Hey,

I'm starting to plan for an August 2006 sail to the Western Carribean, and I have a few questions for those of you more experienced than I.

First, at dinner, are you seated just with your family, or with others as well?

As for the dinner seatings, 6 just seems so early for us (we never eat until around 7), but 8:30 seems so late. Also, I'm afraid that we would be too rushed for the 6 o'clock seating. So, my question, should I chance the late seating with a 4 and 7 year old, or will I get dirty looks from the other clientele? (should note that my almost 3 year old was up until 10:30 last night, and still woke up at 6 AM this morning. My children seem to require little sleep, unlike me!).

And, if you all can confirm my assumption. I'm assuming that if my children are at the Oceaneers Club, I can not leave the ship, correct?

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but this will get me started. Thanks!

When my husband and I went four years ago, yes we were seated with about three other couples. I don't know exactly how they handle those with children if they put you with another family or not.

Unfortunately, the ships do tend to go on their dinner schedules. There are usually other options for meals within the ship. But a warning: A couple of years ago, we had this problem with the early breakfast schedules and typically ended up either ordering room service or skipping the meal because once it gets past their scheduling times the restaurants stopped serving until their next mealtime.

I won't be able to answer your question about the Oceaneer club for a few more years.

First of welcome to the world of cruising ;)


First, at dinner, are you seated just with your family, or with others as well?

It depends on how many people are in your party. When I went with my best friend we were seated at a table for 6; when I went with four others, we were seated at a table for 8 -- but the other people never showed. More often than not, I saw families of 4+ at their own table. If you have kids, they will seat you at a table with other kids (if you want that).

should I chance the late seating with a 4 and 7 year old, or will I get dirty looks from the other clientele?

I love late seating because I enjoy taking afternoon naps, however, late seating sometimes doesn't end until -- well - -late and your kids might get hungry. You won't get dirty looks, however -- late seating does tend to have far less kids under 10 than early seating. The kids clubs often gear programming around dinner -- and they plan "kid only" dinners at the buffet at 5:30-6:15 every night so you might even be able to enjoy dinner alone with your hubby. The 3 & 4 year old are in one program; the 7 year old is in another -- but they all eat together. The programs last from 9 a.m.-midnight.

I'm assuming that if my children are at the Oceaneers Club, I can not leave the ship, correct?

With kids your age I wouldn't recommend it -- in case of emergencies. You are given a pager from the first day so they can contact you if they need to. The nice thing is -- the pagers work on Castaway Cay -- so you can go to Serenity Bay and the kids can enjoy their program with the kids club.
Hope that helps

Niwel pretty much beat me to what I was going to say. :)

We found it odd that the four of us (Wife, me, 10yo daughter and 5 month old son) was seated at a table by ourselves. We did not mind at all, albeit not the norm, from what I understand. There will be six of us for our trip in 06 so, who knows how that will work out.

We took the early seating and found it just right. Oh, and dont worry about being rushed. That was never an issue with us. Our dining experience was top notch, and that does not even scratch the surface on how to describe it. Afterwards, we enjoied the later shows. It was perfect because after that, it was time for a well-needed sleep. We found that our habits (eating, sleeping, napping, etc) were much different on the ship than what we were used to at home. Maybe it was because of all the things going on and our activity level.

When we got our pager, we were advised that they did not have the longest range off the ship, but being that one of us was always on the ship, and thus had the pager, it was not a problem.

As for the Oceaneer programs - they looked well run and had a lot of things scheduled for the kids. I hardly saw my daughter with the exception of dinner time, since we decided to use that time as a time to share our days events with each other.

Enjoy planning your trip!

Niwel pretty much beat me to what I was going to say. :)

We found it odd that the four of us (Wife, me, 10yo daughter and 5 month old son) was seated at a table by ourselves. We did not mind at all, albeit not the norm, from what I understand. There will be six of us for our trip in 06 so, who knows how that will work out.

We took the early seating and found it just right. Oh, and dont worry about being rushed. That was never an issue with us. Our dining experience was top notch, and that does not even scratch the surface on how to describe it. Afterwards, we enjoied the later shows. It was perfect because after that, it was time for a well-needed sleep. We found that our habits (eating, sleeping, napping, etc) were much different on the ship than what we were used to at home. Maybe it was because of all the things going on and our activity level.

When we got our pager, we were advised that they did not have the longest range off the ship, but being that one of us was always on the ship, and thus had the pager, it was not a problem.

As for the Oceaneer programs - they looked well run and had a lot of things scheduled for the kids. I hardly saw my daughter with the exception of dinner time, since we decided to use that time as a time to share our days events with each other.

Enjoy planning your trip!

are there children free tables reservation possibilities?

absolutely ... if you don't have children, you will be seated with other adults without young kids ... but possibly with older teens and their parents. If there is a problem you can usually adjust it.

are there children free tables reservation possibilities?

We went on the cruise without our kids...and sat at a table with other 'couples'. No foursomes, or threesomes. Only couples.

In fact, I didn't see tables with kids at them when we ate. I am sure they were there in the dining room...but from where we were situated, with all the adults, I never saw one child during evening meal times. :D And, we had the 'late' seating. :)