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Dinner With Children


Leigh Leary

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2 hours ago, Leigh Leary said:

Trying to figure out dinner with an 8 year old who wouldn’t enjoy the full MDR dinner experience. Does My Time Family Dining still exist? Should we take him to Windjammer to eat and then to Adventure Ocean for us to then go to the MDR?

You could do either Windjammer, or Pizza at Sorrento's early and then bring them to AO before you go to dinner.  MTD is the same as early or late dining, you just can go when you want - kids are definitely OK to bring if you want them there.

There used to be an option in early dining where the AO staff would pick up kids from the dining room about 1 hr into dinner.  I don't think it is a current option but those with young children may know 

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10 hours ago, Leigh Leary said:

Trying to figure out dinner with an 8 year old who wouldn’t enjoy the full MDR dinner experience. Does My Time Family Dining still exist? Should we take him to Windjammer to eat and then to Adventure Ocean for us to then go to the MDR?

I don't believe My Family time dining came back after Covid, which sucks because it would have been great! But yeah, sounds like a trip to WJ or a few slices of pizza is the best bet. 

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12 hours ago, Leigh Leary said:

Trying to figure out dinner with an 8 year old who wouldn’t enjoy the full MDR dinner experience. Does My Time Family Dining still exist? Should we take him to Windjammer to eat and then to Adventure Ocean for us to then go to the MDR?

I wouldn't rule out the MDR. Our son was 7 and daughter was 10 on their first cruise, and some of the memories talk about the most from that cruise are from MDR. They loved it, and we ate there every night.

I think it was partly because the staff gave them so much attention - jokes and magic tricks from the waiters every night. We did take time to prepare the kids before the cruise by explaining how dinner on the cruise ship was special and we practiced a couple times leading up to the cruise by going to a nicer restaurant and discussing manners and ettiquite. We looked at past Cruise Compasses to see what the attire was and let them plan out what they were going to wear each night, including Caribbean night.

We built it up so it was  something the kids looked forward to by the time we were onboard. Our picky eaters opened up on the ship and tried things they never would have at home too. 

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On 1/14/2023 at 7:41 PM, Leigh Leary said:

Trying to figure out dinner with an 8 year old who wouldn’t enjoy the full MDR dinner experience. Does My Time Family Dining still exist? Should we take him to Windjammer to eat and then to Adventure Ocean for us to then go to the MDR?

They have a kids menu that my younger children seem to be ok with. If you tell the waiter that you have kids and would like to expedite things (get the children’s food out first or overall hurry up the meal) they will accommodate you. The last few cruises we have been in and out of the MDR in 1 hour.

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9 hours ago, BowTieBrigade said:

If I remember correctly, early episodes of Matt’s podcast discussed how Adventure Ocean staff would pick kids up from the MDR after they finished eating. I can’t speak from experience, however. If this was an option, I have not seen it since I started cruising. 

This is the "my family time" dining they mention in the original post....unfortunately it hasn't returned since pre-covid. 

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