am I to much of a paranoid parent????

[malittlefoot971]

Ok here's the problem I am having. We are in the process of planning for next yrs cruise. We have a 3 yr old boy and a 6 yr old girl. Our boy is very energetic and loves to be adventurous. He is the monkey in the family. literally loves to climb on things to get into stuff. ie. climbs on laundry baskets to reach the counter, chairs an pulls them into the kitchen an makes a mess with the coffee maker and spices. But anyways the dh wants to get a balcony an I loved our balcony on our last cruise. it was only the 2 of us no kids that time.

my question is does anyone childproof their rooms and doors so that kids can not get into things or climb on chairs,tables. and how about the balcony door how would you childpoof that so they aren't climbing an unlocking the door? I was told we could buy a door alarm (they sell small ones at walmart)but not sure how that would work. anyone with any tips/suggestions I would really love to hear as i said i am very paranoid.

TIA

[cb at sea]

Since your child won't be alone in the room, you really don't have anything to worry about. There is a child lock on the door---they are VERY hard to open.

And, you have a whole year to "lay down the law" and start making your little "monkey" behave! So far, no child has ever fallen off a ship---it's always a drunk or a worker!

[isk8]

We have two connecting balcony rooms on our upcoming cruise - me and DH in one room, and my DS 4 and my mom in the other. Every couple of months, I go through a panic about the balcony. My son is quite active also. He's not really a climber, but he is going through a phase where he is not listening to anything we say. Especially stuff about safety. Drives us crazy.

 

But cb is right, no kid has fallen off a cruise ship. We're going to have rules explained in advance and reinforced when we get on the boat about the balcony. He's not allowed out there unless he's with an adult...only sitting in the chair or standing next to the adult...no jumping, climbing, dancing, gymnastics, etc. And if any of the rules are broken, that is it, the balcony will be taken away for the remainder of the cruise.

 

But, because I am paranoid too, I'll be bringing duct tape to tape the balcony door at night. My husband and my mom think I'm crazy, but it will let me sleep easier knowing he has to get through the lock and the duct tape to get on to the balcony.

[smoothy]

If duct tape or a door alarm give you piece of mind, go for it! you may find though, after you get on the ship that they are not necessary, but pack them if it does make you feel better.

 

We used bribery to keep the boys in line in the morning. Picked up a couple of bowls, spoons, milk cartons and the single portion cereal boxes (especially the sugar cereals they don't get at home), set up a cereal station for them (milk in the fridge) and set up the little DVD player so when they woke up early, they could have breakfast and watch a show until DW or I got up. They never even attempted to go onto the balcony.

[ClaireS]

We are doing our first cruise with the kids in July. We too have a 3 year old "monkey" and this was one of my concerns. Having read many posts on the family board regarding the issue of the balcony door I feel a little more relaxed about it. He's never going to be in the room on his own so won't get the opportunity to try and slide open a door that some say is almost adult proof as well.

[Loves_Dogs]

I see your previous cruises were on Carnival so I assume your next cruise is Carnival as well. If thats the case, I wholeheartedly agree with a previous poster, those balcony doors on Carnival are extremely hard to open. It takes some muscle. I dont think either of my kids could have even come close to opening one of those doors on their own at the age of 3. I dont blame you for worrying though, but I honeslty do not think it will be an issue.

[gvi]

The doors are hard to open. We have been on RCCL, with a 4 year old monkey. He could not open the door - and his 10 year old brother couldn't either!

 

I put a bell on a piece of ribbon on the door handle for the balcony and the hallway for our first cruise with our little one. I don't sleep as well when they are in the room so I knew I'd hear that - but they never touched the doors without asking first. Thank goodness!

 

Have a wonderful trip!

[crusinmama06]

Sherry, like we discussed while ON your balcony :D - just take some safety precautions and he will be fine.

 

--Move all chairs away from your railings (which is easy on the balcony your DH is planing :D)

 

--No kids allowed on the balcony without you

 

--No standing or horseplay while they are on the balcony

 

--Even if you go to take a shower, make sure Brian is there with the kids so they don't decide to get cheeky. ;)

 

--You know from opening that door yourself, it's tough to open, and the wind tunnel effect would alert you if the little monkey did figure it out. :)

 

And you know the height of the railing would tower over your kids. So no worries mama! :D They will be fine and have a fabulous time.

