Floaties?

[lanejudy]

Castaway Cay is within DCL's "rules." I meant beaches in other port stops. Sorry for any confusion. Castaway Cay is still fairly shallow. There isn't much ability to swim underwater on the family beaches, except the area of Pelican Plunge - and honestly I would put any young child in a life vest there if using the slides. On the family beach, assuming a parent will be in the water with the child, probably no need for a "floatie" unless you just feel safer with a life vest. Personally, I would never use those foam blocks on the back, in terms of safety it isn't really any better than the inflatable arm bands. The bubble on the back forces a child's body into the prone position, potentially with the head underwater if a wave splashes up or if the child is tired.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[lucyddr]

These are name brand, albeit cheap, Puddle Jumpers. They are coastguard approved. Ours children can swim well and swim for hours in private pools. However, I strongly encourage those cruising to ALWAYS place your children in either a vest or one of these. Pools are crazy crowded and children can be trapped in the center. Caribbean currents can also be very unpredictable. We were in Grand Turk this past September. The currents were so strong that they were pulling our children down in knee-deep water, due to storms over 30 miles away. Also, Cozumel and a few islands have beaches with steep drops, so children can easily be pulled into water over their heads.

You can never be too safe! Our Puddle Jumpers have been to WDW 3 times, on 3 cruises, and more land trips that I can possibly count. While they look bulky, they can easily be packed in the bottom of a suitcase. I even stuff socks and underwear in the arm holes! Our kids hate vests, so these have been lifesavers for us! Here, they are sailing in St. Thomas! Our son was rolling up the jib while our daughter "drove."

Have fun and hope the photo helps someone!

 

[bumbershoot]

Coast Guard personal flotation devices (PFDs), water wings and flotation sewn into bathing suits can be brought onboard and are permitted in Mickey's Pool.

OK this is the worst sentence for being clear in meaning.

I do NOT think that "coast guard" is modifying anything but "personal flotation devices". I think it's the same meaning as if they said "Water wings, flotation sewn into bathing suits, and Coast Guard personal flotation devices can be brought..."

The post wasn’t dredged up to bicker over product names. I think it’s more useful when posts are updated in case someone else is doing research so they have accurate and up to date info.

You see bickering, I see clarifying. That's a very poor sentence.

Anyway, right now it can be seen as bickering, but ultimately it might be figured out, and so the pain of the perceived bickering will have been worth it.

She is too advanced for a puddle jumper and absolutely doesn’t need a life vest to swim in a pool

A 4 year old is not too advanced for the inflated arm bands connected to a chest strap. I doubt if even Michael Phelps was that advanced. And especially in the pools on a disney ship, which are heinously full of people. All it takes is for her to be hit in the face and lose consciousness for a second, and she's under the water.

In 2013 a 4 year old named Chase almost drowned on Fantasy. Yes this was before lifeguards were there, but it could have happened even with them there. He survived, but he's forever changed. You can follow him on FB to see how things can change in a minute for 4 year olds when swimming: Chase Lykken (it's super easy to google and that's where I got his last name).


Swim vests aren't "life vests". The vests they have at Disney are far "more" than the CG approved swim vest I bought for my son *after he nearly drowned wearing water wings in arm's reach of me*. Go to Target and buy a swim vest. Easy peasey. Or the puddle jumpers.

You also said that at home she would need nothing? Maybe in the YMCA pool *while in class*. My son didn't use anything at the pool there either.

But one day a little girl who was last in line to do something in their swim class, and directly underneath the life guard stand, went under the water. The life guard didn't see her, the one on the other side was looking at the kids near him, and the teacher was with another child. Thankfully the moms could see that someone wasn't there, and the girl's mom ran over and got her up. A month later the Y got rid of the lifeguard chairs and went strictly to walking and patrolling 4 sides of the pool.

If you have a pool at home and she'll be in the water longer than half an hour PLEASE have her wear something. She can do her underwater swimming in that first half hour. Then that's done and put her in a vest or the p'jumpers.

I’d prefer to bring her old Y swim bubble because that’s the perfect in between but the DCL list doesn’t mention it.

That's great for actual full proper swimming. There is no place on the ship where she's going to be properly swimming. If she is face down in the pool on DCL, in a swimming position, she's going to be hit by 4 other kids inside of a minute. Go back and read the posts here from 2013 when Chase nearly drowned. The pools are packed.

Bring it for castaway and see if it's allowed. But once guests are off the ship longer than an hour the water is going to be so churned up that she won't want to go underwater anyway, FYI. She won't be able to see much but sand. So there's no point to being under by that time. If she wants to go under water, be right there with her, watching her (no distractions like talking with my brother as I was doing when my son's arms suddenly were up above his head and his face halfway under the water), in the first part of the day there. After that, the water will be murky, the distractions will be higher, everyone will be hotter, and she'll be tiring, so use the swim vest.

 

[hpsalb]

My youngest is 4 1/2 and just learned how to swim just not well enough that she can last maybe more than 20 minutes without flotation. I’m trying to research the best options for her at the pools. She is too advanced for a puddle jumper and absolutely doesn’t need a life vest to swim in a pool but I’m not sure I want to bring nothing. I’m trying to find the best in between option and upon researching came across this thread. I’d prefer to bring her old Y swim bubble because that’s the perfect in between but the DCL list doesn’t mention it. I’m not sure how people are interpreting the entire list to be Coast guard approved when flotation sewn into bathing suits aren’t coast guard approved either....again if Disney intended to mean all devices need to be Coast guard approved I’m just not sure why they didn’t end it at that, it makes it very confusing otherwise for those not knowing what to bring. Ended up sending an email to our cast member to get clarification! Just want to be prepared as well as we can. I will probably bring puddle jumper and use it when she starts to tire. I would bring water wings but everything is saying here they aren’t allowed so I won’t chance it.

I interpret “water wings” as the inflatable arm floaty things...no way any of my kids would wear them by that age or benefited from them by their size at that age.

Personally we just use the life vest so I don’t have to pack anything else. I am a huge fan of the puddle jumper but they take up so much room. Maybe not what we’d do at home but sometimes things are different on vacation. I do see the concern with excursions outside of DCL though.