Making the specialty restaurants family friendly??

[Real NHDOC]

Saw this banner today on Nieuw Statendam. What an idiotic idea. Encouraging people to bring children under 12 into the specialty restaurants. Ugh. 

[wcflats]

Totally agree with Real NH Doc !

[Hllb]

Lol…why not? My kids always behaved well in restaurants and if they didn’t, we left.  

[Real NHDOC]

HAL should concentrate on their target demographic; empty nesters on up. Don’t try to be a jack of all trades. 

[Florida_gal_50]

I find this an odd step.  Specialty restaurants and getting more and more difficult to book on board.  Also with hia.  It makes me wonder if hal is doing this to fill the restaurants even more and ultimately charge more.

[horseymike]

They are obviously promoting the “ specialty “ dining any way possible.

Another $$$$$ grab. Remember when cruise ship cuisine on the Premium Lines was first class all the way ?
Then the business plan changed to offering low fares and then nickel and diming every inch of the way.

I miss the old days.

[SilvertoGold]

On the Noordam 7 day Alaska last autumn the Pinnacle Manager told us she was having a lot of problems, each night, every cruise, fitting in regular guests after all the HIA reservations.  Encouraging families who might not otherwise bother with the specialty restaurants won't help.

[albingirl]

1 hour ago, Real NHDOC said:

Saw this banner today on Nieuw Statendam. What an idiotic idea. Encouraging people to bring children under 12 into the specialty restaurants. Ugh. 

I disagree with the "ugh" comment. Many families travel together and their children are well traveled and very well behaved. 

[Hllb]

8 minutes ago, horseymike said:

They are obviously promoting the “ specialty “ dining any way possible.

Another $$$$$ grab. Remember when cruise ship cuisine on the Premium Lines was first class all the way ?
Then the business plan changed to offering low fares and then nickel and diming every inch of the way.

I miss the old days.

Another cash grab? This is less expensive than before. Kids weren’t banned from specialty restaurants to my knowledge and this makes it less expensive. I took my kids to them on another line, for full price so this would have been welcome. At least on that line, kids were free if ordering off the normal kids’ menu. My kids, sadly, wanted the adult food.

[Colorado Klutch]

45 minutes ago, Hllb said:

Lol…why not? My kids always behaved well in restaurants and if they didn’t, we left.  

 

Why not? Well because all too many parents aren't like you. They will sit and stare at their phones while their little darlings dump the salt and pepper shakers, throw food, scream, yell, holler, whine, get under the table and run around the restaurant. When they do eventually leave, they leave behind a large "blast zone" of debris which the staff must spend a lot of time cleaning. At restaurants ashore, this is all for a $2.00 tip or maybe no tip at all.

 

These are the same parents who sit in hotel hot tubs drinking beer, smoking and staring at their phones while their little darlings run around, scream, yell and dive into the water. (This all takes place directly below the big sign which reads, "NO ALCOHOL, NO SMOKING, NO PERSONS UNDER 18".) 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Colorado Klutch

[horseymike]

2 minutes ago, Hllb said:

Another cash grab? This is less expensive than before. Kids weren’t banned from specialty restaurants to my knowledge and this makes it less expensive. I took my kids to them on another line, for full price so this would have been welcome. At least on that line, kids were free if ordering off the normal kids’ menu. My kids, sadly, wanted the adult food.

If people with kids do not go in at all they feel they are missing that revenue , by offering the discounted kids prices they entice some families in.

[cruisemom42]

My son is well past the age, but I thought I remembered from past posts that this was always the case.

 

I doubt someone is going to decide to bring their tribe on HAL just because specialty dining is 50% for children....  However, it IS a nice notion if, as someone mentioned, it is a multi-generational group onboard, perhaps celebrating a special event.

 

As to the comment from @Colorado Klutch. -- you have actually see this happen in a HAL specialty restaurant?

 

[CruiserBruce]

Everything is a "cash grab". Because making a profit is sort of an important step to being in business.

[albingirl]

7 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

My son is well past the age, but I thought I remembered from past posts that this was always the case.

 

I doubt someone is going to decide to bring their tribe on HAL just because specialty dining is 50% for children....  However, it IS a nice notion if, as someone mentioned, it is a multi-generational group onboard, perhaps celebrating a special event.

