RCCL introduces "My Time Family Dining"

[crusinmama06]

I was just reading this...haven't seen anything else about it before this thread....

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=944278

 

My Time Family Dining.

 

Edited to say - I found the entire article....

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=3104

Royal Caribbean Expands Family Programming Royal Caribbean has been giving Disney and other family-focused cruise lines a run for their money, even capturing our vote for Best Family Cruise Ships in the 2008 Cruise Critic Editors' Picks Awards. The line's fleet of 20 ships features expansive kids' play areas and teen hangouts, arcades, water parks, kid-friendly dining at Johnny Rockets and onboard pizza parlors, parades, mini-golf, rock-climbing and onboard surfing.

 

Further solidifying its position at the top of the family cruise charts, the line today announced new family programming and even more amenities onboard its ships. Here's what parents and kids can expect on their next Royal Caribbean cruise:

 

 

New Dinner Options: If your kids can't sit through a full-length dinner, My Family Time Dining is coming to the rescue. Through this new program, kids at early-seating dinner will get expedited meal service, taking only 45 minutes. Youth counselors will pick up the kids from the dining room at 6:45 p.m. and bring them back to the kids' club for post-dinner activities (letting Mom and Dad enjoy leisurely coffee and dessert). In addition, new kids' menus, featuring some healthier options, will be printed on placemats designed by Fisher-Price, complete with games and brain-teasers. Both of these options will be introduced, fleetwide, by July 2009.

 

Lunch and Play: Lunch and Play, available immediately on all ships, is an alternative to closing down Adventure Ocean at lunchtime. Between noon and 2 p.m., lunch will be served in the Adventure Ocean kids' clubs, along with supervised play time, for a cost of $7.95 per child, ages 3 to 11.

 

Baby Activities and Amenities: The littlest cruisers have not been forgotten. Through the Babies 2 Go program, parents can pre-order organic baby food and Huggies diapers, wipes and creams for delivery to their cabins (available for online ordering, beginning March 23). The Stroll & Roll program allows parents with strollers take over the jogging track during specified times for some onboard exercise with baby. Kids, ages 18 to 36 months, can play with color at Crayola Beginnings. Parents can also borrow age-appropriate Fisher-Price toys, created for babies, ages 6 to 36 months.

 

Babysitting: In-stateroom babysitting is now available for families with infants, one year of age or older. A staff member will come to your cabin with toys and games and will keep a log of your child's activities, meals and bedtime while you're out. Parents need to sign up 24 hours in advance; the fee is $10 per hour for up to two children and $15 per hour for 3 or more children.

 

Bedtime Stories: Royal Caribbean's onboard libraries offer popular kids' books, as well as comfy reading areas. Adventure Ocean counselors will read bedtime stories in the evening; the whole family is invited to come and enjoy cookies and milk during story time. Pajamas are acceptable attire.

 

Pets at Sea: No, you still can't bring Fluffy and Fido on your cruise vacation, but kids ages three and up can create their own plush animal friends as souvenirs. Participants can even choose which animals they'd like and dress the toys in their desired outfits and accessories. Prices start at $19.95 for the stuffed animal or $29.95 for the animal with an outfit. This program will be available, fleetwide, by May 2009.

 

Board Games: Royal Caribbean has partnered with Mattel to offer board games, suitable for family play. Parents and kids can compete against other families in staff-led game competitions, hit the card room for intra-family play or even order games for their cabins (for suite guests only).

[PattyW]

I saw the post on the RCCL board and commented there. I'm shocked there is even a debate over this - clearly the naysayers have never eaten with children aboard a cruise ship or they would know that the children are comfortably finished with their meal within 45 minutes already with no disruption to service, etc.

 

I think it's great simply for the fact that AO will come to get the kids, rather than one of the parents having to leave to bring the kids up to AO.

 

I think the other new ideas sound great, too - especially the bedtime stories and the build-a-bear type program.

