Following on from the annoying dinner stories, would this annoy you?

[traceygirl]

I think this is a very ambitious goal. We took our 16month old grandson with us last Sept for our 40 anniversary cruise. Our family was the only ones at the table. The wait staff is not staffed to assist with children. Our waiters had 6 tables, two tables with children. They had high chairs, but the food and milk seem to take forever to get to the table. Our grandson did not make it 15 minutes and our son left the table, got some pizza at another restaurant and went to his cabin to eat with his son. From then on we had the child care facility take him during the evening meal. It was way too much disruption for the family. Good luck but don't expect the wait staff to get your food to you before everyone else. Even getting milk at any meal was a chore. We learned to order milk, juice, fruit, and the bread basket for room service breakfast so we had food and snacks for our grandson. The other table with the family of two children did not come back to the main dining room after the first night either.

Good Luck!

[Libra1975]

: go to the dollar store and get a ton of "gifts" for your children, wrap them, and give them each a new toy to open and play with at the table. .

 

Like this idea, we used it when flying, maybe not every night (don't want it to be expected) but once or twice. Will have to comb the charity shops.

[graphicguy]

That depends.

 

Pretty much everyone who takes kids on a cruise swears theirs are well-behaved, would never act up, etc. That's pretty much a given. But the rubber meets the road when that one-in-a-million blue moon situation happens, and your little Janie/Johnny decides they're really unhappy and everyone else needs to become aware of their displeasure. What will you do? For the sake of the discussion, we're assuming it's already happening... "My precious offspring would never..." isn't a response here. You can assume any situation you like... sick, cranky, fell down earlier, whatever. How do you react? That is the information I would need to determine how I'd feel sharing a table with you.

 

If your response is that you'll get up, apologize, and take them away... God bless you, and I'd pay to have you as a table-mate. If you say you're going to put the fear of God into them, and guarantee they'll be more frightened of upsetting you than squalling about whatever, hey, it's all good... I don't want to witness them being beaten or anything, but short of that I'm not qualified to judge your method of parenting, and pretty much the same deal goes.

 

If, however, you believe in ignoring them, or that their fuss "isn't that bad", and you would get angry or offended if someone else was to say, "Hey, this is a problem, you need to deal with it"... then no, I don't want to be around that.

 

I can't get on board with the people who believe kids either shouldn't be allowed on cruises at all, or that they should be trussed up down in the engineering spaces (although there have been times I would vote for that!) But people pay a good bit of money for a relaxing, fun vacation; and dozens / hundreds of other people don't deserve to have that spoiled by unruly kids. If I wanted to be surrounded by screaming kids running around and making a mess, I could hang out at Chuck E. Cheese.

 

Great post!:D

[Robin122]

Regarding the OP - I would not mind sitting with you (anyone with children) AS LONG as the children are well behaved/parent remove the child if they're not behaving. Plain and simple.

I felt that way before kids. I feel that way with a child now. It's all about the manners.

I don't care for DVD players just because they are so big but I don't mind an iPod and small earphones (probably not good for a 3 yr old though...)

 

Regarding the post quoted below:

 

I only have one thought on this particular point (dining time specific)

 

It all depends on where the family LIVES! If someone is from California and is on a Caribbean sailing, eating dinner at 6:30PM would feel like eating it at 2:30 in the afternoon! Eating at 8:30 would feel closer to a normal time for them.

 

Opposite direction...When our 6:00 dining time came around when we went to Hawaii (I live in Colorado) we were absolutly FAMISHED but starting to feel too tired to eat. I only started to get on schedule the very end of the trip.

 

But at 8:30pm, the time of LATE dining, I think children should not be at the dinner table. It is too much to ask of a child under the age of 10 or 11 to be able to sit still and behave at 8:30 dinner. They are tired and are usually bored with adults at that time.

[LI Mom]

WOW, was just passing by & thought I'd check out the post on here about asking ppls opinions, all I can say is everyone on this cruise has input!!! lol Libra, I guess you got more info then you need.

Well, as long as I am here, I might as well impart my opinion on all of you too! Not on this cruise but I love CC, so I guess I can comment!

