late dining *with* children?

[supercrunch]

My husband just surprised me by booking our first cruise for this November. He chose late seating because he didn't want to rush back from the ports, and he's a photographer and doesn't want to miss the sunsets.

 

However,

we have a 5 year old and an 8 year old.

 

They are usually fine staying up late when we are on vacation as long as they get enough sleep in otherwise (naps, etc). However, we are on the Legend, and the port days seem to begin early.

 

I'm not sure if we should stick with what we've got or try for early.

 

Has anyone intentionally done late dining with children, and how did it all turn out?

[Wennfred]

 

Has anyone intentionally done late dining with children, and how did it all turn out?

 

 

From my Late Seating experience, I have seen many tired whining kids during the 8:30pm hours in the dining room.

 

But only you know your kids, if they stay up late and well behaved, then youre good to go.

 

We select Late seating just to stay away from crying screaming irate kids during dinner. (But then again, the Adults do even more by singing and dancing on tables)

 

 

One thing I do want to say is that there is alot going on during the day, Camp Carnival, Ice Cream etc. So by 8:30pm (dinner time) they will be tired and cranky.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

 

 

 

 

Fred

[aggieastrosfan]

Only you know if your kids can handle it. Our son's first cruise was late seating, he was 3 years old. He was a bit cranky the first night, but he did wonderfully after that.

 

However, we have decided to do early if at all possible in the future. He got a lot more "fun" camp time as a result, and we got more kid-free time without paying for babysitting.

[spleenstomper]

Well, my kids are 9,9,11 and there are a few parameters: do you WANT them to eat with you? Every night? I ask because they can eat with camp carnival at the buffet and then go see a show, leaving you and your DH to have a nice quiet dinner without them. :cool:

 

Our kids LOVED camp carnival and ditched us every chance they could get. (your eight year old is old enough to sign himself in; you'll have to sign the five year old in). So we made a rule that during the 5 night cruise, they had to eat dinner with us twice.

 

I just booked a 7 day with the late seating. If they get hungry beforehand, they can always hit the buffet.

 

My then eight year olds were going till midnight easily with camp carnival and they were absolutely flustered with us because we didn't let them (8,8,10) stay till 3 am for the sleep over with camp carnival.

[WestTxCruiser]

We have had the late seating with our kids, 5 and 12 (now 7 and 14) the first cruise. They did fine, however the 5 year old usually took a little nap while everyone else was getting ready for dinner, AND I have numerous pictures of her after dinner asleep in the chair while the rest of us finished up dessert.

She was never whiney or disruptive and we will continue to do late seating.

I agree with Wennfred, you know your own children and the behavior. I would base it on that.

Enjoy your cruise. I am sure your kids will have a BLAST!!!

[gracie65]

We have a 9 year old & we'll be taking him on his third cruise in Oct. Every night except the first night you can take the kids to the camp around 5:45pm & they eat with their friends. Our son would much rather do that then to go in a fancy dining room. This year we're cruising on the Liberty, they have the open seating. We'll all go to dinner the first night them let him decide which one he wants to go to. Camp Carnival is amazing. He would rather be there then with us!!!LOL

On a funny note, I too am a photographer. The camp is free till 10:00 then after it's like 6.00per hour per child but goes down for the second child. It's great because it will give you family time & couple time.

[LisaT12]

Last summer we had the late dining on the Miracle. My daughters 13, and 11 were fine. My nephews 4 and 7 were able to handle it only OK...one night they were cranky and we got through it...but another night they were so exhausted, cranky and whiney that my brother and sister-in-law had to leave the dining room and bring them back to the cabin before the dinner was even served. Our servers were so awesome...they never even brought out their food...they packed it up...and another server brought it up to their room for them to enjoy there...it was such a nice surprise for them. They put the boys to bed and ate on the balcony.

 

I guess I drifted from your question...just be flexible. If you have the late seating...try to catch a nap. If you feel that it is not going to work, enjoy dinner on the lido deck at your convenience.

 

Also, you might want to keep in mind, that if you have the late seating, your children will miss many of the Camp Carnival activities because they are planned to begin around the time the early dinner seating ends.

[Love PalmTrees]

The first time we took our children on a cruise they were a bit older than yours, ages 14 and 11. And we much prefer the late seating. There is no big rush to get ready after being in port (or on a sea day, as well). One can relax and even take a nap, especially after being in the sun, swimming, etc. Also, are you staying together in one cabin with one bathroom? We always did and with the later seating it makes it a little easier to work out the bathroom "shifts". Obviously, port days, especially when doing excursions, can begin a little early. What time zone are you coming from and going to? If you normally eat dinner at 6pm on the west coast that translates to approx the same time for a late seating on an east coast cruise. We are from the Midwest and doing a late seating dinner is perfect for us!! If someone gets hungry in between, you can always go and get some pizza or soft serve ice cream. The only thing is that the shows might be a bit late for your kids. We once did an extended family cruise which was paid for by our wonderful in-laws. :) They needed to do early seating due to medicine schedules, as well as they live in Eastern time zone anyway. We had to start getting ready by 3:30 in the afternoon already!! It was hard to pull the kids away from the sun and all the poolside fun at that time. Each family is different and has to consider what works best.

