Kids in Chop's

[jean87510]

8 minutes ago, BND said:

But, will you at least admit young kids get bored easily and don't want to sit through a long meal?  Your experience is not the norm and it has nothing to do with a young child being bored and/or tired.  

Of course. I have 5 kids of my own all grown up but would probably not take them to a 2 hour dinner when they were 3 and under. But that's me. I used to worry about other diners being upset.

Edited September 14, 2020 by jean87510

[BND]

2 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Do you have grandkids yet?

Not yet, but I know where you're going

 

[BND]

3 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

Of course. I have 5 kids of my own all grown up but would probably not take them to a 2 hour dinner when they were 3 and under. But that's me. I used to worry about other diners being upset.

I definitely wouldn't take mine either obviously.  There was a time when upscale restaurants were adults only which was especially nice on date nights, anniversaries in particular.  But, Chops isn't one of them and hasn't been for a long time.  As I said previously, it's changed a lot over the years and isn't exactly the dining experience it used to be.

Edited September 14, 2020 by BND

[jean87510]

2 minutes ago, BND said:

I definitely wouldn't take mine either obviously.  There was a time when upscale restaurants were adults only which was especially nice on date nights, anniversaries in particular.  But, Chops isn't one of them and hasn't been for a long time.  As I said previously, it's changed a lot over the years and isn't exactly the dining experience it used to be.

It hasn't been but we like the speciality restaurants so much better than MDR and the close tables. Its our treat to ourselves on the ships. We go there or Windjammer. Never MDR. Its nice to read some ships have the programs to take the kids at these speciality dining dinners. Hopefully it continues.

[Mapleleafforever]

11 minutes ago, BND said:

Not yet, but I know where you're going

 

Not going anywhere really, just a question. Reason I asked though is you mentioned both your kids were their mid thirties so I was just wondering if you had any experiences with your grandkids at dinner tables or restaurants is all. 

[Hogbay]

8 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

Fine dining establishment? This is a restaurant on a family oriented cruise ship. 

With a tots club, kid's club and a teens club with supervision till 2am . Our teen age boys have been to Chop's several times and loved it but given a choice Windjamers and there club . As for DL / CL it would be a big EEW ! drunkn old people's NOT! 

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/blog/tips-for-vacationing-with-teens/

[3monkeys4me]

My teens generally prefer the windjammer or grabbing a slice of pizza or whatever. When they were younger though they had no issues sitting through a long dinner.  In general we take our time at dinner and since the time they were in high chairs they were expected to sit at the table until everyone is done eating and we are ready to get up. Frequently, dinner at our house takes 60-90 mins between eating a socializing so dinner at a restaurant isn't too different.  Now that they are older however, they have more choices when we are on vacation, especially something like an AI or a cruise since it is easy for everyone to do their own thing. 

[crazyank]

15 hours ago, deliver42 said:

I'd rather be in an elevator with a stroller than with a scooter.From what I've seen in over 20 cruises is that scooter people on the whole, not all, seem to thing your feet don't count as long as they get in the elevator.

Absolutely agree!

[Billy Baltic]

On 9/14/2020 at 12:06 AM, Billy Baltic said:

I’m pleasantly surprised that there hasn’t been a “keep kids out of chops” response. Maybe the last several months has made people more tolerant of others and less selfish. More likely those people just haven’t posted yet. 

Turns out I was right. Those people just hadn’t posted yet 🙄

[MommaBear55]

We took our 4 year old grandson to Chops, he was great, but bored. It was hard for him to sit for 2 hours. When he realized he could eat dinner quickly then go to the Kids Club or actually eat at the Kids Club so he could play, that was his choice. 

We took all our kids to restaurants from early ages. We went early, made sure we had books, crayons and snacks and alternated which parent took noisy kids out. 

[George C]

4 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

Turns out I was right. Those people just hadn’t posted yet 🙄

It makes no sense to post that since rccl is a extremely family friendly cruise , also miss people dressing up for dinner , we love rccl entertainment but now do more Celebrity and MSC yacht club which seem more for adult activities. 

[Iamcruzin]

On 9/13/2020 at 4:48 PM, Milwaukee Eight said:

I was wondering when this would show up. Lol. Debates about kids is similar to debates about the CL. 
 

OP. Please feel free to bring the kids onboard. 
 

M8

There shouldn't be any debates about children on a family cruise line. One reason that we cruise mostly on Princess and Celebrity is because of the demographic skewing older.  However even on Royal there are ways around avoiding young families and children. The deck plans on Anthem were ideal for us with the adult area at the bow and the kids area at the stern. I don't know about the other ships but we baily saw a child close by on sea days unless we went to the dog house. If you want to avoid young kids in specialty restaurants eat late. There are ways to avoid kids if you can't deal with crying and fussing. Let the families enjoy their limited quality time on vacation.   

[DaniDanielle]

Well said.

[Norwich Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

There shouldn't be any debates about children on a family cruise line. One reason that we cruise mostly on Princess and Celebrity is because of the demographic skewing older.  However even on Royal there are ways around avoiding young families and children. The deck plans on Anthem were ideal for us with the adult area at the bow and the kids area at the stern. I don't know about the other ships but we baily saw a child close by on sea days unless we went to the dog house. If you want to avoid young kids in specialty restaurants eat late. There are ways to avoid kids if you can't deal with crying and fussing. Let the families enjoy their limited quality time on vacation.   

 

[Norwich Cruiser]

Great post.

 

[BND]

22 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

Fine dining establishment? This is a restaurant on a family oriented cruise ship. 

I never said it was.  I was basically replying to what the other poster said.

[aichambaye]

I don't have kids. I don't really like kids in general... 

 

BUT.

 

You have the right to take your kids into a Chops restaurant! They need to be socialized. If they aren't, they'll be 20 years old and still entitled little toddlers, lol. Take them! As long as they aren't kicking my chair, doing laps, taking food off my plate, or screaming, in the restaurant who cares?

 

Have I been annoyed? Yes. Have the parents probably noticed I was annoyed? Yes. But that's my problem. The parents are 9 times out of 10 doing their best and the kids are just being kids, not brats.

 

People act like kids are a shock. It's a family cruise line. I've seen much less well behaved adults, like the drunk off her butt woman who spilled a daiquiri on me in the hot tub of a ship a few years ago and dropped the rest of the cup in the water. Yay, sticky.

 

Kids scream in the kids pool. They fidget in restaurants. They run through the Schooner bar. Kids are a fact of life on Royal. Dang. Enjoy them while they're little.

 

Just don't take them in explicitly "adults only" areas. Chops is NOT. Take them. The food is very good!