Dining with kids - first cruise

[catinthehat300]

Ok, general question. I am headed soon on my 6th cruise this fall for my first R C cruise.  My boys (9 and 17) have not been on a cruise (17 yr old was on Disney, but obviously different style).

They are not "used to" formal dining situations. To avoid them being uncomfortable and also extra unneeded clothes packing, do you recommend skipping formal night with kids? But also, dont want to just do buffet dining whole trip. The main dining on Disney was great for kids. 

Also, we are headed on Mariner of the Seas for 4 night Caribbean this fall with one night at sea. would there even be a formal night on that length of a cruise and if so, what night is most likely? 

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, catinthehat300 said:

Ok, general question. I am headed soon on my 6th cruise this fall for my first R C cruise.  My boys (9 and 17) have not been on a cruise (17 yr old was on Disney, but obviously different style).

They are not "used to" formal dining situations. To avoid them being uncomfortable and also extra unneeded clothes packing, do you recommend skipping formal night with kids? But also, dont want to just do buffet dining whole trip. The main dining on Disney was great for kids. 

Also, we are headed on Mariner of the Seas for 4 night Caribbean this fall with one night at sea. would there even be a formal night on that length of a cruise and if so, what night is most likely? 

We've been on 3 Disney cruises and the MDR room on RC ships is no different than DCL. It is not super formal but can be only if you want it to be. I don't have sons but my hubby packs a shirt and tie for formal night and that is more than sufficient these days. I don't think you need to skip and go to the buffet. Our most recent DCL cruise in December there were people in polo shirts and pants. Formal is not as formal these days. Hope that helps. And welcome to the boards ?

[DocLC]

My 11 year old has been on 18 cruises since he was two and enjoys the main dining room and the servers seen to cater to the children. On a four night cruise, I doubt formal night will be that formal, so your kids will be fine with long pants and a collared shirt. Also, keep in mind they can wear the same thing for dinner on more than one night. No one will likely notice and they'll likely be much more casually dressed during the day, so the dinner clothes won't get much use. 

[twangster]

6 hours ago, DocLC said:

 Also, keep in mind they can wear the same thing for dinner on more than one night. No one will likely notice and they'll likely be much more casually dressed during the day, so the dinner clothes won't get much use. 

I've been known to use this method myself, but one could argue I often act like an 11 yo.

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

I've been known to use this method myself, but one could argue I often act like an 11 yo.

Must be a "guy" thing.  Hubby uses this method too.  This is why he can take a 7 night cruise with just a small carry on.

[tiny260]

9 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Must be a "guy" thing.  Hubby uses this method too.  This is why he can take a 7 night cruise with just a small carry on

+1, I take a couple different pair of slacks and 5-7 different shirts, same belt and shoes every night.

Guy thing, drives my wife crazy...

[Lovetocruise2002]

7 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

+1, I take a couple different pair of slacks and 5-7 different shirts, same belt and shoes every night.

Guy thing, drives my wife crazy...

@tiny260 do you live out of your suitcase all week too like my husband?  He says it's most efficient because then he can enjoy the last day to the max and not have to worry about re-packing.  Just zip it up and go. 

[tiny260]

@Sabrinaklai, no, I'm to OCD for that, I have to have everything out nice and neat, if it's something I'm not going to use very often I do use the suitcase as another drawer under the bed.

I have to pack light because I pack a travel fan in my suite case, I don't have to have it to move air around, more the noise it makes, without it I sleep like crap.

[twangster]

18 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

more the noise it makes, without it I sleep like crap.

There's an app for that 

[DocLC]

17 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

@Sabrinaklai, no, I'm to OCD for that, I have to have everything out nice and neat, if it's something I'm not going to use very often I do use the suitcase as another drawer under the bed.

I have to pack light because I pack a travel fan in my suite case, I don't have to have it to move air around, more the noise it makes, without it I sleep like crap.

My wife is this way too, but has found that she can use an app instead while traveling. Many white nose apps have a variety of sounds including fan noises. 

