Late dining - The DIS Discussion Forums

reevesinga · 01-22-2013, 07:26 AM

We have an 8 year old daughter and have been assigned to second seating for our July 20, 2013 trip. We have always had first seating on our other cruises...Just wanting opinions, have you had good experiences with Late dining with younger ones? I know about the dine/play option, just curious as to how it has worked for your family!?

dgmommie · 01-22-2013, 07:33 AM

We have always done the late dining. This will be my daughter's 4th cruise next month, and she's 10. We've never done the dine and play thing either. She just stayed with us thru the entire meal and then we took her to the club/lab.

2CME911 · 01-22-2013, 07:41 AM

Good question, frequently asked here. Try searching late seating and you should get lots of threads, and lots of differing opinions.

Our family has only done the late seating, so I really don't have anything to compare it to. Having said that, we didn't mind having dinner at that time at all. In fact, we liked it because we were on vacation mode anyway, which threw out the window any sense of what some would call "dinner-time." Our kids were 7 and 9 when they started cruising, so they kind of wanted to be doing sort of the more grown-up things anyway. Yes, at times they were a bit tired at the dinner table, but I didn't think it was that big a deal, and they behaved themselves just fine:

Anyway, I think you should at least give it a try. If you really don't like it you can try to change to the early seating, or eat at the buffet whenever it suits you.

Nikki'sMommy · 01-22-2013, 07:44 AM

We have cruised 3 times- the first when dd was 4 we had early seating- the last 2 late.. With early dining we felt terribly rushed to shower and dress in time for 5:45 dinner. We much preferred late dining- (dd was 5&6) we would get a snack to hold us over until dinner or order room service. Sure, dinner was over late but it was never an issue since we were on a later schedule anyway.

kcashner · 01-22-2013, 08:01 AM

First, consider where you are from. If you are in the Pacific time zone, late may be your normal dining time at home!

We prefer late (and we live in EST). A "healthy snack" in the late afternoon is essential though.

Eeyore'sthebest · 01-22-2013, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcashner

First, consider where you are from. If you are in the Pacific time zone, late may be your normal dining time at home!

We prefer late (and we live in EST). A "healthy snack" in the late afternoon is essential though.

I was just about to mention the afternoon snack. We have a tendency to eat a late lunch so we will have a snack in the afternoon to get us through. DD loves the fresh fruit! (and sometimes it's an unhealthy snack

)

MND · 01-22-2013, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reevesinga

We have an 8 year old daughter and have been assigned to second seating for our July 20, 2013 trip. We have always had first seating on our other cruises...Just wanting opinions, have you had good experiences with Late dining with younger ones? I know about the dine/play option, just curious as to how it has worked for your family!?

We had our first DCL cruise last spring on the Dream and our children were 13,11, & 8 at that time. We had late dining and we loved it. The 8 year old ate right away and then took off for the kid's club. All of us stayed up way past our normal bedtime so eating past 8 pm was no biggie. We also had a late lunch so we weren't starving when it was dinner time.

We're on the Fantasy in 2 months and we are looking forward to late dining again.

Enjoy your cruise!

Mike

reevesinga · 01-22-2013, 12:44 PM

You all are awesome! My main concern is her being tired, she can snack anytime on the boat, and frequently does! Thank you so much! Happy Sailing!!

01-22-2013, 07:26 AM	#1
reevesinga Mouseketeer Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 85	Late dining We have an 8 year old daughter and have been assigned to second seating for our July 20, 2013 trip. We have always had first seating on our other cruises...Just wanting opinions, have you had good experiences with Late dining with younger ones? I know about the dine/play option, just curious as to how it has worked for your family!?

01-22-2013, 07:33 AM	#2
dgmommie Mouseketeer Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 217	We have always done the late dining. This will be my daughter's 4th cruise next month, and she's 10. We've never done the dine and play thing either. She just stayed with us thru the entire meal and then we took her to the club/lab. __________________ Feb. 1992 - WDW Caribbean Beach, Big Red Boat (Disney cruise) Nov. 2000 - WDW Caribbean Beach Feb. 2002 - WDW All Star Sports, Polynesian Sep. 2003 - WDW Polynesian Dec. 2004 - WDW Pop Century, Animal Kingdom Lodge Oct. 2005 - WDW Pop Century May 2006 - Disneyland Mar. 2007 - WDW Pop Century, WDW Coronado Springs, DCL Wonder Nov. 2007 - DCL Wonder Dec. 2008 - Disneyland Dec. 2009 - DCL Wonder Mar. 2011 - WDW Pop Century, DCL Dream July 2012 - DCL Fantasy - GOLD CASTAWAY CLUB MEMBERS NOW!!! Dec. 2012 - Disneyland Feb. 2013 - DCL Magic, WDW (cruise stop) Next Up: Mar. 2014 - DCL Fantasy

01-22-2013, 07:41 AM	#3
2CME911 Mouseketeer Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Scarborough, Maine Posts: 186	Good question, frequently asked here. Try searching late seating and you should get lots of threads, and lots of differing opinions. Our family has only done the late seating, so I really don't have anything to compare it to. Having said that, we didn't mind having dinner at that time at all. In fact, we liked it because we were on vacation mode anyway, which threw out the window any sense of what some would call "dinner-time." Our kids were 7 and 9 when they started cruising, so they kind of wanted to be doing sort of the more grown-up things anyway. Yes, at times they were a bit tired at the dinner table, but I didn't think it was that big a deal, and they behaved themselves just fine: Anyway, I think you should at least give it a try. If you really don't like it you can try to change to the early seating, or eat at the buffet whenever it suits you. __________________ 2CME911 Fantasy Easter(n) April 19, 2014 Roll Call: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...84&postcount=7 Last edited by 2CME911; 01-22-2013 at 07:54 AM.

01-22-2013, 07:44 AM	#4
Nikki'sMommy Mouseketeer Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: South Florida Posts: 368	We have cruised 3 times- the first when dd was 4 we had early seating- the last 2 late.. With early dining we felt terribly rushed to shower and dress in time for 5:45 dinner. We much preferred late dining- (dd was 5&6) we would get a snack to hold us over until dinner or order room service. Sure, dinner was over late but it was never an issue since we were on a later schedule anyway. __________________ Lisa Annual passholders since 2006 me( 45) dh(48) dd(6)

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01-22-2013, 08:01 AM	#5
kcashner DIS Veteran Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 33,275	First, consider where you are from. If you are in the Pacific time zone, late may be your normal dining time at home! We prefer late (and we live in EST). A "healthy snack" in the late afternoon is essential though.

01-22-2013, 12:44 PM	#8
reevesinga Mouseketeer Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 85	You all are awesome! My main concern is her being tired, she can snack anytime on the boat, and frequently does! Thank you so much! Happy Sailing!!