Is there an area on the pool deck where I can put a blow up pool?

[snydermann]

I'm sorry but I don't get how a cruise ship is somehow more serious than going out to many other public places?? Movie theatre, gyms, arenas, stores, doctors office.

 

When was the last time your infant child was in a confined public place (with 3,000 or more people), movie theater, gym, arena, store or doctor's office for an entire week?

 

From the Center for Disease Control:

 

"Densely populated, semi-enclosed cruise ship environments may permit repeated and prolonged exposure to communicable diseases, resulting in their transmission between passengers and crew members.

 

Differences in sanitation standards and disease prevalence between seaports may also lead to communicable disease exposure and spread."

 

From Mrs. "snydermann",

 

"In my opinion, given my experiences and training as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner for the last 24 years, I would not unnecessarily subject my infant (or child under the age of 3 years) to the environment of a cruise ship for an entire week. This includes subjecting my infant to the unknown quality of the filtered water from the pool area."

 

If you're comfortable with the possibility of bringing him home sick from subjecting him to a cruise, hey, it's your kid. Enjoy your vacation.

[JLC@SD]

I guess there are those parents .. ..........that can't understand ........why we cruisers that have raised our kids .........do not enjoy traveling with theirs.

 

We have had babies next door, wailing next door through the night, toddlers next door, jumping on the bed late at night and early morning to "keep them entertained".

 

We have had unsupervised young kids yelling ,running and creating havoc at the pool for hours. And I do not want to have dinner with someone's kid watching a video.

 

So the best alternative .........to those that feel the way we do.......book cruises that are not attractive to babies, toddlers and young kids. We book distant cruises and 12 and 14 day cruises ......which are usually adult only focused......and it has worked.

 

and.....my six grandkids ........are cuter than yours......:D

[KateQ22003]

I guess there are those parents .. ..........that can't understand ........why we cruisers that have raised our kids .........do not enjoy traveling with theirs.

 

We have had babies next door, wailing next door through the night, toddlers next door, jumping on the bed late at night and early morning to "keep them entertained".

 

We have had unsupervised young kids yelling ,running and creating havoc at the pool for hours. And I do not want to have dinner with someone's kid watching a video.

 

So the best alternative .........to those that feel the way we do.......book cruises that are not attractive to babies, toddlers and young kids. We book distant cruises and 12 and 14 day cruises ......which are usually adult only focused......and it has worked.

 

and.....my six grandkids ........are cuter than yours......:D

 

Very well said. We try to book our cruises during the school season to hopefully cruise with fewer children; however, it doesn't always work as it seems lots of parents have no trouble taking their kids out of school for a week. I have thought about longer cruises but for us it is very difficult to get that amount of time out of the office. Maybe when we are retired...

[tkportersat]

I have never pulled mine out of school, my children are both AP/honor students and I always felt that would put them too far behind...but I don't judge others that have. That I guess is my point. This thread started as an innocent question about baby pools and some folks feel the need to turn it into a "baby" bashing. I have cruised 11 times - 6 with my children/5 without. The 5 without were my adult time and I was too busy having fun to notice other people's children. Sometimes I think if people are looking for the negative they will find it.

 

Very well said. We try to book our cruises during the school season to hopefully cruise with fewer children; however, it doesn't always work as it seems lots of parents have no trouble taking their kids out of school for a week. I have thought about longer cruises but for us it is very difficult to get that amount of time out of the office. Maybe when we are retired...

[Micchi]

I have never pulled mine out of school, my children are both AP/honor students and I always felt that would put them too far behind...but I don't judge others that have. That I guess is my point. This thread started as an innocent question about baby pools and some folks feel the need to turn it into a "baby" bashing. I have cruised 11 times - 6 with my children/5 without. The 5 without were my adult time and I was too busy having fun to notice other people's children. Sometimes I think if people are looking for the negative they will find it.

 

I was an AP/honors student in high school, graduated third in my class, and now attend Yale. My parents pulled me out for two week-long vacations (fall & spring) every single year since kindergarten. Those trips are some of my fondest childhood memories and I will do the same with my own kids.