[KLA]

36 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

@tiny260 do you live out of your suitcase all week too like my husband?  He says it's most efficient because then he can enjoy the last day to the max and not have to worry about re-packing.  Just zip it up and go. 

My husband does this and it drives me nuts. 

That said, he usually packs more than I do. We are currently debating how many suitcases to bring with us on our upcoming cruise - I keep arguing less and he argues for more. 

[KLA]

1 minute ago, DocLC said:

My wife is this way too, but has found that she can use an app instead while traveling. Many white nose apps have a variety of sounds including fan noises. 

My husband brought a fan on our honeymoon for this reason - I'll look in to these apps prior to our cruise in a couple weeks. Any particular recommendations?

[DocLC]

1 minute ago, KLAconQueso said:

My husband brought a fan on our honeymoon for this reason - I'll look in to these apps prior to our cruise in a couple weeks. Any particular recommendations?

The one we use is simply called White Noise. My wife even uses it when camping and now my son and niece are addicted to using it, too, to sleep better. 

It was invaluable on the Jewel, though, as we had a cabin by the Centum and it helped drown out the love music there. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

3 minutes ago, KLAconQueso said:

My husband does this and it drives me nuts. 

That said, he usually packs more than I do. We are currently debating how many suitcases to bring with us on our upcoming cruise - I keep arguing less and he argues for more. 

It's the suitcase on the floor that drives me nuts!  I tuck them under the bed the first chance I get.  We have it down pretty good these days.  One large backpack for everyone (personal item), one rolling carry on for everyone, and one large suitcase that we check.  If it doesn't fit in all of that, it doesn't come.  Packing cubes work great too.

[KLA]

Just now, Sabrinaklai said:

It's the suitcase on the floor that drives me nuts!  I tuck them under the bed the first chance I get.  We have it down pretty good these days.  One large backpack for everyone (personal item), one rolling carry on for everyone, and one large suitcase that we check.  If it doesn't fit in all of that, it doesn't come.  Packing cubes work great too.

Love, love, love our packing cubes! It makes packing and unpacking soooo easy. We also started bringing a fold down laundry basket to keep in the corner of the cabin so we can separate out what's dirty from what's clean when re-packing more easily.

For our upcoming cruise, it looks like we are both checking a medium sized suitcase and bringing along one rolling carry on - though my husband is really wanting to bring a rolling bag as well, I feel like we can get away with just the one. I think we'll both have a backpack as well. 9 days total - 2 days pre cruise in San Juan, plus a 7 day port heavy cruise.

[twangster]

9 minutes ago, KLAconQueso said:

My husband brought a fan on our honeymoon for this reason - I'll look in to these apps prior to our cruise in a couple weeks. Any particular recommendations?

There simple ones and more full featured ones. 

RelaxMelodies allows you to add things like rain, flute, ocean, birds, wind, zen, thunder for a very spa like relaxing sound or remove all the extras and just have an oscillating fan.   iDreamPro has some cool sounds (dishwasher).  RelaxRain has several types of rain.  

AppAdvice is an app that will let you know when paid apps go free.  I've gotten a few "sounds" apps free that way. (lots of game apps I never bother with)

[tiny260]

11 minutes ago, KLAconQueso said:

We also started bringing a fold down laundry basket to keep in the corner of the cabin so we can separate out what's dirty from what's clean when re-packing more easily.

We use packing cubes also, plus we bring a duffle that folds and lays at the bottom of a suite case and then we do like you, throw it in a corner and fill it up, we've been flying Business or first class lately so we have a tag for the duffle since we get two each for free on the airlines.

[Lovetocruise2002]

24 minutes ago, KLAconQueso said:

We also started bringing a fold down laundry basket to keep in the corner of the cabin so we can separate out what's dirty from what's clean when re-packing more easily.

