Cruising w/ 1 yr old

[queenof4hearts]

hello, we have never cruised before and are considering next March when we will have a 1yr old and a 6,7 and 10 yr old.

My question is people's exp. w/ babysitting for this age.

Is it in room or at a special location?

Is there an additional fee?

Do you have to make a ressie before you cruise?

We are also considering leaving baby back home w/ Grandma, but I am really curious about other peoples' exp. w/ baby's.

Thanks for any tips or suggestions!!

 

[HooKooDooKu]

As is currently stands, there is the "Flounder's Nursay". You have to researve space after you board the ship. The hours vary each day based on timing for ports of call (however, they seem to be consistantly open from 5:45pm to 12 midnight). They'll allow your child to have a snack (I think they might have some crackers on hand) but they will not feed your child a meal. Availability is limited and cost $6 per hour with a 2 hour minimum.

 

[minniemouse1]

We used Flounders nursery when we cruised in October of 2003 and in October of 2001. In 2001 they would feed your child baby food as long as the container was unopened and ofcourse will feed them formula/breastmilk as it is provided by you. I am not sure how much had changed in 2003 because we always brought our 1 1/2 yo DD fed there and with a labeled sippy cup. We really liked the nursery but did not use it for more than 2 hours at a time. It is clean and well staffed.
We did have a problem with them trying to put our daugher to bed on our 1st cruise. I told them that they would need to rock her with a bottle and that she wouldn't fall asleep if they just layed her down so were got paged at dinner to return to the nursery about 1 hour after I had left her there. They had just layed her down in a crib so I took her back to the room because I couldn't settle her down there and I wasn't charged to the time she was there.
Flounders and any of the other kids programs provide the parents with a pager so they can contact you at anytime if your children need you. The only thing is that I believe they do not work well when you are off of the ship. We never left the ship and left our children on but alot of parents do.
You can reserve up to 3 slots at Flounders when you board the ship on the first day then you can add more the next day if you wish. This is so all parents can have a slot if needed. Our family that cruised with us used flounders everyday for atleast 2 hours a day for their then 6 month old so space is usually available.

 

[queenof4hearts]

Thanks for the great information. We have never left any of our children w/ a sitter while on vacation but I think it may be necessary this time.