Formal Nights and Kids' Program Dinners - same night? Golden Princess, Alaska

[SeattleCruiser07]

(I am cross-posting this here since I didn't get any replies on the first-time cruisers' board.)

 

I am taking my mom and 4-year-old daughter to Alaska (Seattle RT Inside Passage) on the Golden Princess in June for my mom's 65th birthday. Do the kids' pograms operate at dinnertime on formal nights? I noticed that they mention pizza parties and such for the "Pelicans" Kids' Program. Should we expect to be able to drop-off my daughter in the program for dinner and go to a dining room by ourselves? (We picked "anytime" dining.) Or, should I bring "dress-up" for my daughter (who would, of course love it ... but I on the other hand would love a relaxing formal night for just me and my mom).

 

Thanks in advance!

[adonisr]

Typically, they will have a few nights where they have a kids dinner event - pizza party, etc., but I don't think they do it every night. If you are doing anytime dining, then it would be possible to get her some dinner and then take her to the evening kids activity while you head off to dinner.

 

Our daughter enjoys the dining room experience so she will usually pick one or two nights to do kids stuff, and then eats the others with us. She would never dream of missing "dress up night"

[junglejane]

My recollection of our recent cruise on the Diamond Princess was that the kids program was closed from 5-7 on sea days. On formal nights, they would have a kids dinner from 7-8 at either the Horizon Court or the pizza/grill area by the pool. I can't remember whether you had to sign up in advance or not for the kids' dinner. On the first day you'll get a schedule of the whole week's kid activities, and you can plan your dinner reservations accordingly.

 

Our kids are 6 and 10 and they loved dressing up and eating with us on formal nights. But all the courses make for a long dinner. The main thing that kept our 6 year old going was the prospect of filet mignon -- her favorite food in the whole world.

 

We didn't take the 6 year old to Sabatini's because we knew the dinner would take extra long -- and no filet mignon! On that night we just fed her first in the Horizon Court and then checked her into the Fun Zone while we went to Sabatini's with our 10 year old. I actually had to reschedule our reservation because the first one was for 6:30 and then I realized the Fun Zone didn't open until 7. Fortunately they were able to move our reservation to 7:15.

 

--Junglejane