Leaving kids in the clubs while off the ship

[Hollyster2]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me a bit about leaving young kids on the ship while you went off ship in port. Can they reach you by pager if you are off on a catamaran? What if your 3 yr. old is too busy playing to use the potty, do they page you for that or just change them? Also, how many potty mishaps can they have before they are booted from the club? We are traveling with a 3 yr. old who may need reminded to use the bathroom because she will be so busy having fun. Will they ever take the kids into the bathroom for good measure like before laying down to watch movies or going to eat lunch? I know they wash their hands quite a bit. I would appreciate any experiences you could relay. Thank you!

 

[encmerk]

I was wondering the same thing for this summer. I have been told that the pagers do not reach off the boat. But I do not know the answers to your other questions. But I am curious to see what other say.

 

[kcarl021]

Wish I could help more on the bathroom thing but my daughter is 5. What I can tell you is that I did leave her on the ship for 5 hours while we went to St Thomas. I was told that they cannot guarantee that the pager will work, however, I was able to get cell reception in St. Thomas so I left my number with them in case. I didn't get a call or a page, and even though I immediately went to the club to pick her her when we got back on the ship, she had no desire to leave.

There were quite a few parents who were leaving their children there to go do shore excursions so I didn't feel so terrible about it. Also the nursery IS available for a charge if you think your child won't be completely potty trained by then. Lots of kids have accidents when they are on vacation because of the change of environment and the get to busy to stop to go.

Good luck but I wouldn't worry a bit about leaving your child on board.

 

[Hollua]

I don't have first hand experience with this problem. However, I have heard that children that have an accident may be asked not to visit the club for 24 - 48 hours, in case the accident is due to illness. You might want to talk to your child about this and walk them to the bathroom to get them more comfortable.

 

[CM_Mom]

The CMs in the club have LOTS of experience working with each age group and they DO schedule potty visits every so often. You all know your kids might get busy and forget...they do to. I can't remember how often they have potty breaks but I think often enough for most kids, especially since the kids really get a kick out of having child sized bathrooms with child sized commodes and Magic faucets (the water turns on when they put their hands underneath the spout) at child height.

Kids do need to be able to manage their own clothing and wiping so dress them accordingly

About going off the ship while the kids stay in the club, lots of parents do that but be sure to tell the CMs what activity you're planning to do and WHEN you plan to return. That way the CMs can set your child's expectations if they ask for you. "Mommy's on a boat ride and will be back after story time" is easier for a child to accept and understand than a vague "Mommy will be here in a little while".

 

[MELISAZACK]

We left the ship -- our DS was 6 at the time so the potty issue wasn't a concern - We just told the CM that we wanted to do some shopping and they said fine that they don't know if the pager would work but take it with us. They asked if we knew how long we might be gone (hour wise) they made a note in the system just in case something major happend- that was it ..
we went off never heard a peek - checked in when we got back to let them know we were on the ship and DS didn't even miss us or leave the club when we got back.

 

[Alicia Gist]

My daughter was six last Disney cruise. I didn't want to leave her on the ship so I made her go with us in St. Martin. She made us miserable begging to go back to the ship. In St. Thomas I left her on the ship. We had a great time and so did she. We were only off the ship for about 3 hours. When we went to get her at the club she didn't want to leave.

 

[Sue Sullivan]

We decided not to leave our children on the ship. I would not be comfortable doing it just in case something happened. With our luck, that would be the day they didn't feel well or got sick and they would be very upset if they were sick in the club and I was not around. Don't think I would enjoy myself shopping or snorkeling with these doubts running through my head. Just my personal opinion.

 

[TheWog]

We left our DS6 onboard in St. Thomas. They told us pagers didn't work off the ship. My wife was a mess leaving him, but he was fine and I don't even think he realized we were gone. We did some shopping and he had had enough of the shopping thing and just wanted to play after our shore excursion. We also had to tender so that also made my wife nervous. She did great overall and he did even better. Not sure about the potty trained thing though. Sorry.

 

[makaira]

I left my 4 year old in the club while we went ashore on Grand Cayman. I talked to the club first to make sure it was OK. I got the same response as other posters...take your beeper, but it probably won't work and when will you be back. When we got back he was happily playing with the other kids.

 

[rsjj]

are we allowed to leave them and go on an excursion that is not through dcl? does anyone know?

 

[summerrluvv]

I don't have first hand experience with this problem. However, I have heard that children that have an accident may be asked not to visit the club for 24 - 48 hours, in case the accident is due to illness. You might want to talk to your child about this and walk them to the bathroom to get them more comfortable.

Even if it's a "pee" accident? That seems weird.

 

[Hollyster2]

Thanks for the responses! Any more?

 

[getoutthere]

Yes, thanks for the responses. My friend and I will be leaving our children on the ship in St. Thomas and hearing all the experiences from you all helped ease the anxiety. I was wondering about the cell phones. Did you have to make arrangements with your company? Or does it just work there like it does in the U.S.? I thought I read something about an international card or something like that.
Thanks.

 

[Hollua]

Even if it's a "pee" accident? That seems weird.

I read about this in Passporter. It happened to one of the authors' nieces. She was bummed to not be able to go to the club for a few days. She wasn't sick, it was an accident.

 

[Echo queen]

3 years is a little young. Has your child been in a child care setting before? I have read posts here before about parents being very upset because they are paged many times. Then they go on to say there child has never been in that setting. You know your child the best. Good luck.

 

[lbgraves]

Double post. Sorry!

 

[lbgraves]

Young kids are generally given three chances with wet accidents before they are told they cannot come back to the club on their own. This is done mainly to give the child a chance to be in a new environment but not allow parents whose kids aren't really PTd to use to the club instead of Flounders. They will not change them generally but do not let them stay in the wet clothes either. Usually I have read that they gave the child one of the final show tshirts to wear & keep them busy until the parent arrives. There really isn't a place for you to put a backpack for them with a change of clothes in it. If you think that will be a real problem because consistancy isn't there yet, you might want to book a time in flounders during your excursion.

 

[mum of two pirates]

Why not get the kids disney pull ups. Let them practice for a while pulling them up and down. and let them go in thier panties? princess or mickey. My son would wet in pull ups when he was young but we got him mickey one with a bike on them and he would never wet in them, worked for him.

 

[txaggie94gigem]

My daughter had an accident in the club last year when she was playing too much and forgot to go pee in the bathroom...the CMs paged us when it happened but did not say anything else...of course our daughter has a speech delay and is hard to understand so maybe they felt bad and thought she had asked but they did not understand???

I think the biggest issue is with a BM accident if it at all looks like diarrhea they may be banned for a couple days...I would suggest using pullups while in the kids club in case of "pee" or BM accidents...I plan of having my younger ones wear them this time....