Main Dining Room Suggestion

[drfun48]

Having recently returned from Bermuda on the Summit, I found my main dining room experience to be most unpleasant.

The food was very good.

The behavior of many children,generally twelve and under,was horrible.

Their parents were oblivious or indifferent to their,loud wailing,and running around.

One ten year old made frequent visits to the waiter's station,obviously a nuisance,whom the waiters were powerless to discipline,for fear of offending the parents.

 

I suggested to the maitre d and on my comment card, that I thought that during periods of high family travel,an adults only,child free zone be established in the MDR.

Lest it offend some,it might also be called the family friendly area, where all the little darlings and their parents could enjoy one another's company.

[LV2COOK]

Good idea... I love children. When I see a misbehaved child I always look past them to the parents.

[chrisc71]

I have children and the behavior you described annoys me as well. My children understand they are to behave when out.

 

Whether it is this issue or the chair hog one; I am getting tired of hearing "they do not want to offend anyone" excuse. What about the rest they ARE being offend?

 

Hope the rest of your cruise was enjoyable.:)

[Redtravel]

X welcomes kids of all ages. In a perfect world, all kids would be perfectly behaved. Most kids are great. Sometimes, kids can get annoying. The MDR waiting time can be a problem for small kids. However, on X there will always be families with small kids. If you really want a no children dining room, try the specialty restuarants where no kids under 12 are allowed....or just book on a cruise line that discourages bringing kids. Azamara or Oceania may be the perfect place for people who prefer childless meals. They have very few children and no children's programs. When I am traveling with just my spouse, I prefer Azamara/Oceania...especially during school breaks. When I travel with my kids and grandkids, I like X or RCL...and the kids will be kids...they laugh,sometimes get loud, and usually have a fun time on X.

[patty1955]

..and the kids will be kids...they laugh,sometimes get loud, and usually have a fun time on X.

and when kids are kids and misbehave, they should be taught better. That's the job of the parents and grandparents. Being kids is not an excuse for bad behavior.

[kitty9]

X welcomes kids of all ages. In a perfect world, all kids would be perfectly behaved. Most kids are great. Sometimes, kids can get annoying. The MDR waiting time can be a problem for small kids. However, on X there will always be families with small kids. If you really want a no children dining room, try the specialty restuarants where no kids under 12 are allowed....or just book on a cruise line that discourages bringing kids. Azamara or Oceania may be the perfect place for people who prefer childless meals. They have very few children and no children's programs. When I am traveling with just my spouse, I prefer Azamara/Oceania...especially during school breaks. When I travel with my kids and grandkids, I like X or RCL...and the kids will be kids...they laugh,sometimes get loud, and usually have a fun time on X.

 

Why is it the response is always "go on another line" if you don't like kids? That is patently unfair, just as it would be to tell families to stick to Carnival. Personally, I've seen such terrible behavior by kids in the main dining room, that having a kid free zone would be a good idea. That way, those of us who are childless can avoid the food fights, the tables with nothing but kids while their parents dine at the other end of the dining room, the "darling little ones" who's parents think it's cute for their precious to dance around the tables and bump into waiters carrying trays. And why should any passenger be forced to pay the extra money for the specialty restaurants? Should a cruise line force families to only dine in the buffet? Hardly, on both counts. No one is saying to banish families from X, but perhaps a little "38th parallel" would go a long way in keeping the peace, so to speak.

[ljk76]

I love kids, I am a teacher and spend most of my year with six year olds. It's a joy seeing an in control child enjoying a cruise with their family. Unfortunately...that is not what the OP is describing. I'm guessing the Summit out of Bayonne is attracting lots of families this summer, some with well mannered children, some not. I think I saw one post mentioning 550 kids on one Summit cruise this summer! That has not been my experience on Summit, or Celebrity in general, and of course I'm on vacation when they are! So I don't think typically an "adult" or "family" dinner zone would be needed, but it may have been an idea for this itinerary.

[drfun48]

X welcomes kids of all ages. In a perfect world, all kids would be perfectly behaved. Most kids are great. Sometimes, kids can get annoying. The MDR waiting time can be a problem for small kids. However, on X there will always be families with small kids. If you really want a no children dining room, try the specialty restuarants where no kids under 12 are allowed....or just book on a cruise line that discourages bringing kids. Azamara or Oceania may be the perfect place for people who prefer childless meals. They have very few children and no children's programs. When I am traveling with just my spouse, I prefer Azamara/Oceania...especially during school breaks. When I travel with my kids and grandkids, I like X or RCL...and the kids will be kids...they laugh,sometimes get loud, and usually have a fun time on X.

