A verandah and small children?

[terimac]

I have avoided booking verandah rooms due to fear of my children being 'crazy' and a horrible accident happening. My children are 4 and 6 with lots of creative energy.
I would LOVE to have the balcony, but since I have never even seen one up close, I am unsure about the safety (kids climbing on the chairs to look over the rail, climbing, etc.)
Am I being paranoid, or am I being wise to wait until they are a few years older?
I am getting ready to book some more DCL cruises soon, so any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!
Teri

 

[weavers1995]

We did a veranda a few years back with my DD7, DD5, and DS 1. It was really nice. The one thing I really didn't like with the veranda and my small children was when you would close the doors to the room, if you didn't help it close, it slammed. That made me so nervous for fingers and hands. Other than that...we weren't in the room enough to make me too nervous!!!

This cruise we got 2 adjoining rooms with a view!!!

Enjoy your cruise!!!!

 

[MelissaE1]

A common and totally understandable fear. We have always cruised with a verandah on DCL since my youngest was age 4, and my DH was very concerned the first time until we saw the layout. I will include a pic of my son at 11 looking over, you can see that the balcony railing is high (and although it's hard to see in this pic, there's a piece of smooth plexiglass in front of the white railing). At 6 it was still over my DD's head.

The cabins are laid out so you can see everything, so there is not much chance that a child could get out there without being noticed and say climb up on the small table unless left completely unattended. Also there is a child lock that is very high up so they don't wake up while you are sleeping and have a look at the balcony. The doors in general are heavy to open.

The other thing that made us feel better before our first verandah is that so far, even with all the kids that have sailed on them, we've never heard of a child falling over one.

Go for the verandah, you'll love it!

 

[mcd2745]

My DD (5) is a climber. I wouldn't be comfortable with a verandah room. Plus, in general, you don't spend much time in the stateroom anyway. Yes, it it nice in the mornings especially when entering a port, but for me, it's not worth the extra cost. For people who spend more time in their stateroom and spend time on the verandah with a cocktail or coffee, it's probably worth it.

 

[clawmachine]

I have 3 young kids, and think a verandah is very safe and totally worth it. Truly speaking, an overboard incident could happen anywhere on the ship, not just on a balcony. If you would be comfortable renting a vacation condo, hotel room, or apartment on land that had a balcony, then I see no reason to worry about one on a ship. After doing a few cruises with an inside room and then a few with balconies, I won't sail without one... and it's probably my very favorite thing about cruising!

 

[NJ.Ohana]

I have 3 young kids, and think a verandah is very safe and totally worth it. Truly speaking, an overboard incident could happen anywhere on the ship, not just on a balcony. If you would be comfortable renting a vacation condo, hotel room, or apartment on land that had a balcony, then I see no reason to worry about one on a ship. After doing a few cruises with an inside room and then a few with balconies, I won't sail without one... and it's probably my very favorite thing about cruising!

That is good to know. We just booked our first cruise and we have small children also.

 

[mmmears]

The veranda door is not easy to open -- I doubt a small child could manage it. Also, you can hear when the door is opening. If you have climbers, then I'd make sure that the kids aren't out there alone, but if it were me I'd go ahead and book the veranda room. We really enjoyed ours.

ETA -- I have a climber, so I know what people mean about worrying. If it would stress you out too much, then maybe it's better to give up the veranda. But like I said, it was not easy to get that door open. If I remember correctly, there was some kind of lock up high that had to be turned at the same time that the lower lever is moved to open the door. Not too easy for most kids, but there are always one or two who figure these things out.

 

[3minnie's1mickey]

I would NEVER book a verandah with my girls who are 4 and 7 now!! But I have issues!!! When they were 3 and 5 we were staying in a hotel and while I was packing bags and my husband was in the shower they were looking out the hotel window. The window was open and we were on the 4th floor. They saw another child walking on the sidewalk below that they had played with at the pool. My daughter pushed her head against the screen to see better and the screen popped out. When I walked out of the bathroom from packing the toiletry bag which was only a split second my younger daughter was hanging out the window holding on to the screen and my older one was holding her at the waist so she wouldn't fall. Writing this and recalling it makes me want to throw up!! Anyway my kids are good kids and it literally happened in a split second. Luckly everything turned out OK but I would not be able to relax if we were in a verandah. I know the chance of anything happening is one in a million but my kids are more important then the view. This is JUST MY OPINION!!!!

ETA: I have never been in a verahanda room

 

[MartDM]

Wow...scary story 3minnie's1mickey! Glad it had a safe ending.

I just wanted to add to that you can have the furniture removed from the verandah if you are worried about climbing.

