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Specialty Dining with Kids + non-suite companions


newcruisefamily
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We've booked Alaska June 2020 on the Ruby, and are wondering about Specialty Dining with kids. We're in a Vista Suite with our two (12 and almost 15 when we sail), so we have comp specialty dining for embarkation night. We're sure they will be fine - they've traveled a lot and know how to behave/will appreciate the food (will do Crown Grill instead of Share, even though I'd prefer the latter, my other 3 won't). My main concerns are:

 

1) we're traveling with 8 other family members, none of whom are in suites (mini suites for them) - can they join us at Crown Grill the first night and just use OBC to pay? Are there even tables for 12?

 

2) embarkation is our nephew's birthday, so we want to eat with everyone (and not miss out on our perk)! However, the other 3 kids in our group will be ages 5,6,7. Would it be a bad idea to bring them to Crown Grill?  Each family has plenty of OBC to use, has sip & sail beverage deal, and don't plan to book excursions through Princess, so the $ isn't an issue.

 

My back-up plan is to do a group dinner in the MDR very early and just have light food for my 4, then we go to Crown Grill for a late real dinner.  Or everyone at Crown Grill at the earliest possible time? I'd love feedback/ideas!  We did this trip on the Golden 5 years ago with my in-laws (the 4 of us plus Grandma & Grandpa), stayed in a mini-suite and didn't do any specialty dining, so I'm flying blind for this one detail.

 

Thanks 🙂

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If you want to eat all together in the CG I suggest you go talk to the CG manager as soon as you board to make dining arrangements.

Who ever joins you can pay and have it charged to their room and it will deduct from their OBC in their shipboard account. They do have larger tables.

 

If you want to set up a dinner in the DR then see the Maitre d or Head Waiter as soon as possible.

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1 hour ago, newcruisefamily said:

thank you, yes. I will definitely head straight there when we board to make arrangements. Do you know if it's even a good idea to take the littles (ages 5-7) there?

This is almost my exact situation for our cruise in 2 weeks. My family is not interested in paying to eat in Crown Grill though, so i am hoping to change the comped first night dinner to the following night.

 

The meal is long, so the littles will probably be bored. But I think if they can handle sitting at a regular meal in the dining room, they can handle the Crown grill. You may consider having them eat at the buffet, or pool deck pizza before your family meal, and then they can sit with the family for a bit and then get taken to the kids club for the rest of your dinner time.

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That's a good idea! I need to consult with my sister, also, to see if they even want to do a family dinner on my nephew's birthday! From what I remember, MDR meals took quite awhile as well. Our son was 6 on our last trip, and he fell asleep on my lap by the end of dinner every night (he's kind of a little guy. The staff loved him, and called him "the baby" - I think there weren't many young kids on that cruise).

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It's been my experience that the included first night dinner with the suite is only available on the first night when they don't have enough people to fill the specialty dining room. Talk to the Maitre D and see if he has any flexibility all they can say is no and you've nothing to loose.

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Yes, you can all dine in the Crown Grill

If the others are in club class minis then all of you can dine in the club class section of the DR, and can set up whatever you wish. If they are not then only you and your children can dine there. If you wish to dine with the other family members then you will have to join them in the regular section of the MDR. The maitre'd can set this up for you.

On the evening you wish to dine in the Crown Grill I would place the 3 young children in the youth center. I really don't know if the center operates on boarding day evening.

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Will you have a long travel time prior to boarding? The younger children might be very tired and grumpy if you do.

The childrens club is usually open on embarkation night, assuming that there are enough children on board and registered.

Our children were great in the dining room when youger, they have actually got more restless as they approach their teenage years 🙄

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We ate in Crown Grill in Feb;  we had the first night comp dinner.  Crown Grill was jammed packed.  We had 6pm reservations.  It two hours to eat complete meal;  so based on this; I would look at eating somewhere else with the kids. ** seems like everyone wanted to eat in CG the first night.

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We’ll be taking my 7 year old to the specialty restaurants when we sail next week. I have no concerns about her handling it. She has gone to nicer restaurants with us before, and always does well. I usually bring her a book or puzzle activity booklet to work on just in case she feels a bit bored/restless. 

 

I’m happy to report back on how young-kid friendly the specialty restaurants are after we return from our cruise.

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you will most definitely be fine. Just head straight over to the crown grill to make reservations and then explain to me how many people are in your party and they should have no problem accommodating you. For the non suite family members joining you they most definitely can pay with their OBC or however. I think it will be a lovely dining experience for the whole extended family and your two kids alone will enjoy themselves.

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Oh, and if by chance your family members have a Princess coupon book in their cabin when they board, check it for a coupon for “2 for 1” pricing at the specialty restaurants on embarkation day. 

 

Part of the reason they offer those coupons and the free suite dining is because most people don’t book specialty dining on the first night otherwise. I would be hard pressed to imagine you’d have any trouble getting a reservation for your whole group that first night.

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29 minutes ago, Dani24 said:

We’ll be taking my 7 year old to the specialty restaurants when we sail next week. I have no concerns about her handling it. She has gone to nicer restaurants with us before, and always does well. I usually bring her a book or puzzle activity booklet to work on just in case she feels a bit bored/restless. 

 

I’m happy to report back on how young-kid friendly the specialty restaurants are after we return from our cruise.

thank you! I'd love your feedback

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1 hour ago, cabin4three said:

Will you have a long travel time prior to boarding? The younger children might be very tired and grumpy if you do.

The childrens club is usually open on embarkation night, assuming that there are enough children on board and registered.

Our children were great in the dining room when youger, they have actually got more restless as they approach their teenage years 🙄

We are from the Seattle area, so no, just a 30 minute drive 🙂  Although one of my sisters has to drive almost an hour! 

