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

[disneyholic family]

for those of you who have cruised DCL before, do you prefer 1st seating or 2nd seating for dinner?

why?

also, do you have the same answer if you're talking about a cruise in the Mediterranean (as opposed to anywhere else)?

thanks in advance!!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

The dinners are normally later on a med cruise 6.15 and 8.45 pm. This is as the people of Spain eat very late.

For kids - up to teenagers, late is far too late, they will be exhausted, thry can't start eating at 8.45 pm.

We had tours in all ports and always back by 5 pm, giving us an hour before dinner, believe he in the heat of the med, going to dinner at 6.15 is great, a good rest in air con.

I prefer the logic of dinner then show, then bed, letting food go down. Port adventures start very early, sometimes 7 am, do your out of bed early, grab breakfast before 7 am departure, if you have had late dinner the night before finishing at 10.30 pm, you feel like you gave just eaten.

Kids and adults adjust fast to the European time zones, you will eat breakfast early at dun up, lunch in port local time, or on ship local time, so with lunch at 12 noon to 1.30 pm, it's a long long way to dinner which opens at 8.30/8.45. Kids will not make it, teenagers hit the snack places not eating good food, so main it is.

Unless you are from Spain and normally eat at 9 pm, or normally gave your evening meal st home at 9 pm, then go for main dinner.

Some may say " eat at your home zone time, that doesn't make any sence, it could be from six to nine hours different to the USA residents. Plus you will be eating on ship breakfast and lunch st local time.

Some may say you will not get back to the ship by the dinner time, no, thry run them later, and in three med cruises I gave never been back later than 5 pm, and had over an hour to freshen up and go to dinner.

Eating food late is bad for you, it needs a few hours to go down, we eat more on a ship, so look after your body. The old saying us, eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. Give it time to go down. If you eat later it can at minimum cause acid indigestion, and with too much soda, sweet, sugar and food, can actually contribute towards diabetes. Doctors say eat in a 12 hour window so fir breakfast at 7 am, try to have your last meal by 7 pm, and fast 12 hours, the body digests sugar better in the morning and afternoon, and less do at night.

Main dinner is always the first to sell out, so 1/ you can see the majority of savvy cruisers prefer it, and 2/ in the unlikely even you do not like it, you will find it easy to swap to late, but hard to go from late to main if you made a mistake.

 

[disneyholic family]

The dinners are normally later on a med cruise 6.15 and 8.45 pm. This is as the people of Spain eat very late.

For kids - up to teenagers, late is far too late, they will be exhausted, thry can't start eating at 8.45 pm.

We had tours in all ports and always back by 5 pm, giving us an hour before dinner, believe he in the heat of the med, going to dinner at 6.15 is great, a good rest in air con.

I prefer the logic of dinner then show, then bed, letting food go down. Port adventures start very early, sometimes 7 am, do your out of bed early, grab breakfast before 7 am departure, if you have had late dinner the night before finishing at 10.30 pm, you feel like you gave just eaten.

Kids and adults adjust fast to the European time zones, you will eat breakfast early at dun up, lunch in port local time, or on ship local time, so with lunch at 12 noon to 1.30 pm, it's a long long way to dinner which opens at 8.30/8.45. Kids will not make it, teenagers hit the snack places not eating good food, so main it is.

Unless you are from Spain and normally eat at 9 pm, or normally gave your evening meal st home at 9 pm, then go for main dinner.

thanks! your argument make s a LOT of sense to me!!!!

 

[AnnaS]

We have taken 7 DCL cruises and always had Main/early seating. We are early risers. We eat early at home 5:30 (give or take a few minutes). We very rarely eat later. I think 7 the latest. We are also on the East Coast. We have wanted to try the late seating but after each cruise - we realize it's just too late (we pass the restaurants late and they are still eating). We have also done the 11 N. Med cruise. The staff/waiter told us/encouraged us to come to dinner even if we were running late. He also told us not to worry about going back to the room to change (regardless of what we were wearing). At the time, the dress code was not as lax as it is now (jeans were recently allowed and now shorts). Also wanted to add we do not have any young children now or when we started really.
I would ask myself. How early you wake up. Have breakfast/lunch. What time do you normally eat at home. How late are your excursions running? I am sure you will be back on the ship by dinner time anyway. Good luck. Have fun and come back to tell us how the time worked for you.

