Best Dining time with teens?

We are going on our first family cruise in April on Independence of the seas. Our travel agent recommended traditional dining to get the full cruise experience. I am traveling with my husband,two teenaged daughters and my 11 year old son. We will have the 8:30 seating. With that time will my girls be able to participate in the teen events? Or will the dinner time conflict? If so do you recommend the 6:00 seating? Or would another time be better. Thanks!!

I would recommend early traditional, 6pm. I think the kids would not want to be pulled out of activities for an 8:30pm dinner.

Most teen activities in the evening are from 8pm on. They will most likely prefer early seating.

treat them the same time at home. I know most kids eat around 5 to 530 so early is best for them

Teens eat 24/7. Best time is early seating. Than they can go have fun, and eat again and again as the night goes on. Eating lunch at 12ish and going to 8:30 is nearly impossible for a teen! Don't punish them like that!

I would go with early seating if you are planning to have your kids participate in the different activities. For the 11 year old, Adventure Ocean evening activities go from 7:00pm-10:00pm, so he basically won't be able to participate in that at all. I can't imagine putting my kids in Adventure Ocean at 7:00 and then pulling them out at 8:20 to go to dinner. If you do 6:00pm dinner, they can even fast track his dinner so he's ready to go to AO at 7:00.

For the teens, it will all depend on what other teens they meet up with. Most of the activities are less formal, but there are many things scheduled in the evening which 8:30 dinner would clash with. If they meet up with other teens that want to participate in those scheduled activities (or if those other teens have an early seating for Dinner), expect to be lobbied for them to skip dinner with you and just hit the Windjammer early. There are a few later teen activities that are popular, such as Teen Flowrider and Teen Ice Skating, that start at 10pm, and my teens always find something to do until 1am curfew.

So the safest bet is 6:00pm dinner if you really want family time. We do this and set expectations that they are with us for that hour, then they can go do AO/Teen club. There still may be 1 or 2 days they want to do dinner in the Windjammer/Johnny Rockets with their friends, but we go in expecting that.

Whatever your travel agent may say about the full cruising experience, if I was travelling with teens (and I have in the not-too-distant past) I would choose MyTime Dining.

Firstly, unless they are very gregarious, teens generally do not want to spend dinnertime making small talk with strangers. Whilst you may be placed with people with similar aged kids there is no guarantee

Secondly, traditional dining generally takes longer, as the waiters work to a pattern of taking all the orders and then delivering them all at the same time, With MTD they take your order, place the order, collect it. You are generally out of the dining room much quicker, having still had the 'main dining room' experience.

Thirdly you can choose whatever time to eat and vary it night by night - and time it around their activities. You could even - as we did on occasion - have dinner on your own a couple of nights and let the kids eat earlier if they want to.

We have always done MTD since it was first introduced and, even before then when we were cruising with teens, we preferred a table for just our family.

Just another option to think about :)

I am with the others here, I would not do 8:30 dining with teens if they want to participate in the offered teen activities. I would go with either early dining or MTD.

We did early when my kids were teens and they always left right after they finished their dessert. Couldn't wait to get back to the "friends".

Teens eat 24/7. Best time is early seating. Than they can go have fun, and eat again and again as the night goes on.

LOL! Indeed.

They will be eating again regardless of what time dinner is, either before or after their actual dinner. ;)

I will also offer a gentle correction to your travel agent: the "full cruise experience" can also be had if guests have My Time Dining (MTD), which is the flexible dining time. Everything else is the same (same dining room, menus, experience, ambiance, etc.). MTD is nothing less than the full cruise experience and I feel that you might be a little cheated listening to his/her advice about that. Do what is best for your family, but my advice is either Main Traditional Dining ("early", fixed dining time) or MTD (you can go anytime you want, like a land restaurant).

Have fun. :)

Thank you so much for the great responses! I love this forum, it is so helpful. I've contacted my travel agent and we are now on the waitlist for the 6:00 seating. If we don't get that we will do MTD which I know will be great too. Is is difficult to get a specific time with MTD? Do the popular time slots fill up soon? Also with MTD do you make your reservation time ahead of the cruise or just when you board the ship like you would at a restaurant? Thanks so much!

Thank you so much for the great responses! I love this forum, it is so helpful. I've contacted my travel agent and we are now on the waitlist for the 6:00 seating. If we don't get that we will do MTD which I know will be great too. Is is difficult to get a specific time with MTD? Do the popular time slots fill up soon? Also with MTD do you make your reservation time ahead of the cruise or just when you board the ship like you would at a restaurant? Thanks so much!

With MTD you can either show up without a reservation, make a standing reservation, make a different reservation for each night, or any combo.

You can make reservations pre-cruise and onboard.

MY advice would be it would depend on when you typically have meals , the kind of kids you have, and are you west coast, or east coast?

We live within the eastern time zone, so ever since my kids have been young, we have always done late sitting. We have two boys and two girls. The older teenagers actually find that the party starts pretty late after evening dinner or after the later shows, so having dinner at this time is a good thing. It always meant more sun time for the teenagers which they all liked.

On some cruises, it was hard for us to even get to dinner by 9. But we did live abroad for 4 years. Just another perspective.

