Do you do early or late dining?

[Prinycesa07]

Cannot decide. If we do the early seating we would take the kids with us. If we do late we will take them to the buffet around 6:30 & then to camp carnival while we go to the MDR. My kids are young (2&3) so most times we eat out its stressful but I feel guilty for not eating with them for some reason? So just curious, do you do early or late? Do you eat with them every night?

[martikus]

We prefer early, but we eat by 6pm at home too. That way we are all fed by normal dinnertime. If DS (6) is not too tired we can still hit a show after dinner. If not, we retire for the night. I can't imagine how DS would handle waiting until 8:30 to start dinner.

 

We also don't split up for meals and DS is usually pretty patient for meals. DS didn't like the RCCL kids club so he wouldn't have gone up there while we ate.

[WAHMto5]

When possible we always go with the "anytime dining". We find that it is so much easier with the kids not having to be at dinner at a specific time every night.

[Prinycesa07]

When possible we always go with the "anytime dining". We find that it is so much easier with the kids not having to be at dinner at a specific time every night.

 

This is also what I'm considering even though I love having the same table/waitstaff daily. I'm more concerned with the fact that they aren't great at restaurants. Someone tell me when does that get better LOL

[penguinscott]

Several things to consider here, I see why you asked.

 

I enjoy late dinner but that's because I tend to lunch late. I like my routine of happy hour, late dinner, late show, dancing. But I don't have kids and my needs are most likely different.

 

Do your kids enjoy the long formal dinners in the MDR? If they are just fidgety and grumpy, it might be more of a vacation for all involved, including others around you, if they dined in the buffet.

 

Have a great time!

[Prinycesa07]

Thanks Scott :)

 

Good points. Yes, they definitely get fidgety when out to eat (never loud or bothersome to others, as I would for sure get up & leave) & dinners are pretty lengthy in the MDR. I think we're leaning towards doing dinners with them in the kids club as I think that would be better for all of us. Just this darn mommy guilt that feels like I'm away having a nice dinner without them. Ugh, go away mommy guilt lol.

[nothriver]

We have always had the early dinner, but then again, we've only done port intensive cruises with early mornings most days. My daughter turned four just after her first cruise, she'll turn 8 on her next cruise. She is an active child and I can't say her dining behavior has improved much, however, she is "good enough" meaning while she definitely annoys ME at dinner, I don't think she annoys those around us. The wait staff has always been very good about taking her order first and brining food promptly. Our last cruise the waiter made her oragami figures every night, he was very talanted. We don't linger over meals like we would with a group of adults only.

 

Anyway, dinner time is our family time that we plan to spend together each evening on the cruise, so early dining is what works best for us all togher. We like fixed dining because the staff get to know the kids and take very good care of them.

[cb at sea]

For kids, early seating allows them to do the evening activites....or, you can do the buffet thing...your choice!

[Warm Breezes]

Cannot decide. If we do the early seating we would take the kids with us. If we do late we will take them to the buffet around 6:30 & then to camp carnival while we go to the MDR. My kids are young (2&3) so most times we eat out its stressful but I feel guilty for not eating with them for some reason? So just curious, do you do early or late? Do you eat with them every night?

 

We do anytime now and our kids have always had dinner with us every night on cruises since we first sailed when they were 4 and 7. If only they had anytime back then....when we first cruised we did early since anytime wasn't an option.

[092306]

We do YTD and usually go around 6 so if you don't want to do YTD, I'd choose the early seating. Our son was 2 for our last cruise and ate with us every night. DVD player kept him occupied, but we also had quick dinners. We're hoping for the upcoming cruise when he's 3 he'll want to go to camp so we can have a dinner or 2 alone. I wouldn't feel bad about one or 2 nights, but the rest I'd like him to eat with us.

[B_Mc]

Early! Even a "late night" for my kids means bed by 8 pm, but they are still little...

[Onessa]

When DD was young we did early - she ordered and got her entree when we were eating our appetizer and then one of us would take her up to AO between our courses and we would finish up without her. As she got older, she'd stay longer and since she has been about 12YO she really enjoys the sitdown dinner experience -- now we do late seating (she's 17) and the traditional MDR, dining at a table of 8-10 is one of her favorite things about cruising. She really does enjoy grown-up conversations, meeting people from different places, and trying different food.

 

About the only time she was uncomfortable, was when she was 8YO and our entire table consisted of three couples who did not know each other, but all of whom were elementary school employees (teachers, a librarian, and a principal) they were TOO eager to converse each other about school topics and look to her for her opinion. She said she felt like a lab animal or something :D!

[Prinycesa07]

Oooooh- having them eat & then go up to kids club! Great idea! I think this is our new plan. If we can get the early seating (its wait listed). Thanks!

[askimdog]

I think we officially phased out the MDR, last cruise we used it for 1 breakfast and 1 dinner only. Just too stuffy, and way too long and waiters were not the nicest. We are sticking to the buffet for the most part, often many of the same foods.

 

But...to answer your questions, with kids, ya almost gotta do anytime or early. Late runs late. We cruise with a 9 year old, her bedtime at home and on ship is 7:30-8:30 PM. If we ate late, she would fall asleep in her soup, or be darn cranky the next day in Port.