 

I don't mind the children in general on the rest of the cruise,they should be having fun too,but I see nothing offensive in having an adult area in the MDR. It's large and could easily accommodate adults only AND family friendly zones.

Your suggestion that I eat in the Normandie every night is a bit extreme. I did eat there two nights,but the menu is limited.

[We're The Groupnors]

Saw a great sign outside a coffee shop today that read, "Unattended children will be given espressos and free kittens". Bravo!

[jackdiamond]

and when kids are kids and misbehave, they should be taught better. That's the job of the parents and grandparents. Being kids is not an excuse for bad behavior.

Agreed, except in my opinion, it is the job of parents, not grandparents.

[austinlw]

Saw a great sign outside a coffee shop today that read' date=' "Unattended children will be given espressos and free kittens". Bravo![/quote']

 

Bravo indeed!!

 

Having an adult only zone in the dining room sounds good to me. The cruise line should have a reasonably accurate count of children before the cruise starts, so they could adjust the size of said area before the cruise. The adult only zone could expand or contract somewhat cruise by cruise depending on whether it's school holiday time.

 

That being said, my wife and I were seated with a large family on a RC cruise one time. We started off concerned, but these kids were impeccably behaved (very smart too) and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and their parents as the week progressed. If we had had the adult only option at the time, we would have missed out on that enjoyable experience.

 

We saw a different kid problem once on a Carnival cruise involving unsupervised teenagers and a ship photographer. The kids wanted pose after pose after pose (and the photographer obliged), and were acting silly the whole time, which delayed the whole process. Meanwhile we had a steadily growing line of adults who were not so amused.

[PS90]

Having recently returned from Bermuda on the Summit, I found my main dining room experience to be most unpleasant.

The food was very good.

The behavior of many children,generally twelve and under,was horrible.

Their parents were oblivious or indifferent to their,loud wailing,and running around.

One ten year old made frequent visits to the waiter's station,obviously a nuisance,whom the waiters were powerless to discipline,for fear of offending the parents.

 

I suggested to the maitre d and on my comment card, that I thought that during periods of high family travel,an adults only,child free zone be established in the MDR.

Lest it offend some,it might also be called the family friendly area, where all the little darlings and their parents could enjoy one another's company.

 

While your idea sounds like it would make some people happy, it seems rather unfair to lump all the kids, and all the parents of all the kids, together in one section if they don't want to be there. Just because you cruise with a kid doesn't mean you want to vacation with other people's brats running around all over your designated "area".

 

 

Why is it the response is always "go on another line" if you don't like kids? That is patently unfair, just as it would be to tell families to stick to Carnival. Personally, I've seen such terrible behavior by kids in the main dining room, that having a kid free zone would be a good idea. That way, those of us who are childless can avoid the food fights, the tables with nothing but kids while their parents dine at the other end of the dining room, the "darling little ones" who's parents think it's cute for their precious to dance around the tables and bump into waiters carrying trays. And why should any passenger be forced to pay the extra money for the specialty restaurants? Should a cruise line force families to only dine in the buffet? Hardly, on both counts. No one is saying to banish families from X, but perhaps a little "38th parallel" would go a long way in keeping the peace, so to speak.

 

Yeah. Saying "if you don't like kids, you should cruise on Azamara" is almost the same as saying "If you don't like formal clothes, you should cruise on NCL". I seem to remember hearing that in some dress-code threads...

[junglejane]

While your idea sounds like it would make some people happy, it seems rather unfair to lump all the kids, and all the parents of all the kids, together in one section if they don't want to be there. Just because you cruise with a kid doesn't mean you want to vacation with other people's brats running around all over your designated "area".

 

I totally agree! We cruise with our kids who are now 10 and 14. They have been on 11 cruises. They do not get up from their seats, except to use the restroom, or to leave early for the kids/teen program or if someone says "look there are dolphins out the window!" And they ask for permission to leave the table. Even when they were 4 and 8 we did not tolerate running around. I certainly would not want to be exiled to some area of the MDR where bad behavior is tolerated. My own kids would complain about it!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We sailed to Bermuda several times out of New York and New Jersey in the summer. While there were a lot of children on board on the last trip I have to say they were, for the most part, well behaved. We do book late seating at dinner and that tends to be mostly adults. We would not enjoy being in a dining room with misbehaving children or adults as can sometimes happen.

 

Mary Lou

[AmeliaSubverxin]

My very first cruise was at age 4. I had strict parents. My siblings and I never would have dreamed of getting up and running around in the dining room because we'd get a nice smack and a lecture.

 

The maitre d really should have said something to the parents. Having children running around during the dinner service could pose a hazard to the waiters as they bring out heavy trays.

