Who Are The Babysitters?

[dewhit6959]

I read posts where babysitters are hired for the evening and while parents go ashore. Are these men and women and is that their primary job on board, or do they do this for extra money after working other duties. It would seem they would be very tired keeping a strange child if they worked another job.
How are these persons screened or are they? I use to tie a string from one kids wrists to mine some times when I had to watch them after work and was tired, in case I dozed off. (Actually, my wifes idea, second idea was I was not allowed near couch after work while watching kids) Just wondering.

[gizmo]

To my knowledge the "babysitters" for hire are regular crew. They have their regular jobs and baby sit at night on a voluntary basis. There are no dedicated babysitters. I suggest if you want a baby sitter, make reservations when you first board since there is no guarantee how many may be available on a given cruise.

[jazzsea]

On our last HAL cruise in March (Oosterdam) the cruisers in the cabin across the hall from us checked with the Guest Relations Manager and were given a list of crew members that were available to babysit.

On three evenings they had different women baby sit that worked in the gift shops. Everyone was happy. $10 an hour.

[sail7seas]

Sometimes the ladies from the front office will agree to babysit at night after they are finished with their day duties.

[jhannah]

I believe HAL requires that all babysitting staff graduate from the Joan Crawford Childcare Academy. :D

[Orcrone]

Don't care as long as it's not me!!!!:eek:

[stillfrantic]

One of the things my wife and I liked about the late Renaissance Lines was their policy of no children and no smoking. All passengers had to be 16 or older.
Maybe we should ask him to babysit??:D

[Orcrone]

Maybe we should ask him to babysit??:DOnly if the kids don't smoke.:D

[dakrewser]

Maybe we should ask him to babysit??:D
No thanks, I get enough of that with my grandchildren!

[Florida Lady]

Our 15 year old son has been cruising since he was about 19 months old. When he was younger we always hired a babysitter for the whole cruise. Usually we were told that they could not get the same baby sitter everynight. Only once did we end up with 2 different sitters in a cruise. Remember the crew what to see if they are caring for the "KID FROM HELL". One New year's Eve we were the only family who was able to get a sitter. We can only say thet all the sitters were wonderful. We even had the same sitter on different cruises. Our son would NEVER come to dinner with us. GET A BABYSITTER AND ENJOY DINNER AS A COUPLE. On the QE2 he would eat at children's dinner, on other cruise lines he would eat in the cabin. HE loved it. We loved it. As he got older the baysitter even took him to see a show. He would play pool with crew members. I was always amazed how many crew members knew his name as we walked about the ship and on shore. Saturday he will be going on his 25th cruise and still talks about the wonderful crew members he met over the years.

[stillfrantic]

Is the Club Hal not open in the evening, or when in port?

[Florida Lady]

When my son was 11 he started coming to dinner with us and then going to evening children's activties on various cruise lines including HAL, NCL,Celebrity, and Carnival.

The following are ships on which we hired babysitters.
CUNARD LINE QE2
ROYAL VIKING SUN
CELEBRITY CRUISE LINE ZENITH
MAJESTY CRUISE LINE ROYAL MAJESTY
NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE NORWEGIAN CROWN
CRYSTAL CRUISE LINE CRYSTAL HARMONY
ROYAL CARIBBEAN ENCHANTMENT OF THE SEAS

[jhannah]

Is the Club Hal not open in the evening, or when in port?Can't answer just when they're open, but I don't think it's late into the evening. Club HAL is for ages 5-12. This would therefore not be appropriate for toddlers and many pre-schoolers.

[sail7seas]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dakrewser
One of the things my wife and I liked about the late Renaissance Lines was their policy of no children and no smoking. All passengers had to be 16 or older.




Could be that was a few of the reasons they went bankrupt?

[dakrewser]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dakrewser
One of the things my wife and I liked about the late Renaissance Lines was their policy of no children and no smoking. All passengers had to be 16 or older.




Could be that was a few of the reasons they went bankrupt?




I doubt it, as the ships were full. But more than doubling the fleet size in 2000/2001 stretched their finances almost to the breaking point. The shrinking of travel and vacations in 2001/2002 was enough to push them over the edge.

[sail7seas]

This is getting off topic, but my memory is the only way they filled those ships the last year of the company's existence was by "giving away" the cruises. Their prices were ridicuously cheap in order to get people aboard.

I also recall they had some serious TA problems. They made some very bad decisions as to their booking methods etc

[dakrewser]

After September 2001, everybody was litterally 'giving away' cruises, plane trips, etc.

[lknick]

The causes, as seen by Renaissance management, are clearly outlined in the bankruptcy petition. As this is public record, it is available on line.

In short, they saw it as unsuccessful policies in attracting bookings and under-capitalization.