Night Nursery On Iona

[AndyLovesCruises]

Hi All, Traveling on Iona in a few weeks and have been trying to find out if anyone has any experience with the night nursery?  Is it first come first served or do you book as part of the enrolling online before the cruise ?

 

We will be traveling in the kids holidays so I'm guessing it could be hard to impossible ?!  what will be will be!

 

Any tips would be appreciated!

[tacticalbanjo]

I don't have any experience on Iona but have used it on Britannia and the set up is probably similar. On Britannia it's first come first served which worried me a bit because my little one came with us to dinner and was put to bed afterwards. But the staff told me that they'd never had to turn anyone away and the nursery was nowhere near full at any point. In fact, each night they set up fewer cots and beds as it became clear that only around 3 or 4 of the 70 under 4s on my cruise were actually using the night nursery.

 

I saw a lot of small children asleep in buggies in the evenings so I guess most parents prefer to keep their little ones with them or don't like to settle them in the night nursery then move them when it closes. And some people only leave their children while they eat. Some of the kids had been collected by their parents by the time I rocked up with mine!

[Cathygh]

Booking opens on the app at 8.30am or possibly 8am the day before. I don't think it's open on boarding day but you can book the next day when you board.

[AndyLovesCruises]

1 hour ago, tacticalbanjo said:

I don't have any experience on Iona but have used it on Britannia and the set up is probably similar. On Britannia it's first come first served which worried me a bit because my little one came with us to dinner and was put to bed afterwards. But the staff told me that they'd never had to turn anyone away and the nursery was nowhere near full at any point. In fact, each night they set up fewer cots and beds as it became clear that only around 3 or 4 of the 70 under 4s on my cruise were actually using the night nursery.

 

I saw a lot of small children asleep in buggies in the evenings so I guess most parents prefer to keep their little ones with them or don't like to settle them in the night nursery then move them when it closes. And some people only leave their children while they eat. Some of the kids had been collected by their parents by the time I rocked up with mine!

 

We sailed in Jan this year when my son was 15 months, overnight in the buggy with black out cover no problems whatsoever.  We watched shows ate meals in noisy MDR's he slept through the lot for 11 nights.  His so much more aware now though at 2 YO i doubt we will be so lucky!  Thank you for your advice. 

[AndyLovesCruises]

48 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

Booking opens on the app at 8.30am or possibly 8am the day before. I don't think it's open on boarding day but you can book the next day when you board.

 

Thank you, we will probably head straight to the kids club when we board and check out the venue first to make sure we feel comfortable 🙂 

[tacticalbanjo]

14 minutes ago, AndyLovesCruises said:

 

We sailed in Jan this year when my son was 15 months, overnight in the buggy with black out cover no problems whatsoever.  We watched shows ate meals in noisy MDR's he slept through the lot for 11 nights.  His so much more aware now though at 2 YO i doubt we will be so lucky!  Thank you for your advice. 

My now 18 month old hates sleeping in the buggy and has FOMO so trying to have her sleep while we have fun was out of the question. Given the kids club staff have all the proper childcare qualifications and they check on the kids every 10 mins, we felt very comfortable leaving our daughter and enjoying a bit of night life.

 

These are the requirements for the youth reps on board P&O and Cunard which share youth staff:

• Previous experience within a child care/ educational establishment for at  least 6 months
• Qualified at Level 3 Diploma level or above or hold a degree and/or PGCE
• Be currently working within a childcare or educational setting

 

On Britannia the staff told us that they confirm to UK childcare ratios.

[Cathygh]

1 hour ago, AndyLovesCruises said:

 

Thank you, we will probably head straight to the kids club when we board and check out the venue first to make sure we feel comfortable 🙂 

Yes that is sensible. You will need to pre register on line before you go but that doesn't tie you to using the club. My grandchildren loved the clubs on Iona.