[librarylady19]

What a bummer! This is just another reason why we book our cruises when schools in session and always eat later in the evening.

[SteveCascio]

My issue has never been with misbehaving children but with parents that enable misbehaving children. A number of years back on Zenith we had a large family seated near us in the MDR that put all of the adults at one table and segmented all of their children to another table (right next to ours.). Clearly this was a disaster. We approached the adult table and nicely asked they resolve the issue. Their resolution was to send a 14 yo to the table to keep order. When that did not work, we asked again ... Their solution was to scold the 14 yo. Our next step was to talk to the Maitre d ... Problem solved ... For the rest of the cruise the kids either did not come to dinner or adults were at the kids table. Lesson? I don't hesitate to talk to the Maitre d when I have issues ... First!

 

BTW ... You would have thought the parents stationed at the kids table were doing hard time ... Banished!! ... You wonder why they brought the kids in the first place ... They had no intention to take care of them.

[Sloop-JohnB]

Having recently returned from Bermuda on the Summit, I found my main dining room experience to be most unpleasant.

The food was very good.

The behavior of many children,generally twelve and under,was horrible.

Their parents were oblivious or indifferent to their,loud wailing,and running around.

One ten year old made frequent visits to the waiter's station,obviously a nuisance,whom the waiters were powerless to discipline,for fear of offending the parents.

 

I have to agree with some of the other Posters here... I think your statement is incorrect... you have the ADVERB modifying the wrong NOUN

 

Because although the "symptom"... may have been poorly behaved children... the "illness" was clearly HORRIBLE Parenting.

 

I read an article recently where some Parents have a real problem saying NO to their kids... part of the reason there is such a childhood obesity problem these days.

 

NO ONE knows how to say NO !!

 

I am over 50, kids are grown and gone... and I am very proud of how they turned out.

 

I accredit some of that to Manners.

 

We had strict rules with our kids about going out to Dinner... we started them out very young... and ONLY went to child friendly places...

 

As ALL kids like eating out setting the groundwork wasn't that difficult.

 

If you set THE RULES early... and FOLLOW THRU... then kids quickly learn what is and isn't acceptable (and that includes... IF you are not prepared to follow THE RULES then we are leaving !! And actually get up and go)

 

Easy enough to be done when the child friendly place is the neighbourhood Pizza joint... more difficult to do if you haven't worked your kids thru the process at 3 and 4, and they are now 5, 6, or 7 and you find yourself in a more adult environment.

 

Dinner time at home or at a Restaurant we had a routine... you sat down at the table... you wanted something you asked (didn't reach)... needed something not at the table... you asked if you could leave and get it... you were finished and wanted to leave the table, you asked to be excused. You also learned that sometimes the answer would be NO. Sometimes leaving the table was appropriate, sometimes it wasn't (like in a Restaurant when the rest of us are still eating). Our kids learned THE RULES. Consequently we never had these issues that I so often read about with out-of-control kids running amuck in a Restaurant.

 

By 10 they were fine dining with us on Special Occasions at high end restaurants... we now had no problem inviting Grandmom or Grandpa to a nice establishment say to celebrate a Milestone Birthday (with the kids)...

 

The result we all have great memories... the Grandparents, Me and the Kids (now in their 20s & 30s)... "Hey remember the first time I ate ___ at ___ Restaurant?" Those sentences always make me smile.

 

And yes we did get the comments when we were out... "My your children are well behaved, and so sophisticated"

 

Trust me we didn't find them sophisticated, they were just average kids who could be just as bratty as the next kid in the car on the way home...

 

We may have not found them sophisticated... but what we did find them were manners...

 

But that is the whole clue... someone has to find manners and put the time in to teach them. They don't just happen.

 

Kids crawling under tables, running around Restaurants, pestering the Wait Staff... and generally making everyone else's Dining Out Experience HORRIBLE is not manners.

 

But then, by all accounts their parents who haven't a clue that there is a problem, are even less mannered folks.

 

Especially so if you ever try to tell them to control their kids... which is why I too will on occasion speak to Management (I learned the hardway in the past by trying to be nice and speak to the Parent.. Mom to Mom). BUT that backfired. So I feel for Management too... because they inevitably end up in a confrontation with some ill mannered moron who is yelling back (or swearing back) at them that their kids have rights too!

 

As someone said earlier... "Sometimes there is no cure for Stupid"

 

Divide the Dining Room... don't know if that is the solution... or fair to those who actually have done a good job with their kids.

 

BUT it would certainly help save the rest of us from having spent $ 1000s on a special vacation that is less than pleasant because of HORRIBLE Parents and their "spoiled" children.

 

Cheers!