Stupid Question...lost child?

I know I sound nuts here...but what are the odds of losing a 3.5yr old on the ship? My daughter is very well behaved, never runs off, have never been lost but I am wondering what the odds of her getting separated from us are. Even just waiting for an elevator in a group of random people and it closes with her on when we didn't fit on kind of scenarios.

When we've taken her to really busy events (100,000 people at Canada day kind of events) I have often taped a note to her back and inside it has all our cell numbers and her name. She's never been separated but as much as she knows our names and her address and all that I don't expect her to be able to convey that info if she is losing it panicked that she is separated from us. That info is useless on a ship.

What should I teach her in case we get separated on the ship? Should I stick a note on her back? Where would it say to bring her if found? What would a person naturally do if they found a 3yr old separated from her parents? Can the ship send out an announcement that she is found and where she is?

Sorry if I sound nuts...just making sure we have a plan in place.

In the unlikely event this happens, all kids wear a flexible band that has their muster station. So at a minimum, anyone on the crew could isolate where the child belongs down to a few cabins.

I would image security could figure it out pretty quick based their muster station and the picture in their system.

Plus, if they are doing kids club, (depending on the ship and number of kids) there is a good chance the kids club staff will recognize them and where they belong.

What would a person naturally do if they found a 3yr old separated from her parents?

I'd contact the front desk immediately. I'd ask the front desk for permission to bring the child to the kids club, since I think most children would be happiest there. But they might want to take the child to security instead, and I'd wait with the child until the ship decided what to do. If your child is missing, I'd contact the front desk but also make sure someone in your party is at the cabin in case the child remembered how to get back there, or told a passenger their cabin number. A passenger might take a child directly back to their cabin if they could remember the cabin number.

While sailing Carnival to Alaska two years ago our son went to the kids club while we were doing scenic cruising. He got his bearings wrong while going back to our cabin and ended up lost(he was allowed sign in & out privileges as well as a pager). He knew, through many discussions, to seek out a staff member who could help if there was any major problems. In his panic the first person he saw was a bartender. The gentleman called security, who took him to guest services. We never heard the page or phone call until my other son went into the cabin for something and informed me that I was being paged. My son was in tears figuring he did wrong but I really could not fault him as he followed safety procedures that our family had put into place since our cruising days started. We truly were grateful that guest services had a place in their office where he could stay until we arrived.

I think the odds of your child getting "lost" while with you are quite slim....children have some sort of "self-preservation" mode...she's not going to run off...and if she escapes you...you're bigger and faster than she is! No worries!

I think the odds of your child getting "lost" while with you are quite slim....children have some sort of "self-preservation" mode...she's not going to run off...and if she escapes you...you're bigger and faster than she is! No worries!

Oh I know the odds are slim to none. But I know that both she and I would have no clue where to start if we did get separated.

I think it is in the back of my head after reading an article by a mom who lost her child of similar age while in a fancy hotel. They pushed the elevator button. Mom bent down to get something from the stroller her younger child was in and when she looked up she saw the doors closing on the elevator her child had stepped onto.

She was stuck with one child on one floor as the other child went off to who knows where. She had no clue what to do in that moment and all she could do was wait until the elevator returned...with a bunch of people and no daughter. The child had gotten off before the people had gotten on so they didn't know where she was...in the end they found the child but not without a whole lot of tears and panic.

I am just looking for ideas on the best thing to teach her...stay in one spot if separated, find a staff member, know the room number etc.

In the unlikely event this happens, all kids wear a flexible band that has their muster station. So at a minimum, anyone on the crew could isolate where the child belongs down to a few cabins.

 

I would image security could figure it out pretty quick based their muster station and the picture in their system.

 

Plus, if they are doing kids club, (depending on the ship and number of kids) there is a good chance the kids club staff will recognize them and where they belong.

On RCI ships not every child is given the wrist band...Those toddler's 3 and under aren't.

We "lost" our 6 year old on RC Freedom of the Seas.

We were at dinner and, as is typical, she needed to go to the bathroom. She was six, didn't really need anyone to go with her, but really didn't remember where it was. So my husband took her, to give me the break, you know, from the standard of as soon as the food hits the table, someone needs to go!

He was waiting outside the bathroom, looking at some of the art, and she was taking forever. So he asked a lady to check on her, just ask if she was ok. She reported back out that there was no one in there. He went back to the table to see if she came back, she hadn't, so I went out to see if I could find her. By the time I got out, she was there with two crew members beside a phone, and they were getting ready to phone whoever.

She had her card on a lanyard around her neck, which had our table number on it, she was dressed in her fancy dress (formal night) and was right outside the dining room. Not sure why they just didn't bring her into the dining room to our table!

