Cruising on the Spirit with a Fussy Eating Daughter

[bigilla]

Hi...we will cruising with the Spirit on July 2017. My daughter is a fussy eater and eats only pizza and pasta with plain red sauce or white sauce. If we eat at one of the main dining rooms, do you think they will cook her a plate of pasta if there is none suitable on the menu? or do we have to eat always at a buffet?

Her eating habits are always a headache for us. Thanks in advance.

[triptolemus]

Prepare yourself for unsolicited parenting advice.

[bigilla]

Prepare yourself for unsolicited parenting advice.

 

 

No problem.... I need parenting advice ! :D

[gymbomb]

I am sure they will bring her plain pasta. They will likely also have pizza available on the kids menu. And things like plain fruit, cheese, etc. if she will eat those sorts of side dishes.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Rhea98]

I agree. It may take a few minutes longer, but they will accommodate. Here's the unsolicited advice: don't ruin your appetites over hers. If she's healthy, she's eating what she needs. Yes, I'm prepared for the flame! I actually prefer BBQ.

 

Nexus 9

[bigilla]

I agree. It may take a few minutes longer, but they will accommodate. Here's the unsolicited advice: don't ruin your appetites over hers. If she's healthy, she's eating what she needs. Yes, I'm prepared for the flame! I actually prefer BBQ.

 

Nexus 9

 

 

LOL...Good one..thanks a lot for the advice!!

[Dcoy]

Make sure your daughter smiles and is polite to your server(s). It amazing what a little charm can do on a cruise.

 

My granddaughter was a fussy eater but did not go hungry. She got better service than her parents.

 

Don

[Vyhanek]

I have an 17 year old that still basically eats pizza and pasta like that. She's been on probably 10 NCL cruises.

 

Your daughter will be happy with the kids menu which will be available in every restaurant.....And thankfully for me, my 17 year old can still order off of it!! You will have no problem.

 

You might get her to venture out a little bit by taking her to the buffet. There's always plenty of pizza and plain pasta but other options too. Dinners on NCL can take 2 or more hours and my experience with really picky eaters is that they don't normally like to sit and watch the family eat course after course. Your daughter might be happier eating in the buffet and then going to the teen club while you and husband enjoy dinner.

[mamasylvia]

I agree with the advice to not let her appetite ruin yours. One of my nursing school instructors always used to say that no child ever starved to death in the presence of food (in the absence of serious GI disorders).

 

I'm the original meanest mama in the world. My kids had the choice of eating what was on the table, filling up on my homemade bread (because everyone has the right to dislike some foods), or going hungry. They are adults now, neither of them starved to death. lol

[bigilla]

Thanks everyone for the useful advice. I am more comfortable now. We will surely eat at the buffets, but, in our 10 night cruise, we would like to eat at least once or twice in one of the main dining rooms. We wont do it often though cause It s very true that my daughter wont sit still for 2 hours waiting for us to finish eating..and we wouldn t enjoy it either. Thank you

[helpmecruise16]

We would all start out dinner together. Kids meal would come with our appetizer and when they finished, several times they went to the room or somewhere while we finished dinner. 7 nights of two hour meals is too much for them so we get to enjoy their company for a bit through appetizers and then enjoy our dinner and dessert either with or without them depending on how they are feeling. I am sure that's not popular, but it worked well for us.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[philip_eunice1]

She isn't hungry enough

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mamasylvia]

I don't think it's that simple. We aren't born eager to try new things, it has to be a learned behavior. And of course a conscientious parent is going to be concerned to make sure her child gets the proper nutrition. Add to that the normal terrible twos (which are actually an important developmental step for the child to learn he is separate from his parents) and it's amazing that any child doesn't turn into a fussy eater!

 

I set and enforced a rule that the child had to try one bite of any new food. Most times they discovered they liked it. Sometimes they really didn't, and I never made a big deal about it - everyone has preferences, and I always had homemade bread that they could choose to eat instead of the prepared meal. Being a stay-at-home homeschooling mom, I had the luxury of teaching them to cook fairly early, even though it took 10x as long for them to make a meal as it did me. But cooking dinner carried its own reward, in addition to the satisfaction, the cook got to choose the menu (within reason). ;) They were both competent cooks before they left home! And when my son's National Guard unit was sent to the Middle East, because he was used to trying new things, he had an absolute ball checking out the local cuisine.