We booked a verandah for our upcoming cruise when DS will be newly 4 and I'm not really sure yet how I'm going to handle the situation. The door will obviously be locked at all times unless we open it to take him out and he'd never be out there unattended, but I think I'll wait & see if he shows any inclination to climb before I make the call on removal.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Wow...scary story 3minnie's1mickey! Glad it had a safe ending.

I just wanted to add to that you can have the furniture removed from the verandah if you are worried about climbing.

We booked a verandah for our upcoming cruise when DS will be newly 4 and I'm not really sure yet how I'm going to handle the situation. The door will obviously be locked at all times unless we open it to take him out and he'd never be out there unattended, but I think I'll wait & see if he shows any inclination to climb before I make the call on removal.

Honestly, there's nothing to climb. Even though the railings are horizontal, they're also encased in clear plexiglass, it's a completely smooth surface so not really climbable.

As for getting out there when you're not looking, unless you leave the door open, it's pretty unlikely, the door is really heavy, my 9yo DD who does swim team and can pick up her dad can barely get it open, and, there's an additional lock you can use that is above my head so little one's would have to be decently tall to be able to get to it to open it.

If you're prone to being anxious about it, you're probably better off booking porthole or inside, the cruise is supposed to be relaxing, not stressfull, but if you're just experiencing average worries, go for the veranda, we love it!

 

[PearlySwan]

We sailed in 2006 on the Magic in a Verandah Stateroom. At that time my youngest was only 3 months old and my oldest five. The five year old was not a climber and I felt 100% safe with her in the verandah stateroom. It was heavenly waking up and spending some time on the verandah while nursing my 3 month old infant son. Now fast forward four years later. We sailed again this past summer. We did not book a verandah stateroom. Two reasons. First, DS4 is an accomplished climber and he can open anything. My biggest fear was that he would get creative and open the verandah door while we were sleeping. If there is a lock anywhere, this child can open it. Second, we knew we would be spending a lot less time in the stateroom and enjoying more of what the ship had to offer. Therefore, we booked a SPH stateroom so we could still see out the porthole and get some natural light in the room.

 

[tinkmom2]

I can't even open the door and I am 37 lol! The doors are very heavy and the plexi is very high on the verandah making it impossible for a kid to fall over. The only thing I do do is hide the little table. DCL hasn't lost a kid overboard yet

 

[pierresgirl]

OK< I've never mentioned this here but have only had inside or portholes rooms because of an experience a friend had... this is a major fear of mine and even though my kids are 10 and 8 and well behaved/cautious I cannot stomach a verandah room

Her dd was 4 and was in their verandah room with ds and dh (who fell asleep) When my friend came back to the room after getting morning coffee the daughter had taken the ladder, propped it up on the balcony and began climbing.. NOW I completely understand that this is was preventable and also their fault for somehow taking off the ladder (do they come off easy?) and leaving the door cracked BUT it gives me an uneasy feeling. Her DD is a climber, gets into things, & fearless!

 

[Gigi22]

If you are worried about your children climbing on something on the verandah, you can ask your cabin steward to remove the furniture from the verandah. The railings are not climbable due to the plexiglass.

 

[mattmommy]

We only got a veranda when ds10 was 8 years old. I was still nervous even though he's not a hyper/climber kid. He wasn't allowed out there (or anywhere else) alone.

The doors tend to be very heavy even for adults to open.

I would just get a porthole room and sleep easy.

 

[HappyontheLake]

We had Verandahs on our last cruise -- the youngest two were 6 and 8 at the time (and both of them total monkeys).

We had no problems at all.

I have tendacies toward claustrophobia so anything without a Verandah is not an option for us. My husband and I used ours every morning just to sit and for him to do some work email.

 

[grlzmom]

The veranda door is not easy to open -- I doubt a small child could manage it. Also, you can hear when the door is opening. If you have climbers, then I'd make sure that the kids aren't out there alone, but if it were me I'd go ahead and book the veranda room. We really enjoyed ours.

ETA -- I have a climber, so I know what people mean about worrying. If it would stress you out too much, then maybe it's better to give up the veranda. But like I said, it was not easy to get that door open. If I remember correctly, there was some kind of lock up high that had to be turned at the same time that the lower lever is moved to open the door. Not too easy for most kids, but there are always one or two who figure these things out.

We just got off the Magic Saturday. The verandah door lock has been changed. Now it is a really simple slide bolt. Still located up high where the other one was, but no more twisty turning required.

 

[MartDM]

Honestly, there's nothing to climb. Even though the railings are horizontal, they're also encased in clear plexiglass, it's a completely smooth surface so not really climbable.

I realize that the railing itself isn't climbable, but a child prone to climbing could climb on the furniture & put him/herself within reaching distance of that top rail