Pros and Cons to early vs late dining

[Bonniec]

My 6 year old is a night owl too. We definitely took late dining. If he gets hungry, we will order a snack or something. That way we don't have to rush back from Castaway Cay or anything to dress for dinner.

[Scillycruisers]

Have done early dining on both cruises with DS 4 then 5. Worked really well as it never takes us more than about 15 mins to get ready (and we do change for dinner) and if DS was going to fall asleep I would rather he missed a show because of it than his dinner. We never felt rushed at dinner, were always in time for the show. We never considered sending DS to the clubs after dinner, he just came to the shows or activities with us. In fact on our first cruise he slept all the way through a very loud show sat on my lap. DS carried him back to our room, we put him to bed and he hardly stirred! A very busy full day makes for a very heavy sleeper!

[The Maleficent One]

DH and I chose late dining. It worked better for us especially since we didn't have to make the choice to rush back to the ship when going ashore.

But that being said, we don't have kids either so that helped with out decision. There were times when I was absolutely starving by the time our dinnner rolled around but a good snack would have fixed that. lol

[kcashner]

Just a note--on Caribbean and Bahamas cruises, the concept of "rushing back to the ship" is not typically a big deal as most of the time the "all aboard" time is early enough to give you time to change for dinner.

In Europe and Alaska, this is a bigger deal.

[tajz90]

Originally Posted by kcashner

Just a note--on Caribbean and Bahamas cruises, the concept of "rushing back to the ship" is not typically a big deal as most of the time the "all aboard" time is early enough to give you time to change for dinner.

In Europe and Alaska, this is a bigger deal.

True. the European and Alaskan dinner schedules are usually held a bit later.

[bahacca]

Any advice for a West Coast family going out of Miami? We usually eat dinner at about 6pm PST and bed for the kids at around 8:30pm. We picked early seating, but now i'm second guessing myself. That will be like eating at 3PM our time and they won't go to bed until 11:30 EST. Should I call to switch it or leave it as is?
It is a 4 day out of Miami, but we'll arrive in Miami the day before the cruise.

[tvguy]

Originally Posted by bahacca

Any advice for a West Coast family going out of Miami? We usually eat dinner at about 6pm PST and bed for the kids at around 8:30pm. We picked early seating, but now i'm second guessing myself. That will be like eating at 3PM our time and they won't go to bed until 11:30 EST. Should I call to switch it or leave it as is?
It is a 4 day out of Miami, but we'll arrive in Miami the day before the cruise.

West coast family here. Early never would have worked for us, especially on only a 4 day cruise, your body will still be on west coast time. Through high school my kids were active in sports, so dinner at home rarely was before 630, and often was after sunset during Little League season (like 830 pm). So LATE seating was really like eating early for us......and my kids missed having a nightly midnight buffet on disney like other cruises had.

[tvguy]

Originally Posted by NancyIL

I tried late dining for the first time on a Disney cruise and hated it. Give me "anytime dining" (on other cruise lines) or early dining.

Let's hope Disney never ever ever does that. Freestyle is a mess.

Okay, went on HAL in June, you had a choice of early or late or anytime, that was okay. Anytime only on NCL. MESS. Long wait, rushed meal.

[Brittmarie04]

Originally Posted by believinthemagic

We haven't done late dining before (this is our 2nd cruise) but we will be doing it for the first time in Jan. The kids in our group range from 5 to 13. We ended up with late dining because early dining was full, but I think we are actually going to like it better.

Our kids are night owls so shouldn't be a problem, and I think our only plan will be to make sure they have a healthy snack late afternoon/early evening. I think as long as they aren't starving, the staying up won't be a problem.

What cruise are you on in Jan? We are also on a cruise in Jan and early dinning was full. We are on dream jan 20th

[jpz2000]

It depends where you live and what cruise you are taking see if you where taking a carribiean cruise and you live in the moutain time zone you would want dinner same gose for pacific time zones and some times centeral.

[princess aleya]

We enjoy having a later dining time. It gives us the freedom of not having to rush during the day.

[closetmickey]

Another perk of late dining for littler ones, in my opinion, is I prefer them to be wide awake during the shows- as they really are more enjoyable for them than dinner. If the fall asleep at the end of dinner, they aren't really missing anything.

[NancyIL]

Originally Posted by tvguy

Let's hope Disney never ever ever does that. Freestyle is a mess.

Okay, went on HAL in June, you had a choice of early or late or anytime, that was okay. Anytime only on NCL. MESS. Long wait, rushed meal.

I haven't sailed on NCL, but have had anytime dining on Princess, HAL, RCI, and Celebrity. I love it.

[believinthemagic]

Originally Posted by Brittmarie04

What cruise are you on in Jan? We are also on a cruise in Jan and early dinning was full. We are on dream jan 20th

We are on the fantasy Jan 19th .

[NancyIL]

When I travel, I try to adjust to a new time zone as quickly as possible. I think the time you eat dinner at home is more important than the time difference between home and the Caribbean. I don't eat dinner at midnight or 1 a.m. when I'm in Europe - just because it's 6 p.m. at my house!