Royal Babies & Tots Nursery Program Change? Anthem of the Seas

[Christianbrian1]

Hi, 

 

I am getting mixed information about the Royal Babies & Tots Nursery requirements.  I believe there is a new requirement that a parent must be present for children under 36 months. 

 

 Does anyone know if:

• Exceptions are often made?
• What the requirements are the exceptions?
• If there is anything else we can do?

 

 

Thank You, 

 

CB

[Garyjames220]

I would like to know this to

 

whats the point in saying a hourly rate for a nursery if you can’t leave them

[Christianbrian1]

Hi Gary, please message me if you hear anything.  
 

It would be great if we could hear from a recent cruiser that used the nursery on Anthem.    
 

Thanks,

 

Christian

[Garyjames220]

Sure I will do

[GarlicBread]

Two separate rooms:

 

1. Drop off nursery with an hourly fee, no (non-nusery staff) adults allowed in. 

 

2. Free open play playroom where children need to be supervised by their own adults. 

 

Both open 9am-10pm, nursery drop off available later with pre-bookings. 

 

Hope this helps. 

Edited October 9, 2019 by GarlicBread

[Christianbrian1]

Thank you!

[GarlicBread]

1 minute ago, Christianbrian1 said:

Thank you!

 

I highly doubt its changed in the last 3 months. Too much of a money maker for royal. 

[rimmit]

7 hours ago, GarlicBread said:

 

I highly doubt its changed in the last 3 months. Too much of a money maker for royal. 

 

I doubt it’s changed as well however,  I don’t exactly think this is a huge money maker.  At least compared to the other options of what the space could be used for.

 

The nursery on the Anthem holds a maximum of 12 babies.  At 6 dollars an hour during the day at max capacity you are looking at  72/hr or in the evening at 8/hr of 96/hr of revenue.  On smaller ships they can hold a max of 4 babies.  That is 24-32/hr of revenue.  An hour on the anthem barely covers what a specialty dining for two would be and on smaller ships wouldn’t even cover one meal at a specialty restaurant.  And the nurseries often do not run at max capacity.

 

The nursery is such a low money maker it didn’t even get installed on some ships despite the ships when they went in for dry dock were scheduled to get a nursery.  

 

You could argue that that the parents are out and about spending money on the ship and thus increasing spending that way,  but I suspect the number crunchers found that the nurseries were not the most effective use of the space, hence why some ships were never retrofitted with a nursery despite there being plans to do so.  

[flippergirl]

I agree that it is probably not a money maker but definitely attracts parents to the line. The drop off nursery is the major reason we booked a royal cruise instead of NCL for January. 

[Merion_Mom]

15 hours ago, Christianbrian1 said:

Hi Gary, please message me if you hear anything.  
 

It would be great if we could hear from a recent cruiser that used the nursery on Anthem.    
 

Thanks,

 

Christian

 

There is no functioning private messaging on Cruise Critic.

[GarlicBread]

6 hours ago, rimmit said:

 

I doubt it’s changed as well however,  I don’t exactly think this is a huge money maker.  At least compared to the other options of what the space could be used for.

 

The nursery on the Anthem holds a maximum of 12 babies.  At 6 dollars an hour during the day at max capacity you are looking at  72/hr or in the evening at 8/hr of 96/hr of revenue.  On smaller ships they can hold a max of 4 babies.  That is 24-32/hr of revenue.  An hour on the anthem barely covers what a specialty dining for two would be and on smaller ships wouldn’t even cover one meal at a specialty restaurant.  And the nurseries often do not run at max capacity.

 

The nursery is such a low money maker it didn’t even get installed on some ships despite the ships when they went in for dry dock were scheduled to get a nursery.  

 

You could argue that that the parents are out and about spending money on the ship and thus increasing spending that way,  but I suspect the number crunchers found that the nurseries were not the most effective use of the space, hence why some ships were never retrofitted with a nursery despite there being plans to do so.  

