What can/cant infants wear in pool?

[scottie]

I emailed DCL to ask what my (non potty trained) infant was/wasn’t allowed to wear in the pool on the ship. I received a reply today but am a bit confused as to what they mean by…
“We are in the process of taking steps to adhere to the USPHS requirement”.
Does this mean they will make parents prove if their little one can use the potty before letting them into the pool? Below is their full reply...

DCL reply:
“The United States Public Health Service prohibits children in diapers (including swim diapers) or those who are not toilet trained from being permitted into public swimming pools and whirlpool spas onboard our ships. For the health and safety of all of our guests, we are in the process of taking steps to adhere to the USPHS requirement. This is already in place aboard the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder will adopt this within the coming weeks.”

 

[taswira]

Gee - It sure does sound like "<I>Not potty trained - No pool use</I>!" The US Public Health Service (?) has made their mark I guess!

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by taswira
Gee - It sure does sound like "<I>Not potty trained - No pool use</I>!" The US Public Health Service (?) has made their mark I guess!

I bet there are some parents who will still put their non toilet trained children into the pool and just lie and say they are toilet trained!

 

[taswira]

Originally posted by aprilgail2
I bet there are some parents who will still put their non toilet trained children into the pool and just lie and say they are toilet trained!

I'm sure there will be. But I also bet the CMs will be trained to watch for potential violators and to ban any violator from the pool. If they do as that e-mail stated, then it's pretty certain that infants, or anyone <I>too young</I> to be potty trained, will not be allowed. I have never had kids so this does not personally affect me, but I am curious about how DCL will handle this.

 

[aseafish]

I certainly understand the concept, but I'm sure everyone is aware that potty-trained and "pool-trained" are not necessarily synonymous.

 

[4nana]

Yikes, we've already bought 'swimmers' for our two 18mo. old Dgsons....surely Dis will plan some type of water activity for those not potty trained

 

[taswira]

Originally posted by aseafish
I certainly understand the concept, but I'm sure everyone is aware that potty-trained and "pool-trained" are not necessarily synonymous.

The idea is probably to reduce the number of "accidents" in the pool by banning those who are too young to be potty trained or those in diapers. Although even older kids will sometimes do #1 in the pool, that is not as much of a health concern as #2, which would mainly occur by accident from those not potty trained. That's just my guess. I'm certainly no authority on the subject!

 

[cruisnfamily]

Scottie: Is that the complete email? I don't even understand what they are saying??

Are they saying that non-potty trained kids can go in the pool but not with diapers? Or are they saying that the Non-Trained kids cannot go in the pool?

I can't imagine that Disney(Or any other cruise line for that matter) would ban the Non-Potty Trained kids from the pool. They must be working on some sort of compromise.

It says this is already in place on the Magic so can someone who has cruised recently with a non-trained infant/child give us the current policy?

This doesn't really pertain to me since ours are potty trained(at ages 6 & 9 they better be) but I am curious as to the specifics as we will, I'm sure, be using the pool.

 

[scottie]

Sonya-

That was the complete email...word for word. My understanding is if your kid is not potty trained then they are out of luck on going into the pool! I have no clue as to what measures they are taking to prevent the youngsters from getting in.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Yeah, I'd really like to know what they mean since one of the attractions of us taking our Daughter on the trip is that she can use the Mickey Pool. Sure, we'd go anyway, but that seems wholly unfair.

There are "baby" pools everywhere you look where little ones who are not potty trained can go to play. As I recall, that is all the Mickey Pool really is, isn't it? My niece was in there once (coming from the slide) when she was 5 and we were on the ship and It barely came up to her mid calf! I can't imagine how they can say that such a shallow pool is for bigger kids!

While I am whining about this, keeping little ones out of the Mickey Pool really cuts back on activities that we can do with them to keep them entertained during the day. There aren't very many activities during the day that are appropriate for infants and early toddlers. I mean they aren't going to get much out of Tea with Wendy and they can't go to the Kids clubs, so that SERIOUSLY limits activites that we can do with our little ones! I sure hope they come up with more entertainement activites that we can do with the little ones if they change their rules.

I promise, I'll wait to get mad until we hear for sure, but this would be very dissapointing to us.

Kathy


Kathy

 

[taswira]

Before anyone gets upset with DCL over this, notice the opening of the e-mail: <B><I>“We are in the process of taking steps to adhere to the USPHS requirement”.</I></B>

This is not a random decision by DCL. It is apparently a new <B>requirement</B> of the US Public Health Service. If you find a cruise line that is <I>not</I> willing to comply, it will likely be one that slacks off in other health regulations as well. Perhaps you could contact the USPHS for specifics on their requirements.