A tip - if you have the option of booking Main/early - do so. You can always change it. This books up first. It's usually easier to switch from early to late than late to early.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We have taken 7 DCL cruises and always had Main/early seating. We are early risers. We eat early at home 5:30 (give or take a few minutes). We very rarely eat later. I think 7 the latest. We are also on the East Coast. We have wanted to try the late seating but after each cruise - we realize it's just too late (we pass the restaurants late and they are still eating). We have also done the 11 N. Med cruise. The staff/waiter told us/encouraged us to come to dinner even if we were running late. He also told us not to worry about going back to the room to change (regardless of what we were wearing). At the time, the dress code was not as lax as it is now (jeans were recently allowed and now shorts). Also wanted to add we do not have any young children now or when we started really.
I would ask myself. How early you wake up. Have breakfast/lunch. What time do you normally eat at home. How late are your excursions running? I am sure you will be back on the ship by dinner time anyway. Good luck. Have fun and come back to tell us how the time worked for you.

A tip - if you have the option of booking Main/early - do so. You can always change it. This books up first. It's usually easier to switch from early to late than late to early.

Great advice, very true, we had people come in on main a bit late and servers accommodated them.

 

[RobWreck]

Having been on 2 prior DCL trips (our 3rd & 4th are this Fall), I can sum up our preference for the late seating in two words: Less Kids

With that said, an 8:45 dinner seating would be hard to manage. Glad that's not the Caribbean dinner time...

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I think it depends on your family and kids. At home, my family eats dinner around 6pm. DS is very cranky if he's hungry (like most men? . Our kid is also normally in bed by 8:30. However since he turned 6, we are able to keep him up here and there and we always eat late on vacation. We much prefer late seating for the following reasons. DS is much more alert to watch the early shows. I think if he was to see the late shows, he'd fall asleep. We have more time on the pool deck, we would often be one of the only ones up there around 5 pm with no lines for slides etc. This is when we rode Aqua Duck, or Twist'n'Spout over and over again. If we were not up on the pool deck, we would enjoy getting a pre-dinner drink at the lounge. If we were in port, I never felt we had to rush back at 4 to get ready for dinner. We also took full advantage of the late seating's Dine and Play. Our DS (along with the other kids at the table) was always finished with his dinner within 45 min and then line up at the front of the restaurant to be taken to the Oceaneers club/lab. The counselors would be there ready to check the children in with a portable scanning thingy We loved this as we could finish our dinner at a leisurely pace with our friends, then head up to the adult areas if we wanted for a show or drinks. Don't get me wrong, the kids did get a bit tired at dinner but because it wasn't dragged out for them for over 1.5 hrs, they would always get their second wind. Even my friends with a baby seemed to enjoy late seating because the baby would be napping by then, either in stroller or at the nursery.
Having said all this, we have never tried early dinner. For our upcoming cruise we also chose late even though the first was available. We are tempted to change it just to try it, but I keep going back to how I felt on the ship. Never ready to eat at 5:30 or 6. We would have something to eat by the pool around 3-4 pm which would sustain us until 8
Good luck with your decision and have a great cruise!

 

[Cousin Orville]

We've done a few DCL Med cruises and for all we did early dining. We also have young kids. The time works out fine. If you're out all day, sometimes there won't be much of a break between getting back on board and dinner, but we never had a problem with it. I think once or twice out of many port days in Europe we got back later and they accommodated us in late dining. No issues.

 

[RACHEL_GB]

for those of you who have cruised DCL before, do you prefer 1st seating or 2nd seating for dinner?

why?

also, do you have the same answer if you're talking about a cruise in the Mediterranean (as opposed to anywhere else)?

thanks in advance!!

