Late Dining w/ 3 Year Old

[QueenTrident]

We booked our cruise late and could only get into the late dining. We have a 3 year old, who can be a bit, um, cranky, especially if she has an audience. Will our table mates be more annoyed by her antics since they have the late serving and may not understand?

Should I just plan to skip dinner the entire cruise? I don't want dinner to become a yelling battle of the wills, but if there's no pizza, yogurt or chicken nuggets ("like Ole McDonald's chicken") that she likes, there could be problems. On the other hand, she could be an absolute angel. It just depends on her mood and they mood changes are rapid!

Any suggestions?

 

[jkovick]

Once you get on ship you could request a dining time change.

 

[gdulaney]

If you aren't able to get your dinner time changed, I wouldn't skip dinner!!! Maybe your daughter could take a late nap?

If I remember correctly (we don't have children, but usually sit with folks who do) the children's menu has nuggets, fries, corn, mac and cheese...the typical "kid friendly" foods. Also, the children's chocolate pudding is YUM (my husband & I know this for a fact!!!) and they also have Mickey Mouse ice cream bars.

The children's menu can also be colored on...so you may have enough distractions that she doesn't get cranky... PLUS it's all new (new people, new places...and lots of stuff to look at).

Good luck!
Ginny

 

[jwann]

My suggestion --

Have your daughter eat with the kids club. They get all kinds of food to eat on their tray. Then she'll eat when she's hungry (about 5:30 or 6:00) and then play the night away. -- letting you guys have a kid-free dinner!

 

[QueenTrident]

Thanks for the suggestions...She really isn't a bad kid, but likes to play it up (either with cuteness or the dark side).

If I let her eat at the kid's club, will she miss the shows? I thought they started at 6:00 or 6:30 for the late diners?

Thanks!

Jenn

 

[dianthus]

I agree with jwann- do the club. We walked by topsiders when the little guys were eating in topsiders one night & they were having a blast with the counselors. They were so cute!

We saw so many kids asleep, or really cranky in late dining. It was hard on them, their parents & the people around them. Small children do not belong in the late dining rotation.

If the cruise is not too full, getting early dining should be no problem. If you are on the Western, ask for the APL rotation. It's for the kids. They hand out crayons, etc.. The little ones can choose from all their favorite foods in the dining rooms. We had 2 little girls about 3 & 5 at the next table & they slept the entire time at dinner. Their parents were so upset they didn't try to change to the earlier one.

You can have her at the club, pick her up at 6:15 & go to the show together. You can drop her off back at the club after the show & go eat dinner by yourself. After dinner, go check on her. She'll probably be asleep!

~ Linda

 

[sandygirl]

We have sailed 3 times with DD, all 3 we dined late. She was 3, 4 and 5 yrs old. We saw that she wasn't going to be able to hang that long to eat. And we didn't want her to miss the shows. So, what we did many nights was feed her at her regular dinner time from Pinocchio's or Pluto's. Then she wasn't starving at dinner and we allowed her to sample something or just get dessert. Coloring the menu was a good pastime, as already mentioned. On formal night, our little princess, all dressed up fell asleep at the table and our wonderful server pushed 2 chairs together for a bed and covered her with a tablecloth. Precious!

Go with the flow as much as possible. I wouldn't miss the dining experience if at all possible. You know your daughter, work with her schedule and don't expect perfection. You are not going to get it. Short of a complete meltdown (my experience is showing) no one will be bothered.

 

[mouselover3]

we sailed with our 3 year old on October 18-25 on the Magic. The late seating worked really well for us. She took a late nap everyday after being out in the sun and was very well behaved at dinner. She was the only child at our table as we dined with 3 other ladies. The servers were wonderful about getting her food to her as soon as it was ready and she colored up until then. She really enjoyed getting dressed up and eating with the adults. My thoughts are the cruise is really child friendly and most people are very aware of this. If there does seem to be a problem, I would request a different seating, but I would do what you think is best for your family. Have a wonderful trip!

 

[kaykels]

My neice is usually in bed by 8:00 sound asleep. We ate dinner at 8:30 and her schedule just simply adjusted. And she can be tough! But all in all she did great. My 2 year old son got cranky one night and the waiter (Matt, from Australlia) took him for a walk around the restaurant at Animators Palate and showed him all of the cartoons so that I could eat. The staff is SO WONDERFUL. He didn't even think twice about taking my son so that I could eat. Also, the staff will do everything they can to make your child whatever they can to make them happy. My neice only eats grilled cheese, which isn't on the menu, but they made it for her every night. All you have to do is ask. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kaphil]

We had late seating one cruise with a 2 year-old, the first night she started getting cranky, I just took her out of the restaurant for a few minutes and then brought her back, she was fine the rest of the time. I say try to switch times but if you can't it will probably work out fine.

 

[QueenTrident]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll try dinner with her the first night, then take it from there. Of course, the first night could be the worst, since she'll likely be exhausted from the plane trip and ride to the port. But, since we have a little one, Animator's Palate may be our first dinner and I think she'd love that. We'll see.

Thanks for the tips! I just have to make sure I relax, so that she can. Too many times I get uptight at her smallest complaint or sign of crankiness.

Thanks again!

Jenn

 

[BuzzBoyMom]

Jenn - I posted to you on another thread, but if you are interested, we have a cruise thread started on the cruisemeets area. Look for Jan 24. There are several other families with kids ages 2-4. If you send me an EMAIL (no a PM), I can send you back the list of families who are cruising with you. Maybe you can hook your daughter up with other little girls OR maybe one of these other families might also have late seating (with a young child your daughter's age) and you all can enjoy dinner together.

Karen