If your toddler/kid has a habit of getting up at night...

[motraveler]

Just off the Fantasy and had something happen that I doubt would happen to any others...but something to think about. We had two adjoining rooms. 3 kids slept in one (8, 5, and 3 yr old). 3 year old fell asleep watching funnel vision and I'm sure that added to the problem. Hubby carried her to bed and it was our first night on the ship so she wasn't familiar with anything. The ship was rocking and rolling a ton that night. So, I'm sleeping and 3 y/o wakes up crying. This is not unusual. Sometimes she calms down and goes back to sleep, sometimes she'll come get in bed with us. I laid there and listened to see if she was going to calm down. She did. I then heard a noise that I thought was the room-adjoining door swaying in the rock/roll of ship. I couldn't place it, but didn't think much of it. Was just happy the 3 y/o went back to sleep. The next noise I hear is my 3 y/o out in the hallway crying. SHE HAD WENT OUT HER DOOR!!! QUICKLY, I might add. I jump out of bed and run to the door. We are in the middle hallway that connects port to starboard. I can't see her as I hear her down the hall crying. I have no idea what time it is and I"m not thinking clearly and I'm not dressed to be seen in public. I call out her name and she hears me and responds, still crying. I say "Come here" (had she not responded, YES, I would have given up all modesty and ran out...but we were in contact). There is a pause and I hear her cry "I can't find you!!!!!!" At this time my husband has woken up and goes out in his underwear to the hall and gets her to come towards him while I hold open the door. BUT...the biggest issue here is "What if I wasn't a light sleeper????" Where would she have ended up? Every hallway/door looks the same...she wasn't wearing a Mickey Band....it scares me to think about. I'm sure she would have been fine...but I'll never know for sure. My husband and kids sleep through anything and I'd been out with my brother and friends earlier...what if she would have done that sooner than when I got home? What if I'd drank more? Anyways...you get the idea. The doors have dead bolts but they unlock automatically when the handle is turned from the inside. From that night on we put the ottoman/coffee table/trunk in front of the door every night. So, if your child has a tendancy to sleep walk or come in bed with you too, put the ottoman in place...or leave the closet and bathroom doors open to make it a little obstacle to get to the door.

 

[kcashner]

Just out of curiosity, did you have the security lock fastened from the inside? You know, the one so the stateroom host can't get in? I agree that blocking the door is a good idea, but just curious.....

 

[lilpooh108]

I'm sort of confused.

Your 3 YO opened the actual cabin door and walked in the hallway? Wow...that is an advanced 3 YO.

Did you fasten the security lock above the regular lock?

 

[keaster]

I'm sort of confused.

Your 3 YO opened the actual cabin door and walked in the hallway? Wow...that is an advanced 3 YO.

Did you fasten the security lock above the regular lock?

I agree..those metal doors are pretty heavy and I know that when my DD was three there is no way she would've been able to pull it open with her toothpick arms!

 

[jaminmd]

Glad your little one is ok but let's review lessons learned:

1. Make sure the extra latch is on the stateroom door so little ones can't reach it.

2. Sleep in clothing you can rush out of the room in during the middle of the night (in case of an emergency).

 

[motraveler]

We had the "dead bolt" on the door done...but when you open the door from the inside it automatically un-bolts. There was no other way to keep her in (no security chain or any other way to lock it) and I was shocked she got the door open so quickly too. She opened the door other times through out the cruise when we were leaving the room...so she was quite capable. And she's a little thing...we were shocked she got it opened too.

 

[DreamGirl90]

Those doors are HEAVY. Your 3 yr. old must be a superwoman!

 

[deanimal]

Thanks for the tip. I never would've thought of my kids (2.5 and almost 4) being able to open it, but your story proves that you just never know! And an older kid that sleepwalked could probably get out quite easily. I'm guessing that they need the doors to be able to open from the inside easily in case of an emergency (imagine something like the Concordia and trying to open a chain in the dark!) but kids can do crazy things sometimes. I'm so glad to hear your little one was okay.

