12 and under free in the PG!

I was talking to ship services today and I was told that children 12 and under are free to eat in the Pinnacle Grill. What a nice surprise. Not sure DS would find anything appealing but if they brought him a big plate of vegetables he would do just fine.

I hope they make smaller portions for children. I guess DH would be willing to clean their plates if they don't!:p

How old is DS? :)

How old is DS? :)

DS (Ian) is 8 but will be 9 when we sail. DD (Natalie) is 11 but will be 12 when we sail. They are "Mutt and Jeff" meaning Ian is taller than Natalie but would eat only vegetables if we let him. Natalie is 60 lbs soaking wet and avoids them if she can (and thinks we aren't watching). Natalie is all carnivore!

In the photos below (taken in Barbados 3 - 4 years ago) Natalie was just taller than Ian. Now she won't let me change it! Ian calls her his little big sister.

Lovely picture of your children.

DS (Ian) is 8 but will be 9 when we sail. DD (Natalie) is 11 but will be 12 when we sail. They are "Mutt and Jeff" meaning Ian is taller than Natalie but would eat only vegetables if we let him. Natalie is 60 lbs soaking wet and avoids them if she can (and thinks we aren't watching). Natalie is all carnivore!

 

In the photos below (taken in Barbados 3 - 4 years ago) Natalie was just taller than Ian. Now she won't let me change it! Ian calls her his little big sister.

What a lovely photo.

Thanks for sharing it with us. :)

I am sure the OP has lovely children but I am not sure this is a good thing. We like PG as an upscale meal and I can't help but think of a bunch of children in their for 2-3 hours eating dinner. I am sure some would be fine but experience tells me some would not. To me that could detract a little from the elegant atmosphere.

A supposedly upscale restaurant is not a kids eat free zone. A sign in a window advertising kids eat free is great for families with children but as an adult who has been there, done that....I'll find somewhere else to eat. I would not pay a premium for that experience...there is no incentive for me.

I think parents that to want to bring their children to the Pinnacle have taken them to fine dining restaurants before and know they would be well-behaved. I have seen adult behavior in the Pinnacle that left me wondering why they were there.

I think parents that to want to bring their children to the Pinnacle have taken them to fine dining restaurants before and know they would be well-behaved. I have seen adult behavior in the Pinnacle that left me wondering why they were there.

I totally agree.

Children deserve to experience all sorts of things in life, it's all part of their education and miserable people who expect to have a totally child free life make my blood boil. They were young once or have they forgotten.

I daren't say any more ...

Mumsy.

I am sure the OP has lovely children but I am not sure this is a good thing. We like PG as an upscale meal and I can't help but think of a bunch of children in their for 2-3 hours eating dinner. I am sure some would be fine but experience tells me some would not. To me that could detract a little from the elegant atmosphere.

I agree, but we try to book cruises when most of the children are in school, have never seen a problem with children in Pinnacle yet

This post is just asking to be controversial and I'm sure will generate into a name calling thread regarding children. My personal opinion is that young children are better off not going to a restaurant that takes 2-3 hours to finish the meal. The fact that it's free or whether they double charge for them doesn't matter. It is not comfortable for either them nor many of the other diners having their meal.

I am sure the OP has lovely children but I am not sure this is a good thing. We like PG as an upscale meal and I can't help but think of a bunch of children in their for 2-3 hours eating dinner. I am sure some would be fine but experience tells me some would not. To me that could detract a little from the elegant atmosphere.

I for one completely disagree with the remarks from KirkNC.

If he's looking for a "child free environment", he might want to consider either the World Cruise or a Grand Voyage. The odds of finding any "young people" on either are "slim" to "none".

HAL in recent years has attempted to change its image from "your grandparent's favorite cruise line" to a "family oriented travel experience". The reason in IMHO is simple: without new, young and vibrant blood", no cruise line today can expect to flourish, let alone survive. Instead, it will simply "wither on the vine" and then die.

My comments are not intended in any way to endorse allowing any child to remain in Pinnacle or the Main Dining Room who may become disruptive thereby interfering with the enjoyment of other guests.

Rather, I can think of nothing more pleasant than to see an entire family enjoying a a evening out at the upscale and "elegant" Pinnacle Grill.

And by the way, the staff will usually go out of its way to do whatever they can to accommodate children and make them feel as special and welcome as their parents.

I hope the OP brings her children to Pinnacle and has a wonderful and memorable night.

I for one completely disagree with the remarks from KirkNC.

 

If he's looking for a "child free environment", he might want to consider either the World Cruise or a Grand Voyage. The odds of finding any "young people" on either are "slim" to "none".

 

HAL in recent years has attempted to change its image from "your grandparent's favorite cruise line" to a "family oriented travel experience". The reason in IMHO is simple: without new, young and vibrant blood", no cruise line today can expect to flourish, let alone survive. Instead, it will simply "wither on the vine" and then die.

 

My comments are not intended in any way to endorse allowing any child to remain in Pinnacle or the Main Dining Room who may become disruptive thereby interfering with the enjoyment of other guests.