Just a thought... I would suggest 6pm or MTD, being the same time every night. Just so the teens know what time they are expected & can plan around that set time. Only negative for 6:00 is you are rushed getting to dinner on port days. All in all, cruising is wonderful for families!

MY advice would be it would depend on when you typically have meals , the kind of kids you have, and are you west coast, or east coast?

 

We live within the eastern time zone, so ever since my kids have been young, we have always done late sitting. We have two boys and two girls. The older teenagers actually find that the party starts pretty late after evening dinner or after the later shows, so having dinner at this time is a good thing. It always meant more sun time for the teenagers which they all liked.

 

On some cruises, it was hard for us to even get to dinner by 9. But we did live abroad for 4 years. Just another perspective.

I'm curious how the time zone that you live in affects what dinner seating you have on a cruise. :confused:

I'm curious how the time zone that you live in affects what dinner seating you have on a cruise. :confused:

This question made me giggle, because my daughter is currently in Spain. 9:00 is an early dinner! So...yes, for a person, who is used to eating at 5:30/6:00, that makes a difference! [emoji6] Although I think there might have been a misunderstanding in time zone=assigned dinner hour.

You are absolutely correct 9 is actually way too early , but if you are from Cali , then you may be struggling a little with the time zone!

This question made me giggle, because my daughter is currently in Spain. 9:00 is an early dinner! So...yes, for a person, who is used to eating at 5:30/6:00, that makes a difference! [emoji6] Although I think there might have been a misunderstanding in time zone=assigned dinner hour.

Yes that definitely confused me!

Definitely try to switch the traditional dining to the first seating (it should be listed as 5:30 or something like that). You might be on a waitlist for that time but the earlier you make the change the better the chance of it going through.

Also, if you are staying in separate cabins, please make sure that both reservations are linked to each other for dining purposes, so that you are all assigned a table together.

Enjoy the cruise, the kids are going to have a great time!

My DD grew up cruising & we have always done late seating. As a teen they mostly met up around 10pm. We normally eat later at home & early seating would cause us to have to rush back from excursions or have to skip late afternoon activities (or naps [emoji5]). Pick whichever dining time/arrangement feels most comfortable with your family normal schedule. Enjoy the cruise!

I would also suggest a change in time for dinner. We have 11 year old twins and find MTD works for us. After the first night the Maitre D remembers us and gives us the same table so we have the same servers each night. As we leave he asks us if he'll see us the same time the next night. If we have an excursion we may make it a bit later but generally we eat about 6.30/7pm.

My husband and I had my time dining on our last cruise on Liberty of the Seas December 2015. We did I not ask for the same waiter each night and I wish I had. We did get seated immediately whether we had a reservation or not every night, I'm sure because there were only 2 of us and because we did not ask for a specific waiter or section.. We never sat with others, just us at a 2 top. I did see larger groups waiting for a table, but they seemed to be seated within 5 or 10 minutes. Our next cruise we are going to try traditional at 8 pm with our young adult children, who are 17, 19, 19, 27 and 30. I think the 19 year old boys will be too old for the teen activities and too young for the club environment. We did pick 8 pm dining so we don't have to rush to dinner. I'm sure the kids will be in and out of the buffet all day. Anyone have any thoughts on if the 19 year olds will be bored?

Yes that definitely confused me!

[emoji16] Sorry, I did not mean to muddy the waters! No matter the dinner time, your family will have a great time!

Let me clarify my comment about time zones, we sometimes brought my niece from California to Florida, pacific time , has a three hour difference thus, eating dinner at 630 could never be an option . and trust me , waking up a teenager for an excursion at 8 , was never any fun either [emoji6]. No matter what you choose, have a great time! I'm sure the kids will. At the table , each person had to bring up a subject to speak for 3 minutes to discuss/ debate etc..... A tradition we have.

We've had the pleasure to cruise with our teen sons several times. We found that a scheduled dinner and preferably the same time was best for us. Everyone knew what to expect. We actually liked the late dining on most cruises. We don't eat dinner early at home so it worked for us.

Dinner was generally the highlight of our day! Everyone came together and talked about their day. What they did, saw, ate, etc. we tried new foods, splurged on rich meals and shared many desserts!! My sons are tall, thin and big eaters. The waiters would always delight in filling them up. The waiters learn preferences quickly and just brought additional food. One cruise they boys discovered escargot. They were brought additional escargot that night and delivered them again the next night in addition to what they ordered. This summer will be their 4 cruise in 8 years and they each asked - are we all going to be together at dinner? They are now 21 and 19. Yes - it's a very fun and festive time!

Read the compasses for your itinerary and look at the activities to see what works. Some days in port - it's a challenge. We have used mtd on one cruise and it was great but I made reservations in advance. My sons do better knowing what time dinner is.

That being said - you know your kids. There is always good available somewhere and they'll figure it out quickly! Part of the appeal for us!!

Regardless - enjoy the special time with your family! Marvelous memories!!

Can't imagine that happening but every kid is different! Mine are now 19 and 21. Haven't been bored yet. They find stuff to do. Lots of choices - movies, games, activities, contests. Give the the cruise compasses so they'll know what's happening.