Royal Caribbean in room babysitting

[renae83]

I'll be interested to hear what they tell you. I called, and the person I spoke with said that they absolutely, positively still have babysitting available. He said things heard on Cruise Critic are just rumors, not the truth. Yeah, right!

 

Wow lol. That is just to funny. I wonder if they think that people just sit around and come up with stuff just to post it with no facts at all.

I hope they have resolved the issue and that all of you crusing soon will be able to get a sitter.

 

I sent an email to RCCL and was called within 20 hrs of sending the email they apoligised for the situation and stated they would be looking into the babysitting and they would make great efforts to see what they could do to correct the situation. In the wmail I sent I did tell them that if they dont read over cruise critic they may want to because they have a lot of unhappy people on here, I let them know that some of us had talked about switching lines because this was one of the reasons we booked with them. They agin told me that they were looking into the probloem as we spoke.

 

They did see that we have booked an upcoming cruise on Oassis and offered some OBC for the inconvinence of this last cruise.

 

Happy crusing to all!!

[krmlaw]

i spoke with corporate relations in goldsteins office, and she contacted the ship for me (navigator) and said absolutely babysitting was still avail.

[QTMichele]

i spoke with corporate relations in goldsteins office, and she contacted the ship for me (navigator) and said absolutely babysitting was still avail.

 

WONDERFUL news! Thank you for sharing! :)

[crusinmama06]

All I can say is Resolutions called the ship directly to question the fact Navigator specifically no longer supports in cabin babysitting. Resolutions came back to me after 4 days of investigating and asked me if I would be happy with a group babysitting format instead and I replied no. They said ok we will swap you. IMO it is now pretty clear in cabin babysitting is on the shelf until further notice no matter which RCCL ship you sail. I will have to believe this until a recent RCCL passenger (last 30 days) posts otherwise.

 

Rolloman, if krmlaw comes back from her cruise this week and has confirmed babysitting on Navigator, I would be requesting OBC on Oasis to pay for the price increase you just experienced. ;)

 

I swear the left hand never knows what the right hand is doing. Why can they not issue a sweeping order to either continue or discontinue something???? This happens with everything on RCI. :rolleyes:

 

The weeks before our cruise on Grandeur, there was a concierge lounge. Then it was gone. Then the weeks after our cruise, they added a "suite specialist" or something like that.

 

Remember the baby pool on Enchantment? It was there. We had pictures. Then it was gone.

 

Good luck to all of you! Let us know how it goes!!!!

[rolloman]

i spoke with corporate relations in goldsteins office, and she contacted the ship for me (navigator) and said absolutely babysitting was still avail.

I do not disagree with their statement, remember in my post above they offered me "group babysitting" which is not" in cabin babysitting". I declined so they switched me to Oasis.

[mj cruiser]

We went on Freedom last spring break. I went directly to book in room daycare. I was able to get 2 nights. Both women that came were wonderful. I asked why it was so difficult to get daycare and they said there were only a few people that could do it and it was to be done after their work hours were finished on a sign up basis. They only had 4 people on our cruise that were available from what I understand.

[cclarke12]

I am intrigued by the RCI babysitting service and the fact that so many people seem to use it. A few months ago I posted about the fact that I hadn't found RCI great for pre-schoolers because they don't let you come into the club and settle kids etc. (like they do on P&O - a UK based cruise line) and the response was this was highly dangerous as all sorts of strangers could try and get in (despite the fact that I would hope staff would be keeping a check on who is coming and going). However, I am surpised at how many people are willing to leave a child alone in a cabin with one or two adults they (and the children) don't know. I find this far more worrying and potentially dangerous and would choose group care everytime. I really like RCI but probably won't be back until my kids are older as I don'r rate their services for young kids. The P&O ships have a night nursery (free of charge) where under 5s can be left from 6pm -2am which is staffed by at least 2 people and has CCTV in place.

[rolloman]

A couple of you above should be back from your recent Navigator Cruise....any updates concerning in cabin babysitting being offered?

[Seraphine]

UPDATE:

 

We just got off the Explorer yesterday, and can confirm that yes they DID have babysitting available for our cruise. We used the service 3 times, and they were very professional and helpful.

 

I went to the Guest Relations desk immediately after boarding, and they confirmed 4 dates for me right then and there (I was expecting to have to wait for confirmations). The first two nights, they came at 10pm, just as my kids were going to sleep. They were two nice ladies from the housekeeping staff, but had been interviewed and trained by the head of the kids program. Both had children of their own. We weren't overly late for these first two nights - I was exhausted myself! - and despite my telling them that I didn't mind if they dozed on the sofa when the kids were asleep (after all, I do that!) as they had such an early start for their shifts the next day, they were both always awake when we arrived back at the cabin.

 

The third night, we left earlier (8pm) when the kids were still awake, but they'd been fed and gotten ready for bed. They played games with our oldest, settled the baby with a bottle, and all was fine. My son reported that they were nice, and then he went to bed (concise review from my 5 year old).