 

Rather, I can think of nothing more pleasant than to see an entire family enjoying a a evening out at the upscale and "elegant" Pinnacle Grill.

 

And by the way, the staff will usually go out of its way to do whatever they can to accommodate children and make them feel as special and welcome as their parents.

 

I hope the OP brings her children to Pinnacle and has a wonderful and memorable night.

Well done Sea King. Put much more kindly and eloquent than I could ever have done.

Mumsy.

Lovely picture of your children.

What a lovely photo.

Thanks for sharing it with us. :)

 

Why can't I see the photo's? :confused:

When I was a young child, my Mother took me to upscale restaurants..I would have been killed had I acted up!

When our Son was just 13, he learned that to travel with us he had to be dressed in a suit & act like a young man on flights, in restaurants & in hotels...On one of his first flights we were separated in First class..A Stewardess came to us & asked if he was our Son..When we said yes, she asked if he could have a soft drink..We said of course he can..He had thanked her & refused the soda, thinking that he should not accept anything since he was non-Rev...LOL :D She complimented him on his demeanor when we disembarked our flight..

We could take one of our Great Grandchildren to an upscale restaurant, but would never think of taking the other one, because he is hyper-active & our Granddaughter does not discipline him! :eek:

IMO parents know how their children would react during a 2 hr meal..

Cheers....Betty

<Rant>

Age is moot. It is all about the individual person's ability to be engaged for hours in a meal with social interaction. When someone is not engaged they can act out and become disruptive. There are people from 5 to 85 who get riled up if the meal is not on their place setting within ten minutes of sitting down.

I feel it comes down to conditioning. If all a child knows is fast food, boil in a bag, microwave frozen meals from Applebee's or some chain that gets served a meal in short order they will not be able to cope well. This goes for all age groups. The concept of waiting for à la minute dining is being lost especially on Americans.

I took my DD to the Pinnacle on our last cruise. She only being 11 at the time, was fine. Non disruptive to others, being engaged with my DW and I for the entire meal. For me it came down to the fact she knows good food takes time. That meals are not a race to win or another venue to watch TV.

If there were other adults that could not cope that a child was within viewing distance of their "elegant" meal it was not because of malfeasance on our part but lack of respect on theirs.

</Rant>

This rant of mine is not directed anyone on this board or thread. It is a generic rant based on a societal norm of feeling privileged for no logical reason other than personal self entitlement.

I for one completely disagree with the remarks from KirkNC.

 

If he's looking for a "child free environment", he might want to consider either the World Cruise or a Grand Voyage. The odds of finding any "young people" on either are "slim" to "none".

 

HAL in recent years has attempted to change its image from "your grandparent's favorite cruise line" to a "family oriented travel experience". The reason in IMHO is simple: without new, young and vibrant blood", no cruise line today can expect to flourish, let alone survive. Instead, it will simply "wither on the vine" and then die.

 

My comments are not intended in any way to endorse allowing any child to remain in Pinnacle or the Main Dining Room who may become disruptive thereby interfering with the enjoyment of other guests.

 

Rather, I can think of nothing more pleasant than to see an entire family enjoying a a evening out at the upscale and "elegant" Pinnacle Grill.

 

And by the way, the staff will usually go out of its way to do whatever they can to accommodate children and make them feel as special and welcome as their parents.

 

I hope the OP brings her children to Pinnacle and has a wonderful and memorable night.

I respect your right to disagree but you are fairly liberal in your interpretation of what I meant. I am not a kid hater, I once was one and have one of my own. My point, which most have understood :rolleyes:, was that free meals will increase the number of children in PG and the opportunity for ones to misbehave. I don't see that as a great environment for an elegant meal, period. That doesn't mean I "want a kid free environment." I equate this as similar (albeit with different results) to cruiselines offering all you can drink packages and than acting surprised that the number of drunks increase.

I think parents that to want to bring their children to the Pinnacle have taken them to fine dining restaurants before and know they would be well-behaved. I have seen adult behavior in the Pinnacle that left me wondering why they were there.

I agree.

I enjoy seeing families, multi-generations, dining together and enjoying their vacation or special time. How are we to expect children to learn if we don't teach them? Bring your beautiful children and kindly let the rest of us enjoy seeing your family having a lovely dinner together.

The older I get, the more pleasure I get seeing such circumstances. :)

I for one completely disagree with the remarks from KirkNC.

 

If he's looking for a "child free environment", he might want to consider either the World Cruise or a Grand Voyage. The odds of finding any "young people" on either are "slim" to "none".

 

HAL in recent years has attempted to change its image from "your grandparent's favorite cruise line" to a "family oriented travel experience". The reason in IMHO is simple: without new, young and vibrant blood", no cruise line today can expect to flourish, let alone survive. Instead, it will simply "wither on the vine" and then die.

 

My comments are not intended in any way to endorse allowing any child to remain in Pinnacle or the Main Dining Room who may become disruptive thereby interfering with the enjoyment of other guests.

 

Rather, I can think of nothing more pleasant than to see an entire family enjoying a a evening out at the upscale and "elegant" Pinnacle Grill.

