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Babysitting services - Royal Caribbean - Independence of the Seas


Avigile
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We are first time cruisers travelling later this year with a 2 year old and a 5 year old. I spoke with Royal Caribbean to get some more information on their Royal Tots program, (which we will need to pay for) for our 2 year old and they said the club is open 9am - 12pm, 2pm - 5pm and 7pm - 10pm.

 

 

Is this correct? The travel agency provided me with different information in regards to opening times!

 

 

During the hours it is closed we will have to arrange for a babysitter which is $19 p/h. I've also been told it is first come first served . I imagine we would want to utilise babysitters during days on land..

 

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Does one of us need to be onboard when we are using a babysitter?

Do we need to tell them on the first day when we will envision needing a babysitter for the rest of the cruise?

 

 

I'm veering towards changing the cruise to a P&O ship as I understand from 2 years and above the club is free and open all day plus a night nursery until 2am as well...thoughts? TIA

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I would believe the cruise line, not your TA. There are many threads here discussing this issue. Try a quick search to pull them up, if no one answers your specific questions.

Info also on cruise line webpage:

 

Babysitting is offered both in a group setting, and individually in your stateroom. In stateroom babysitting must be reserved through the Guest Relations Desk (Purser's Desk) at least 24 hours in advance.

It cannot be reserved prior to the cruise vacation and there is no guarantee that sitters will be available. The service is offered between 8:00 am and 2:00 am when personnel is available. Sitters will be assigned on a first come first served basis.

Children MUST be at least 1 year old. Approximate Rate: $19 per hour for up to three children within the same family. Times and prices are subject to change without notice. Payment will be made using your onboard SeaPass card.

 

 

Royal Babies and Tots program:

Dedicated nursery

 

At our colorful Royal Babies & TotsSM Nursery, littlest guests (ages 6-36 months) are cared for by trained professionals while enjoying specially designed programs. Daytime and evening drop-off is offered; hourly fee of $6 in the daytime and $8 during the evening applies. (Nursery drop off not available on: Empress, Majesty, Jewel, Adventure, Explorer or Voyager of the Seas.)

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It is Independence of the Seas. There is a nursery. My main concern is not being able to fully enjoy days on land, (just the 2 of us) if we have to rush back at 12pm to take our child out of nursery for the 2 hours it is closed. I have emailed the concierge to find out if the opening times are different when on land and am awaiting a reply..

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Avigile -

 

On thing I'd check if you are considering switching to P&O is to confirm that you can drop children off in the kids club and leave the ship. We sailed with Cunard last May for exactly the same reason you are considering P&O - our 2 year old could go to the kids club there. Overall, we liked Cunard but the one weakness was their kids club staff, which was the only kids club we were disappointed with on 4 cruises with young children (our oldest sailed at 2,3,and 5). The staff claimed they were "too overworked" to help our 2 year old transition into the kids club (he needed someone to play with him for 5 minutes). At the time they were claiming they were too busy to help him, there were only 2 kids in the kids club, both playing video games so this seemed weird. We had to complain to get them to start interacting with our child and help him through the transition. The older one was happy there, so long term Cunard is still an option, but this was a little frustrating since there are so few options for 2 year olds.

 

But what we only discovered on the ship since it wasn't listed anywhere on Cunard's website is that at least one parent must always stay on the ship if a child is in the kids club. This wasn't a problem for us at all, since we always take our kids on shore excursions, but I'd hate to see you switch lines and then find out on board that you can't go on your excursions without your kids. Please note that this was the first time I'd ever seen this rule, so I think it is likely that P&O would let you off the ship, but I honestly don't know their rules and would just suggest you check prior to switching lines.

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We are on the independence next week so I will let you know! Those sound like the hours for the 3 year old a up club. We were on the anthem in September and the nursery was open from 9am-11pm or even later if they had bookings. I thought it would be the same way on the independence but now you got me wondering. They do have the nursery..I confirmed that

