Late seating w/toddler?

[conways]

We're booked for a late seating on our Jan cruise. It's our first and we've been reading all the seating threads but can't decide if we want to request a change when we get there.

We've got a 1 1/2 year old and a 5 year old. To me, the late seating seems too late but DH likes the idea of not rushing.

I'm mostly worried about the 1 1/2 year old just being worn out and falling apart by then. Anyone do late seating with a toddler? How did it go?

Karen

 

[pal2pluto]

Our son was 1 1/2 when we cruised, but we ate early. It's gonna depend on your nap situation, I think. DS did take naps mid afternoon .....long ones because of all the sun/activites/excitement. He'd wake up around 4:30 or 5pm and we would leisurly get ready for dinner. And I didn't like that. For me, it seemed as though the entire afternoon was blown w/nap and getting ready. We missed out on lots of afternoon activites.

Perhaps if we ate late dinner, we could have gotten up from his nap and gotten involved in a few activites before dinner. As it was, he stayed up later than usual anyhow. But also realize that a late dinner will likely keep you in the dining room until 9:30ish.

Just my ideas...........whatever you decide, make the best of it and look for the good.......it was an awesome cruise!!

 

[hydster]

with our 3 year old and I can definitely say that Early Seating was probably better for us all around than the late seating would have been. He fell asleep during dinner almost every night which meant that we could all eat in peace while he slept in his stroller. About the time we were finished eating he would wake up, eat a mickey bar for dessert and our servers would give him a "to go " plate of PB&J or Chicken or something. He was MUCH better then and actually able to reason with to get him to eat because he had fallen asleep. We had a hard time getting him to nap during the day which I attribute some of that to the NOISE in our room from the top deck! I hated our room on the 8th deck and will make sure next time we go we get on the 7th or 6th deck instead. The other reason he didnt nap good was because he was somewhere exciting and out of his "element" so to speak. He slept during our dinner and then ate his little bit of dinner on the way to the show. We missed out on a few things I guess in the late afternoon but you know what we honestly didnt care! We KNEW we wouldnt get to do it all and so we did what we thought the kids would like and that was it. We knew our kids would be better off with early seating and they were. The older 2 fell asleep during the show's 2 nights so I assume had we had later dinner they would have had hard time staying awake through it. They are 9 and 7 by the way. Yes giving up the events to get ready for dinner was kind of hard but then having the night ahead of us and being able to send them to bed when they were exhausted (which was much earlier than usual) was nice. We got to see the show, eat our nice dinner and then play it by ear!!!
Hope I havent confused you!
Heidi

 

[OurDogCisco]

first, your kid and second, your time zone. We live on the West Coast and late seating worked better for us. Also, we were late sleepers in the morning. We are not early risers. My children are not the type to get up at 6 am so, late seating worked out perfectly for us because they tend to stay up later. On our last 3 day cruise my dd would eat dinner with the club and hang out with the club until about our dessert time at our dinner. We would go to the show with our toddler who was 1 years old at the time. After the show we would go and get something to eat for my toddler and then, we'd get ready for dinner. Our toddler went to the nursery during dinner time. We even got all of our times for the nursery and I think, it had something to do with the late seating. Then, if we didn't get paged during dinner after dinner we would go pick up the kids. It worked for us. I think, you need to figure out what would work for your kids. No one, knows your kids better than you do. It was kinda of nice to enjoy dinner without the kids for 3 nights. My kids don't go to daycare so, we rarely get time by ourselves. Plus, we don't get out much either.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[taswira]

Anyone with doubts about their selected seating should keep in mind that it is ALWAYS easier to switch from MAIN (early) to LATE seating than from LATE to MAIN. Main seating is strongly in demand by guests with young children, and there is more demand than available space.

Also, although you can of course leave the dining room earlier than your tablemates if desired, I have <I>never</I> managed to get out of the dining room before 10 p.m. On my last cruise, it was nearly 9:30 before we <I>received</I> our main course! That is not the norm, but it happens. This can be a real drain on toddlers.

 

[Rhonda]

Also, another thing to consider - your tablemates. Most of the families with small children are in the early seating, so most likely, your tablemates will not have kids with them. My DH and I always ask for the late seating, just so we can have a little quieter meal, without so many children. Not that we don't like kids - we have one of our own! But, it's nice to have a later, quiet meal, with adult conversation!

 

[taswira]

Originally posted by Rhonda
Also, another thing to consider - your tablemates. Most of the families with small children are in the early seating, so most likely, your tablemates will not have kids with them. My DH and I always ask for the late seating, just so we can have a little quieter meal, without so many children. Not that we don't like kids - we have one of our own! But, it's nice to have a later, quiet meal, with adult conversation!