We were all kids once, Kids are people too, if you don't want to sit with children, then request through your travel agent, not to sit with kids. I think that you would do the parents a favor, not to have you at THEIR table! Who needs someone who is upset with you for a week or two! I am a grandmother of 4 & I Love to see children playing & having fun, I don't like it when they are bratty & don't behave, but they probably wouldn't take them on a cruise if they weren't good! Kids say the darndest things & they are funny! But just think of this, how tired do you get while on vacation, these kids are worn out & they react to that, I advise that the kids eat with you or if they love the counselors then let them eat at the Windjammer an hour be4 & then off with the counselors, then you can all be happy, the kids, the people at your table & you get a break from your KIDS! Sorry I barged in on your conversation, everyone enjoy your cruise.

[Cigar King]

I would be disappointed when I saw who was at our table, and I would likely request a change. The one thing I like about the MDR is meeting new people, and hearing their thoughts. Adult conversation. Your children would likely not be participants in that, and would be taking seats from who adults who would be. So basically, I would request a change because I prefer the company of adults not children. Nothing personal.

[FTLCruiseGal]

Lol! You are so right!

My favorite was when I was brand new to this site and someone asked about their 3 year old wearing a suit that had shorts to the main dining room. I could not believe the angry responses!

 

Someone used to have a cartoon of a smiley eating popcorn that they would post after such questions.

 

 

[richardb]

I wouldn't have any issue with your well behaved children. As you can see from my sig, we have taken our two grandsons on several cruises. But we are a large enough party that we are given our own table :D

 

Frankly, it is the teenagers I find most irritating. But even with them, I think "Wow, how would I have acted if I could have gone on a cruise at age 15/16?".

 

One learns patience when one becomes a grandparent.

[nationsgirl89]

I am really surprised you did not get more hate replies. This warms my heart. It seems like the common opinion in most posts is the behavior of kids. Like if the child is misbehaving then remove them from the situation. COMPLETELY agree. I'm glad to see that some people have had good experiences with little ones in the MDR. Gives me something to look forward to when I bring my 9 month old. Which I will!

[richardb]

I think this is a very ambitious goal. We took our 16month old grandson with us last Sept for our 40 anniversary cruise. Our family was the only ones at the table. The wait staff is not staffed to assist with children. Our waiters had 6 tables, two tables with children. They had high chairs, but the food and milk seem to take forever to get to the table. Our grandson did not make it 15 minutes and our son left the table, got some pizza at another restaurant and went to his cabin to eat with his son. From then on we had the child care facility take him during the evening meal. It was way too much disruption for the family. Good luck but don't expect the wait staff to get your food to you before everyone else. Even getting milk at any meal was a chore. We learned to order milk, juice, fruit, and the bread basket for room service breakfast so we had food and snacks for our grandson. The other table with the family of two children did not come back to the main dining room after the first night either.

Good Luck!

 

Wow, totally different experience on our three cruises with the grandkids along (of course we also have a different college experience, if you get my drift).

 

The wait staff literally doted over our kids, with the waiters wanting to pick them up and carry them around (not sure how sanitary that was). They came by and did tricks for them and folded napkins. Fruit was always brought to the kids before we even had our menus. Their food was delivered before ours and there was ice cream every night while we were still on our main course.

 

Most of the waiters have family back home that they haven't seen maybe for months and seem to really enjoy "spoiling" the kids. I'm sure there are other, not so great, experiences, but that has been ours.

 

PS, we either had late seating or MTD at 8:00. It was never a problem with the little ones, they got an afternoon snack and a nap.

[sjb317]

I would be very happy to share a table with children and I would not have a problem with a 3 year old watching a DVD.

 

richardb- You are lucky man to have such a lovely family!:D:D

 

Sherri:)

[artypharty]

I LOVE kids. Have a couple. I LOVE Grandkids. Have a couple(+). Dining with little children is a chore. Since it is the nature of the little folks, they take up time and energy and I give them every ounce of attention they need.

 

Like some others have said, I go on vacation to relax. Even sitting with perfectly behaved, darling children (just like mine :rolleyes:) is not relaxing. If I sat at a table with very young children, I'd probably ask to be moved also. No hard feelings at all. Just looking for a different experience at dinner, on vacation, than the wee ones can provide. :)

[AFS1970]

Gotta love thread necromancy, it is one of the things that makes CC so fun.

