?'s regarding Carnival's Group Babysitting for babies...

[quagmire0]

1. Has anyone had any experience with the babysitting program on Carnival, particularly with an infant < 1yo?

 

2. It sounds like they have pack 'n plays at Club Carnival. If we were to bring our own PNP for the cabin, would we be able to bring it down to Club Carnival for our daughter to sleep in?

 

3. For those that have brought infants < 1yo, would the Carnival babysitting option be important enough to rule out going on RCCL or NCL or any other line? (i.e. did you just end up not using the babysitting option? :) )

 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Kerry's Girls]

I had my 2 year olds, so it's not exactly what you're asking, but I can tell you that what I did was bring them asleep in the stroller, which worked great. There were others asleep in their strollers - other than that I didn't see how they handled babies, so someone else will have to help you there. I will say that it's a long walk to the very end of the ship - I can't imagine dragging a pack 'n play along with diaper bag & baby.

 

It's a great option to have the babysitting available on Carnival, but plenty of parents bring sleeping babies to dinner or the shows, so it all depends how you think yours will do if you bring her with you in a stroller. I took two cruises with my girls on Princess which did not have any babysitting options for them, but we had a great time. I just knew that I would be with them 24/7.

 

Best,

Mia

[miksilver]

1. Yes -- a 6 1/2 month old

 

2. They do have pack-n-plays available there and ready to go for infants who are asleep or going to sleep shortly. I wouldn't worry about carrying up your own pack-n-play, a diaper bag and baby are enough.

 

3. Yes, it did make a difference to me. My husband and I love travelling with our DD, but to be able to travel and get some "adult time" without the worry of the kids club was something that we loved! Camp Carnival has a great reputation with qualified staff, you can always check up on your infant, you are given a pager in case of emergencies and are encouraged to use any house phone to call and check up on your child. My DH and I were very pleased with the service. I think we used this option 4 nights of our week long cruise.

 

Kim

[2112]

We took our 7 month old on Carnival. The cribs they provide are not pack and plays but rather a fold up wooden crib. It was fine. I don't remeber what they used in Camp Carnival but they had a pack and play or something similar in there as well. There is no reason to bring your own. Please note that the group babysitting for babies is MORNING ONLY on port days! They also have late night babysitting, but you can't leave your baby on board for a full day on port days.

 

I did some research on babysitting options on the other lines. Here is what I found:

 

NCL and Princess have no options for babysitting for infants at all. None. This is what kept us from cruising with NCL. On the upside, NCL is one of the few lines that don't charge for babies (Disney is the only other that I know of).

 

RCCL and Celebrity do not offer group babysitting for babies at all. They may, however, offer private in cabin babysitting. I am a little nervous about the non-guarenteed aspect of this, but at least it appears that it could be available to allow yourself to go into port for a full day without having to rush back by noon.