Will Baby Monitors Work Across a Hall

[KandMGIn]

We are cruising across from our parents. They have allowed us to use their balcony room to hang out on the nights we do not put the kids in the babysitting. Does anyone think our baby monitor will work? Even if they are asleep when we go across the hall, I am freaked out that they will awake and get into something (2 and 4 yr old) or cry or who knows??

 

Anyone have an answer?

[cali-croozer]

Maybe your parents can babysit in this situation. I wouldn't leave them by themselves. Are you just wanting to hang out on the balcony? If so, wait until the kids are asleep and carry them across the hall with you. That's what I would do. I remember when my kids were that small, they were wouldn't wake up when moved.

[KandMGIn]

My parents are not intrested in babysitting while on vacation. If we want to go out after their bedtime, we will use the playroom babysitting. On the nights we do not use playroom babysitting, we will go to my parents room to watch a movie, order food, and sit on the balcony. At home, our children are left unattended in their bedrooms every night for 12 hours just as everyone elses children are.

 

 

Now...my question is, will the monitors work so that we can hear them breathe or possibly wake? We will be across the hall and one room down.

[Finflapper]

All you have to do is call the 1800# for Royal Caribbean and they will be happy to answer your question if no one else knows the answer.

[Pikaia]

It might work - it might not. I don't think there's any way to be sure before you get there and try them out, because so many things affect the performance of monitors, even in regular homes! Put one parent on balcony with monitor base, and other in room with monitor, and cough or wiggle or whatever and see how much sound you get on the monitor base. I'd be a wee bit concerned that other peoples' devices (ie. walkie talkies) could cause some interference.

 

However, it sounds to me like you are a little nervous about leaving them alone, even if they are sleeping. Since you can't easily kid-proof the cabin, it probably isn't worth the worry. Go with your gut feelings ~ if you aren't completely comfortable, don't let anyone else try to convince you that it will be OK.

 

:) Carolyn

[KandMGIn]

I will try to call..(It's Carnival Actually :p ). Maybe they will know, but I am doubting it.

 

It is not so much that I am uncomfortable with it as that I just want to know they are safetly sleeping so we can enjoy the evening past 8:30pm. We could not afford a balcony, so, once they fall asleep...not much we can do in our room.

 

Has anyone tried the monitors successfully???

[swoosh2005]

I think you should just bring them and give it a try. The walls are made of steel-but a lot of people use walkie-talkies so it seems to me that the monitors should work. You're so close that you can always pop in to see them anyway. It might be hard to hear over the roar of the wind and waves out on the balcony, however.

Have fun!

[cali-croozer]

My parents are not intrested in babysitting while on vacation. If we want to go out after their bedtime, we will use the playroom babysitting. On the nights we do not use playroom babysitting, we will go to my parents room to watch a movie, order food, and sit on the balcony. At home, our children are left unattended in their bedrooms every night for 12 hours just as everyone elses children are.

.

 

That's true. But at home, things are kid-proofed and the door does not lead to a hallway of a huge ship.

[katondeck]

Why when parents ask a simple question do people need to be rude? She wants a few quite moments on a balcony when her children are hopefully sound asleep across the hall. Jeese! All parents know that children do not always sleep when they are supposed too. The cabin doors are heavy, I doubt most children would be able to get them open on thier own. Plus she wants to use a monitor to make sure she can hear their every move.

 

I am sorry I do not know the answer to your question and I also highly doubt Carnival will know. I would bring them and see, it is worth a shot. Hope you have a great cruise and get to enjoy your parent's balcony :).

 

Maybe the kids can sleep on roll-a-ways and you could just roll them across the hall!! ;)

[cali-croozer]

I really didn't intend to come across as rude. If you read my 2 posts, the first one just offerred an alternative and the 2nd one is fact. I was just thinking of the kids safety. I'm a mom too. We (parents) are so careful to kid-proof at home, it's tough to do that in a hotel/cruise room. And, what if one did manage to open the door? Maybe I'm just too overprotective. I know parents want some alone time........vacations are just different when the kids are so small. Sorry if I offended anyone.