 

The fourth night, we needed to cancel at fairly short notice - our son had a violent allergic reaction and his entire face and body broke out in red welts. We immediately called the doctor, and then while I was running him downstairs my husband called to cancel the sitters and Guest Relations assured him they would take care of it. I was expecting to be charged for the booking but they insisted that would not be the case.

 

So all in all - a good experience. Both Guest Relations and the ladies doing the sitting were very good, and those few hours "off" were great. However... there were only 40 children on our sailing, and this week's sailing was expecting 800!! I imagine it would be harder to secure a sitter with this much competition.

 

In future, I will be paying much more careful attention to this aspect of the cruise - I liked how Carnival did things, and would be happy returning to them. We have one booked on Disney next September (our daughter will be over 2 years old by then... I haven't looked into what will be available yet but I don't think Disney will be a problem!)

 

I'm glad it went well, but it was still stressful in the planning! Thanks to all of those here who were able to share their experiences with me.

[CruiserInMD]

Thanks so much for the update, Seraphine. That gives us hope. We'll be sure to update after our cruise (which leaves on Dec 6) as well.

[AgVball]

Thanks for the update! I was sweating all the way through this thread! I'm still a little nervous though for my upcoming cruise on the Voyager.

 

We used this service twice. Both times, we tried to reserve for Sunday night (embarking night)...and it is VERY difficult to get someone but we did. From what I hear, they are working like crazy to load/unload the ship that sometimes they are "too tired" and may cancel or just not be available. Just mentioning that so folks can set their expectations.

 

Our first experience, the we got a substitute the first night, not crazy about her, but then our "regular" showed up and we loved her. We tried to request her the second time, but we didn't get her. That's when they started using two sitters. The price went up $2/hour - but not a big deal. We ran in to our former sitter, we were so sad we didn't get her that time.

 

Our girls are just over 2.5 and are potty trained. Anyone know how the kids club runs - do they check the kid's profile to see their age? Just ask? I like the in-room sittinig so my kids can just go to sleep - but it would be nice to know if Kids Club would be available if needed.

 

Someone had asked about what the sitters do... mine just sat and read a book. We also prefer to keep it dark and quiet while the kids sleep. If you are in a balcony or suite, you can bring your own equipment (sheets/blankets, line, clothes pins) to try to hang up a divider.

 

Thanks again for the update - others please post if you run in to snafu's!

[jerin]

 

Our girls are just over 2.5 and are potty trained. Anyone know how the kids club runs - do they check the kid's profile to see their age? Just ask? I like the in-room sittinig so my kids can just go to sleep - but it would be nice to know if Kids Club would be available if needed.

 

They do check ages, so you'll have to wait another few months until they turn 3 for this option to be available -- unless you sail on Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas after January, or Freedom of the Seas after March -- those ships do have facilities for group care of children under 3.

[krmlaw]

sorry for the delay guys, they did have in room babysitting on navigator - no problems.

 

we ended up not using it, but spoke with guest relations and was told we could book any night we wanted.

 

they said they had a few cruises in the past weeks that had so many requests for in room sitting, they couldnt take care of them all.

 

i actually spoke with the capt as well, and said he fully supported the in room program.

[CruiserInMD]

Just returned from our 12 day cruise on the RCI Enchantment of the Seas. We used the in-room babysitting for 9 nights out of the 12. The women who sat for us were always the same and they were lovely and loved kids. Our son was actually sleeping by the time we requested them (8-10pm most nights, 2 hour maximum) and they were disappointed they couldn't play with him, but they stayed quiet so he could sleep and were always dependable. I can't speak highly enough of our experience with this service.

 

I should mention that due to the timing of our cruise, there were only something like 50ish kids total, and probably only 10 or so toddlers. We requested the sitters a couple hours after we boarded and booked them for every night, and canceled 24 hours in advance if we didn't need them for a night. Having those babysitters made the trip infinitely more enjoyable!!

[AgVball]

I just got back from a 7 day on the Voyager out of Galveston. In-stateroom sitting was available. I made the request @ 4pm the day we embarked. The Guest Relations person emphasized this was just a "request" and the they will need to be confirmed. I called to find out that nothing was available the first night (no surprise based on experience.) It is still a three hour max on that ship. We had the same two girls show up each night. They seemed very friendly.

 

We actually had a baby monitor in the room, so after we left, we went into another one of our rooms and listened. Our girls are terrible with other people...2 1/2 and still a lot of separation anxiety, but we listened until they quieted down soon (1-2 minutes) and could hear the ladies singing and playing with them.

 

I wished the sitters could stay at least another hour longer (we could only do part of a show in addition to dinner) - but I understand the reasoning. Oh well, we had a good time even with the three hours.

 

Hopefully sitting is available for others on RCCL - good luck!

[LisaT91403]

Why were you limited to 3 hours of babysitting? Is that a new rule?