9/8 Wonder - just got a letter from DCL they changed our dining times to the trial

[disneychic]

Just went to the mailbox and was surprised to see a letter from DCL in there. I guess they've decided to extend the trial dining times in to September. We're on the 4 day Wonder on 9/8 and our late seating for 8:30 is changed to 7:45

Just thought I'd let the rest of you 9/8 cruisers know incase you haven't received the info yet.

 

[paulmc80]

Thank you for the information! We are not cruising until December, but I find it very useful and interesting to make note of.

 

[Ironmike]

If your date has changed then probably our cruise as well. We sail Sep 1.

 

[ucralum]

Oh, no! We're on the 10/5 Magic--I had hoped we were safe from the trial times, but now it looks iffy. May have to request late seating.

 

[AliPom]

Oh my goodness! Haven't seen anything from DCL yet. I am doing the early seating as my travel companions have a 2 year old, and for single me that in itselft was a stretch, never mind an even earlier seating now. ugh! What time do you think the early seating will be??? ___________

Palo's here I come! Do you know if cruisers are restricted to one night of dining at Palo's? (I'm in cat. 10)? ___________

I am assuming that they will also change the times for the shows -- any comments on that? _____________

Well, I am just going to keep telling myself that someway there is a positive element in this for all of us.

 

[taswira]

My next one is the Oct. 31 4-day Wonder. I have late seating, which I requested, but would be QUITE happy if they moved it to 7:45! I personally hope they continue the trend . . although it does make early seating <I>awfully</I> early!

 

[Deb in IA]

Hmmmm. We are sailing on the Eastern cruise on 8/10, and I haven't received anything about the trial dining times. I only found out about them here yesterday. In fact, I checked the info in our documents, and the Passport to Magic brochure still says 6 and 8:30 for the dining times . . .

 

[jds]

We were on the 7/13 Eastern Magic cruise and got no advance notice from DCL of the dining time changes; the cruise documents still had the old times printed in them, and we were not told about the change until after we boarded.

Because of the DIS board discussion about this, I knew about the change, but nobody in my group believed me until they heard it from DCL. Then they (finally) started taking my advice about everything else on the cruise! Thanks, DIS board posters, for making me an expert!

 

[Gillian]

What are the show times normally?

 

[Katesdad]

Per a phone call from my TA who spoke with DCL, the experiment with dining times will be on "selected cruises up to the September 8th Wonder cruise" and supposedly will be discontinued after that.

 

[disneychic]

Alipom,

I believe the early seating is 5:30
The show times when we cruised last year were at 6:30 and 8:30 I'm not sure if they've changed the show times just because they've changed the dinner seating times ( I seem to recall reading a post on here where someone said that the show times were still the same)

 

[mmouse37]

Deb in IA....I think the 8/3 sailing of the Magic is the last of the "trial" cruises. You should be fine on the 10th. We are sailing on the 8/3 Western (we will keep it warm for you!) so I will post how it all worked out.

MJ

 

[AliPom]

Thanks for the response Disneychic! I just received my letter in the mail. The letter states that "each evening's entertainment will be arranged to compliment the revised dining times". So I will just have to wait and see. It also noted that our first night's recommended attire is casual. -- I'm definately on the kid-track this cruise!

 

[disneychic]

Alipom,

hello again! The cruise is getting closer! Anyway, we have the late seating and our letter said the same thing about the first night's attire being casual so I called DCL --we had Parrot Cay 2X last year's cruise and I wanted to see if we were getting that restaurant twice again, anyway first she said that because we are 2 adults w/o children that our dining rotation should be Tritons, Parrot Cay, Animators Palate, Triton's and then I asked her that if our first night would be Triton's why did the letter say casual dress? A jacket is reccomeded for men at Tritons and she said that because the dinner seating times have changed that all dining is now casual. Oh, she also couldn't tell me my dining rotation, she said that I'd have to wait until I get in my stateroom to find that out, but that the usual rotation was what I mentioned earlier. Which I'm not too sure about because last year we had Parrot Cay twice, and we were 2 adults w/o children then too! Go figure. Either way keep praying for good weather! See ya in just about 6 weeks!

 

[AliPom]

Disneychic,

I've noticed on the board that people have commented often about "casual" dress in the restaurants. Maybe DCL's polling revealed a strong desire for casual dress. However, I enjoyed dressing for Tritons; I think the atmosphere will lose something if people are too casual. Oh well. When I telephone DCL the rep told me the same thing about waiting until you are in your stateroom for seating assignments, but noted that I could "request" a particular rotation, "no guarantee", if they can manage it they will. Went with Animators 2 nights to please the 2 year old; we'll see what happens. *You can call back and put in a request, and hope you get what you want.* With such an early dinner seating, I think I will be spending much more time at the bars on the ship this cruise!

 

[taswira]

Originally posted by AliPom
Disneychic,
>> With such an early dinner seating, I think I will be spending much more time at the bars on the ship this cruise!

Hmmm. Perhaps that is DCL's "plan." They might realize that those with late seating haven't been getting to the clubs until after 10 p.m., thus spending less on alcohol. Maybe someone at DCL suggested, "We can make more profit if we move up the dining times!"

Just a thought.

 

[AliPom]

I think you are right Taswira; that was my thought also. My drink tab was surprisingly small last cruise!

 

[Cantw8]

hey Alipom and Disneychic,
It's almost time!!!! My head is so jam packed with info that I think I might explode. I am so worried about "missing out" on something. This being our first cruise, I want everything to be perfect. Cathy from DU has been fabulous and very patient with all my first time questions. I'm really bummed about the stop in Freeport, I was hoping to maybe do some spa stuff that day. Now I feel like I have to get off at Freeport and look around!!

 

[CindyandBrice]

We are on the 8/29 3-night cruise and received a letter statng we will now be eating at 7:45. I love it! I have a 4 year old and i feel this will now be perfect.

 

[DiznyMagic]

On our cruise (7/14-18) it was rumored that early seating would be 5:30 p.m. I think thats rather early. We had early seating because of our 14 month old and I always felt rushed but it worked out for our DD