[KandMGIn]

Cali, No problem ;) ! I do care vary much for my childrens saftey. That is why I wan to know if monitors work. If they do not work, we will end up calling it an early night. Hey...maybe the kids will be so tuckered out that we will be able to watch a movie in the same room while they sleep. Ya never know. (Maybe we will be tuckered out!)

[kitty9]

Others have used the monitors and they seem to work. But one other thing to keep in mind. Anyone on the ship can get into a cabin with a master key, be it room stewards or maintainence personnel. If you decide to leave your children alone in the room, leave a note nearby just in case someone comes into the cabin, finds young children alone and reports to security that very young children were left alone in a room. I'm not being judgemental because I don't care what any parent decides to do, but unless the crew knows you're nearby and not at the show or in the casino, there could be problems. Also, the doors on the cabins aren't that heavy. My mom has terrible arthritis and her hands are very deformed. Because of this she cannot usually open heavier doors. But on the cruise ships, she can open the doors easily because they're usually much smaller than other kinds of doors. A four year old could easily open the cabin door without any help.

[KandMGIn]

Kitty, Thanks...I had not thought about stewards or maintenance. Again though, the baby monitors would be turned up enough to hear if the door opened and someone came into the room. We have them loud enough to hear them breathe at night. Also..I guess I could use the do not disturb sign. As far as my kids opening the door, I think we would also hear that on the monitor, because they would have to get up and navigate a dark unfimiliar room first.

[kfleming]

We had connecting balcony cabins with my parents on NCL when we took our 13 month old. After she went down for the night we would go out on their balcony with a monitor even though we had the door between the cabins open. We used it fine but there was some interference at times. Sometimes we had to move it or hold on to the antenna. We did use the "do not disturb" sign anytime she was asleep so no one knocked on the door or anything. Have a good trip.

[KandMGIn]

Thanks for the info...if we had more money we would have done just that with the connecting balconies. Thanks!

[sashapoo]

We always take them with us to make sure my girls (12 and 8) are not fighting too much...we have never have a problem with them at all. Also, the walkie talkies work well too and some have a setting that will make it stay in the transmission mode on one end...just a thought....have a gear cruise!

[KandMGIn]

Sashapoo, Thanks! We did think about the Walkie Talkies, but I read elsewhere that you can hear all sorts of transmitions on them. I would hate to be watching a movie and hear..."Where are you now!"! Most people have used the monitors with rooms next to each other, I am a bit concerned about across the hall. Well, I will post in a month as to whether or not it works!

[Vyhanek]

I've been wondering the same thing.

 

One thing you might be able to do is to bring something along that would jingle (I'm thinking a string of jingle bells) and attach it to the inside of the door. That way if the door was opened from the inside or out you would hear the bells jingling and know to peak out and check up.

 

My girls are 5 and 3 and also sleep alone unattended in their beds all night:)

 

I have absolutely no problem using a monitor (to monitor) their activities from across the hall. I guess you could bring them and test them. If it doesn't work you could hire a babysitter for the evening.

 

We have friends staying 2 doors down and they have young kids too. We were hoping to be able to visit after the kids went to bed. Would be awfully boring checking in at 8pm everynight and sitting silent in the room if not necesssary is my thoughts.

 

I do love the shows in the evening though. I probably will line up babysitters or maybe even bring my double stroller and wheel them into the show. They will fall asleep in the double stroller after a busy day and I can watch the show. Just a thought.

 

Please post to let us know how the monitors work on your cruise. Have fun!

[KandMGIn]

I will post. We are going on Carnival this time around and their policy does not allow in room babysitting as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity does. The children are allowed in the "sleep over" style babysitting from 10pm to 3am to the tune of $10 an hour for the two kids. We will do this a couple of nights, but knowing my four year old, he will not just lay down on a sleeping mat when he could instead play and watch tv. We will have a very tired child the next morning! Therefore, the late night sitting is only an option maybe two times during the cruise. I will definately come back here and post about whether or not we had monitor success. I think I will bring a chain of jingle bells. Thanks for the advice!

