Dinner on the Miracle 8/15/07; 2.5 & 5 yr olds feed them at camp, early or together?

[mommy2boys]

Hi. We are going on our first cruise 8/15 on Carnival's Miracle with our boys, ages 2.5 and 5. Our 5 yr old is very well mannered; but our little one has ants in his pants and doesn't sit well at dinner (at home or at restaurants) 15-20 minutes max. I am a pro at bringing toys, etc., but he just wants to get up and move around -- so -- any suggestions on the scheduling dinner? I really want to be with them when they eat.

Should I:

 

1. Feed them early at the buffet or on the Lido deck, then take them to Camp and then have dinner with the dh and the parents?

2. Feed them at Camp (I wonder if I can stay while they eat)?

3. On a few nights, take them to dinner with me early and take my chances.

Someone mentioned a DVD player, but I don't think this is appropriate. Do people bring dvd players to the dining room?

Are there a lot of kids crusing in August?

Thoughts on Scheduling? Any other parents of toddlers out there that concerned about this situation? Thanks for your input.

[Workmom2]

Hi! I just posted kinds the same relpy earlier-

What we did was a combo of room service and buffet. I did not take my kids to the main dining room at night- I did take them there for lunrch and breakfast. We had one night that the kids club feed them.

My DH and I both work, so it was a realy treat for us to have dinner together without having to worry about the kids. It was great not having to stress about a babysitter!

I am sure that you will have a great time what ever route you take.:)

[ljmandelbaum]

A friend of mine toldd me that on her last cruise when her son was 1, either she or her DH would take their son with a walk-talkie. The other parent would order the food and walk when it was there.

She is now either on the Carnival Miracle (or getting ready to go) with her 2.5 year old and 6 month old. I will find out what she did since I'm going with my girls (who will be 26 months olds) at the beginning of August.

[mommy2boys]

Does anyone know for certain if the camp feeds the kids or if you can stay with them while they eat? I eat with my kids every night (but unfortunatly not with the husband who works late) so I would really value some alone time with him. Anyway, the idea of ordering b4 the kids get there is a great idea, we will have to try that when we do eat together in the dining room.

[purplefrogs]

We ate in the dining room every night with my daughter who is 20 months. I was worried about her getting bored or loud but she did fine every night. It helped though that we had a fantastic head waitress that was able to give us all her attention the entire cruise because none of her other tables ever showed up. Due to this we got our food fairly quickly and remember dinner will go by faster if you skip appetizers and salad. I saw quite a few people do that anyways and they'd get in and out of dinner within about 45 minutes.

 

We loved our waitress so much we would sit at her table for breakfast and lunch each day. I say this because you can find out what they are serving in the dining room on the stateroom TV or they post the menus by the dining room. Perhaps you can choose some selections for your boys, write them down and give it to your waitstaff at lunch. That way your kids meals can be ready and maybe even sitting at the table waiting for them when you get to dinner. This way you can all dine together and then take your son to Camp Carnival if need be.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've only taken one cruise with (grand)kids (Carnival Triumph) but as I remember the dinner with the Camp Carnival staff was only 2-3 times out of the week.

 

One thing we did that worked well was to go to dinner with the kids (we had early seating), order their food and have it brought right away. After the first night our waiters went ahead and brought something for them to munch on right away. They ate their dinner while we were doing appetizers, salads, etc. As soon as they were done, one of the parents took the kids (ages 3,4,5 & 5) up to Camp Carnival, checked them in, and returned--this took only a few minutes--then we finished our dinner at our leisure.

 

This meant they only had to sit about 30 minutes--and they were busy eating, not just sitting and waiting and getting antsy--,we got to eat with them for a while, and then got to enjoy the rest of our meal in peace. They enjoyed the dining room, but with four kids at those ages, the whole loooong meal would have been too much. They were always eager to get to the kid's area anyway.

 

They also had dinner with the staff a couple of times.

 

Personally, I don't think a DVD player in the dining room is all that bad, but many people disagree.