 

[shellgoodman]

I'll let you know how it goes with my 2 yr old on the 9/7/02 cruise. I have my disposable swim diapers that are going under a built in diaper on a swimsuit. I also have Imodium to bind her up! (only kidding). She never has #2 in the pool and she swam everyday this summer. If she did, I would have kept her out of the pool which would be a tough task for sure. As far as #1, I wouldn't be able to vouch for that. I don't know what we will do with ourselves if they don't let me daughter in the pool. The hubby is already not happy about the nongambling on board.

 

[BarnmanBB]

Just got back from a 4 day Wonder trip (Sept 1 - 5) and was amazed at the number of children I saw swimming in the Mickey pool with just diapers (I don't mean the pull up type or swimmers) that would immediately fill with water and fall off or, worse yet, letting their children in naked into the pool! I could understand a child losing their swimmer while in the pool and their parent getting them out, but this wasn't the case... instead, parents were taking the clothes off their children and letting them in with just their 'Huggies'!! In one instance, the 'Huggie' immediately fell off anf they continued to let their daughter swim without making any attempt to get her out! What frustrated me was that this was in full view of a CM who was at the bottom of the slide monitoring the children....??? Go figure. When I saw this happen, I pulled my twin DS's out of the pool and took them to Quartermasters instead for the rest of the night.

More about our trip later....

 

[taswira]

Well, I guess the e-mail from DCL was certainly correct in that "... <I>the Disney Wonder will adopt this within the coming weeks</I>.” Obviously they have not YET! Eeeeeewww!

 

[jellymoon]

I've been in a bit of a panic, as we're leaving in three weeks with two toddlers and we are planning on spending most of our 7 day cruise in the Mickey Pool.

I was doing an online search and had an epiphany. . . I found construction guidelines for pools and backflow devices. WADING POOLS are classified differently than SWIMMING POOLS. Isn't the Mickey Pool essentially a wading pool?

Interestingly, it said wading pools must have their own, separate washing and filtrations system with solid buffers between the water circulation/supplies to other pools or whirlpools.

I also sent a note to Disney asking for clarification.

 

[taswira]

jellymoon - Which site were you on? The place to get info may be the USPHS/CDC site and their gigantic collection of PDF files (manuals) on standards for Cruise Vessel Sanitation. It's a bit mind-boggling. They even recommend thoroughly washing the rear ends of all children with soap and water immediately before they enter a pool, due to fecal contamination - and they are talking about even land-based pools with that recommendation. But the most understandable is probably the e-mail from DCL. It appears that the USPHS has declared that it is unsanitary for non-potty trained children to enter the pools on the cruise ships, and with good reason according to some things I read on their website. If that <I>is</I> the case, there is nothing DCL can do but comply with the <B>requirement</B>, and perhaps come up with some alternative entertainment for the toddlers. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out.

 

[jel0511]

Boy, I'm really mad!! Now, I want the pool to be VERY clean and don't want it to turn into the Pooh Pool, but my 18 month old LOVES the pool and we were going to spend most of our time up at the pools on our upcoming 4 day Wonder cruise. I don't know what to do about this now. I can't sit by the pool with my 4 year old and let teh 18 monthold watch. He'd have a FIT!!! He'd want to swim too. I think I'm going to e-mail my TA at DU and see what kind of answer they can get!!!

 

[pal2pluto]

WOW! I certainly understand the germ issues, but I'm glad we went w/ds(2) in January.......he still talks about swimming in the giant Mickey! It was so magical for him, I couldn't get him out! And there are no other "planned activities" for that age group, and you must pay for babysitting services..........hmmmm. My heart goes out to you who are dealing with this.........it must be beyond frustrating!!! This may further narrow their customer base. Wow!

 

[DiznyMagic]

This is really disappointing to read. My DD 14 month old loved the Mickey pool when we sailed in July and like most parents with children that age it was one of the few things we could do with her. Its a ashame because I understand the reasoning behind it and ofcourse Disney will have no choice but to comply but give me a break - kids have been swimming in pools for years - so whats the point behind chlorine and all those other chemicals? Next year we will read about how those chemicals are harmful and we should all stay out of the pools completely....and so on and so on...

 

[CamColt]

As Ive posted here before, we are looking into NCL for next year and in the reading material, I came across something that said all children must be potty trained in order to be in the pool. Its not just Disney.
With that said, it is a great disappointement for those planning to go with a little one. Our 8 month old had the best time in the Mickey pool. That was the main part of the cruise for him, and basically it was all we did during the day (except CC). I know we wont be back on DCL until my youngest is potty trained(were getting there!!!), but not being able to swim would definitely make me take my child on a different vacation until he was old enough for the pools. The part I dont get is that kids can go in other pools. So is there really that much difference between a pool on land and on sea?