Babysitting ? for Luisa

[suzanne]

Hi Luisa
We will be traveling with our 15 month old on Celebrity's Century next month and we are planning to have in room babysitting for the evenings. I read on a previous post of yours that you had a sitter for your daughter Alexandra. I was wondering- what if the sitter needs you for some reason? Do they have walkie talkies or beepers or something? Do they just ask you to stop by now and then to see if all is well? Who exactly ARE the sitters? Also, we were wondering about the days we are in port....if we wanted to take a taxi to the beach for example, will we have to have our carseat? (and then tote the car seat around all day??) Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
Suzanne

Hi Suzanne:
Yes, the first time we used private babysitting was aboard a Celebrity ship when my daughter was almost three years old. We checked in once to make sure everything was okay (which it was...) Celebrity, as with most other lines, uses room and bar stewardesses and also front desk help as babysitters. We have used private babysitters on two other cruise lines and have found them all to be very sweet young ladies who are happy to be around children. (One aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship even left a present for my daughter to open when she awoke in the morning...now that's service with a smile!)
I checked with Celebrity and they don't have beepers to give to parents of small children. (Some lines do such as Disney Cruise Line and Princess Cruises.)
I hope this makes you feel more comfortable with leaving your daughter with a babysitter. We have found the private babysitting fits more with Alex's early to rise and early to bed habits compared to group babysitting cruise lines offer for those children old enough to be in the youth program (which is three years old in Celebrity's case...)
Bon Voyage!

Suzanne:
I forgot to discuss the car seat situation. It's a tough call whether you want to take your chances and hold your daughter on your lap during taxi rides in port or if you want to lug a car seat around. We took our chances and didn't use a car seat for land transpotation when my daughter was younger. But only you can make that call regarding your own child's safety.
Good luck!
Luisa

[suzanne]

Thanks for the tips Luisa!! Our Nina is like your daughter- early to bed, early to rise. I don't want to drag her out after 8PM AND we have the late dinner seating!
I think I'll be OK with the babysitters- hey, I'll HAVE to be!
Suzanne