Kids eat veggies with Adventures by Disney

ONBOARD THE AMALEA —  Any parent of picky eaters (read: every parent) has booked a table at a nice, white-tablecloth restaurant with equal measures of hope that the kids will try something new and expand their palates and trepidation that the absence of chicken fingers will result in a meltdown.

Such an outing is made more painful when the bill comes due. (Fine, they didn’t eat, but those chicken fingers cost how much?)

But travel is about experiencing new things, after all, and a recent Adventures by Disney Danube river cruise on AmaWaterways’ AmaLea offered the chance for our children to taste the finer things in a low-stakes and welcoming environment. 

AmaWaterways’ Chef’s Table dining experience enables each passenger “the opportunity to experience award-winning cuisine in an intimate, signature dining venue,” the line says on its website. 

The signature venue is the Chef’s Table Restaurant, which serves 28 diners per evening, and a demonstration kitchen is part of the experience, as passengers can watch the chef prepare dishes while taking in 180-degree views from the aft of the ship. 

The tasting menu experience, which is included in the price of the cruise, is the same throughout a particular sailing, and each passenger is encouraged to sign up once for the meal. The difference on an Adventures by Disney AmaWaterways itinerary is that some of the diners are, perhaps, younger than the norm on a river cruise.

Ama’s dining and waitstaff, however, went above and beyond to cater to their young guests. The team worked alongside Disney’s Adventure Guides to add touches to make them feel welcome. 

This Disney touch was evident on the first day of the cruise, with Mickey Mouse tea sandwiches and cookies served in the ship’s lounge as part of our boarding welcome. 

We prepped the kids for what to expect at Chef’s Table: You don’t have to eat all of it, but you must at least try it. We adults, meanwhile, prepped ourselves for six delicious courses and a sorbet paired with wines from Austria’s Wachau Valley. 

Not wanting to be wasteful, we alerted the maitre d’ ahead of time that certain courses should bypass the kids (coconut lemon grass soup with shiitake marmalade and shrimp tartare). Also, for the kids, the Cassis sorbet was prepared without sparkling wine. 

All in all, our two kids did well. The sorbet was a big hit, of course, but they enjoyed most of the grilled walleye and the prime beef truffle jus. Their overall review was that the meal was “OK.” 

By our standards that was a huge win: no morsels spit out and rarely an upturned nose. Also, they were patient and well-mannered through thorough explanations of course after course. 

For the adults in the dinner party, the tasting menu was a delicious treat. 

And our fellow diners included two parties with teens who partook of the meal with gusto. Their parents shared stories of their own picky pasts, and that had us looking forward to fine dining experiences to come.

For parents looking for a grown-up dining experience free from the kids, another welcome Disney touch was the Junior Adventurer Buffet served every other evening in the lounge. 

Hosted by Adventure Guides, this meal consisted of tried-and-true kid favorites like hot dogs, burgers, chicken nuggets or spaghetti, followed by raucously fun games. This enabled the parents to have a bit of alone time over a meal in the ship’s main restaurant.

Chef’s Table dining times overlap with main restaurant dinner service and the Junior Adventurer Buffet, so it is entirely possible to book your seat there while the kids nosh on more familiar fare. (Pro tip: Book your Chef’s Table experience as early in the cruise as possible so you have the flexibility to change nights should the need arise.)

Clarification: The Chef’s Table experience described in this article is not typical of Adventures by Disney AmaWaterways river cruises. Though there is no set age limit for the Chef’s Table, it is considered an adult experience for guests over 18.