Question for parents who've taken a child to Portofinos or Chops

[Cheryl H]

We have a son who dines with us in the main dining room just fine. Last cruise he was 3 1/2. I would like to try one of the speciality restaurants next time, but I have a couple questions.

 

Would a 6 year old be welcome in Portofinos/Chops? We would probably be eating early.

Is it formal attire every night?

Do they offer a children's menu?

Can you wait to make a reservation for Portofinos/Chops that very day that you are going to eat dinner that night?

 

Thanks for the info!!

[boulders]

You can make a reservation as long as there is availability. With a 6 year old though, you won't be able to make a reservation online. Your reservation will have to be before 7 p.m. We ate in Portofino's. It is not formal. Although DD11 and DS13 love pasta, they did not find much on the menu that appealed to them. :confused: I did not see a childrens menu. You could also send your ds off to one of the kids club dinners and go to Chops/Portofino's with just your spouse. ;)

[Cheryl H]

Thank you for the response. That's good to know that they didn't offer a children's menu. So our kid would probably only want bread and ice cream in that case!

 

Yes, I think I read that the Adventure Ocean has one night where they feed the kids. I'll try to find out which night that is and then maybe my husband and I can have dinner alone in Portofinos. I was thinking of trying Portofinos on a night when I didn't like the offerings in the main dining room, but may not be able to coordinate that and the night of the kid meal at Adventure Ocean.

 

 

Thanks!

[akcruz]

Thank you for the response. That's good to know that they didn't offer a children's menu. So our kid would probably only want bread and ice cream in that case!

 

Yes, I think I read that the Adventure Ocean has one night where they feed the kids. I'll try to find out which night that is and then maybe my husband and I can have dinner alone in Portofinos. I was thinking of trying Portofinos on a night when I didn't like the offerings in the main dining room, but may not be able to coordinate that and the night of the kid meal at Adventure Ocean.

 

 

Thanks!

 

What we have always done is take our kids to the buffet for dinner and then drop off at AO while we enjoyed our dinner in one of the specialty restaurants.

 

Our kids are good in the MDR, but the specialty restaurants really aren't set up for them. The dinner can be quite long, and hey why not have a date night, its your vacation too!

[Cheryl H]

What we have always done is take our kids to the buffet for dinner and then drop off at AO while we enjoyed our dinner in one of the specialty restaurants.

 

Our kids are good in the MDR, but the specialty restaurants really aren't set up for them. The dinner can be quite long, and hey why not have a date night, its your vacation too!

 

That's a good idea!! I wonder what time the normal drop off time is in the evening.

[akcruz]

That's a good idea!! I wonder what time the normal drop off time is in the evening.

 

I belive they usually open around 7 for the evening, but not sure, my kids are now teens and don't have to worry about it any more.

 

Anyway, here is a link to Cruisinmama's website that has a number of the AO compasses. Just page through to find the right age group (most ships have very similar activities/times) to see what they might expect.

 

http://s204.photobucket.com/albums/bb196/cruisinmama06/Royal%20Caribean%20AO%20Compass/

[boulders]

Yes, AO opens again for the evening at 7 p.m.

[geegee1]

Last year during President's Week/February school break, EOS said that they would not allow any children under 13 into Portofino's. Is that not always the case?

 

And the restaurant was pretty much empty anytime we checked.

[boulders]

In August, on Radiance, I was allowed to bring my 11 year old into Portofino's as long as the reservation was before 7 p.m. The restaurant was pretty empty until after 7 p.m. anyway.

[crusinmama06]

They do not offer a kids menu. You can bring kids in as long as you do the earlier reservation. However, you probably won't want to. Adventure Ocean does take them to dinner, the nights are the first formal night and at least one non-formal night.

