Some Concepts Royal Caribbean are Experimenting With

[Schplinky]

We've also seen various parenting "styles" in the MDR that we don't want to see in Chops. Some parents think it's an adorable treat for us that their toddlers want to come visit. Some parents think it "preserves the peace" by having their kids play video games at the table all through dinner. Others think it's fine to bring along kids as long as you evacuate them when the screaming starts but then the parents argue over whose turn it is.

 

There are lots of good parents out there and I admire the work they do. Do some adults behave badly in Chops? Sure, but that is a poor rationale for decreasing the odds even further for a peaceful meal. I laughed when I read the comment by the person who thought they should allow kids and then make them leave if they behave poorly. Who would do this, exactly? The same SWAT team that is enforcing the "no kids in the hot-tub" rule and the "no kids in the solarium" rule. No waiter is going to make a family (and their tip) leave his section.

[jmraggs]

I haven't read any posts by people who "don't want children at all on THEIR cruise." What I HAVE read is that a lot of people would like to know that there is maybe ONE restaurant that is adults only. I think a cruiseline can successfully target "families" while still keeping one restaurant and one pool open to adults only. In the grand scheme of things, it's a very small compromise, and there are still plenty of dining options open to families/children.

 

I haven't read that either!;) Even Disney has "Adult Only" areas on their ships!

[tip]

Why when reading this thread does the old W.C. Fields line come to mind?

 

"Anyone who hates kids and small dogs can't be all bad!";)

 

I will take a kid at the next table any day rather than a loud mouthed adult!

[jmraggs]

We've also seen various parenting "styles" in the MDR that we don't want to see in Chops. Some parents think it's an adorable treat for us that their toddlers want to come visit. Some parents think it "preserves the peace" by having their kids play video games at the table all through dinner. Others think it's fine to bring along kids as long as you evacuate them when the screaming starts but then the parents argue over whose turn it is.

 

There are lots of good parents out there and I admire the work they do. Do some adults behave badly in Chops? Sure, but that is a poor rationale for decreasing the odds even further for a peaceful meal. I laughed when I read the comment by the person who thought they should allow kids and then make them leave if they behave poorly. Who would do this, exactly? The same SWAT team that is enforcing the "no kids in the hot-tub" rule and the "no kids in the solarium" rule. No waiter is going to make a family (and their tip) leave his section.

 

I had an "eye roll" when I read that too!:rolleyes:

[Schplinky]

 

I will take a kid at the next table any day rather than a loud mouthed adult!

 

And I'd rather neither.

[kyriecat]

There are many kids under 13 who understand the need to behave and can easily sit thru a dinner without disturbing other guests.

 

Instead of a specific age all should be welcomed, with the understanding misbehaving kids will be sent packing from the SR. We have had positive comments from other guests on how well DD has behaved in MDR and even in SR. It would be nice to not have to dine before 7 just because DD is under 13. That said, don't expect us to dine much past 730pm but to have that option would be nice.

The problem with your statement is many parents don't understand what misbehaving is. I haven't had many problems with children onboard, mostly because I cruise when they are in school and get late fixed seating. However, one situation leaps to mind. During dinner a family let their young daughter (my guess is she was between 1 and 2 since she was only about knee high) run around during dinner when she got bored. Usually it took 5-10 minutes before she was bored. She would hide under tables, come running out in front of people, and occasionally just babble in her "outdoors voice". The parents didn't seem to notice where she went or what she was doing. One night she ran in front of a waiter carrying a large tray stacked with plates. He stopped suddenly to avoid her but he was unable to stop the momentum of the tray. It tipped forward, spilling dishes and dinners. Fortunately, the girl was not injured by any falling items. Instead of apologizing for her behavior and confining his daughter to her chair, the father came over from 4 tables away and proceeded to cuss out the waiter for almost stepping on his daughter, using language and racial slurs that were shocking to me and I work in the oil field. I wanted to tell the father that he was an unfit moron and gators take better care of their young but kept my seat. The waiter was obviously embarassed (and probably angry) but kept his cool and just apologized. The father just kept after him and the maitre d' finally came over and offered yet another apology. I was thankful that the father "will never cruise with Royal Caribbean again" because of the "idiot staff".

 

If you allow the staff to decide what constitutes "misbehavior" they will probably allow things to go to extremes to avoid a situation like the one above. In the mean time, the other paying passengers are annoyed that the cruiseline won't do something about the situation so no one wins.

