New to RCCL Traveling with Kids... questions

[Megsie1000]

Hi everyone! I have asked our "cruise concierge" these same questions but in my experience sometimes peeps on cruise critic know more than they do. :)

 

Background: I have been on 3 cruises. 2 HAL and one Celebrity a long time ago. Our last cruise was HAL a few years ago on the Eurodam. We enjoyed it but were won over to RCCL by the family oceanview staterooms that accommodate 5. That and I thought it would be nice to try something different. It will be nice to all be together and not need to put one of our kids in my parents' cabin.

 

We are sailing January 18, 2014 on the Serenade out of NOLA. 7 nights. Family oceanview stateroom. We booked this very late - like within the last week.

 

My husband and I are in a cabin with our kids aged 10, 8 & 5. My parents are also coming. Our kids LOVED club HAL and begged to go there every waking moment. On the Eurodam we ended up feeding them dinner at the Lido deck and then having dinner with my parents in the dining room each night while they went to Club HAL. We made reservations for 7:15 each night (15 minutes after club HAL opened).

 

That method worked ok but it was a lot of work to take them all to the buffet and then have to try and get ready for dinner myself for the MDR for the other meal with my parents. I am incredibly intrigued by the "My Family Time Dining" that RCCL offers. HOWEVER they tell me that the early seating is not available and my understanding is that you can only do "My Family Time Dining" if you are at the early seating. Right now we have the open seating and have prepaid our gratuities.

 

My questions: Is there an alternative to "My Family Time Dining" that would be easier than doing the Windjammer with my kids for dinner? That is if the early seating doesn't open up. Does anyone know what time the kids club opens in the evening? That will help us to figure out when to make dinner reservations if we keep "my time dining." If it doesn't open until 7 I will make reservations for 7:15 but I would prefer a slightly earlier time if the kids club opens earlier.

 

My other question was about the beverages package and I cannot seem to find a definitive answer to this question. I understand both adults over 21 in a cabin have to have a package. My question is whether we can get different packages. My husband is a beer and wine drinker but does not touch the hard stuff. I like cocktails the most. It does not make sense for him to have the premium package but that is what I want. Any way we can get two different packages? Would the answer change if we waited to buy it until we get on the ship?

 

Sorry for so many questions - I am just new to this but I am a big planner and like to know what to expect well ahead of time. My father is also 90 years old so I am trying to get everything arranged before we go to make things easier for him. Thanks in advance.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Megsie1000

[mcgrate]

Hi everyone! I have asked our "cruise concierge" these same questions but in my experience sometimes peeps on cruise critic know more than they do. :)

 

Background: I have been on 3 cruises. 2 HAL and one Celebrity a long time ago. Our last cruise was HAL a few years ago on the Eurodam. We enjoyed it but were won over to RCCL by the family oceanview staterooms that accommodate 5. That and I thought it would be nice to try something different. It will be nice to all be together and not need to put one of our kids in my parents' cabin.

 

We are sailing January 18, 2014 on the Serenade out of NOLA. 7 nights. Family oceanview stateroom. We booked this very late - like within the last week.

 

My husband and I are in a cabin with our kids aged 10, 8 & 5. My parents are also coming. Our kids LOVED club HAL and begged to go there every waking moment. On the Eurodam we ended up feeding them dinner at the Lido deck and then having dinner with my parents in the dining room each night while they went to Club HAL. We made reservations for 7:15 each night (15 minutes after club HAL opened).

 

That method worked ok but it was a lot of work to take them all to the buffet and then have to try and get ready for dinner myself for the MDR for the other meal with my parents. I am incredibly intrigued by the "My Family Time Dining" that RCCL offers. HOWEVER they tell me that the early seating is not available and my understanding is that you can only do "My Family Time Dining" if you are at the early seating. Right now we have the open seating and have prepaid our gratuities.

 

My questions: Is there an alternative to "My Family Time Dining" that would be easier than doing the Windjammer with my kids for dinner? That is if the early seating doesn't open up. Does anyone know what time the kids club opens in the evening? That will help us to figure out when to make dinner reservations if we keep "my time dining." If it doesn't open until 7 I will make reservations for 7:15 but I would prefer a slightly earlier time if the kids club opens earlier.

