Sitters at Sea Discontinued Sept 30th, 2018

[griffy116]

I could certainly see how the cruise line would be putting themselves in a position of liability with this program, along with staff that volunteer. All a passenger has to do is accuse a staff member of wrong doing...anything from stealing to abuse and people's lives will be ruined. I don't blame the cruise line for this at all. Sorry it doesn't give everyone a chance to make alternate arrangements. Early traditional dining begins at 5:30, which gives you enough time to have dinner and still get them to bed early. My Grandson started cruising at 4. The waiters doted on him and he enjoyed dinner with the family in the MDR. We often traveled as a large family, including 27 of us at one time. If there was something in the evening, we were able to have someone sit with the little ones. Those that want a kid free meal should just go to the later time. For us, if they didn't want to have dinner with our little ones, we weren't interested in having dinner with them. In the future, at least you know that if you want a sitter, you'll need to take a sitter with you on the cruise. Grandparents are usually more than willing to babysit.;)

[KansasK]

I know it seems like short notice if you have a cruise planned a few weeks out after Sept. 30. I got the same e-mail with a cruise planned for June 2, 2019, so they must have sent it to everyone with a cruise booked, or maybe because we booked this cruise with our daughter and family, and the children are 5 and 3.

 

For children younger than 3, not having a cabin babysitter in the evening could impact someone's cruise quite a bit. For children 3 or older, they can use this option that was listed: . . . "

we still offer our "Late Night Party Zone" group sitting by our Adventure Ocean Youth Staff for children between the ages of 3 through 11."

 

My daughter used the Royal Babies and Tots center when our granddaughter was just one year old. She fed her early at the Windjammer, took her to the Babies and Tots center, joined us for dinner and maybe a show and then picked her up often asleep in her stroller at the Babies and Tots center. She used it part of some of the days, too. She was pleased with the care Gia received there.

This might not be good enough in all cases, though.

[JAMESCC]

Yeah we have been on 3 cruises since are son was born, the first one he was 14 months old. We never felt comfortable that we would use this service. Just our feeling anyway. When I read about this today I was not surprised nor disappointed.

On the liability question for the cruise line I agree. This could cause issues in many, many ways. Hey curious does any other cruise line offer a similar service that you know of?

[HOSKI]

I'm curious about who they sent this email to as we have 2 cruises booked one with our 7 year old. We have not been getting any update emails from RC. I'm wondering what other news we are missing from them so I am so glad for these boards.

 

 

 

I for one would use this service because I know the limits of my 7 year old. She has severe anxiety and if she is tired would prefer to be in her room. Sometimes big groups of kids upset her. Now my oldest daughter would have liked this for a personal playmate. Two completely different kids and our third is different than both of them. Our oldest traveled from 9 months when she took her first cruise and could sit through dinner where staff fawned over her. Our youngest just cannot sit that long for dinner. It's not always about having bad kids but some kids have ADHD or other reasons sitting for a long dinner doesn't work. We will of course do fine without it but I feel for those who were counting on it. For our family trip we have enough adults to cover any childcare needs and hopefully she will like the kids' club. She usually loves them once we get her to go in to them.