kids in dining room alone

[reesa]

Can children go for breakfast without their parents? We all get up different times and I was wondering if on the Caribbean Princess they are allowed to go by themselves?

[Keith1010]

I've never seen age restrictions on children eating alone in a dining room. For breakfast, I'm sure it would be OK, but what exactly are the ages of the children? Breakfast is not only available in the dining room but you can also eat in the buffet area.

 

Keith

[trish1c]

I do not know of any restrictions but I think the kids would be happier at the buffet -- no sitting & waiting to be served & you can eat outside.

[kitty9]

The only times I have seen kids without parents in the formal dining room for breakfast and lunch were not good happenings. The kids were out of control, throwing food and misbehaving terribly. They were anywhere from age 7 to 14. I think a lot depends on the age of the children. I certainly wouldn't let any child under age 9 by themselves in either the buffet or dining room. Older kids would do fine, but not the youngsters. BTW, there are no age limits for kids in the buffet or main dining room.

[lougee1043]

why not order them something from room service and then you can all go to breakfast at a later time as a family

[wrp96]

I agree with kitty9. The only times I've seen kids (and I mean young kids) eating alone in either the dining room or the buffet, it's been disasters. Things like in the buffet, them taking trays and trays of food and not eating anything, throwing food at each other, taking up multiple tables for 3 kids, pushing other people out of the way, putting stuff on their plate and then deciding to put it back after they've touched it. It's one thing for a kid to run in and grab an ice cream cone or a cookie, but other than that they really do need supervision in the dining rooms and buffets.

 

If you really are on different schedules, I definitely recommend the room service option.

[Keith1010]

I think it would be helpful to undertand how old these children are? If they are young, no it would not be appropriate for them to eat in the dining room by themselves. If they are quite a bit older then might be a different story. Our children cruised with us for years. When they were 16 and 20 they ate breakfast by themselves and that was appropriate at that age which is why some clarity by the original poster would help. Of course, at that age they wanted to go to the buffet area and not the restaurant for both breakfast and lunch.

 

Again, if we are talking young children, and the family is all getting up at different times, either all should eat at the same time together or if you order room service realize there will be a knock on the door that could wake up those that are still sleeping.

 

Keith

[Marlissa]

Hummm, I cruise with my parents, would I be considered a kid. If so, do you think I'll have to eat with my parents all the time (btw, I'm almost 40) :D .

 

Seriously, our last cruise, DD (14 at the time) and friend asked for and received a table for two for dinner a couple of nights. She does know that if I ever found out that she was being a troublemaker or bother to ANYONE, the rest of her cruise would not be real enjoyable.

[jerseygirl3]

It would help if you gave the ages of the children.

[reesa]

My children are 11, 11, and 13. My husband and I like to get up and out. They can sleep until 11. We don't want to waste half the day in the cabin. My children would not throw things around or misbehave in a dining room. No they are not perfect but they behave in public places.

[Keith1010]

In terms of breakast, if they sleep until 11:00 AM there might not be breakfsat available at that hour. It all depends on the cruise line. There certainly won't be breakfast in the dining room as it will be closed as they will be preparing for lunch which is normally served around 12:00 noon. Same might be true of the buffet but again you'll need to check.

 

There is so much to do on the cruise ships, with organized programs for the children and other activites that it's too bad that they will be starting the day so late.

 

You will have to do all this as you see fit in term of schedules, dining, etc.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

I also wanted to add one more comment.

 

At their ages I would not recommend the dining room and instead if they are going to eat alone the buffet area would be best. For the first couple of times I would recommend that one of the parent's meet them there to make sure they are all situated.

 

Keith

[Happy ks]

My children are 11, 11, and 13. My husband and I like to get up and out. They can sleep until 11. We don't want to waste half the day in the cabin. My children would not throw things around or misbehave in a dining room. No they are not perfect but they behave in public places.

 

I have teens that I have to wake up at the crack of noon.

 

Your kids would not be able to go to breakfast in the dining room alone because the dining room closes at, I think, around 9-9:30 am. It reopens for lunch, they could go alone for lunch. Of course, by then you would be ready to eat again, so you could all have lunch together.

 

When our kids miss our breakfast (we'll only eat in the dining room), we usually join them in the buffet and have a cup of coffee or juice and talk with them. We're on vacation with our kids and we like to be with them as much as possible. I'm happy they still want to be seen with us, sometimes.

[serene56]

If your kids sleep in til 11- noon the cabin steward might not get a chance to clean your room properly. they get off time from noon til 5.

[reesa]

Thanks. I will make sure I give them a wake-up call earlier and meet them for the buffet. Serena you seem to know soo much. Can you tell me anything about the owners suite on the aloha deck? I changed my room from the riviera deck as I was concerned about the noise level.

[tentativesailor]

My children are 11, 11, and 13. My husband and I like to get up and out. They can sleep until 11. We don't want to waste half the day in the cabin. My children would not throw things around or misbehave in a dining room. No they are not perfect but they behave in public places.

 

Reesa,

Was on the CB with extended family - kids 5,10,12,13,15,16,17. Well behaved 11 and 13 year olds can absolutely eat together at the buffet ANYTIME - breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, 3:30-4:30 ice cream, pre-dinner appetizer, dinner, after-dinner snack!! 24 hours a day. You should go with them and show them the procedure and they can go back anytime as many times as they like.

 

Don't forget the pizza and burger/hotdog grill by the pool.

 

Also, my 12 and 16 year old really enjoyed ordering room service. All included in the price of the cabin. Just be considerate of the mess left for the cabin steward. Agree with serene56 - either get them up a little earlier than 11 or tell the cabin steward to skip their room for this morning. Our poor cabin steward kept coming back to check if they had woken up yet.

