Nursery for 3 and under on the Fantasy

We're on the Dream in October with our 2-almost-3 year old and may book her in the nursery for a session or two. This review does not concern me. The woman is suspect in my opinion. I found it strange that she has so many negative things to say about the situation after the very first experience but took her kids back not once but twice more. And she would have done it again if they hadn't prevented her!

In your previous post, you stated that your daughter will be 34 months old. If she is fully trained, she will be allowed a trial in the Oceaneer's Club, Provided she is OK, she will be allowed to go to the OC for the remainder of the cruise. This may not be of interest to you, but many "nearly 3s" are happier here than in the nursery. Since she is into princesses, make sure she goes to "Do-si-do with Snow White." This is the kids dancing in a circle with the princess.

Technically, the activities in the OC are open to kids of all ages. However, they are listed as "suggested for," and the CMs make no effort to include kids who are outside of the suggested ages (reality, 11 year old kids don't do activities geared for 3-4s)

I had just read that review a few weeks ago since I was reading loads of Fantasy reviews, since I just booked the Fantasy for the weeks after thanksgiving. We did the Dream a few weeks ago. Our son is 5, but he LOVED the childcare programs, esp. the Oceaneer Club. He went several times during our cruise, only called to be picked up a couple of times after 30-40 minutes, the other times when I arrived to get him, usually for dinner, or because it was 10:15PM, he was mad I came to get him, he wanted to play longer! The staff was great and seemed very good at engaging the kids in the fun activities! I talked with some parents with younger kids throughout the cruise who said the nursery was awesome also, the staff was great. I wouldn't take one negative review to see how things would be.

as someone who has worked with kids FOREVER, was a head teacher with infants/toddlers for years, look at your child's personality and temperament and decide how they will fit into the nursery - are they easy to hand off to another adult, or do they scream when you leave their sight? Are they used to being left in the care of others, or are you with them 24/7? Im not judging anyones parenting ways, as every family has a work situation, but consider these things. If you are a stay at home mom and your child has never been left with anyone other than grandma once in a while, and they scream when you try to leave them with your gym childcare staff -what makes you think it will be any different on a cruise, which is a different environment for the child? Just something to consider!

I appreciate all the positive comments regarding this topic as we are taking our 2 year old on the Fantasy in October.

He "had" colic. Meaning that at a point in his life, he was a cry baby baby. However, at the time he was at the nursery for an hour and 50 minutes, he was just a baby that didn't go down for a nap on his own- he had to be rocked. which we told them, and they said they could handle. Also, he wasn't 3 weeks old and didn't need to be swaddled which is what they were attempting to do when we go there. And he didn't go down in a swing which is what they were attempting to do when we checked in on him 5 min after we left... So, yes, I know they didn't do what I said because they told us that specifically. My point was to point out the original poster that not all things Disney are perfectly magical. The day care room didn't work for us. And we attempted it once for less than 2 hours. How would we know without trying it. They should be aware that if they have a child with any special needs, instead of a super happy go-lucky child, then they should be aware, Disney may not do things the way the parent wants... They indicated that they could rock my son to sleep which is why we left him in their care, they assured us of this in fact. We also asked them to call us if there were any issues, and they didn't call us. Those 2 things are on the nursery. We didn't need to go and see the showing of Frozen, we just thought it might be fun, and since they had a nursery, we would try it...

 

But THANK YOU (all) for your parenting advice since you clearly know a better way to parent my son.

So why were you were surprised when your

cry baby baby

he had to be rocked

And he didn't go down in a swing which is what they were attempting to do when we checked in on him 5 min after we left...

A swing does rock a baby, and maybe as be was a cry baby baby, they saw no reason to call you? He wasn't vomiting or ill.

You wanted one to one care which I'm sure they did not promise you, nor do they advertise that they do offer one to one care.

They offered a service which you used, paid for, but was in excess of what your son needed, you witnessed them not following your instructions, and still left him there?

A bit odd to me.

Ex techie

In your previous post' date=' you stated that your daughter will be 34 months old. If she is fully trained, she will be allowed a trial in the Oceaneer's Club, Provided she is OK, she will be allowed to go to the OC for the remainder of the cruise. This may not be of interest to you, but many "nearly 3s" are happier here than in the nursery. Since she is into princesses, make sure she goes to "Do-si-do with Snow White." This is the kids dancing in a circle with the princess.

 

Technically, the activities in the OC are open to kids of all ages. However, they are listed as "suggested for," and the CMs make no effort to include kids who are outside of the suggested ages (reality, 11 year old kids don't do activities geared for 3-4s)[/quote']

 

Was this directed at me? Our daughter will turn 3 on the cruise. We plan to check out both Oceaneers and the nursery. Even thigh she's PT we know our super shy kid and have decided that she may be happier in the nursery. Waiting for Open House to see how she does.

