grandkids / late seating and fun?

[huckster]

we were given late seating (all that was left on wait list) grandkids 4 and 11
we want them to eat with us so how will they ever have fun in the clubs?

 

[sharonk]

The kids can have fun in the clubs at all hours, not just the evenings. To let the kids experience the clubs once or twice in the evenings, you also might consider feeding the kids at at the buffet or by room service, then taking them to the clubs and having a quiet dinner without them. We did this once on our recent cruise and it was a nice change of pace.

Happy cruising,

Sharon

 

[lbgraves]

They can also eat with you but have their food come out with your drinks. DS was finished with everything in 30-45 minutes so I took him to the club before the main course was served to the adults.

 

[Bopperdoodle]

I was a little upset with the all the fun stuff to do in the clubs during our 2nd seating dinner. I wanted our kids to eat with us, but they had some things going on in the clubs that my girls didn't want to miss. So, I let them pick. Ended up my husband and I had one night eating alone. One night all together and one night with the oldest daugther. My 3 year old LOVED the club and didn't want to leave.

 

[jhorstma]

Especially on one of the 7 day cruises, where you obviously have much more flexibility in terms of having the kids at dinner w/the rest of the family on some but not all nights. Dinner at Topsiders is completely different than brunch at Topsiders - quiet, great service, nice menu selections, and open seating times.

 

[pdarrah]

I know a lot of people say that the "really want to eat with the kids", but when you think about how much more time you spend with them all day on a trip like this, not eating with them isn't really that big a deal. Our DS5 only ate with us once, but we certainly did not feel we weren't spening A LOT of time with him. We ate breakfast and lunch together, went to the pool together, did other onboard activities together, went on excursions together, spent time in the stateroom while he ate dinner (from room service or Pluto's) and we got cleaned up, etc.

Trying to sit through a fairly formal meal (yes, the wait staff tries to liven it up for the kids, but it is still a "restaurant meal") for 1.5 hours would NOT be fun with most young children. We considered having him come to each meal, but have his food come first (the one he did attend, the waitstaff did this without our even asking), but finally decided that all of us would have more fun letting him skip the dining room and go to the club.

I hope you work out something that fits for your family. We are going to follow the same scenario this year since it went very well for us last year. DS is thinking of coming to dinner for Pirate Night (same night as Goofy's Giggle Gala) and maybe for the show at Animator's Palatte.

pdarrah

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

One more idea for you to try and it has worked for us the past 2 cruises, is once you get into your room, check the navigator( newspaper) for the place and time for changing dinner seatings. Usually it's in Wave Bands and Rock N Bar D around 3:00 P.M. Be there 5 mintues early for the best chance and ask to change to early dining. Believe me there are lots of people trying to change this. They have a new system this year which works much better. You sit with a dining room person at a computer and they put you in and change you with someone else who wants to change. 99% of the time you will get it changed, if your there right at the start time. They are very nice about this and will do it if at all possible. We have done it the last 2 times and got the early dining, which was much better for the grandkids and the clubs activities and we all ate as a family and shared all our experiences of the day. My favorite thing to look forward to each day.
Good luck,
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[stretch]

Am I missing something here? If you eat with your kids at the early seating they will then either miss the activities in the clubs or the shows. Right?

We have a 3 & 5 year old and have late seating. That way they can eat early (room service or fast food), we can all see the early show and then they can still paticipate in the club while we have a nice dinner. Everyone is happy! Let's be honest, the kids have no interest in sitting 1 1/2 - 2 hours eating dinner.

 

[lbgraves]

Our kids did enjoy dinner with us & our tablemates. DS went to the club one time on the last cruise after eating but we picked him up after we ate dinner to go to the show. DS went to the club more during the day or played at the pool while we just watched him. Evenings were our family time.

 

[tvguy]

I know a lot of people say that the "really want to eat with the kids", but when you think about how much more time you spend with them all day on a trip like this, not eating with them isn't really that big a deal.
pdarrah

To each his own. For our family of four, the best part of our 2 cruises was being together all waking hours a day for 7 days. We got to be their friends for a week, not mom and dad, and we all loved it.

Mind you, a normal school day in our house is 2 hours a day (if we're lucky) where we are all together at the same time. Wife and I work, son plays baseball, daughter plays soccer. This is also why we prefer late seating since it's rare that everyone is home and ready to eat before 8:30 pm.
Kids grow up too fast, I'm feeling that now, our son heads off to college next month, so there will be an empty seat at the tape soon.