HAL - Baby Sitting Service

[cheffy3]

We have just booked our 1st cruise with HAL to Alaska for June next year and we will travelling with our 2 year old son. Can anybody tell me about the baby sitting service they offer - has anybody used this? Do they charge for this, if so how much? Also how long will they look after him, for example, the excursions are not really for 2 year olds, therefore if there was one excursion we really wanted to do would HAL be able to baby sit him for 2-3 hours?

[6rugrats]

Are you asking about Club HAL? At two years old, your son is not old enough to participate. He must be three years old and totally potty trained.

 

HAL does not offer any organized babysitting service. Sometimes there may be babysitting outside of Club Hal's hours, if a staff member wants to voluntarily do it; you would have to check with the Front Desk, but I am not sure it's even available for a two year old. I don't think you will be able to obtain this information until you are on the ship. Yes, there would be a charge for this, but I have no idea of the price.

 

I am guessing you will not find babysitting available and will need to choose shore excursions in which he can participate.

[cheffy3]

Thanks for the info 6rugrats. I am aware he will not be able to participate in the Club HAL beceause he will be too young, however I was told when I booked that they do offer a babysitting service. Also the following thread seem to suggest they do as well.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=710627&highlight=%22HAL%22[url=http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=710627&highlight=%22HAL%22][/url]

 

I guess your right, it might be a case of wait and see and find out when we are on the ship. If they don't offer this service it won't be an issue because I knew with our 2 year old we would have limited expections for excursions.

[crusinmama06]

I have this info on my blog, but I got this info directly from HAL. They don't mention an age though...

 

For babysitting outside of the hours offered in Club HAL, guests may check at the Front Office to schedule this service provided by staff on a voluntary basis only.

[nyfamily]

We had a babysitter 7 out of 10 nights on the Noordam. You can request the babysitting as soon as you board and then they will advise you as to whether they have willing volunteers. It was $8.00 per hour. We loved the sitters, who were women who worked in the front office who missed their own kids and loved taking care of mine for a few hours. We had an 11 month old and that was not a problem. Hope this helps you!

[UCLS103]

We've been on a few HAL cruises, including one to Alaska in 2003, and have used their baby-sitting services. What I remember was that the sitting was only available after about 7:00 p.m. I remember that we wanted a sitter during the early seating for dinner and that was impossible, but we could have had one for that later seating. I don't remember whether we could have had a sitter during the day.

 

There's no minimum age and we had someone watch our 9-month old.

 

The sitters are great. They are all from the Front Desk staff and each was excellent.

 

Coverage can be a little spotty. Definitely go to the Front Desk on the first night and request a sitter for each night that you want one. You probably won't get an answer until the day before or even the day that you want the sitter. As I recall, HAL usually came through, but I can remember sitting in our stateroom in my tuxedo with a big night planned and getting the call at about 6:00 p.m. saying that they couldn't find anyone.