Saftey of tendering with baby

[m-oni]

We are cruising in November with our 10 month old, how safe is tendering in the Cayman Islands, my husband is a little concerned about the roughness of the journey. Thanks in advance for your help!

[sailinglisa]

My reply is based on my job as a nurse and as a veteran cruise passenger.

 

I highly recommend that you do not keep your child in a stroller if you are getting on or off a tender. Put the child in a sling around one of the parents.....like a Baby Bjorn or something similar. Let the crew take the stroller and get it on/off the tender and then allow them to help you. A friend witnessed a couple allowing their child to be transferred off a tender while strapped into a stroller.......the stroller tipped and even though the baby was strapped in, it would have fallen into the ocean except for the quick actions of a crew member. PLEASE, carry your child in a sling on/off tenders.

[sharktums]

Two things...

 

First, wait and see what the conditions are like. If it's glass smooth then you should be fine. And please like the first response said, make sure to carry your baby on and don't leave them in the stroller! When we were last at Grand Cayman with our then 9 month old I decided not to bring her because it was quite rough. (In fact, they delayed tendering due to the rough water)

 

Second, consider bringing your own infant size life vest for tendering. If something happened would you be able to find an infant life vest super fast on some random tender??? I doubt it. I felt safer to bring her own life vest while tendering.

 

Hope this helps!

[cb at sea]

The tenders are NOT rowboats!!! They are like Ferrys that carry upwards of a hundred folks. They are as safe as anything else.

Shoot--how safe are shopping carts--they turn over, kids fly out.....nothing is 100% safe, but tendering is not risky.

Don't worry so much!

[crusinmama06]

Tenders are very safe. Like Lisa said, just remove her from the stroller for loading and unloading.

 

They are two level ferry boats. We've never had an issues with them, no matter the port. And we have been to Grand Caymen, so no problems there.

[wanderingfool]

I also echo the vote for taking your own infant life vest - yes, tenders are usually good, sturdy enclosed boats, but for the sake of a few extra ounces in your luggage, taking a life vest is worth the investment. Then no one can give you grief for taking a ship's life vest off the boat, and you also know that it will fit your child. This advice also goes for excursions using boats. We just returned from a trip and one excursion involving a boat appeared to carry no child life vests on board whatsoever and from what I counted, we were shy 5 or 6 adult ones as well (the boat wasn't even full!) :eek: It was a slow moving river boat, in very shallow water, but still...

 

I also agree about the baby sling and not carrying a child on/off a ship in the stroller. I just returned from a cruise and our tender in Santorini was outsourced to local boats; the boats were larger/nice, however the docking situation was a bit unstable - having an extra hand free for balance was a godsend getting on and off.

[m-oni]

thank you so much!!! Keep the responses coming the more the merrier- lots of great advice :)

[Julienatul]

We have been to Caymen's many times with DD as an infant. We always do what is suggested, hold her or baby bjorn her onto the ferry and let the crew members put the stroller on. We sit towards the middle so there is no way even with rough seas that she could go overboard and just hold her on our laps until we get off, again the crew gets the stroller off and once on land we strap her into the stroller.