Success rate for changing dinner seating?

[ddixon1]

We booked an August NYC cruise REAL late, and got second seating. I hate eating late, and my DS7 and I are early to bed/rise types. Never cleared the pre-boarding wait list, and had a PAT of 11:30 am (I think?). I believe that we were first to put our names on the wait list on board. We struggled through the late dinner the first night, only to learn that we had been assigned the first seating! Whew. It was so much easier.( There were a ton of kids falling asleep at their tables at the second seating). Good luck!

 

[stitchlovestink]

Something else to consider is some people have situations where it really isn't advisable/healthy for them to eat such a heavy full meal at such a late hour so close to going to bed. If you have ever suffered from severe reflux or GERD, you will know what I mean. Drs strongly advise not eating that late when you suffer with this. Actually, I have a friend who isn't supposed to eat anything at all after 6pm because of her issues. Mine aren't nearly as bad as hers but I double dose nexium (none of the others work) and it is quite costly!! I really can't afford physically to dine at the late seating or I'm going to be miserable all night and into the next morning... not knowing when I'll see relief! So sometimes people need early dining for other reasons.


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[realityland]

Something else to consider is some people have situations where it really isn't advisable/healthy for them to eat such a heavy full meal at such a late hour so close to going to bed. If you have ever suffered from severe reflux or GERD, you will know what I mean. Drs strongly advise not eating that late when you suffer with this. Actually, I have a friend who isn't supposed to eat anything at all after 6pm because of her issues. Mine aren't nearly as bad as hers but I double dose nexium (none of the others work) and it is quite costly!! I really can't afford physically to dine at the late seating or I'm going to be miserable all night and into the next morning... not knowing when I'll see relief! So sometimes people need early dining for other reasons.


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Hopefully, they would be able to accommodate a health-related seating request such as that. However, with other "anytime" dining options available on-board, I guess they are not technically under an obligation to do so.

 

[ludari]

A quick question for the DCL regulars - what are the chances of changing from the late dinner seating to the early seating once we get on the ship?

I know that there is a location listed on the Navigator where this request can be made once you board the ship. I'm just curious what the success rate is. We are traveling with a 10 month-old and booked our cruise 2 months out, so only the late seating was available. Just want to consider all of our options. Thanks!

I'm not sure how many in your party but I would guess from the message above they are three of you. Anyway, in the past five Disney cruises I have been on I was able to get all the dining changes I had requested 100 percent of the time. Although I've never changed from late seating to early seating or vice versa I would nearly always change my dining room rotations and in most cases seating table assignments.

 

[realityland]

I'm not sure how many in your party but I would guess from the message above they are three of you. Anyway, in the past five Disney cruises I have been on I was able to get all the dining changes I had requested 100 percent of the time. Although I've never changed from late seating to early seating or vice versa I would nearly always change my dining room rotations and in most cases seating table assignments.

2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant in a high chair

What dining rotation do you prefer?

 

[snykymom]

The feeling I'm getting from this thread is that early seating is the preferred and goes to wait list? The reason I ask is that we are late seating folks. It'd be great for me if that's one less thing I need to worry about!

 

[minniewitch01]

The feeling I'm getting from this thread is that early seating is the preferred and goes to wait list? The reason I ask is that we are late seating folks. It'd be great for me if that's one less thing I need to worry about!

I've been on three cruises and changed everytime so we could eat with family or friends and we never had a problem

 

[Momma2Jax]

We booked our May 2013 Wonder cruise early this month, and asked to be on the wait list for main dining (it was full, and we have a 3yo who needs the early time). We got confirmation today that we have been assigned main seating, along with our linked reservations (7 of us total)

 

[shezfrombermuda]

On our first cruise, only the late dinner assignment was available and we didn't know you could waitlist or try to change onboard. We went to the late dinner on the first night. My daughter fell asleep with her head on the table before appetizers were served. My mom and I were tired from a long day of travel and I was feeling a little sea sick. The head waiter took one look at us and said we could definitely go to the early dinner the next night.

 

[jeniamt]

Such a personal preference. We were talked into early seating on our first cruise and it was awful for our family. Even 8 mo was miserable and half the time he fell asleep being wheeled into dining room, it was too close to his nap time! *Our family are all night owls and we don't normally eat dinner before 7pm at home. Truthfully, i listened to too many people on this board who said Main seating was preferred. *I just switched our group, 12 of us, to late seating for our upcoming NYE Dream cruise. Went to make final payment and noticed we had Main dining and freaked out. Called TA and had that changed! *My point is, there is hope for those on wait list b/c there are folks like me who prefer eating later.*

 

[realityland]

Just got an email that our seating has been changed to Main. We depart in less than a week. Woot!