She confessed a few years later that she was in the bathroom when the lady called out to her, she just hid because she was scared she was in trouble for dawdling! :)

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If something like that happens the first thing to do is NOT to panic. Take a deep breath. My youngest has been misplaced several times. Once at Shamu's happy harbor when he was just under 3. I bent down to grab something in the stroller and when I looked up he was gone. We did the PC on the Disney Wonder and on day 12, DH thought I had him and I thought DH had him, well he had heard we are going to the theater and off he went.

No matter where or why it happens, the best thing for you to do is quickly search close by, and then find crew or staff. In most places, they have a proceedure, getting that started sooner than later is always best. As far as, what to tell them, I like find a parent, someone with kids. That adult will help them find a staff person and help keep them calm.

When we lived in DC we had the rule that on the subway, if we got separated. The kid would stay put and the adult would travel to meet them. In some ways that is a good rule for the elevator. Get off ASAP and then stay put.

It doesn't really matter if she can't tell anyone who she is. If you go to reception and explain that you're missing an umbrella, you might have to look through quite a lot of umbrellas in the lost property cupboard; if you lose a child, chances are lost property will only have one in stock. :)

Best option is to teach her to wait where she is and you'll come back. If she moves, you can spend a long time following each other round.

On RCI ships not every child is given the wrist band...Those toddler's 3 and under aren't.

Which cruiseline? All have different rules in place. Carnival gives every child, 11 & younger) a lifeboat bracelet.

If your child becomes list go to a house phone immediately. Security will do a complete search, every security person will photo have the child's photo. If she cannot be found they will do a ship wide announcement. Going into all cabins and public areas. If the child is still not found they will secure everyone into their cabins and a room by room search will take place.

Royal Caribbean only does wristbands for kids 3 and up (old enough for children's program). DD was 2 1/2 when we sailed. They put a sticker on her back with the information while she was in the nursery, but no wristband. She was potty trained, but b/c she didn't have a wristband they knew she was under 3 so we were questioned several times by pool deck staff that saw her in the splash area/kids pools.

We've stressed with DD what to do if she gets separated for a while now (go to large theme parks often & have travelled quite a bit with her). We tell her to let someone with a name tag know she can't find us. If she can't find an employee, we tell her to look for an adult with kid(s). We'll do the same thing on our upcoming cruise too.

Which cruiseline? All have different rules in place. Carnival gives every child, 11 & younger) a lifeboat bracelet.

 

If your child becomes list go to a house phone immediately. Security will do a complete search, every security person will photo have the child's photo. If she cannot be found they will do a ship wide announcement. Going into all cabins and public areas. If the child is still not found they will secure everyone into their cabins and a room by room search will take place.

My post you quoted...clearly stated RCI ships ;)

My post you quoted...clearly stated RCI ships ;)

Meant to say....

Which cruiseline is OP sailing?

I have all signatures turned off when posting from my phone.

Princess has only recently started using the wrist bands. We sailed last April and that was the first time the kids were given one. However, there are still things that can be done. Educating them as to what to do has already been mentioned.

We walked the kids through where their cabin was to the kid center. We drilled their cabin number into them so that they knew better then us what it was. You can buy a cheap wrist band on line. My 8 YO DGD is borderline autistic. She is good at numbers but the endless row of doors would have easily confused her. I was able to get a cabin directly below the kid center and directly above our restaurant. But, what I did was get one of those car magnets (like a real estate guy might use) and put it on our door. That way she could leave either place, get off the elevator at the floor and walk to our cabin. One night at dinner she wanted to go back to the cabin while we were still eating. My DH wanted to go back with her. I said absolutely not. This was her first taste of freedom and she wanted to see what it was like to be alone in our cabin. Of course, we didn't leave her there long but she had a chance to turn on the TV, pick her channel and get her PJs on.

Remember too, if it is busy enough for her to get lost there will be tons of people everywhere to help. With the bracelet with her cabin number on it, that will be easy for passengers. If the ship has one it will be easy for staff to find you. There is no possible way for her to get off the ship without you.

Meant to say....

Which cruiseline is OP sailing?

 

I have all signatures turned off when posting from my phone.

No problem.....I actually have signatures turned off completely...I don't need or care to see all that sometimes loooong info attached :)

I don't know about counting on wristbands. My daughter took hers off everyday. I thought it was just too loose, but they gave her a new one because my husband forgot to put her old one back on before taking her to the kids club. She took that one off too.

In general though, I would be more worried about a child getting lost on land (at home) than on the ship. Sure, ships are mini-cities but a child just can't get that far.

I spent a lot of time teaching my kids the name of the ship because I was more worried about them getting lost in port and I figured at least that way someone would know where to bring them back to. I also taught them our room number because it was a fun game for them to be the first one to find our room.

Like someone else said, I teach my children to look for a mom with her kids. Kids may have trouble determining who is an employee or other relatively safe adult, but they can always find other kids and their mom.

