Adventure Ocean Dining - more info needed

[goofygal531]

This is our first time sailing RCCL with kids. We've sailed Carnival 4 times and know the kids club VERY well!:D

 

On Carnival, I would drop my kids off at the kids buffet dinner every night at 6pm. They loved dining with their friends. Is this option available on RCCL?

 

Also, I've read the kids go to Johnny Rockets for dinner one evening. Does anyone know when on the Allure Western itinerary.

 

If anyone's sailed both lines and can compare the kids clubs for me that would be most appreciated!

 

Thanks!

[Onessa]

We've never cruised Carnival, nor do we cruise the Caribbean, but can tell you what I know about RCCI dining. This post has been "sitting" for a bit so I thought I'd offer what I can!

 

1) Dependent upon the length of your cruise Adventure Ocean will have one or more days where you can sign your kids up to eat at Johnny Rockets. At least one will line up with one of the formal nights.

2) AO does not offer supervised dining at the Windjammer. AO does offer a program where staff will "pick up" kids from the MDR allowing you to dine as a family. Typically you can have the wait staff time your kids service to allow them to finish and meet AO staff and then you may finish your meal at an "adult's" pace :)

Or if you have a late MDR seating, you can take your kid to the WJ, and drop them at AO for the evening's program before you go to your seating.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Onessa

[RSLeesburg]

We've never cruised Carnival, nor do we cruise the Caribbean, but can tell you what I know about RCCI dining. This post has been "sitting" for a bit so I thought I'd offer what I can!

 

1) Dependent upon the length of your cruise Adventure Ocean will have one or more days where you can sign your kids up to eat at Johnny Rockets. At least one will line up with one of the formal nights.

2) AO does not offer supervised dining at the Windjammer. AO does offer a program where staff will "pick up" kids from the MDR allowing you to dine as a family. Typically you can have the wait staff time your kids service to allow them to finish and meet AO staff and then you may finish your meal at an "adult's" pace :)

Or if you have a late MDR seating, you can take your kid to the WJ, and drop them at AO for the evening's program before you go to your seating.

 

On our cruise, there was something called Adventure Dining. You signed up, dropped child off at AO around 6pm, and the staff took kids to either WJ or Park Cafe (we were not on a ship with JR) to get some food, and then I thought they brought it back to AO to eat. Not sure if it's offered every night; we only attempted it once but as our son was the only one to sign up, he did not want to go. This may be similar to what you described above because it was held on first formal night.

 

The other option (2) is called My Family Time Dining, and you need to be at first sitting, which on our cruise was 5:30pm. Personally, I would do My Time Dining, take child to WJ to eat, and then drop off at AO, then head over to MDR or Specialty Restaurant. It is so much easier when you are not rushing to meet fixed dining time...lol

[goofygal531]

On our cruise, there was something called Adventure Dining. You signed up, dropped child off at AO around 6pm, and the staff took kids to either WJ or Park Cafe (we were not on a ship with JR) to get some food, and then I thought they brought it back to AO to eat. Not sure if it's offered every night; we only attempted it once but as our son was the only one to sign up, he did not want to go. This may be similar to what you described above because it was held on first formal night.

 

Yes, that's it Adventure Dining! I read about it on an AO Welcome sheet someone posted. It stated "Kids can dine in Windjammer Buffet with AO staff". That stinks its not held nightly. My kids loved dining with their camp friends. On Carnival, you drop off at the buffet. If my kids didn't like the kids menu served in the buffet camp section, I would sit and feed them then sign them in for dessert. They just enjoyed the experience.

 

The other option (2) is called My Family Time Dining, and you need to be at first sitting, which on our cruise was 5:30pm. Personally, I would do My Time Dining, take child to WJ to eat, and then drop off at AO, then head over to MDR or Specialty Restaurant. It is so much easier when you are not rushing to meet fixed dining time...lol

 

That's our plan! :D However, if the main dining room is the only place to get chicken nuggets the plan will be a BUST!:eek:

 

Anyone else find pre-planning all these meals & shows overwhelming on Allure? The adult info is out there, but how do they expect you to plan your specialty meals not knowing when the kids dining out events are? Ugh such a headache!

