Kids Dining Alone?

[LisaWalkerC21]

Wondering if anyone has had their children eat in the dining room alone while they went to Palo? We have main dining on our upcoming Fantasy cruise and we are going to Palo one night with a 6:30pm reservation. My boys will be 10 and 12 and in my opinion on the older side for Oceanners Lab (where we had typically sent them on past cruises while at Palo). Dinner in the dining room will probably end before Palo and we feel comfortable with them letting us know where they are using the wave phones. I fell like if we put them in the Lab they will not be happy for the 2 hours while we are at Palo and letting them eat on their own will take up a portion of the time.

This is the first time cruising that I think they are going to want a lot more independence.

Just wondering if anyone has done this and what their experiences have been?

 

[ashleydisneyworld]

That's a tricky question. I can say with almost positivity that there shouldn't be anything wrong with it at all if your children can behave by themselves and not get into boy trouble. They also have the option of going to Cabanas (on the Disney Dream and Fantasy) or to Topsider Buffet (on the Disney Magic and Wonder) or ordering room service. Having the Wave Phone's is a huge advantage for kids now, considering they weren't around when I was twelve and went on my first cruise. I couldn't get my parents of my back! So, like I said, if you trust your boys and trust their judgement, that they won't go wild then I think you should be fine!

 

[wilma-bride]

Just offering another perspective, not passing any judgement but this is what we experienced when we cruised last October. One night, while dining in Parrot Cay, we noticed that the adults were not present at the table next to ours. It was a table for 8 and there were 4 children ranging in age (at a guess) from 4 to 10. The youngest was crying pretty much throughout the whole meal (it turned out she'd slipped on the way into the dining room and banged her knee). It was nothing serious but both of our servers were occupied a lot of the time with checking on her (and the other kids) and we felt that our service was seriously lacking that night because of it.

Like I say, not passing any judgement, just presenting the other side of the argument. However, like all these things, only you know your children well enough to know whether they can be trusted to behave responsibly.

Obviously, don't forget that there is the likelihood that you will be sharing a table at dinner with other adults (and possibly children) so you need to consider whether your children can behave well enough at the dinner table, without you present, so as not to upset your table mates.

Personally, I would play it by ear and check out the lie of the land with respect to table mates, your servers and see how your boys feel about it. It may turn out that they'd rather go to the Lab and eat up on deck after all and not have to bother getting dressed for dinner.

 

[Weedy]

Our son and daughter have dined alone since they were your children's age when we went to Palo. It has always been a highlight of their trip. Once we cruised with friends and the 4 kids ages 10,11,12 and 13 2 boys 2 girls all dined and loved it. We are always complemented the next night on our children's good behavior. Give your kids the responsibly they can do it.

 

[cruisinwithmaandpa]

I feel it is in very poor judgement to leave your children unattended at dinner no matter how well they behave. Put them into the clubs if you want to go to Palo. You may think they are well behaved, but children will be children and usually test those limits especially when mom and dad are away. It is not only your vacation, but a vacation for those sitting either with you at dinner or around you.

 

[com_op_2000]

Discuss this with your servers and the head server for your table. They will know that you are going to Palo, but giving them a heads up on your plans will help them plan. They will pay extra attention to the kids.

 

[Bonniec]

Yeah, I'm pretty much with the don't do it crowd. But only you know your kids. I think they are at a borderline age. I'd hate to be responsible for my kids acting up when I was away and ruining someone else's night. But if you are 100% totally sure they would be behaved....

You could also order them room service.

 

[Favorite Auntie]

10 and 12? Most 12 year olds are old enough and mature enough to babysit a younger sibling. I say go for it. If they were mine I would let them know that there would be consequences if they didn't behave, and you would be checking with the servers the following night. I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

[shburks]

At 10 and 12 with well-behaved children (and only you can decide that, OP), I would do it. Our son is 7 and I certainly wouldn't do it at this age. However, our kind server mentioned to us that if he had had sign-in priveleges at the Club (he didn't since he was 8...well, I wouldn't have allowed that anyway), that she would have been happy to have him for dinner. I thought that was sweet!

Regardless, at that age, your kids will likely have sign out priveleges from the Club/Lab anyway and could come and go.

Another option is to allow them to stay in the room and order room service and watch on-demand movies while you eat at Palo!

