Kids Club & Dinner

[TerReuv]

This will be our first time cruising with our son & his family.  There are 2 little ones (almost 3 & 4 1/2 by cruise).  The adults wanted to do the steakhouse without the kids.  How does it work with the kids clubs and them having dinner with the group? I understand they have a section of the lido blocked off for them, but can they be in the club and be taken to dinner then back to the club, or do we drop off in the lido? Do we have to make them a reservation? We would like to book the steakhouse ahead of time, but just are not sure about the times.  We're going to be on the Mardi Gras.

 

Any information would be appreciated.  We've been on several cruises & a few with my parents, but this is the first time with little ones.  Thanks in advance!

[1025cruise]

Why not make the reservation for a time after you have fed the kids in Lido and drop them off?

[DukeASUGirl]

5 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

Why not make the reservation for a time after you have fed the kids in Lido and drop them off?

This is what I'd do. Bring the kids to Lido early in evening and feed them, then drop them at Kids Club and go to Steakhouse.

 

For example, maybe plan on Lido dinner with kids at 5, and drop them off around 6, and do Steakhouse sometime after that. 

[jerseygirlinAZ]

I agree with the other posters.  The kids club only has dinner a couple nights during the cruise (at least that's the way it's been for us).  Plus, the options are limited to what they present in the reserved area (though the options are kid friendly).  

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!

[PinaCarada]

Camp Ocean kids dinner is from 6-6:45. You drop them off directly in the kids dinner blocked-off area of the lido deck, and Camp staff will bring them up to Camp Ocean at 6:45-7 when dinner ends. Camp Ocean doesn't open for the non-dinner kids until 7.

 

Depending on what time you'd like to do the steakhouse, you have 2 options. If you're okay doing a later dinner, you can take them to the buffet for dinner (as other posters have suggested) and then drop them off right when Camp Ocean opens at 7. Make your reservation for 7 (one parent checks the kids in at Camp and the other checks in at the steakhouse until the other joins) or later. The other option is dropping them off for Camp Ocean dinner at 6 and then making your steakhouse reservation for any time after that. 

 

Something we've also done is checked in for anytime dining right at 5:30 and fed the kids in the MDR, while our steakhouse reservation was at 7. Dropped them off at Camp when it opened at 7 and then had our meal. The HUB app will tell you that you have a conflicting dining reservation (the 5:30 YTD and 7:00 steakhouse) but a hostess can override it for you and get you an MDR table.

[PinaCarada]

2 hours ago, DukeASUGirl said:

This is what I'd do. Bring the kids to Lido early in evening and feed them, then drop them at Kids Club and go to Steakhouse.

 

For example, maybe plan on Lido dinner with kids at 5, and drop them off around 6, and do Steakhouse sometime after that. 

 

Camp Ocean doesn't open for the evening until 7:00. They usually close at 4 (5 if there's a family activity like bingo or a scavenger hunt), will do kids dinner at 6, and then open actual camp at 7.

[PinaCarada]

Here's the info from the Carnival site about the hours and about kids dinner. We have cruised 5 times this past year with our kids (4 and 6 years old) and have found this info to be true on all of the cruises.

 

[TerReuv]

18 hours ago, PinaCarada said:

Here's the info from the Carnival site about the hours and about kids dinner. We have cruised 5 times this past year with our kids (4 and 6 years old) and have found this info to be true on all of the cruises.

 

 

Thanks. I saw that, but it didn't say if they took the kids back after dinner.  I appreciate you actually answering my question.  We were trying to eat an earlier dinner so we could either see a show or do something with them.  Plus, the later times were taken already when I went to book.