Kids and Dining on Disney Cruise

[labdogs42]

My kid is not one to sit for an hour at the dinner table. He's an eat and run kind of guy So, how can we make that work on the cruise? Can he go to the kid's club while we finish our dinner? He does manage to sit through meals at Disney World (especially character meals, of course), but I'm figuring the dinners on the cruise would be longer and more "boring". Is that right? What are my options if he doesn't want to sit for a long dinner?

 

[TinkBell10]

My kid is not one to sit for an hour at the dinner table. He's an eat and run kind of guy So, how can we make that work on the cruise? Can he go to the kid's club while we finish our dinner? He does manage to sit through meals at Disney World (especially character meals, of course), but I'm figuring the dinners on the cruise would be longer and more "boring". Is that right? What are my options if he doesn't want to sit for a long dinner?

If you have late dining, a CM will come pick up the kids about an hour into dinner and take them to the club/lab. If you have early dining, you can run them there yourself. You can ask your server to bring your son's food first...have him eat....and then you can take him to the club in between courses. Or, if he's old enough to have sign-in/sign-out privledges, he can always go by himself when he's done eating.

 

[KristiMc]

You can always ask your server to bring your childs food out quicker. When he is finished he can go to the club. If you are in main dining you will need to take him up. I have read of people doing this after their appetizer and before their entree is delivered. If you have second seating the counselors from the clubs come to all the dining rooms at 9:00. If your child wants to go to the clubs you just need to keep a lookout for the counselors.

The kids menu is a paper menu with activities on it and they provide crayons.

 

[labdogs42]

If you have late dining, a CM will come pick up the kids about an hour into dinner and take them to the club/lab. If you have early dining, you can run them there yourself. You can ask your server to bring your son's food first...have him eat....and then you can take him to the club in between courses. Or, if he's old enough to have sign-in/sign-out privledges, he can always go by himself when he's done eating.

He will be 8 at the time of the cruise. Not sure which dining time to choose, either.

 

[DreamCruiser100]

When our daughter was 8 we did exactly what the other posters said and took her to the club in between courses. we let her decide when she was ready. seating time depends on you and your families preferance. we did late seating.

 

[DLW8]

He will be 8 at the time of the cruise. Not sure which dining time to choose, either.

What time do you eat dinner at home? Early dining is 5:45. You go to dinner and then see the show after dinner.

Late dining is at 8:00 and you see the show before dinner.

It seems to be harder to get the main dining (early) than late, but you can always get on the wait list.

We do late dining (kids were 7 and 9 when we cruised) as even at home the earliest we eat dinner is 6:45. During sports, it's usually much later.

Plus, we don't want to cut our afternoons short to get ready for dinner at 5:45.

 

[kcashner]

It doesn't matter whether you have early or late dining in terms of what you can do with the child.

If early--ask the server to expedite the kid service. When the child has finished, get up and take him to the Club or Lab. Return to dining room and eat. This drop off takes 5 minutes.

Late--CMs will come to the dining room and collect the children participating in "Dine and Play."

Late dinner most recently has started at 8:15. We have seen it at 8:00, 8:15, and 8:30 on different cruises.

 

[scootch]

They can also just eat dinner in the club instead of with you if you are comfortable with that. My dd did that on CC, they bring all the kids the same tray, she just ate what she liked.(ckn nuggets, fruit, ect..)

 

[labdogs42]

Cool! Sounds like we have lots of options! I love options! And, I'm thinking late dinner might be better for us. Being ready by 5:45 seems super early to me! There are snacks and food available all the time somewhere on the ship anyway, right?

 

[TinkBell10]

Cool! Sounds like we have lots of options! I love options! And, I'm thinking late dinner might be better for us. Being ready by 5:45 seems super early to me! There are snacks and food available all the time somewhere on the ship anyway, right?

Lord, yes! There are quick serve places that you can get hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken strips, salads, sandwiches, fruit, pizza, etc. Plus, the ice cream station. I don't think I ever feel hunger pains on a cruise!

 

[labdogs42]

And one more question -- are shorts out for kids at dinner, too? If he has to wear long pants, he'll be eating in the kid's club for sure! My kid hates pants!

 

[TinkBell10]

And one more question -- are shorts out for kids at dinner, too? If he has to wear long pants, he'll be eating in the kid's club for sure! My kid hates pants!

Now that's another whole can of worms! You can find MULTIPLE threads with lots of debate about shorts in the dining room. DCL requests that shorts not be worn, but lots of people do...especially children. If you search the dress code threads, you may get pretty entertained over how heated people get with this issue.

