When should I reserve babysitting on the cruise?

[mklebaron]

I am cruising on the Wonder 3/20 for 3 nights with my mom, my 4 yr. old and my 3 yr. old(who turns three on the cruise) She's just showing interest in potty training now but with only two weeks to cruise I may need to utilize the babysitting area as opposed to the kids club.

I know that this needs to be reserved when we arrive on board - how do I know when I might need/want to use this service?

I would love suggestions from those of you who used it as far as what time you used it and what you did while your child was there.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Also, is it likely to fill up that first day - I am wondering if I will be able to get her in the morning that I want to use the service if say I need some alone time for a workout or whatever...

 

[tbuot]

I would reserve right away. Spots fill up quickly. I signed up for whatever evening I thought we could get and go from there. However, we never used Flounders. We cancelled each of our slots due to my youngest getting the Norwalk virus.

You could sign up for a few slots and then call each day to see if anyone cancelled.

Check out some old navigators on castaway.com or dcltribute.com to see what kinds of things may interest you.

Good Luck!

 

[reneesam]

If you plan to go to Palo, I would surely make Palo ressies first. Then you can make Flounder's ressies for that night. We also usually do a "practice" night a night or two earlier to make sure our kid is used to it...maybe reducing the chance we'll get paged out of Palo for tears. On the 7 day, you can reserve up to 3 time slots, then add on if there is space available. We let them know which spot was for Palo and it was given first priority over our other requests.

 

[jel0511]

Flounders does fill up quickly, so you'll need to get your times early. Also, they only let you pick 3 times at first and you can get more, if there are extra spots. You are required to pay for a minimum of 2 hours anytime you leave your child, regardless of time left. I signed up my son for three of our four nghts, and he had a BLAST there!!!

 

[mklebaron]

Great Suggestions...thank you!

 

[jel0511]

Another note, Flounders usually isn't open in the mornings on the 3 or 4 night cruises. Their usual hours for those cruises is 1-4 in the afternoon and 6-12 at night.