 

If you want to guarantee a night at Chops/Portofino during a night that the kids go to an AO dinner, then just book on the first formal night. :D

 

The dinner is so long that I know there is no way that my kids would sit through it. And my kids are pretty good with things like that. But I just figured I would really be pushing it. ;)

 

You can also do what I did, make a reservation for 7pm. Or a little after 7pm. We fed the kids earlier (Sorrento's Pizza -- they were happy campers). Then we dropped them off at Adventure Ocean at 7pm (when it opened). Then we headed out for dinner alone. :)

[Cheryl H]

Thanks everyone for the info. My husband is not thrilled about going (because of the extra charge). But I would like to try it.

[Frenchsnowhite]

If we would to bring our twins girls at Portofino's would they be charge the 30$ p.p we are charged????????:confused:

 

BTW our girls are 10 y.o and love fancy restaurants!!!

[boulders]

Yes, children are charged the $30 or is it $20/25??

[gerif]

Yes, children are charged the $30 or is it $20/25??

 

Portofino is $20 - and, yes, they would be charged the same.

[beachchick]

If we would to bring our twins girls at Portofino's would they be charge the 30$ p.p we are charged????????:confused:

 

BTW our girls are 10 y.o and love fancy restaurants!!!

 

If they love fancy restaurants, I'm guessing they enjoy the food in them as well. If that's the case, why wouldn't you expect to pay the same price for them as for you? I believe, but don't quote me on this, that if they order only side dishes and no main entree, the fee is sometimes reduced by 1/2.

 

beachchick

[shellito1012]

I recently called about this and they told me to make my reservation for before 7 and then when I got there, go directly to the dining room and tell them I have a child. My daughter will be 21 months when we go and we aren't comfortable for in room sitting so that is what we plan to do!

[gerif]

I recently called about this and they told me to make my reservation for before 7 and then when I got there, go directly to the dining room and tell them I have a child. My daughter will be 21 months when we go and we aren't comfortable for in room sitting so that is what we plan to do!

 

That's awfully young - are you sure she can sit quietly for nearly 2 hours?

[chalupa]

I was on FOS in December 09 with my DD, DH and my parents. I took my DD to Chops the first night and she was 9 months at the time. We had eaten at Chops before when we sailed Navigator 3 years ago, but this was the first with a baby. This was my experience.

 

I booked on board for the 6pm seating (on RC's website, you could book 5:30pm, but 6pm was the earliest on FOS). At the time, I told them my DD's age and they said they'd have a highchair setup. When we arrived, we were the first booking of the evening -- next couple didn't show up until 6:45pm. They seated in such a way that the high chair was not going to get in the way of the servers.

 

Because many of the staff are away from home & their children for long periods of the time (our friend works on FOS and he's worked in the cruise industry for 10+ years, so we know how long his contracts can be), they totally gushed over my DD throughout the night. One of our servers told us that his daughter was born the week before and that he couldn't wait for his contract to end in the next 2 weeks so that he could fly home and hold his baby for the first time.

 

When they took our orders, the server asked what they could get for my DD. Apparently, the chef saw me push her stroller in when we arrived so he offered to prepare some purees for her. Even though I did bring my own baby food & Mummum crackers, they served my DD a small plate of fresh pureed peas & mashed potatoes. She loved it & I saved my baby food for another day. Because there weren't many guests in the dining room, they'd stop by and play with her as they brought our courses out. My DD loved the attention and found it entertaining to people watch as more guests started arriving.

 

My advice, keep in mind that dinner will be long, ours lasted about 2 hours, so you might have some entertaining to do. I also brought a couple of toys to occupy her just in case. But the staff also entertained her, and she was happy to people watch and watch all the action going on around her -- and they didn't charge for her plate either (thank goodness). Would she remember the experience, most likely not, even though we have a pic of her eating mashed potatoes at Chops. But she did enjoy herself at the time, the staff was great and the food was delish. Overall, we had a wonderful time. We're heading back to FOS in August (DD will be 17 months by then) and we'll be dining in Chops on the first night again.

 

(based on the experience of our friend that works on FOS, we book Chops on the first night because it tends to be less crowded than the rest of the week, and the steak is much better in Chops than the MDR on the first night as it's cooked to order, instead of being semi-cooked earlier in the afternoon, then finishes cooking before they serve you)

 

Hope you enjoy Chops as much as we did! :)