Any news on dining times?

[westjones]

I thought I read that they were moving dining times to an earlier time on a trial basis. Has there been any word on how that worked out? Will it become a permanent change?
DJ

 

[mmouse37]

I would also be interested in this since our 8/3 cruise is one of the trial ones. I would love to know how the new times worked out on this past Magic cruise.

MJ

 

[StaceyA]

Hi,

We just got off the ship yesterday....boo hooo!!

We had the late dining which was at 7:45 instead of 8:30, and the early was 5:15 instead of 6:30 (?) I can't remember the original time for the early seating.

We didn't mind the time at all, we had our show at 6:00, that was over by 7:00 and then we would have time to go and get ready for dinner.

I was concerned about not having enough time on the islands, but we had to be back before 7 for the most part anyway.

Besides the sun kicked our butt so much during the day that we were ready to get back on the ship and rest a little before the show and dinner.

I don't know if these times are going to be permanent or not, I didn't hear any mention of it.

 

[GoodStepMom]

Hi Stacey!!! Welcome home!! It was great meeting you on board!! I also saw Lin twice but both times she was in a function with her "crew" and I couldn't get her attention!! We had the BEST time ever on a vacation and I echo your sad sentiments at having to leave the ship!

We also had late dinner at 7:45 and it was great!! We had plenty of time every day to get showered and dressed up for dinner without being rushed but with the added bonus that we were out of the restaurant by 9 or 9:15 and ready for more fun!! Towards the end of the cruise some of the club activities were scheduled at 8:30 but we just let the kids go early since they were served first and we finished our dinners and desserts without them!

BTW, we had APL rotation (lots of infants) with another family from FL that had DDs 12 and 8 (close to our DDs 11 and 6).

 

[adkaul]

Hi All

We had the early dinner seating (5:30). This may sound dopey but I'm still trying to decide if I liked it or not. I can tell you that the ship leaves the ports right around the time you need to be getting ready for dinner. The first night we stayed up on deck to watch the ship pull out and then made a mad dash to get changed for dinner. DS5 fell asleep twice at dinner for a short period of time. Our kids liked to eat dinner with us and twice one of us left around dessert to go bring them to the Oceaneer's Club for a 6:45 event (of course, we came back down for dessert). I checked some old 5-7 year old navigators and the times of some of the events were changed from 7:00 p.m. to 6:45. I think it would have been better to leave the events at 7:00.

 

[StaceyA]

Gina,
It was great meeting you too! I wish we could have caught up with each other more on the trip!
I saw Lin and her group quite a few times, but mostly at the adult pool where my DH had a barstool with his name on it!!
We have already started talking about booking a 4 day in December of next year!
WOO HOO!!!

 

[Auntienee]

We had the 6:00 seating on the 7/6 Western and I can't imagine moving that up any earlier - The 8:30 was definitely too late for us, but it was alot of work getting 4 of us showered and dressed in time for 6:00, especially on port days. 7:45 actually sounds like a perfect time, but I think 5:30 is really pushing it. It will be interesting to see what the feedback is.

 

[pal2pluto]

How long will it take for them to make a decision?

And how long are they going to test these times?

We sail in October, and if they change them again, I want to know......

 

[Renee']

I inquired yesterday when I called to check on a few other things. They have made no changes after the trial period of mid-July to mid- August. Those of us after that are back to the 6 & 8:30pm seatings.

 

[SC Minnie]

Thanks Renee.

We are cruising in Oct and requested late seating. We actually liked waiting until 8:30 for dinner. We didn't feel like we had to cut our day short to get ready for dinner.