 

Hopefully RC will keep the age limits in place so I can book the specialty restaurants for after 8 PM and have a quiet dinner without young guests. If that isn't possible, maybe RC can offer the Chops and Portofino menus as room service with a dedicated waiter so I can dine quietly on my balcony.

[barbie5401]

I like having no life vest what a difference that has made on a prior cruise.

 

Speciality rest. keep the age the same or have one night for families.

I don't think RCCL will lose any money if they restrict young children no matter how well behaved they are. To me personally, who wants

to see children in a bar - just because parents want to have a good time. As Mom once said to me - There is a time and place for everything and I don't believe young children belong in the spec. dining room.

 

Just curious - how much are they charged now for the dinner? same as adults?

[Gator626]

Let me just say this: RCI will do what they want to do. We as consumers will dictate whether or not it was a bad idea for RCI to remove its age restriction by deciding whether or not to make reservations. If RCI finds they are acquiring less revenue from the decision, they will reinstate the age limit. Pretty simple if you ask me. I personally will not be making reservations if they remove the age limit, but hey, that just means there is one more open spot for another family I guess. :rolleyes:

[zywnywld]

How about a discussion about paying extra to eat ? I'm not a fan of two hour dinners where a lot of the time is spent waiting. You want a fine dinning experience eat in an upscale restaurant before getting on a ship. Is anyone bothered by what your being asked to pay for now. The Oasis class ships should be a good view of what's coming. Two hugh ships with lots of special places to eat for a price and $25 steaks available in the MDR. Then there's the muster drill. I'm always glad when it's over, but a ship load of passengers scrambling to get outside on deck for a vest and then being told to go stay in your cabin sounds like fun.

[Mydnite]

Speaking as a mother of three, I enjoy the child free environment. I do think that maybe they need to be a little more flexable on ages, there are many well behaved children out there (yes sometimes better than adults), perhaps making the cut off time a little later, or being a little more flexable on the ages would bet better, but they also need to retian the children free time. It is a difficult balancing act

[CruisingCatherine]

I am aware also, that there may be parents of very young children who want to attend and don't want to leave thier children with unknown babysitters(supplied for a cost by RCI) and are not allowed to go yet. Wouldn't it benifical for everyone if they have one or two nights per cruise for families of all ages, letting the other nights be for adults only.

 

I think this is the prefect solution. We LOVE going to Chops and are worried about missing this on our upcoming cruise. We have 2 older children and then we were blessed with a suprise addition to the family (A Cruise Souvenir From the Navigator) I am very hesitant to leave my baby to an unknown babysitter. I think a Family night would be wonderful. Problem solved. We would love to have a night or two to choose from where the children could attend with us. Then when my H and I are on our anniversary cruise, we would be able to attend an adult only evening.

[Mama001]

I am a mom of two boys age 2 and 5 and I say NO WAY to allowing kids in the upscale restaurants...parents need a place to be adults too. No kids can sit for 2.5 hours for an upscale dinner they aren't going to eat. So RCCL don't do it!!!:)

[livylotte]

I think it's a fantastic idea to allow kids in the speciality restaurants. Much as I love the main dining room, the food can be bland and boring sometimes so a suitable alternative would be great for us. Our family meal is an important part of our family life and I applaud RCI for this trial.

 

Of course RCI could always look at improving the food in the main dining room ...

[kyriecat]

I think it's a fantastic idea to allow kids in the speciality restaurants. Much as I love the main dining room, the food can be bland and boring sometimes so a suitable alternative would be great for us. Our family meal is an important part of our family life and I applaud RCI for this trial.

 

Of course RCI could always look at improving the food in the main dining room ...

I think the set up now is adequate for families. RC allows families with children under 13 to make reservations from 5 until 6:30. After 6:30 is for ages 13 and over. I normally make my reservations for 8 or 8:30 so the families that started at 6:30 have an opportunity to eat their meal and leave. While I applaud the fact that a family meal is important to YOU, a QUIET, romantic dinner with my husband is important to ME. I think I should be allowed to have my time too. Crusiing isn't just for families!

[SA Traveler]

On the Freedom in June, I went to make early reservations at Chops and Portofino's since we had our 10 yr old granddaughter with us. I was told that we could come at any time. I guess the Freedom is part of the trial. We actually wanted to eat earlier anyway and did. What a lot of you probably don't want to hear and I have no idea if it was just for the trial but kids under 13 were half price.

