Dining time? Which do you prefer?

[TeaBee]

so, I just want to be sure...we are going at Christmas time on the Dream cruise and we are leaning toward the late dinner seating but, will we miss out on any activities? It sounds as if you go to late dining, then you go to early show, etc.?

That's right. You won't miss out on anything. You'll go to the early show before dinner. Anything scheduled for the evening (pirate night, etc.) starts after late dining is complete.

 

[IWannaBeAMousketeer]

The nice part about late dining for our family is that busy deck areas (pools, Aquaduck) seem to clear out by 5:30 as the first group goes to dinner.

 

[Snurk71]

We skip the Disney stage shows now, and was finally able to convince DD15 to switch to late dining. She always wanted main before in fear she might miss out on something/someone in the clubs (Edge/Vibe), but finally realized no one her age is doing anything until later anyway. So now we'll have extra time hanging out, not rushed at ports/getting ready for the evening, and feel better about the late afternoon snack (longer break before eating dinner). DW and I usually stay out until about midnight, so we think late dining will be better for us.

 

[Skiton]

Late dining for us, even when my kids were young. Eating at 8:15 is a bit of a push, but eating at 5:45 is just uncivilized.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We only do second seating, I find it quieter and it allows us to be relaxed all day and sample other foods throughout the day.

 

[Jesslm80]

We are prefer the early seating. We eat at home at 530 almost every night. Our kids are 5 and 8. We know that sitting down to eat at 545 and not being served any food til 6 would be pushing it. We never felt like we missed out on anything. We never left anything early to rush to dinner. We also were in bed every night by 9/930. My kiddos sleep around 12 hours most nights so it was tough to keep them up that late and get them going early in the morning.

 

[xlxo]

I like 2nd feeding.

• more time in port, have a local snack before reboarding and let it settle.
• late dining is less crowded and rushed, it feels more relaxing
• does DCL have a 3pm high tea? You need extra time post-tea to let that settle.
• clothes are cleaner for shows and photos as you eat after the show
• kids are taken to the evening program right after the meal
• if you have a cabin near a busy elevator, being a night owl and sleeping after midnight means the corridor is quieter
• you get to sleep in an extra hour on debarkation morning for the 2nd breakfast.
  • more time to pack
  • get to relax and wait in the dining room for your assigned debarkation time
  • really important on Alaskan cruises because all the posted times are Pacific Daylight savings..... you LOSE an hour of sleep leaving Alaskan time the night before

 

[ivanp91]

In 3 cruises I have only ever done main seating, for cruise #4 only late seating was available when I booked... at first we considered changing it because we are so used to the routine of dinner/show/late night entertainment, but I think we will keep it as is to try something different!

It sounds as if you go to late dining, then you go to early show, etc.?

That's exactly how it works. If you are on late dining, you will see the show while early dining has their dinner. While you have your dinner the earlybirds will see their show
DCL is pretty good at scheduling their events so that everyone has a chance to participate, generally around dinner time the only main event going on will be the performance of the show for the other dinner group.

 

[Fuhnuh]

We've only done late seating on our three cruises. We eat at 5:00-5:30 at home, so I was worried on our first cruise. We were going to move to early seating, but a family with two daughters DD15 met in the Dismeet were eating late. We decided to join them and have never turned back. I agree with the other posters about liking to go to shows first and dinner later. We didn't make to many shows on our last Fantasy cruise, but I don't think we wanted to get ready at 5 for dinner. I, for one, am glad that the different seatings work for different families or we'd all be battling for whatever the universally desirable seating was.

 

[steves100]

The nice part about late dining for our family is that busy deck areas (pools, Aquaduck) seem to clear out by 5:30 as the first group goes to dinner.

Yeah but the opposite is true... Around 7:30 the deck is pretty empty

 

[IWannaBeAMousketeer]

Yeah but the opposite is true... Around 7:30 the deck is pretty empty

Totally agree! When we have early dining we will occassionally go to the pool after dinner and it's definitely not busy. But for us, it just isn't as appealing since we've already showered (at least for the mom who has to make them shower again so I don't have to hear them complain about their itchy, chlorine skin all night! Lol)