young children & late dinner seating

[aimb]

We are considering taking a sponaneous 4 night cruise (in September or December 04) and will have our 3 year old ds with us. The early dinner seating is full, and even though we would be on a waiting list and can try and get switched once we get on board, there is a chance we will be stuck with the late seating. I'm wondering if it's it worth it to still go if we can't get switched. I can't imagine ds being able to wait until 8:30 to eat dinner - he is usually in bed by 8:30! Has anyone with young children ever done the late dinner and survived??

 

[mousefansmom]

We did the late seating with our 3 yo in 1998. For our trip next year, we have chosen the late seating again (and will have a 4yo). There are so many options for eating, that you can get snacks throughout the day. We found that our son took a later nap than usual, so our schedule was kind of pushed ahead anyway. Try not to worry, you (or your child) will definitely not go hungry! If they get crabby, ice cream does the trick, and it's only for a few days, so won't ruin his nutritional intake by much! Have Fun!
Mousefansmom

 

[Masonpips]

We had early on our first cruise and it was fine. 2 days after our 2nd cruise began, we switched to late as we felt rushed to get to dinner - we had 2 6 year olds, 1 4 year old and a 3 year old at our table (traveled with friends). We ended up having the kids join us only at some meals and they ate at Plutos or via room service everynight. Once my DS found out he could order room service or have the chicken strips up on Deck 9 and then go play in the clubs, we had to FORCE him to eat with us. LOL

The 3 year old fell asleep a few times at dinner and the servers just pulled two chairs together so he could sleep - he had eaten earlier too and just needed the rest

You have a much more relaxed afternoon if you have late dinner and your schedule does adjust quickly to "cruise time" where it's not a big deal to eat at 8:30. We have late dinner as our choice on our 3rd cruise.

 

[Gupsmom]

We were "stuck" with late seating on our first Disney Cruise. Now we purposely choose late seating.

1) You aren't rushed to get ready for dinner by 6:30pm.

2) You can always feed your child on deck and let him/her play in the club while you eat (but bring him to Animator's Palate for sure).

3) My kids weren't too tired to enjoy the show at 6:30pm.

My kids normally go to bed at 7:30pm. They actually did just fine at our 8:30 dinners. We took them on about half the nights (between 2 cruises) and let them eat on deck/play in the club the other nights.

Jess

 

[CruisingCA2005]

When we cruised on the Wonder we had the late seating with our then 3 1/2 year old. We were considering the 3 hour time difference and thought that the 6:00 seating would be too early (3:00 our time). DS did fine. He fell asleep at the table one night. On our Palo night, he ate in the stateroom with Grandma. They were planning to either get chicken strips from deck 9 or order room service but when they went to say goodbye to our servers and to give them our tip envelopes, our servers let them order off the menu and our assistant server delivered the food to our room.

On our next cruise DD will be 3 1/2. We chose the late dining again because we'll be travelling with people from Hawaii (3 hours behind during the summer). If I give DD later naps, she'll be fine. I think I'll let her eat earlier with the clubs if she wants to.

 

[Krystina'sMommy]

Originally posted by aimb
We are considering taking a sponaneous 4 night cruise (in September or December 04) and will have our 3 year old ds with us. The early dinner seating is full, and even though we would be on a waiting list and can try and get switched once we get on board, there is a chance we will be stuck with the late seating. I'm wondering if it's it worth it to still go if we can't get switched. I can't imagine ds being able to wait until 8:30 to eat dinner - he is usually in bed by 8:30! Has anyone with young children ever done the late dinner and survived??

We booked the Sept 19th Wonder & were waitlisted for early dinner. When I called TA to check on something else she called DCL & found out we actually made the early dinner seating. My husband pointed out, though, that 8:30 their time would be like 7:30 TEXAS time & DD (3) could snack earlier if she was really hungry. So, now I'm thinking about switching back to late seating so as not to feel rushed (like some of the others mentioned).

Aimb, what part of TX are you from?

 

[aimb]

Thank you all so much for your responses! I guess I will definitely not consider late seating a "deal breaker" as it seems we will be able to work around it. My mother will be with us and said she wouldn't mind hanging out with ds while we went to dinner if he was too tired. We don't normally plan trips on such short notice, but we have dealt with some tough things lately and really need something fun to look forward to in the very near future. I think we're going to do this!