[cotomom]

I think this is FABULOUS news! :)

[QTMichele]

Thanks for sharing, Michele! :)

[beachchick]

As a parent whose child is grown (and now has an infant of her own), I'm thrilled that they've started something like this, especially the lunch and dinner options. Anyone who complains is, well at least IMO, nuts! How many adults cruising without young children complain about the "crying, bored, squirming, running around, etc. and so forth" children in the dining rooms, especially at the early dining times? (That would include us on the few times we've encountered clueless parents and their screaming, out-of-control children. Once saw a waiter almost drop a tray of drinks on those nearby when a toddler ran full-force into his legs; naturally, the parents screamed at the waiter to "watch where you're going"--morons! Thank goodness that most parents do fall into that category.) How many of them wouldn't love to have the children's dinners expidited so the kids could go off to AO and keep the dining room peaceful? (beachchick raises her hand and smiles.) For kids who do well at longer dinners and whose parents prefer to have them stay, there's no requirement that they leave early. It's a win-win-win as far as we're concerned! Heck, when the day comes that we cruise with our now very tiny DGD and her currently exhausted mom, we'll probably make use of the option.:D

 

The other new family/kids options might upset some adults, but I really can't see why. It's not as if the jogging track will be for parents with strollers all day and night; it's not as if having Crayola sponsored art activities is going to take away from adult activities (small confession: I still enjoy coloring with the kids in our life; I was so sad when our niece and nephew outgrew it). In fact, none of the new family activities should affect the onboard adult activities. If anything, it gives families more time with other families. Perhaps leading to fewer times when parents try to drag their 8-y/o to adult Quest or the late night comedy or other adults-only activities. Again, win for adults who want adult activities--win for parents who want more options and more time doing family acitivities with their kids--and win for the kids themselves, both to have more kids-only activities and to have more time with their parents.

 

I swear some people--and sadly, I'm related to a couple of them--aren't happy unless they can whine about something, anything.

 

beachchick

[jldev]

I think it's a great idea! When we last cruised with our children, our youngest was aged 18 mths. We were on Carnival's Paradise and had a dinner table to ourselves which was great. We adults still had all the courses but I could tell the waiting staff made a special effort to make it snappy. No sooner had we finished a course, than it was taken away and within a couple of minutes the next one arrived. We were going way faster than the other tables around us. So of course it's not the desired way to enjoy a multi-course meal but the only way we could have done it within our 18 mths attention span. I was so impressed because we never asked for that to happen but from our very first dinner, it was done that way and we really appreciated it!

[jaybeedee]

45 minutes is long enough for most children to eat and enjoy the company of their adults. Why would anyone CARE if another family sends their child with a counselor before dessert???

 

Our next cruise may be on RCCL for some of these special touches... HMM, could this be why RCCL introduced them? YES.

[Leigh-Anne V]

We were on Legend of the Seas for new years 06/07 and it was our daughter's first cruise .. she was almost 7 .. After the first night she chose to skip dessert every night to go up to the kids club so DH and I would take turns running her up (the other side of the ship of course!) so I think this is great that they are setting it up to come and collect in the dining room. The other items sound really good too.

 

Leigh-Anne

[honeywell]

From Travel Weekly: Available immediately, Royal Caribbean has launched a Lunch and Play option for days at sea. The program provides children ages 3 to 11 a meal with other kids in the middle of the day, for a service charge of $7.95 per child.

 

Anyone try this yet? Does this eliminate the whole break in the middle of the day if a family chooses to keep the child in AO?

[PattyW]

We just got off Adventure and I wanted to update the status of these programs at least on AOS

 

My time family Dining - not yet available.

 

Updated menu - I know what was on the menu last week, but I'd have to see a "current" menu to see if it is different. It did seem like kids could make healthy choices if they wanted though. The menu seemed extremely big compared to our last RCCL cruise, but it was almost 2 years ago, so I'd have to have my memory refreshed.

 

Lunch and Play - available and, yes, it eliminates the break in Adventure Ocean during the day.

 

Babies 2 Go - not available

 

Stroll & Roll - available daily

 

Crayola Beginnings - available daily

 

Borrowing toys - not sure

 

Babysitting - this was always available

 

Bedtime stories - available daily - 8:00 pm in the library

 

Pets at Sea - will be available this week for the first time (the week after my cruise) we saw the machine (a giant gumball machine type shape) in the promenade and talked to the AO counselors who were getting it ready on Saturday night for the next group of cruisers.

 

Board Games - I did not see them, but only made it up to the card room once. I did not see any family challenge times listed on the Compass.

[sunandseagirl617]

We're hoping this is rolled out in June. When we called the travel agent, she never heard of "Family" Time Dining, so we opted to try "My Time Dining" for the first time!!!!!

 

Thank you for posting an update!