Questions about Zenith, children and dining

[Mississippian]

There are some really low prices for the early January four- and five-day cruises in the Western Caribbean and I was thinking about taking my family.

 

We've only cruised twice, both with Princess, and the children (ages 6 & 5) were only along once. They never ate in the dining room. We took them to the buffet and fed them, took them to the kid's club, and then we ate in the dining room. In fact, they refused to go to the dining room when we tried to get them to on lobster night!

 

It looks like on Zenith (and Celebrity in general) the children would HAVE to eat dinner with us, which would be less enjoyable to all concerned. Or is it practical to take them to the casual venue and order off the menu, then take them to the kid's club and make a late seating?

 

Also, I note that Celebrity has salt-water pools. Just how salty is the water? My son can't stand for fresh water to get in his eyes, and I fear the thought what salty water might do.

 

Thanks for your input on this!

[BrooklynGirl2]

I can't really say how salty the water is in the pools on Zenith but I can say that I have a 5 year old son and he hates water in his eyes. It never bothered him while he was in the pool on Zenith with my dh so I couldn't have been too bad. And they were playing and splashing around a lot.

 

As for the childrens club. My son LOVED it there. We cruised Zenith 2x this summer and he had a great time. They DO feed the children for a fee. I think it is $6 per hour for the 2 hours at dinner (which is I think 6-8pm). Can't remember exactly. My son ate with them a few times. One night they had grilled cheese, another night it was chicken fingers and another night they had a make you own pizza night. They eat in a cordoned off area of the Windsurf Cafe. My son did eat with us a lot in the dining room (even one formal night) and he did just fine. The waiters on Zenith are simply amazing with children. Our waiter doted on my son, cutting up his food for him, bringing him special treats and performing magic tricks for him too and making napkin animals. If you want your kids to eat with you maybe this would entice them to come :).

 

I say if the price is right go for it and take the kids. You will all have a wonderful time. And the Zenith will have been newly refurbished as a bonus.

 

Have fun!!

[Lois R]

Hello:)

 

Is there a particular reason you think your kids "have to" eat in

dining room? The reason I ask is I just returned from SUMMIT and

one of my tablemates brought her 9 year old son. He ate in the kids

club every night and loved it. He didn't want to sit with us for dinner

and gave the entire kid's program a BIG THUMBS UP:)

 

I don't have any kids but can tell you I have always heard very

positive things about X's kids programs.

 

Enjoy your cruise:D

[Mississippian]

Hello:)

 

Is there a particular reason you think your kids "have to" eat in dining room? The reason I ask is I just returned from SUMMIT and one of my tablemates brought her 9 year old son. He ate in the kids club every night and loved it.

Thanks for this info! On Princess, which has a great kid's program, they don't feed the children except on formal nights.

 

Isn't the dining room fixed seating? Would the children be able to join us for a single night? If we could get them to, that is.....

[mahdnc]

It looks like on Zenith (and Celebrity in general) the children would HAVE to eat dinner with us, which would be less enjoyable to all concerned. Or is it practical to take them to the casual venue and order off the menu, then take them to the kid's club and make a late seating?

 

Also, I note that Celebrity has salt-water pools. Just how salty is the water? My son can't stand for fresh water to get in his eyes, and I fear the thought what salty water might do.

 

Thanks for your input on this!

 

We were on Zenith's sister, Horizon, earlier this year with our children (9 and 12 yrs old then). The kids program is excellent although they did not feed the children dinner every night. Doing the alternative dining room with the children first before late seating is certainly do-able as is ordering room service. Our kids ate with us in the formal dining room on that particular cruise.

[Lois R]

Hi, I don't know what he did (the 9 year old)..whether he ate with

kids programs every night or if Mom got something else for him.

 

Yes, Celebrity is traditional dining and she knew ahead of time what

he was going to do. We had a table of 8 friends from our ROLL CALL. I am

guessing if he had wanted to sit with us they would have put a 9th chair

in there somehow.

 

But I do know this child has been on 18 cruises and so he knows

alot about kids programs...although this was their first Celebrity

Cruise. They are avid Princess Cruisers as you are.

He gave X very high marks:)

[Islandbuoy]

Be aware that the water in the Western is pretty cold that time of year

[dmarch@islc.net]

No fair! Back when I was a kid there was no other option but to eat with your parents. The waiters would do a wonderful job entertaining us (as I've seen them do now). Still don't know which fork to use. LOL

[Lois R]

No fair! Back when I was a kid there was no other option but to eat with your parents. The waiters would do a wonderful job entertaining us (as I've seen them do now). Still don't know which fork to use. LOL

 

LOL...outside, in....you work from the outside in:D :)

 

And back when I was a kid who knew from cruising?;) We did

vacations but cruising wasn't involved. More like camping and

then it was 1) fork 1) knife 1)spoon........LOL

[kitty9]

I would say that you really can't just add your two children to your table unless they have a permanent place for them there. Lets just say that you're at a table for 8, and you didn't have your kids assigned to your table because they wanted to dine in the kid's club every night. There's no way for them to add two more seats and place settings to a table that already has 8 people sitting there. You would have to ask for a table for four or 6 and make sure your kids are assigned to that table for the full cruise.

[Cachecara]

"Also, I note that Celebrity has salt-water pools. Just how salty is the water? My son can't stand for fresh water to get in his eyes, and I fear the thought what salty water might do."

 

Regarding the above: Zenith has 2 pools. One is basically for adults and the depth starts at about 5 ft. I am 5'2" and I could not comfortably stand in this pool (the motion of the waves often brought the water over my head!) so chose the other pool to play in. The other pool says it starts at about 3.5 ft I think and only has metal ladders to safely enter and exit. I could stand in this pool, but again due to motion of ship, often the water appeared much deeper than the depth stated. So how comfortably your children are in the pools, could also depend on their swimming skills--regardless of whether they have safety floatation devices on. Salt water to me meant sea water--just like the ocean.

 

Good luck. I had a wonderful cruise on Zenith.