The wristbands can also be worn as anklets.

While I suppose this could happen on an elevator, it doesn't seem to me to be something to worry about.There are crew everywhere and someone will certainly get her and find a safe place for her until they find you. It seems to happen all the time in department stores. I told my 2-3 year old to if seperated wait and I will find you.

Before they had "freedom from always being with mom and/or dad privledges" my kids have to demonstrate they can get to both muster station and the cabin without assistance other than the signs on the ship. For younger kids who will not have that option I would have them go to a store or food place without using the stairs or elevator. Take the first day and run a drill or two on the decks you will be with them most of the time, but do drill in that there are no stairs or elevator without a parent, that keeps the places to search to a minimum

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I was traveling with a special needs group on NCL and one of the non verbal teens got separated from his parents. Security was called and facial recognition was used and they found him within five minutes.

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My 6 year old son got separated from us on debarkation day on NCL. We were using the stairs to go down and he missed the part where all of us stopped using the stairs to visit the buffet one more time. When we got inside the Garden Cafe, we realized he wasn't with us. We thought he'd be coming right along, but he didn't.

We had all of our carryons with us, so we stationed our older two kids to wait near the stairs in case he came back. My husband and I went and combed the two sides of the Garden Cafe. He wasn't there.

The panic was starting to rise. My son had already stated that he didn't want to leave, and I kept thinking what would stop him from trying to hide in any of the cabins whose doors were open with the room stewards cleaning for the new passengers? My other, more horrifying thought was, "What if he just walked off the ship?" I wasn't sure how carefully they'd be 'dinging' people off the ship, and wondered if maybe he'd just blend in with the hundreds of other people trying to get off.

Thankfully, when I returned to my other kids to see if he had shown up, they told me that I had been paged on the overhead speaker, and I was to go to guest services. My husband had heard it too, so he was already there with our son. When my son realized he was lost, he started to cry and someone brought him to guest services. Happy ending, but not without some tears from more than one of us. :p

For a younger child, I would probably instruct them that if they can't find us, to look for a crew member (e.g. someone with a badge) to help them. If she knows your names, that should be enough. I don't think I would have panicked quite as much if the ship hadn't actively been debarking at the time.

My 6 year old son got separated from us on debarkation day on NCL. We were using the stairs to go down and he missed the part where all of us stopped using the stairs to visit the buffet one more time. When we got inside the Garden Cafe, we realized he wasn't with us. We thought he'd be coming right along, but he didn't.

 

We had all of our carryons with us, so we stationed our older two kids to wait near the stairs in case he came back. My husband and I went and combed the two sides of the Garden Cafe. He wasn't there.

 

The panic was starting to rise. My son had already stated that he didn't want to leave, and I kept thinking what would stop him from trying to hide in any of the cabins whose doors were open with the room stewards cleaning for the new passengers? My other, more horrifying thought was, "What if he just walked off the ship?" I wasn't sure how carefully they'd be 'dinging' people off the ship, and wondered if maybe he'd just blend in with the hundreds of other people trying to get off.

 

Thankfully, when I returned to my other kids to see if he had shown up, they told me that I had been paged on the overhead speaker, and I was to go to guest services. My husband had heard it too, so he was already there with our son. When my son realized he was lost, he started to cry and someone brought him to guest services. Happy ending, but not without some tears from more than one of us. :p

 

For a younger child, I would probably instruct them that if they can't find us, to look for a crew member (e.g. someone with a badge) to help them. If she knows your names, that should be enough. I don't think I would have panicked quite as much if the ship hadn't actively been debarking at the time.

I'm sure it's different when it's your own child, but it really isn't likely to be a problem from a third party point of view. Any child young enough to accidentally disembark, rahter than waiting to be found, is going to be on reins or otherwise attached to family anyway.

As for a child knowing its parents' names, even that isn't necessary. If they've got a child without parents and parents who have lost a child, the meanest intelligence can work out the link! :)

She's three. Teach her your room number and how to identify crew members. Make sure she knows her full name, and your real name- not mommy and daddy. This is helpful on land or at sea.

Once you board, show her meeting places if you get separated.

We never used the club so never used the bracelets (I took them right off when 'required').

Practice what to do if separated. Hi, I'm separated from my mom and dad. my name is Jane Smith. I'm in cabin 6578. They Mary Smith and John Smith.

With odd, we practice regularly and remind her before busy places.

Lots of good advice above in this thread.

In the case of elevators: one adult gets on, then the kid(s), then the other adult. If there is only one adult, hold the child's hand at least until you are both in the elevator car. This also 'encourages' good elevator etiquette, as you can hold them back while people exit. Alternately, you can simply stand across the threshold until everyone is loaded. If the doors can't close, the elevator isn't going anywhere.