Thanks for asking this question, I had been noodling over it myself. Great advice from the Disboarders as usual

 

[kiford]

We always do the second dining including in the Med and Northern Europe. We do tend to eat later generally so that's one factor for us. Many of our tours came back about 6 pm and if we'd had earlier seating we'd have had to basically drop our stuff in the room and head to dinner. When we were there, it was incredibly hot and we liked being able to shower and change, drink a few glass of ice cold water, maybe sit on deck or sit in the pool for a while and just get back to feeling like ourselves before heading to dinner so second seating suited us much better. We also find that second seating isn't as rushed so if you enjoy your tablemates, as we did, you have time to chat and socialize and spend a reasonable amount of time between courses to enjoy your food and digest. I don't like rushing through dinner.

BTW: we have no children so it doesn't influence our choices. If you have children it will be a factor as will their ages.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Just to say whilst I see comments on Late dinner not being rushed. With over TWO hours allocated to Main, it's never rushed either.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Just wanted to clarify first the European times are 6:00pm and 8:30pm. We always choose main dining as that is what we do at home or when we travel. There is no way we'd be okay after a long day, then eating later at 830pm and that taking up to 2 hours as we'd fall asleep We much prefer to start our day earlier, go on excursions, then eat dinner when we normally would, relax or see a show after dinner, then head to bed at a decent time. I understand completely why others prefer the late dining, but it doesn't work for our family and what we prefer to do.

We are on the 8/12/17 Med cruise (are you by chance ) and I already booked us for Main.

Heather

 

[disneyholic family]

We have taken 7 DCL cruises and always had Main/early seating. We are early risers. We eat early at home 5:30 (give or take a few minutes). We very rarely eat later. I think 7 the latest. We are also on the East Coast. We have wanted to try the late seating but after each cruise - we realize it's just too late (we pass the restaurants late and they are still eating). We have also done the 11 N. Med cruise. The staff/waiter told us/encouraged us to come to dinner even if we were running late. He also told us not to worry about going back to the room to change (regardless of what we were wearing). At the time, the dress code was not as lax as it is now (jeans were recently allowed and now shorts). Also wanted to add we do not have any young children now or when we started really.
I would ask myself. How early you wake up. Have breakfast/lunch. What time do you normally eat at home. How late are your excursions running? I am sure you will be back on the ship by dinner time anyway. Good luck. Have fun and come back to tell us how the time worked for you.

A tip - if you have the option of booking Main/early - do so. You can always change it. This books up first. It's usually easier to switch from early to late than late to early.

smart tip....DD just changed her time to main/early dining as you suggested....since she can probably change it back..
i do think early dining is probably easier....this thread was for my daughter...i suggested she post the thread, but she asked me to...so here i am..
all good arguments...so good that she wrote to her DU agent and had the time changed..

and i think that's a good decision...

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Just wanted to clarify first the European times are 6:00pm and 8:30pm. We always choose main dining as that is what we do at home or when we travel. There is no way we'd be okay after a long day, then eating later at 830pm and that taking up to 2 hours as we'd fall asleep We much prefer to start our day earlier, go on excursions, then eat dinner when we normally would, relax or see a show after dinner, then head to bed at a decent time. I understand completely why others prefer the late dining, but it doesn't work for our family and what we prefer to do.

We are on the 8/12/17 Med cruise (are you by chance ) and I already booked us for Main.

Heather

Actually Med times do change.

My recent Med cruise was was 6.15 and 8.45. My prior Med cruise was the same on DCL.
My Baltic cruise was 6 pm and 8.30.

It is only 15 mins + another 15 minutes, but the point is, if people think 8.15 is stretching it to eat, well in the Med it will be later.

The Spanish do like it late and are in high numbers on the Barcelona cruises, I do not think the Med times for 2016 have been set as yet.

