8:30 dining, yuck!

[rtphokie]

I see online that we've been assigned the 8:30 dining time. Yuck! Our travel agent already has us on the wait list for the early dining time. Anyone had any success getting this moved?

We are cruising with a 5 year old and I can see it now, he'll be famished by 6:30 , we'll have to get him something to get through the evening and then wont be the least bit hungry when we can finally sit down to dinner.

 

[mzbiz1]

We booked 8 months ahead for our upcoming Feb 11th cruise and also got late dining. I asked right away to get on the wait list too. Just this week(less than a month before we leave) I noticed on my reservation online that we just got moved to main dining(6pm). Don't give up. Just keep asking. What is your cruise date?

 

[muntzfab4]

We too ad been assigned late dining, but when we checked in at the port we were told we had been given early dining. Don't give up, you may still get it!

 

[Zipadeedodah101]

Our first cruise we had late seating with a 6 year old. Sometimes we ordered room service for her when we were getting ready to get dressed. She would eat while we dressed. When we got to the dining room she usually colored the children's menu, doodled in her journal book, and enjoyed having fun with the waitstaff. By the time we were finished she was also ready for dessert. I thought it was going to be a horror having dinner that late since we are early eaters at home, but it wasn't that bad.


Edited - sorry, posted under my daughter's name - I'm LOVETHATMOUSE

 

[suzannef]

What cruise are you on?

 

[lbgraves]

Even if you still have late dining at check in, just get to the port early & go directly to the bar to request that your seating be changed ASAP.

 

[2Princesses/2Princes]

WE booked 14 months before and we are on the 8:30 seating. Our children are 6 and 4 - should be interesting!!!!! I called to see if we could be moved and the lady said that we were listed to be changed if an opening became available. I asked her how far in advance do you have to book to have early seating and she said "we are booking now for 2007" Great answer!!

 

[rtphokie]

We booked 8 months ahead for our upcoming Feb 11th cruise and also got late dining. I asked right away to get on the wait list too. Just this week(less than a month before we leave) I noticed on my reservation online that we just got moved to main dining(6pm). Don't give up. Just keep asking. What is your cruise date?

April 30. We booked it about 5 months out.

 

[rtphokie]

Even if you still have late dining at check in, just get to the port early & go directly to the bar to request that your seating be changed ASAP.

To the bar? what do you mean?

 

[waltsgirl]

When you check-in you will be given some information regarding where to go to make reservations for dinner and spa treatments and to request dining changes. Dining changes are ususlly in the the bar area. You would just go there and speak with them and let them know that you want early seating, if it is available they will move you.

Good Luck!

 

[umber]

We had late seating with our the 2 1/2DD last year. Don't be too disappointed if you don't get first seating.. here's the upside:

2nd seating means you get to go to the shows earlier (at 6:30) which means your kids will probably still be awake to enjoy them, unlike the kids at first seating who may be too tired and cranky to sit through an 8:30 show.

2nd seating means no rushing after a day of excursions. We took our time getting back to the boat and resting before getting ready for dinner.

You can order room service or go to Plutos to get something for your child to eat before dinner. My DD prefered Pluto's chicken fingers anyways.

2nd seating means the pools clear out around 6pm.... a great time to have the Mickey pool to yourself!

Remember, get your kids dinner early and then you're kids can go to the club during 2nd seating, leaving you and your husband time for a quiet dinner.

I actually requested 2nd seating for our cruise this time. The main reason is so my DD can enjoy the shows while she's still awake. Don't let this put a damper on your vacation - roll with the punches and look on the brightside!

 

[wdwlovers5]

With 8:30 seating how does that affect attending the Pirate Party - my 5 1/2 year old nephew travling with is mother would be VERY DISAPPOINTED to miss it. Thanks for any advice to these first time cruiers.

 

[crisi]

From what I've read, most people are successful in switching - either before the cruise or once they get on board. However, some people don't get lucky and end up with late seating. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. The worst may not be that bad - umber has good points and lots of kids eat in the kids club anyway (we only had ours two of four nights), or are fine with a burger or pizza early.

 

[disneygatorfan]

Also, if you aren't able to get switched to Early seating...

see if they can't get you the earliest roation on the late seating. It's only 30 mins earlier (8pm), but better then nothing.

 

[Vavasmon]

With 8:30 seating how does that affect attending the Pirate Party - my 5 1/2 year old nephew travling with is mother would be VERY DISAPPOINTED to miss it. Thanks for any advice to these first time cruiers.

8:30 is the later seating. Your actual time will be 8:00, 8:15, or 8:30 based upon our experiences. We had the 8:15 seating on the Wonder in Dec. We made it to all the evening deck parites without any problems. The only downside was we too full to eat anything at the buffets at the parties.

 

[LisaTex]

I totally agree with umber above. The late seating worked great for us. There was no hurry to come back from excursions, beach or whatever we did that day, the kids really enjoyed the shows - I think they would have slept through them after dinner - we arrived at the perfect time for the Pirate Party - and we never felt rushed which is great on vacation. My nephew(8) fell asleep one night at dinner, but our waiter just brought a blanket and covered him up. My niece(6) was always ready for more! We have requested late seating again this Nov.

 

[mazzarafe]

We too have late seating for our cruise, waitlisted for first. We only booked about a month ago so we probably will end up with late.

I don't think it will be too much of a issue, except for eating late on Pirate night.

I'm just gonna go with the flow of eating late and if need be we'll have a late afternoon snack to hold us off. Another reason to sneak in more food!

 

[NancyDVC]

we jsut got back from the Magic and had an 8:30 seating. (no kids here)Some of the families with very young children fed them earlier. Occasionally one of the very young ones had a meltdown or fell aslep. The servers were very accommodating and took the dinners to the rooms for the guests if they wanted to take the kids back. I also noticed a few couples who followed a plan simmilar to umber's suggestion-feed the kids earlier and let them go to the kids clubs for awhile. You get to be at the earlier show when the kids are awake and they can have fun in the clubs later.
we enjoyed the latest seating because there was no rushing around to get back to eat. And it helped my waistline because I wasn't tempted to eat at the deck parties!
There was plenty of time to make the deck parties. As adults at an all adult table we didn't rush and were content with a leisurely meal. Our Pirates party was moved to the atrium because of rain. They were able to do the fireworks the next night and we made that just in time!

 

[tynkerbell]

We booked our June cruise back in August and ended up with late dining. Last week I noticed we'd been switched to early. We were on a waiting list because we're traveling with my best friend whose DD9 is diabetic, that may have bumped us closer to the top of the list, since she has specific times she needs to eat.

 

[Diznut84]

We have been successful on both occasions where we had been assigned late seating switching them to early seating IMMEDIATELY upon boarding at Noon. In our cases, the assigned place to switch was Rockin Bar D. It was listed right on the Navigator. Good luck!