Late seating with 2 yr old

[evmeade]

Hi everyone!

We just booked our first cruise vacation last week on the Magic leaving 9/2. Since we booked so late, we were assigned late seating.

My DD will be 2 yrs old at the time of the cruise and I am worried that is just to late to eat. My DH and I are thinking that we may be skipping the dinners b/c it's too late for her to sit through an hour to two hour meal


Anybody else been through this? Any tips and advice would be appreciated

 

[lbgraves]

If you don't get switched to early seating (have you been put on the wait list?) you can get your DD something to eat before the show at 6:30, take her to that, & then if she goes to sleep put her in a stroller & just wheel her into the dinning room with you. She wont be the only one. Last cruise we did that for early seating because the kids wouldn't wake up from their late nap & they slept for another hour before waking up to eat their dinner. They were 5 & 7.

 

[YFamily]

We just got back yesterday and traveled with a 2 year old and had late seating.

Here's what we did. We had her nap from 3-5pm each day. It worked perfectly. Your late seating dinner will end about 945pm. After that, there's more character appearances, parties on the deck with the characters and fireworks. If you do a late nap, your child can stay up until those events end about 11pm. AND late seating won't be a problem at all. We'd get back to the room about 1115pm, put her to bed, and we'd fall asleep too. Get up about 8am and start all over again.

With a late nap, you also enjoy more time on Castaway Cay before heading to the ship for a nap. Unless you child can nap anywhere. Mine cant!

Dinner is very long for someone that age. Bring lots of books, toys, and anything to occupy your child to the table.

OR you could always feed your child early and book time in Flounders while you dine.

We did not do that, as we wanted her with us for the shows in the dining room, which she LOVED. She also loved all the shows in the Walt Disney Theater. Sit right up front!!

That's my hint for making the cruise enjoyable for everyone in your party.

 

[YFamily]

OH! Another hint. Room service. Order it just before your child wakes up from the nap. that way, there's food waiting for a little pre dinner. We had our daughter eat a little snack at 5pm from room service. Then we got her ready for the show at 615pm. Then we went to the family dance party so she could boogie. THen we headed to dinner. The servers will serve the young children first. They always get their dinners while you are still on appetizers.

We will ALWAYS do late seating from here on out.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hi,
You have a couple of choices. So dont be discouraged!!
1. You can take your child in a stroller as she sleeps to dinner if you want. People do this all the time. They will jus tremove a chair from the table to make room for the stroller. Umbrella type is the best. It is easy to feed the child earler between all the foods around the pool and room service.

2. try to book flounders for a night or two during your dinner hours.

3. When you first get on the ship, check your NAVIGATOR for the place an dtime that first afternoon where you can make dining room changes. We have done this a few times and always got changed to early dining time. Once we had to wait and got called the 2nd day to be changed, usually it happens right at the time of the request. Lots of people want changes, so be there about 5 minutes before it begins for the best chance to get the change you want. September is usuallya slower month for crusing so you had a very good chance of getting it changed.
4. On the Magic they also open up the buffet around 5 p.m. every night accept the first and last night. It actually isnt a buffet, the salad bar is a buffet, everything else is the ordered from the menu just like the other restaurants, same foods exactly. Lots of people with young kids do this so they can pick their own times to eat, it is low key and a lot easier to schedule around events too. Your wait staff in there are the ones being trained to be in the main dining rooms so they may be alittle slower sometimes, but very good. only draw back is you dont experience the decor of each of the 3 restaurants. But it is a possibility. But it isnt open the first or last night.

Well I hope this helps a little, I would try to get it changed ASAP once you get on the ship. it is usually aorund 2 pm. in one of the clubs, just check the Navigator. I wish you good luck,
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[evmeade]

Thanks everyone for the tips and advice, I feel MUCH better

 

[scifihippie]

Hi evmeade! We're on the same cruist - 9/2 Magic. We booked back in December and we got late seating too. We'll have a 10 month old.
We've been on the early seating waitlist and hope to get moved. I too was thinking about having to skip dinner in the dining room if I couldn't book Flounders (we'd just do the buffet or room service). Thanks for all the suggestions on how to handle it. DS already takes a late nap from 4p-6p and goes to bed at 8p, so we might be trying the stroller in the dining room suggestion.

 

[Shannon1984]

I had late seating with my daughter when I went in September. She just turned 3 but was not potty trained. It was only me and her on the cruise. I tried to get her to take naps but she was so excited she would not go to sleep. she was so tired by the end of the day she relaxed and watched the shows and was very good because she was already tired. Then on the way to dinner she usually fell asleep in my arms and I held her while I had dinner.

The waiters offered to put two chairs together for her to lay on but I just held her because she was comfortable. Really though it worked out very well and we even booked late seating for our next cruise.

I hope this helps. Have a great cuise!