[Prinycesa07]

I think we officially phased out the MDR, last cruise we used it for 1 breakfast and 1 dinner only. Just too stuffy, and way too long and waiters were not the nicest. We are sticking to the buffet for the most part, often many of the same foods.

 

But...to answer your questions, with kids, ya almost gotta do anytime or early. Late runs late. We cruise with a 9 year old, her bedtime at home and on ship is 7:30-8:30 PM. If we ate late, she would fall asleep in her soup, or be darn cranky the next day in Port.

 

I can totally understand that. We're not early people though so it could work. At home they're in bed at 9:30 but on weekends they're often up until 11. In guessing vacation will be similar. Ya never know though, they very well could be exhausted from the long days. You're right, were definitely going to go with early or flex just in case!

[cbsmama]

We just finished our first cruise on the Carnival Fantasy. We did the early dining and it worked out great for us. DD is 3.5, and she typically does pretty well eating out anyway, but I wouldn't have wanted her to miss the MDR. Our servers were so fantastic with her, she looked forward to going to dinner each night. She loved the whole experience of dressing up, fancy glasses, fancy plates, etc. We were generally done with dinner around 7:45 and then we would head over to Camp Carnival for evening activities.

 

Sometimes I felt a little rushed trying to get us all to dinner by 6, but we had such an enjoyable night and we were all able to get to bed by 9:30/10, that it was worth it. It was almost like a little "reset" in our day to keep us on somewhat of a schedule.

 

Although we ate at the buffet for lunch most days, a buffet with persons who are not big enough to choose their own food and carry it can be quite challenging. DH would get his food and I would go with DD to get a plate for her, and then I would have to go get food for myself. Anyway--I know that that isn't a direct response to the OPs question, but I would pick table service over buffet with a 3-yr old any day! And with two, that's a no-brainer for me!

[Stace894]

I will say my son was a bit older on his first cruise, 9, but we did and will do early dinner. We usually eat around 6pm at home so he would be begging for a 'snack" if we waited for late meals then prob wouldn't eat. He really enjoyed the atmosphere in the MDR. Even tried all sorts of new food, actually liked escargot but not fond of the Tuna Tartar. You can always try the MDR the first night and if it doesn't work try the more casual settings for other nights.

 

Enjoy your trip!

[Mack2]

We go for early seating. Especially with kids and a long day in the sun, late seating may be too late for them. You don't want to have a hungry, exhausted, and cranky child waiting to have their meltdown at dinner while you're trying to eat lobster and filet mignon.

 

I'm not a big fan of My Time Dining... We've done it twice now... once on Princess, once with Norwegian. On both cruises, we got into the habit of going to the MDR just as it opened so we wouldn't have to wait for a table.

 

I figure, if I'm going to go to what is technically the early seating, I'd rather have the service of a familiar waiter and busboy instead of the random placement. Sadly, the MDR is not a special place as much as it used to be on cruises. It's become just part of the routine... Aboard the Norwegian Epic, with the schedules for the different shows and the kids, we found ourselves at the buffet a lot.

 

Not a huge fan of buffet dinner on a cruise, but what can you do?

[IttaBit]

We'll do YTD on our upcoming Allure of the Seas sailing. My kids will be 3, 8, and 14. We don't do it because the kids go to bed early though. When we're on vacation, I let them stay up later, sleep later, and if tired during the day, we take a nap for a couple hours. After all, we're on vacation and when you're on vacation, you get to do things you don't do at home. The main reason I don't like the late seating is because I don't like eating that close to bedtime. If I'm going to be going back to my room about 10, I don't want to be finishing a big dinner just an hour before.

[amcb]

Although we ate at the buffet for lunch most days, a buffet with persons who are not big enough to choose their own food and carry it can be quite challenging. DH would get his food and I would go with DD to get a plate for her, and then I would have to go get food for myself. Anyway--I know that that isn't a direct response to the OPs question, but I would pick table service over buffet with a 3-yr old any day! And with two, that's a no-brainer for me!

 

People always look at me funny when I say the exact same thing! We've got 3, and trying to get food at a buffet is a nightmare. We'd choose table service over buffet any day. I'm not sure I'll ever understand the suggestion that eating at the buffet is easier when you have little ones....

 

We choose "anytime" dining and it works really well for us. It gives us enough flexibility to work with the kids' schedule but also gets us through dinner at a reasonable time. On RCI on our last cruise we had the same wait staff every night. So we had all the benefit of traditional, with all the flexibility of "anytime".

[Prinycesa07]

Thanks for all the replies!

 

We actually decided to go with anytime dining. I think this may work the best as 6 is just a bit too early for us and 8 is a bit too late for us. Also, we plan to take the kids to the buffet to eat around 6 a couple nights and then bring them to camp carnival while we have dinner around 7, just the 2 of us. Cant remember the last time thats happened. Thanks again!

[SusieV]

My three year old is in bed by 7:30, so early dining for sure. We don't do anytime (especially with our child) because I would prefer to develop a relationship with our waitstaff.

 

He is very, very good in restaurants though for a small child. He knows to use his manners when ordering and he'll sit and colour while he waits for his food. We have a no electronics rule at the dinner table.

 

He can handle himself for 60-90 minutes before he gets fidgety, as long as we make him part of the conversation. We will choose to have a table to ourselves, though. I wouldn't enjoy eating with someone else's child.