thoughts on late dining with children

[Talex831]

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

 

 

 

Um, no that's not what she got. She got hints to keep her kids out of the MDR for the sake of other passengers. She was also told her kids would prefer pizza or the buffet for meals. The arrogance of some people is disgusting.

 

 

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[First and Ten]

Um, no that's not what she got. She got hints to keep her kids out of the MDR for the sake of other passengers. She was also told her kids would prefer pizza or the buffet for meals. The arrogance of some people is disgusting.

 

 

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Shame some people confuse arrogance for honesty [emoji6]

If you actually READ my post, I didn't presume the kids like the pizza and buffet over the MDR (even tho it's basically all the same, just a different setting). What I posted was give the snowflakes a break from sitting for 2-2.5 hrs EVERY NIGHT. That is hard for most young kids. Take them for a quick dinner 2 or 3 nights to give them a break (along with your fellow diners)

 

 

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Edited April 7, 2017 by First and Ten

[Taylorcast]

My family always has chosen late dining. Even the club o2 activities are scheduled during late dining times, I missed quite a few activities because I was eating with my family.

 

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[jsglow]

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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Ditto. Now we didn't start cruising until our kids were pre-teens but we all LOVED the MDR as a family every night. We always did Early.

[amydresh]

We loved eating together as a family in MDR during our cruise. It was one of the highlights of the day for all of us. My kids are older, 16, 13, and turned 11 while on the cruise and we did early dining because we are early eaters at home but my kids would have been completely fine with late dining too, we are night owls around here and when we don't have to be up early we go to bed between midnight and 2 am. I don't know what cruise other posters are on when saying that dinner will be 2-2.5 hours long, we would be out of the dining room shortly after 7 pm most nights. The longest that dinner ever went was 7:30 one night and I believe it was elegant night when everyone had ordered the same stuff and it was taking longer to get orders out.

[Boston Mom]

I am looking forward to eating in the MDR with my children for as much as they want to eat with us.

 

Even within the same family, kids are so different. Even when my daughter was really little she loved to dress up, and to people watch. She could have sat there for 2 hours in the MDR in her fancy dress, picking at her chicken nuggets and looking all around the room. But with my youngest at that age, particularly if he hadn't napped, we would have been buffet all the way because he had a low threshold for sitting still and I wouldn't have inflicted him on anyone else's relaxing dinnertime. To me it is about knowing your kids, and structuring dining choices around your family's enjoyment while taking into consideration those around you.

 

Glad to hear that dinner doesn't take 2 1/2 hours. There is so much else that I want to do at night on the ship and I don't want to sit there that long every night myself.

[summersigh]

The bottom line here is that when you choose to have children and take them on vacation things ARE going to be DIFFERENT than your single, childless days.

In raising children it's not about your "wants" any more so much as their "needs".

Just my opinion .....

[A&Jfamily]

We have always eaten early when the kids travel with us. I didn't read the responses but I am confident someone has commented that the activities for the under 13 crowd are from 7-10 pm so if they go to dinner at 8, the miss them. My kids would have lost their minds if they had to miss camp every night.

 

Now that they are teens, YTD is great because we can adjust to the day. But they still comment that they miss fixed dining where they get to know the wait staff and their every need is met. We loved having the staff have milk and fruit plates ready at 6 because the kids were starving when we sat down and that way they didn't fill up on bread. Then, they stayed a course ahead and finished dessert as we were finishing dinner about 7; one of use would walk them to camp while the other ordered dessert and coffee. Made for a lovely evening.

[summersigh]

We have friends who take their children to the Lido for dinner each evening and have coffee while their kids eat dinner. It makes for a lovely family dining time. After the kids eat the parents walk them to the Kids Club ... then go for a quiet dinner for 2 picking the kids up later.:)

[LaFrimaire]

I recommend YTD with kids that way you have flexibility. Most nights we'd feed kids from the buffet, then take them to kids club and have later dinner on our own in MDR. When we ate with them, getting to dining room before 7 worked out or you have bored , tired kids.

 

 

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[elainmir]

Our boys are 25 and 15 ( the ones that cruise anyways!) and they like to do early or YTD so we can roam around and see things and visit. We might find a band or play in the casino or go get drinks while the youngest hits up the Candy Shoppe. We usually hit the hay early and are extremely early risers. But younger kiddos I'd say it depends on the kiddo.

[torcruise]

I have a 2 year old and 6 year old. The 6 year old is a foodie and eats stuff I won't even try, like clam and muscles! She is not chicken nuggets type! I feed my youngest and take him to camp. My oldest and I go to late seating. However at home we don't eat till 8pm, and they go to bed around 10-11

[summersigh]

In our experience dinner in the MDR only lasts around an hour to an hour and 1/2 at most.

You can speed it up if you ask the waiters for the desert menu at the time you peruse the regular menu. If you order desert at the same time you order your entrees it will be waiting when you finish the entree course and you save the ordering and fetching time for normal desert service.

[amydresh]

Another way to speed things up if you don't want to be sitting around in the MDR long, go at 5:45 to dinner. When we got to dinner at 6 on the first night (elegant night), we were one of the last ones to get in there and order which pushed our meals back longer than everyone else's. That was the night we ended up not getting done until 7:30. We went to dinner at 5:45-5:50 the rest of the week and we were only in there for about an hour all of those nights. The nights that they dance they did it around 7:10, if you wanted to be there for that part, then I would suggest asking when they do it so that you can plan accordingly. :)

[Neotericisis]

My children are used to a later dinner since I work full time, but we chose early dining so we could watch the shows/family events with them, then drop them off to the Night Owl program. The family comedy show and first seating of the broadway show occur during the late dining. For my upcoming cruise, recent fun times also had the Hasbro Game Night during late night dining. We HAVE to see that!