Was this directed at me? Our daughter will turn 3 on the cruise. We plan to check out both Oceaneers and the nursery. Even thigh she's PT we know our super shy kid and have decided that she may be happier in the nursery. Waiting for Open House to see how she does.

Sorry, I thought you were the person I've been chatting with who has a child who will be 34 months at time of cruise.

If your child will tun 3 on the cruise, you have the best of all possible worlds. You pay the cruise fare for an infant, but your child can do whichever location you feel is best.

Nursery with a 3 year old varies. If they are not busy, a CM will sometimes take the child to the OC to play (so you actually get one on one care!) But if they are busy, they can't do this.

Good luck--and as you noted, you can take her in on the open house hours and see how it goes.

Has anyone read this?

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=255237

We are considering taking our large extended family on a holiday cruise on the Fantasy . We will have one 2 1/2 year old and i found this review frightening.

Also, she says there are 6 children for each caregiver.

In a nursery that charges an extra $9/hr./child I would expect a 2 to 1 ratio at the most.

Any comment from people with different experiences with the under 3 nursery on the Fantasy?

I've read thousands of cruise reviews. Just like anything else, there are anomalies. Just throw out the best reviews and the worst reviews and go with the rest.

I once read a review of a "Disney" ship where the reviewer shredded the kids' programs. As I kept reading, I realised that the woman had no idea what ship she was on. She assumed that because there were characters walking around, that it was Disney. When she mentioned that Shrek was creepy, I spit the soda on the screen. She was clueless.

I wish that I had saved that link.

Sorry' date=' I thought you were the person I've been chatting with who has a child who will be 34 months at time of cruise.

 

If your child will tun 3 on the cruise, you have the best of all possible worlds. You pay the cruise fare for an infant, but your child can do whichever location you feel is best.

 

Nursery with a 3 year old varies. If they are not busy, a CM will sometimes take the child to the OC to play (so you actually get one on one care!) But if they are busy, they can't do this.

 

Good luck--and as you noted, you can take her in on the open house hours and see how it goes.[/quote']

 

OMG I've never heard that before. What an amazing option. I think our DD would love OC but she is extremely reserved. I know that having a CM from the nursery accompany her to OC is a long shot, but fingers crossed that something like this could happen!

OMG I've never heard that before. What an amazing option. I think our DD would love OC but she is extremely reserved. I know that having a CM from the nursery accompany her to OC is a long shot, but fingers crossed that something like this could happen!

A CM from the nursery taking a 3 or almost 3 to the OC is NOT a parental option. It is a choice that the CM sometimes makes based on needs in the nursery and their feeling that the child is bored or whatever in the nursery. It just really depends on what's going on in the nursery.

Another thing for you to keep in mind is that there is often an early morning exercise/dance activity for preschoolers and their parents in one of the lounges--check your Navigator. And sometimes a special "friend" shows up.

A CM from the nursery taking a 3 or almost 3 to the OC is NOT a parental option. It is a choice that the CM sometimes makes based on needs in the nursery and their feeling that the child is bored or whatever in the nursery. It just really depends on what's going on in the nursery.

 

Another thing for you to keep in mind is that there is often an early morning exercise/dance activity for preschoolers and their parents in one of the lounges--check your Navigator. And sometimes a special "friend" shows up.

Understood. I won't be holding my breath for this to happen.

We've booked in our just 1 year old a few sessions on the Magic in 3 weeks and didn't think twice about it. He goes to crèche at the Gym and loved Thomson crèche in Majorca a month ago but both of those are to UK standards/ratios and a comment above mentioned 1:6 or even 1:7? This has made me question our booking - any thoughts/advice/reassurance?

We've booked in our just 1 year old a few sessions on the Magic in 3 weeks and didn't think twice about it. He goes to crèche at the Gym and loved Thomson crèche in Majorca a month ago but both of those are to UK standards/ratios and a comment above mentioned 1:6 or even 1:7? This has made me question our booking - any thoughts/advice/reassurance?

The 1:6 ratio is the MAX permitted at any time. It is not the norm or what they book to. They try to allow such that they can take a "last minute" request and/or be OK if a mom is a little late picking up a child at the end of a reservation.

Honestly, never had a problem with the nursery. Some people will be unhappy no matter what DCL does, but whenever I've seen the nursery it has been clean, quiet, and the kids are either sleeping or appear happy. That's not to say nothing can ever go wrong or a child never cries, but I've never seen a fussy child being ignored or any of the stuff OP reported.

Thanks for the reassurance!

1:6 ratio is the standard for daycares in the states. I think that is pretty reasonable. However, I'd be cautious of the toddler/infant ratio if I had a small infant. Toddlers are curious and can often be rough with small babies. Obviously accidents can happen no matter how well-manned the nursery is.

Thanks. The ratio for under 2s is 1:3 so seeing a ratio

of 1:6 was quite a culture shock.