Sun, Dawn, Spirit - Baby Pools? Kids Club Access with Adult?

[ama]

Does anyone know if the NCL's Sun, Dawn, or Spirit have baby pools (i.e. pools that ALLOW babies with swim diapers)?

 

My daughter will be 16 months at the time of our sailing. I know she is too young to join the Kid's Club. But, do the above ships allow you to access the kid's club room etc. provided that she is accompanied by a parent?

 

Any insight would be great. Thanks!!!

[MrsLeo]

Absolutely no children in any sort of diaper, swimming or otherwise are allowed in the pools on board.

 

Some parents opt to bring along a small inflatable pool they can use a pail to fill with water from the pool. Then just empty it in a drain.

 

I do believe that if you go to the kid's club and get a schedule of activities, you will find they have set aside a block of time for parents and babies to use the kid's club. However,due to security requirements, I do not think parents are ever allowed admittance to the kid's club during scheduled activities for the other age groups.

[Don Haynes]

Plus, the diapers or swim diapers are not allowed. Children should not be in pools on ships with diapers. In case there is a boo boo, the very germs the ships are fighting, the noro-virus are released into the pool. This is a health issue. If they are not potty trained, stay out of the pool. What is the result when a boo boo does happen, the pool is closed and has to be drained and sanitized. I doubt you and your children will be very popular after a boo boo occurs.

 

And people want to know why the pools are closed or why the noro-virus spreads so quickly? We have pigs aboard the ship.

[KerCar]

I was on the Spirit in June with my 15 mo DD. The kid's crew opened up for 1-2 hours per day for "under 2" time. It was a lot of fun for my daughter and I got to meet other parents with children her age. The crew has a list of all children on board and should deliver a schedule to your cabin. If they don't, stop by and ask them for the hours. The Spirit's kid's crew area is amazing!

 

Unfortunatly, like the others have said there is no "baby" pool on the Spirit. We brought a small inflatable tub, but DD was quite mobile and more interested in walking around exploring the ship! There is a great spot right next to the kid's pool area. It's a small enclosed space with ride on and climbing toys. Perfect for letting my kids run around and play while I read.

 

Check out the Family Board for more great info for cruising with children:)

[TropicalPorts]

Does anyone know if the NCL's Sun, Dawn, or Spirit have baby pools (i.e. pools that ALLOW babies with swim diapers)?

 

My daughter will be 16 months at the time of our sailing. I know she is too young to join the Kid's Club. But, do the above ships allow you to access the kid's club room etc. provided that she is accompanied by a parent?

 

Any insight would be great. Thanks!!!

 

I'm pretty sure the dawn allows them if they don't leak.. Either way, whether they allow it or not, people have done it on every cruise i've been on and the staff really doesn't monitor or watch the t-rex section any more since '05.

 

You generally cannot go in the kids club room other than to drop off the child or change them if they page you.

[MrsLeo]

Sorry to disagree it is most definitely a fleet wide rule that children in swim diapers (leaking or not) are prohibited from going in to the pools. Don's post outlines the reasoning very well. They are not trying to penalize the babies, it is simply a health and safety regulation. As a matter of fact, I would hazard a guess and safely say it is an industry wide policy. Some may enforce it more than others, but never the less, I would hate to see any of our children get ill, because let's be honest chlorine cannot kill every germ. Some of the fecal bacteria and parasites are not even phased by chlorine. so it is best to play it safe. Keep the baby ruths out of the pool lol! There's a reason that people refer to swim diapers as fecal teabags. Sorry to be graphic, but you need to know that even if the rule is not enforced by the crew, anyone who does allow this is putting someone elses child at risk.

[KerCar]

Sorry to disagree it is most definitely a fleet wide rule that children in swim diapers (leaking or not) are prohibited from going in to the pools. Don's post outlines the reasoning very well. They are not trying to penalize the babies, it is simply a health and safety regulation. As a matter of fact, I would hazard a guess and safely say it is an industry wide policy. Some may enforce it more than others, but never the less, I would hate to see any of our children get ill, because let's be honest chlorine cannot kill every germ. Some of the fecal bacteria and parasites are not even phased by chlorine. so it is best to play it safe. Keep the baby ruths out of the pool lol! There's a reason that people refer to swim diapers as fecal teabags. Sorry to be graphic, but you need to know that even if the rule is not enforced by the crew, anyone who does allow this is putting someone elses child at risk.

 

You're right. As far as I know, there are no ships in the NCL fleet that allow babies in swim diapers. Disney and some of the newer RCI ships have baby splash areas, but as of yet NCL does not. The water in the pools is actually salt water and not chlorine, which makes it less effective at killing germs. On the Spirit, there was someone monitoring the kid's pool area and asking if young children were potty trained.

[KerCar]

 

You generally cannot go in the kids club room other than to drop off the child or change them if they page you.

 

While this is true during normal kid's crew hours. There are times set aside every day when parents and their litttle ones can use the facility for "under 2" time. Parents and babies are also welcome to come to the kid's crew for open family time activities.

[MrsLeo]

On the Pearl the Pools were fresh water and were chlorinated, also even when the pools are saltwater, they still add chlorine.