[malittlefoot971]

Thank You All for the replys. I am truely looking forward to this vacation next yr with my family. I appreciate all the helpful ideas and info. hopefully he will be a little more wind down with the climbing an stuff. I am crossing my fingers feet arms eyes and anything else that can be crossed. lol.Thank You again :)

Happy Cruising

[CanadianTwosome]

Something occurred to me that I didn't see anyone else mention, but that might provide a little assurance... You don't mention any concern about your son walking out into the corridor alone. My point is that a door is a door. I've known all kinds of rambuctious kids who will climb and swing and investigate anything they can reach (or build a bridge/ladder/climbing structure to reach :p), but they've all respected the barrier of a door. Most of them quite happily climbed over a child safety gate when given an opportunity, but for whatever reason, a door always seemed to be the magic 'stopper'... maybe because it's part of an otherwise solid wall...

 

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it. :)

[BBigfoot613]

Something occurred to me that I didn't see anyone else mention, but that might provide a little assurance... You don't mention any concern about your son walking out into the corridor alone. My point is that a door is a door. I've known all kinds of rambuctious kids who will climb and swing and investigate anything they can reach (or build a bridge/ladder/climbing structure to reach :p), but they've all respected the barrier of a door. Most of them quite happily climbed over a child safety gate when given an opportunity, but for whatever reason, a door always seemed to be the magic 'stopper'... maybe because it's part of an otherwise solid wall...

 

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it. :)

 

I haven't given the room door much thought as he doesn't fool with the doors at home much. I'm the Brian/DH to OP. I spoiled myself with a balcony on the last cruise and now I want another lol. DW (malittlefoot) is concerned mainly of him climbing to see over the railing. That and him attempting to escape onto the balcony while we are asleep.He "knows better" then to open the doors at home w/o us telling him to so I don't have this fear (must be a mother thing) but do appreciate all the responses. Heck I didn't even know this family board was here until I met Michele on our last cruise :D

[CanadianTwosome]

I haven't given the room door much thought as he doesn't fool with the doors at home much. I'm the Brian/DH to OP. I spoiled myself with a balcony on the last cruise and now I want another lol. DW (malittlefoot) is concerned mainly of him climbing to see over the railing. That and him attempting to escape onto the balcony while we are asleep.He "knows better" then to open the doors at home w/o us telling him to so I don't have this fear (must be a mother thing) but do appreciate all the responses. Heck I didn't even know this family board was here until I met Michele on our last cruise :D

 

That's exactly my point... a door is a door. Keep that in mind. Just because you can see through it doesn't mean it's not a door, and I really think you'll find that he respects it. Obviously I could be wrong, but I'm just talking from my experience with other kids who were otherwise little monkeys that climbed EVERYWHERE. There's just something about a door... :)

[BBigfoot613]

Sherry, like we discussed while ON your balcony :D - just take some safety precautions and he will be fine.

 

--Move all chairs away from your railings (which is easy on the balcony your DH is planing :D)

 

 

This is the balcony we have. I can see how a kid can want to get to it but I'm sure we'll be ok.

 

That's exactly my point... a door is a door. Keep that in mind. Just because you can see through it doesn't mean it's not a door, and I really think you'll find that he respects it. Obviously I could be wrong, but I'm just talking from my experience with other kids who were otherwise little monkeys that climbed EVERYWHERE. There's just something about a door... :)

 

I agree. Even the full glass screen door we have he won't open unless I tell him to.

[BBigfoot613]

Sorry couldn't post the pic grrr but it's fairly large lol :D:D

[Cruisin' Chick]

I remember once asking Princess about the balconies and was told the barrier was pretty high. But we stayed with our inside cabin (even though we could have been upgraded for free to a balcony in a moveover offer). And since being on this board, we've realized we probably will not get a balcony as long as smoking is allowed. We figured we could always go on deck to see outside, but if we spend the extra money on a balcony and then are smoked out, we wouldn't be too happy.

