thoughts on late dining with children

[poshmom]

Before children, we have done both early and late dining. Really liked the late dining. Because we would sleep late, play hard during the day. Then stay up late. But now with kids, I'm not sure that's the right choice. They will sleep late (8-9ish) if they stay up too late. But i'm not sure they'll still be cool with eating supper so late. Thoughts from anyone whose experienced this with children? what worked best? I really want them to experience the mdr. They enjoy food, the experience, etc. from other vacations we've been on.

[Sixtytwo]

Late seating for young children who tire rather easily would likely be a mistake for you and those dining near you! Remember, you do have the option of either early seating or YTD. I would recommend one of those options, based on experience with 3yo granddaughter's cruises. ;)

[hobster7]

I found 2 reasons to do the early dining with my 2 kids who were 8 and 10 at the time.

1) after a full day of activities my 8 year old was really dragging trying to keep eyes open when you sit down at 8pm and get finished around 9:30 for late dining.

2) he kids club activities typically start around 730 so early dining is much more convenient from that point of view.

 

Btw- when at home with sports practices my family typically doesn't eat dinner until 7:30 or 8pm with no problems. But on the cruise it is way different.

 

Our first cruise in 2013 was late dining, we have done early the rest of them.

 

 

Next Cruise - 4/8/17 Carnival Magic

Previous Cruises

Carnival Pride - 11/15

Carnival Pride - 1/15

Carnival Legend 4/14

RCCL Independence of the Seas 11/13

[amandajean06]

Before children, we have done both early and late dining. Really liked the late dining. Because we would sleep late, play hard during the day. Then stay up late. But now with kids, I'm not sure that's the right choice. They will sleep late (8-9ish) if they stay up too late. But i'm not sure they'll still be cool with eating supper so late. Thoughts from anyone whose experienced this with children? what worked best? I really want them to experience the mdr. They enjoy food, the experience, etc. from other vacations we've been on.

 

 

We are with you! Late dining with our kiddos scares me, haha. We have only done Your Time Dining or early dining. We, too, would prefer to do the late seating if it was just us, but at home, our kids go to bed around 8, maybe 9 on weekends (ages 3 and 1) and I can't imagine their mood if we were still waiting for our dinner at 9 p.m. It just doesn't seem worth the risk for us. I hope whatever you decide turns out well for your family!

[jma624]

I always liked late dining when cruising with my husband. We are used to eating later (7-8) anyway, and I liked not having to rush back onport days. Aside from comedy, we have never been interested in the evening shows either.

 

2 years ago when I took my then 9yo grandson on a cruise – just the 2 of us –I was also considering whether to do early or late dining. I chose late. I thought this would be ok – he was used to staying up later on non-school nights,and he was also used to eating later with us, having lived with us for about a year at the time.

 

As it turned out, I wish I had chosen early. With all of the extra activity, he was exhausted by dinnertime. Practically fell asleep at thetable a couple of times. One night he even asked if he could skip dessert and go back to the cabin and lie down.

[cyntil8ing]

We have always done late dining. My kids started cruising at 2 and 5 and are now 10 and 13. They have over a dozen cruises.

 

At home, we don't eat dinner until 8:00pm, so they are used to that part.

 

Our general plan was to be back on board around 3:00, get a late lunch, followed by a swim, and then a nap. We would get showered and ready for dinner by 7:00, and then either go to the family comedy show or they would go to the kids club for an hour while dh and I had a cocktail. We would then pick them up for dinner. After dinner, we would go to a show, and then bed around 11:30.

 

Once or twice per cruise, they would have dinner from the buffet and then go to the kid's club for the evening. This allowed dh and I to dine alone.

 

It depends on the kids. It works well for us.

[Micahs Grandad]

early for sure or you will make lots of people unhappy with your choice

[odis]

Late dining worked well for us with our daughter. We could do what we wanted all day, go back to the cabin about 5, take a nap, get up at 7 and be ready for dinner by 8 with no fussing at all.