 

[disneyholic family]

Thanks for asking this question, I had been noodling over it myself. Great advice from the Disboarders as usual

i actually asked it for my daughter - she and my son in law will be on the med cruise in september....
in the past, we had late dining...but given what's been said in this thread, i think that early dining makes a lot of sense..

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

i actually asked it for my daughter - she and my son in law will be on the med cruise in september....
in the past, we had late dining...but given what's been said in this thread, i think that early dining makes a lot of sense..

It does...

 

[disneyholic family]

Just to say whilst I see comments on Late dinner not being rushed. With over TWO hours allocated to Main, it's never rushed either.

i actually had main dining on my last disney cruise when i took my 88 year old mom and 65 year old sister on the disney dream.
I originally signed up for 2nd seating (as we have always done in the past - DH, DD, DS and me), but my mom and sister asked for early dining - so i switched it.
It turned out really well. I didnt' think we were rushed at all. The service was really good.

this cruise is just my daughter and son in law...they've always done late dining, but she wasn't sure what to do as this is her first time on DCL as an adult (she's been loyal to royal since getting married, but is now trying DCL again).

so she asked if i would post a question on the boards to get various opinions. She's convinced and has changed to early seating.

 

[disneyholic family]

Just wanted to clarify first the European times are 6:00pm and 8:30pm. We always choose main dining as that is what we do at home or when we travel. There is no way we'd be okay after a long day, then eating later at 830pm and that taking up to 2 hours as we'd fall asleep We much prefer to start our day earlier, go on excursions, then eat dinner when we normally would, relax or see a show after dinner, then head to bed at a decent time. I understand completely why others prefer the late dining, but it doesn't work for our family and what we prefer to do.

We are on the 8/12/17 Med cruise (are you by chance ) and I already booked us for Main.

Heather

it's my daughter and son in law...they're on the september med cruise. is it the same itinerary as you? they're on a 7 night out of barcelona.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

i actually had main dining on my last disney cruise when i took my 88 year old mom and 65 year old sister on the disney dream.
I originally signed up for 2nd seating (as we have always done in the past - DH, DD, DS and me), but my mom and sister asked for early dining - so i switched it.
It turned out really well. I didnt' think we were rushed at all. The service was really good.

this cruise is just my daughter and son in law...they've always done late dining, but she wasn't sure what to do as this is her first time on DCL as an adult (she's been loyal to royal since getting married, but is now trying DCL again).

so she asked if i would post a question on the boards to get various opinions. She's convinced and has changed to early seating.

Yes.Agree. My point, is " neither" sitting is rushed, with over two hours to eat on MAIN. But this is a point made by those who support Late, that they do not feel rushed, implying Main maybe, rushed, it isn't.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Actually Med times do change.

My recent Med cruise was was 6.15 and 8.45. My prior Med cruise was the same on DCL.
My Baltic cruise was 6 pm and 8.30.

It is only 15 mins + another 15 minutes, but the point is, if people think 8.15 is stretching it to eat, well in the Med it will be later.

The Spanish do like it late and are in high numbers on the Barcelona cruises, I do not think the Med times for 2016 have been set as yet.

I was quoting from the DCL website and I realize it might change, but lately they seem pretty consistent. I know the Spanish like to eat late, as do the Italians and many other European countries as I lived in Europe for almost 13 years, including Italy For our Norway/Iceland/Scotland last year, we also ate at 6:00pm but agreed, 15 min either way isn't a huge deal but going another 30 minutes might make a later dinner, even later!

"On the Disney Magic, the main seating is at 6:00 p.m. and the second seating is at 8:30 p.m. for European cruises. For Caribbean and Bahamian cruises, dining times are staggered. Main seatings are at 5:30 p.m., 5:45 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Second seatings are at 8:00 p.m., 8:15 p.m. and 8:30 p.m."

it's my daughter and son in law...they're on the september med cruise. is it the same itinerary as you? they're on a 7 night out of barcelona.

We are sailing next August so not the same one, however I know they'll have a blast
Heather