 

Neither restaurant was very busy either night and if there were more kids there I didn't notice so they obviously weren't disruptive.

[waf125]

We will not be booking the specialty restaurants if they allow all ages. Its bad enough in the main dining room with nearby tables containing small children acting badly and being ignored by their parents.

 

 

I agree!:(

[Bruin Steve]

From time to time, I also visit the message boards and internet sites for other cruiselines.

Interestingly enough, I found a very similar announcement on a Carnival facebook page:

 

Some Stuff Carnival is Messing Around With

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

From Carnival Cruise Line's Facebook Page...

 

Some Stuff We’ve Been Scr*wing With

 

Today at 5:18 pm

 

There is always something going on somewhere in the wacky world of Carnival Cruises. An experiment. A trial. A drunken binge. A bad acid trip. An effort to make the Carnival cruise experience better for our loyal patrons. Sometimes we forget what we were doing. Or realize, wait a second, that would cost money. But sometimes, we realize we've found another good way to cut our bottom line or get into the wallets of our customers. I’d like to toss around a few beauties that you will probably be saddled with in the near future.

 

The first has to do with a legal requirement: The muster drill. At the beginning of each cruise, we are required by International Maritime Law to waste almost an hour rounding up people and making them stand in the sun in goofy orange jackets they'll be too drunk to find if there ever is a real emergency. Not to mention, it puts a real halt to bar sales during this time. After lots of years we are still working on improving the drill from a sales and revenue standpoint. We are going to make a game of it. Passengers will now be required to "muster" at one of the bars where special drinks called "Muster Specials", one part cheap vodka, three parts Diet Dr. Pepper with a twist of Beef Jerky, will be available for sale in a souvenir "you keep the glass" orange plastic lifeboat-shaped glass. The idea is that the team--Red, White or Blue--who purchase and consume the most Muster Specials during the drill will be awarded 5 Carnival points. Also, in the event of a real emergency, we've found it's better to be "tanked" when you hit the water. This experiment is looking extremely promising for both sales and customer satisfaction.

 

The second has to do with promoting the complete family Carnival experience throughout the ship. Up to now we have restricted drinking onboard to age 13 and higher. But given that family friendliness is very important to Carnival, we want to enable more families to drink together on our ships. We have a trial going on right now to see how removing the age restriction works.

 

Third and finally for now, we will soon announce in detail a new an improved way of allowing travel agents and guests to pre order cases of beer in connection with a cruise. When we’re ready in a few weeks I will ask Larry the Cable Guy, the new SVP in charge of Beer to explain it to you all in simple words you can understand.

 

Even in challenging times we are committed to bringing you ‘Funship’ innovations on a regular basis.

 

 

:) :) :)

[kyriecat]

On the Freedom in June, I went to make early reservations at Chops and Portofino's since we had our 10 yr old granddaughter with us. I was told that we could come at any time. I guess the Freedom is part of the trial. We actually wanted to eat earlier anyway and did. What a lot of you probably don't want to hear and I have no idea if it was just for the trial but kids under 13 were half price.

 

Neither restaurant was very busy either night and if there were more kids there I didn't notice so they obviously weren't disruptive.

I don't know if that was just on Freedom or if RC has made the change to all the ships and not updated their website. The website still shows 13 and up, but I did notice that the hours were changed. It shows that younger children are allowed until 7. I guess I'll have to make my reservations for 8:30 or 9 now instead of 8.

[EBFURR]

OK, usually you all can tell that I am pro-kid friendly activities. THIS is not one of them. :eek:

 

Heck, even on Disney there is an Adult only dining venue (Palo) and we all know how "family friendly" Disney is.

 

I am looking at this as a way for RCCL to increase their revenue. They'll charge the same for the 2 year old as they do for the 82 year old. So the revenue will be doubled {or so they think}. They can give the old "We are trying to be family friendly" speech but they are just trying to make money - plain and simple.

 

BAD, BAD, BAD idea

 

I think this pretty much nails it as far as we are concerned. Our Children are older now, but we never took them with us to really upscale "adult" restaurants when they were younger. We either got a sitter for "date night" or went to a family friendly venue. This was out of consideration for other adults and also for ourselves since such occasions were reserved for special events such as anniversaries, etc. At the same time, we considered our kids to be well behaved and well mannered - no running around, throwing things, etc. We have some video of us in the MDR of the Big Red Boat several years ago and when we watch it we are amazed at how noisy our kids sound. They were not being obnoxious so much as just being excited to be there. At the time it seemed pretty much normal, I suppose because we were used to being around kids. Our tablemates did not seem to mind and were joining in the converstaions & fun. I suppose that at the time they were no more noisy than other kids their age, but now that we do not have young ones around it seems a little annoying, even to us. That alone confirms our decision to keep family activities in a setting geared for families. It was not at all out of place for the MDR, but I cannot imagine being in one of SRs with the kids back then.