[First and Ten]

Buffet and pizza stations always works for the little snowflakes too. You give most kids a slice of pizza, chicken nugget or some Mac and cheese, they are happy. Most young kids don't want to sit thru a 2-2.5 hr meal every night

 

 

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[BrotherCraig]

WE have done both. This last cruise in September, we tried the late dining with our toddlers and it was a HUGE MISTAKE. By halfway through dinner, they were tired and bored. Many times, we had to leave our dinner table and walk them around. For our next cruise in May, we made sure we booked early.

[cruisemom67]

If your kids want to do the kids club activities, definitely do the early, or YTD. If they don't care, you might just try YTD. That way you can pick the time that works best for you after trying it out. We always like dining as a family, but sometimes (now that the kids are older) we will let the kids dine with friends, or on the lido. If you do YTD, you might be able to do a late night (romantic) dinner one night of the cruise.

[KPfromCT]

You don't mention how old the kids are......

That could make all of the difference. If they are "younger", they will probably struggle to get through a 2 hour dinner that late........

 

You know your kids best, but you don't want to upset all of the other diners around you if they can't sit still for 30 minutes and start getting fidgety and crying/whining.......

 

Good Luck!!!!

[Laurenran]

It totally depends on their age and if they are taking naps. We always preferred late before children, but just did early with kids and it was the right choice for us. 2 hours sitting at a dinner table was a long time for our boys who are 3 and 6. One night, our 3 year old fell alseep before the meals even arrived. Other nights they ate their meals (during our appetizers) and then one of us took them to the camp which opened at 7pm. They were way more excited to go to camp than to sit down for dinner. We got to finish dinner and even got to kareoke or comedy before picking them up. A luxury for us since we don't normally do babysitters.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Laurenran
Oops, wasn't finished

[First and Ten]

I don't understand why parents would subject their children to 7 straight nights of the MDR, especially if the kids are fidgety....take them to the buffet, get pizza one night....you don't HAVE to do a sit down dinner every....single....night....give me a break Mom and Dad (and your fellow diners [emoji3])

 

 

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[jallison8378]

My kids are 6, 5 and 2 and we just did late seating for the first time on our last cruise. It worked out great! They napped for 2-3 hours every afternoon and woke up excited and ready for "part 2" of the day. We were even complimented--many times--on how well they behaved at dinner. I KNOW that wouldn't have been the case had they not napped each day, though!

 

Main seating is just way too early for us. We have done it twice before and always felt rushed in getting ready in time, not to mention often missing sailaway, or having to cut short whatever fun we were having in the afternoon.

 

We have done YTD as well and liked the convenience of going whenever we wanted, but really missed having the same waitstaff every night. Plus, YTD is just not possible when you are travelling with a large group, as we often are with extended family.

[cb at sea]

Early seating is best with kids...especially, if they want to do some evening club activities. You aren't "fancy free" anymore! You're parents! No more "late night" partying!

[ErickW]

My wife and I just returned from a five day, and because of booking so late we had late dining with our three children. Ages are 4,6,9. Our daily plan was always to take a mid afternoon nap for around 45 mins to an hour. The kids were usually worn out by then from swimming/playing etc.... This was just enough to get proper rest for a fun night of activities as well as a break from the sun. We would usually grab a small snack afterwards to hold us over until dinner. This worked out great.

[OkieRican]

This will be our first cruise and we are doing early dinner. I know how my younger two (9 and 12) will start complaining when they get hungry. The way I see it, we won't get our food till about 630 anyways. I want to make this trip as enjoyable as possible for all of us.

[Talex831]

Wow, what a bunch of judgemental posts! You have no idea how the OP's children will behave in the dining room, nor what kind of food they'd prefer to eat! My kids love to eat in the MDR every night. I do book early dining though because they are hungry long before 8:00 PM and I myself don't like eating such a big meal so late at night.