Edited January 6, 2014 by goofygal531

[RSLeesburg]

Yes, that's it Adventure Dining! I read about it on an AO Welcome sheet someone posted. It stated "Kids can dine in Windjammer Buffet with AO staff". That stinks its not held nightly. My kids loved dining with their camp friends. On Carnival, you drop off at the buffet. If my kids didn't like the kids menu served in the buffet camp section, I would sit and feed them then sign them in for dessert. They just enjoyed the experience.

 

 

 

That's our plan! :D However, if the main dining room is the only place to get chicken nuggets the plan will be a BUST!:eek:

 

Anyone else find pre-planning all these meals & shows overwhelming on Allure? The adult info is out there, but how do they expect you to plan your specialty meals not knowing when the kids dining out events are? Ugh such a headache!

 

I am not sure if Adventure Dining is offered every night or just a few. We only tried to do it once, but it might be offered every night. I will look at my AO planners to see how often it was offered on Grandeur.

 

I can safely say that no nuggets in WJ on Grandeur. One couple we met, who were on their 12 cruise but first with kids were shocked that there were no nuggets or Mac-n-cheese in WJ. LOL. Luckily, our son loved spaghetti and meat sauce, and they had that each night. He ate hot dogs most days for lunch.

 

Planning was Alain for us, as we sailed on non-peak week, so very few kids and our son would not go into club if his friends were not there. So, we did everything on a spur of the moment. We did in-room baby sitting one night, so we could eat at Izumi for our ten year anniversary...

[goofygal531]

See on Carnival, the nuggets are not on the buffet either. They have really good chicken fingers (all white meat) by the grille near the pool, which isn't far from the buffet but it stops serving at 5pm. The nuggets in the dining room were not good, they were the small frozen type. At least they had kid friendly offerings during the kids buffet camp dinner. Hotdogs, pizza, spaghetti, sometimes nuggets. The kids menu was posted so we could plan accordingly.

 

We sailed on the Exployer when my son was 2.5 yr old and I remember not being able to find nuggets anywhere but the main dining room lol. I did do a search on cruise critic and a mom said she found nuggets in the Boardwalk Bar on Allure/Oasis- i had no idea there was a bar on the Boardwalk! But apparently its quite popular with children searching for chicken nuggets! Lol She also recommended grilled cheese from room service, which is good idea!

 

To make things easy on myself, I think I'm going to plan for one specialty dinner and wing it with the kids. If they want to come to dinner in the MDR they can. If they want to go to the kids club, we'll find something for them to eat. Thankfully, the other specialty restaurant we want to dine in, Giovanni's, offers lunch. That might be my best bet!

 

Thanks for all your comments! I really appreciate it.

[RSLeesburg]

See on Carnival, the nuggets are not on the buffet either. They have really good chicken fingers (all white meat) by the grille near the pool, which isn't far from the buffet but it stops serving at 5pm. The nuggets in the dining room were not good, they were the small frozen type. At least they had kid friendly offerings during the kids buffet camp dinner. Hotdogs, pizza, spaghetti, sometimes nuggets. The kids menu was posted so we could plan accordingly.

 

We sailed on the Exployer when my son was 2.5 yr old and I remember not being able to find nuggets anywhere but the main dining room lol. I did do a search on cruise critic and a mom said she found nuggets in the Boardwalk Bar on Allure/Oasis- i had no idea there was a bar on the Boardwalk! But apparently its quite popular with children searching for chicken nuggets! Lol She also recommended grilled cheese from room service, which is good idea!

 

To make things easy on myself, I think I'm going to plan for one specialty dinner and wing it with the kids. If they want to come to dinner in the MDR they can. If they want to go to the kids club, we'll find something for them to eat. Thankfully, the other specialty restaurant we want to dine in, Giovanni's, offers lunch. That might be my best bet!

 

Thanks for all your comments! I really appreciate it.

 

We did one night in MDR, and ordered grilled cheese there off the kids menu. We met another couple who highly recommended that we try Pride for our next cruise, but when I compared itineraries, Grandeur offered one extra night over Thanksgiving, and hit Key West, so we went with that cruise. Then a few weeks later, Carnival cancelled the Pride Thanksgiving cruise and moved the ship to Tampa. So, kind of good that we did not book that cruise...lol.

 

Enjoy your cruise.