Leaving a child in Oceaneer's during an excursion

kwoo

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 27, 2005
Is anyone leaving a child in Oceaneers Club / Lab while they go on a shore excursion? Or has done this in the past? I have a 3 year old that we plan to leave back while we go a Glacier Adventure tour. We did not book through Disney. I feel slightly weird about leaving her on the ship without a way to reach me.

Also, I read that if your child has an accident you can't put them back in the club for 24-48 hours. And that you get called to pick them up. My daughter has been potty trained for a year, but she's 3, 4 this summer and so she does have an accident every now and then (like maybe once every 3-4 months b/c she's playing and waits to long or something like that).
 
People definitely do it, but I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable doing it for an excursion not booked through Disney where you are going somewhere that isn't in the immediate vicinity of the port. But everyone has different levels of comfort with these things. Ultimately, you need to decide if you could do it and feel comfortable enough that you would be able to relax and enjoy the excursion.

I haven't heard that you can't put your child back into the club for 24-48 hours after an accident. If it was a loose stool, then they would definitely be excluded for a period of time but not for an accident from just waiting a little too long to go to the bathroom. You will get called to pick her up because she will need to change clothes.
 
If she's 3 on the cruise, you could pay for her to go to the Nursery and get more 1 on 1 attention vs. putting her into Oceaneers Club. I think it would be worth the cost if it puts you (and your daughter) more at ease during your excursion, and there shouldn't be an issue if she has an accident there as long as you provide a change of clothes for her.
 
Additional question, will she be fed lunch if she’s in Oceaneers over lunch time? If we do this, she’d be in there from 9:30am-3:30pm.

Side note: she will be a week from her 4th bday and goes to daycare/preschool 3 days a week from 8:30-5:30, so she’s used to being away in a group setting.
 


Additional question, will she be fed lunch if she’s in Oceaneers over lunch time? If we do this, she’d be in there from 9:30am-3:30pm.

Side note: she will be a week from her 4th bday and goes to daycare/preschool 3 days a week from 8:30-5:30, so she’s used to being away in a group setting.
I agree with PP about using the nursery, if you have worries about the "accident" issue. At 3, she can use either. Yes, it costs to use the nursery, but if she has an accident while you are off the ship, the nursery CMs can deal with it. CMs in Oceaneer's cannot.
 
Lunch is served and the children are strongly encouraged to eat (they are shown the food) but if your child does not want to eat at the time they are serving food they will not be forced to eat.
 
People definitely do it, but I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable doing it for an excursion not booked through Disney where you are going somewhere that isn't in the immediate vicinity of the port. But everyone has different levels of comfort with these things. Ultimately, you need to decide if you could do it and feel comfortable enough that you would be able to relax and enjoy the excursion.

I haven't heard that you can't put your child back into the club for 24-48 hours after an accident. If it was a loose stool, then they would definitely be excluded for a period of time but not for an accident from just waiting a little too long to go to the bathroom. You will get called to pick her up because she will need to change clothes.

Let me just second the very strong reservations about doing it and being on a non-DCL excursion.

A few years ago I was on a HAL cruise to Alaska and did a whale watching trip that one of their port adventures crew was on to experience it so she could talk to guests about it. She told be about an issue a couple of weeks before that where a glacier adventure/musher’s camp excursion got stranded on the glacier because weather moved in and the helicopters could not get back there. For a couple of days. All the people on the excursion were housed in the musher’s camp as long as necessary. When they were able to get back, those on HAL excursions (there had been 2 HAL ships in port) were put on a train or a boat to catch up to their ships that had already been arranged and things were set - all at HAL’s expense. Those on an independent tour also got stuck, but they were having to argue with the tour operator about expenses and arrangements to get back.

Now, granted in both cases kids left on the ship would have been put in the care of kids’ club crew members, but those on the HAL excursions knew they were getting back ASAP so the worry was lessened. Those on non-HAL excursions had the added worry of when they were getting back.
 


Side note: she will be a week from her 4th bday and goes to daycare/preschool 3 days a week from 8:30-5:30, so she’s used to being away in a group setting.​

FYI, the club is VERY different from preschool.
In preschool, they have a group of friends who they know and teachers who they know and who know them. Its a true group setting. The club is a free for all with lots of activities and staff around, but they don't have "an assigned group of friends" like a preschool class.

And another aside, is she potty trained, or is she potty independent?

In the clubs, they have to go and do the whole thing all by themselves. Using the potty, wiping, pulling pants back up, washing hands, etc.
Cast members will not/cannot help with any of that.


We meant to leave our boys in the club while we did an excursion. Little one got pink eye, so we cancelled excursion.

That being said, we were going to do a Disney one, that worked better for our comfort level.