 

 

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[LMaxwell]

We find Anytime dining to work pretty well because we can ask for a table by ourselves and let the waitstaff know how long we'd like to spend in there. It's usually 60-75 minutes; sometimes we skip dessert so we can walk it off around the ship and get ice cream later in the night. Adding the coffee and desert always seems to add another 20-30 minutes and that's when many kids hit their wall. Late dinner is too late, IMO, for little kids. They just won't be able to make it that late with all the activities from the day; at the very least you'd be going to lido before dinner just to get the kids fed.

 

So I say go to early dining or anytime dining. I think it would make your life easiest.

 

For the record; I've never considered going for pizza for dinner, and haven't had Carnival lido for dinner, but I did go to dinner 1 or 2 times at the buffet on Norwegian and was very pleasantly surprised at the offerings, so I will check it out on upcoming Carnival trip; might be a nice change of routine, especially if the kid is a little nutso that night, know what I mean?

[RTRMom]

My kids do not like the MDR. So they eat at the Camp Carnival every night and they love it. They get to eat with their friends and get to eat quickly and get food they like. We also enjoy a "date night" every night for dinner in the MDR. :)

[singlerail]

Wow, what a bunch of judgemental posts! You have no idea how the OP's children will behave in the dining room, nor what kind of food they'd prefer to eat! My kids love to eat in the MDR every night. I do book early dining though because they are hungry long before 8:00 PM and I myself don't like eating such a big meal so late at night.

 

 

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umm thats what the OP wanted, opinions, and now she has them

[Je Souhaite]

Before children, we have done both early and late dining. Really liked the late dining. Because we would sleep late, play hard during the day. Then stay up late. But now with kids, I'm not sure that's the right choice. They will sleep late (8-9ish) if they stay up too late. But i'm not sure they'll still be cool with eating supper so late. Thoughts from anyone whose experienced this with children? what worked best? I really want them to experience the mdr. They enjoy food, the experience, etc. from other vacations we've been on.

 

If they are currently on a schedule at home to eat around 6/7, it will be murder to expect them to dine between 8:30/10.

[dawnjam1]

I have always done late seating both before and after having kids. I do not like rushing kids into showers or cutting activities short. It leads to earlier nights too. Now that I am remarrying and taking kids that have not been before (only the youngest has had multiple cruises) we will continue to use my general "rule". They are 9, 10 and 11 on this cruise and it will be that they have to come back to the room around 5 for showers and a quiet hour after that before we get ready for dinner. We order a few snacks from room service at 5 to munch on between shower and rest. Crudite, cookies, etc. They arent wild about "naps" but mine knows if she doesn't rest she doesnt get to stay up late and she is quickly schooling the other two. Other than that there are few time restrictions on them. They are all looking forward to dinners and have been discussing what they will try. I have my daughter who will eat it all and the other two eat one veggie....corn. A whole new world is about to open up to them.

 

If you are concerned about other diners, don't be. This is a family vacation and needs to be treated as such. I am pretty uptight and proper and even I get this. We have another family going with us that has an extremely unruly 6 year old. I am sure there will be moments, but with a nap and a snack hopefully he will get into it!

 

Just enjoy your kids. Weigh out the time you choose with what is planned for the evenings and if you think Camp is a good evening option for your little ones after a late seating. Mine always thought it was a treat to stay up late! This helped!

 

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[Boston Mom]

To me what works best depends on the age and disposition of the kids, and how you are going to structure your day. My kids are teenagers, and we booked the late dining option so we don't have to rush to get ready for dinner. We'll do what we are doing for the day, have a late lunch, and have more time at the pool or other activity before we get ready for dinner. They have heavy sports practice schedules at home such that 8 pm is a typical dining time for us. Not sure if they will want to eat with us in the MDR or eat with friends they've met on the ship, we will just play that part by ear. We'll do the later show if they want to come with us, or meet up with us afterward.

 

When they were younger they were generally well behaved in restaurants and liked to try new foods so I would have brought them to early seating MDR, then some sort of family or kid activity or show before bed. They would have lost it in the MDR past 9 pm if they were in the sun and running around all day, but everyone's kids are so different.