3 year old in the dinning room

[elizablake]

My daughter will be a couple of months shy of 4 years old when we cruise on the Carnival Inspiration. She normally does well in a restaurant and she knows her manners but I still wonder if I should bring a coloring book or a small toy to entertain her during dinner.

 

Also, should I order several courses for her so she can eat with everyone else? I'm not sure how large the portions on the kid's menu are and I don't want to be wasteful.

 

I would appreciate any ideas or advice.

:)

[CeleBrat]

I always purchase an assortment of new coloring/activity books to take along on a cruise for dinner-activities. Since the kids have never seen these NEW books, they are that-much-more excited and engaged with them. I "ration" them out so they have a different new book each night for dinner. Our recent favorite cruise activity book is the Crayola Color-Wonder series. Since the markers don't "color" with anything except clear ink, we don't have to worry about accidentally getting magic marker on their cruise clothing--or tablecloth! (The special markers from the Color Wonder books cause the color to show up magically in the books. They're neat!)

 

Since dinner takes over an hour and a half, you really will need something to help keep your daughter entertained as you can't really expect her to sit there quietly for that long.

 

Also--no need to worry about food for your daughter. If she hasn't had enough to eat at dinner, you can always ask for another dish/more. On our last cruise, the kids decided that they REALLY, REALLY liked the fries. So, every night about halfway through dinner, we would ask for an extra plate of "just fries." And YES--we know that all fries all the time is not healthy! But hey, we were on vacation and anything goes....(they are back to eating spinach and all those other healthy things at home...)

 

CeleBrat

[elizablake]

Good tips.

 

I love Color Wonder! We use it for long car rides.

[Meggiewegs]

I completely agree with Celebrat!! I stock up on dollar store toys and all manners of coloring items before we head to dinner. I also bought her a $1 plastic photo album with a stack of assorted stickers and let her make her own sticker album. That was a HUGE hit. One of our regular servers also saw that DD loved the stickers and she gave our DD some at dinner one evening.

 

Also, i don't know if you plan on having your DD in the kid's crew kind of thing, but my DD would occasionally eat earlier in the evening, and then go to the kids crew while DH and I had dinner. Honestly, my DD doesn't want to leave the kid's area, so we sometimes have to bribe her to eat with us! LOL

[itchin2cruz]

Everyone knows there own kids. I wouldn't dare take my 3 year old in the dining room for dinner. He did do good in the dining room for breakfast in the morning though.

[crusinmama06]

If you are seated just with your family (not a larger group) you can get a meal done in under an hour.

 

On Carnival we had the 6pm seating and were able to get the kids to camp by 7pm.

 

Many times the waiters would bring fruit to the table within minutes. Then bread. Then salad. So there was enough food to keep them going before the main course arrived.

[I&MsMom]

One of the things that have helped our kids is that we've been given a booth for 4 on each cruise. We put the kids on the inside. It gives them a little freedom of movement, and I don't have to worry about them getting in the waitstaff's way.

 

Also, if nothing on the adult menu appealed to them, we'd get the fruit plate for them as an appetizer. Kept them busy while mom & dad had an appetizer and salad.

 

Once the waiters know you've got little kids, they'll bring the children's menu, which is a little activity/coloring book - the problem is, it's the same exact one every night, so it doesn't hold their interest much beyond the first night. So, I always let the kids bring something small to play with.

 

Also, if your children are always going to want, say, chocolate milk at dinner, if you let your waiter know that, their beverage of choice will be waiting for them each evening.

 

One final thought: Carnival does not have sippy cups. They serve the children's beverages in the same stemmed glass as the adults. So, when DD was very young, I brought our own sippy cups.

 

Have a great cruise! :)

[elizablake]

Thank you everyone for the advice.

 

LOL. I'm afraid if my daughter goes to the Camp Carnival she will never want to leave. All of our extended family is going on this cruise and I would like for her to spend as much time with the group as possible.

 

She's an only child and gets put in adult situations fairly often. She normally acts very mature as long as she knows what is expected of her. But I am glad to know that other parents bring coloring books and small toys.

 

If all else fails, I just bribe her with Coke. She would stand on her head for an hour and a half for a Coke. :D

[provenienbam]

Honestly, my DD doesn't want to leave the kid's area, so we sometimes have to bribe her to eat with us!

 

Oh how true! We actually made it a condition for going to the Kids Club. Eat your dinner and behave and we'll take you to the Club. On the boat we were on that meant she finished the meal just before the main course came out, so we spent the appetizer with her and had a quiet meal to ourselves.