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2 hours ago, skynight said:

Yes, you can all dine in the Crown Grill

If the others are in club class minis then all of you can dine in the club class section of the DR, and can set up whatever you wish. If they are not then only you and your children can dine there. If you wish to dine with the other family members then you will have to join them in the regular section of the MDR. The maitre'd can set this up for you.

On the evening you wish to dine in the Crown Grill I would place the 3 young children in the youth center. I really don't know if the center operates on boarding day evening.

they aren't club class - it was a stretch for them to do minis even. We don't intend to try to eat dinner together most nights, since it is likely to be difficult to match up everyone's desired dining times with a group of 12 that ranges from 5-70 years old. We're aiming more for a couple of meals (lunch, afternoon tea on sea day, maybe a room service party on our balcony) together. And we will all likely do the train excursion out of Skagway. My kids LOVED it last time, and DH and I wouldn't mind a repeat. That sounds like enough family time to me!

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Here is our 2cents worth. You might want to get the 3younger ones an early burger or pizza and send them to the kids club while you enjoy your dinner at the Crown Grill. You can retrieve them in time for them to join you for dessert, and if you schedule it with the head waiter once you board, there  might even be a special birthday surprise for your nephew.

On the issue of the coupon book. If you arranged through a T/A, ask them to gift each of the mini-suites the coupon book. Never hurts to ask.

Jim and Jean

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4 minutes ago, jeanandjim said:

Here is our 2cents worth. You might want to get the 3younger ones an early burger or pizza and send them to the kids club while you enjoy your dinner at the Crown Grill. You can retrieve them in time for them to join you for dessert, and if you schedule it with the head waiter once you board, there  might even be a special birthday surprise for your nephew.

On the issue of the coupon book. If you arranged through a T/A, ask them to gift each of the mini-suites the coupon book. Never hurts to ask.

Jim and Jean

Normally I would say this is excellent advice. However my experience in the past was that the kids' club was not open for business on embarkation night. Instead they had a sort of open house and time to sign up. Admittedly my info is probably out of date, but I wouldn't count on being able to drop off the kids at the kids' club on the first night.  

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I can't imagine little kids being able to eat more than a small portion of a dinner in Crown Grill. Both my wife and I can barely manage it even if we get the filet - which is their smallest cut of meat. A long dinner with kids who will get bored and who won't be able to eat more than a token amount seems like a bad idea to me.

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On 7/19/2019 at 10:08 AM, Thrak said:

I can't imagine little kids being able to eat more than a small portion of a dinner in Crown Grill. Both my wife and I can barely manage it even if we get the filet - which is their smallest cut of meat. A long dinner with kids who will get bored and who won't be able to eat more than a token amount seems like a bad idea to me.

 

Totally depends on the kid! My stick-thin 7 year old daughter can pack away as much food as my husband and I in one sitting. Then still want dessert! (Though some days she just pecks at her food.) I know lots of kids with some serious "hollow legs". 🙂

 

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Okay- we cruise with our 3 kids and have since our youngest were 3 1/2- they actually celebrated their 5th birthday in the Crown Grill.  They were fine- it is a long dinner, but so is a typical night in the MDR- they did get a little sleepy, but perked right back up when they were brought a birthday cake.  The kids club is not open for kids the first day- there is kind of an open house/look around and fill out paperwork event.  If this were me I would either get the earliest possible time slot or plan for a good nap before dinner for the kids.  Kids get charged a children's price at the specialty restaurants (I believe it is half price- $12.50?).

The kids will be spoiled by the dinning (and the ship's) staff- many of them are missing their own kids and love to interact with children when they can.  

   The MDR staff does a great job with the little ones and will bring out food for them early at your request (if the kids are hungry we usually have them start with fruit salad while we wait, but they also love the kids menu alphabet soup and last year when we took the Sapphire on a Gran Asia cruise they loved the always available won ton soup)

 

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Agree with others that kids club is likely not open first night.  Best to check the kids' patters as soon as you get on board.  They will be in the cabins the kids are booked in.  They will tell you the schedule.  Then head to Crown Grill to book once you know about the kids schedule for sure.  

 

Also, depends on the kids - some can sit thru a dinner with family and some colouring,  others just can't.  You / their parents know best what they can handle. 

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We’ve sailed exclusively in suites for the last few cruises and have always been able to change the free embarkation night specialty dining for another night. Only once did we have someone deny it, but took it up with someone higher up, and were accommodated. You might give it a try.  

 

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On 7/21/2019 at 11:40 AM, Roatanfans said:

Okay- we cruise with our 3 kids and have since our youngest were 3 1/2- they actually celebrated their 5th birthday in the Crown Grill.  They were fine- it is a long dinner, but so is a typical night in the MDR- they did get a little sleepy, but perked right back up when they were brought a birthday cake.  The kids club is not open for kids the first day- there is kind of an open house/look around and fill out paperwork event.  If this were me I would either get the earliest possible time slot or plan for a good nap before dinner for the kids.  Kids get charged a children's price at the specialty restaurants (I believe it is half price- $12.50?).

The kids will be spoiled by the dinning (and the ship's) staff- many of them are missing their own kids and love to interact with children when they can.  

   The MDR staff does a great job with the little ones and will bring out food for them early at your request (if the kids are hungry we usually have them start with fruit salad while we wait, but they also love the kids menu alphabet soup and last year when we took the Sapphire on a Gran Asia cruise they loved the always available won ton soup)

 

thank you for your feedback! I think the earliest time slot will work. I had all of them here for dinner last night, and the littlest ate more than I did (and had better table manners than my 11 year old).  I remember when we cruised with my son (6 at the time), and the staff all made a HUGE fuss over him. He loved it.

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