We always bring 2 large drawstring laundry bags (light/darks...type A here).  We keep it in the closet.  Dirty clothes go in there and at the end of the cruise, we take both bags out of the closet and put it straight into the large luggage that we check.  This makes packing on the last day a whole lot faster.  Also makes sorting dirty laundry when you get home a whole lot easier.

[catinthehat300]

18 hours ago, Sabrinaklai said:

We've been on 3 Disney cruises and the MDR room on RC ships is no different than DCL. It is not super formal but can be only if you want it to be. I don't have sons but my hubby packs a shirt and tie for formal night and that is more than sufficient these days. I don't think you need to skip and go to the buffet. Our most recent DCL cruise in December there were people in polo shirts and pants. Formal is not as formal these days. Hope that helps. And welcome to the boards ?

Disney "formal" wasnt very formal. But upcoming trip is on R C.   I "assume" that would be more strict with dress. I am not sure if there will be a "formal" night on a 4 night cruise anyway. Any idea when that will be communicated?

 

[KLA]

3 minutes ago, catinthehat300 said:

Disney "formal" wasnt very formal. But upcoming trip is on R C.   I "assume" that would be more strict with dress. I am not sure if there will be a "formal" night on a 4 night cruise anyway. Any idea when that will be communicated?

 

Yes - on a four night cruise there will be one formal night. This will typically be communicated via your Cruise Compass which is delivered to your stateroom the night before. However, in my experience on shorter cruises formal night takes place on Night 2. 

[catinthehat300]

6 hours ago, Sabrinaklai said:

We always bring 2 large drawstring laundry bags (light/darks...type A here).  We keep it in the closet.  Dirty clothes go in there and at the end of the cruise, we take both bags out of the closet and put it straight into the large luggage that we check.  This makes packing on the last day a whole lot faster.  Also makes sorting dirty laundry when you get home a whole lot easier.

We have taken an "extra" rolling suiitcase that maybe 1/2 full at best. That end up being our dirty laundry suitcase for trip home and leaves room in others for stuff bought on the trip.

[Guest toodle68]

The app is called ‘white noise’.  Just make sure you find the setting that makes it continuous or it switches off after an hour. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 hours ago, catinthehat300 said:

Disney "formal" wasnt very formal. But upcoming trip is on R C.   I "assume" that would be more strict with dress. I am not sure if there will be a "formal" night on a 4 night cruise anyway. Any idea when that will be communicated?

 

I hate to say it, and I love RC way more than DCL, but IMO the MDR on RC is even less formal than the MDR on DCL. So your boys should be perfectly fine on RC. ?

[catinthehat300]

10 hours ago, KLAconQueso said:

Love, love, love our packing cubes! It makes packing and unpacking soooo easy. We also started bringing a fold down laundry basket to keep in the corner of the cabin so we can separate out what's dirty from what's clean when re-packing more easily.

For our upcoming cruise, it looks like we are both checking a medium sized suitcase and bringing along one rolling carry on - though my husband is really wanting to bring a rolling bag as well, I feel like we can get away with just the one. I think we'll both have a backpack as well. 9 days total - 2 days pre cruise in San Juan, plus a 7 day port heavy cruise.

i didnt know what "packing cubes" were, so had to look them up. How do they save space? I would think they would take up more space in a suitcase?

[Lovetocruise2002]

16 minutes ago, catinthehat300 said:

i didnt know what "packing cubes" were, so had to look them up. How do they save space? I would think they would take up more space in a suitcase?

They don't save space really. I love them because I travel with 2 tween girls and we all love clothes. So basically it's a great way to stay organized. Each kid is allotted a certain number of cubes and if it doesn't fit then they have packed too much and it's not coming. The part I love the most is when we get to wherever we are going, the cubes come out of the suitcase and directly into the drawers. No need to sort and re-organize. Each person's clothes are already good to go. 

[melski94]

11 hours ago, catinthehat300 said:

i didnt know what "packing cubes" were, so had to look them up. How do they save space? I would think they would take up more space in a suitcase?

As Sabrina said, they don't save space. I have a ton of them and we don't use them.  More clothes fit in a suitcase by rolling them.

