Infants in specialty restaurants?

[SFLcowboy78]

17 hours ago, A Sixth? said:

I ordered the infant once. Tasted like chicken,

That's why I love children... Fried or boiled! Don't forget the Fava Beans and Chianti. 

 

(A Sixth this part is not directed at you)

In all seriousness though I will be cruising in November with the WHOLE family, there will be 10 of us for a 50th wedding anniversary. Of those 10 there will be 4 children a 15, 6, 4, and 8mo. As a previous poster has said, we take our children to many different places and they are extremely well behaved. A child learns how to behave by having experiences, it is up to the parent to provide those experiences and to teach their children how to behave. I can tell you I have seen my 3yo daughter behave better than most adults when dining in a fancy restaurant. I will also tell you that if my child is not behaving properly either myself or my wife will take them out of the restaurant until they are able to calm down and behave like a well mannered individual. 

 

You should not blame the child as they are just a reflection of their upbringing. Instead blame the parents and the parents parents for not teaching them better, this is the reason the millennials feel so entitled and act the way they do. I would rather eat in a restaurant full of well behaved and even partially behaved children than some of the crotchety individuals I have seen on these forums.     

[SFLcowboy78]

15 hours ago, lisiamc said:

 

 

If only there were a guarantee that having got the one, you would not get the other as well.  There’s no saying you couldn’t have nearby tables with loud drunks and screaming babies!  Or screaming drunks and loud babies, for that matter.  I’d prefer to dine without either.

And that is why the ships offer room service

[The Mommy]

We have never experienced an infant or small child in a speciality restaurant on any of our cruises.

 

It is not the presence of the child but their behaviour during the meal and if other diners are affected as a result. I like to think that I am in the company of like minded individuals who would remove their child if behaviour was a problem or if in the case of an infant that they would withdraw, and if this didn't happen I would expect a return visit FOC. 

 

Personally, for our ultimate enjoyment,  we cruise in term time to reduce the chances of children on cruises.

 

[PTC DAWG]

36 minutes ago, SFLcowboy78 said:

That's why I love children... Fried or boiled! Don't forget the Fava Beans and Chianti. 

 

(A Sixth this part is not directed at you)

In all seriousness though I will be cruising in November with the WHOLE family, there will be 10 of us for a 50th wedding anniversary. Of those 10 there will be 4 children a 15, 6, 4, and 8mo. As a previous poster has said, we take our children to many different places and they are extremely well behaved. A child learns how to behave by having experiences, it is up to the parent to provide those experiences and to teach their children how to behave. I can tell you I have seen my 3yo daughter behave better than most adults when dining in a fancy restaurant. I will also tell you that if my child is not behaving properly either myself or my wife will take them out of the restaurant until they are able to calm down and behave like a well mannered individual. 

 

You should not blame the child as they are just a reflection of their upbringing. Instead blame the parents and the parents parents for not teaching them better, this is the reason the millennials feel so entitled and act the way they do. I would rather eat in a restaurant full of well behaved and even partially behaved children than some of the crotchety individuals I have seen on these forums.     

I would never say it was the child's fault for their behavior.  Like I said in other posts, infants have no clue where they are, nor most kids below about the age of 3-4...they just can't process it.  

[lisiamc]

31 minutes ago, SFLcowboy78 said:

And that is why the ships offer room service

 

I don’t know about you, but I cruise to be sociable.  I would hope that the majority of other sociable people on the ship are not obnoxious drunks and screaming babies.  If that was the case, I’d change cruise lines before I’d hide in my cabin!

[PTC DAWG]

12 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

 

I don’t know about you, but I cruise to be sociable.  I would hope that the majority of other sociable people on the ship are not obnoxious drunks and screaming babies.  If that was the case, I’d change cruise lines before I’d hide in my cabin!

Luckily, both seem to be in the minority.  

[UnorigionalName]

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

Perhaps....

 

That said, I think the kids don't have a clue where they are at.  I always took mine to the beach, they had no clue where they were at, but they weren't in a fancy restaurant at sea screaming their lungs out at a 2 hour dinner.  I do know that.  

 

Sometimes the vacation can be for the parents too...

 

I think the baby friendliness is another one of these demographic shifts that the company probably feels is necessary for their business model.  The age at which people have kids in the college and college+ educated people is getting remarkably high  (li.  It's not that they are trying to target a different demographic than before per se, it's the demographic itself is shifting. 

 

For those who are in like latter half of 30's, 6 figure income, with infants/toddlers who like to travel.  Cruise seems like one of the easiest options. Don't have to lug infant stuff across multiple cities and hotels.  Can go back to your room whenever you want. Nap-time and meal times are easy to accommodate.  

 

[SFLcowboy78]

 

44 minutes ago, UnorigionalName said:

For those who are in like latter half of 30's, 6 figure income, with infants/toddlers who like to travel.  Cruise seems like one of the easiest options. Don't have to lug infant stuff across multiple cities and hotels.  Can go back to your room whenever you want. Nap-time and meal times are easy to accommodate.  

 

Ding, Ding, Ding Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner. You hit the nail on the head with this comment. It also describes my wife and I, along with most of our friends to a T. We are in our 40s', both of us are professionals who make good money and waited until later in life to have children. Cruising is a great way to enjoy a vacation and to visit multiple places without having to pack, travel, and switch hotels with each new destination. My daughter at 3 1/2 years of age already has more stamps in her passport than most adults I know (land trips, not cruises). She is also aware of her surrounding and knows exactly what is going on and how to behave. She absolutely loves fancy dinners (she calls them princess dinners). I would like to think that this is because of the experiences we have provided her.

[clskinsfan]

6 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I certainly agree with your comment about suites.  In our last sailing Blu was jammed, and I mean lines of 8-10 couples out the door during prime time every single day.  They still let in suite guests, allowed them to order off the MDR menu (this was S class) which resulted in our waiter being gone for 15 minutes at a time, and let them request the same waiter even if they were seated at the opposite side of the restaurant.  Very frustrating.

 

Just take solace in knowing they spent 5 times what you did for that "perk".

 

As far as infants go. We cruised with ours. Both of my kids are now grown up. But we cruised Carnival then where kids would have more fun anyways. And there really werent any specialty restaurants then. We ate in the MDR every night with them though. And if they got cranky we took them for a walk. We are taking our first Celebrity cruise in May. And while I would expect to see a few children, I am thinking it will far less than we are used to with the other lines. 

 

Just curious why those that cruise with young children would choose Celebrity anyways? There really isnt a whole lot of things for them to do. No slides, waterparks or any of the new fun stuff on ships these days. And Celebrity isnt cheap on top of it.