Crusing on Carnival splendor with 3 year old!

[TOPSTER]

I wanted to ask about dining and what you found worked best as we like to dine fairly casually?! Are the buffets of a decent standard and what is the etiquette with the dining rooms and little ones?

Also any tips and advice anyone has cruising with little ones!

Thanks!

[cb at sea]

The dining room is MUCH easier than the buffet!!! You will be served...you won't have to juggle baby, plates, utensils, etc, like you would in the buffet..... The staff loves kids! There are highchairs avail.

There are many kid-friendly foods...a child's menu is available, too...

 

A 3 year old is not expected to dress like an adult...and Carnival is very casual. Do the dining room and enjoy the service!

Edited March 29, 2016 by cb at sea

[Kerry's Girls]

I have always preferred the dining room with little ones - we go even for breakfast and lunch because it's so much easier. Early dinner seating will have lots of kids and the waiters are great at keeping kids fed/happy so parents can sit and enjoy a meal.

 

The buffet means waiting in lines, juggling plates, going back and forth for things - better to enjoy being served.

 

Best,

Mia

[A&Jfamily]

A third vote for MDR. When my youngest was that age, he could handle and hour at the dinner table. If you do fixed, then you can ask in advance each night for the staff to have a drink a fruit plate ready for snacking purposes. Also, they would time it so that his dinner came with our appetizer and his dessert with our entree. Then, about 7 when camp opened, one parent stays and orders dessert and the other dropped off the kid. Still get family dinner but a relaxing dessert and evening time. Works great.

[092306]

Our son was 3 when we sailed on Splendor and we ate in the MDR every night for dinner and most breakfasts. Agree with others it's so much easier and more relaxing than the buffet. The wait staff really dotes on kids and we were always out in under an hour.

[Foxinspace]

This is a bit long.

 

MDR - yes. We got a booth and put our 3 yr old inside, she loved going under the table back and forth and sitting with each of us. The MDR is actually fairly laid back, I find. DD took off her shoes (it's become a thing!) and hung out in her socks at the table with us. She even fell asleep the first night and put her head on DH's leg.

 

Get the kids menu as it's a colouring book too! (They should provide crayons!)

 

Only thing I would note when you get to the table clear away the extras like glasses, knives, plates, anything like that. The wait staff is happy to help, they'd rather not deal with broken glasses either!

 

I've copied some advice I put together from another post I did for someone else. Hope it helps!

 

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We didn't use the Camp for our 3 year old. She goes to daycare and I thought it was too much like that. I wanted her vacation to be a vacation too, so she got to hang out with us the whole time. We are lucky enough to travel with 3 adults so there is always a spare person to take her if 2 of us want to go do something "Adult" without the kid.

 

We let her pack her own backpack full of toys. She was only allowed to bring what could fit in her back pack. A small pile of Duplo, some Fisher Price Little People and a couple stuffies is what she packed. I packed a few extra Little People to give her during the trip just to keep her toys refreshed.

 

I also packed some mini packages of M & M's (think Halloween size) as bribes. Frankly I only used 4 - mostly in the airport and 1 on an excursion.

 

I brought a colouring book and some markers. She promptly lost the book in the MDR inside the bench on the very first night. I don't know how but it slipped down the side between the wall and INTO the bench. Thank-goodness it was a dollar store purchase.

 

The next day we went to the camp and did the "Build a Bear" activity and made her a stuffed monkey. While we were there we got a new colouring book from the camp. It was great and had stickers, which are her favorite. So I definitely recommend at least visiting the camp to see if they'll give you a colouring book.

 

We also brought along bubbles which we used on the balcony several times. She loved watching them go flying away.

 

We brought along the Bed Rail from home to use on the bed. We have one that folds flat so it was very useful. DD is accustomed to co-sleeping so we only needed the 1 for the side she slept on.

 

We also brought bed pads to protect the mattress in case her diaper leaked. It never did but since it has on occasion at home I thought it was best to have something just in case. (We got a big bag of them from the pharmacy and now I'll have what's left for every trip for the rest of time!)

 

We use a white noise machine at home, and we took this also. Depending on where your room is you might hear lots of bumps, other doors, people walking passed. Better to have the white noise to buffer all the strange noises than have your little one waking up all night.

 

We flew in from Canada so we had to have a passport for our daughter to fly, so I don't have any advice for US Citizen on what you'll need.

 

We brought a sippy cup for our daughter and some dish soap to clean it. We used it a fair bit. Our DD isn't as neat with not spilling drinks as I would like so it was a safety measure really. She used cups and straws in the MDR.

 

If you are doing family formal pictures try and make sure your little has eaten first. Somehow I didn't and our formal picture features a particularly grumpy 3 year old. (I'll know better next time!)

 

 

Good luck and enjoy the cruise

[shaylove]

I will be on this cruising with my husband & 2 boys on Carnival Sunshine. Although we have cruised over 10 times, along with my oldest son, we will be bringing along our toddler this year. Turning 3. This is our first time traveling with him and I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I'm worried about dinner. We usually choose the ATD, and that wait can be lengthy. I was going to opt in for the early dinner time. My question is can we be seated alone? Although, I don't mind dinner with others, I don't think its a good fit with our 3 year old. I remember years ago, we stopped by the Maitre D' soon as we boarded and requested alone dinners for our anniversary cruise. That worked out, but since then we've always had YTD. Any suggestions?

[nicole9s]

I will be on this cruising with my husband & 2 boys on Carnival Sunshine. Although we have cruised over 10 times, along with my oldest son, we will be bringing along our toddler this year. Turning 3. This is our first time traveling with him and I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I'm worried about dinner. We usually choose the ATD, and that wait can be lengthy. I was going to opt in for the early dinner time. My question is can we be seated alone? Although, I don't mind dinner with others, I don't think its a good fit with our 3 year old. I remember years ago, we stopped by the Maitre D' soon as we boarded and requested alone dinners for our anniversary cruise. That worked out, but since then we've always had YTD. Any suggestions?

My son will be 4 when we sail on the Sunshine. We chose the first seating instead of anytime. I can't take the chance there's a wait for a table, or we would be eating on the Lido every night. I also requested a table for just our party, and a booth for 'containment' reasons. There's no saying we will get the table we want, but at least I asked.

[cruiseondude]

We took our first cruise Dec 2015 - the girlS were just shy of 3 (Jan) -- We figured we would try MDR atleast once - but we ended up there each night (albeit, some nights were hit and runs) -- it was fine - FOXINSPACE was spot on with her assessment -- get or bring the coloring book - it will help.

 

OH< I would do early dining -- not AT -- that's just asking for trouble - atleast with mine.

 

Other things that helped us - was being next to another table with a 3yo :-) --

Order an "appetizer" for then when you first sit down - you can even arrange that with the waiter -- I ordered fruit each night for them - kept them busy -- Expect them to take their shoes/socks off and go under the table - expect them to want to go to bathroom - expect them to sit and eat - expect the unexpected. enjoy the cruise -- don't worry about the MDR -- they deserve to be there as much as any other pax.