 

By the way, wonder if they are also looking into RAISING the age limit for Fuel (teen disco)? ;)

[Cruisebylandorsea]

If anyone from RCCL is reading........Please continue the practise of a set time that we can make reservations for 13+ in SR's. That way at least we know the chances of young children being in attendance. We do want the option of adult only dining.

 

Improve the food quality in MDR. If you need to offer fewer choices, then do so. Food in SR on last cruise was so much better, we began wondering why we should eat dinner in MDR at all.. We even opted to eat in WJ a few nights, since you could pick and choose based on quality of offerings.

[madforcruising]

Well, recalling the statement I got from Mr. Goldsteins office regarding the Chops steak on the MDR menu at an extra cost, I´d think they need to discontinue that one, because he stated it was added to give families that could not join the SR because of their children would still be able to get the upgraded steak:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

Well the whole thing doesn´t really matters to me as I never dined in one of the SR´s and am not thinking of doing so, but I understand all those not wanting children in there.

 

I´m not an expert in the SR but it´s always been my impression those Restaurants are not doing very well revenue wise. Walking by in the evenings they always seem rather empty and granting the continous advertisings for those restaurants and even calls to your room to make reservations gives me the impression they have plenty open spots all the time. Maybe they are trying to fill these with adding kids.JMO

[HorrorFan]

I fail to understand why anyone would even want to take a child to venue like Portofino. It is NOT a child friendly dining environment, and I don't care how sophisticated and well behaved a kid is, they are not going to be very happy for two hours in that environment, whether they are 5 or 10 years old.

Having said that, I agree with Michelle. It is all about putting some extra money in RCI's pockets. Perhaps as the cruise line is more and more targeting families, there are less and less 'adults only' to fill these venues up. i dunno. But it is all about money, rest assured.

[cruiser87654321]

I like the idea of being flexible with dining ages in the resturants. Perhaps I am biased because we would like to take our 12 yr old DD as well as our 14 yr old

DS to the myster dinner or any meal for that matter. We have very well behaved children who know how to act in resturants , because they have always gone with us and have been taught the right way to behave and what is expected.

 

I am aware also, that there may be parents of very young children who want to attend and don't want to leave thier children with unknown babysitters(supplied for a cost by RCI) and are not allowed to go yet. Wouldn't it benifical for everyone if they have one or two nights per cruise for families of all ages, letting the other nights be for adults only. This way when reservations are made you know what to expect. Just my opinion.

 

I have booked the mystery dinner for my 12 year old, I did it before I completed online check in so his age was apparently (?)unknown to the system, and it allowed the booking to go through. It was only when I decided to change the date that it refused to let me put his name through.....so I kept the original booking.;) He is very well behaved any way and often dines with us in good restaurants.

[Schplinky]

I wonder why RCL is going down this road. Much of the profit in an adult restaurant comes from cocktails and wine. Maybe it's going to change its age requirements for those, as well? ;)

[tnt10]

Bottom line for all the suggestions by RCI is simple: Increase Revenues.

SR's not doing well? Options, do something to bring more people in, (the obvious first choise to accomplish this would be to invite the children who are currently excluded - and are dying for the opportunity to sit through a refined, 2 1/2 hour dining experience), OR heaven forbid, lower the surcharge, which is ridiculouly high and misunderstood to begin with. (Is it a tip? Is it an upcharge? Is it both? Clear as mud. And for those who compare the $50.00 fee per couple to "a wonderful restaurant meal well worth the $50.00 charge," please remember that it is an additional $50.00 charge, on top of the amount you already paid in your cruise fare. Interestingly, was on Azamara last fall, and their SR's surcharge had dropped from $20.00pp to $5.00pp. Both were packed every night).

Cruisers booking their own airfare? Looks like another lost revenue opportunity for RCI.

Interesting how this thread has drifted away from the reasons behind the suggestions by RCI, to the great "Kiddie Debate."

Happy Cruising,

TnT