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[conways]

Thank you...those posts helped alot. We're on the east coast and the kids are very early risers so my gut tells me if we can switch to early it'd be a good thing.

But if not we'll make the best of it and maybe get a quiet dinner if at least one little person is asleep!

One last question: if the toddler is having meltdown and one of us needs to bail out on dinner, is that ok? We've done it frequently w/the two in regular restaurants...ie, one person stays with the older child and finishes up their meal while the other parent walks the toddler around and finds something else to do. We then switch again or get a take home bag for the one who was on 'toddler duty'.

Will it mess up how the meals are served if we do that?

Thanks!

Karen

 

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

I personally feel that the late seating would have been much easier on us, and I should have thought to request a shift to the late seating. It never really occured to me. My son was 17 1/2 months at sailing, my daughter 3 years. I agree that there are MANY things to take into consideration. We live on the East Coast, my children ideally take two hour naps in the afternoon (1-3 or 2-4) and for the most part, they have been accustomed to staying up late. We do not eat late though, so before cruising and experiencing the dining situation, I NEVER would have wanted the early seating. And to answer your last question, yes, I would say it is perfectly acceptable for one parent to leave the table with an antsy child. I had to with my son- we just browsed around Shutters which was just before AP. Then when we returned (just before they were bringing our main course) my son started to pitch a fit again and by that point I'd just had enough and I left for good with him. So my dinner came and Atilla told my friend he would keep it warm for my return. My friend chuckled and said, 'don't count on it'. They were willing to even have my meal delivered to the stateroom, but we had a spa appointment and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat it while it was still warm. They are really so thoughtful. Just remember that you are going on a DISNEY cruise. I agree that many might like the later seating because there are likely to be less children, but I would bet that there still are a LOT of children dining late. If a couple wants a nice quiet meal, they really will think PALO! I've already said that if I was ever to cruise solo with my hubby, I would consider PALO every night! It was THAT good!

And I think Taswira is on to something... you really could just go with the first seating. It would be nothing to change it to the later seating if you had to. Also, we had first seating and a table for FOUR which was wonderful, but we never asked for it and it was my understanding that they were harder to come by, so I was a bit surprised. Maybe someone from the airplane called ahead and told them we were coming!

Good luck!

 

[Wishing on a star]

Okay, I have not cruised, but here is my take...

With the baby and the five year old, I do think that the late seating may be possible. The little one will be napping during the day and their schedule may or may not be on the early schedule any more than the late schedule. If they are awake, they are awake - if they are asleep, then they are asleep.... The key with the five year old is to see for sure that they have some kind of an earlier meal, on-deck, or with the kids club, whatever... Don't want him/her to go hungry! ( as if!!! LOL!!! )

Now, with a 2-3, or possibly 4 year old, I think I would have to give up my dreams of the later seating. (which I much prefer for all the reasons given here on the boards!!!) I don't know if you could count on a good nap for kids at this age. There is always the possibility that they will be past-gone well before the early seating is even over. Whaaaaa!!!! Whaaaa!!!
Ohhhhh, that is ME crying because I just HATE having my dinner ruined by a fussy toddler!

 

[DisneyKids]

First, as many posts have said, it depends on your kids. Ours have never minded staying up later and will usually sleep in if we give them the chance. When we first cruised, we had late seating with a 2 and an almost 6 year old. No problem! We liked it so much that our other 3 cruises, we requested late. It is a little late but the days go so differently on a cruise then they do at home that the hours don't always "feel" the same. And if getting hungry earler than the late seating seems like it could be an issue, it shouldn't be. There is always something to eat somewhere! We will continue to request late.

 

[Gillian]

The first day my 2 year old had a screaming fit near the end of dinner. We eat out often & he normally is good. Our server packaged up desserts for us, including a surprise Mickey bar for DS (I didn't even think to ask for one!)

It's not a big deal to take the kids out if they are disruptive. My personal feeling is that I don't want to take my child anywhere fun if he's misbehaving. I'll take him back to our room or to the car, but no where that is more interesting than sitting at the table with his cars & crayons. I don't want him to feel that he's being rewarded for misbehaving. But it's tough because you don't want to ruin the meal for your tablemates, of course.

I think the idea of putting your little one in FLounders during dinner a few nights is a good idea too. All that eating in restaurants gets tedious for them.

We bought DS the metal boat & bus set (small, $10, I think) and only let him play with them at dinner after he was bored with the crayons & his food. It sure made things go smoothly!!

 

[kimberwing]

Because we knew our 18 month old couldn't sit thru a meal, we arranged babysitting with Flounders every night. We actually ate in peace, and our son got top-notch care!!!

HTH.....