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I don't mean to be difficult, but you should be aware of the fact that availability is not guaranteed in the nursery. Disney will let you sign up for the nursery prior to boarding (suite passengers and loyalty cruisers get first chance at the nursery), but my understanding (and you should double check this) is that you sign up for the nursery on the first night of the cruise. People here have reported (and it may have changed or not been reported correctly) that each family is given a certain number of hours they can sign up for on the first night so everyone has a chance to use the nursery, and then all of the remaining hours are opened up on the second day. I honestly don't know how often the nursery fills up, and if it tends to fill up at night during dinner/show time versus on a port day. Another possibility is to contact RC and see if they can tell you how many children under the age of 3 are on your sailing so you have an idea of how many people might utilize the nursery (its hard to predict since some parents of young children have no intention of using it at all). I was on a sailing with Princess during the school year in which there were 9 children ages 1-18 on the whole cruise, and there were less than 30 on my Norway cruise on Cunard so there are definitely sailings in which you don't need to worry about availability. But if you are traveling during school breaks or the summer because of older siblings there could be a lot of young children on board. I've never sailed RC, so I don't know the answers to these questions but they were the reasons we chose not to sail on RC because we were worried that we'd be blocked out of using the nursery when we really needed it. Other posters might have a better sense of whether or not it tends to sell out. I'm not sure the port days do, since I haven't seen a huge number of parents leave their children behind in the kids club on port days. I would guess that dinner time is the prime time for people to use the nursery, but hopefully people who have sailed can give you a better sense of what the situation is like.

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Thank you so much KitKat. I am aware that space isn't always guaranteed. I've not read anywhere yet that passengers have had issues getting a space but as you say if the ship is full with children under 36 months it might pose a problem. I guess that is just a risk we will have to take.

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And I honestly think it is more likely to be a problem at dinner/show time than during port times, since in my experience with kids clubs it seems like many families choose not to utilize the kids clubs during port days. I hope everything works out and you have a really enjoyable cruise!

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We have used RCI's Nursery and Adventure Ocean on several ships and have never had a problem booking times (days or evenings) even on port days and yes you can certainly leave your child onboard...we don't venture far but always give our cell #... if staying onboard they give you a phone for use while your child is being cared for.

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The other thing to know is that the hours you were given is for sea days. In general, the kids club and nursery are open continuously while you are in port. They open about 30 minutes before the ships first excursion starts and close 30 minutes after the last ships excursion ends. For the older kids, the kids club takes them to lunch if they are there during those hours.

 

 

 

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The other thing to know is that the hours you were given is for sea days. In general, the kids club and nursery are open continuously while you are in port. They open about 30 minutes before the ships first excursion starts and close 30 minutes after the last ships excursion ends. For the older kids, the kids club takes them to lunch if they are there during those hours.

 

 

 

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They will also take them to dinner. We used this option several nights on Harmony.

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We just got off Freedom with our 6 month old. There were between 40-50 children under 3. The nursery was open 9-midnight every day. Each family got 16 hours to start and only 2 hours each formal night after 6pm. By day 3 they were allowing all the booking you wanted as long as there was availability. Hope this helps!

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Is this also true for a 3 (almost 4) year old? We were under the impression that after 7 pm we would have to hire an in room babysitter. It would be great if we could go to the casino or out for a drink until 9 or 10. We would only leave him maybe like 2-3 hours during the day and maybe an hour or 2 at night if that

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Is this also true for a 3 (almost 4) year old? We were under the impression that after 7 pm we would have to hire an in room babysitter. It would be great if we could go to the casino or out for a drink until 9 or 10. We would only leave him maybe like 2-3 hours during the day and maybe an hour or 2 at night if that

No this isn't true...Adventure Ocean ...Aquanauts 3-5 year olds...for that age group...You will have no problem leaving your little one there until 10:00pm.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have cruised with my little girl every year since she was a year old and Is now coming up 6.

We’ve been on independence twice and going again this year.

When she was younger I carried her to the nursery asleep put her in a cot and went to watch the show. We carried her back to the cabin after and she never knew a thing [emoji16]

Now she loves going to kids club, some nights she dines with us others she goes go to kids club.

We also used the occasional afternoon session so we can use hot tubs or casino etc.

They usually do family activities that you can do together also like kids discos etc so it’s a nice mix.

Any questions please do ask [emoji1303]

 

 

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No this isn't true...Adventure Ocean ...Aquanauts 3-5 year olds...for that age group...You will have no problem leaving your little one there until 10:00pm.

 

 

 

Kids club will be a much cheaper option for you [emoji1303]

 

 

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  • 4 months later...

Hi, Just found this thread from a search, we are sailing on IOS in October this year out of the UK with our 2 year old, I am a little worried as I have read on the website babysitting is not available on sailings from the UK, but not sure of this means in room or the nursery, everything I have googled about royal babies and tots sounds like the parents have to stay with them, I wondered how you got on on the ship?? Is their a nursery available and what was the availability like for it?

 

thank you

 

Pete

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It’s really confusing since the mommy and me program has nearly the same name as the drop off nursery. The list of ships that do not have a drop off nursery are empress, majesty, jewel, adventure, explorer or voyager. This list unfortunately includes both ships that currently visit Cuba, but hopefully in the future we’ll be able to go.

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