[Ula]

I think a little paranoia as a parent is a good thing. The balcony doors are hard to open. But kids can do amazing things. Once saw a three year old girl escape the cabin door, she took off like a shot down the hall. Just as I was thinking I was going to have to chase her another cabin door opened and an older lady caught her. Cute little girl she was all dressed for formal night and excited.

How she got that cabin door open, cause they can be heavy, is anyone's guess. I think a door alarm would be a good thing. The parent went into the bathroom for just a minute.

[ceilidh1]

We have a 2 year old who is into everything, wants to touch, see, and do everything around her and CLIMBS like crazy. We just got back from a 2 week cruise with her in a minisuite. There was no way she could open the balcony door by herself - just too heavy (heck, my hubby couldn't even open it some of the time). She was NEVER allowed on the balcony by herself - the first time she went out there the very first thing she did was climb up on the chair. We told her immediately that was not allowed, and moved all the chairs away from the edge. She never did it again. One thing she did manage, that I had not been concerned about beforehand, was to open the door into the hallway. I wasn't worried about her running off too much as she doesn't go too far from us ever, but I was concerned about the door slamming shut on her fingers. We just kept it locked all the time and we were ok, but I had never thought about that being an issue!

[Ula]

We just kept it locked all the time and we were ok, but I had never thought about that being an issue!

That is why I brought it up. The door people don't think about can be the issue. And little kids especially when excited can forget the rules.

[cruiselife4me]

Great advice Cruisinmama!

[BBigfoot613]

Great advice Cruisinmama!

 

She's a real doll isn't she? takes the time to post all of this AFTER saying the same thing to sherry while we were on a cruise together. She's a real asset to CC and especially the family boards.

[cruiselife4me]

She rocks!

[mary_228]

My kids are 11 and 13 and I still won't let them have a balcony cabin. Call me paranoid, but I can just imagine all sorts of scenarios where someone ends up overboard. As someone else has mentioned, be careful about the vacuum that's created when the balcony door is open. The hall door will close with such a force I think the fingers could be severed!

[cruiselife4me]

Oh my gosh YES! We had a forward suite on NCL Jewel and when sailing you had to be careful about the vacuum. It was worth it though!! ;)

[Peek-a-boo]

Ok here's the problem I am having. We are in the process of planning for next yrs cruise. We have a 3 yr old boy and a 6 yr old girl. Our boy is very energetic and loves to be adventurous. He is the monkey in the family. literally loves to climb on things to get into stuff. ie. climbs on laundry baskets to reach the counter, chairs an pulls them into the kitchen an makes a mess with the coffee maker and spices. But anyways the dh wants to get a balcony an I loved our balcony on our last cruise. it was only the 2 of us no kids that time.

my question is does anyone childproof their rooms and doors so that kids can not get into things or climb on chairs,tables. and how about the balcony door how would you childpoof that so they aren't climbing an unlocking the door? I was told we could buy a door alarm (they sell small ones at walmart)but not sure how that would work. anyone with any tips/suggestions I would really love to hear as i said i am very paranoid.

TIA

I know that you probably don't want to hear this, but it seems to me that your gut is telling you what your heart doesn't want to hear. You aren't being paranoid, you are being a mother. Like a mama lion protecting your cub, you have a mother's instinct. I know that we all love to cruise, but if you are having these thoughts, why not put it off a few years, until you can be sure that he is not going to climb and fall overboard, not just in your cabin, but anywhere on the ship. You have a whole lifetime of cruises ahead of you...why take the chance?

[MrsPete]

I say listen to your paranoia and skip the balcony this time.

 

I wouldn't worry a bit about the balconies in the pubilc areas -- as you know, they're angled "inward" and are very high, so it's essentially impossible for a three-year old to climb those. Plus, people are always around in those areas.

 

But I think it's VERY possible for a child to climb the rails of a private balcony -- especially since you say your son already moves laundry baskets to help him climb onto the cabinets. You know it's possible for him to do this, so you'll NEVER relax in your cabin. You'll be nervous about taking a nap, you'll spend lots of time fussing at him about what he's not allowed to do.

 

Yes, I love the balcony, but in this situation it doesn't sound worth the worry. You'll take other cruises in the future, and he will outgrow this stage.