 

I wasn't necessarily talking about the nursery itself. Like the poster below you said, parents will go to the casinos, bars, nightclub, where babies cant go. That makes them a chunk of money from the parents that otherwise wouldn't go, and then the $8 an hour on top of that. Some families only cruise on ships if theres a nursery...

 

And there are very few ships that have a capacity of 4 (I can only think of 1), even on the small ships there is a capacity of 8. And they obviously are worth it to the company as over the years they have added them into ships during dry dock. They majority of ships now have them. And many are full a lot of the time to the point there is a waiting list...

 

But by your argument you could say the same for all the kids clubs as they bring in $0, and things like the sports courts, flow riders, ice rinks....

[rimmit]

1 hour ago, GarlicBread said:

 

I wasn't necessarily talking about the nursery itself. Like the poster below you said, parents will go to the casinos, bars, nightclub, where babies cant go. That makes them a chunk of money from the parents that otherwise wouldn't go, and then the $8 an hour on top of that. Some families only cruise on ships if theres a nursery...

 

And there are very few ships that have a capacity of 4 (I can only think of 1), even on the small ships there is a capacity of 8. And they obviously are worth it to the company as over the years they have added them into ships during dry dock. They majority of ships now have them. And many are full a lot of the time to the point there is a waiting list...

 

But by your argument you could say the same for all the kids clubs as they bring in $0, and things like the sports courts, flow riders, ice rinks....

 

We are in the camp that from 2010-2018 only cruised on ships with nurseries.  That meant DCL, RCI, or NCL.  NCL only has one ship with a nursery so we never used it.  We spent thousands of dollars on the nursery, however, we did not spend that much on the rest of the ship, although we are likely the exception.  We don't do specialty, don't gamble, and only use our Diamond drinks.  But again, it is unlikely we represent the majority of cruisers spending habits.

 

That being said, you are only freeing up at best 4-16 families (the Oasis Class can hold 16, the Grandeur holds 4).  The revenue increase from allowing just that handful of families, compared to utilizing the space for a specialty restaurant is minor.  The sports courts, flow riders, ice rinks, service MANY more people (practically the entire PAX complement outside of the physically disabled) than the small nurseries.  From all our time of cruising with small kids, I would say the majority of people cruising with small children tend to bring grandparents along.  We definitely felt in the minority from talking with other parents with small children by not having grandparents with us.  That's just not a possibility for us.

 

Don't get me wrong.  WE LOVE THE NURSERY, we just continually questioned it's viability as there were many times it was our kids personal nursery. It was awesome because they got so much attention from the staff there, but we were scared they would get cut due to the lack of interest. 

 

From all our time of spending in the nurseries (our kids are diamond on their own points, and we are diamond plus), the nurseries only get full during spring break, summer break, and holidays sailings for the most part.  I think it was very rare for it to be full except maybe on the formal nights on any off season cruise.  Also a sea day toward the end of the cruise. The nurseries get used much more toward the end of the cruise as parents tire of entertaining a toddler or baby toward the end.

 

I don't doubt they help improve the bottom line, but it is likely insignificant compared to a bar or specialty restaurant.  I can almost guarantee they would have stuck it in the Explorer and Adventure when they were scheduled to have them back in the early 2010's with the "Royal Advantage" refits they were doing at the time, but when they came out of dry dock they were strangely missing.  They stick specialty restaurants in any nook and cranny they can find. 

 

We had to cancel a cruise on the Explorer that we had booked at the time because it was supposed to get one, and thankfully someone on CC mentioned it randomly didn't get it when it came out of dry dock.  We felt so bad for a couple on the Adventure that just assumed it had a nursery, and their heart sank when they got on board and realized it did not have one.  Jewel was never scheduled to have a nursery.  I can understand the Brilliance and Vision class not getting them. They aren't really marketed to families, but the Voyager class ships like the Adventure and Explorer definitely are, and it is always jarring for the parents that go on those to discover there is no nursery onboard. 

 

If they were true money makers, they'd stick them on every ship like they have done with the specialty restaurants.  It's a great way to get younger families cruising, but ultimately as a sheer revenue driver, a specialty restaurant or bar would make much more.