kids eating dinner with other kids

[smrtypnts]

On selected nights, our youth staff hosts dinners in our specialty restaurants. It's a great opportunity for kids to eat with other kids and for parents to enjoy a meal alone.

 

I found that quote on the RCCL site. I was wondering if the nights they choose are the formal nights or nights other than formal nights. Does anyone know? Any other info would be greatly appreciated.

[HHFamily]

Last week on the Sovereign our son ate dinner one night and lunch the following day with the Adventure Ocean crew. I didn't notice if they do this during formal night or not. They had pizza both times, which thrilled my son. He says they had a great time and wants to eat with them every time they offer next time we go. We had to kidnap him from Adventure Ocean when we wanted to spend time with him onboard, he loved it so much.

[mamax4]

While on the Explorer, there was dinner with A.O. counselors almost every night. Definately on both formal nights. Keep in mind that both those nights they "sale out" quickly! They only take 15 kids from each group.

[smrtypnts]

I would like my kids (15 & 11) to dress up and eat with us on formal nights, but don't want to keep them from eating with their new friends, either.

 

Thanks for the help!!

[HHFamily]

We insisted our son eat with us on formal night (which is why I didn't know if dining with AO was an option on formal night) and left the rest of his 'where to dine' decisions up to him, once we realized he had the option to dine with AO. He chose to dine with AO at every chance. He says we are too boring compared to AO!:eek:

[justaknucklehead]

Kids under 13 are not allowed in the specialty restaurants.

[smrtypnts]

Thanks again, this is great info. Beyond what I've already stated, I noticed that the RCCL site says they eat together TWICE and i was just hoping it wouldn't be formal night. :rolleyes:

[negc]

Thanks again, this is great info. Beyond what I've already stated, I noticed that the RCCL site says they eat together TWICE and i was just hoping it wouldn't be formal night. :rolleyes:

 

You have to sign them up for the dinners, so if you want them to eat with you on formal nights, you can opt not to sign them up.

We were just on the Mariner and I'm not sure which nights they offered the dining option but I'm under the distinct impression that it was available for more than two evenings during our 7 night cruise.:)

[sagiter]

You don't say hold old your kids are but my son opted out of the dining room (he's 130 after the third night and hoolked up with some friends and went to the Windjammer. When my 12 yr old daughter wanted she accompanied them. on the last nite there was a pizza party for the teen group that they attended.

[Travelgrrl]

Justaknucklehead, always there with the misogynistic comment. What a joy you must be to travel with! :confused:

 

 

In this case "specialty restaurant" means Johnny Rocketts, not Portofinos. So you can untie your knickers now.

[smrtypnts]

My son is 11, but I'm going to put him in the 12-14 group as he hangs out with all 14 year olds already and my daughter is 15. I honestly don't know if my son will NOT want to eat with us, but i know my daughter will enjoy eating with her new friends, when possible.

 

You guys are all so great in helping me. Thank you!!

[Travelgrrl]

Just FYI, depending on your how close your son is to 12, they may or may not let him in the older group.

[smrtypnts]

Thanks travelgrrl. I'm actually going to lie and just say he's 12. :rolleyes:

[shrimp0]

to answer the op question... yes, the dining with staff nights are on the formal nights. There was one other night on our Explorer trip this past Feb. too. Here is what we did... we let our 6 year old go to dinner with his friends at 6... then we picked him up at 8 to change for dinner in the dining room. He would stay there with us for a while... usually just having a snack of fries and then dessert. We would bring him back upstairs around 9:30 (one of us would run him up between courses.. of course letting the waiter know that we would be gone for a few minutes). The other family at our table did the same, so we did not feel awkward leaving the table. If your children are older, they can sign themselves into the kids program on their own and you dont have to leave the dining room with them. We found that this gave all of us the time we wanted. DS was starving anyway at 6 and would have some dinner with friends and then we would still have some family time together in the dining room later in the evening.

 

BTW... you can not lie about the ages of your children ... you provide a birth certificate or passport upon check in that states your childs birthdate. The Ocean Adventure staff is provided with this information so that they know how many kids to expect in each age group through out the week.

[Terpnut]

Thanks travelgrrl. I'm actually going to lie and just say he's 12. :rolleyes:

It's hard to lie when you probably have to provide his birth certificate or passport on check-in. They will check! Our daughter missed the AO cut-off by 9 days and she was not allowed in.

[smrtypnts]

shrimp0 and terpnut, while i hope you're wrong, you're probably right. i just want to give my son the freedom that comes along with the age as well as allow him to hang out with the age of kids he's used to hanging out with.

 

when we were on disney a couple of years ago the same thing happened and ultimately he wouldn't stay with the kids, but ended up hanging around my husband and me for the week. :cool:

 

i guess i'll just hope for the best.

