1st or 2nd seating? what about if it's a med cruise?

[xlxo]

Best to decide early on 1st or 2nd feeding. It makes it easier when they group tables with similar interests.

If you don't like your feeding time... consider specialty dining where there is no restrictions.

 

[disneyholic family]

Oh, and for anyone wondering, on our last Med cruise (which went out of Venice) the seating times were 6:15 and 8:45.

yikes!! 8:45 is seriously late for dinner!! and that's just when you sit down....you still have to order....and then at some point get the food...

Oooh yes I totally forgot the late debarkation breakfast for one of my reasons, I can't even imagine getting up to go to breakfast at 6 (ish). I think I'd do Cabanas if I had to have first dinner seating.

i forgot about the debarkation breakfast being tied to the dinner seating.....is cabanas open on debarkation morning???
i doubt DD will be able to make it to breakfast at 6, and they'll really need breakfast as their flight out of barcelona isn't until late at night the same day (red eye out of barcelona)...

 

[Pens Fan]

We have done both and greatly prefer late seating. Never again, will we book early if at all possible. If you have really young kids I can understand why early might be the better option. But as our son was 10 or so on our very first cruise, that hasn't been an issue for us. We all tend to stay up late on vacation, so we definitely are not going to bed on a full stomach. If you're normally in bed by 10 or so, you could have a different experience. On port days, we love being able to take our time getting back to the ship and then relaxing on the balcony with a glass of wine for sail away - it's one of our happy cruise routines . The teenage bottomless pit usually hits the pool deck for a snack to tide him over. DH and I tide ourselves over with liquid nourishment. . We usually only go to a couple of the shows during a cruise, so we find that during main dining time is a great time to hit up things on the ship that are usually really crowded - that is if you can move us off of the verandah!

This question comes up often on these boards and you will get widely varying (and often strong) opinions. Each family is different. For us, we have one older, go with the flow kind of son (now an adult - gulp!), we normally eat somewhat late at home (7 - 7:30) and almost never are in bed before midnight on vacation - often later than that. That's not the case for a lot of families. We were on the Iceland cruise last summer and never found 8:30 dining to be a problem. Interestingly enough, for a cruise that had a smaller number of kids than most summer DCL cruises, there were TONS of little kids at second seating. I don't know if they were Europeans who are more used to dining at that time or not, but they sure seemed to be having a good time!

If you do stay with main, while I can't predict what DCL will do, I know that at least a couple of times they have pushed back both dining times for 15 or 30 minutes due to late port times and deck activities. One was in Alaska and a bunch of excursions were scheduled to be back right as main normally started so they pushed everything back that day. On the Iceland cruise they delayed the seatings due to the Frozen party up on deck. It doesn't mean they will do it on every cruise, but it does happen when they realize that a large number of families won't make it to their assigned early dining.

 

[twowolfs1]

When we did the Med cruise we had 2nd sitting. Worked great for the shore excursions.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

When we did the Med cruise we had 2nd sitting. Worked great for the shore excursions.

Same here.

We typically "do" early seating as it works best for us. But, when we did our Med cruise, we opted for late, since several of the excursions we were planning were full day (8-10 hours) and the return times were not going to be in time for early seating. While that worked out OK, we still prefer early. We've only done late seating on 2 of our cruises, but have, on 3 others, been assigned to late, but were changed to early after asking to be on the wait list.

Just checked our Med scrapbook. The dinner seatings (at that time) were 6:00 & 8:30.
On our Naples day we had an 8:45 am excursion estimated at duration of 8 1/2 - 9 hours in length. We returned at 6:00. In Civitavecchia our excursion was at 8:15 (10-10 1/2 hour duration) - we returned at 6:30. In La Spezia we had a 7:15 am excursion (10-10 1/2 hour duration) - scheduled to return at 7:00, but actually returned at 7:25 due to extremely bad traffic (3 busses were late).

All 3 of those stops we would have missed our dinner seating, had we done early seating. The other ports we only took shorter excursions, but there were longer ones available, so it could have been an issue for the whole cruise with 8 port days out of 10.

 

[disneyholic family]

We have done both and greatly prefer late seating. Never again, will we book early if at all possible. If you have really young kids I can understand why early might be the better option. But as our son was 10 or so on our very first cruise, that hasn't been an issue for us. We all tend to stay up late on vacation, so we definitely are not going to bed on a full stomach. If you're normally in bed by 10 or so, you could have a different experience. On port days, we love being able to take our time getting back to the ship and then relaxing on the balcony with a glass of wine for sail away - it's one of our happy cruise routines . The teenage bottomless pit usually hits the pool deck for a snack to tide him over. DH and I tide ourselves over with liquid nourishment. . We usually only go to a couple of the shows during a cruise, so we find that during main dining time is a great time to hit up things on the ship that are usually really crowded - that is if you can move us off of the verandah!

