What to you prefer, 1st or 2nd dining rotation

[Mousemom]

We went on our first cruise in March and had the first dining rotation. We are planning another cruise with the whole family, all adults, in September. Wondering what you prefer first or second dining and why. We are thinking of asking for the 2nd rotation this next trip. We never did eat lunch because by the time we had breakfast dinner was just a few hours away. Thought it would be nice to have a bit of time after our excursions to relax before dinner too. What do you think?

 

[OKW Lover]

We book the late seating. We like having some time in the afternoon to just relax in our cabin and perhaps have a glass of wine on the veranda. Early seating just seems to be too early for us.

 

[JennandJaryd]

I agree. I like late dining. There is so much to do during the day, it seems like early dining interferes by breaking up the day.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We went on our first cruise in March and had the first dining rotation. We are planning another cruise with the whole family, all adults, in September. Wondering what you prefer first or second dining and why. We are thinking of asking for the 2nd rotation this next trip. We never did eat lunch because by the time we had breakfast dinner was just a few hours away. Thought it would be nice to have a bit of time after our excursions to relax before dinner too. What do you think?

We prefer early dining. We're not late to bed people and eating that much just before bedtime was hard on our tummies.

The only cruises we've done late dining on were our 2010 Med cruise (because many of the port adventures were 8-10 hours long and we would be returning too late for early seating), and our first Alaska cruise (because there were limited daylight hours on that one and we wanted to be sure that we could enjoy them all before darkness hit).

Our ideal evening - dinner, show, and, some nights, a stop at one of the lounges before bedtime.

 

[bitlerzx4]

I like the late dining, even with kids.

 

[Kim&Chris]

Booking the later dinner just gives us more time to enjoy the sun on Castaway Cay

 

[chasingthedream]

Hi Mousemom! I have only been on 2 cruises, but both times we had late dining (by assignment) and I definitely will continue to do it that way. We are also from WA, and both of our cruises were out of Port Canaveral. By having late dining, we never had to adjust to east coast time and found the transition coming back home much easier. My son turned 5 on our first cruise and it never seemed too late for him.

Now, if we were sailing to Alaska, I may have to revisit that strategy...

Have a great trip!

 

[safeti01]

My DW and I were on lthe Sept Fantasy Eastern and had the late seating. The problem with late seating was when we went to the adult shows in the evening, they were full with very little seating room. Late seating was not as crowded, but we wanted to go to the different lounges and experience them.

We are doing a Feb 14 Fantasy Western and have requested early. We you like to atten the adult shows.

 

[jbrock2013]

We always book the late dining. It gives the whole family enough time to get ready. It allows you to enjoy the day/excursion without having to rush back & hurry everyone.

 

[jbrock2013]

We prefer 2nd dining hands down!!!! It gives u time to enjoy the day/excursion & have plenty of time for the family to get ready for dinner. We had 4 family members get completely ready before dinner each night & none of us were rushed sharing 1 bathroom & my only rule to my teens was u had to dress nice each nite.

 

[robhawk]

Love love love late dining!

 

[KarinD]

We prefer late dining, I like to explore ashore as long as possible without having to rush back to the ship for dinner. Now we have a little one though, so it's shorter port days and earlier dinners for us for the foreseeable future.

 

[scrapbookmomma74]

We had early dining on our first 2 cruises, then tried late on our 3rd, and we absolutely LOVE late dining!
I agree with the pps who said that it gives you more time to enjoy the excursions. On our 1st cruise, there was one day we returned from and excursion and had to rush to get ready for dinner...that is not my idea of a relaxing vacation!
Our kids seemed fine either way, although one did say that she enjoyed not rushing to get to dinner as well.

 

[magrudersmakes3]

Another vote for late dining. We like not having to feel rushed after a day in port to get ready for dinner. We did with our daughter as well and it works out well. We are not late people, but we would always take a walk after dinner to enjoy the ship and to walk off what we ate.

 

[The Jordans]

Reading all the responses I am so happy we were assigned late dining!

 

[NancyIL]

My preference is "anytime dining" offered on other cruise lines, and early dining on DCL. However, my friend and I will try late dining once more on our Transatlantic cruise in May, as we were invited to dine with others who have late dining. I hope it will be a better dining experience than the first time we had late dining.

 

[klepton]

A related question I've been wondering about... We did early dining on our only Disney cruise, but have done early, late, and my-time dining on other lines. On our Disney cruise, I was very surprised at how loud the dining room was compared to dining rooms on other ships. I assumed it was because of the number of kids... kids talked louder, adults had to talk louder in order the hear each other... and the sound just compounded.

I was wondering if late dining was any quieter, maybe because there were fewer kids, or the kids were older?

 

[deanna23]

We have always had the early dinner. I have heartburn all night, if I ate later. I can see the advantage of having late, because there is some much to eat. If we ate breakfast, i really did not want to eat early for lunch but if you did not then I would not be hungry for dinner until later. deanna

 

[uziel5000]

Having small kids, we picked early dining. It was proven to be the wisest choice night after night. They would not have survived all the way to late dining.

That doesn't mean its the right choice for everyone though. It depends on your likes, eating patterns and partying patterns. lol

With early dining you have to work around some stuff (like shore excursions) and have your timing down when it comes to dressing up but if you have your kids accustomed to a certain bed time (especially an early one) it's gonna be very hard to have a late seating.

 

[jjje]

We have only done late dining and I can't see us every wanting to switch in the future. Once or twice my kids were a little tired at dinner but they adjusted to the schedule pretty quickly.