[serene56]

Another option is -once the kids are asleep take the walkie talkie type thing and tape the button to on--- and leave yours on. Set it to a sub channel that does not get much action. Get the ones that are rechargeable and get 2 mile radius.

If you are staying in an inside cabin may I suggest a night night as those cabins are VERY dark-even during the day.

 

TO the person who said about a 4 year old opening the door- I have a hard time opening the door as they are quite heavy. I cant imagine a little kid opening a door with no problem.

[KandMGIn]

Hey there Serene, what do you mean by a sub channel that does not get much action? I ntoiced a lot of middle of the road walkie talkies have about 22 channels. I do not know how many people use them on the ship, but I was under the impression that most all of the channels would have near constant action. I am sure they would stretch MUCH farther than the baby monitors! So tell me about these sub channels!!

 

We did think about taping the button down and then someone abovce also mentioned that some come with "constant on" modes.

 

I never even thought about the night light as we stayed in a balcony previously. Thanks so much, I just put it with the "pile". :p

 

My kids cannot even open the doors at the local JC Pennys! I too am doubting that they could open the cabin door. They are steel lined fire doors!

[dolphins76]

Ok I hope this makes u feel better. On our last cruise which was our 1st cruise we went with our family we all had cabins right next to each other ...Oceanview Cabins that is. Well a couple of nights we would go down the hall 4 cabins down and leave our kids 5,6, 8 asleep in the room. I was very nervous about doing it cause my kids could open the door no problem....But soon to be BIL had brought 4 sets of walkie talkies on the ship that we had all been using. Well he said for us to rubber band the talk button down and put it in the cabin so we could hear if everything. My hubby and I tested it out first and it worked like a charm. We could hear everything snoring, coughing. I am a very very protective mom and it eased my nerves. I would say use the walkie talkies. If you have any other quetsion feel free to ask. Enjoy your cruise ...don't stress :) Before anyone jumps down my throat about leaving our kids alone my MIL AND FIL were in the cabin next door which was an connecting cabin they had the door cracked but they were asleep.

[serene56]

By sub channels-- I mean the ones like you said with 22 channels. Most people onboard will use the bottom few or top few channels. It pays to surf the middles to see how many people are on. Yes, we used the walkie talkies a few times onboard our ships-- just for checking in.

For your purpose they will work out great. Rubber band the botton so you can hear - and the kids wont hear your end coz theirs is constantly on. Dont pay a lot for them- you can get a set for 22 bucks. I think the walkie talkies will serve you better thenthe monitors.

 

BUT if you already have a monitor I would try it at home-- see how far of a range you get. Turn it on in the furthest point in the house then go outside and see how far you can get.

[CoachTerry14]

Strange about baby monitors...Recently at a High School Football game the coaches could not talk to each other with their wireless radio system because a baby monitor from a house in the neighborhood caused interference!

[hilltopfamily]

We used a baby monitor on our last cruise and it worked perfectly!!! This was on Carnival Elation, deck 2. We were in an oceanview & our 13, 10, & 7 year olds were in an inside directly across the hall from us. We had no problems at all with the monitor working each and every evening/night (I left it on all night long and could easily hear my kids). Funny thing was since my kids are older, I had gotten rid of the baby monitor and ended up picking this one up at a garage sale for $5 to take on the cruise. Absolutely the best $5 I have ever spent---gave me such piece of mind, plus I could jump in to "referee" any disputes my kids started to have long before it would have become a irritation to neighbors. Any further questions, let me know. One other thing: You may want to bring an extension cord with additional outlet ability. We seemed to have the monitor plugged in, plus charging digital camera or camcorder batteries once in a while at the same time and the extra plugin helped out a lot.

 

(BTW: Elation has no connecting rooms so this wasn't an option for us)