Small child at late dinner seating

[disneydreamer1970]

Hi All!

We (my DH, DS 13 and DD 1 week away from 4) will be cruising with my parents and my mom's cousins. They would prefer the late seating. Have any of you done this with small children? I'm wondering if this is the right choice for us. Any experiences with this would be greatly appreciated.

She is usually pretty good about staying up late, but I have already told my mom that if she is having a rough night that I will stay back in the cabin and order room service or something like that.

Thank you!!

 

[savs]

My family and I just returned from the May 3rd cruise on the Magic. I have 2 ds ages 5 &3 and they did great with the late seating and we never had a problem with them falling asleep. There were several children I did see, that the servers made up a bed (with 2 chairs put together) for them to sleep in so the parents could finish their dinner.

I for one could never do the early seating. I can not see how those on that early seating can get themselves ready in time. We always liked to get ready then go and see the characters and get pictures (formal & semi) before dinner. This way their clothes were still clean and we had plenty of time to do things before dinner started.

Just my opinion...it all depends on your child.

 

[nedleycan]

We got the late seating last time we cruised. We would feed them around 6:00 p.m. up at the bbq, then put them in the club every night while we ate dinner. We enjoyed the couple time, and they got to enjoy the activities. This time we have the early seating, and are thinking about changing it to late seating. We got to eat breakfast and lunch with the kids, and also sat with them while they had dinner, so didn't feel like we missed any family time at all.

 

[ruley3]

We were waitlisted for early seating and then we decided to keep the late. I am so glad we kept it! It was so nice having more time to dress for dinner and some down time in the room for DS! We never felt rushed because we would wear casual clothes to the shows and then go back to the room and have plenty of time to dress!!! Sometimes our little one would head to the club for 1/2 hr of playtime to get all the sillies out before dinner... I know we will definately use late seating next year!

 

[Tracie Wallace]

A few years ago when my DD was 4-years old, we were on another cruise line with late seating. My daughter did fine. Usually when she finished her dinner she asked to be taken to the kid's club - which she loved. This worked out great for everyone! I still remember as a child how I hated to have to wait around while adults talked.