[DAGVBSB]

Sorry to disagree it is most definitely a fleet wide rule that children in swim diapers (leaking or not) are prohibited from going in to the pools. Don's post outlines the reasoning very well. They are not trying to penalize the babies, it is simply a health and safety regulation. As a matter of fact, I would hazard a guess and safely say it is an industry wide policy. Some may enforce it more than others, but never the less, I would hate to see any of our children get ill, because let's be honest chlorine cannot kill every germ. Some of the fecal bacteria and parasites are not even phased by chlorine. so it is best to play it safe. Keep the baby ruths out of the pool lol! There's a reason that people refer to swim diapers as fecal teabags. Sorry to be graphic, but you need to know that even if the rule is not enforced by the crew, anyone who does allow this is putting someone elses child at risk.

 

I agree 100% with MrsLeo. When we were on the Dawn in 2006, the staff most definately monitored the T-Rex pool area. My sister in law and wife took our daughter and her son to the pool one day. My SIL also had her then 1 year old son also with her. She never intended to allow the baby near the pool, they were simply going to sit on the deck and watch the other kids swim and entertain him. But before they could even sit down a crew member was upon them telling them that the baby could not get in the pool and being quite adamant about it. My SIL informed him that she knew the rules and had no intention of allowing her baby to swim, but she was there to watch the other children in our family swim. Event though, the baby never moved the whole time (he was asleep), the crew member stared at them the entire time they were at the pool.

 

So, yes, they do enforce the rule. It's also not NCL's rule, it is a Health and Sanitation mandate that they have to follow.

[zqvol]

We have pigs aboard the ship.

 

In this thread this was both rude and uncalled for!

[zqvol]

On the Pearl the Pools were fresh water and were chlorinated, also even when the pools are saltwater, they still add chlorine.

 

The saltwater pools do not have any chlorine. In addition chlorine in proper concentrations will kill all bacteria and parasites. The problem is that with concentrations that are used in pool sit takes time to kill the "bugs" and until they are killed they can be caught.

[MrsLeo]

zqvol sorry but you are mistaken.

 

Here is some documentation from the CDC:

 

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol5no4/carpenter.htm

[MrsLeo]

zqvol here is an article from Conde Naste Traveler magazine, regarding chlorinated saltwater pools.

 

http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/blogs/perrinpost/2007/02/kidfriendly_cru.html

[KerCar]

On the Pearl the Pools were fresh water and were chlorinated, also even when the pools are saltwater, they still add chlorine.

 

Yes, you are correct, the newer NCL ships are using fresh water. I believe that the ships the OP is asking about are all still salt water.

 

Are the salt water pools on NCL ships partially chlorinated??? Electricron, any insight???

 

Either way, I think we're all trying to make the same point that swim diapers are not allowed in any of the NCL pools for good reason.

[MrsLeo]

You know I couldn't remember when we were on the Spirit whether it was salt or freshwater, but went back and looked at some reviews that state they are freshwater. I would post the links but its against the rules since I found it on another site. I bet electricron would recall if that was prt of the refurb back in 2005. We were on her shortly after that and I just can't recall.

[loverboy]

In this thread this was both rude and uncalled for!

 

Sometimes, the truth hurts.

[electricron]

You know I couldn't remember when we were on the Spirit whether it was salt or freshwater, but went back and looked at some reviews that state they are freshwater. I would post the links but its against the rules since I found it on another site. I bet electricron would recall if that was prt of the refurb back in 2005. We were on her shortly after that and I just can't recall.

 

I don't recall if any changes were made to the Spirit's pools. But I did find the WHO recommendations for cruise ship pools.

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/ships/en/gssanitation4.pdf

 

Personally, I wouldn't risk using a public pool or hot tub aboard a cruise ship. I wouldn't be surprised if half the new noro virsus illnesses reported aboard cruise ships were spread by pools. But that's my opinion, I don't have any proof.

[KerCar]

You know I couldn't remember when we were on the Spirit whether it was salt or freshwater, but went back and looked at some reviews that state they are freshwater. I would post the links but its against the rules since I found it on another site. I bet electricron would recall if that was prt of the refurb back in 2005. We were on her shortly after that and I just can't recall.

 

I was on the Spirit June 2007. The pools were still salt as of then.

[beachchick]

I'm pretty sure the dawn allows them if they don't leak.. Either way, whether they allow it or not, people have done it on every cruise i've been on and the staff really doesn't monitor or watch the t-rex section any more since '05.

 

You generally cannot go in the kids club room other than to drop off the child or change them if they page you.

 

As others have written, swim diapers aren't allowed in any NCL pools. Just because the crew doesn't monitor an area doesn't make it okay. And there's no such thing as a non-leaking swim diaper. Sure, they can keep in the "big" items, but the bacteria, etc. leach out no matter what. That's why they're not allowed at any time. Next time you see parents breaking such an important health rule, please do the rest of the pax a favor and either point out the rule to the parents or insist that the crew do their job!

 

(ama: The previous was not at all directed at you. You didn't know, and you asked to find out. A logical thing to do.)

 

beachchick