Family-Friendly Cruising: How to Childproof your Cruise Ship Cabin
By Alara Shannon, Marketing | June 01, 2013 ( Comments)
It used to be that if you wanted to take a cruise, you were either retired, didn’t have any kids, or had the funds for a reliable babysitter to watch your children for the week. Cruise ships were simply not family friendly, especially not for the infant and toddler crowd. But, that is all changing.
The number of family cruisers has grown almost 200 percent in the last 5 years. Because of this shift, cruise lines are striving to offer more family-friendly staterooms and amenities onboard for parents and their youngest passengers.
No matter which stateroom your family, or budget, decides there are a few areas within your cabin that you may want to childproof for toddlers and infants.
1. Electrical Outlets. There are, in fact, an irritatingly small number of electrical outlets available in the standard stateroom so this doesn’t take long. Some cruise lines like Disney have childproofing locks installed for you, but most will not. Sockets are usually in hard to reach places, but if you are still concerned about curious little investigators you can bring an ever-handy tool – duct tape.
2. Cabin & Balcony Door. Stateroom doors are metal, and quite heavy. Deadbolts and safety locks are available on both doors. Balcony doors are typically difficult to open, even for adults, so it would be hard for little ones, but not impossible if they are determined enough. To mitigate concern, you have options.
Simply put heavy luggage or a chair in front of the door at night or during naps. You can bring door lever locks, or purchase an inexpensive wireless door alarm that requires a password and will go off with a shriek if the handle is turned. Another option is a door stopper, you can wedge it into the closed cabin or balcony door to keep it from opening (the steward uses one to keep your cabin door open when cleaning, you can ask to borrow it, or it usually is kept in the closet).
3. Balcony. Okay, so having a balcony is pretty amazing. It is also pretty amazing if traveling with children; you have a private place to read or relax while they are resting or napping. But, they are also a big worry for parents. Cruise lines are adamant about passenger safety. Balcony railings are plexiglass or a solid wall, and they meet or greatly exceed height standards set by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of at least 42 inches. So it would be very difficult for someone shorter than 4-5 feet to fall over the railing. Even with that said, children should never be left unattended or unsupervised on a balcony.
4. Upper Berth or Sofa Bed. In standard cruise ship staterooms that will accommodate more than two passengers, there will either be an upper berth that you pull down from the wall or a sofa bed. If your child is no longer sleeping in a crib provided by the cruise line, but not old enough to sleep without fear of falling out of the bed you may need to plan for bed rails. The upper berth will have a railing available. If your child is a restless sleeper, you may be able to move the mattress to the floor or bring an inflatable air mattress to lay down next to your bed.
If your toddler is going to sleep on the sofa bed, you can roll up towels (just ask for extra from your room steward) and place them under a sheet to provide a little extra security for possible rolling around in the middle of the night.
5. Bathroom. There isn’t much space to get too crazy in the bathroom, but you still want to make sure your child can’t find anything in there to ‘play’ with. Unless you are in an accessible stateroom, there will be a step to get into the bathroom. Make sure there isn’t anything your child could hit if they trip on their way in. Use your handy-dandy duct tape for the toilet lid if they think it looks like fun. Do keep a towel on the floor to minimize the risk of slipping on the way out of the shower. Another great item to bring for small children is an inflatable, travel tub for bathtime. Most cabins will not offer a bathtub, unless you are on Disney or in a suite.
6. Flashlight or Nightlight. At night, staterooms can become very dark. To prevent any stubbed toes or scary monsters, a flashlight or nightlight in the bathroom would be very helpful.
You can purchase inexpensive, reusable on-the-go childproofing kits that will include electrical outlet covers, cabinet locks, multipurpose straps, door knob cover, clips (to keep curtains closed), sliding door lock and more.
Fortunately, cruise ship cabins are, for the most part, not very large. There are minimal concerns that need to be addressed so childproofing your stateroom will not take long, and then you can get back to having some fun!
Do you have any other ways you would childproof your cruise ship stateroom?