 

Ronni

[herecomesthesun]

So, is Adventure Ocean typically closed during meal times? If so, what are the exact times they are closed? On Disney, they take the kids to lunch or bring lunch to the kids. I didn't know it was different. I think this could be complicated for families to work out. :cool:

 

I heard that if you speak with the Adventure Ocean people and explain that your child is mature for his/her age group, that they will consider moving them up after they participate in one group activity and their maturity level is evaluated. Also, I have heard they are more lenient with the older kids. Its probably best to just be honest and just deal with the issue as truthfully and quickly as possible. Less complication that way. Good luck! :)

[bobbie0253]

I have a couple of things to add.

 

They do sometimes allow kids to move up. We have done this twice with our kids. It depends on the staff, the time of year and the maturity of the child. Both times they have made the child go into his or her group for the first day, and then decide after that if the child still wants to move up or down.

 

FYI most AO activites for the under 12 group start early in the evening. If you have late seating dinner your child will miss almost all of the nights activities. The late night AO 10pm-1am is $5 per hour / per child. For 12 and over there are usually scheduled activities for free.

 

The phones in your room will have a voice mailbox. This can be VERY useful if you allow your child to self sign out. There is a phone in just about every hallway and public area. Have your child use that to let you know where they are. (Even if they go back to the room to get something.) It will save you a lot of footsteps.

 

Make sure your kids know what you expect of them before you leave for your cruise. They can't follow the rules if they don't have a good understanding of what they are. We use the basics: no running, quiet in the hallways, allow older people on the elevators first, no purchases on the seapass unless approved by us ahead of time, and most important- they must be where they say they are going to be. We once had to make our older two spend an evening with us because they were not where they said they were going to be. It was no big deal, but it could have been. They learned their lesson and have never made that mistake again.

 

The ship has AO activities all day while you are in port. We allowed our daughter to stay on the ship while we walked around in Key West once. It gave us some one on one time with my son, and she had a lot more fun on the ship than she would have had walking with us.

 

That's all I can think of right now. Have fun cruising with your kids. Just don't expect them to want to hang out with you much. :)

 

Bobbie

[bobbie0253]

So, is Adventure Ocean typically closed during meal times? If so, what are the exact times they are closed? QUOTE]

 

 

On Sea Days AO is typically closed from 2-4.

[shrimp0]

and everyday it is closed from 5-7... unless you are dining with the staff on the designated nights and then you can drop them off at 6 for dinner. ( at the designated eating area.. Johnny Rockets on the Voyager Class Ships).

 

And yes, they will for sure know the age of your child and it just depends on the above given factors whether or not he will be able to move up a group. But I was told that they DO have to participate in 2 sessions of their age appropriate group first.

[sunshine 229]

Justaknucklehead, always there with the misogynistic comment. What a joy you must be to travel with! :confused:

 

 

In this case "specialty restaurant" means Johnny Rocketts, not Portofinos. So you can untie your knickers now.

 

LOL ,yes I'm sure he'll be relieved to hear that he won't possibly be seated next to one of the disgusting creatures.

[kroozroo]

I was on the Monarch of the Seas 4 day Baja cruise last week with my sister, my granddaughter (age 6) and my niece (age 8). Adventure Ocean offered dinner with the staff twice. Once was on formal night (the second night of the cruise) and again on a casual night (third night I think). We let them go on the casual night and they came to dinner with us on formal night. They really enjoyed dressing up for formal night and had their pictures taken. They loved dinner with the AO staff. They also had lunch with the staff once. You do have to sign up for the dinners ahead of time and they limit it to 15 children. You don't have to sign up for the lunches; they just take them if they are in AO at lunch time.

[smrtypnts]

Thank you so much again, to everyone for all the comments....good, bad and ugly. :o

 

I was actually up last night as I couldn't fall asleep thinking about this whole age thing and me lying, etc.

 

I'm going to take the suggestion of several of the people and sign him up for his appropriate age group and let them know we will be looking to change groups, asap.

 

I'm also going to take bobbie's suggestion on letting the kids know what's expected of them and the repercussions, if they don't follow the rules. THANKS BOBBIE!!:)

 

I don't EXPECT my kids to hang around with me at all........4 years ago on DCL my daughter NEVER wanted to hang out with us, she had such a good time. We had to force her to have dinner with us every night. I want to give both of them every opportunity to do what they want, if at all possible.

 

Thanks again!!!!

[Nliedel]

We are splitting it up. One formal night with us, one with their new friends. We voted as a family and it worked out.

[smrtypnts]

maybe that's what i'll do with my kids. if i can avoid buying my daughter another formal dress that she's not likely to wear again, that would be great!