wow. Some of the responses surprised me.
hmmmm.
to answer some questions ... we are on the early seating AND we have asked for a private table; not sure if that will be honoured or not. I might follow-up with HAL for that one.
This is not their first cruise. On their first cruise, they were given crayons by Carnival - so this may be something they expect. I would never think of letting my kids bring gamign devices to the the MDR (somehow for me; that is crossign the line - probably because of the audio component).
My kids are 3 and 5, and well-behaved and will honor/exceed the dress code (just in case anyone was wondering). I just find that dinner service can be long, and the crayons help them pass the time.
As for leaving them at home; that is not an an option. This is a family holiday; and well quite frankly, our kids love cruising.