 

While reading (re-reading in some cases) the replies I had a thought. At first I could not imagine coloring books at the table, but then for some reason I remembered shopping trips with my mother when I was around 3 or 4. There were two local stores that had dining rooms and these trips usually seemd to be timed around lunch time. I always remember the children's menu coming on a place mat with things to color and getting these really cheap hard to use crayons with it. Looking back I guess I colored at the table. Although I know that I never did that at home, and I do remember restaurants where there were different rules. I also remember that it was a rule to sit at the table and not run around or climb, or bother other tables.

 

Now as for depending on DVD's (or coloring books) and how they teach or fail to teach social skills, that is another matter. I have sat through many boring speeches at many boring banquets with slow service and lackluster food. Had I been raised to think DVD's were OK to pull out during these times, I am sure that I would have been booted out of those situations and possibly the industry.

 

On my last cruise, it was a group cruise where most of the attendees had a common professional interest. Some of the husbands & wives shared that profession but not all. It happens to be a profession that my DW had no interest in and really didn't see why I liked it so much. Since dinner conversation often turned to work and how different companies dealt with similar situations, my DW was frequently bored at the table. Perhaps I should have brought a DVD player for her? However it was usually up to those of us having the conversation to notice when someone was being left out and change accordingly. Not always possible with a child I realize, but it seems to me that we all have to learn sometimes.

[Catperson]

I would prefer not to dine with young children as it has been my experience that children under ten demand a lot of attention and conversation tends to flow towards the child, and we adults have to pretend to be thoroughly engaged with the youngster. I'm not particularly interested in hearing a child's opinion on life (his life) for the next two hours at the expense of others' opinions. Little Johnny or Suzie is very cute but only for the first ten minutes! And yes, of course I like children as I'm sure 99% of the posters do as well.

[bplazo]

I would prefer not to dine with young children as it has been my experience that children under ten demand a lot of attention and conversation tends to flow towards the child, and we adults have to pretend to be thoroughly engaged with the youngster. I'm not particularly interested in hearing a child's opinion on life (his life) for the next two hours at the expense of others' opinions. Little Johnny or Suzie is very cute but only for the first ten minutes! And yes, of course I like children as I'm sure 99% of the posters do as well.

 

I am with you. I do not want to sit at the same table with young children and I only think they are cute for maybe 1 minute. :).

[cello56]

I would prefer not to dine with young children as it has been my experience that children under ten demand a lot of attention and conversation tends to flow towards the child, and we adults have to pretend to be thoroughly engaged with the youngster. I'm not particularly interested in hearing a child's opinion on life (his life) for the next two hours at the expense of others' opinions. Little Johnny or Suzie is very cute but only for the first ten minutes! And yes, of course I like children as I'm sure 99% of the posters do as well.

 

I agree with you completely, and I love kids! I love my own, I love my nieces and nephews, I love my God Daughter, I know that I will love and adore any future Grandchildren that we are blessed with. However, that does not mean that I have any remote interest in listening to what a random eight year old has to say at dinner every night on a cruise! I think that for my husband and me, I am not presuming to give an opinion for anyone else ;), we would only want to be seated with adults, and would likely ask to change tables if seated with kids.

[fungirl76]

Although the cruise line attempts to put people of the same age at a table, I had the opposite happen to me. On one of my cruises DH (boyfriend at the time) and I were sat at a table with 3 small children. I don't mind children, but we were on vacation and just wanted to be with eachother. We sat through dinner that first night and then asked to be moved; and we were.

[SusieV]

Honestly, I would not want to sit with someone else's young children on a cruise even if I had my own son with me (he is 2 1/2) because frankly there are a lot of parents out there who just don't seem to care what their kids do on vacation, and I don't want to have him wonder why he can't do whatever it is while another parent seems quite happy to allow the behaviour.

 

Electronics at dinner would not be allowed for my son. We take him to dinner all the time- he loves going to restaurants but knows that he has to behave, or he'll be removed from the table. We usually bring a couple of dinky cars for him to play with quietly (they do not go careening all over the table or floor), and he has a colouring book and crayons. Of course, we don't expect him just to entertain himself, either- we involve him in the conversation.

[cb at sea]

If your child is quiet and entertained, I have no problem with being seated with you. However...they try to seat families with families....that's about the only given as far as tablemates go.