Private baby sitting

[steilkurve]

Hello all! We'll soon be on Liberty of the seas with our two daughters. One is under thre and understand group sitting won't be available for her. We're considering the private sitting service RCI offers. Anyone tried it? How was the sitter? Obviously wondering given we'd leave our kids with someone we haven't me before. Any experience would be appreciated. Thanks.

[sas80]

(bump)

There are people here who have used this service before. Maybe you'll get more answers this week. You've already heard from me.

[Erwin Family @ Sea]

We have the used a private sitter on RCI, the last time was on Voyager. We of course were a little hesitant as I am sure you are. We actually did not take advantage of it until probably 7 or 8 nights into a 12 night cruise. And, of course once we did., we were kicking ourselves for not doing it sooner. Our girls loved the sitter... They had a great time playing games, talking watching t.v. etc.. We used the service a couple more times on that cruise, always requesting the same crew member. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to answer.

[steilkurve]

Many thanks for the reply. That's reassuring and makes me want to give it a try. Was the sitter kids program staff off 'formal' duty? Just wondering about their credentials to take care of kids. NP

[larronry]

I don't think the kids program staff are allowed to babysit, but I could be wrong. I just think I read that somewhere.

[kitty9]

The sitters are volunteers who can work in any part of the ship. It's generally cleaning staff or room stewardesses. And they are not formally trained to be sitters. They're doing it for the extra money.

[rebeccalouise]

I used the sitters on Celebrity and it was great. The first night it was a cabin steward. After that it was the same girl from the front desk. She was lovely and took my son around the ship with her. He had a ball! On formal night- she took him to get his picture taken. We still have it framed in our foyer.

 

The crew have children at home (many of them) and they miss them terribly. They honestly enjoy seeing kids.

[El Mono]

I read somewere on RCI:s website that all their babysitters were having thorough education before working with children?

 

I was considering using them to babysit my two children age 3 and 4,5 when they are sleeping, but now I don't feel so sure about it:confused: I want to be sure that its not just the ordinary bartender doing it on his few free hours, nothing against bartenders here, just an example of two completely different kind of proffesions that don't nessecary can do each others job..

 

Do they use cellphones/pagers or some kind of radios if the parents need to come ASAP to the cabin?

[rebeccalouise]

They don't usually use pagers but face it- its a ship. If it were an actual medical emergency they have loud speakers.

 

Your kids are safer on a ship than anywhere else. No one can abscond with them and there is a 24 medical center.

 

All that is required is a nice person, who likes kids. You can check in on your child whenever you want to.

[sas80]

I read somewere on RCI:s website that all their babysitters were having thorough education before working with children?

 

I was considering using them to babysit my two children age 3 and 4,5 when they are sleeping, but now I don't feel so sure about it:confused: I want to be sure that its not just the ordinary bartender doing it on his few free hours, nothing against bartenders here, just an example of two completely different kind of proffesions that don't nessecary can do each others job..

 

Do they use cellphones/pagers or some kind of radios if the parents need to come ASAP to the cabin?

 

We had late seating dinner. We made sure we wrote down our names and our table number, for the dining room, for the sitter before we left. If she needed anything she would surely be able to summon someone to fetch us within 5 minutes, no problem.

 

We didnt go anywhere after dinner (because we were tired) but, if we had decided to, we would have written down the specifics of where we would be going so that they could find us.

 

I agree with the other poster who said - it's a ship, for gosh sake...they have a P.A. system...if they need you, they can get you in a heartbeat.

 

You know whats going to happen, on the ship, while your kids are sleeping, right? The same thing that happens at home while they are sleeping - nothing!

 

Go, hire a babysitter, have some fun!

[crusinmama06]

I have never had to use the in cabin sitting (we waited until our youngest was 3 to go on RCCL with her), but I have seen nothing but glowing reports about the in cabin sitters. Both here and at the RCCL boards, parents have raved about the sitters.

 

And believe me, if there were ANY problems, you would see someone at CC complaining about it. ;)

[TNC010100]

We used a sitter last year on Freedom for our 1 year old. The sitter was a cabin attendant who was off duty. She had three kids of her own back home. She did have a ship's phone with her and gave me the number to that phone and she knew we were going to be eating in Portofino's. After about 20 minutes away I had to return to the cabin to get something I left there and when I opened the door she was singing to my DD and DD was clapping along. It was great and I never felt for one second that my daughter was not in great hands. This January DD will be 2 and I am guessing that she will put up more resistance when we try to leave the cabin (we plan to have a babysitter for 2 nights) but I will not hesitate for a second to use the service again!!!!