 

[Toria]

A quick question for the DCL regulars - what are the chances of changing from the late dinner seating to the early seating once we get on the ship?

I know that there is a location listed on the Navigator where this request can be made once you board the ship. I'm just curious what the success rate is. We are traveling with a 10 month-old and booked our cruise 2 months out, so only the late seating was available. Just want to consider all of our options. Thanks!

38 days out and I was able to change to early dining. Have a blast on your cruise.

 

[Summerl30]

We have main right now and DH wants me to change it to late. We always do either late on other cruises or the flexible hours and eat late. we love sleeping in on a cruise, so everything is pushed back and we stay up late. With the kids, I thought this wouldn't be the case, but DH is fairly adamant, so maybe someone will benefit?

 

[jahber]

We booked 30 days out for the 10/28 Dream. We requested early and found out when we got our kttw cards that we got it. Our TA never emailed us, but I'm not surprised. He was not on top of things at all.

In fact, I had pretty much made peace with late dining when my husband suggested we try for early while we were eating at Cabanas. If he hasn't, I would never have noticed we already had it and we would have missed dinner!

 

[Patrickprincess]

Some very good discussion here. Hard to say which camp we will fall in, early vs. late preference. We generally eat at 5 or 6 at home. But then again, we are all on our normal routine at home. Once we get on the ship and the baby's schedule goes upside down, hard to say which option will work better for us.

I could see us getting lunch at 2 or so, and the baby napping in the late afternoon - making a late seating attractive. Or, all of us not being able to make it until 8 o'clock and it being a disaster. The baby won't care which seating we have. He'll want to eat when he wants to eat.

Since we would be making a request about 21 days out, I would imagine the chances of getting a switch are highly, highly unlikely. We'll make the best of whatever we get. Considering the FL resident rate for booking at the last minute, there will be NO complaints allowed in my group. Without the FL resident rate, there would be no cruise on November 11th for us.

I was able to change from late to early when i requested the change i very poilety explained that i did not care for the table mates. I found that i liked the early dinning and if i got hungery a few hours latter then i could get room service or go upto the pool deck and have a snack. good luck

 

[ZoeBell]

Speaking of requests, what are the chances my request for my party of 3 to eat alone? It's for a late dinner sitting.

I know a request is only a request and not a gaurantee, but it's probably the only thing we really want. We'll sleep anywhere. Dinner anytime.we're really not fussy. We just want to eat alone. That's the only we're hoping.

 

[jahber]

Speaking of requests, what are the chances my request for my party of 3 to eat alone? It's for a late dinner sitting.

I know a request is only a request and not a gaurantee, but it's probably the only thing we really want. We'll sleep anywhere. Dinner anytime.we're really not fussy. We just want to eat alone. That's the only we're hoping.

It might not be a problem, really. Especially late seating, where they likely have more flexibility. Be sure to request in advance. Then, go to dining changes first thing and see if your request was already honored. If not, let the person making changes know how important it is to you. It never hurts to ask (nicely, as the pp stated )

 

[bpokornik]

Is it possible to request a table for two. We are on the 12/1/12 cruise celebrating a 35th wedding anniversary (late seating). How do I request that preference. If I have to share my table with strangers for our anniversary cruise I think I will just cry!

 

[bats]

Is it possible to request a table for two. We are on the 12/1/12 cruise celebrating a 35th wedding anniversary (late seating). How do I request that preference. If I have to share my table with strangers for our anniversary cruise I think I will just cry!

You can make any request, but whether its possible or not is quite another matter.
We didn't think we'd like sharing our table, but honestly, we've met some wonderful people who we still stay in contact with now. Strangers are only friends you've never met!!
Would you really be so upset at sharing a table? Make you cry? Honestly? If that's how your truly feel, I hope Disney can help you or you best get the tissues ready!

 

[lbgraves]

Is it possible to request a table for two. We are on the 12/1/12 cruise celebrating a 35th wedding anniversary (late seating). How do I request that preference. If I have to share my table with strangers for our anniversary cruise I think I will just cry!

The only way to ensure that you have a table for two at dinner is to make reservations at Palo/Remy every night. You can only make one online, but if you go to dining changes and find that you do have tablemates you can put in a request to be placed on the waitlist for Palo and be called each day if there is an opening.