One thing I'll add is my teens like to change after dinner into shorts before they meet up with their friends.  It is amazing how many clothes they need...well my daughter, not my son.

For my younger kids (6 and 11), I put an entire day of clothes in a ziplock bag. Then they can't break into clean clothes as they change 4 times a day (between meals, pool, AO, etc). First cruise, I didn't do this and they went through all their clothes by day 2.

[Matt]

16 hours ago, catinthehat300 said:

Disney "formal" wasnt very formal. But upcoming trip is on R C.   I "assume" that would be more strict with dress. I am not sure if there will be a "formal" night on a 4 night cruise anyway. Any idea when that will be communicated?

 

I don't think the formality of formal night is much different on RC than on DCL.  There is a formal night, but dont let the name fool you.  It's really just "Wear something nicer than the other days" theme.

[merissa123]

I've been worrying about this topic as well.  I have 3 boys (12,15,17) and we are all excited about our first cruise!  We are all fairly casual.  Putting on pants are a polo is going to seem "formal" to them!  What is typical attire on a non-formal night?  Are shorts always a no-no in the MDR?  I am worried about how many clothes we will need to buy and pack for this trip, lol!  We are flying, so we have to pay for bags (even carry-on on Spirit...sheesh). 

[JLMoran]

40 minutes ago, merissa123 said:

What is typical attire on a non-formal night?  Are shorts always a no-no in the MDR?  I am worried about how many clothes we will need to buy and pack for this trip, lol!  We are flying, so we have to pay for bags (even carry-on on Spirit...sheesh). 

Shorts are not supposed to be allowed even on non-formal nights, but it seems the enforcement of that has been growing lax on most if not all of the ships, at least based on anecdotes I've read here.

You may want to check out this video from Cruise Tips TV, I actually found it a good point of reference.

 

[LetsTryThisPlace]

@JLMoran My wife his hooked with her channel lol. She does have many great tips though.

[tiny260]

I would pack 1 pair of Khaki pants for each boy and a couple of polo shirts each just to be safe, as you dine in the MDR you can judge how it is going to be during the week. I very seldom see shorts in the MDR, but a polo, khaki's and a pair of dock sider shoes (No socks, this is the casual part, lol), they just cycle through the clothes during the week.

I take 2-3 pair of slacks and 6-7 polo/golf shirts for the whole week, I rotate the slacks with a new shirt every night, no one says anything, but as soon as I get done with dinner I go back and throw shorts on, leave the same shirt on, then go to the show or the casino.

If the boys don't want to dress up, they can go back to WindJammer and eat, if your boys were any younger I don't know that i would let them go on their own, but with a 17 YO he just has to be the big bother... you know their maturity level.

[LetsTryThisPlace]

7 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

I take 2-3 pair of slacks and 6-7 polo/golf shirts for the whole week,

If I'm just using them for MDR I'd probably go with even just 2-3 polos max and maybe 1 button-up shirt for formal night. 

[tiny260]

1 minute ago, LetsTryThisTech said:

If I'm just using them for MDR I'd probably go with even just 2-3 polos max and maybe 1 button-up shirt for formal night. 

Exactly, I take 1 button up that I wear on the actual formal night, I used to take a jacket but haven't even been doing that lately.

[melski94]

1 hour ago, merissa123 said:

I've been worrying about this topic as well.  I have 3 boys (12,15,17) and we are all excited about our first cruise!  We are all fairly casual.  Putting on pants are a polo is going to seem "formal" to them!  What is typical attire on a non-formal night?  Are shorts always a no-no in the MDR?  I am worried about how many clothes we will need to buy and pack for this trip, lol!  We are flying, so we have to pay for bags (even carry-on on Spirit...sheesh). 

