Sleeping at It's A Small World Nursery

[sazzle12]

Will be sailing to Alaska in July 2020 with 22 month year old son and 3.5 year old daughter. Hoping to book it's a small world nursery in the daytime when it's his nap time and again after dinner when it's his bedtime so the adults can stay out and about to do things. Anyone have any experience with the nursery? Was your child able to sleep there? I'm ok if he misses his nap bc he stays up playing, but I'm really hoping he'll fall asleep for bedtime and then we can transfer him back to the room later at night. I know my daughter will love the Oceaneers club and will prob just stay up late playing most nights.

Thanks

 

[Dug720]

I do not know specifics about sleeping, etc. BUT you are limited on the number of nursery hours you can book in advance. People usually report being able to book more onboard, but the possibility exists that extra times you want may be full. So I would not count on always having him in there at those times.

 

[sazzle12]

oh good to know... approx how many hours can you book in advance?

 

[hnthomps]

It depends on the length of the cruise, so you should look at your emails and documents. For ours on the Fantasy a few years ago, it was 10 hours in advance. We had no trouble adding / changing hours. She did not sleep well there, and certainly we couldn’t have transferred her to our room still sleeping. But she took some short naps while in the nursery. She was just over 2 at the time, of course this is all age and temperament dependent.

 

[CTCruiser221]

I just cruised with my 17-month old twins for the first time on the Fantasy. It was only a 3-night so we were only able to book 10 hours for each of them online. I think it is more for longer cruises, but not sure. You can book more onboard, and/or just drop in and see if they have room, which we did.

Online - I booked times that I knew we would definitely need to have them dropped off. A few hours for an excursion on CC, and every night from 9:30pm until 11pm. We had some hours left over, so I did a few hours on a sea day during their nap times so the adults could enjoy the adult areas of the ship.

The key is to use the nursery for nap and bed times. We had every meal with the babies, but they do feed them meals in the nursery if you wish. We tried to watch the show the first night with the babies, but we soon realized they were not going to stay still for the next hour or so, so we quickly ran over to the nursery and they were able to take them in at 8:30pm for the hour before our reserved time. We pretty much did this every night, and had a great time watching the stage shows and enjoying the adult entertainment.

The nursery will follow all your directions for your children. We asked them to give them milk and water before bed, and change them into their jammies, and what time we wanted them in bed. They did wake up when we picked them up at night, but pretty easily went back to sleep upon returning to the room.

During our excursion the morning on CC, they napped and were changed into their bathing suits so we could pick them up and go to the beach and eat lunch on the island.

I understand all babies are different, and maybe we were lucky with our twins being so good on our “trial” cruise run, but the nursery was amazing for us. If your kids are really upset, they will text or call you. We were only messaged once, but not a big deal. You can stop by and check on them, or call them on any phone on the ship. The one thing I didn’t want to do was sit in our room while our babies were napping, so you can use the nursery to suit your own needs.

 

[sazzle12]

Thank you this is great to know!

 

[tutumomickey]

I just want to add the nursery staff on the Wonder in April were incredible. The cruise was to celebrate my twin granddaughters' first birthday so they only went to the nursery once. We were sure one would be fine but the other pretty much screams without stopping for everyone but immediate family. She was laughing and playing when they left her AND when they picked her up. It was not at nap or night time but the placement of the cribs in the back sure looked like they would have been able to sleep there if needed.

 

[sazzle12]

That makes me feel much better about using the nursery !

 

[lorimay]

My granddaughter was just under 2 when we took her on The Magic, 2012
She was not a fan of the Nursery, she was attached to her mommy 24/7, so we only did a few hours for Palo brunch and a dinner.
When we went to get her after Palo brunch she was sleeping in the arms of one of the ladies in a rocking chair. The night for Palo dinner was she sound asleep on a bean bag chair all tucked in, they didn't want to wake her afraid she would cry if they moved her.
She was so well taken care of. My daughter has the pictures, it was so precious.
The staff was so good and loving.

 

[msbliz]

Thank you everyone for your posts! This makes me feel so much better about my two year old in the nursery when we go in August!

 

[aliciamakino]

Yes, thank you to everyone for your reassuring posts. My DD will be a little over 1 on our trip in May. I was hoping to use the nursery for Palo Brunch and maybe for 2 hours to enjoy the adult spaces on the ship. My husband has been a little hesitant to leave her there.

 

[drcarr00]

Thanks for posting this idea. I’ve been dreading having to sit in the room for 2 hours each day while our 2-year old son naps. We are on a 10-night cruise on the Wonder in May and it includes 5 days at sea.

Going to go reserve those daycare times now