Baby sitting Help!!! on freedom of the seas

[lakeatkeowee]

I need help!!!!!! ASAP Sailing on the FOS Feb. 10,2008.

 

My husband and I are taking our family of Ten on a cruise FOS.The two mothers in our family are very nerves and not sure about the babysitting service.

 

The mothers are saying they want leave there baby with a sitter.

 

I need someones input who has sailed on the FOS and use the BS service.

 

Do you have a contact name Only if you would you use them again if you went back on the FOS .

 

What all will they do to entertain the babies dunning the service?

 

For ex sample: Stroll ,read books ,floor time.

 

Can you use a baby monitor video while the babysitter caring for the babies ,so moms can keep a close eye on what going on????????????

 

Will a baby monitor work on a cruise ship?

 

Any suggestions will be be very appreciated.

 

 

I'M new to this site so I'M trying to learn the loops.....

 

Cruised in the pass 10 time maybe more .Will list soon.

[crusinmama06]

OK first of all, yes parents here have used the in cabin sitter. The best time to use them is after you get the baby to sleep. Then the sitter will just sit quietly in the cabin and you can come and go as you please...of course doing "surprise check ins"

 

The service is not guaranteed. It is on a first come/first serve basis.

 

I never needed to use the sitters because I just dealt with the baby myself. And when there is family onboard, I would get family volunteers to stay one evening with the baby and give me a few hours out :)

 

The service is $10 per hour.

 

Some say you can use the video monitors between cabins but there would be too much interference to use it to carry it around on the ship.

[sas80]

Really, I think your questions would be better answered by customer service once you got on board. Then the mommies can decide if they want to use the service.

 

Just know that it is available if you want it but that you should reserve early as there are only so many sitters to go around.

[rebeccalouise]

I have used incabin sitting on Celebrity and it sounds like it is the same on Royal Caribbean (except babies have to be at least 1 year old on Royal Caribbean) versus 6 months on Celebrity.

 

My son was 13 months old when I used the sitter on Celebrity. I don't agree that you should put the child to bed and go out. If a child wakes up to a complete stranger- this is scarey for the child.

 

In my son's case, the sitter came at 8PM and I went to the late seating. The first sitter was one of the girls from the front desk. He was dressed up in his little sailor suit and she took him to get photographed (it was formal night). Then she walked all over the ship with him and showed him off to the crew. He had a great time and she was such a happy, enthusiastic sitter. The second sitter was a philipino cabin stewardess- who was quiet. She was very calm and gentle and stayed in the cabin with him. I did check in on him twice and he was awake but very happy each time.

 

So I had a very positive experience with incabin sitting and wouldn't hesitate to use it again. Go on day one to sign up because it is not guaranteed and they have limited availaility. It might end up that you do some kind of group sitting if you are traveling with other Moms and sitting is limited.

[s318830]

We just used the baby sitting service on Liberty of the Seas. In addition to the information you were given above, you also need to know that you have to pay for the baby sitting in cash each time you use it.

 

And the baby sitters choose you, not the other way around. If someone gives you a recommendation for a Freedom sitter, I'm sure you can put in a request, but it'll be dependent on that crew member's work schedule since the baby sitters are crew members volunteering to do baby sitting duty during their off hours to make additional money. Your preferred person also has to be interested in sitting during your days and times, and for the age(s) of the kids in your party.

 

The way the sitting service works is that you go to the guest relations desk and make your requests for days/times. That info is entered into a computer and is published for the crew members to look through. If a crew member chooses your dates/times, you'll get a call letting you know you've been assigned baby sitters.

 

We had a great experience. We booked baby sitting for each evening's main seating dinner (except for the first evening since that's too short notice for the service to accomodate). Our baby sitter showed up each night (we got the same woman for each evening) with a bag of toys she checked out from the ship. By the last few nights we ordered dinner via room service for the sitter and the kids. So she was kind enough to feed the kids while we were at dinner, and we made sure she got whatever she wanted to eat and drink as well. She appreciated the "passenger food" and the coke we got her each night. But I wouldn't assume that all sitters would be willing to feed the kids though.

 

Each evening we returned to the cabin to find our son playing happily with the toys and our daughter comfortably reclined in the sitter's lap watching Little People on the ship's kids' TV channel.

 

We enjoyed our adult-only dinners, the kids had fun with the sitter, and it was well worth the $10 an hour. We also tipped her at the end of the cruise since she did such a good job, was flexible on the evening they changed the dinner time, and we had her all week. We would absolutely do it again, but you need to be aware that it's first come/first serve, it's done in cash only, and you don't have control over who you get with the exception that if you don't like your sitter, you can choose not to have them sit for you again.

 

Have a great cruise!

[gator90]

Hi Debbie,

We're going on the Liberity of Seas in July. I know you said the sitter picks you, but would you mind tilling me her Name?

[kitty9]

Knowing the name of a particular sitter really doesn't do all that much good. These hard workers are coming and going from week to week, as their contracts run out, so there's absolutely no assurance that this person would be on board, or if they still have the same job assignment that allows sitting. Crew shift jobs all the time, so they could have one job one week and another the next.