How trustworthy are the incabin babysitters?

[Florida_cruisers]

I have read that RCCL has incabin babysitters, but DH and I have some reservations about using them. DH worries that in a balcony cabin she could get careless while he tries to go outside by the balcony.

 

I know a lot of parents here have used them, but how do you trust them with your little one?

 

By the way, we are usually not paranoid parents but usually the people we leave them with are people that we know, never strangers.

[Terpnut]

I don't think there is really an answer to your question. The in-cabin sitters are generally housekeeping and other staff who are off during those hours and want to earn a few extra bucks. They are probably recommended by management staff because they have some child-care experience and probably because there was positive feedback from passengers. IOW, you have to trust the ship staff to choose and forward qualified and responsible sitters. Of course, we all would prefer to use a sitter recommended by our own friends, family and neighbors, but on-board a cruise ship, this is not an option.

[Onessa]

BIL and his wife used a RCCL in-cabin sitter for their then 14MO DD. The balconey was not really an issue since DN was a 'scooter' and had not yet decided to walk. They used her three nights (8 night cruise), were fortunate to get the same lady each night. DN was asleep by the time the sitter came and, for the most part, slept through the time.

 

BIL and/or wife explained to the sitter that they would be stopping by 'just to check in' and did regularly. They'd use their room key, pop their head in check their daughter, smile and nod at the sitter, and pop back out. Never a problem, never any issue.

 

The sitter was a slightly older woman from housekeeping. She spoke decent enough English and explained she was the mother of 4, grandmother of 3.

 

BIL and his wife were overall very pleased.

[l929]

We used in cabin sitting on RC and Celebrity. We were very happy with our sitter on RC, we had the same one for all 5 nights. We also gave her a walkie talkie just in case of emergency. We'll be using one on both of our upcoming cruises on Celebrity and HAL.

[Scotch]

It is all a matter of how much risk with strangers you are willing to tolerate. I remember a couple of stories a short while back about RCCL (or another?) in-cabin baby sitter charged with molesting the child. None of them are "certified" child care takers -- they are regular staff available for extra work after hours. I know many parents go onboard ships and use in-cabin sitters with no concern. DH and I are risk adverse in this respect; no way would we let strangers watch our toddler in a small cabin onboard a ship. If anything happened we'd just be sick to our stomachs and regular U.S. law doesn't even apply.

[miksilver]

We used an in-cabin babysitter for 3 nights on our last 7 day cruise when my DD was 14m. My DD took right to Maria -- the off duty RCCL security screener babysitter -- and had a wonderful night all 3 nights. Maria told us that she was a Grandmother and missed her kids and grandkids dearly and loved having a chance to watch and interact with other children. In fact, the next day when we were leaving the ship in port Maria was there and my DD went right to her and was very excited to see her.

 

We did have an adjoining cabin with my Mother and since she retired earlier than we did, she would just pay her then since DD was already fast asleep by then.

 

My DH were quite comfortable with Maria and tipped her well. I did, upon the suggestion of other parents on this board, go first thing to the purser's desk when boarding and schedule her babysitting time. If you book it all together, then they can give you the same sitter. If you book each day there is a chance there might not be anyone available and the "good" sitters go fast on board.

 

Also, remember that you can not charge your seapass account with the charges and you have to have cash in hand to pay the in-cabin sitter. I also made sure to find out when the formal nights were on my cruise to know ahead of time which nights I would require the babysitting.

 

I had a great experience with the in-cabin sitting on RCCL.

 

Good luck!