Booking nursery time on-board

[mouseearstx]

How easy is it to book time once you are on-board?

I don't want to over book, and then DD doesn't like it, but I also don't want to run into the problem of having no availability if we want to put her in for a little bit. I've looked at the Navigators (Magic out of Galveston), but I'm still not sure when I would want to reserve time. Thought I'd see what other people's experience has been...

 

[Four Bears]

I suggest that you book for times that you KNOW that you need (adults only activities like Palo) before hand, since these times are not negotiable. I also suggest that if you book a adults only tasting or spa services, you should book nursery time ASAP for that as well.

How do your kids do at dinner? An one and a half dinner?

For us, dinners can be a long drawn out affair. We book the nursery for the last half of dinner and have the kids' dinners served with our salad/soup and appetizers courses. We then bring the kids to their respective club or nursery and then eat our main entree/dessert and coffee in peace. It is the best of both worlds...we eat together as a family, the kids don't have to spend and 1 1/2 in the dining room with us and get to play, and we get a small amount of adult time.

During the dinner hour, I have seen families been turned away without previous reservations, so just something to think about. I am sure if you were wanting to drop your child(ren) off at odd times, then the nursery may have more availability for drop ins.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

We had no problems booking extra nursery hours on the Dream last summer.

My daughter was 20 months and she did not do well in the main dining rooms during the long dinners. So we ended up booking her for 3 out of 5 nights at dinner time.

I also didn't book more than 2 consecutive hours in the nursery, because it's a smaller place and even though the cast members are great, I think my daughter needed a change of scenery. A few days I booked her 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at dinner.

I kept adding/changing hours during our 5 day cruise and was never turned down by the nursery staff!

 

[mouseearstx]

My little one, 2yo, is a super slow eater most of the time, and usually does fine at restaurants, so I'm not too worried about that. And we aren't booking Palo or any spa activities, so that's not a concern to us either. We are flexible on times. We probably won't use the nursery a whole lot, but thought we might take DS 7 to see a movie, or just spend an hour or two child free at some point. My parents are going to be on the cruise as well, and while I know they don't really want to "babysit" exactly, they do want to spend some time with the grandchildren!