3 night dining package for toddlers?

[jBainbridge]

I just booked a cruise on the NCL Escape for my whole family and chose the 3 night dining package as one of the perks. My question is my 3 year old granddaughter is going with us and was wondering if I needed to buy the dining package for her or will they give a discount on board. She doesn't eat enough to be worth the cost. 

[FranknBeans]

They will have a child's menu that is free. Enjoy

[Redsky5292]

We cruised when our Twins were three years old and ate a few meals in the specialty restaurants.  As long as you order off of the kid's menu (just make sure you ask for it when you are seated) for her there is no charge for her meal.  The only issue we ran into was we made a reservation at Moderno for the four of us before we cruised and they charged us the price (we didn't have the SDP), once on board we had to go to guest services to have the $50 charge for the Twins removed after we had dinner there).

[ColeThornton]

The good news is that kids can order off a kids menu in the specialty restaurants at no charge.   It includes the usual kid finger food kind of things like chicken strips, burgers, etc.

[jBainbridge]

That's good news!! Thanks for the responses everyone. It's greatly appreciated. 

[BirdTravels]

7 minutes ago, jBainbridge said:

That's good news!! Thanks for the responses everyone. It's greatly appreciated. 

Here’s an example menu at Cagney’s Steakhouse, Le Bistro French, La Cucina Italian, Teppanyaki, and other specialty restaurant. Complimentary. 

 

[newmexicoNita]

On 6/14/2019 at 8:38 AM, jBainbridge said:

I just booked a cruise on the NCL Escape for my whole family and chose the 3 night dining package as one of the perks. My question is my 3 year old granddaughter is going with us and was wondering if I needed to buy the dining package for her or will they give a discount on board. She doesn't eat enough to be worth the cost. 

She can eat for nothing off the kids menu and if she is still hungry (most likely she will not be) you can give her tastes of what you are ordering. Not that you asked and probably isn't my business, but are you aware of how long the specialty restaurant experience can take? I just asked because I have seen so many very young children go nuts when eating in them. Usually dinner will take 1 12 to 2 hours to complete. When we did a cruise with our then, 3 year old granddaughter she was content to stay in the kids club. 

[jBainbridge]

44 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

She can eat for nothing off the kids menu and if she is still hungry (most likely she will not be) you can give her tastes of what you are ordering. Not that you asked and probably isn't my business, but are you aware of how long the specialty restaurant experience can take? I just asked because I have seen so many very young children go nuts when eating in them. Usually dinner will take 1 12 to 2 hours to complete. When we did a cruise with our then, 3 year old granddaughter she was content to stay in the kids club. 

That is a good point you make Newmexiconita.  I did think of that but wasn't sure what the kids club hours were.  This will be our 4th cruise in as many years but the first taking little kids. It may be better for her to eat earlier in the buffet and go to the kids club while the rest of us are at dinner. 

[PTC DAWG]

Toddlers in a specialty...great...

[newmexicoNita]

22 hours ago, jBainbridge said:

That is a good point you make Newmexiconita.  I did think of that but wasn't sure what the kids club hours were.  This will be our 4th cruise in as many years but the first taking little kids. It may be better for her to eat earlier in the buffet and go to the kids club while the rest of us are at dinner. 

our granddaughter would eat first and then go to kids club. She loved it and it gave us some time to do adult eating. I didn't want to appear rude when I suggested this to you, and I see you took it the way it was intended to be taken. there are places where very young kids really don't get anything out of the experience: long dinners are  one of them. It is better for everyone if toddler and kids, much under 7 or 8 are not exposed to long drawn out dinners. Let kids be kids. Well enough of my preaching for the day. Every family has to do what works for best them, taking into consideration the child, the parents and other guests. 

[LrgPizza]

Even if she was not going to eat off the kids menu, you still wouldn't have to buy a dining plan. It would make more sense for tiny eaters to pay a la carte.  I think some people think you must have a dining package to dine in specialty restaurants, and you do not.

[MechE31]

At Teppanyaki, they may charge you for the kids. On our Getaway cruise, they let them order off the kids menu for free but the chef asked if they wanted anything and gave them whatever they want.

 

On our more recent Jewell cruise, they stated that kids would be charged full price to go with us due to capacity issues.

[zqvol]

On 6/14/2019 at 9:38 AM, jBainbridge said:

I just booked a cruise on the NCL Escape for my whole family and chose the 3 night dining package as one of the perks. My question is my 3 year old granddaughter is going with us and was wondering if I needed to buy the dining package for her or will they give a discount on board. She doesn't eat enough to be worth the cost. 

 

She can eat off of the children's menu without charge, even in the specialty restaurants.