Carnival-dining room question

[cruzinlisa]

Does anyone know if Carnival has crayons/activity page on the menu for children in the dining room. Last cruise DD was only 15 months so I did not notice. Now I am wondering. If not, I will probably bring a crayon or two and a couple of sheets of paper for DD to keep her occupied. Also, any other ideas of quiet ways to keep a 2 year old occupied.

[Kerry's Girls]

The thing I learned the hard way is to be completely self-sufficient. Even if 100 cruises before you supplied crayons/paper, the cruise you go on might be the one where they didn't get their supply of crayons. I always bring a little something different to dinner - I'll just buy a bunch of things at the 99 cent store before we go including post its, stickers, coloring book, etc. None of it takes up much room and it's nice to have something new each night. Also, I always brought my own plastic cups when my girls were toddlers so they wouldn't have to use the large glass goblets.

 

Bset,

Mia

[Athankfulheart]

The previous post that listed stickers reminded me of a 9 hour flight to Hawaii with 7 kids. I never would have guessed just HOW MUCH fun it is to peel stickers off of a sheet and stick them into a notebook ! I had grabbed a few sheets of small stickers ( think gold stars) and an assignment pad among other "activties" for this flight. My 20month old and my 3+yo both loved peeling stickers and putting them into the notebook and it wasted LOTS of time :D

[Copper_beeches]

Yes, at least the Pride did just have crayons and coloring book/menus

[Carnival_Brides]

We have now cruised with my niece when she was 2, 4 and soon to be 5 and we have also figured out that we need to be self-sufficient. There were a couple nights this past cruise that the servers forgot to get us the coloring menu. :rolleyes:

 

These are some of the things that we have brought to dinner over the years:

iPad/iPhone (Games only, volume down and no movies)

Chipwrecked coloring pages and crayon roll

Stuffed Funship Freddy

A couple of Memory tiles to play a mini-game

Door Hanger to color and hang back at the cabin

Plastic Coffee mug cut-out to color and use during the week

[A&Jfamily]

The previous post that listed stickers reminded me of a 9 hour flight to Hawaii with 7 kids. I never would have guessed just HOW MUCH fun it is to peel stickers off of a sheet and stick them into a notebook ! I had grabbed a few sheets of small stickers ( think gold stars) and an assignment pad among other "activties" for this flight. My 20month old and my 3+yo both loved peeling stickers and putting them into the notebook and it wasted LOTS of time :D

 

And the ones that can be used over and over are the bomb! Also those erasable gray boards. My sons liked match box cars in their pocket too.

[cruzinlisa]

Thanks. I will hit up dollar tree before we go and get a couple of things. Right now she is really into baby dolls. I don't know if we will be able to leave home without a baby. Maybe I can find some smaller things to occupy her.

 

Another dining question- has anyone had luck getting them to bring the kids meal with the appetizers? We have any time dining. Last cruise they never brought her food out until the entrees. Granted we never asked, but they never stuck around long enough to ask. Service was not very good on our last cruise, I hope it is better this time.

[Carnival_Brides]

Thanks. I will hit up dollar tree before we go and get a couple of things. Right now she is really into baby dolls. I don't know if we will be able to leave home without a baby. Maybe I can find some smaller things to occupy her.

 

Another dining question- has anyone had luck getting them to bring the kids meal with the appetizers? We have any time dining. Last cruise they never brought her food out until the entrees. Granted we never asked, but they never stuck around long enough to ask. Service was not very good on our last cruise, I hope it is better this time.

 

We have had luck with this. They are really accommodating about that! We mainly asked for her food early in case she got antsy and wanted to head to Camp Carnival.

[Warm Breezes]

This is what you need to keep her occupied :).

[tasha78]

Yes they do, but ALWAYS bring ur own just in case...we brought a DVD player with his favorite cartoons when our son was that age...ur waiter will learn u, just make sure that they bring her food out first so she can start eating early..

[flhokie]

I love the little activity pouches I've found in the dollar section at Target (a couple other places too). They are themed (cars, princess, Mickey, etc) and include a small coloring book, crayons and stickers (in a re-sealable bag). I always keep 1 in the diaper bag at home and plan to take a bunch on our cruise.

[092306]

When we went on the Miracle in 2011, they provided the menu and crayons, but on our 2012 Miracle trip they did not. Our waiter said there weren't printed childrens menus anymore and just rattled off the food choices. We brought coloring books and crayons so it wasn't a big deal. Maybe it differs from ship to ship? Not sure. You also can get a coloring book from camp carnival. We got it on the registration night and that kept him busy along with the crayons we brought.

[A&Jfamily]

Thanks. I will hit up dollar tree before we go and get a couple of things. Right now she is really into baby dolls. I don't know if we will be able to leave home without a baby. Maybe I can find some smaller things to occupy her.

 

Another dining question- has anyone had luck getting them to bring the kids meal with the appetizers? We have any time dining. Last cruise they never brought her food out until the entrees. Granted we never asked, but they never stuck around long enough to ask. Service was not very good on our last cruise, I hope it is better this time.

 

Do you have anytime dining or fixed? We have excellent success with the wait staff and our boys with fixed dining. I would ask waiters first night to have a fruit plate, as well as 1 skim and 1 2% milk handy each night. And every night like clockwork it was there. The boys had something to stave off their hunger while we looked at the menu. And they brought boys dinners at our request as soon as they were ready; they were often eating their dessert during our entree. Then one of us would take the boys to camp at 7, leaving dessert coffee/tea requests with the other. By the time we were back at the table together dessert was on its way and we had a lovely 3 hours each evening to ourselves.

[CorrieCJ]

Great idea about having something ready for them to eat. There is usually bread but as my 5yo can no longer eat it (celiac) I am going to see about having some fruit or veggies waiting for him next to the bread basket. At age 5 he has already cruised 2x but our August trip will be the first time we are dealing with going gluten-free.

[SadieN]

Just off the Carnival Inspiration. I saw kid's menus and crayons.

As said before you never know if they will run out.

[notentirelynormal]

Interesting that Carnival does this. I've never seen it on Princess. We had traditional seating and after the first night there would be a plate of cut up strawberries waiting when we arrived. The kids ate while we checked the menu. Then they got there food and somehow the scheduling all worked out.

[A&Jfamily]

Great idea about having something ready for them to eat. There is usually bread but as my 5yo can no longer eat it (celiac) I am going to see about having some fruit or veggies waiting for him next to the bread basket. At age 5 he has already cruised 2x but our August trip will be the first time we are dealing with going gluten-free.

 

You know to talk with cruise line in advance...while I have not cruised all lines, from what I have read they are happy to meet with you each day so you can order the next days food as you need it.

[CorrieCJ]

You know to talk with cruise line in advance...while I have not cruised all lines, from what I have read they are happy to meet with you each day so you can order the next days food as you need it.

 

Actually that's true. My oldest is allergic to tree nuts and each night at dinner, the allergy specialist would come around to tell him what would be on the menu the NEXT night, and also to remind him about the allergies on the menu of that current night. He didn't have to order in advance but it was good to know what was coming up.

[SadieN]

Also, kids can order off the regular menu AND adults can order off of the kid menu. Banana Splits are only on the kid's menu.;)