[cruzinnluvinit]

The sitters are volunteers who can work in any part of the ship. It's generally cleaning staff or room stewardesses. And they are not formally trained to be sitters. They're doing it for the extra money.

Kitty9,

 

I know this is from another thread but we kept waiting to hear from you. You said you didn't want to go on your first cruise and we were wondering how it turned out.

 

Linda

[El Mono]

They don't usually use pagers but face it- its a ship. If it were an actual medical emergency they have loud speakers.

 

Your kids are safer on a ship than anywhere else. No one can abscond with them and there is a 24 medical center.

 

All that is required is a nice person, who likes kids. You can check in on your child whenever you want to.

 

Well I am not worried about an emergency or medical situation, then I have full faith that the personal is trained what to do.

 

Of course every child is different, but I know for sure that my two would not like being leaved to some unknown (to them) person, specially since they don't speak or understand English, only Swedish. Therefore I thought that the only solution for us would be to use a baby sitter after they have fallen asleep, which usually happens around 8 pm. I would not use them for more than 2-3 hours, but still, they sometimes wake up and if they found an unknown person in their cabin:eek: well then I guess the whole ship would hear them, no need for PA or cellphones then.

 

And I would still be little hesitant to use "anyone" who is off duty at the moment to babysit them, I know that I and my wife are very careful when chosing a babysitter at home and taking references, but the most important is that the children and the babysitter gets along good, something I have no chance of knowing on a ship.

[Onessa]

BIL and his family joined us for a cruise a few years back on RCCI. Their DD was 14M at the time. She is a very outgoing little girl and took to the sitter (a room attendant from somewhere in South America who spoke pretty decent English). They made certain to let the sitter know where they planned to be. They checked in a few times (discretely) and like other posters found the sitter to be playing with their DD early and reading while DD was asleep later.

 

Prudent caution is always a good thing when it comes to the care of your children. If you are not comfortable with the individual who comes to sit for you, feign a head ache and give her something for her trouble.

 

As to an earlier inquiry -- The Adventure Ocean staff are required to have bachelor degrees and demonstrated hands-on experience dealing with kids. For the in-cabin sitters, that is not a requirement.

[sas80]

You can also get to know everyone on your meet & mingle thread for your sailing. Someone may have a teen that is willing/has experience to babysit.

[PattyW]

We used an in cabin babysitter on the Radiance of the Seas in May. I was nervous about the concept, but when the time came, everything was fine. We did check back a few times just to make sure that our son fell asleep and stayed asleep. She was just quietly reading a book when we checked on the situation.

 

Our sitter was employed as ship security helping check passengers in and out at port and running the x-ray machine. She was quite lovely and recognized us and the kids at the next port.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to use in-room sitting again if necessary.

[rebeccalouise]

Well I am not worried about an emergency or medical situation, then I have full faith that the personal is trained what to do.

 

Of course every child is different, but I know for sure that my two would not like being leaved to some unknown (to them) person, specially since they don't speak or understand English, only Swedish. Therefore I thought that the only solution for us would be to use a baby sitter after they have fallen asleep, which usually happens around 8 pm. I would not use them for more than 2-3 hours, but still, they sometimes wake up and if they found an unknown person in their cabin:eek: well then I guess the whole ship would hear them, no need for PA or cellphones then.

 

And I would still be little hesitant to use "anyone" who is off duty at the moment to babysit them, I know that I and my wife are very careful when chosing a babysitter at home and taking references, but the most important is that the children and the babysitter gets along good, something I have no chance of knowing on a ship.

 

I really think it is a bad idea to wait until your child falls asleep for the reason you mentioned. It is better that the child knows that mommy and daddy are at dinner in case they wake up.

Many people are afraid to leave their children with strangers. I was hesitant to leave my son with a sitter in Madrid. I sat with her until I was comfortable leaving him with her. He was six at the time.

But I think about this... I have no knowledge of CPR or any medical training whatsoever. I am not Red Cross certified and somehow have managed to raise two boys- both without injury. So relax and enjoy your trip. The sitters are great, friendly and face it- they would be held accountable if anything bad happened. And nothing will.