 

My other question was about the beverages package and I cannot seem to find a definitive answer to this question. I understand both adults over 21 in a cabin have to have a package. My question is whether we can get different packages. My husband is a beer and wine drinker but does not touch the hard stuff. I like cocktails the most. It does not make sense for him to have the premium package but that is what I want. Any way we can get two different packages? Would the answer change if we waited to buy it until we get on the ship?

 

Sorry for so many questions - I am just new to this but I am a big planner and like to know what to expect well ahead of time. My father is also 90 years old so I am trying to get everything arranged before we go to make things easier for him. Thanks in advance.

 

Could you just book your MTD for 6pm and let the AO staff know to pick your kids up at 6.40 as per the MY family time dining? From our experience adventure ocean staff disks know what seating options we were on. We just booked dd in each day at 9am for that eve.

 

 

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[cello56]

With the ages that your kids are, I would definitely try eating together in the dining room. There will be plenty of time for playing in the kids club other than at dinner. Just my two cents!

[Nettee]

We are just off Serenade with children and a family ocean view cabin - we had a great time, hope you do too. We had an early seating and tried my family time dining but it was too rushed. Our waitress pulled out all the stops to get them fed by 6.40 but it just took them too long to eat and they had to rush their pudding and wizz away.

 

Adventure ocean opens at 7 although they can have supper there if they are in early enough and just stay on. They only get fed pizza though or maybe burgers.

 

We found what worked best for us was to all eat together at 6 and then drop them off at Adventure ocean when we had all finished. The waiters were great with the kids and we all enjoyed it.

 

Windjammer only opens at 6.30 so feeding the children there before dinner was also a bit tricky when we were out to the speciality restaurants at 7.30. Park cafe is open earlier but my children didn't like the food there.

 

Can't help with the drinks packages I am afraid

[cb at sea]

I'm thinking they may allow 2 different packages...but do the math before you buy it! It may be cheaper to just pay as you go....you have to drink A LOT before the packages pay for itself! They are definitely skewed towards the cruiseline's profits!

[boulders]

It's too bad you didn't order room service for the kids on HAL. HAL's room service offerings are excellent.

 

I am not a fan of MFTD for the same reasons as the previous poster. It's just too rushed. The staff doesn't come to your table, you have to go outside the dining room. I almost collided with one of the waiters, and about 8-10 meals when I was taking ds to the pickup area. My last cruise on RCCL was when the youngest was 5. What i ended up doing was eat at early dinner and then took him to the kids club myself between 7 and 7:15. It was quicker than trying to meet the AO staff, and made for a more relaxing dinner. The elevators to the kids club are just outside the dining room. It's about 8 flights up.

 

Not sure about Serenade, but there should be more than one night, maybe all of them? where the kids can eat with the AO staff. You would have to sign up for this in the morning. You would also have to sign up for the MFTD pickup each day if you decide to do that.

 

Your other options are Windjammer and room service.

 

No one is required to purchase a drinks package. However, if one adult purchases an alcoholic package, all the adults in the cabin have to purchase one.

[Esilef]

We are taking our 4 year old on voyager of the seas. He will have dinner at about 5:30pm in the buffet and then spend time with us until 8pm when on the way to our dinner we will drop him off at kids club. If he won't let leave him then he can come to dinner with us. Once we have finished dinner we will collect him & bed time

[Megsie1000]

Could you just book your MTD for 6pm and let the AO staff know to pick your kids up at 6.40 as per the MY family time dining? From our experience adventure ocean staff disks know what seating options we were on. We just booked dd in each day at 9am for that eve.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

That is pretty much what the concierge suggested. I guess my worry is whether the waiters will be able to expedite their meals and not ours if we are not at a set time. i don't want to make things overly complicated. But when we went on the Alaska cruise my experience was that the kids just did not enjoy the dining room experience at all. They know how to behave in a restaurant but they just didn't like it and would have much rather spent that time in the club. Meanwhile we wanted to sit and savor it. It is not a matter of not wanting to spend time with them so much as getting the most out of our vacation. I am a stay at home mom so I feel like I get plenty of time with them at home. ;)

[xxHadleyxx]

Can you order room service for them and let them eat it in the little bunk room area while you are getting ready for dinner in the rest of the cabin?

