What is best time for dinner with small children?

[Starburst1]

Hi, This is our first cruise and we are sailing on the Independence of the Seas in May. Just wondered what is the best time to book for dinner so that we can watch the shows as well in the evening before it gets too late for the little ones to be up. Contacted RCL but they could not confirm show times for me!!:confused:

[bus man]

There are two fixed-time dinner seatings, and two concurrent show times. So if you eat at the first sitting, you'll get the second show time; and vice versa.

 

Personally, I would base your decision around the meal time. If your kids eat fairly early, I would go for first seating. Granted, they might be too tired to make the show; but you and your spouse can always take turns, with one of you watching the show and the other staying in the cabin with the kids. Or, you can hire a babysitter.

 

Better that the kids get fed and miss the show, then see the show but are too tired to eat!

[NJfoodie]

I think RCI also gives you the option of Anytime seating. This might be a good choice if you have young children so that you have some flexibility on when you eat depending on the day's show schedule and what time tends to be best for the kids.

 

We tend to sail NCL because we like the lack of set dinner seatings and would want the same flexibility with dinner time with any other cruiseline. We tend to eat as early as possible if we're not in port because it'll be less busy and significantly decreases the likelihood that DS will be crabby during dinner if he's fed before he's starving and tired. He's pretty well behaved at dinner at 5:30/6pm. At 8pm when it's getting on his bedtime, not so much.

[mikemike404]

There are two fixed-time dinner seatings, and two concurrent show times. So if you eat at the first sitting, you'll get the second show time; and vice versa.

 

Personally, I would base your decision around the meal time. If your kids eat fairly early, I would go for first seating. Granted, they might be too tired to make the show; but you and your spouse can always take turns, with one of you watching the show and the other staying in the cabin with the kids. Or, you can hire a babysitter.

 

 

How does this work ? We are on RCCL in April and would like to have a QUALIFIED crew member watch our kids one or two nights. Do they advertise this babysitting thing on board ?

[bus man]

Or, you can hire a babysitter.

 

 

 

How does this work ? We are on RCCL in April and would like to have a QUALIFIED crew member watch our kids one or two nights. Do they advertise this babysitting thing on board ?

 

To my knowledge, yes, the baby sitting services are advertised somewhere. I believe that they use staff people whose job is to babysit, as opposed to random staffers who happen to be available. When you go aboard, you can go to Guest Services and ask about it. I'm not an expert, as I've never used this service. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

[cb at sea]

Most families will opt for main/early seating...as the children's activities are scheduled around that seating.

 

Yes...there is babysitting...but register for it on the first day. Babysitters are limited.

 

One of the Freedom class ships also may have the "group" babysitting...not sure which ship, tho!

[B_Mc]

Depends on your child's usual routine, IMO! We have always taken the early seating (6 pm) and DS goes to bed by 7:30 so he never gets to the shows!

[meefnyc]

We just got back from cruising on Liberty of the Seas. I am not sure how old your kids are, but they offer in-cabin babysitting at $19/hr. Their default is to send 2 babysitters to your cabin each time, and I believe there is a 2 hour minimum. It gets charged to your SeaPass account, which is different than what they had done, which was cash straight to the babysitters. These sitters are not guaranteed and definitely request them as soon as you get on the ship. Advance reservations cannot be made. As I understand it, these are crew members who offer their time outside of their work shifts on the ship to earn some extra money. We had requested the sitters two evenings and one evening did not work out as there were no sitters available. We chose a different night and it was fine.

 

I have heard that if you sign off, they can take your kids out of the cabin and around the ship (if you use them during the day). We only used them at night while our daughter was sleeping. It seemed like overkill to have 2 for a sleeping child but that was their policy.

 

There is not a hard and fast rule about this, but they do lend you a DECT phone to use on the ship when the sitter is with your child(ren). That way, they can reach you should anything come up. We had to push for it the first time and the second time they brought one with them.

 

Hope that helps!