 

[labdogs42]

Now that's another whole can of worms! You can find MULTIPLE threads with lots of debate about shorts in the dining room. DCL requests that shorts not be worn, but lots of people do...especially children. If you search the dress code threads, you may get pretty entertained over how heated people get with this issue.

I thought it might be one of those hot button things. Glad I buried it inside the thread! I know DH and I won't be wearing shorts to dinner. So, my strategies are these: I have over a year to help my kid find a pair of panst that he can stand to wear, or he can just have dinner every night in the kid's club. No biggie for me! I'm not going to do this every night trying to get him into pants!

ETA, I do enjoy a good DIS debate, so I'll go search for those threads now!

 

[srauchbauer]

And one more question -- are shorts out for kids at dinner, too? If he has to wear long pants, he'll be eating in the kid's club for sure! My kid hates pants!

when we cruised in March are DS (5) wore dress shorts and a polo type shirt. Remember that the dining room is chilly (air conditioning) I always had a sweater available for everybody.

 

[TinkBell10]

I thought it might be one of those hot button things. Glad I buried it inside the thread! I know DH and I won't be wearing shorts to dinner. So, my strategies are these: I have over a year to help my kid find a pair of panst that he can stand to wear, or he can just have dinner every night in the kid's club. No biggie for me! I'm not going to do this every night trying to get him into pants!

ETA, I do enjoy a good DIS debate, so I'll go search for those threads now!

If he's in shorts, he doesn't have to eat in the kids club. You can still take him to the dining rooms. I am surprised, though, that being from PA, he doesn't wear pants. ?? Snow? If he likes jeans, those are not 'against the policy'...maybe jeans and nice top would be a good compromise.

 

[labdogs42]

If he's in shorts, he doesn't have to eat in the kids club. You can still take him to the dining rooms. I am surprised, though, that being from PA, he doesn't wear pants. ?? Snow? If he likes jeans, those are not 'against the policy'...maybe jeans and nice top would be a good compromise.

The only pants he liked this year were those shiny basketball type pants. I think those actually look worse for dinner than nice khaki shors! But, given a choice, even in PA, my son would wear shorts year round. We had a very mild winter this year, so there weren't a lot of days that he wore pants. It only snowed here onece this year and he wore shorts under his snow pants. He's a hot-blooded kid! and he hates jeans. But, he seems to change his "style" every year, so maybe I'll get lucky and next year he'll be into pants and polo shirts!

 

[999ghostslover]

I think my DD8 will do great with the late dinner. At least I know she will be able to make it to the 1 hour mark but I am worried about my boys (3 and 4). I am thinking about bringing them to dinner the first night and our AP nights and other than that I may order them room service while we get ready and let them eat and then take them to the club either right after the show or earlier if it isn't one they would be interested it. Or maybe let them eat dinner in the OC. I did not even know that was an option.

 

[sabrecmc]

I've always asked for DD's meal to come out as soon as possible. When she is done (usually somewhere around mid-main course for me), I take her to the club. They always put a silver cover over my meal to keep it warm. I pick her up from the club when it is time for the show. But, this lets her have fun and not sit through a long dinner, and me have some good family time with her but also enjoy a dinner with some adult company! Great compromise. On our last Dream cruise, after the first night, I ended up taking the other 3 girls at the table to the club with DD, as all the parents thought this was a great idea, lol!

 

[kcashner]

And one more question -- are shorts out for kids at dinner, too? If he has to wear long pants, he'll be eating in the kid's club for sure! My kid hates pants!

DCL requests no shorts at dinner. This request does not separate children vs. adults. However, there is absolutely no enforcement of the request--so the question is whether or not you choose to comply.

 

[Disney922]

I am one of those that LOVE to dress up on cruises. Just wen to JCP and bought a beautiful Gold cocktail dress for $12 for our upcoming cruise....LOVE sales (reg. $89) We eat in dining rooms every night and adhere to the policies of the given cruiseline.

Anyway, we have done 2 cruises with DS and DD Allure of the Sea and Oasis of the Sea where people tend to dress up more than Disney(at least I think based on what I have read).

My DD wears a sundress and my DS who was 2 and 3 and is going to be 3.5 on this trip will wear polo shirts and kahki shirt and nice loafer type shoes for cruise casual. DH will wear kahki pants and polo shirts and I will wear a sundress and/or I have black dress shorts that I wear with high heals and a nice shirt usually glittery shirt with, which will probably be a lot dressy then most.

We don't go out to a lot of nice places with the kids so my kids actually enjoy getting "dressed" up and have dinner with the family, but only usually last that hour too. We do the pick up by the kids club (the have that on RCCL as well)

Missy