Leaving your child on the ship?

[Fatima1922]

I didn't think this was possible nor do I think I would do this but, I was reading a thread where a couple left their child in the Oceaneer's Club while they went into Nassau for 4 hours. Can you really do that? What if there is a problem (with you or your child)? What happens then?

 

[stitchlovestink]

Yes you can leave your child in one of the clubs while you get off the ship. You MUST LET THEM KNOW what you are doing and I 'believe' that there is a protocol on how it is handled. Not sure at all though what happens if there is an emergency on either end.
I did see a post once where the ship stated at the port longer than it was supposed to because the parents had gotten off ship and there was no one to assume responsibility for the child(ren). I believe I heard that when those parents returned to the ship the Captian had quite a conversation with them. And I don't think he was asking how their cruise had been thus far.
Personally, that it something I would not choose to do, but to each his/her own.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Yes, you can... we left our dd in the club on our Med cruise. It was at one of those ports where nothing really exciting was going on so, we left her on board for 4 hours (actually, we did this at 2 ports). There wasn't any special protocal at all that I remember. We told them we were leaving and they said great have a great time. Another time we did a tour with our kids and then, we wanted to walk up to this church on a hill but our kids didn't want to so, we just checked them into the club.

 

[secretkeeper]

This is one of those questions that can bring flames. So please no flames. On our first 7 day cruise we took a excursion that my 4 year old could not attend. We also had a 14 and 16 year old at the time so we needed to meet their desires as well. We left our 4 year old in the club for the 4 hours we were gone. He had a wonderful time. We told the counselors we would be off the ship and what excursion we were on. Thankfully there were no issues but I know a lot of people have concerns with leaving their children on the ship in a foreign country. We decided to give it a try. We did book a Disney exscursion and that gave me the piece of mind that we would not be left behind if somethimg delayed our return to the ship. The one thing is that there is no ability for the club to contact you if there is a serious issue. That being said I would say It really depends on your child. If your child is used to daycare, I'd say go for it. Your child will have fun and so will you! The counselors have this occur every cruise and are used to it.

 

[SnowWhite2]

Yes, I've left my kids on-board and went into port.

What happens if something happens to your kids? What happens to them when they are at daycare or school and something happens to them? The counselors take care of the situation. They have a medical facility on-board that can handle most emergencies. Much closer than anything at my kid's school or daycare. I've been on 5 cruises and the only injury to my kids required a bandage. The kids club has been known to take your cell phone number if you have international calling, but I've also heard CMs say they have no phone to dial out to the island.

You have to do what you are comfortable with, but the option is available to you.

 

[gweeptrish]

Absolutely you can do this. How else would you get to do an adults-only excursion?

We left our 1 year old at Flounders so we could go pet stingrays in Grand Cayman and are planning to leave our (now) two kids at OC and Flounders on our upcoming cruise so we can go on the Segway tour.

I don't recall any special protocol. We just told them we were going to be off the boat when we dropped DD off.

 

[kcashner]

There is no special protocol, and you don't even have to tell them that you are getting off the ship. However, it seems to me that the prudent parent would tell them...that way they aren't paging you and trying to figure out why you're not answering.

If you are on a DCL excursion, it is wise to let them know which one. In some cases, the CMs are in touch with the ship.

Reality, as PP said--if something happens with your child, they will do whatever necessary to protect the child's life and well being. They will not do anything elective without your permission.

 

[pacomom]

I've been wondering about the same thing. What happens if the child wants to leave the club and the parents are not on board the ship?

 

[wideeyedwonder]

We've done it as well...on the 7-night western, we wanted to do the 4-elements with DD(10) while the ship was in Coz. The twins (DD(7) x 2) stayed in the kids club for the hours that we were gone. We alerted the club that we were going on the excursion, and the name and times of the excursion (the excursion was chartered through DCL).

As far as what would happen if something went "wrong", well, there are a few times that we do similar actions...when the kids are in school and when they are being babysat are times that come to mind. Often, while the kids are in school, we can be an hour away, so if "something happens", we have to rely on child care professionals and friends to handle the situation until we get back.

The big difference with a cruise excursion is "getting left behind" if you get back late from an excursion...which is why in those cases we book through DCL, as they 'hold the boat' for you if your excursion (again, booked through them) is late...or at least that seems to have always been the case in action, if not in policy.

I've been wondering about the same thing. What happens if the child wants to leave the club and the parents are not on board the ship?

Our instructions to the twins...CHILL. We did things special for them, but we expected them to chill in the clubs while we did the special excursion with DD(10). In the end it was no problem, as they had friends in the clubs, and had a great time!

 

[kcashner]

I've been wondering about the same thing. What happens if the child wants to leave the club and the parents are not on board the ship?

If they are a little kid, they have to stay as until someone who is allowed to sign them out returns. This is why it's a good idea to let the CMs know.

If it is an older kid who is allowed to sign themselves out, you can rescind that for the time you are gone. In this way, they will have to stay in the Lab and won't be wandering the ship.

You will be told that the pagers only work on the ship. This is not strictly true, but they have a very short range in port. I think it's easier for DCL to say "only on the ship" than to say 1/2 mile range and have people arguing about how far from the ship they were or were not.

 

[LiseG]

We've left DD aboard a few times on Western Carib to do a little jewelry shopping (Cozumel) or visit the local bars (Key West). We told her when we'd be back (1-2 hrs is all we've done). We didn't make any point of telling or not telling Oceaneers Club/Lab staff. I do remember asking if the pagers worked ashore. DD rarely pages us so it has been a non issue. Ditto to what wideeyedwonder said.. if something happens DCL has the team and resources to handle it.

