Any experience with 3 year old in nursery FOS?

[uscgwife]

We will be cruising the Freedom of the Seas two weeks after our son turns 3. As hopeful as I am that he will be potty trained I need to be serious. Does anyone have any experience with 3 year olds in the nursery? What kind of things do they do?

If he is not able to use the kids club we will probably only use the nursery for dinner time 3-4 times while on the cruise.

 

Just interested to see what others that experienced.

[danilynn17]

Not sure about the nursery, but you'd be surprised on the potty training. Our daughter just turned 3 2 weeks ago and we are leaving for our cruise Sunday. She's been potty training for ages but just hadn't gotten all the way there. We talked up the cruise and the fun stuff to do on the cruise as incentive for her to potty train all the way, such as the pool (no diapers allowed in the pool, even swimmies) and the special "school" (i.e. the kids programs) that she can go to, but she has to be potty trained. That worked for us, and she has made HUGE progress the past 3 weeks or so. She still has accidents 1/2 the time while sleeping but is great during the day.

 

Good luck!

[elephant98]

We sailed on the Liberty (the Freedom's sister ship) twice, the Allure twice, and the Oasis once before our son turned three, was potty trained and was eligible for the Adventure Ocean club. Our experience was that the older he got, the less he wanted to be in the nursery. He liked it just fine when he was 9 months old and 15 months old; tolerated it when he was 21 months old and 2 years 3 months old; and abosolutey hated it when he was 2 years and 10 months old.

 

The reason he disliked it as he got older was probably because of the constant crying that occurs at young ages (infants because they are infants; toddlers because they don't like being dropped off and miss their parents; and those crying because they are tired, but are having trouble getting to sleep in the cribs) and also the lack of interesting things for him to do as he got older. They do have a number of books, toys and videos in the room to try to keep the kids busy and happy. And, the counselors are very caring and energetic. But, trying to concentrate on something productive with a bunch of commotion going on can be disconcerting to toddlers. Plus, sharing is always an issue when it comes to toys anyway. Try explaining to a near 3 year old who is just now learning the concept of sharing that a 2 year old who keeps taking his toy has no idea what sharing is all about.

 

The bottom line is this: 6 months to 3 years old is a very large age disparity to group together in one room. I fully understand why they have to do it that way on a cruise ship. Space is limited. But, it isn't ideal. The typical daycare setting on land puts infants in one room; 1 to 2 year olds in another room (which is often separated by 12 month to 18 month and 18 month to 24 month age groups); and 2 to 3 year olds in another room, etc.

 

Every child is different. Yours may not have an issue at all with the nursery if it comes to that. But, i second the notion that you can use Adventure Ocean (and even the H20 zone, which does not allow swim diapers) as motivation to be potty trained.

[AmesFL]

Our DD had just turned 3 two weeks prior to us sailing last year. She wasn't potty trained at the time so our only option was the nursery. I am a RCCL cheerleader, but with that being said, the experience of trying to deal with the nursery staff and having a child who just turned 3 was not pleasant.

 

We couldn't sign her up until they were sure that the nursery wasn't filled with younger kids (for the record, there were only 2 other kids there) and even with that, they made it known that we were pushing it by asking to have her in there. We only wanted to use the nursery one night while we ate at Portofino. We received a call that we were lucky and that there was room for her the night we wanted to dine at Portofino. We dropped her off, got a check out phone and went to the restaurant. Luckily we did not receive a call during dinner; however, we did receive a lecture about how she had to be put in time out twice because she was being noisy while one of the other kids was trying to sleep (it was 7pm). We were told that if that happened next time, that she would have to be picked up and would not be allowed back. Needless to say, we did not return.

 

I'd agree with what the previous poster said about there being too wide of an age gap in there. I don't quite know what the solution is with a child at the upper end of the age range. I hope you have a much better experience with the nursery and that the staff was having an off week when we were there.

[Sthrncrusr]

So we cruised Allure two yrs ago with our 13 month old and utilized the nursery a ton. Loved it. But we may be In your predicament as we will be sailing FOS next summer with our 20 mo old and our three yr old (who will have just turned 3). Praying he will be potty trained! I was told that FOS now has the tiny little splash area for kids who aren't potty trained just like on the allure. So that is good!

Has anyone used the new nursery on FOS recently? How was it? Our experience on Allure was fabulous but it is also a very family friendly staff and ship! Also, I know they offer nighttime care for all ages beginning at 7pm I think I read for an extra charge. Can a non potty trained 3 yr old go to this and just be placed in the nursery or would we have to get sitters to the room? I'm assuming if the three yr old cant participate in adv ocean due to potty issues, they prob wont let him in the nighttime care either since he's older than the kids who can be in the actual nursery. If he isn't potty trained by this time next yr, we may cancel and rebook once he is. To spend all that $, I would like just a few minutes to myself occasionally!

[NanciRDH]

The after hours late night party zone (that's what it's called when you pay for it) starts at 10:00, and the same Adventure Ocean potty trained guidelines apply. At one time they did offer in-room babysitting for a higher fee, but we've never used it, and I'm not sure if it still exists or not.