 

For safety, - make sure they roam the ship together.

[lougee1043]

If your kids sleep in til 11- noon the cabin steward might not get a chance to clean your room properly. they get off time from noon til 5.

 

not only that but they/you will miss a half day at every port the ship stops at

[msklk]

im a teen who sleeps into 11 or noon whenever i can usually summer weekends and all breaks. so i know what that is like. however whenever i am on a cruise i get up earlier, even though i usually stay out later than normal. its hard at first but worth it and i start wanting to get up earlier i no longer need my mom to even get me up, i want to get up and get out. if they sleep into 11 they will miss ports, entertainment, nice sun, and chances to meet kids their own ages. i reccommend getting them up earlier and have them get used to it.

[reesa]

Thanks, I will make sure they are up early as not to miss anything. They can sleep in the week before when we are just based in Miami.

[seamama1]

My children are 11, 11, and 13. My husband and I like to get up and out. They can sleep until 11. We don't want to waste half the day in the cabin. My children would not throw things around or misbehave in a dining room. No they are not perfect but they behave in public places.

 

My opinion only; no, no and no. I have seen too many children this age doing things in the dining room and the buffet areas that I KNOW they wouldn't do if mom or dad were there.....fer sure.

[familycruzer]

 

When our kids miss our breakfast (we'll only eat in the dining room), we usually join them in the buffet and have a cup of coffee or juice and talk with them. We're on vacation with our kids and we like to be with them as much as possible. I'm happy they still want to be seen with us, sometimes.

 

This is what we plan on doing on our next cruise. The kids dont like getting up at 7:00 so we will eat a quiet grown up breakfast and then join them around 8:30 in the Windjammer to plan out our day. We also figure this way, four of us wont be fighting for bathroom time first thing in the morning.

[I_Live_2_Cruise]

Have them grab something from the buffet, rather than a whole breakfast, on their way to the kids club.

 

By the way, the two younger ones may need you to sign them in to the kids club, so you may have to meet up with them in the mornings anyway. That would be a great time to get a quick breakfast.

[abitaturbodog]

It just kills me when folks can't imagine that children are capable of behaving themselves. I'm sure that the OP wouldn't have even considered letting her kids eat by themselves if they didn't have good manners.

 

I think what folks that criticize the behavior of children forget is that it's the parents that have taught them that it's acceptable to behave that way. It's not the kids fault, it's the adult's fault.

[monakayk]

I am sure that your children have good manners and would not cause problems by themselves in the main dinning room or the buffet. However, my suggestions would be these options:

1.) Each night have your children fill out the room service card for either breakfast or lunch..depending on the time of day they wake up. Room service would be a wonderful treat for them...that they may not have experienced or not very often. Also, the cruise kitchen will call the cabin before they show up...so that will give your kids a 'wake up' call, so to speak.

2.) Right about the time your kids usually wake up, either you or your husband could go to the cabin and get the kids up. Tell them to meet you at the buffet by X-amount of time. Then you all can sit down...you/he can have a snack/drink and the kids can have whatever they want to eat. Talk about your plans for the day.

3.) Take a walkie-talkie and tell the kids to call you when they wake up. Set up a time to meet at the buffet and you can join them there at that time.

4.) Personally, if I were you and my child who was 13, I would trust him/her to take the younger ones to the buffet alone. But it is a large responsibility for one at that age. My daughter was baby/kid sitting at that age, so my daughter was used to that type of responsibility. But every child and family is different and I am not sure if your 13 year old has this type of experience. Or if the younger kids would 'mind' him/her without any problems. These things have to be considered before letting your 13 year old be in charge.

Don't worry about it...you all will have fun and the kids will start to get up earlier, I bet, when they find out they have missed some of the fun stuff the other kids are doing earlier in the day.

:) Happy Cruising!:)

[PrincessAmadala]

Our "kids" are now 19 and 16, but we have been cruising/all-inclusive resorts with them since they were 12 and 9. They are both well-travelled, flying with us since they were infants and each of them flying alone since they were 9.

 

As they got older (pre-teen til now!) their sleeping habits and ours (DH and mine) have definately shifted. The discussions usually went somewhat along these lines: DS/DD: "It's my vacation, too, why can't I sleep all day if that's what I want to do!!!:mad: " , DH: "I'm not spending $XXXXX for you to sleep in a bed/couch/lounge chair when you can do that for free at home!!!:mad: ", etc. (You get the picture)

 

After many passionate "discussions" (DH is 100% Italian, kids 50% Italian, :p ), here is what we agreed - On port days (on ships) or excursion days (at resorts), they go along with our schedule, which usually means they eat with us or we pick them up some fruit or granola bar or whatever and take it back to them so they get dressed while we eat breakfast. On sea days (on ships) and "lay on the beach/pool" days, their time is theirs. They are required to check in with us at specific, random times determined by DH or me.

 

As for dinners, when they were younger we together predetermined where we would eat each night (never did "freestyle" until PoAl last month), requiring them to eat with us on formal nights, other nights up for grabs. Sometimes the kids chose to order room service and watch a movie in their cabin. Now that they are older we just ask them "Are you planning on joining us for breakfast/lunch/dinner" and go from there, but they always choose to join us in the main dining room on formal night. I always make sure to get a good formal picture of the two "kids" and have begun my own private photo gallery up the main stairway hall.

 

I guess the main thing that worked for us was introducing the "privilege" of eating on their own a little at a time until everyone knew what to expect from everyone else. (They know to behave and I know to yank them back sitting next to me it they don't!)