Advantages to late dining?

[Uncleromulus]

I have heard that late dining has less of a rush feel to it--after early dining is over they have to get all those patrons OUT of the MDR so they can set up to begin late dining.

At late dining, all they have to do after last guests leave is clean up.

 

[cantontrebor]

We have done both early and late dining and my family (incl. 18 and 15 year old) prefer the late dining. I'm not 100% with them on this but I will say that the dining experience seems less rushed and quieter. I don't necessarily know if there are less younger children but i believe they are quieter from being worn out all day. The only downside for me is that I usually avoid my treat of an after dinner coffee at that time of night.

 

[Happy100]

We have always done late but this time we will try early. The downsides to late is that you do finish around 10. I have a hard time going to bed with a full stomach. Also the variety acts and games shows can be difficult to make when doing late dining so you end up rushing a little to make them and get decent seats if you do late seating.

I honestly think there are pluses and minuses with either time. Neither are perfect.

 

[january9]

We have always done late but this time we will try early. The downsides to late is that you do finish around 10. I have a hard time going to bed with a full stomach. Also the variety acts and games shows can be difficult to make when doing late dining so you end up rushing a little to make them and get decent seats if you do late seating.

I honestly think there are pluses and minuses with either time. Neither are perfect.

That's a good point of finishing around 10 and going to bed on a full stomach. Yikes. Maybe a late night walk around the ship before bed. : )

 

[Happy100]

That's a good point of finishing around 10 and going to bed on a full stomach. Yikes. Maybe a late night walk around the ship before bed. : )

That is exactly what we do but I gotta admit there are some nights we are exhausted and a very big meal doesn't help with that.

 

[jk123]

I have a tip for 2nd dining if you're going on a cruise for pirate night:
Don't fill yourself up on pirate night: they have a huge buffet in the upstairs buffet place (cabanas, beach blanket, topsiders) and for people at the late seating it's easy to be too full for the food upstairs!

 

[jburge12000]

We have always had late dining. From the West Coast so if doing a Caribbean or Bahamas trip it is actually closer to when we usually eat. My son is 13 and on our last 2 cruises he was complaining about it because most of the kids he was hanging out with at EDGE in the first seating and they always wanted to get together after dinner. He would usually eat dinner with us and the take off before desert. We have 2 more cruises booked and we have late dinning each time anyway.

 

[Judyat]

Just a thought - I wish the late dining would be 8pm instead of 9pm. Make the early dining 5pm.

 

[roobug]

Our first cruise in May, we left the kids at home and we had late dining and really liked it. We are going on the wonder next month over Thanksgiving and taking our 5 year old and 2.5 year old. We booked late so we only had the option of late dining. I am still debating on whether or not to try to swap on the ship. I really liked the early show, but I'm afraid the kids would have a tough time being out at dinner till 10:00. We were routinely still finishing dessert between 10-10:15.

Has anyone had very young children at late dining? If so, how did they do?

It looks like we are in the minority, but when our kids were preschool age late dinning was hard - they would start losing it by the time our entrees came. We had to rush through dinner to get them back to the room to bed. We tried the dine and play once and for us it was harder they came back all wired up and it took them until well after midnight to finally fall asleep. For us it was not a recipe for success. We only ate 3 meals in the MDR that cruise. When they were babies the late dinning was the best and now that they are in elementary school I think it would be fine - just those preschool years when schedule and sleep was so important it didn't work for us.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I have heard that late dining has less of a rush feel to it--after early dining is over they have to get all those patrons OUT of the MDR so they can set up to begin late dining.

At late dining, all they have to do after last guests leave is clean up.

We haven't found this to be true. I've never felt any more or less rushed at late seating vs. early seating (and we've done both). And the quicker they can clean up after late seating means their day is done quicker. They set up for the next meal that will be served in that location (be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner) the next day.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Have been on 17 Disney cruises as well as many other cruises. Love second seating. My husband still love the shows. Goes with the kids and grandkids to the early show while I shower and head out for a drink on my own. We all meet up aftr the show and go to the pre dinner family game show or music. Have a great family dinner. Then kids go to their thing and we go the adult show or dancing or piano bar. Usually have a slice of pizza about 5 to tide me over to dinner. We tried earl seating once. hated it!