But honestly, our potty trained 3.5 year old was not independent enough to stay in the club all day anyway. He happily managed an hour or two here and there.

He did spent a full afternoon in the nursery one day. A nice long nap followed by coloring and playtime. He was fine with that. (And since he has an older brother he self-identifies as a big kid, but he was still okay in the nursery.)
 
Last edited:
From what my dd has said about being in the club there is no snack served(so if she doesn't eat the lunch, she'll be starving by the time you return) or nap time(my dd would still take a nap at that age). Another thing to consider is that going to the club is a lot different than going to a daycare where she knows everyone. My dd is very outgoing, but she was a little apprehensive the first time we left her there on her own, she was 6 yrs old at the time(now she loves it and we have to drag her out) We were just on the Wonder and I did a ship tour, they told us that the nursery has a limit of 12 or 15 kids in it at a time.(can't remember how many exactly) I'm sure the Oceaneer's club also has a limit of how many kids can be in it, I don't know what it is, but there's been times when it looked like there were 75-100 kids running around.
 
I'm sure the Oceaneer's club also has a limit of how many kids can be in it, I don't know what it is, but there's been times when it looked like there were 75-100 kids running around.

Unlike other cruise lines, there is ALWAYS space for your child at the clubs.
They stop accepting kids reservations when the club fills.
 
I'm not so sure that if they try to contact you and can't reach you that there won't be future issues. I seem to recall something about contact in the T&C of signup for the Club/Lab.
 
Our daughter was 3 on our first cruise. I thought she would LOVE to be in the kids club - also due to being in daycare since the age of 12 weeks. Nope. I think she was in there, on her own, twice? For maybe an hour each time. MAYBE. She wanted to be with us, and she wanted to be in the pool.
We just went again last year, and our daughter was 7. Again, she still didn't spend much time in the kids club. The pool is still her favorite destination!
 
I would absolutely NOT do this with a child that age, especially with a non DCL excursion, and especially THAT particular excursion. Does that one include a helicopter ride? Sometimes, people get stranded up on the glacier and cannot be flown back down due to fog. It has happened before. The ship will leave without you if you aren't back on it in time. Can you imagine your toddler being alone on a ship with, essentially strangers, potentially overnight? Totally not worth the risk.
 
Thanks everyone for sharing, I had no idea passengers get stranded on the glacier We don’t have little kids and we don’t have an Alaska cruise planned, but I am happy to have this tidbit of info in case we ever do make it up there.
 
I would absolutely NOT do this with a child that age, especially with a non DCL excursion, and especially THAT particular excursion. Does that one include a helicopter ride? Sometimes, people get stranded up on the glacier and cannot be flown back down due to fog. It has happened before. The ship will leave without you if you aren't back on it in time. Can you imagine your toddler being alone on a ship with, essentially strangers, potentially overnight? Totally not worth the risk.

Yep. See my post above. It does happen!!

A podcast I listen to - I think in this case This American Life - did a part of an episode where they talked with a girl who had a summer job with a musher’s camp and the getting stuck thing happened once for MULTIPLE DAYS. I think in that case it was even more than 2 nights (it has been a while since I heard the episode). So it may not be a couple of hours, but a couple of DAYS.
 
Thanks everyone for sharing, I had no idea passengers get stranded on the glacier We don’t have little kids and we don’t have an Alaska cruise planned, but I am happy to have this tidbit of info in case we ever do make it up there.

It is most likely to happen if it involves a helicopter or plane ride. Because, fog.
 
Yep. See my post above. It does happen!!

A podcast I listen to - I think in this case This American Life - did a part of an episode where they talked with a girl who had a summer job with a musher’s camp and the getting stuck thing happened once for MULTIPLE DAYS. I think in that case it was even more than 2 nights (it has been a while since I heard the episode). So it may not be a couple of hours, but a couple of DAYS.

They have tents up there on those glaciers, along with supplies and food rations, for this exact reason.
 
Thanks for all of this info. Very helpful. No, this excursion is not a helicopter ride. It's a canoe to the glacier and walk on glacier which is why she isn't old enough to go on it. Minimum age is 12. I'm going to look into the Nursery option. I didn't know you could use the nursery if you were 3 and older. Thought it was just under 3. That would be perfect.

This is the only excursion we'd need something like this for. She is coming to the rest. There is a whole back story as to why this excursion is important to our family that has to do with our family's story. I'm not going to go into that here. I really appreciate you all telling me what the clubs are like and what the nursery is like. We haven't been on a Disney cruise in 19 years and that was pre-kids.
 
They have tents up there on those glaciers, along with supplies and food rations, for this exact reason.

Yes, I know. Both from the podcast and from the HAL crew member who had been on a ship that had people stranded.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!







Top