 

[Fatima1922]

Thank you. This definitely opens some other possibilities regarding excursions if we leave her. I also think it is great idea to stick with a DCL excursion in this case. While I understand many of your points about what would happen if she was in daycare. The reality is they would call me and I am expected to get there asap. When she is with a babysitter, we check in occasionally to make sure everything is ok. It is the inability to communicate in case of an emergency that is the piece I need to figure out if I can handle. But the other reality is she's probably safer on the ship then those who choose to get off.

 

[tinkmom2]

The pagers from the ship do not work while your are in port off the ship but I had no problems with either of my children while I was in Nassau with my husband. We all went on Nassau together and browsed around and then took the girls back to the ship so we could go to Atlantis alone. We plan on doing some things by ourselves on this cruise too I also plan on trying out Serenity Beach too on Castaway!

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Just because it's possible we wouldn't do it because of an emergency. Plus our honest opinion is it's a FAMILY vacation. Leaving a child in the club doesn't make it a family cruise. We look it as doing things as a family no matter what age and once the kids move out of the house, it becomes an adult vacation.

 

[Anj]

I never thought I'd leave the kids on the ship, we typically do most things together (yep, I'm the lone mom standing in the dark rain at soccer practices). But on our recent (Oct 10/09) eastern caribbean cruise, we left our 4 and 6 yr old girls in the Oceaneers Club. DH did the drop off, I don't recall him saying that he told the counsellors anything different, but our girls knew we were going ashore. What had happened was that it was pouring rain in St. Thomas and we cancelled our beach day. So the girls protested, they wanted to go to the kids club instead of touring around with us.
They stayed that the kids club for the 2 hours that DH, myself and our 19 month old toured the shops at the port. I felt 100% comfortable with this and I was surprised as if you had asked me even 2 days before we got on the ship, I would have said no way, no how would I have left them on the ship without us.

 

[Melcatfish]

I was in the never would I leave my children on the ship camp but then on our recent rerouted Eastern (15th Aug turned into a western) we decided to take a short (1.5 hour) excursion on Grand Cayman. I felt totally comfortable with the care my children were receiving and as mentioned above if they are in school or being babysat at home something bad could happen and we would trust that the person caring for our child would do whatever necessary to keep them safe \ give them required medical attention.

I do hear what people are saying about it being a "family vacation" but equally to us that means it is a vacation for every member of the family, not just one where we spend every minute together as a family. We sandwiched our cruise between two five day stays at WDW and the cruise was by far the most successful part for many reasons but one of those was that my husband and I could relax and spend a bit of time together without the children AS WELL AS some fabulous times as a whole family. On the theme of a vacation for each family member it occurred to me that keeping us together and dragging a 4 year old and a 1 and a half year old on a sightseeing tour would be far less of a vacation to them than a couple of hours without Mum and Dad in a stimulating, safe and fun environment in the childrens facilities onboard.

Now personally I wouldn't book an excursion for the first day or two on the basis that I would want to check that I was happy with the childcare provided on board before committing to leaving my children with them on the ship while we got off, but provided I am happy I will do it again on our cruise next summer.

Just my thoughts, as always it is each to his or her own when it comes tot he personal matter of parenting.
Mel
x

 

[trivial]

Meh, who cares if someone else wouldn't ever do it for whatever reason? Certainly not me. Do whatever you're comfortable with.

 

[Anal Annie]

We did it on our first cruise - in our first port actually...but in hindsight we were nuts. It was in 2005 - the first year they did the Mexican Rivieria cruises...we'd done a very long Sierra Madre excursion in Puerto Vallarta that lasted well into the afternoon. We went back to the ship & dropped DS at the club (I do not remember if we TOLD them we were going shopping or not). He was 8 and had ZERO interest in shopping but we wanted some tequila & souvies... But so anyway, we only had like 2 1/2 hours or something until onboard time. We browsed the flea market at the port briefly & were unimpressed so then we hopped in a taxi & asked the driver to take us into Puerto Vallarta and to help us find tequila and better shopping. He was quite happy to stay with us at the tequila bar, explained to them what we wanted & then took us to another shopping district where he left us to shop. We shopped for about 45 min. and then hopped another taxi back to the port...but it became rush hour and we barely made it back in time... We DID though, but I was starting to panic just a bit. SOOO. Yes, we would do it again...but I would definitely make sure we had a little more time to play with. That would be my only advice.

 

[wideeyedwonder]

Plus our honest opinion is it's a FAMILY vacation. Leaving a child in the club doesn't make it a family cruise. We look it as doing things as a family no matter what age and once the kids move out of the house, it becomes an adult vacation.

I understand your point, up to a point, but going on a "family" vacation to us doesn't mean that we are together 24/7. Sometimes we break off into subgroups. For example, there were times I was with the twins to give them "special" time with Papa (me), while my wife spent "special" time with my eldest. We have never, ever shoved our kids into kids club just to be rid of them.

It's reasonable that different families have different expectations for a "family" vacation, but that doesn't make our style any less "family friendly"...even in the cases where my kids plead to go to the kids clubs to play with their friends, while I take my tallest princess (my wife!) out for a night on Beat Street.

One last way to look at it...it can be argued that those that spend all of their time with their kids while on vacation are hiding from intimacy with their significant other, and are short changing their relationship with their significant other under the guise of "doing the right thing". Our kids are great kids, and we LOVE vacationing with them, but there are times that I like to spend with my wife ALONE (Palo, for instance), to give us a chance to keep connected and enjoy each others' company.

Each family has to make their own decision based on the pros and cons of the situation, their individual personalities, and their values.

 

[KensJen]

ITA with EVERYTHING wideeyedwonder said.

We love our family time all together and my DH and I love our special couple time. Heck, usually the kids are BEGGING us to stay in the kids club when we want to pick them up and actually hang out with them. We're like, "hey kids...don't you want to go to dinner with us? And a show?" And they have to actually think about it.