Kids Eating in MDR then heading off to play?

[IMKTDQT810]

I know that RCCL offer that but does Carnival also? This will be DS 1st cruise. I'm hoping he has fun not matter which ship/line we go on. But perfect example is this week...his first week of summer day camp (just 4 hours a day for 4 days a week for 6 weeks) and he is not having fun. So I was wondering (crossing fingers) if he LOVES the kids activities and would much rather eat and go play while the "adults" enjoy our meal....can I walk him to the kids area? What are the pros and cons of this? Just wondering....thanks for the input.

[cb at sea]

Yes...you can ask your waiter to "hurry" his meal....and you certainly can take him to whatever activity is happening.

Some folks will simply feed the child at the buffet BEFORE your dinnertime, so they don't have to leave in the middle of the meal.

 

My kids HATED summer camp, too! And I don't blame them...sometimes, kids just need to "be"...and make up their own good time!

[notentirelynormal]

That's exactly was my DD did on our last cruise. As soon as the then 5 YO was done with dinner he was whisked off to the kid's club. Unfortunately for them they still had the 3 YOU to deal with :D. Life is good as a grandparent LOL.

 

We always had a bowl of fresh strawberries waiting at the table when we sat down so the kids had something to eat while we ordered. They ate and had their DVDs handy to keep them occupied while we ate.

[Prinycesa07]

Yes, this is what we did with our 3 yr old. Camp carnival was closed for dinner and reopened at 7 so dh or I would bring her after she ate her meal. It worked well because we could come back and finish our dinner & dessert & she had no interst in sitting there for almost 2 hrs.

[medley01]

Camp Carnival has a program where you can drop the kids off to the Camp Carnival Counselors in the Lido buffet restaurant at dinner time and they feed the children and then take them back to Camp Carnival. This worked well for us on our last couple of cruises. My boys were 2 and 4 the last time we did this and it worked great!

[NanciRDH]

Yes, this is what we did with our 3 yr old. Camp carnival was closed for dinner and reopened at 7 so dh or I would bring her after she ate her meal. It worked well because we could come back and finish our dinner & dessert & she had no interst in sitting there for almost 2 hrs.

 

This is exactly what I've done on all our family cruises. The waiters we've had were always awesome about hurrying her meal, usually had a bowl of fruit waiting for us every night and would even grab some vanilla ice cream (her fav!) for her when our entrees arrived. Then I'd run to camp between dinner and dessert, and come back in time to relax with that and a cup of coffee with DH. The staff is usually great with the kids because many of them have left families at home.

[Prinycesa07]

Camp Carnival has a program where you can drop the kids off to the Camp Carnival Counselors in the Lido buffet restaurant at dinner time and they feed the children and then take them back to Camp Carnival. This worked well for us on our last couple of cruises. My boys were 2 and 4 the last time we did this and it worked great!

 

I WISH my kids would have done this. Even at least ONE night! Alas, my 2 and 3 year old would not eat without me.

[Heartfruit]

When DD was on her first cruise she was 6 and ordered the same thing in the MDR every night (even Christmas dinner). We'd have the waitstaff serve it with our apps and then either my husband or I would pop up with her once she was finished and we were normally back at the table just as the mains were being served.

[nmmickeymom]

One thing to be aware of is that some cruise lines only offer the "sweep your kids away after 20 minutes at dinner" option for the first seating of dinner. We have always had second seating but do what others have suggested and we take the kiddos to the club when they are done and ready to go.