Opinions on Dine & Play?

[awrites]

Hello all!

I'm looking for some opinions on Dine & Play, especially if those experiences are since they started up again this year. Did it work for you? (e.g., did your kid/kids get enough to eat, did they do ok getting walked to the counselor and "handed over," did the adults have an enjoyable experience when the kids were gone, were the kids happy having gone to the kids club when you picked them up later).

My DH, DD5, and I currently have early dining for our May 30 sailing on the Magic, but we're considering switching to late largely for Dine & Play. We're trying to figure out if the positives would be positive enough to outweigh the negatives, while understanding everyone is different and what works for some may not work for others.

Main caveat is that DD5 is autistic with low support needs (she'd benefit from the more-likely quieter environment of second dining, but may not transition as well to the counselor if that process is noisy/chaotic), and while we're coming from Colorado and 8:15 should feel more like our 6:15, I'm *incredibly* light-sensitive and adjust quickly to time changes, and DD5 is similar. She and I also tend to eat earlier. DH is a go with the flow type and would probably adjust to late dining the best of all of us. Both DD5 and DH are new to DCL, and I haven't been since 2013.

TIA!

 

[Weedy]

My kids are grown but when we cruised would go back to the cabin late afternoon and let everyone shower. Then would pick up food from the pool deck (pizza, hamburgers, chicken tenders). They also have fruit and milk. Or order room service. The kids would eat and relax in the cabin while we got ready for dinner. Then we would all go to the early show. We would drop the kids off at the club.
The club is less hectic during early dinner because lots of families are at the early dinner.

 

[awrites]

My kids are grown but when we cruised would go back to the cabin late afternoon and let everyone shower. Then would pick up food from the pool deck (pizza, hamburgers, chicken tenders). They also have fruit and milk. Or order room service. The kids would eat and relax in the cabin while we got ready for dinner. Then we would all go to the early show. We would drop the kids off at the club.
The club is less hectic during early dinner because lots of families are at the early dinner.

So to clarify, your kids didn’t join you during the dinner at all, they just had the pool deck food? I suppose that’d be an option if we tried DD5 in the main dining room one night but discover she really doesn’t like it. Thanks!

A less-busy club during the early dinner times would also appeal to her, I’m sure! And we do like the idea of early show.

 

[Weedy]

So to clarify, your kids didn’t join you during the dinner at all, they just had the pool deck food? I suppose that’d be an option if we tried DD5 in the main dining room one night but discover she really doesn’t like it. Thanks!

A less-busy club during the early dinner times would also appeal to her, I’m sure! And we do like the idea of early show.

They didn’t like sitting for the long dinners
They loved the shows and then hanging in the club.

 

[gotomu212]

I never thought Dine and Play was that great- the kids usually had to sit in a group for about 10 minutes before they were led out to the club, it wasn’t usually easy to see that it was time to “line up”, and they came a little late compared to when my kids were done eating. We found it MUCH easier for one of us to run them up to the Club between the salad and main courses. It would take us about 3 minutes roundtrip and then they got to start playing immediately and we could go when our kids were ready. For you it might also help with transitions.

But YES we always enjoyed being able to finish our dinner without feeling rushed.

 

[awrites]

They didn’t like sitting for the long dinners
They loved the shows and then hanging in the club.

Yeah the long dinner is what I’m concerned about! Especially now when DD5 has started getting up from our dinners for some pacing/bouncing like 10 min in…

 

[awrites]

I never thought Dine and Play was that great- the kids usually had to sit in a group for about 10 minutes before they were led out to the club, it wasn’t usually easy to see that it was time to “line up”, and they came a little late compared to when my kids were done eating. We found it MUCH easier for one of us to run them up to the Club between the salad and main courses. It would take us about 3 minutes roundtrip and then they got to start playing immediately and we could go when our kids were ready. For you it might also help with transitions.

But YES we always enjoyed being able to finish our dinner without feeling rushed.

This is great feedback, thank you! Will definitely keep in mind that running her to the club ourselves is always an option

 

[SnowWhite2]

If the long dinners don’t work for your family, please state so on the comment card you receive on the last night of the cruise. I’ve seen a lot of people want quicker options for their family and the newer class of ships have doubled down on the long show-centric dinners. My kids are grown but I don’t want to sit for 2 hours at dinner and wish there were better options than pool food before 6pm. If you don’t let them know it doesn’t work for your family, they will not change.

 

[awrites]

If the long dinners don’t work for your family, please state so on the comment card you receive on the last night of the cruise. I’ve seen a lot of people want quicker options for their family and the newer class of ships have doubled down on the long show-centric dinners. My kids are grown but I don’t want to sit for 2 hours at dinner and wish there were better options than pool food before 6pm. If you don’t let them know it doesn’t work for your family, they will not change.

Thanks! If we can get DD settled I imagine my husband and I wouldn’t mind a longer dinner, maybe up to 90 minutes or so. It’d give us a chance to talk and reconnect. But I will definitely keep in mind providing feedback asking for more options, because I can definitely see how nothing but long MDR dinners could get old after a time.

 

[dreamer17555]

Thanks! If we can get DD settled I imagine my husband and I wouldn’t mind a longer dinner, maybe up to 90 minutes or so. It’d give us a chance to talk and reconnect. But I will definitely keep in mind providing feedback asking for more options, because I can definitely see how nothing but long MDR dinners could get old after a time.

The dinners, even with the shows on the Wish & Treasure are normally pretty close to 90 minutes. 2 hours is an exaggeration and if you want a faster pace you can let you serving team know. For non show dinners, my son and I are pretty quick eaters are often out in time to make it over to a 9:30 activity with an 8:15 PM seating time.

 

[awrites]

The dinners, even with the shows on the Wish & Treasure are normally pretty close to 90 minutes. 2 hours is an exaggeration and if you want a faster pace you can let you serving team know. For non show dinners, my son and I are pretty quick eaters are often out in time to make it over to a 9:30 activity with an 8:15 PM seating time.

A 1 hr 15 min dinner would probably work for DH and me! So it really will be just figuring out DD. Thanks for the insight!

 

[sponica]

This is great feedback, thank you! Will definitely keep in mind that running her to the club ourselves is always an option

We have early dining, and this is what we did on our last cruise. My oldest (normally the world's slowest eater) would inhale her dinner and after we deemed she'd spent enough time with us outside of the club, one of us would run her to the club. It really didn't take that long, maybe 10 minutes at the absolute longest.