Traveling with kids and menu

We will soon be sailing on the breakaway (our first time with NCL) with our almost 9 year olds and a 3 year old. I keep reading how long the main dinning rooms take. Any idea if they bring the kids food faster than the adults or anyway to speed things up a bit. We much prefer the dinning rooms for dinner over the buffet.

Also, Just wondering if children are allowed to order from the main menu or the prefer them to order off the kids menu?

Any other tricks or tips to sailing with kids and making it the best vacation for ALL of us would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,

Never thought the MDR took any longer than to go out at any land based restaurant. Maybe an our. If you want to speed it up, tell the waiter you are in a hurry.

Kids can order of any of the menu's, regular or children's.

Our son always orders off the adult menu these days.

He doesn't usually have a starter and we ask for his main to be brought out at the same time as our starters, to speed it up a bit.

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We always asked for our son's food to be brought out early. Kids can order off of the adult menu, if they want. They could also get 2-3 appetizers instead of an entree, if that strikes their fancy.

Also, there is nothing from preventing you from swinging by the buffet before dinner to feed the kids and then sitting in the MDR for the adults. Kids could order just dessert, in that case.

My DD stopped ordering off the children's menu when she was 7 or 8. She never looked back. I have a photo of her trying escargot in the MDR when she was 8. I think that was the turning point...when she realized snails are actually pretty darn good! She became quite adventurous with her eating after that--it's one of the things I love about traveling with her. She's 19 now and we love doing food tours and trying local treats. :D

We haven't sailed on NCL so I don't know how their children's club works, but on Carnival, I would sometimes take her to Camp when she was done with her meal and we were between courses.

Just got back from the Gem and we ate at the MDR 6 out of 7 nights. They do a great job of getting the kids' food out ASAP. They take the kids' orders first then go around and take the adults. They bring the kids' food out with the adult appetizers usually, but in some cases the kids' food came out sooner.

Kids can order from either menu. My girls - 5 and 3 1/2 - ordered mainly from the adult menu - it really is a sight to behold watching a 3 1/2 yo tackle the prime rib dinner!

In general I will say that I feel like the MDR operates at a slower pace than your average restaurant - but it was more 'leisurely' than 'incompetent.'

Our reservations were at 7 pm - we were 15 people (9 adults, 6 kids) - and we were done by 8:30/8:45 every night. I don't think that's unreasonable at all, but it totally depends on your kids. One night my sister in law did end up feeding her 4 yo earlier and then dropping him off at the camp before dinner b/c he tends to get antsy.

I found that on NCL the kid food sometimes comes before grown up food if you request- they are very accommodating. Also try the kids club- feed the kids in the buffet, then take them to the kids club, and have dinner for 2. We did this a couple times and it was a nice break for us, but also for the kids from having to sit through a 3 or 4 course meal when they would have preferred to be playing.

If you have a suite, also remember that you can have dinner from any of the restaurants, or main dining room, delivered by your butler- so there's the option of putting little ones to bed and having a quiet dinner on your balcony....

The last time we cruised my kids were 4 and 9. The first night we asked the the adult menu for both kids. We got a look but once they saw my kids eat all was good. My kids don't normally eat the stuff on the kids menu. Not that they don't like it, they do. But I'm not having them eat that stuff all week. I'm not sure that the kids meals are now but three years ago it was nothing but chicken fingers, hamburgers, fries, hotdogs, etc. I think the kids menu needs some updating.

The last time we cruised my kids were 4 and 9. The first night we asked the the adult menu for both kids. We got a look but once they saw my kids eat all was good. My kids don't normally eat the stuff on the kids menu. Not that they don't like it, they do. But I'm not having them eat that stuff all week. I'm not sure that the kids meals are now but three years ago it was nothing but chicken fingers, hamburgers, fries, hotdogs, etc. I think the kids menu needs some updating.

You forgot pizza and mac n' cheese. ;) But yea, that's basically what it was this week! My youngest picked something from the kids menu about half the time, my oldest only ordered from it once. Like your kids, they like 'kid' food, but they like grown up food too so I was happy to guide them that way. I did ask the staff for kid sized portions but they never seemed to downsize them at all!

Granted my oldest ate the spaghetti Bolognese 5/7 nights so it's not like she was expanding her horizons TOO much!

My kids LOVED the "always available" roast chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and steamed broccoli. Sure it was more than they could eat, but at least it was a little healthier than the fried stuff (I think!).

Tip: they have a fruit cup listed as a dessert option on the kids menu... I always ordered one for an appetizer for my kids... it was fresh fruit cut up, not that canned kind, and it was great to just get that in them first. So you might want to grab a kids menu just in case, and supplement from it like that. They also had a pretty generic "salad" on there.... and I think carrot sticks with ranch or something.

My kids LOVED the "always available" roast chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and steamed broccoli. Sure it was more than they could eat, but at least it was a little healthier than the fried stuff (I think!).

 

Tip: they have a fruit cup listed as a dessert option on the kids menu... I always ordered one for an appetizer for my kids... it was fresh fruit cut up, not that canned kind, and it was great to just get that in them first. So you might want to grab a kids menu just in case, and supplement from it like that. They also had a pretty generic "salad" on there.... and I think carrot sticks with ranch or something.

Quite honestly they'll pretty much do anything for the kids that's easy enough - my niece ate buttered spaghetti almost every night. There was no spaghetti on the kids' menu. Then she asked for it with red sauce - again not on the kids' menu. My nephew had Cheerios and soy milk a few nights, no problem. He asked for just grapes? Grapes he got! He asked for just strawberries? No problem! So don't feel limited by the official 'kids' menu. They'll accommodate you (within reason I'm sure).

The kids club is closed from 5 to 7, so the nights we ate with our son, we ate during that time because he always wanted to be at the club right when it opened. The nights we were dining alone, we would take him to the buffet, where there are a ton more choices than the MDR or kid's menu.

Thank you so much for all the great advice! I can't wait for our cruise!

We will soon be sailing on the breakaway (our first time with NCL) with our almost 9 year olds and a 3 year old. I keep reading how long the main dinning rooms take. Any idea if they bring the kids food faster than the adults or anyway to speed things up a bit. We much prefer the dinning rooms for dinner over the buffet.

Also, Just wondering if children are allowed to order from the main menu or the prefer them to order off the kids menu?

Any other tricks or tips to sailing with kids and making it the best vacation for ALL of us would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,

we did it 3 times on our last cruise

my kid was only 1.5 years old.

2 times they did bring out the food faster. 1 time they brought everythign out together at once.

But it was okay since we swung by the buffet earlier to pick up some cheerios and stuff.

We asked if they had any boiled green peas since he likes to pop peas and they accommodated adn the next time we went back the waiter immediately said, "dont worry we got your peas" which was pretty impressive.

service for the first night was slow though, and with the kid getting antsy, i just took him out and we walked up and down the steps until he was tired. Sat down at his peas and fell asleep. Made me really hungry from all that cardio i did going up and down the steps which in turn made the food taste better.

My oldest one is 3 now and he doesnt' do peas anymore, but likes adult stuff. Definitely loves his pasta. But almost the same deal. Prepare yourself incase there are delays. We always have snacks on hand for him, a pen and pad he can doodle on, an ipad if he wants to watch his cartoon show and worst case, take him out for a walk and tire him out.

Just off Breakaway and they brought our children's food our early. We prefer it to come with our meals since the kids would be finished and get antsy; and you can ask for it this way.