 

As to the comment from @Colorado Klutch. -- you have actually see this happen in a HAL specialty restaurant?

 

Agree.

[Colorado Klutch]

10 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

My son is well past the age, but I thought I remembered from past posts that this was always the case.

 

I doubt someone is going to decide to bring their tribe on HAL just because specialty dining is 50% for children....  However, it IS a nice notion if, as someone mentioned, it is a multi-generational group onboard, perhaps celebrating a special event.

 

As to the comment from @Colorado Klutch. -- you have actually see this happen in a HAL specialty restaurant?

 

 

No, I have yet to take my first cruise. But now that HAL is offering discounts for kids, it's a given that it will happen. I have seen it happen again and again at expensive, high-end restaurants ashore. My son and daughter worked at restaurants for many years and they saw it constantly. 

[OlsSalt]

Making the promised, quiet, serene adults-only Retreat Cabanas "family friendly" on our last Konigsdasm cruise was a total fail. Except for the family with the six kids running amok - they got a good deal.

[albingirl]

1 minute ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

No, I have yet to take my first cruise. But now that HAL is offering discounts for kids, it's a given that it will happen. I have seen it happen again and again at expensive, high-end restaurants ashore. My son and daughter worked at restaurants for many years and they saw it constantly. 

Since it's your first cruise, maybe you can reserve judgement until after. I've never seen what you mentioned.

[SilvertoGold]

16 minutes ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

Why not? Well because all too many parents aren't like you. They will sit and stare at their phones while their little darlings dump the salt and pepper shakers, throw food, scream, yell, holler, whine, get under the table and run around the restaurant. When they do eventually leave, they leave behind a large "blast zone" of debris which the staff must spend a lot of time cleaning. At restaurants ashore, this is all for a $2.00 tip or maybe no tip at all.

 

These are the same parents who sit in hotel hot tubs drinking beer, smoking and staring at their phones while their little darlings run around, scream, yell and dive into the water. (This all takes place directly below the big sign which reads, "NO ALCOHOL, NO SMOKING, NO PERSONS UNDER 18".) 

Not all the many families who travel together have well-behaved children. Period. Every cruise we have been on we see that the MDR has enough problems with some tables with children.  For us that has been one of the drawbacks of doing a series of 7 day cruises.

[albingirl]

Well, maybe people should just take adult only cruises. 🤷 

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, SilvertoGold said:

Not all the many families who travel together have well-behaved children. Period. Every cruise we have been on we see that the MDR has enough problems with some tables with children.  For us that has been one of the drawbacks of doing a series of 7 day cruises.

Same. I've seen both.  Some kids are lovely and you wouldn't even know they are there.  Some, not so much.

[Colorado Klutch]

3 minutes ago, albingirl said:

Since it's your first cruise, maybe you can reserve judgement until after. I've never seen what you mentioned.

 

No need to reserve judgement. I've judging what I've seen with my own eyes many times ashore. Why would it be any different on a ship? 

[FlorenceItaly]

55 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

HAL should concentrate on their target demographic; empty nesters on up. Don’t try to be a jack of all trades. 

Imo, this is no longer HAL's target demographic.

[albingirl]

1 minute ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

No need to reserve judgement. I've judging what I've seen with my own eyes many times ashore. Why would it be any different on a ship? 

Because, sometimes there are children who have been taught manners. Some children are very experienced in travel. I've seen young ones on many cruises.

[Laminator]

On my last cruise on the NS I saw many more misbehaved ADULTS than children. All alcohol related. There were a few times when blows were almost struck. And the one pax who accused the servers of stealing his phone. The same phone I saw him talking on the next morning. I guess HAL should stop selling alcohol also.

I find it hard to believe that any family booking a cruise will be book HAL because the Specialty restaurants are offering 50% off for children under 12. 

[Taters]

I love kids, I truly do, but I still book cruises that I think not a lot of kids will be on.  I don't think this will affect any of the cruises I'm currently booked on. 

 

On Friday we'll board Oosterdam in San Antonio, Chile for a 17 night cruise up the west coast of South America, through the Panama Canal, to Aruba, then into Ft. Lauderdale.  I am betting there will be less than 10 children onboard.  So this change will not be bothersome at all.  If you're not too keen on sailing with loads of kids, avoid holiday cruises and cruises in the height of summer.