[Megsie1000]

It's too bad you didn't order room service for the kids on HAL. HAL's room service offerings are excellent.

 

We actually did room service most mornings for breakfast. But we were in an inside cabin, which made dining difficult with a young child (youngest was 3 at the time). Breakfast was OK and a good wake-up call for us.

 

I like your suggestion about just doing an earlier dinner. I wonder if I could convince my parents of that, though. My husband is also English so the later dinner appeals to him more. There has to be a way to work this out.

 

The Concierge did confirm that we could order different packages as long as we both had one. House wine is Sutter Home. I will have to ask the hubs whether that is acceptable. I am pretty sure he could put away enough alcohol to justify it. I am not as big of a drinker but I tend to like expensive drinks. Hmmm... we have a while to decide.

[Megsie1000]

Can you order room service for them and let them eat it in the little bunk room area while you are getting ready for dinner in the rest of the cabin?

 

That is a great idea. We have a much bigger cabin on this ship.

[xxHadleyxx]

You can also check Park cafe--your kids might like the food better than Nettee's did--and it would be very fast and casual if they do.

[Lunarclipse]

Just incase you didn't find it and I missed it reading...

 

Adventure Ocean Hours of Opperation:

Days at Sea:

For Aquanauts(3-5), Explorers(6-8), and Voyagers(9-11):

9 am to noon

2 pm to 5 pm

7 pm to 10 pm

For Teens(12-14/15-17):

Teen Center is open 10:30 to 2:00 am

Activities are scheduled through out the day, the cruise compass has more info.

 

Days in Port:

For Aquanauts(3-5), Explorers(6-8), and Voyagers(9-11):

30 minutes prior to the first shore excursion to 5 pm, and 7 to 10 pm.

For Teens(12-14/15-17):

Teen Center is open 10:30 to 2:00 am

Activities are scheduled through out the day, the cruise compass has more info.

Also the Late Night Party Zone is open 10:00pm to 2:00am.

------------------------------

 

You can always try and calling RCI (if you booked with them) or your Travel Agent and have them do some serious looking into getting you early dining with My Family Time Dining, just because the dining time seems closed doesn't mean it cannot be done but don't get your hopes up.

------------------------------

 

As for the beverage packages with alcohol. If one person in the stateroom gets it, everyone over 21 does indeed need to get it and if you want seperate ones unfortunatly that is not available and you would need to get the higher Premium Beverage package for $55.00 per person per day. However exceptions can be made and they can only be made onboard so you might want to wait and inquire at the pier. As someone mentioned above casual drinkers may not profit from the packages. I would recommend calculating what you estimate drinking and call RCI for general drink pricing info and calculate if you will actually drink 45/55 dollars worth.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Lunarclipse

[Rockfordcruiser]

The adult drink Pkg is rumored to increase to $65 per person per day after Nov 15th. Will include water and Red bull now. As some one mentioned, many do not partake enough per day to justify pkg price even at old pricing. When I did the math is about 9 cocktails a day or 18 per couple. If you have a port intensive sailing you have a lot of catching up to do once on board to get to your 18.. Just my 1/2 cent... It use to be 2 but Gov gets 1 1/2 now!:)

[xxHadleyxx]

Just incase you didn't find it and I missed it reading...

 

Adventure Ocean Hours of Opperation:

Days at Sea:

For Aquanauts(3-5), Explorers(6-8), and Voyagers(9-11):

9 am to noon

2 pm to 5 pm

7 pm to 10 pm

For Teens(12-14/15-17):

Teen Center is open 10:30 to 2:00 am

Activities are scheduled through out the day, the cruise compass has more info.

 

Days in Port:

For Aquanauts(3-5), Explorers(6-8), and Voyagers(9-11):

30 minutes prior to the first shore excursion to 5 pm, and 7 to 10 pm.

For Teens(12-14/15-17):

Teen Center is open 10:30 to 2:00 am

Activities are scheduled through out the day, the cruise compass has more info.

Also the Late Night Party Zone is open 10:00pm to 2:00am.