While you may see a few people in shorts it is not the norm even on non-formal nights. Although the first night is smart casual and I'll see the more shorts than other nights.   My boys pack 2 pairs of khaki pants, 3 polos and 1 button down shirt for a 7 night cruise....no ties or jackets for us.  They'll change right after dinner back into shorts before heading to the teen club.  Fabreeze helps and some those travel shout wipes if anything needs spot cleaning.

[Digmenow]

My son in law is pretty set on wearing his newest suit to formal nights.  I was just going to go with a sport coat and tie but in deference to him, I decided to bring a suit as well.  After reading this thread, I went looking in my closet and my eye stopped at my tux.  Yeah, I may be the only passenger there in black tie but I don't care.  Imma do it!

 

[merissa123]

Thanks for the replies.   I will just have them pack a couple pair of khakis and a few polos.  I am okay if they just want to go to the buffet for dinner on some nights.  I think they can likely handle themselves.  

[RestingBird]

On 2/12/2018 at 10:32 AM, KLAconQueso said:

My husband does this and it drives me nuts. 

That said, he usually packs more than I do. We are currently debating how many suitcases to bring with us on our upcoming cruise - I keep arguing less and he argues for more. 

I'm the same way as MrConQueso...I want to bring the house with me, and my wife tries to narrow it down to one suitcase.  I use the cabinets and drawers though, I like things somewhat organized.

[RestingBird]

On 2/11/2018 at 8:34 PM, catinthehat300 said:

Ok, general question. I am headed soon on my 6th cruise this fall for my first R C cruise.  My boys (9 and 17) have not been on a cruise (17 yr old was on Disney, but obviously different style).

They are not "used to" formal dining situations. To avoid them being uncomfortable and also extra unneeded clothes packing, do you recommend skipping formal night with kids? But also, dont want to just do buffet dining whole trip. The main dining on Disney was great for kids. 

Also, we are headed on Mariner of the Seas for 4 night Caribbean this fall with one night at sea. would there even be a formal night on that length of a cruise and if so, what night is most likely? 

No need to dress "formal" all week and eat at the buffet every night.  I wasn't used to formal dining as a kid either, but that's just it, I was a kid, so if my parents told me to dress up I did, and that was the end of it, comfortable or not, vacation or not.  For packing purposes I understand not wanting to pack clothes you'll only wear once.  The Windjammer has some great dinner items.  The other 3 days are basically no pool clothes, shorts, torn jeans, or tee shirts.  I call it the "I don't give a ****" look (which is what my normal life attire is...shorts, tee shirts, and flip flops), that's what the Windjammer is for.

I hate dressing up, but out of respect for my wife, other cruisers, and the cruise line who actually set the dress code, I at least wear nice pants, a button up shirt, and tie (and I comb my hair, no hat).  The rest of the week is pretty much the same, I just lose the tie, or wear a polo.  If packing space allows I bring a suit.  Am I comfortable?  Not necessarily, but I can deal with it to make people happy for a few hours.  Yes, it's my vacation, but it's other people's vacation as well, and many people (myself included) were raised to dress up for dinner on a cruise.  So, dressing up for 1, maybe 2 nights is doable.  And how often do people really get dressed up these days?  Weddings and funerals seem to be it...if we're lucky...so again, I'm ok dressing up for the MDR.

[RestingBird]

On 2/15/2018 at 3:53 PM, tiny260 said:

I would pack 1 pair of Khaki pants for each boy and a couple of polo shirts each just to be safe, as you dine in the MDR you can judge how it is going to be during the week. I very seldom see shorts in the MDR, but a polo, khaki's and a pair of dock sider shoes (No socks, this is the casual part, lol), they just cycle through the clothes during the week.

I take 2-3 pair of slacks and 6-7 polo/golf shirts for the whole week, I rotate the slacks with a new shirt every night, no one says anything, but as soon as I get done with dinner I go back and throw shorts on, leave the same shirt on, then go to the show or the casino.

If the boys don't want to dress up, they can go back to WindJammer and eat, if your boys were any younger I don't know that i would let them go on their own, but with a 17 YO he just has to be the big bother... you know their maturity level.

Well said sir.