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Dinner with kids


iluvmyortiz1122
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We have 8/7/3 year olds. I haven’t cruised in awhile but have cruised about five times, and never with kids. I read here dinner can last two hours? Is this accurate for carnival? Specifically freedom, if that matters. I’m wondering if we need to shoot for kids club every night for them or if they can handle it...

 

 

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I have the same concerns with my 6 and 8 year olds. I've never done Carnival before -- more used to NCL's Freestyle Dining, but we're doing the early seating of MDR this time. I really hope I don't have to send them to Camp Ocean for dinner.

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There is typically time between courses. When DD was that age, she would order off kid's menu, get her meal as we were served our appetizer course. When she was finished, if she wanted to go to kids' club, one of us would take her between courses. Usually got back a bit late, but no big deal. Some lines have programs now where the counselors will pick up the kids in the MDR -- don't know about Carnival.

Edited by Onessa
typo
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Carnival had the option where you could drop off your kids with the counselors for dinner on the lido deck and then pick them up later at camp. My kids loved this. They had camp dinner half the cruise. They were 5 and 7 at the time.

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We would take the kids with us to dinner, request that the food be brought as quickly as possible. Our kids usually made it through two courses (my children have sailed at the ages of 2, 3 and 6), and then we dropped them off at the kids club. We haven't yet sailed a line that does dinner for the kids, but prefer to keep them with us so we can expose them to new foods for dinner. If you have fixed dining, request a table just for your family (I think when you share a table the courses are brought at the same time)

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My experience is that dinner is more like 1 hr. to 1.5 hr on Carnival. We always take our 7 year old son with us with the exception of one or two nights. Our MDR wait staff have always been awesome at keeping him one course ahead of us. Appetizer (fruit cup) on the table when we get there, main course during our apps, and dessert during our main course. Then between main course and dessert one of us runs him up to kids club and we're back for dessert and coffee. It turns his meal into 45 minutes to an hour and he has always done fine with this.

 

On the nights he eats with the kids club one of us goes to the MDR and the other checks him into the kids club in the buffet since they open at the same time.

 

On Carnival there is usually something going on to sort of keep them occupied while waiting. Pirate pictures, magicians, dancing.

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Dinners used to sometimes take 2 hours, but that is no longer the case. The dining times on Carnival are 2 hours and 15 minutes apart, and they'll be hinting that'd like you to leave it you're still at early seating after about 1 hour and 45 minutes. We've been there that late a couple times and they'll start flashing the lights and/or the head waiter will come by, but we're still waiting for desert. We don't eat slow nor do we ignore our food while conversing... and frankly we'd like to have been out 30 minutes ago, but we seem to attract bad/slow waiters.

 

Anyway, you can always get up and leave... ideally before ordering desert. Don't assume it will be quick, even though most deserts are pre-plated and should show up in 5 mins or less. We generally have taken to skipping desert in the MDR and going to the buffet sometime later to grab something. That shortens the sitting time and we find desert to be more enjoyable on a not-so-full stomach.

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My son's were 2 and 8 when they started cruising and we always had dinner in the MDR as a family - though about 1 time per cruise we would let them eat with camp and enjoy an adult dinner.

 

We used fixed early seating, but YTD would work too (if you request same staff each night). We went at 6, and asked staff each night to have milk and a fruit plate ready (so they wouldn't fill up on bread). They ate off the adult menu and had their entree while we had our appetizer, and there dessert while we had entree. We were universally done by 7 and one parent would walk the kids to camp while the other remained to order dessert and coffee for the adults. We enjoyed 3 hours of adult time for shows, drinks, music etc while the kids played in camp. Worked beautifully...and taught my kids to eat a wide variety of food that they would have never tried but for cruising.

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our kid doesn't do kid's club, so our salvation is a tablet with games/cartoons and headphones. He's been called the best behaved child in MDR many times - lost to the world I call it.

It's a win-win - we get to eat in peace in MDR and our child is quiet and engaged and eating. We don't have to hurry, leave between courses or early, or go to the buffet instead of MDR.

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