RCCI Late Night Party Zone

[Yellowlily]

Can anyone explain how this works?

 

If I have my DD in AO in the evening, do I sign her out at 10 p.m. then have her put in the LNPZ? Do I need to sign her up in advance for this?

 

Just wondering how that all works.

 

What if the kids fall asleep??? I'm guessing that may happen. Do they have blankets and pillows or will they page/call (don't know how that works either) us to come get her??

 

***On a side note

 

Our daughter is going to be eating with us some evenings and the other with AO. The evenings she is eating with us (dining room, 6 p.m.), do I take her up to AO at 6:45 p.m. or do they come down to the DR and get the children??

 

Also, with AO, can I sign my daughter in and out as we please? If she doesn't want to stay the whole time or go later than it opens? Although, I'm guessing she'll want to spend most of every waking moment in there!:)

[crusinmama06]

LNPZ - no, you don't have to go up and sign her into it. If you don't go up at 10pm to get her, then she is automatically rolled into the LNPZ. Its all in the same room - she won't even know that it has started. The only way that you will know is when you come back, they will ask for your sea pass so they can charge it for the babysitting charge. ;)

 

And no, you don't have to sign her up in advance.

 

Yes, she can fall asleep, they do have blankets/pillows. You don't say how old she is. The room is pretty hopping. So for the older ones (age 6 and up) the room is dancing/playing games pretty late. For the younger ones, they tend to calm it down and let them relax (story times)

 

As far as dining, if she is eating with AO - that is only on specific nights (usually one formal night and one non formal night - but not usually every night) - then you need to sign her up for the AO dinners. You sign her up for them on the morning of the AO dinner and you drop her off at the assigned time.

 

If you have My Time Family Dining - then the AO counselors come and pick her up in the main dining room after she is finished with her meal and they take her up to AO. But that is something you have to request when you make your reservations.

 

And yes, you can sign her in/out as you please. There are a few times that they ask that the kids not be signed in/out. Those are limited times during transition periods. Like if they are transitioning from the talent show back up to the AO rooms. Or after the pirate parade, they ask for no sign outs during transitions. All of that will be marked in the kids compasses.

 

Have a great cruise! :D

[Yellowlily]

Thank you cruisinmama06!!! :)

 

My DD is 4 yo. I think she will love AO.

 

My DH has signed us up for the My Time Family Dining.

 

Thanks for clearning up about the LNPZ too. That is easy and great! So, there's no rushing to get her if we want to stay out for a little bit.

 

I think she will have a fabulous time, as well as DH and I. This will be our DD's 4th cruise. She has gone twice when she was a baby and once at age 2, so too young to be in AO program. This is going to be a real treat for her. I can't wait for all of us!

 

Thanks again for your input. Your compasses are SUPER helpful too. Thank you soooo much!:)

[crusinmama06]

Exactly, no rushing up to get her at 10pm if you just want her to stay for the party zone. If you decide to stay out later than 10pm, then she simply stays. I think the you can tell the counselors if you know in advance if you are going to try to stay out - but it's not required to tell them. :)

[QTMichele]

Just wanted to "clarify" about the My Time Family Dining. We signed up for this during the booking process; however, at least on our cruise, we weren't truly signed up. We had to officially sign up with AO. The communication on this was non-existent until I asked about it.

 

Michele - have you used it yet? I'm wondering if it's different on different ships or if there was a glitch in the system and we weren't really signed up???

[Bobbigrl27]

I was going to do My Family Time Dining, but now I am reconsidering. If we do it, I would still have to run my daughter back to the room to change her clothes because I don't really want to send her to AO in nice dress clothes. I figure if I already am out and about, I might as well bring her up to AO myself.

 

How does everyone else handle that? Do you send your kids in dress clothes, or change them?

[K&Rs Mom]

I was going to do My Family Time Dining, but now I am reconsidering. If we do it, I would still have to run my daughter back to the room to change her clothes because I don't really want to send her to AO in nice dress clothes. I figure if I already am out and about, I might as well bring her up to AO myself.

 

How does everyone else handle that? Do you send your kids in dress clothes, or change them?

 

Our last one was before the Family Time Dining started, but on the casual nights we took them up to AO in their casual dresses with shorts underneath. On the formal nights we took them back to change first. They were 4 & 6 at the time, and love to wear dresses anytime, so YMMV. I expect you could also take a little tote bag to dinner with a change of clothes and have her change in the bathroom when she gets upstairs (assuming we're not talking about a toddler here).

[cruising-hypnotherapist]

I've read several reviews lately where others mentioned they felt they lost out on an important part of the cruise by choosing the My Time Dining option. There is something special, they say, about traditional dining (having the same waitstaff and tablemates). DH and I will be cruising with our kids (ages 7, 7 & 4) in May. Currently we have traditional dining booked at 6pm. Is My Family Time Dining the better option or can we choose traditional dining and still sign up with AO to have counselors pick the kids up at 6:45?

[josask]

We just got home from our cruise with 13, 9 & 7 yo. We had 6 pm dinner seating. On the 2nd night, our head waiter asked us if we'd like to speed up the younger kid's dinners so they could get to AO and it worked perfect. From that night onward, he would come to our table as soon as we arrived, take their orders and their food would arrive about when our appetizers came. They would be able to eat their meal and dessert and finish up just in time to get to the AO when it opened back up at 7pm. I would just run them up between courses. Our waiters would just hold off bringing my main course if I wasn't back yet. This worked perfectly for us.

[Yellowlily]

We just got home from our cruise with 13, 9 & 7 yo. We had 6 pm dinner seating. On the 2nd night, our head waiter asked us if we'd like to speed up the younger kid's dinners so they could get to AO and it worked perfect. From that night onward, he would come to our table as soon as we arrived, take their orders and their food would arrive about when our appetizers came. They would be able to eat their meal and dessert and finish up just in time to get to the AO when it opened back up at 7pm. I would just run them up between courses. Our waiters would just hold off bringing my main course if I wasn't back yet. This worked perfectly for us.

 

 

That sounds really nice! I'm glad to hear it worked out well. We are looking forward to doing that on our cruise. I also like the previous posters idea of taking a tote bag of a change of clothes so the kids can change out of their dinner wear before going onto AO.

[junglejane]

I'm glad to hear that on RCCL the kids automatically "roll over" from AO to LNPZ. That was how it worked on Celebrity, too, but on Princess they want you to sign up ahead of time for the after hours party. They get mad if you don't sign up ahead of time and then come after 10:00 pm (which happened to us one night when our dinner in the specialty restaurant ran late). We like Princess a lot but this is one of my pet peeves.