 

And by the way, the staff will usually go out of its way to do whatever they can to accommodate children and make them feel as special and welcome as their parents.

 

I hope the OP brings her children to Pinnacle and has a wonderful and memorable night.

^^^ Yes, THAT!!!

Very well said.

Thank you.

If you explain to the child your expectations for the meal and for their behavior and then give them the choice, I feel this works out best.

Our son behaves very well in all kinds of situations but in the end, he hates dressing up and sitting for 2 hours for a meal. Although I am sure I could force him to endure it and he would come through like a trooper, I am not thrilled that the one moment out of a fun cruise my son might remember is being forced into a tie to sit 2 hours for a steak he couldn't care less about. This is the case on a cruise ship, at WDW, or even in our own neighborhood. This is no short coming in character, merely him knowing his mind, tastes, and limitations at his present age. I too would have been bored to tears at his age waiting 2 hours for a meal yet happily do so now as an adult.

I ask our son before every cruise "Do you want me to pack you some fancy duds so you can eat with us in the nicer venues?" His answer thus far has been a resounding "no." I anticipate one day he will say yes, though it may still be several years down the road. Until then, I am perfectly happy that we have a good plan. We come together in the lido for DS's dinner and us a few snacks, we share our days adventures, then DS trots off to the kid's club, and we to get ready, have a cocktail, and a leisurely and luxurious dinner for just the 2 of us. :)

I must post my apologies as I had no intention of this being controversial information. If I had of known I would have kept my finders quiet.

This is our anniversary cruise. I also lost my mother just before Christmas so this is a heal cruise for my family. I also had cancer and never ever thought I could have one child (we lost 9) and feel so blessed to have 2 living. We work very hard, both earning money and being active parents. We have nobody to watch our children if we ever wanted to travel without them, which we don't.

I was just posting because HAL ship services asked why I wanted to make a reservation without our children on our anniversary when the children were free. For the record, I never considered that children were permitted in the PG so the money was not the issue.

We go on vacation to BE WITH our children, not to get away from them. Last cruise we were on (also on HAL), people went out of their way to thank us for having such well behaved children in the dining room and said our family brought so many memories back for them.

So I am very sorry. I am very family focused and did not stop to think that this would be offensive to some of you. I don't mean any other intent in posting this information other than to inform people that may not have known, like me. Not everyone has options and not everyone lets their children run wild.

I was informed that because our anniversary is New Year's Eve we can not pre-book. When I called ship services I was told 7 to 8:00 is the most popular time to book at the PG. Given that Club Hal closes at 10, and therefore we must be finished our dinner by then, we would have to book in that time slot because the Club doesn't open until 7:00. To rush the embarkation process and get stressed out trying to get to the PG to book is the very point we are trying to avoid....stress.

That said, I would have a concern over my 9 year old son as he can get bored. I would allow him to bring something to the table (breaking our rules) for this once just in case as I would be very sensitive to other diner's wishes.

This said, we would probably we dining at 6:00 so those others who wish to have an adults only environment will not be offended on New Year's Eve. The kids love Club Hal and want to be there when it is open.

For the record, when only 2.5 years old and getting off a five and a half hour flight, people said "you were on the flight....I never heard a thing...I had no idea such young children were on the plane". We take our children everywhere, which includes restaurants in top hotels.

Well you have nothing to apologize for. I hope you have a wonderful meal. I should have realized some would misinterpret my comments and make all kinds of assumptions, that was my mistake. I walked into this one, I know better. I in no way meant anything personal about you or your family. Enjoy your cruise.

Well you have nothing to apologize for. I hope you have a wonderful meal. I should have realized some would misinterpret my comments and make all kinds of assumptions, that was my mistake. I walked into this one, I know better. I in no way meant anything personal about you or your family. Enjoy your cruise.

Thanks Kirk. No offense taken. I just wanted to ensure people know that I would never let my kids act the way that some find acceptable. WE all have horror stories with "kids gone wild". I would remove my child if he pushed our limits and that is just the way it is.

I understand fully what you were trying to say and I appreciate your view point.

Thank you for the information. We're planning on taking our 13 and 10 year olds to the Pinnacle for a special birthday dinner on our Med cruise this summer, and I didn't know that my youngest would be free. Good to know!

Thank you for the information. We're planning on taking our 13 and 10 year olds to the Pinnacle for a special birthday dinner on our Med cruise this summer, and I didn't know that my youngest would be free. Good to know!

Did you know your 13 year old is half-off, plus any Mariner Discount? One-half off for 13 to 17 year olds.

Wow, half off? And we have a 4-star mariner discount--my husband is going to get off easy for the tab on my birthday dinner! Thanks for the info.

The Pinnacle has to be one of the best deals ever, especially since my 13-year-old is in a massive growth spurt. We took him to an upscale steakhouse last week, and he ate a mixed grill plate that cost us...well, never mind, just get me to the ship!

By the way, we have sailed on HAL to Europe with our kids for the last four summers (with Grandma), and the only negative to the long and formal dinners on board has been that they have turned into high-falutin' food snobs. And I thought McDonalds was a big treat when I was their age.