In Room Babysitting on Liberty TERMINATED!

[KGEmail]

We were on the Liberty Thanksgiving week, for our very first cruise with my entire family including my almost 1 year old. My husband went to Guest Relations to inquire about babysitting in the room (I know I know they need to be 1, but we figured we'd ask) and they told him that they have suspended in cabin babysitting that week. Now whether it was discontinued permanently or not I cannot say, but I can verify that it was a little fishy that NO in cabin babysitting was happening that week.

Also - cruisemama - I rarely post, and used these boards a lot prior to this cruise (mostly because I had no idea what we were getting into) and you were very helpful :)

[boaterette]

[quote name='sas80']I don't personally find your sentiments offensive as I am a BIG believer in families always doing what works best for their family. But I read this and feel sad because we had a [I]LOVELY [/I]RCCL babysitter on our Rhapsody cruise.

DS was getting over a cold. The first night we came back I asked if he had coughed any and she told me he had. The second night we came back she promptly told me, without my solicitation, how many times he had coughed, the duration of the events and how easy it was for him to settle back down afterwards. She even took joy in reporting to me on the third night that he had coughed, but he had coughed far less that night than on the previous two nights.

It was clear that she invested herself, even if it was just a little bit, in babysitting for our son. (who, BTW, was sleeping the entire time she was there)

She was a[I] lovely[/I] person. Reading your post makes me feel like I need to defend HER.[/quote]

You took a sick child on a cruise and let a babysitter watch him several nights in a row. I'm sorry but I just don't get it.

[sas80]

[quote name='boaterette']You took a sick child on a cruise and let a babysitter watch him several nights in a row. I'm sorry but I just don't get it.[/quote]

I know! Sometimes I wonder why they haven't sterilized me!

But don't worry! I showed her how to administer the adrenaline shots that he has to get (once every hour) and I also showed her how to use the dialysis machine and the hand pump for the dialysis machine (in case the power failed on board) I also left her the manual - some light reading in case she got tired of watching reruns of Wonder Woman.

You don't think taking a child with Bird Flu onto a ship was a bad idea...do you? We made sure to eat in the windjammer for breakfast and lunch and I always carried him with me thru the buffet lines.

[Thing2]

[quote name='sas80']I guess I just really feel like, considering all the stuff that gets into the media, if there was any issue what-so-ever with babysitting services on any cruise line, we would DEFINITELY hear about it!

Look at Madeline McCann. That happened in Europe and is BIG news [I]everywhere[/I]. "Stuff" is not going to happen to kids on cruise ships and not make it into the media, these days....[/quote]

I have seen reports where cruise ships are notorious for covering things up and not reporting them. I am not saying it has happened but I guess if it were me I wouldn't want to be the first one.

I would just tread carefully were my children still young. There safety should come first. I hear it is about family time together taking young children on a cruise yet parents are getting babysitters every night and putting them in the daycare during the day. Which is fine if that is what they want to do......but I'd suggest taking some one who could sit...Grandma or a babysitter. JMHO

[Travelgrrl]

My friend was attacked (in our cabin, at 6:00 PM) on an RCI ship by a crew member, and though I felt Royal Caribbean -mostly- handled it very professionally, it was never prosecuted, handled entirely internally, and therefore was never in any kind of media.

So of course there are many incidents that are never 'reported' though they are reported to the cruise line.

It hasn't stopped me from cruising RCI or other lines and has no bearing on my slight unease with the somewhat informal in-room babysitting that RCI offers(ed) - but there are all kind of apples in any barrel.

Nota bene: RCI still has the 'in-cabin babysitting' featured on their website.

[crusinmama06]

[B]SAS[/B] - LOL...you're bad ;)

[B]To everyone else[/B] - Please don't persecute SAS. She really is a wonderful mommy.

[B]KGEmail[/B] - Thanks for verifying this. I hope you posted a review of the ship. I would love to see what you thought of your first cruise.

[B]Travelgrrl[/B] - THAT is frightening. I was actually trying to convince a family on another board not to book their young kids onto another [I]deck[/I] due to things like that happening.

[bplazo]

Sas80, I am glad that you did not find my comment offensive. I have never trusted strangers with my daughter and there are some family members and friends that I would not leave my daughter with because even family and friends are often the sickos in the world.

I would only allow my daughter to go to Adventure Ocean maybe for an hour or two a day. The rest of the time she had to spend with my husband and me.

[chrystine]

I was on the Liberty last week and was told by a very reliable source that in-cabin babysitting was terminated. We have never used it for our son but I think it would be a valuable especially for those with children too young to use AO. They did make an exception for a fellow OS guest with a special needs child who made it a point to confirm availablity of in-room babysitting when booking their cruise. However, their sitter did not show up as scheduled and it ended up a big headache for all involved.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Several things happen on board and we never read about them. Check out this site:

[URL="http://www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html"]http://www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html[/URL]

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