Early or late dining recommended?

[bolty16]

Hi all, my first time posting here! I'm booked on the 3 night cruise on the Dream in Nov, can't wait!

Question is, we now have early dining, because I have a 2yo and she eats dinner usually around 6:30pm. It worked well when we were on our last cruise departing from LA last year. But this time we'll be going to Orlando from the West Coast, and we are arriving only a day early before the cruise.

What do you guys suggest? And my other concern is that since we're booked on port excursions the next day early in Nassau it's not like we can sleep in and let our body clock take its time. So should I keep early or change to late?

TIA!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi all, my first time posting here! I'm booked on the 3 night cruise on the Dream in Nov, can't wait!

Question is, we now have early dining, because I have a 2yo and she eats dinner usually around 6:30pm. It worked well when we were on our last cruise departing from LA last year. But this time we'll be going to Orlando from the West Coast, and we are arriving only a day early before the cruise.

What do you guys suggest? And my other concern is that since we're booked on port excursions the next day early in Nassau it's not like we can sleep in and let our body clock take its time. So should I keep early or change to late?

TIA! ��

If it's important to keep your DD's biological clock close to her "normal" rhythm, then you should keep in mind that 6:30 (west coast) would be 9:30 east coast. It's possible that late dining might be a better fit.

We always do early dining (regardless of which coast we're cruising from). It seems to help reset our body clocks.

 

[CEGrant]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2977028

There was a big discussion on this recently. Might help.
Seems to be a lot of late dining fans.

 

[bolty16]

If it's important to keep your DD's biological clock close to her "normal" rhythm, then you should keep in mind that 6:30 (west coast) would be 9:30 east coast. It's possible that late dining might be a better fit.

We always do early dining (regardless of which coast we're cruising from). It seems to help reset our body clocks.

Thanks PrincessShmoo for your reply!

Actually we really want DD to adjust ASAP, since we will be going to WDW after the cruise and then going to Atlanta for 2 more weeks. So gonna be in the East for about 4 weeks!

Do you have experience dealing with kids on a cruise in a different time zone? I'm just wondering how hard it's gonna be to have to wake DD up when it's time to wake up and go when her body thinks it's only 5am!

Thank you!!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thanks PrincessShmoo for your reply!

Actually we really want DD to adjust ASAP, since we will be going to WDW after the cruise and then going to Atlanta for 2 more weeks. So gonna be in the East for about 4 weeks!

Do you have experience dealing with kids on a cruise in a different time zone? I'm just wondering how hard it's gonna be to have to wake DD up when it's time to wake up and go when her body thinks it's only 5am!

Thank you!!

Well, we haven't cruised with little ones (we didn't start until our kids were older). But we did travel with our kids when they were little (starting with the 2 oldest at ages 18mo & 6 mo on a 6 week driving trip from CA to Iowa and back).

We found that starting to adjust the times before the actual trip starts helped. Even by a little as 30 minutes at a time. And always allow for a nap time (always!, put it in the schedule). Don't try to do a lot every day. Take some time for down time. It really helps.