In-suite dining on the first night?

[tomservo]

Is it possible to do in-suite dining on the first night, or is too much to ask on embarkation day?

[BirdTravels]

Embarkation/turnover day is busy for the crew from early in the morning to late at night. 

 

You can ask your butler to bring you a dinner in your suite. They will do as you ask. 

[bonvoyagie]

It is part of the butler's job and they should not mind doing it. That said, it may set the tone for the rest of the cruise as you may be perceived as "high matainence". To get past this, a nice cash tip would probably change their opinion.  

[Love my butler]

It's possible but I usually hear from the butlers how busy they are on the first day.  If you get a great butler, they will say yes, no problem.

[AdoraBelle]

Sounds like they need to hire more butlers.

[graphicguy]

Never had a Butler turn me down for dinner en Suite on the first night of the cruise.  Served hot and exactly as ordered.  This was on both the “Away” ships.

[gmbhardy]

Yes, I think it depends on your butler. On our first morning a few weeks ago on the Getaway,, we called our butler to order a pot of coffee and some pastries (we realized that there were not enough coffee pods for the three of us). Our butler delivered the coffee a bit later and scolded me for not filling out the breakfast card and leaving it out the night before. 

[Stealthdog]

Its your vacation.  You can, and should, do whatever you want.

[tomservo]

35 minutes ago, Stealthdog said:

Its your vacation.  You can, and should, do whatever you want.

 

I know, I just don’t want to be a pain. I have young kids and they’re going to be a wreck, so I figured it’d best best for everyone (us, the kids, the other restaurant patrons) to have dinner in the room the first night. Also sail away is that evening, so it would be nice to have dinner during that. 

[Two Wheels Only]

28 minutes ago, tomservo said:

 

I know, I just don’t want to be a pain. I have young kids and they’re going to be a wreck, so I figured it’d best best for everyone (us, the kids, the other restaurant patrons) to have dinner in the room the first night. Also sail away is that evening, so it would be nice to have dinner during that. 

 

There's nothing wrong with your plan. Some guests are exhausted on the first night due to travel.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Two Wheels Only

[tomservo]

9 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

There's nothing wrong with your plan. Some guests are exhausted on the first night due to travel.

 

Will I have met my butler by then? I read that sometimes people don’t see them until the next day (although I don’t remember if I read that was here or the X boards). Boarding got pushed from noon to 3pm on my sailing, I hope that’s enough time to make arrangements. 

[Two Wheels Only]

2 minutes ago, tomservo said:

 

Will I have met my butler by then? I read that sometimes people don’t see them until the next day (although I don’t remember if I read that was here or the X boards). Boarding got pushed from noon to 3pm on my sailing, I hope that’s enough time to make arrangements. 

 

You should meet the butler within the first few hours after boarding. We usually meet the butler before luggage arrives.

[FLcruisergrl]

10 hours ago, tomservo said:

 

I know, I just don’t want to be a pain. I have young kids and they’re going to be a wreck, so I figured it’d best best for everyone (us, the kids, the other restaurant patrons) to have dinner in the room the first night. Also sail away is that evening, so it would be nice to have dinner during that. 

In this instance, we usually do a casual dinner-O’Sheehans or the buffet- and go to bed early. All of us are usually pretty tired the first day. I know it’s their job, but I prefer not to ask for too much on the first day.

Edited March 30, 2019 by FLcruisergrl

[tomservo]

4 minutes ago, FLcruisergrl said:

In this instance, we usually do a casual dinner-O’Sheehans or the buffet- and go to bed early. All of us are usually pretty tired the first day. I know it’s their job, but I prefer not to ask for too much on the first day.

It’s a 4 night cruise and we have the 3 night SDP so we don’t have much time to use it. 

[Joaljoe]

 But Tom, after seeing all my good food... you have to go out!! LOL How old are your kiddos? 

[tomservo]

1 hour ago, Joaljoe said:

 But Tom, after seeing all my good food... you have to go out!! LOL How old are your kiddos? 

 

I definitely want to, I’m just worried about them being able to handle a 2 hour meal. We’ve left a few restaurants saying that we would never eat out again because of their behavior. It’s not always like that, but there have been some particularly difficult dinners. 

 

They’re 2 and 4, both boys, and both pretty rowdy at times. The 2 year old has really embraced the Terrible Twos over the last few months.

 

Really great thread btw, I hope to return the favor with lots of pics of our meals!

[Joaljoe]

3 hours ago, tomservo said:

 

I definitely want to, I’m just worried about them being able to handle a 2 hour meal. We’ve left a few restaurants saying that we would never eat out again because of their behavior. It’s not always like that, but there have been some particularly difficult dinners. 