[sanger727]

I've never had a 2 hour meal on a cruise. If you sit down and want your wine while you decide and order many course, maybe. But we had no issues getting a start, entrée, and dessert in an hour. I would just see if they can bring her meal out with the starters so she has something to eat right away. Surely she may enjoy having dessert? They have ice cream and usually cake.

 

A nice thing about the cruise is all the food is included. Especially in reference to the starters, since they small portions, I like to challenge myself to try something new. Perhaps use this opportunity to encourage your child to branch out. Something along the lines of she can have her pasta or pizza every night after she orders a starter and tries a bite. You never know, she may find other things she likes.

[murfette]

I don't think it's that simple. We aren't born eager to try new things, it has to be a learned behavior. And of course a conscientious parent is going to be concerned to make sure her child gets the proper nutrition. Add to that the normal terrible twos (which are actually an important developmental step for the child to learn he is separate from his parents) and it's amazing that any child doesn't turn into a fussy eater!

 

I set and enforced a rule that the child had to try one bite of any new food. Most times they discovered they liked it. Sometimes they really didn't, and I never made a big deal about it - everyone has preferences, and I always had homemade bread that they could choose to eat instead of the prepared meal. Being a stay-at-home homeschooling mom, I had the luxury of teaching them to cook fairly early, even though it took 10x as long for them to make a meal as it did me. But cooking dinner carried its own reward, in addition to the satisfaction, the cook got to choose the menu (within reason). ;) They were both competent cooks before they left home! And when my son's National Guard unit was sent to the Middle East, because he was used to trying new things, he had an absolute ball checking out the local cuisine.

 

 

I agree with you 100% one bite then if they didn't like it don't eat it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[dgparent]

Just a question, so if she only eats pizza and pasta with red or white sauce does that mean you cook that every day for her at home ? Is that even remotely healthy ? Does she even eat at school ?

[cruiselover19811981]

We went on our first NCL cruise with our 2 children (their first cruise) at the end of August on the Escape. Our son, 8, has quite the palette (he enjoys trying new dishes, and sushi, all meats and shellfish are his faves)....our daughter, age 7 (6 at sailing) is quite opposite. She enjoys pizza, pizza, pasta and pizza. Having said that, both of our children asked us to eat in the dining rooms every evening. In fact, we never made it to the buffet for a dinner. We had 1 lunch and 1 or 2 breakfasts at the buffet on our 7 day cruise, but aside from that, we all enjoyed the fine dinner service and great food in the Taste, Savor & Manhattan MD rooms, even though our daughter ate pizza prob on 3 or 4 of those nights off the kids menu (Burger the other nights). Our family loved NCL so much, we booked another cruise with them for 2018. A very family friendly cruise line.

 

 

are

Hi...we will cruising with the Spirit on July 2017. My daughter is a fussy eater and eats only pizza and pasta with plain red sauce or white sauce. If we eat at one of the main dining rooms, do you think they will cook her a plate of pasta if there is none suitable on the menu? or do we have to eat always at a buffet?

Her eating habits are always a headache for us. Thanks in advance.

[bsharynu]

We just got off the Getaway. My son had plain noodles with Parmesan cheese almost every night, even at Le Bistro! He even managed to find it at the buffet whenever he went up there too. I could always order a side of watermelon or other fruit for him too, even if not on the menu. For my daughter, I would often order a side of veggies that the waitstaff would happily bring. (Typically, I would look at the evening' vegetable accompaniments on the main menu). Don't stress, she will have plenty to eat.

[bigilla]

Just a question, so if she only eats pizza and pasta with red or white sauce does that mean you cook that every day for her at home ? Is that even remotely healthy ? Does she even eat at school ?

 

 

Even though I started this thread asking a simple question about dining on the Spirit, I am VERY grateful for the CONSTRUCTIVE advice a lot of good people are giving me. But I cant understand how your 2 questions, dgparent, can be of your business and / or problem, or how they can be of any help to me.