This question comes up often on these boards and you will get widely varying (and often strong) opinions. Each family is different. For us, we have one older, go with the flow kind of son (now an adult - gulp!), we normally eat somewhat late at home (7 - 7:30) and almost never are in bed before midnight on vacation - often later than that. That's not the case for a lot of families. We were on the Iceland cruise last summer and never found 8:30 dining to be a problem. Interestingly enough, for a cruise that had a smaller number of kids than most summer DCL cruises, there were TONS of little kids at second seating. I don't know if they were Europeans who are more used to dining at that time or not, but they sure seemed to be having a good time!

If you do stay with main, while I can't predict what DCL will do, I know that at least a couple of times they have pushed back both dining times for 15 or 30 minutes due to late port times and deck activities. One was in Alaska and a bunch of excursions were scheduled to be back right as main normally started so they pushed everything back that day. On the Iceland cruise they delayed the seatings due to the Frozen party up on deck. It doesn't mean they will do it on every cruise, but it does happen when they realize that a large number of families won't make it to their assigned early dining.

in alaska, we were on royal caribbean, so we used my time dining....however, as it turned out, we picked 6 pm almost every day except the one day we came back really late from our evening whale watching excursion...but with royal MTD it's not an issue...MTD moves in 15 minute slots...you can pick any of them for any meal...
and in any case, you can always go up to windjammers..
but on DCL, where dining is sort of an integral part of the 'show', opting out for something else doesn't' work for me...i won't even skip main dining for palos!!

 

[disneyholic family]

Same here.

We typically "do" early seating as it works best for us. But, when we did our Med cruise, we opted for late, since several of the excursions we were planning were full day (8-10 hours) and the return times were not going to be in time for early seating. While that worked out OK, we still prefer early. We've only done late seating on 2 of our cruises, but have, on 3 others, been assigned to late, but were changed to early after asking to be on the wait list.

DD switched to early dining after the first 2 to 3 responses to this thread...
she realized that if she does late dining, she'll end up having a snack at 5 when she gets back from her excursion, and then she'll be too full when dinner rolls around...so she's going to try early dining and then snack later if she gets hungry..

she was really most worried about having a lot of kids in early dining, but from what many people have written, it seems there can be lots of kids in 2nd dining as well....so better to pick the seating that works for her regardless of kids...

 

[Pens Fan]

in alaska, we were on royal caribbean, so we used my time dining....however, as it turned out, we picked 6 pm almost every day except the one day we came back really late from our evening whale watching excursion...but with royal MTD it's not an issue...MTD moves in 15 minute slots...you can pick any of them for any meal...
and in any case, you can always go up to windjammers..
but on DCL, where dining is sort of an integral part of the 'show', opting out for something else doesn't' work for me...i won't even skip main dining for palos!!

Next summer we are sailing NCL to Alaska. The Wonder will be in port when we embark in Vancouver and I'm sure we will have some serious DCL envy, especially when they blow the horn. But one thing I am very much looking forward to NOT having to do is pick a dining time. The reality for us is, early is too early and late is too late. We prefer late of the two, but neither is optimal. I'm ready for some NCL Freestyle! We didn't choose NCL over Disney because of this - that choice was itinerary driven - but it's an aspect we are definitely going to enjoy!!

Sometimes I wish that DCL would offer a my time dining option, but as you noted - the MDR is part of the show. It just doesn't work with my time dining. I guess DCL's version of that is Cabanas for dinner, which we've never done. We swore on the Iceland cruise we would as it as 11 nights and we thought we'd get sick of the MDR's for that long. Nope! There we were, all 11 nights

 

[disneyholic family]

Next summer we are sailing NCL to Alaska. The Wonder will be in port when we embark in Vancouver and I'm sure we will have some serious DCL envy, especially when they blow the horn. But one thing I am very much looking forward to NOT having to do is pick a dining time. The reality for us is, early is too early and late is too late. We prefer late of the two, but neither is optimal. I'm ready for some NCL Freestyle! We didn't choose NCL over Disney because of this - that choice was itinerary driven - but it's an aspect we are definitely going to enjoy!!

Sometimes I wish that DCL would offer a my time dining option, but as you noted - the MDR is part of the show. It just doesn't work with my time dining. I guess DCL's version of that is Cabanas for dinner, which we've never done. We swore on the Iceland cruise we would as it as 11 nights and we thought we'd get sick of the MDR's for that long. Nope! There we were, all 11 nights

i totally get that...all 11 nights in the dining rotation...i would do the same..

