Reservations at Flounder's

[disneymom3]

Hello all you experts! I have never been on a Disney cruise and have only taken my kids on Royal Caribean when I only had one and she was too little for the kids program. I now have three of them and the oldest two are old enough for the regular kids program, but the youngest is only two.

What I need to know is how hard is it to get reservations for the babysitting group? Is it even worth it to bother for the limited hours they are available (I read somewhere 2-4 in the afternoon and 7 to 10 at night, so basically naptime and bedtime.) and if you don't end up taking them there, do you still have to pay or when would you need to cancel by?

I am not at all concerned with quality of care etc, just need the nitty gritty details. Thanks!

 

[disneymom3]

any feedback out there on this?

 

[jel0511]

The hours depend on what cruise you are taking, but there usually are hours available in the morning, afternoon and evening, with the evening ones usually being 6 - 12 midnight. You are limited to asking for only 3 choices at first, and then can request additional times after that. I sent my 18 month DS at the time, and he did have fun. We were thinking of cruising when he was 2 1/2, but decided against it, since Flounders is more geared towards the under 2 set, than the over 2's. I thought my 2YO would be bored, and now that he is 2 1/2, I see that he definately would have been. They do have some toys, and a TV for age appropriate movies, but it really is a small area. Getting ressies isn't tough, if you get there when they open up for ressies, I think 1PM. If you sign up for care, you pay for what you sign up for, regardless of when you pick-up, unless you cancel 4 hours in advance. For instance, you sign up for 7 - 10 and pick-up at 9:00, you are still charged for 3 hours, and you are always charged a minimum of 2 hours per stay.

 

[BamaCruiser]

Flounder's Reef hours vary in the morning/mid-afternoon and typically go from 5:45-midnight. On the first day of your cruise they will be open for reservations from noon - 3:15. You will be basically guaranteed your top 3 reservation times. More than 3 slots selected will be based on availability. My DS was almost 3 when we cruised, but because he wasn't potty trained, we had to put him in the nursery. He loved it. He was always wide awake and very happy when we would pick him up close to midnight. We were only charged for the minutes that he was in there. Even when we showed up almost 45 minutes late, we weren't charged for the full time.

Bring your child with you when you make your reservations. This would be a good time to get a feel for whether or not your child will be happy being there.

Happy Cruising!

 

[disneymom3]

Thank you much. These are very helpful answers! I have wondered about the age thing. We will have three cousins under three who will be cruising with us so hopefully having some little buddies around will help.

Good to know that the hours are more extensive than I had heard. I know when we went on RCCL, and we had DD with us all of the time, it was fine so not a big deal if he doesn't like it or whatever. Our thought was that since the older two are really interested in checking out the kids' program, we might want to use this service too.

Thanks again.

 

[mom2grace]

If you can wait until they are 3, it's worth it to be able to use the clubs. The hours are so much more flexible. We cruised in January and it was difficult to get a slot, we were there when they began taking ressies. We thought it would be an "off" time for kids. If you have a spa or Palo ressie, the nursery will be more willing to find a slot.