 

[chimo2u]

Just a thought - I wish the late dining would be 8pm instead of 9pm. Make the early dining 5pm.

Late dining is 8 pm / or rather 8:15

 

[JW9DVC]

We enjoy second seating as we are from the West Coast. Also, we can book Palo at 6 for adult dinner and still join the kids in the MDR and try something small.

JW

 

[Uncleromulus]

We haven't found this to be true. I've never felt any more or less rushed at late seating vs. early seating (and we've done both). And the quicker they can clean up after late seating means their day is done quicker. They set up for the next meal that will be served in that location (be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner) the next day.

Early seating folks MUST leave the restaurant in a specified time. Late seating they might LIKE for you to split quickly--but they won't force you.

That is the difference

 

[january9]

Early seating folks MUST leave the restaurant in a specified time. Late seating they might LIKE for you to split quickly--but they won't force you.

That is the difference

I was really nervous about going with the late dining but thanks to everyone here I am seeing that it does have many advantages. Being first time cruisers we will just go with the flow- everything is new to us and we're going to have a fantastic time!

 

[xlxo]

That's a good point of finishing around 10 and going to bed on a full stomach. Yikes. Maybe a late night walk around the ship before bed. : )

• Not an issue for night owls....
• you're on vacation... why the rush to bed?
• elevators and hallways can busy/noisy.... let them make all the noise they want... as you'll just go to bed later
• love sunsets

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Early seating folks MUST leave the restaurant in a specified time. Late seating they might LIKE for you to split quickly--but they won't force you.

That is the difference

I was just saying that I haven't felt any difference in how the serving team is "making" us finish up quickly in either the early or late seating. Never felt "forced" to finish up faster than I wanted to.

 

[AmandaRG]

Our first cruise in May, we left the kids at home and we had late dining and really liked it. We are going on the wonder next month over Thanksgiving and taking our 5 year old and 2.5 year old. We booked late so we only had the option of late dining. I am still debating on whether or not to try to swap on the ship. I really liked the early show, but I'm afraid the kids would have a tough time being out at dinner till 10:00. We were routinely still finishing dessert between 10-10:15.

Has anyone had very young children at late dining? If so, how did they do?

Our first cruise, our girls were 3 and 4. Our only choice was late dining and I really stressed about it since we usually ate dinner about 5:30. We loved it and have never requested early dining! We had the girls take a nap in the afternoon and then have a snack prior to going to the show. They never had trouble. Some littles fall asleep and they will make a makeshift pallet with chairs and tablecloths. Now our girls are 8 and 9 and they will usually take a rest to watch a movie during the day, but no nap. They do go to the club and we usually don't get to bed until midnight. They don't get up as early as they do in normal life, either!

 

[EmilysDad]

Our first cruise, our girls were 3 and 4. Our only choice was late dining and I really stressed about it since we usually ate dinner about 5:30. We loved it and have never requested early dining! We had the girls take a nap in the afternoon and then have a snack prior to going to the show. They never had trouble. Some littles fall asleep and they will make a makeshift pallet with chairs and tablecloths. Now our girls are 8 and 9 and they will usually take a rest to watch a movie during the day, but no nap. They do go to the club and we usually don't get to bed until midnight. They don't get up as early as they do in normal life, either!

I have a 4.5yr old and we also eat around 5:30... thanks, gives me some peace of mind. She's given up naps already on most days, though perhaps she'll wear herself out and take one anyway!

 

[ultimate_ed]

Another vote from me for late dining. We did early on our first two cruises. I agree that it did feel more rushed - rushed trying to get back on board and clean up from a port day...and then rushed to get through dinner and ready for the show.

For our third cruise this past summer, we chose late dining and loved it. My kids are 10 and 14 and pretty well hang in the kids clubs at night until they get kicked out. On the Fantasy, we really enjoyed the late evening adult activities. I can't remember the name of the hostess, but she really made cruise. We normally are early risers, but this time shifted to staying up late and sleeping in.