What if my child needs me when in the childrens club?

[gavagai]

I have never been on a real cruise before, so there are lots of questions now. :) We are probably going on a cruise with the MSC Lirica this spring.

 

My kid will be 4 years old and she goes to pre-school back home. The only other experience of "handing her in" somewhere is when we are at IKEA. The childrens room staff there call you on your mobile and send a message through the speaker system if your child wants to go back to mommy. So my kid is used to that. For one thing she won't be able to speak the language on the ship (we are Swedish, hence loyal IKEA visitors :D). Also, do the staff contact you in any way (how?) if you want them to do so if your kid gets too upset (or for that matter injured in any way)? What are the normal procedures?

[russianmom]

I can't speak for MSC as I have never sailed them but on NCL I was given a pager and on CCL a phone.

 

If your child is upset my understanding is that they will first try to calm them or distract them with toys, playing or other activites. if that doesn't work they will contact you.

 

I would not worry too much about the language barrier. Kids, toys and playing all speak the "same language". Depending on where you are sailing from/to you may also find some on board staff/other passengers who speak your language.

[cruisincarly]

I have never been on a real cruise before, so there are lots of questions now. :) We are probably going on a cruise with the MSC Lirica this spring.

 

My kid will be 4 years old and she goes to pre-school back home. The only other experience of "handing her in" somewhere is when we are at IKEA. The childrens room staff there call you on your mobile and send a message through the speaker system if your child wants to go back to mommy. So my kid is used to that. For one thing she won't be able to speak the language on the ship (we are Swedish, hence loyal IKEA visitors :D). Also, do the staff contact you in any way (how?) if you want them to do so if your kid gets too upset (or for that matter injured in any way)? What are the normal procedures?

 

I'm not sure about MSC, but every other line I've heard of will give you a phone or a beeper and let you know if your child is unhappy or needs you for any reason. I would be very surprised if it worked any different on MSC.

 

By the way, MSC has a reputation for having guests from all over Europe, and so I'm guessing they are very used to having kids who don't speak English onboard (and kids adapt well anyway!)

 

Trevlig resa!

[gavagai]

I can't speak for MSC as I have never sailed them but on NCL I was given a pager and on CCL a phone.

 

If your child is upset my understanding is that they will first try to calm them or distract them with toys, playing or other activites. if that doesn't work they will contact you.

 

I would not worry too much about the language barrier. Kids, toys and playing all speak the "same language". Depending on where you are sailing from/to you may also find some on board staff/other passengers who speak your language.

 

That sounds good. I hope it is the same on the MSC cruises.

[Onessa]

. . For one thing she won't be able to speak the language on the ship . . .

 

I've discovered that most 4YO just speak the same language! We did a very long trip through parts of Europe when our DD was 4.5YO and inevitably she'd find some other kid her age in whatever play area or park we were in and they would babble to each other and figure out what they were playing. It was amazing to watch her and another girl playing "house" with her stuffed bunny as the baby and mommy going off to work and the whole bit -- the other girl spoke only Italian while DD spoke English and Spanish.

[gavagai]

I've discovered that most 4YO just speak the same language! We did a very long trip through parts of Europe when our DD was 4.5YO and inevitably she'd find some other kid her age in whatever play area or park we were in and they would babble to each other and figure out what they were playing. It was amazing to watch her and another girl playing "house" with her stuffed bunny as the baby and mommy going off to work and the whole bit -- the other girl spoke only Italian while DD spoke English and Spanish.

 

That sounds great! :D

[mitsugirly]

I've only taken my youngest (2 months ago) on a cruise for the first time and I've heard that they give out pagers if your little one is not potty trained (so that they can page you when they need changed). However, my 3 year old was potty trained, so no need for the pager. However, when you sign them in, they ask on the sign in sheet where you are going to be. So, I imagine that if they need to find you, they can. (This was NCL also). But I'm sure all cruise lines have some type of policy to be able to contact you. :)

[Keith1010]

I would post this on the MSC cruise line board so you can verify how this works on this line.

 

Keith