Disney Fantasy: Late Dining versus Early Dining (Western itinerary)

[WishesComeTrue]

Does anyone with experience on the Fastasy (7 night Western) have any advice when deciding on early verus late dining?

We are a married couple in our early 30's, no children, and we are not fussy about who we dine with. Families, adults, children, doesn't matter.

We did the early dining on the "Dream" ship and it was fine but were booked on the late dining for our "Fantasy" cruise in July.

The only thing that has me hesitant about late dining is that on Pirate night I don't want to feel caught up at an 8pm dinner and miss any of the festivities on deck. Although, if I choose early dining all of our port cities "all aboard time" is between 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. so I also don't wanna feel rushed to get to dinner.

Hmm, any experienced opinions?

Thank you!

 

[OKW Lover]

We did the 7-night Western in December (and the 7-night Eastern in January) with the late seating. Its our preference to take the late seating for a few reasons:

• We prefer to enjoy a relaxing afternoon on sea days. This usually includes a snack and beverage on our veranda plus a nap before getting ready for dinner.
• On port days we don't want to have to go quickly from port attire to dinner attire (plus taking a shower) before the early dinner time.
• Overall, we just don't find ourselves hungry yet at the early dining times.

As far as the pirate night stuff goes, don't worry. DCL plans the activities so that even the late diners have time to get there.

 

[Filmguy]

We did early dining, mainly because of the kids. (5 and 9) However if it was just the wife and I, I think we would do the late. You might find less younger kids on the late seating.

 

[my2princessgirls]

We did late dining last year on the Fantasy (eastern, but this really shouldn't make a difference). We had no problems getting up on deck in time for the festivities. We loved having late dining (even with children).

 

[dharma517]

I would pick late just to be around fewer kids (I have 4 myself)..lol Maybe a bit less noise : )

 

[robhawk]

We just got off the Fantasy western. We went without our grown up kids.
Love love love late dining
Extra half hour before the show/ dinner
Time for a nice drink at skyline or Meridien before dinner
Plenty of time to get to adult cabaret shows and Pirate show.

 

[merciemac]

My husband and I are on 7 night Eastern and we choose the late night dining because since we are coming from the West Coast 8pm is so much closer to the time we would normally eat anyway. Plus, I don't know about anyone else. But to me there is just something so romantic about eating later while on a cruise, like what it would have been like on the Titanic if it was completely Disney themed and without the whole iceberg thing. Just saying.

 

[Forever a Princess]

We have done early dining twice and late dining five times.

On our 6th cruise we did early dining for the second time. I felt really rushed when coming back from excursions to get ready for dinner. We were about ten minutes late one night (I prefer not to keep others waiting and felt guilty about this).

On our last (7th) cruise (Western Carib) we went back to late dining and boy did we enjoy the difference!! We did not feel rushed and enjoyed getting ready for dinner etc.

I especially think that you need the extra time when in Cozumel as the excursions can end on the later side.

Good luck with your decision and enjoy your cruise!!

 

[Buckeye218]

We've always done early dining, both with our kids and without. If you go to most or all of the shows, and we usually do, we never felt like we would be saving that much time by having late dinner. You still have to get dressed for dinner before you go to the show.

Plus I like having dinner first, and then relaxing with the show after. 8:00 is just too late to be eating dinner for us. Some people feel rushed at early seating, but we've never encountered this.

 

[Zeppelin]

Does anyone with experience on the Fastasy (7 night Western) have any advice when deciding on early verus late dining?

We are a married couple in our early 30's, no children, and we are not fussy about who we dine with. Families, adults, children, doesn't matter.

We did the early dining on the "Dream" ship and it was fine but were booked on the late dining for our "Fantasy" cruise in July.

The only thing that has me hesitant about late dining is that on Pirate night I don't want to feel caught up at an 8pm dinner and miss any of the festivities on deck. Although, if I choose early dining all of our port cities "all aboard time" is between 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. so I also don't wanna feel rushed to get to dinner.

Hmm, any experienced opinions?

Thank you!

we've always done late dining, including our 7nght WC/Fantasy cruise last August....like it much better...not in a rush to get back from excursions and can stay on CC until the very last second....

once again doing late seating on our next cruise...

 

[munchkin322]

We've always done early dining, both with our kids and without. If you go to most or all of the shows, and we usually do, we never felt like we would be saving that much time by having late dinner. You still have to get dressed for dinner before you go to the show.

Plus I like having dinner first, and then relaxing with the show after. 8:00 is just too late to be eating dinner for us. Some people feel rushed at early seating, but we've never encountered this.

I'm the same way too. We are in the early 30's with no kids and we will be sailing on our 3rd Disney cruise (4th cruise overall) and we always opted for early dining. I never felt rushed at all. I kinda want to try late dining but I don't want to miss out on anything! Lol

 

[tajz90]

We've always done early dining, both with our kids and without. If you go to most or all of the shows, and we usually do, we never felt like we would be saving that much time by having late dinner. You still have to get dressed for dinner before you go to the show.

Plus I like having dinner first, and then relaxing with the show after. 8:00 is just too late to be eating dinner for us. Some people feel rushed at early seating, but we've never encountered this.

I'm the same way too. We are in the early 30's with no kids and we will be sailing on our 3rd Disney cruise (4th cruise overall) and we always opted for early dining. I never felt rushed at all. I kinda want to try late dining but I don't want to miss out on anything! Lol

We feel the same way. Never rushed. We stay in port as long as we like. If its a late port, Disney holds dinner.
I never notice any MORE kids than usual and I wonder if it's because they are better behaved at early.

We don't like to feel so full at night and want to enjoy an adult beverage in the club, but if we're stuffed, we can't. Plus, we don't like to linger as long as 2nd seating goes on. The 1st seating has more of a "time frame".

 

[CT Mom of 3]

I love late dining! The pirate night stuff happens later anyway - you won't miss anything.

 

[TempusFugit]

I'm the same way too. We are in the early 30's with no kids and we will be sailing on our 3rd Disney cruise (4th cruise overall) and we always opted for early dining. I never felt rushed at all. I kinda want to try late dining but I don't want to miss out on anything! Lol

We're similar in demographics except, ehem, early 40s. We have kids but we take them to WDW. The cruise is for DW and I when we want to get away - started back in 2000 when we honeymooned on the Magic. We don't normally eat dinner that late at home but have always had late seating onboard and loved the laid back feel. Cruise time is different than regular time fort dinner reason.

 

[WishesComeTrue]

Thank you for all of your input. We decided on early dining, only because my husband says that he knows he's going to get back on that boat around 5pm on port days and want to eat. I don't want to ruin dinner if he starts attackin' the snacks! lol