 

[gigi1313]

My 4yo had no problem opening the door on the Fantasy either... He's also a wanderer/mover, but I was afraid to block the door in the event of needing to get out fast for emergency so I did the closet/bathroom door obstacle and wished I had brought a bell to hang on the door!

 

[kristinfly2]

Thank you for posting this! My 3yo and 5 yo are master escape artists and very big and strong for their ages. In hotels I have had to zip tie the door closed. I asked a lot of questions about the doors when I called DCL before booking. We also have two connecting rooms on our up coming magic cruise. I plan on blocking and putting a zip tie on the kids room door and leaving the one in our room locked the regular way. Wish us luck!

 

[Momma2Jax]

My 3yo is an escape artist, too, and ended up in the hall during the day twice! Thankfully he never got up without waking us up at night! Scary!! I would for sure block it, maybe put a bell on it, etc!

 

[lbgraves]

When the kids were younger [3 & 5 on our first cruise] we worried about this happening also. The doors on the Magic/Wonder are the same way. I turned around after hearing the lock click and saw my 5 yo opening the door.

 

[stoofyg]

We had the same issue! My 3 year old could open the door all by himself! First night (and every night) I dragged the bench in our room in front of the door. I slept a little better. Thank heavens you were a light sleeper, very scary.

 

[lmb80129]

If you do deadbolt the exterior doors, be sure you have a good door stop between the two rooms. The door stop on the kids room adjoining door was a little worn and their door between our rooms slammed shut with the rocking of the ship. Luckily my kids are older and responded to me banging on the door for them to open it but I couldn't help but wonder what we would have done if they hadn't heard me or been able to open the door.

 

[motraveler]

Were you on the Fantasy (where the adjoining door didn't stay open?) On the Fantasy they have magnets that keep the doors open which worked out really well EXCEPT the adjoining door couldn't be open and still watch TV from bed. So we'd have to almost close the adjoing door (put towels on floor so they wouldn't close all the way) to see the TV...not the best design. (and if the ship was moving much the adjoining door would end up in your line of sight to the TV) But, yes, that would be terrible if the adjoining door closed and the front door was barricaded!!

 

[Woodmnky]

Thanks for posting this. Definitely something to consider if you have a young child in another room.

 

[ceyoung]

We are going on our first cruise in May on the Dream and had some concerns about our kids going out the doors at night (will have a verandah door too). A friend suggested bringing the magnet alarms that you can attach to windows and doors in your home and using some 3M strips to attach it safely on the boat. Do you all think this would work?

 

[melaniejh1016]

We are going on our first cruise in May on the Dream and had some concerns about our kids going out the doors at night (will have a verandah door too). A friend suggested bringing the magnet alarms that you can attach to windows and doors in your home and using some 3M strips to attach it safely on the boat. Do you all think this would work?

How old are your kids? I cruised with my daughter right when she turned 4 and we told her she was not allowed on the balcony or out of the room without us and it was fine. She followed directions and she's not exactly a perfect child! Lol

 

[jahber]

We are going on our first cruise in May on the Dream and had some concerns about our kids going out the doors at night (will have a verandah door too). A friend suggested bringing the magnet alarms that you can attach to windows and doors in your home and using some 3M strips to attach it safely on the boat. Do you all think this would work?

I wouldn't worry about the verandah, at least. There is a lock well above a little kid's reach. If they caught on to it and were really determined, they'd need to drag something over to stand on and then reach up and open it. Then they'd have to swing the door handle around to unlock the door and then haul the door open. Probably need to move the thing they stood up on, too... You can see where I'm going. It would be hard to do all this without waking someone : )

As for the stateroom door, I wish there were a way to deadbolt it. But I wonder if that's a safety issue in terms of crew having access to rooms in an emergency?

To the PP: I'm so glad to hear everything ended well. What a scare! We have adjoining rooms for the first time and I will be sure to have the talk with the 8yo and 5yo about never, ever opening their door! The policy will be to use ours only.

 

[jennandcompany]

We used the alarms on ncl when out twins were 3. They were $30 at RadioShack. We used the 3m strips. They do WORK!! We definitely slept better at night.