Watching movies in the room ?

[CanadaJulie]

Here's an odd question...

We have 2 rooms (adults in 1, 3 kids in the other). My daughter is NOT an early riser but my DH's 7year old son is. I am hoping that the lack of light in the inside cabin will help but at home, he is up sometimes around 5:30am. Waaayyy to early to start my day !!

Normally at home, he would get up and go turn on the TV in the living room and watch that until the rest of the family gets up. However, with 3 kids in 1 cabin, I'm not sure he can do this without disturbing the other 2 girls ? I have bought ear plugs and eye shades for the girls but still, turning a TV on will certainly bother them.

I was thinking of bringing a DVD player (a portable one, we bring it in the car sometimes) and earphones and he can watch that. I don't think I have a battery pack for this - can we plug this in anywhere ? I understand the only plug is on the desk. How far is it from the desk to the closest bed ? I can bring an extension cord if I need one but how long ? or would they have this on board ?

I know it sounds silly worrying about this but I know my DD and being woken up every morning before the crack of dawn will not improve her mood and will make everyone's day miserable (I don't blame her - I'm not very good with lack of sleep either - especially not on vacation !!)

Any ideas to keep the peace between the early and late risers ?

[cb at sea]

I'd do the portable DVD thing....with earplugs. Bring at least a 20 ft. extension cord so he can get to a quiet corner, or back in bed without the cord draping over other sleepers!

[Matti]

With an inside cabin, you're probably right to think that he won't be able to watch TV without waking up the others in the room. Even if he were, it's quite possible that there won't be a whole lot on which would interest him or that the ship may not, for some reason, have a TV signal.

While that's a lot of ifs and things that I can't really comment for certain on, your safe bet is to bring the portable DVD player and headphones. If the cord isn't a good few feet long, it would probably also be a good idea to bring an extension cord.

Overall, the best thing you can probably do is be on the safe side. If you pack a DVD player and an extension cord and they don't get used, oh well. If they do, it'll be a good thing you brought them.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Usually there's more child friendly programming on the in-cabin TV in the morning, but that doesn't sound like an option for your daughter. Especially if the boy has the sound on too high (I'm guessing at least one of the kids would be sleeping in the upper bunk...with the beds down, someone's not going to have a good view of the set).

So the DVD player sounds like a good plan. When he gets up, he can even sit at the desk and watch.

[Woodmnky]

We always bring a power strip just so we can have a little extension an extra plug ins. The desk is about 3 feet away from the foot of the nearest bed. This should help you plan accordingly. If this is what he usually does at home, I would certainly try to do this for him on the ship, it will make mornings much more plesant.

[Colo Cruiser]

There should be an additional plug behind the TV.

[Treven]

Originally Posted by Colo Cruiser

There should be an additional plug behind the TV.

There was an outlet behind the TV. I used that to plug in my clock so I would have enough outlets on my power strip for the rest of my electronic "toys".

[brian72]

You may want to consider a set of wireless headphones instead. My father travels with them all of the time because he is hearing impaired and needs to turn the volume up loud. Without the headphones, he would wake up everyone. Different scenario than yours but same concept. They range from $20 to over $100 so you should be able to find ones to suit your needs.

[brian72]

Just to clarify, I meant to plug the wireless headphones into the TV but the can of course be used with a portable DVD also.

[coiran]

There should be a duplex outlet behind the TV that is used for the TV - we usually plug a night light there.

Ron