------------------------------

 

You can always try and calling RCI (if you booked with them) or your Travel Agent and have them do some serious looking into getting you early dining with My Family Time Dining, just because the dining time seems closed doesn't mean it cannot be done but don't get your hopes up.

------------------------------

 

As for the beverage packages with alcohol. If one person in the stateroom gets it, everyone over 21 does indeed need to get it and if you want seperate ones unfortunatly that is not available and you would need to get the higher Premium Beverage package for $55.00 per person per day. However exceptions can be made and they can only be made onboard so you might want to wait and inquire at the pier. As someone mentioned above casual drinkers may not profit from the packages. I would recommend calculating what you estimate drinking and call RCI for general drink pricing info and calculate if you will actually drink 45/55 dollars worth.

 

I am surprised to see the teen club liste as open util 2:00! I have never seen it open past one on any RCI ship (but we sail off season in the med, so maybe that is why).

Our teens were a little surprised early on in our Serenade cruise last month because the club was listed as open until "late" and then the staff would tell everyone to leave and close up shop around midnight. The clubs on other ships have always remained open (if teens were there) until the curfew at 1:00. It was no big deal, the kids jsut migrated Park Cafe or the Safari Club and by mid cruise were mostly hanging out there instead of the club anyway--but it was interesting to have htem closing early; we wondered what the reason was.

[masonpips]

I think you could do a combination of things with MTD. Check the menus and decide which nights the kids would want to eat with you (mine won't miss Night 2, typically filet) and book an early reservation those nights. After they eat dinner one of you could take them to the club before dessert (they can have a cookie or ice-cream or room service later!). We did this for years before they had the family version.

 

Other nights, feed them pizza or room service in the cabin between 6-7, have your dh take them to the club while you finish getting ready and make reservations for 7:30-8:30. And on some nights AO will take them to the buffet too (ask when you board or haunt the internet for cruise compasses) so they get a larger variety option and you can eat when you like.

 

My kids adored the kid's clubs on both Disney and RCCL. I loved that they loved to go so we could have some "date nights" (plus shows) yet also do some things at night as a family!

 

Now, they are teens and want to eat with us (enjoy dressing up too!) and go to most of the shows as well!!

[jc24cruiser]

I am taking my kids on their first cruise next October.

 

Can I please check whether there is a charge for the regular Adventure Ocean slots???

 

And how do we book the slots?

 

Thanks for any help :)

[Lunarclipse]

Adventure Ocean is free! The only charges would come from some of the extra things like the Pets at Sea. You enroll your kids once you are onboard.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Lunarclipse

[Rala]

Adventure Ocean is free! The only charges would come from some of the extra things like the Pets at Sea. You enroll your kids once you are onboard.

 

AO is only "free" until 10pm. From 10 to 1am there is a per hr./per child fee. This late night charge is only for younger children (under 12, I think) :)

[boulders]

I am taking my kids on their first cruise next October.

 

Can I please check whether there is a charge for the regular Adventure Ocean slots???

 

And how do we book the slots?

 

Thanks for any help :)

 

Also, you don't book it. The kids can come and go as you wish, during the open hours.

[kroberts0525]

We've always just eaten with the kids and booked early seating because it is my understanding that for My Time Family Dining the kids have to eat off the children's menu. I thought that was how the assured that they would get the kids fed and out on time. Am I wrong? My son, even at 5, enjoyed trying new foods, especially in the nonthreatening atmosphere of the cruise ship where food is so abundant that if you don't care for the item you ordered, it is not a big deal. Also the dining room always has a lot of action going on.

[Maryscooking]

We haven't cruised RCCL in 3 or 4 yrs, so I'm not totally sure of this, but on Carnival the kids club serves a kids dinner in a blocked off section of the buffet (it is very secure, with sign in and out, just like in the actual club), and my daughter LOVES to eat there. She feels very grown up :) eating with her friends. We let her choose each night, and 5/7 nights, she'll choose to eat with her friends. We'd check her in at the buffest space at the appointed time (right before early seating in the main dining room), and then they'd transport all the kids back to the club after dinner.

 

I can't imagine RCCL doesn't have the same thing (in fact, I'm really hoping they have it on Allure next week), and it sounds perfect for your kids. Posters on the family board here would know for sure.