[spleenstomper]

BTW, congratulations on your first cruise and welcome! My DH surprised me with my first cruise as well.... exciting!

[Collcoll]

Will anytime dining be available to you? That might work best. You could go later on port days and earlier on sea days? Just a thought.

[clearwater10]

I agree with the other posters. you have to decide what is important to you. I only do early seating myself. i tried late and didn't like it. the only disadvantage to early is having to go in at 5:00 to get ready. typically you are back on the boat by this time. the one time i did late dinner, we didn't get out until close to 10:00. then the late show at 10:30-11:30. so after a full stomach and that late, i couldn't stay awake for the show little lone for anything else. also, early dinner show is usuallly over by 9:30 and you have the whole evening for other entertainment. However, it is nice to let the kids eat with camp carnival and then they go to the early show. if you are use to eating late and it doesn't effect you staying up later, then you might like it.

[VOLLEYBALLDUDE2000]

My husband just surprised me by booking our first cruise for this November. He chose late seating because he didn't want to rush back from the ports, and he's a photographer and doesn't want to miss the sunsets.

 

However,

we have a 5 year old and an 8 year old.

 

They are usually fine staying up late when we are on vacation as long as they get enough sleep in otherwise (naps, etc). However, we are on the Legend, and the port days seem to begin early.

 

I'm not sure if we should stick with what we've got or try for early.

 

Has anyone intentionally done late dining with children, and how did it all turn out?

 

We had late seating on our first cruise and it was always a struggle to keep them awake until dinner. We would usually come back from an excursion around 5. Then you shower and get ready. Now it's 6 and you have still 2 hours to kill.

Early seating works better for us and if you can't make you can always make an exception if you are late (Go to Lido or call the maitre'd if he can seat you at 8.00)

Just my 2 cents.

[unklez]

.......Has anyone intentionally done late dining with children, and how did it all turn out?

 

We had three 8 year olds, a 2 year old and 1 year old with us on our recent cruise. You just have to tell the wait staff that you want the kids served as early as possible and get at-least the older kids into the camps. After the second day, the wait staff knew what the kids ate and brought it to the table before we sat down! If they are not able to do that for you, use the buffet or room service. You can usually get the same menu items there also. But do not stiff the wait staff on tips if you change your plans to avoid the dining room.

[supercrunch]

Thanks for all the input!

 

I guess I'll talk with the kids before we decide what to do. (although from what I'm reading, we might want to switch to early now just in case and then switch back to late later if we decide that would work best for us)

 

My 8 year old daughter will be more excited about the clubs than my 5 year old son. He's still pretty clingy at times. Although if there are times that they might be together, he would do much better.

 

If we decide to stick with late, we will definitely nap and entertain the idea of feeding the kids at the buffet and letting them enjoy the club while we eat in the dining room.

 

Those of you who choose late dining because you're trying to avoid cranky kids, don't worry. We wouldn't bring them there if we knew they couldn't handle it on any given night. :)

[gazingm42]

We have done both early and late night times with the kids. They

have been cruising since they were 5 & 7, now 10 and 12. Once they

got a taste of the food vs camp they go with us. DS can eat quite a

bit of food. So his choice is with us. But depending on your kids

and what you do during the day, they should enjoy the dinning.

[mitsybella]

the other thing to keep in mind is that if you want to see the shows you will have to pay for the babysitting services if you have the late seating, check to see if they have the open seating option, that may be better for you

[supercrunch]

We will be on the Legend, so I believe they do have open seating.

That just might be the best option for us.

[A&Jfamily]

We will be on the Legend, so I believe they do have open seating.

That just might be the best option for us.

 

That would be a good option. My kids are 5 and 11, and we do early. Its a family vacation, so except for a night or two were DH and I might head to the supper club (a must IMHO and well worth the $30 p/p), we have dinner as a family.

 

That western iten cruise is a high intensity cruise...especially if you are heading out early in the day for activities. My 5 yo, then 3 and 4, crashed every afternoon for a nap. He was still ready for bed @ 10 after camp.

 

I prefer the early seating as the kids do not miss out on the nightly CC activities. Dinner is going to run you 1.5 hrs, so if dinner is 8:30, unless you send them early for a while, they will miss it.

 

On another note...Legend has been our favorite ship to date and a great trip all around!