!

 

1) infant/child life vest: we have our own, and I think we'll bring it again because our toddler is on the small side so feel better to have our own to rely on

 

2) ergo carrier (or other carrier? moby?) to secure our child to ourselves, we took this to St. Thomas for the open-air bus ride but it could also come in handy when you need to securely carry a baby or toddler in any emergency?

 

3) copies of passports, documents: some suggest electronically storing in the cloud, others say have copies on your person, etc. some variation of this

 

4) identification: I think older kids get bracelets when they join the kids' club but our toddler never got any ID when on her last Disney cruise. I'm still thinking what would be a secure yet comfortable way to have ID on her that she could wear all the time?

 

those are just my quick thoughts, I would like to hear what other families do/suggest!

[cb at sea]

Whatever makes you feel safe! The odds of something like this happening in the near future are slim.....I mean, how often has this happened in the past? There are more airline crashes than ship sinkings.....and TONS and TONS more auto accidents than either of the other catastrophes!

 

Sure, you want your kids and you to be safe....and the odds are that everything will be just peachy-keen! Try not to freak out too much about "what ifs"! Just use everyday common sense! I think an ID bracelet of some sort is a great idea!

[Nebr.cruiser]

If they are old enough, talk about a family emergency plan--what to do, where to go, etc., just like you do at home with fire safety.

 

But, I wouldn't make such a big scary deal of it that it worries the kids.

[alj1208]

As for family emergency plans......... A major concern for me is the advice the ship gives you to rely on the kids club staff to get your child to the muster station/life boat. Are you kidding? There is NO WAY I would wait for my child to be brought to safety. I would go get him, and God forbid anyone gets in my way.

[seashinesunshine]

It sounds like your kids may be younger than mine, but when we took ours last time age 13 and 15, I told them if there was any kind of emergency not to look for us and to "save themselves" if needed. The last thing I wanted was to worry that my kids would go back to the cabin to look for us. I do feel very safe cruising and this was a tragic incident, and I think that we are even more safe now, because after a problem people tend to be more vigilant. One idea if your youngest is too young to get a band from the kids programs, is to get a band at home that won't come off and put it on her with your name and a phone number of someone from home. The bands they give out at hotels for waterparks might work, or a blank hospital wrist band.

[bus man]

As for family emergency plans......... A major concern for me is the advice the ship gives you to rely on the kids club staff to get your child to the muster station/life boat. Are you kidding? There is NO WAY I would wait for my child to be brought to safety. I would go get him, and God forbid anyone gets in my way.

 

I totally understand how you feel, because I feel the same way. However, the problem is, what happens when you get to the kids club, only to find that they've already taken your son to the muster station? Now you have to go back down to the muster station. Result: you are separated from your son longer than you would have been if you had gone directly to the muster station.

 

My feeling (when I'm sitting here at my computer, all safe and sound; who knows how I'd feel on a sinking ship) is that if I were near the kids club when the emergency signal sounded, I would go there first; but if I wasn't, I would go directly to the muster station.

 

Another possibility, one that would need to be agreed upon beforehand: in an emergency, one parent goes directly to the muster station, while the other checks the kids club first, then goes there. Though, the second parent would have to understand that the lifeboats can't wait forever, so they might get left behind.

[Sugar*Magnolia]

I've been following the Concordia story and needless to say feel anxious about taking our toddler on a cruise we've booked this spring. We're not cancelling, but I want to work on a little emergency preparedness list for our family...

 

I'm just brainstorming here, but welcome cc members' input!

 

1) infant/child life vest: we have our own, and I think we'll bring it again because our toddler is on the small side so feel better to have our own to rely on

 

2) ergo carrier (or other carrier? moby?) to secure our child to ourselves, we took this to St. Thomas for the open-air bus ride but it could also come in handy when you need to securely carry a baby or toddler in any emergency?

 

3) copies of passports, documents: some suggest electronically storing in the cloud, others say have copies on your person, etc. some variation of this

 

4) identification: I think older kids get bracelets when they join the kids' club but our toddler never got any ID when on her last Disney cruise. I'm still thinking what would be a secure yet comfortable way to have ID on her that she could wear all the time?

 

those are just my quick thoughts, I would like to hear what other families do/suggest!

 

 

I think you have some wonderful ideas. Love the idea of some sort of comfortable ID bracelet- since you mention your toddler wont have one- or wasnt given one on DIS. [love the idea! going to be pondering all day now,lol]

 

As for concern, I wouldnt have much as the recent events with Concordia are so rare! I agree, comparatively there are way, way, waaay more traffic accidents and plane issues than cruise ships have.

 

Pondering toddler ID bracelet idea..... :):)

[apatrol]

Its all about having a plan and following it...not just having a plan.

 

One of the top reasons for fatalities in house fires is someone entering a home to search for someone else that already self evacuated. I would think the same holds true in this case. However I have a heart and love my child so much I would be torn between following the plan and running to find my precious cargo.

[reallyitsmema]

I agree that a plan is important. When we sailed with our son, he was a teen, so we didn't have the issue of a young child in the children's program. We did tell him he was to go to his muster station and we would meet him there, he was not to go back to the cabin. We have always looked for emergency stairwells in hotels so we did the same on the ship. We also pointed out to him where the lifejackets were at the muster station. We just tried to have him be aware of his surroundings.

