Kid's life jackets

[flexsmom]

I'm concentrating on baby-related questions - sorry! I'm watching an 8-week old swing in the chair in front of me and our upcoming cruise now has a host of others issues we didn't have to address last time! I know there are smaller life vests provided for children, but does anyone know what is provided for infants or what the guidance is from DCL about how to handle an infant in an emergency situation when life jackets are required? (I'm not anticipating the need, but hey - it's good to know!)

 

[budwmn]

I'm not sure what they have available for infants. Make sure that when you get to your room there are appropriate life jackets in the closet. If not, tell your cabin steward immediately.

We didn't have a child size vest in our cabin. We told the person in charge during the drill. They said they'd make sure we received one for the cruise, but they never delivered it. We forgot about it after the first day. I won't make that same mistake again.

 

[bahama97]

Just got back from the 5/31 cruise. We had an infant/toddler life preserver in our closet. It was in a sealed bag (do not open except in case of emergency). It looked liked a little boat type thing that you could put your baby in. It was hard to tell since you couldn' t open it up & check it out. It did say for babies up to 35 pounds on it though. We also had a child size vest in the closet, but if something were to have happened, I would have gone for the other first. HTH

 

[BuzzBoyMom]

But if you aren't supposed to open it, how will you know how it works if and when you really do need it?

I thought the purpose of a drill was to increase preparedness and reduce chaos that results when there is fear during an emergency.

Seems odd. Guess I'm gladd my kids are older.

 

[debm]

Hi. We've gone twice with our infant (13 weeks and 8 months at the times) and both times I remember requesting an infant type preserver but never seeing one. And "budwmn" the same thing happened to us-they never delivered it and in all the joy and magic of the cruise we forgot!!

But here's my 2 cents for anyone....On our first cruise I put on my life jacket and all of my children's and just carried my baby in my arms. I was doing that because they had kept announcing that everyone MUST be wearing their life jacket. Well, I had a terrible time carrying him and we were somewhat late getting on deck (go to your room and don your jackets before they announce it) and lots of people were pushing and walking close together. Of course we were on a non-plexiglass deck and I was pushed right up to the edge and my greatest fear is my kids going overboard. It was terribly terribly hard to hang on to my little baby and for an instant I was pretty scared. Looking back now I realize how bad of a situation it was. Thankfully a CM saw me and told me to take off my life jacket and he took it from me so I could hold my baby.

SO...needless to say....last month when we cruised I didn't even put my jacket on for the drill. I just carried it with me and that was fine with them.

So those with infants just CARRY your life jackets. It will be much easier for you to hold on to your precious cargo. Of course, I am just talking about the drill--make sure you know how to put it on correctly if you do need it.