 

They’re 2 and 4, both boys, and both pretty rowdy at times. The 2 year old has really embraced the Terrible Twos over the last few months.

 

Really great thread btw, I hope to return the favor with lots of pics of our meals!

 

Ahh yes, the wonderful two’s. Our 2nd gave us good run. He went from terrible two’s to horrible three’s. LOL We refused to do stuff as well until he was in a better stage. So I totally get it. Either way, you’ll have a great time. I can’t wait to see some photos. 😊

 

 

[tomservo]

42 minutes ago, Joaljoe said:

 

Ahh yes, the wonderful two’s. Our 2nd gave us good run. He went from terrible two’s to horrible three’s. LOL We refused to do stuff as well until he was in a better stage. So I totally get it. Either way, you’ll have a great time. I can’t wait to see some photos. 😊

 

 

 

We took a trip to Maui in 2017 when they were 3 and 1. We had never been to Hawaii but were vehemently against traveling more than a day’s road trip away from home, let alone flying with our kids. We ended up going because it was probably the last time my FIL would be able to fly out there (he’s 80). The kids were a nightmare, flying to Hawaii and back with them was a nightmare, entertaining them and feeding them was a nightmare. But Maui was BEAUTIFUL. It’s was the best/worst trip we’ve taken. I still think about it from time to time. That’s funny thing about raising kids, the difficult memories do fade over time, but you remember all the good times. 

[Joaljoe]

13 hours ago, tomservo said:

 

We took a trip to Maui in 2017 when they were 3 and 1. We had never been to Hawaii but were vehemently against traveling more than a day’s road trip away from home, let alone flying with our kids. We ended up going because it was probably the last time my FIL would be able to fly out there (he’s 80). The kids were a nightmare, flying to Hawaii and back with them was a nightmare, entertaining them and feeding them was a nightmare. But Maui was BEAUTIFUL. It’s was the best/worst trip we’ve taken. I still think about it from time to time. That’s funny thing about raising kids, the difficult memories do fade over time, but you remember all the good times. 

 

You guys are brave. We actually waited until our kids were 8 & 10 before we took them on their first real vacation which was a cruise. Before that it was little road trips for 2 days. But you are absolutely correct... the difficult memories do fade away over time. However, you will never forget the great times you all enjoy together. 😊

[Peachypooh]

Although embarkation day is busy and difficult for the crew if you explain to them you have

small children and want to eat in your room due to the tiring nature of traveling they will understand.

Better to do that than have what happened in Cagney's on embarkation day to one family

on our last cruise.

Their little one was understandably overwhelmed and screamed and screamed NO NO NO  until after a first

"warning" (in a nice way) from the staff that had no effect  they had to leave. I don't think they asked to have their meal boxed up to take with them if that is even possible.For what it is worth  the next night when we went back to Cagneys there were 5 children (all toddlers) at a table  and 2 of them did the same thing. They were not asked to leave.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Peachypooh

[tomservo]

23 minutes ago, Peachypooh said:

Their little one was understandably overwhelmed and screamed and screamed NO NO NO  until after a first

"warning" (in a nice way) from the staff that had no effect  they had to leave.

 

That’s good to know, I didn’t realize they asked people to leave. I will definitely take their dispositions into consideration that evening when deciding what to do. 

[Peachypooh]

10 minutes ago, tomservo said:

 

That’s good to know, I didn’t realize they asked people to leave. I will definitely take their dispositions into consideration that evening when deciding what to do. 

Just to explain more the first time I heard the staff say in a nice way that the little one has to be quiet. Then they came over a second time and the server said something to them  and a few minutes later the mother removed the baby and never came back while the father finished eating. I didn't hear the whole conversation as they were being discreet but it was pretty obvious what happened.

[havenfan]

2 hours ago, Peachypooh said:

Their little one was understandably overwhelmed and screamed and screamed NO NO NO  until after a first

"warning" (in a nice way) from the staff that had no effect  they had to leave. I don't think they asked to have their meal boxed up to take with them if that is even possible.For what it is worth  the next night when we went back to Cagneys there were 5 children (all toddlers) at a table  and 2 of them did the same thing. They were not asked to leave.

The first time we cruised with our oldest she was 2.5.  Coming in with a 5 hour time zone shift, she had a meltdown at Cagney's during the embarkation lunch.  I scooped her up and took her out as soon as she started crying.  We didn't think to ask for it, but the staff had our meals (mine and daughter's) ready for the rest of our party to take away as they left.

[tomservo]

If we do decide to do it and they bring everything (all the courses) at once, is the food covered so it at least stays warm? 

[Outerdog]

9 minutes ago, tomservo said:

If we do decide to do it and they bring everything (all the courses) at once, is the food covered so it at least stays warm? 

 

Yes... food arrives in a cloche.