 

It depends on your family and your kids, really, and I'd never judge anyone for doing/not doing so. I assume they know their kids better than I do.

 

This thread has really gotten off-topic :p

[tkportersat]

Exactly :) It was my personal choice and your parents felt different and that is fine. That is what makes the world go round!

 

Yes it has...this site used to be a nice information sharing place. I don't know where things went wrong. I haven't been on here for a year because I couldn't cruise while pregnant, now that I want to and bring my infant I am a bad parent. :confused:

 

I was an AP/honors student in high school, graduated third in my class, and now attend Yale. My parents pulled me out for two week-long vacations (fall & spring) every single year since kindergarten. Those trips are some of my fondest childhood memories and I will do the same with my own kids.

 

It depends on your family and your kids, really, and I'd never judge anyone for doing/not doing so. I assume they know their kids better than I do.

 

This thread has really gotten off-topic :p

[tkportersat]

I appreciate your information as I think you are truly trying to be helpful and it is nice that folks can take that into consideration. Believe me before he turned 6 weeks old we pretty much stayed home but I can't keep him out of daycare - he started at 8 weeks. He will be exposed to other children and teachers daily and will be exposed to illness and will get sick just as my older two children did. My older son was a preemie and before he was in daycare (he didn't really go until he was 2) and was sick ALL the time....after he started it got less and less. My daughter was hardly ever sick (daycare at 6 weeks). Isn't this how kids build up their immune systems?? I did a search on Google and I couldn't find any posts about cruising being bad for infants. If you have some information I would love to read it (yes I am being serious).

 

When was the last time your infant child was in a confined public place (with 3,000 or more people), movie theater, gym, arena, store or doctor's office for an entire week?

 

From the Center for Disease Control:

 

"Densely populated, semi-enclosed cruise ship environments may permit repeated and prolonged exposure to communicable diseases, resulting in their transmission between passengers and crew members.

 

Differences in sanitation standards and disease prevalence between seaports may also lead to communicable disease exposure and spread."

 

From Mrs. "snydermann",

 

"In my opinion, given my experiences and training as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner for the last 24 years, I would not unnecessarily subject my infant (or child under the age of 3 years) to the environment of a cruise ship for an entire week. This includes subjecting my infant to the unknown quality of the filtered water from the pool area."

 

If you're comfortable with the possibility of bringing him home sick from subjecting him to a cruise, hey, it's your kid. Enjoy your vacation.

[dmr19]

We just returned from the Dawn to Bermuda.

There were many plastic baby pools at the pool. There was plenty of space between chairs and tucked into corners. I can't see how they could have bothered anyone at all.

 

I brought a small flower pool for our toddler, but we used in on the balcony, only because if she saw the real pool, she would not have been happy with the baby pool -- she would want to jump right in!

As it was, she was delighted with the pool on the balcony. Just an inch or two of water and a few toys made for a nice afternoon. We filled it with beach buckets and emptied it into the bathtub.

[tkportersat]

Good to know! We might just use ours on our balcony or if we go to the beach we will take it, I won't know if we will use it on deck until I access the situation as we are going Spring Break. I also liked the suggestion some had to use as a "bathtub" as well.

 

Glad you had a nice trip :)

 

We just returned from the Dawn to Bermuda.

There were many plastic baby pools at the pool. There was plenty of space between chairs and tucked into corners. I can't see how they could have bothered anyone at all.

 

I brought a small flower pool for our toddler, but we used in on the balcony, only because if she saw the real pool, she would not have been happy with the baby pool -- she would want to jump right in!

As it was, she was delighted with the pool on the balcony. Just an inch or two of water and a few toys made for a nice afternoon. We filled it with beach buckets and emptied it into the bathtub.

[snydermann]

I brought a small flower pool for our toddler, but we used in on the balcony . . . We filled it with beach buckets and emptied it into the bathtub.

 

This is a great idea. Plus, I believe the water from the stateroom bathrooms would be healthier than the water from the public pool areas.

 

I'm sure not being at the pool was a sacrifice for you, but it was also considerate of other passengers too.

 

Well done.