Early or Late dining on Med Cruise

[eyenerd]

We normally enjoy the early seating. For us, 8:15 (is that even the time?) is too late for us, so we prefer the 5:45.

However, we never were rushed to get back to the ship. I am thinking with Europe, these ports are going to be much more interesting and I don't want to always worry about making dinner. I saw the port departure times were a bit later (I suppose though, that they want you onboard a little sooner?)

If you have any suggestions or experience with this, I would love it. We will have a 3 and 5 y/o. I don't think they would have a problem staying up until 10. And then there is the time difference so maybe it won't be that bad

 

[tajz90]

You won't miss dinner times with early seating. Our experience on the Med and Baltic is that DCL holds dinner a bit later. We would walk on board and go straight to dinner with no issues. We never missed a meal in the MDR and we never left shore early.

 

[gatorfreud]

I am selecting early dinner. I don't see us doing more than 1/2 - 3/4 day port adventures - I don't think my kids will handle much more. I am guessing they will be exhausted and I am not interested in trying to fight them to stay up until 10 to finish dinner. On the Dream last summer, we had early dining, did a little something and they were ready to crash out with milk, cookies and a movie by 9. Also, for port days I see us trying to get off the ship early, so earlier bedtimes I think will be better. Mine will be 9 and 11 in 2014 when we go.

I figure of 7 nights, if 1-2 we miss the MDR, we can just grab food elsewhere.

Kim

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We normally enjoy the early seating. For us, 8:15 (is that even the time?) is too late for us, so we prefer the 5:45.

However, we never were rushed to get back to the ship. I am thinking with Europe, these ports are going to be much more interesting and I don't want to always worry about making dinner. I saw the port departure times were a bit later (I suppose though, that they want you onboard a little sooner?)

If you have any suggestions or experience with this, I would love it. We will have a 3 and 5 y/o. I don't think they would have a problem staying up until 10. And then there is the time difference so maybe it won't be that bad

We always do early dinner. However, on our Med cruise we opted for the late seating, because we knew we were taking several excursions that would be getting us back to the ship too late for early seating.

Early dinner would sometimes begin while the ship was still in port, so those who had early dinner, and were on the longer (late returning) excursions, either had to do the Topsiders, room service, or pooside quick serves for dinner. Occasionally, some were accomodated at the late seating, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Four Swampers]

We did the Med in 2010. Very glad to have late dinner. Some places, like Rome, are an hour from port. So you really may not be back to ship until 6 pm. Rome is exhausting, so a shower and a nap before dinner might be nice.

You can always grab a pizza from Pinocchio's or room service as a snack to tide you over to dinner.

 

[slg]

We have always done early seating but are going to do late seating in the med. Why? Because in Europe, dinners are much, much later than in North America and every time we have gone to Europe we don't eat dinner until 8 or 9. When in Rome....do as the Romans. We did feel rushed on our Baltic cruise and I just want to relax on this one. If we are hungry, we'll go to Topsiders and perhaps just go to dinner for dessert and a salad and the ambiance.

 

[lilpooh108]

For the Med this year, dinner time is 8:30 pm, so even later than the usual 8:15pm. We're happy with this push back since we're doing full excursions in all ports and we love dinners on the ship.

 

[tluther5406]

We did the Med in 2010 and chose late seating since we knew we were doing all day excursions. By the time dinner was done (sometimes as late as 10:30), it was time to go to bed in order to get up bright and early for the next day's excursion. Our 4 yr old fell asleep at the table some nights. I was disappointed when second seating was pushed back even later at some ports. When we returned from our excursions, we heard announcements that early seating was still available for those just getting back which was over an hour into the early seating. In summary, I would choose early seating. Even if you get back late from the excursion, you can still try to get seated. The only drawback is that you might not have time to change before dinner.

By the way, the cruise was amazing. Malta was breathtaking. You always hear about the other places, but Malta was a wonderful surprise.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I'd choose early seating too. We didn't get back that late from Rome, but even if we did (as in the Baltic with Berlin), they'll let you eat at the later service. They're very understanding.