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Next summer we are sailing NCL to Alaska. The Wonder will be in port when we embark in Vancouver and I'm sure we will have some serious DCL envy, especially when they blow the horn. But one thing I am very much looking forward to NOT having to do is pick a dining time. The reality for us is, early is too early and late is too late. We prefer late of the two, but neither is optimal. I'm ready for some NCL Freestyle! We didn't choose NCL over Disney because of this - that choice was itinerary driven - but it's an aspect we are definitely going to enjoy!!

Sometimes I wish that DCL would offer a my time dining option, but as you noted - the MDR is part of the show. It just doesn't work with my time dining. I guess DCL's version of that is Cabanas for dinner, which we've never done. We swore on the Iceland cruise we would as it as 11 nights and we thought we'd get sick of the MDR's for that long. Nope! There we were, all 11 nights

Exactly. My husband & I were determined that we were going to give Cabanas a try on our recent cruise. After all, it's our 11th, and we've ALWAYS done the rotation dining, and the cruise was 14 nights. We thought we'd have time to do it. Well, not so much. Still haven't done dinner at Cabanas.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

On European cruises a note, Cabanas also has a buffet on some nights, not just a sit down service, we had it in St Petersburg, last year, we have it in Reykjavik at least on my upcoming cruise.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

When we did the Med cruise we had 2nd sitting. Worked great for the shore excursions.

Most shore excursions are back by the latest of 5 pm, a long time before Main dinner starts.

 

[twowolfs1]

By the time you get in the cabin rest, take a shower time for dinner.

 

[KBinCO]

Even when my kids were little on the first cruise we took, I wish we'd had 2nd seating. We just felt too rushed for main seating. My kids are night owls, up very late, and there were plenty of places to grab snacks if we were hungry before dinner, but I would have no problem with 2nd seating even with my kids, no matter how late it is.

 

[aggiedog]

Most shore excursions are back by the latest of 5 pm, a long time before Main dinner starts.

But if you have a private tour or DIY, that doesn't apply. We've done 80% of the ports on our own.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

yikes!! 8:45 is seriously late for dinner!! and that's just when you sit down....you still have to order....and then at some point get the food...



i forgot about the debarkation breakfast being tied to the dinner seating.....is cabanas open on debarkation morning???
i doubt DD will be able to make it to breakfast at 6, and they'll really need breakfast as their flight out of barcelona isn't until late at night the same day (red eye out of barcelona)...

I believe Cabanas is open but less of a spread then a regular day.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

i forgot about the debarkation breakfast being tied to the dinner seating.....is cabanas open on debarkation morning???
i doubt DD will be able to make it to breakfast at 6, and they'll really need breakfast as their flight out of barcelona isn't until late at night the same day (red eye out of barcelona)...

Yes, Cabanas is open. I'll also just mention that, if the second breakfast seating would work better for you, it's worth it to ask your head server if you can be accommodated then. We've done that on a couple of cruises, and it's been no issue. You may not get "your" serving team, but it's do-able.

 

[disneyholic family]

Yes, Cabanas is open. I'll also just mention that, if the second breakfast seating would work better for you, it's worth it to ask your head server if you can be accommodated then. We've done that on a couple of cruises, and it's been no issue. You may not get "your" serving team, but it's do-able.

she probably won't mind cabanas...on royal, she and her husband prefer windjammers to the MDR...
but i'll let her know that it might be a possibility...

 

[kiford]

On European cruises a note, Cabanas also has a buffet on some nights, not just a sit down service, we had it in St Petersburg, last year, we have it in Reykjavik at least on my upcoming cruise.

We had the same thing when we were docked in St. Petersburg. Since we were berthed there overnight, there were a lot of people including us who did evening tours so would have missed either dinner seating. We just assumed we'd have to grab something from on deck or order room service when we got back but friends of ours (who were also tablemates and on the same evening tour as us) told us that Topsiders (now Cabanas) was open with a buffet so we went there after we got back. Lots of selection and not too busy. It was open for quite some time as people came back in small waves from tours so there was no problem getting a seat and there was still plenty of food at about 10:30 when we returned. My guess is that they probably do that for all ports where they overnight so that they can offer evening tours.

 

[disneyholic family]

We had the same thing when we were docked in St. Petersburg. Since we were berthed there overnight, there were a lot of people including us who did evening tours so would have missed either dinner seating. We just assumed we'd have to grab something from on deck or order room service when we got back but friends of ours (who were also tablemates and on the same evening tour as us) told us that Topsiders (now Cabanas) was open with a buffet so we went there after we got back. Lots of selection and not too busy. It was open for quite some time as people came back in small waves from tours so there was no problem getting a seat and there was still plenty of food at about 10:30 when we returned. My guess is that they probably do that for all ports where they overnight so that they can offer evening tours.

that sounds really cool that they run it that way...
how did you like st. petersburg?
i was there years and years ago (1976 to be exact), when it was still leningrad