Can my kids go to a restaurant by themselves?

[kimi377]

Planning ahead for embarkation day on the Vista. I'd love to try Jijis for lunch and I'm sure the hubs does too. But I can already envision the kids complaining about that...they'd rather do Italian. Can they go in Cucino by themselves and order/get served with no problem? They are 13 and almost 9.

[lcpagejr]

Since Cucino is a limited menu and you must write your order on a slip and hand to server...I don't see why not. Another option to ensure no mixups....You could always drop the kids off and tell the receptionist/seating lady...your children would like to be seated seperately and you and your husband are free to move on.

[cccer]

That should be no problem for lunch. As mentioned, they need to fill out a little piece of paper but I don't see it being any issue.

[teknoge3k]

Absolutely. My oldest (14 now) never eats with us. He does his own thing. Even at nights he hates going to the MDR so he eats pizza or somewhere on lido while we're in the MDR.

[smileyone]

Last cruise our two 12 year old girls ate lunch most days at the Italian place without us.

 

 

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[Pom Lover]

On one of our very first cruises every night in the MDR a young man (he was 10 yrs old) sat by himself and had dinner. He was extremely well behaved and well spoken. By the end of the cruise he shared with us that his parents didn’t want to eat in the MDR but he did so he came alone. The staff were so kind to him and he was a joy to talk with.

[BookDragon]

On one of our very first cruises every night in the MDR a young man (he was 10 yrs old) sat by himself and had dinner. He was extremely well behaved and well spoken. By the end of the cruise he shared with us that his parents didn’t want to eat in the MDR but he did so he came alone. The staff were so kind to him and he was a joy to talk with.

 

I don't know why this makes me sad, but it does. Visualizing a 10 yr old all by himself in a sit down restaurant for dinner...Something doesn't seem right about that scenario.

[Sebleo]

I don't know why this makes me sad, but it does. Visualizing a 10 yr old all by himself in a sit down restaurant for dinner...Something doesn't seem right about that scenario.

 

A mixture of sadness and anger for me.

[SadieN]

I don't know why this makes me sad, but it does. Visualizing a 10 yr old all by himself in a sit down restaurant for dinner...Something doesn't seem right about that scenario.

 

 

 

A mixture of sadness and anger for me.

 

 

 

Laughing because neither had any complaints about the other children eating by themselves at a sit down restaurant.

Think he has lots of confidence to do that. Know many adults who won’t.

Huge difference between Alone and Lonely.

[gambit57]

I don't know why this makes me sad, but it does. Visualizing a 10 yr old all by himself in a sit down restaurant for dinner...Something doesn't seem right about that scenario.

 

I'd normally be sad too, but he's doing what he wants. I'm going to Japan soon and apparently, kids much younger than him go to the store by themselves and are super independent early.

 

Plus, it sounds like something I'd have done being a bit strong willed. The MDRs are fancy and fun to a kid, especially with all that service. I still prefer traditional dining because my parents took me cruising when I was a kid and that fancy stuff made such an impression on me. We certainly never had anything like that at home or on any other vacation.

[MJSailors]

A mixture of sadness and anger for me.

I had the same reaction. My grandson is 11. I would not want him sitting alone for dinner in the MDR.

Also noted the post about the 14 year old getting pizza for dinner or something at the Lido while parents are having dinner in the MDR.

Maybe I am a traditionalist,but family dinners are a time to enjoy with children and grandchildren. It is time spent together to connect with each other,laugh,tell stories and create memories ( especially on vacation).

IMHO, I think parents /grandparents miss out when family dinner time is not a priority for them.

[Havingfun2010]

Absolutely. My oldest (14 now) never eats with us. He does his own thing. Even at nights he hates going to the MDR so he eats pizza or somewhere on lido while we're in the MDR.

 

I don't know why this makes me sad, but it does. Visualizing a 10 yr old all by himself in a sit down restaurant for dinner...Something doesn't seem right about that scenario.

 

I agree with you. Dinner in our house is a time to be together. Sometimes it was not always possible with sports schedules etc. but when it was not a schedule conflict, we eat together. On a ship, our rules were simple. Go have fun, but dinner is at this time. We always ate as a family. I have caught my youngest eating with friends in the MDR at lunch time, which was fine, since lunch was during the "daytime fun times" part of day.

 

Today, we now have grandkids, and although young, my son/daughter-in-law follow the same examples, and DIL states that she wishes her family had the same rules for family dining.

[teknoge3k]

We're not "traditionalists". We usually don't sit down and have a dinner together every night at home either. Usually we get food and go in whatever room to eat. Usually my youngest will eat at the kitchen bar, my oldest will eat at the table, my wife and I will eat wherever. We talk throughout the day, we keep up with each other, we don't need to have a pow-wow every night just because our grandparents did that. It's not our thing. Kinda like Thanksgiving, we don't need a day set aside to enjoy one another. We all enjoy one another every day of the year. My wife works on Thanksgiving at the hospital, the kids go with her parents and spend the night with them, and I usually go Black Friday shopping. Doesn't change anything about our family. We all communicate regularly, do things together, have fun and love one another very much. In fact we do more things together than most families who are "traditionalists".

[pacruise804]

On one of our very first cruises every night in the MDR a young man (he was 10 yrs old) sat by himself and had dinner. He was extremely well behaved and well spoken. By the end of the cruise he shared with us that his parents didn’t want to eat in the MDR but he did so he came alone. The staff were so kind to him and he was a joy to talk with.

 

I also was initially sad for this young boy, but then realized we are only seeing a snapshot. While I (and many of us) think of the evening meal as a time for the family to be together, perhaps this family prioritizes breakfast or lunch as the family meal. He was well behaved and well spoken, so apparently the parents did their job when others weren't looking.

 

I don't tend to see complaints and even see it suggested that kids eat at lido while the parents eat in MDR or a specialty restaurant. It isn't what I would do (especially not every night), but it isn't my family and I'm sure there are things DH and I do as parents that others would question.