 

[dclpluto]

Your kids might like it better if they dont go to dinner. Give them more time in the clubs just grab pizza or something

 

[mammacaryn]

Me personally....I wouldn't book Palo dinner or brunch without leaving my kids in the care of someone else. Weather it be in the clubs or with other family if that was the case. That is just me though. At that age I wouldn't leave them in the food court at the mall alone or drop them off at McDonalds alone---so I definately wouldn't leave them in a dining area on the ship alone. Again, that is my outlook on it.

 

[cruisinwithmaandpa]

The waiters will tell you they don't mind, because they are expecting an additional tip out of you.

 

[lorenni]

Me personally....I wouldn't book Palo dinner or brunch without leaving my kids in the care of someone else. Weather it be in the clubs or with other family if that was the case. That is just me though. At that age I wouldn't leave them in the food court at the mall alone or drop them off at McDonalds alone---so I definately wouldn't leave them in a dining area on the ship alone. Again, that is my outlook on it.

I'm with you. Anything can happen on a ship with a thousand or more strangers. Sure it's Disney - but thats not a free pass or magic bullet to prevent creepsters from targeting your children. I have never understood why people think their kids are magically safe or require less supervision once they step on board. And my feelings have very little to do with how well behaved your kids are. As our parents told us when we first learned to drive - "It's not YOU I'm worried about - it's all the other people."

 

[CarolAnnC]

The servers do not have extra time to "keep an eye" on unattended children, IMHO.

Personally, I would not have left off my children age 12 and under at a fine dining establishment either on land, nor in the MDR of a cruise ship without an adult present. I don't think it is best for either the kids themselves, nor the other diners present.

As others have mentioned there are other alternatives. Yes the CM's will agree to almost anything for additional gratuity, and if someone does leave their children unattended, a bigger tip would definitely be in order.

 

[ttbell]

For those of you who are against children not being with their parents or other adults at this age, do you not think it's a good idea to let them check themselves in and out of the Edge on their own? Just curious as I have two 11 year old girls who we were considering letting them go on their own on the ship. Not roaming aimlessly, but from the Edge to the pool, etc.

 

[poohssmum]

This is what happened in my experience ... me, DH and our 2 sons were travelling with friends (another couple and their 2 sons). Both sets of adults booked Palo on the same night. The night before, we told our servers that none of us would be at dinner (table of 8) because of the Palo ressies. The servers insisted that we consider sending the kids to dinner on their own. Our boys were 9 and 6 at the time and our friends boys were 10 and 8.

We talked about it and agreed that the two older boys could handle the responsibility, but the 2 younger ones should be sent to the club/lab. I held firm and sent my youngest to the club. It ended up being the other 3 boys at the table that night. We popped in unexpectedly while the kids were eating dinner and things were going pretty well. Our friend's youngest boy had to be spoken to by the server about blowing bubbles in his drink ... but other than that everything was fine.

You know your children best. If your tablemates are ok with it, your serving team is ok with it and you think they can handle it without disrupting anyone else's meal ... you should send them to dinner without you.

 

[disney1990]

We let our 10 and 12 year old granddaughters eat in the MDR one night by themselves. They are foodies and are well behaved. We ran it past the other family that we ate with in the dining room and they had no problem with the girls having dinner without us on the night we went to Palo.

 

[holly1994]

When our girls were 12 and 14 they did eat alone in the dining room while my husband and I dined in Palo. We made sure that it wasn't the first evening, but several nights into our 7 day cruise. The reason being is that we were well acquainted with our servers by then and they with us. We informed them of our plans the day before and showed the girls where we would be during dinner. It worked out beautifully. We didn't over stay our evening in Palo and had arrangements to meet the girls at a set meeting place. They felt very grown up and we were able to enjoy a lovely dinner!

 

[Weedy]

For those of you who are against children not being with their parents or other adults at this age, do you not think it's a good idea to let them check themselves in and out of the Edge on their own? Just curious as I have two 11 year old girls who we were considering letting them go on their own on the ship. Not roaming aimlessly, but from the Edge to the pool, etc.

One of the frequent entertainers John Charles sings a little song about this to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

When your sitting at the bar
and don't know where your children are
Here's a tip
Your on a ship
They can't get far.

The kids will be fine. Let them have a little freedom.

 

[mammacaryn]

For those of you who are against children not being with their parents or other adults at this age, do you not think it's a good idea to let them check themselves in and out of the Edge on their own? Just curious as I have two 11 year old girls who we were considering letting them go on their own on the ship. Not roaming aimlessly, but from the Edge to the pool, etc.

My son will be 10. And I am one of the ones you are referring to, and NO he will not be checking himself in and out of the clubs. I will know where he is.