Swim diapers

Once you realize that 'swim diaper' and 'fecal teabag' are the same thing, the answer becomes obvious.

new report posted today that no children under three are being allowed in the pool. This is on Equinox. Apparently a new rule, (or perhaps an old rule newly enforced)

Hi all! My child is fully potty trained, but I am paranoid because let's face it, a kid of any age (or even a drunk adult :')) can have an accident so I would still like to keep a swim diaper on her just for extra precaution as a courtesy to the other guests. Can anyone tell me if Celebrity cruise lines are strict on the "no swim diaper" rule?

I hope they are strict on the "no swim diaper rule"!:D

Swim diapers indicate to others that a child is not fully potty trained, if your child is fully potty trained then they should wear a bathing suit. I've seen people asked by security to remove their child from the pool.

If you are concerned then perhaps the young one isn't ready yet and you should assess this honestly with yourself because if there were an accident, they will close the pool for a prolonged period of time.

Good for Celebrity !:cool:

Wow, I know Celebrity isn't the exactly the most family oriented line for those with young children but I completely understand the OP's question and dilemma. My wife and I have sailed extensively on Celebrity and love it. We now have a 2 year old and he has been on 3 cruises, most recently this June on the Summit. He is not 100% potty trained and was in a swim diaper while standing in the splash pad. At no point was he swimming or was his lower half in the water. Meanwhile there 2-3 other kids swimming in the water with swim diapers clearly visible and the pool attendant said nothing while passively aggressively telling us a supervisor was coming to ask us to leave. There were also many small children in the hot tubs which is not only a health risk for others but more acutely for the toddler themselves but Celebrity seems to not care at all about that. I understand the rule is the rule is the rule and I am extremely sensitive to the health impact of an accident in the water. But, at some point you would think some common sense would be applied to these situations. My son would put his feet in the water and then play on the deck like any normal child. While we are talking about the health impacts of public bathing why don't we discuss the possibility of requiring all swimmers to rinse off before entering the body of water.

 

The fact is most cruise related illnesses are related to people not properly washing their hands or not washing them at all. Both my wife and I witness people leave restrooms without washing and immediately head towards the buffet on every cruise. If you want to talk about an easy way to not spread GI bugs then don't allow self service in any of the eating areas at all times. Until then, make sure you wash or sanitizr after you make your plate and before you eat.

Let me start off by saying that this is not something that Celebrity dreamed up to be less than family friendly. This is a USPH sanitation requirement, that all cruise ships calling at US ports must abide by. If Celebrity chose not to enforce the rules on your cruises with your child, that is their business, but it also places them in a position to be inspected by the USPH for any and all sanitation violations should someone report them for allowing swim diapers in the pools.

Regardless of whether your child actually immersed the swim diaper in the pool water, the water spray went over his/her body, through the diaper and returned to the water supply for recycling to the water sprays again.

To implement an "infant only recreational water facility", as the USPH calls splash areas where diapered children are allowed requires a lot of expense both in capital construction cost and operational cost. The splash area must be separated from other water facilities so that there can be no cross-contamination, the water supply must be completely separate from other water facilities, the water must have a higher turn-over rate than other pools, and in addition to filtration and chlorination that other water facilities get, it must have a UV sterilizer for the splash area water. Operationally, there must be a crew member permanently assigned to the infant only area, there must be a changing facility near by, and the line must provide a supply of swim diapers.

USPH sanitation requirements, even for swimming pools are much stricter than nearly every state or local health code. The CDC (which oversees the USPH cruise ship sanitation program), has done a study and found that of several hundred municipal pools across the US, 80% of them would be shut down immediately if they were under USPH requirements, and the number goes even higher when looking only at splash areas that allow swim diapers.

For all these reasons, only two cruise lines have decided to include infant only recreational water facilities on their ships: Disney, and RCI on their Freedom, Oasis, and Quantum class ships.

As for rinsing off before entering the pool, USPH requires showers to be located at all pools, and signage that you should use the shower before and after using the pools or hot tubs. Maybe you haven't seen this? Do you rinse off before, or do you say, "well, no one else is, why should I"?

While I agree that poor personal hygiene is the cause of most cruise ship illness, fecal accidents in pools can result in significant illness (which is why USPH has strict protocols for draining and sanitizing pools when they happen), but with swim diapers, a fecal accident is much harder to determine has occurred. Frankly, I would go with the world-renowned experts in epidemiology, the CDC, when it comes to not allowing diapered children in pools.

And just for information, hand sanitizer does nothing for noro virus, unless you are using it as a lubricant to loosen it from your hands and then vigorously wipe those hands with a paper towel to remove the loosened virus.

Do they still run the water spray areas on the S class ships? The area seems to be covered with pool lounger chairs most of the time. Haven't seen the sprays run in awhile..` .. but kids used to enjoy it.

Seems a better idea to offer a spray area instead of a kiddie pool...the one on Oasis ..Royal C looked like alot of fun...no swim diaper issues,

On M class they could probably take out the little pools and put in a nice spray,,

Children under 14 should not be permitted in hot tubs for any reason ....not safe to be in such hi temps and they are misused as heated children's pools beyond rec time limits for anyone....

From the CDC website - Swim diapers can delay diarrhea-causing germs, like Cryptosporidium, from leaking into the water for a few minutes, but swim diapers do not keep these germs from contaminating the water 2. ... They risk contaminating the pool with feces and germs, which can make others sick.

And my husband doesn't understand why I only use the solarium pool, if I want to get in the water. I'm feeling sick just thinking about the possibilities.

This thread has a few well reasoned remarks regarding a volatile safety issue. It's as volatile as the smoking and chair-hogging threads. As for me, please leave me alone while I smoke my cigar in the pool while wearing the latest in fashion diapers and leave towels and books on 6 nearby chairs all day in case I want to use one of them for 15 minutes.

(I do hope ya'all know I'm just kidding. I don't save chairs. I don't smoke. And I am still potty trained).

Wouldn't it be cool if CruiseCritic had a "like" button? I wanted to "like" a number of the well crafted responses.

I would still like to keep a swim diaper on her just for extra precaution as a courtesy to the other guests.

Swim diapers do NOTHING to contain bodily fluids and excrement. They don't absorb like a regular diaper, and pool water will flow through, get contaminated and flow back out into the pool. So using one on your child offers no precautionary protection and hence, no "courtesy" to other guests. All swim diapers are really good for is making money for the manufacturer.

OP is trying to have it both ways, insists her daughter is fully potty trained but should wear a swim diaper just in case.

Right. If the child is prone to accidents, he or she shouldn't go in the pool.

Hi all! My child is fully potty trained, but I am paranoid because let's face it, a kid of any age (or even a drunk adult :')) can have an accident so I would still like to keep a swim diaper on her just for extra precaution as a courtesy to the other guests. Can anyone tell me if Celebrity cruise lines are strict on the "no swim diaper" rule?

Keep him out of the water , people want no surprises.

Keep him out of the water , people want no surprises.

Amen!

I fully agree that you should follow the rules of the cruise line.

However it is mostly Americans that get angry at you even thinking of bringing a child in a swim diaper.

In most of the world (Europe for sure) it is perfectly normal and legal for a child in a swim diaper to be in a public pool.

Most public swimming pools where I live even sell swim diapers.

If the health risk was as high as most here will try to make you believe, for sure the rules would be the same in Europe.

That said...if the cruise line says: no swim diapers...it means you shouldn't use swim diapers. End of discussion.

just wondering....if there is a brown out, and they have to clean it up, do you get charged?