 

With younger children, I can see the concern. I would definitely be questioning the staff when I dropped off my child in a kids program especially if they are in a nursery program. I would want to know what the standard procedure is, what stairwell would they be using, do more staff come to help bring the younger kids down to muster etc.

 

Check next time you drop your kids off, I know there is a crew stairway that comes up into the adventure ocean/arcade area on the Mariner of the seas. It is in the little hallway that leads out to the sports deck. Those stairwells are the ones that I would suspect the kids staff would use to bring the kids to the muster stations. I doubt they would bring a large group of kids to one of the main stairwells for their own safety.

 

If your kids are of school age, they have all been through fire drills at school. It has been drilled into them to follow the rules so if they are told what to do on a ship in case of emergency, they will have a better chance if there is an emergency on the ship. If I were travelling with a elementary aged child, I would do my own "muster drill". Teach them what the letter and number on their seapass means and bring them there from the area you think they will be spending most of their time in. I know many parents don't have their kids keep their seapass cards but they will at least have their muster bracelet to look at.

[eskiemomo]

I found these disposable waterproof toddler ID bands on Amazon, got great reviews and in fact some used them for their kids on cruises:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Wristband-Disposable-Bracelets-Precious/dp/B000V6H100/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Ordering ours as we speak...

[Mom2B&Z]

DS2 wouldn't wear a bracelet when he was a toddler, so we taught him his full name, our full names and wrote emergency info in his shoes. It's not perfect, but we figured if he could identify himself it would go a long way.

Now our boys are 6.5 and 4 yrs, we rehearse how to get to the muster station multiple times before the ship even leaves the dock, as well as reviewing the general rules...listen to announcements, go directly to the muster station and ask a uniformed staff member for help if you get lost. The boys know their muster station letter (I don't let them carry their own cards) and DS2 is still rhyming off the safety instructions every time he sees a photo of the Concordia in the newspaper or on the computer.

However, you can't plan for everything, and you take a risk getting out of bed and leaving the house every day.

[soozenw]

We use those write-on tattoos for vacations with our little guys. They last 4 or so days (longer if they don't pick at it or scrub it).

[Sugar*Magnolia]

We use those write-on tattoos for vacations with our little guys. They last 4 or so days (longer if they don't pick at it or scrub it).

 

[Julz226]

I use RoadIDs when I ride my horse and my husband uses them when he rides his bike. I've just ordered the slim version for our 2 year old son for our upcoming cruise. It says the small size will fit kids. I hope it adjusts enough for a toddler. I'll let you know when it gets here. If not, I may just get him a shoe tag and hope he's not barefoot at Camp Carnival....

 

http://www.roadid.com

[newbiecruiser09]

I use RoadIDs when I ride my horse and my husband uses them when he rides his bike. I've just ordered the slim version for our 2 year old son for our upcoming cruise. It says the small size will fit kids. I hope it adjusts enough for a toddler. I'll let you know when it gets here. If not, I may just get him a shoe tag and hope he's not barefoot at Camp Carnival....

 

http://www.roadid.com

 

We got something similar when we went to WDW and our kids were little. They were bands (like the Livestrong ones) that had the kids name and my name and cell number. Our DD was only 18 months so I put hers on her ankle since it slipped off her arm.

[parrotthead]

I've been following the Concordia story and needless to say feel anxious about taking our toddler on a cruise we've booked this spring. We're not cancelling, but I want to work on a little emergency preparedness list for our family...

 

I can understand being nervous.... Distasters do tend to bring out all kinds of "what ifs" in our minds. Consider this....

1) infant/child life vest: we have our own, and I think we'll bring it again because our toddler is on the small side so feel better to have our own to rely on --> The Life Vest that are mostly sold in boat shops/sports stores etc, are not rated for 'open water' survival... they are rated for 'close to shore'. Your tot is probably safer in the Vest provided by the Cruise ship... they have ones for infants, children and adults, that are CoastGaurd rated for Open Water.

 

2) ergo carrier (or other carrier? moby?) to secure our child to ourselves, we took this to St. Thomas for the open-air bus ride but it could also come in handy when you need to securely carry a baby or toddler in any emergency?--> Would be good if you had to 'take off running' to have baby stapped to you, (better weight distrubition, less squriming, hands free, less chance of dropping etc) ...but if you had to get into the water, the carrier would keep little one's face below water....

 

3) copies of passports, documents: some suggest electronically storing in the cloud, others say have copies on your person, etc. some variation of this--> Cloud might be a good idea, ...we take original PP of course, and a copy is left at home and in the ship safe, these copies would only be good for retreiving the #s and of course could not be used as the real thing, but may expideit thinks in an emergency, because youd have the #s to give.

 

4) identification: I think older kids get bracelets when they join the kids' club but our toddler never got any ID when on her last Disney cruise. I'm still thinking what would be a secure yet comfortable way to have ID on her that she could wear all the time?--> Ive seen babies/toddlers with the 'Muster Stations ID bracelets around their ankle. This is what we are planning for GingerBaby(8mo) on his First Cruise (in 11 days!)

 

those are just my quick thoughts, I would like to hear what other families do/suggest!

Good Idea thinking ahead...piece of mind for the What Ifs.;)