No nursery / No Babysitting?

[ONECRUISER]

2 minutes ago, cruisenlove said:

I just came off Adventure last week and my daughter is 15 months, there is no babysitting fleet wide and there is no nursery program on the adventure for children under 3. Unfortunately, there is NOT much for kids under 3 to do on this ship. The only thing they did have (which I found out towards the end of the cruise) was family time for toddlers under 3. they had 2 sessions a day and you basically bring them to AO and they read and play songs for 45 mins. The times never worked for us. It was at 9:15am and 5:15pm. 9:15am my baby was still sleeping and 5:15pm we were getting ready for dinner. I was a little disappointed that this is one of the only ships that didn't have the nursery nor did it have anything to do for little kids. Even the Splash zone for babies in diapers on this ship was VERY small. It held about 5 kids with their parents. I am going on Anthem & Oasis in 2020 and I am looking forward to the nursery on these ships. I hope this helps.

Also ships dont have Nursery, 3-5 group think kids still have to be potty trained, no diaper they dont change

[RCCL Fan]

Typically, I don't like to further respond to threads that take a left turn along the way.

 

I will share a few thoughts this time.

 

My original message wasn't intended to spark a discussion about whether you should bring children on cruises,  or how to handle cruising with kids. 

 

I knew in-room babysitting ended fleet-wide, but was surprised by the lack of a nursery on Adventure. 

 

 I knew "no nursery" and  "no babysitting" meant, these parents would be on their own.

 

My brain immediately thought "Didn't they revitalize Adventure last year?  Put in water slides and the poolside TV? Don't they typically add a nursery then?"

 

It seemed like a fair question.   So while my TA called RCI, to double check, I thought I'd fire off a question to you guys. 

 

I expected....   "There is a nursery, the website is just not updated"  or   "There is no nursery, it is a little surprising, but sorry nothing available"

 

I know we all have our opinions on cruising with kids, to each his own.

 

I was just trying to pass on accurate information about what the cruise line offered.

 

I wouldn't feel comfortable telling another family, even ones we're friends with,  how their life changes when they have kids.

 

Many of you know I cruise with my young daughters. Cruising is a family event for us.

 

My wife and I have cruising with kids down pat, and we have great advice to provide our friends on how to handle a cruise with their little one. 

 

For those of you who asked....  we called our friends and told them the bad information we provided about the nursery.

Their immediate response was, "that's no problem, we will take care of her".   We also volunteered to help. 

 

So they get it.

 

As much as I would love to hire Brillohead, that's on our friends as to what they look for in a Nanny and what they can afford. 🙂

 

Merion is a wealth of information on this board. She's helped myself and many others with valuable cruising tips.  I remain appreciative of her RCI knowledge, even if we disagree on what type of advice to pass along to other parents. 🙂

 

To turn the discussion a bit to where I originally intended...  

 

Does anyone else know why the ships that don't have a nursery, didn't get one in their remodel I'm sure there's got to be some opinions out there.

 

I understand that space is a premium on Empress and Majesty.... it makes sense to me they wouldn't have one. 

 

Voyager, Explorer, and Adventure's lack of a nursery surprised me, especially since they've all been redone. 

 

All of them are the first design of the Voyager class, wonder if that had something to do with it???

 

I'd love to hear your speculation.

 

Surprised Rhapsody and Radiance have a nursery before Explorer and Adventure, but maybe that's just how my crazy head works. 

 

 

 

[brillohead]

9 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

As much as I would love to hire Brillohead, that's on our friends as to what they look for in a Nanny and what they can afford. 🙂

 

Just to clarify, no "hiring" needed.... I'll do it for free in exchange for cruise/airfare!  LOL

I hope your friends enjoy cruising as much as your family does!

[cruisenlove]

Sorry I wasn’t trying to argue or anything, I was just giving my opinion since I just came off adventure last week! I loved bringing my daughter with me and would do it again even without a nursery onboard! Cruises are for families and kids and that’s why we love them! Your raw your friends will enjoy it too! Have fun! :) 

[ONECRUISER]

20 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

I understand that space is a premium on Empress and Majesty.... it makes sense to me they wouldn't have one. 

 

Voyager, Explorer, and Adventure's lack of a nursery surprised me, especially since they've all been redone. 

 

All of them are the first design of the Voyager class, wonder if that had something to do with it???

 

I'd love to hear your speculation.

 

Surprised Rhapsody and Radiance have a nursery before Explorer and Adventure, but maybe that's just how my crazy head works. 

 

 

 

Only been about 20yrs that Royal started Family Style Cruise. Ships older then that didnt even have many 3-4 passenger Cabins. Nursery's in General haven't been on Royal ships, maybe 10yrs since they even added some to existing ships. In past had in room Babysitting for just a while...

Edited August 9, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[RCCL Fan]

On 8/8/2019 at 6:55 PM, cruisenlove said:

Sorry I wasn’t trying to argue or anything, I was just giving my opinion since I just came off adventure last week! I loved bringing my daughter with me and would do it again even without a nursery onboard! Cruises are for families and kids and that’s why we love them! Your raw your friends will enjoy it too! Have fun! 🙂

Did not think you were at all, I promise

[RCCL Fan]

8 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Only been about 20yrs that Royal started Family Style Cruise. Ships older then that didnt even have many 3-4 passenger Cabins. Nursery's in General haven't been on Royal ships, maybe 10yrs since they even added some to existing ships. In past had in room Babysitting for just a while...

I understand that.  What I was saying was that I was surprised when they remodeled these ships and added all the other family activities they didn't add a nursery.  

[1992cruiser]

Thank you for this thread...we have come close to booking Adventure a few times, but just ended up going with Oasis class instead. I just assumed all ships had the nursery (except Majesty and Empress) so I’m glad I read this. 

 

We are getting close to our youngest being 3, so thankfully we will be done with the nursery. It’s so much easier just dropping your kids off and not being on a schedule with AO.  

 

Some of my my best memories with my kids are from cruises. My oldest took her first steps on Allure. 

[ONECRUISER]

11 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

I understand that.  What I was saying was that I was surprised when they remodeled these ships and added all the other family activities they didn't add a nursery.  

Lucky that any Royal ships have a Nursery. Only thing consistently added is more Cabins. Royal Ships I travel on usually have 10-50 kids at most, though dont Cruise on newer ships and only do longer Cruises