Does anyone have opinions on late seating? Or prefer it for one reason or another?

[Gretel]

Early dining is already gone so we would have to go with late seating. me DH and daughters 12 and 14. any drawbacks? we have had early on our other cruises . I know i can put myself on a waiting list, but would like to hear opinions.

 

[tstobb]

We like the late seating because you feel less rushed. Often at the early seating the staff tends to hurry things along more because you HAVE to be cleared out & the room ready for the 2nd seating.
Plus, if you're doing any of the excursions or plan on spending more time off of the ship, you don't need to rush back to get ready & get to dinner.

 

[CSX2]

I agree with tstobb that you are less rushed during late. Both during your meal and in hurrying to get there on time. We have done both and definitely prefer late seating even with kids (7,5, & 9 mos.).

 

[DISNEYGATOR]

I LOVED late seating. Like the other two DISers mentioned, you don't feel as rushed, especially when you are at port. And your kids are old enough to where they won't be tired and cranky, and I bet they will like having dinner later with the "adults."

I just remember watching all the families parade in to dinner and I was still running around in my bathing suit and having fun and they had to stop an hour before that to get ready. It's like having an extra hour of play that half the ship doesn't get. Especially if you skip the shows. Personally, I think only the Hercules and Disney Dreams are worth seeing.

I think you will really enjoy late seating once you get on board. I can't see any benefits to early seating, unless you have young children.

 

[4crusinransiers]

We asked for late seating! We loved it !Not feeling rushed to eat and seeing the shows before dinner. It worked well for our family of 4 boys ages 9 and 11.

 

[DISNEYGATOR]

I LOVED late seating. Like the other two DISers mentioned, you don't feel as rushed, especially when you are at port. And your kids are old enough to where they won't be tired and cranky, and I bet they will like having dinner later with the "adults."

I just remember watching all the families parade in to dinner and I was still running around in my bathing suit and having fun and they had to stop an hour before that to get ready. It's like having an extra hour of play that half the ship doesn't get. Especially if you skip the shows. Personally, I think only the Hercules and Disney Dreams are worth seeing.

I think you will really enjoy late seating once you get on board. I can't see any benefits to early seating, unless you have young children.

 

[GeorgiaVol]

Another reason no one has mentioned for late seating is to get the kids hungry again for a good meal after snacking all day at Plutos and Scoops!

 

[atigeg]

I too like the non-rushed atmosphere of the late seating. You have plenty of time to do things before dinner, and the pace of the meal itself is more relaxed since the servers don't have to turn the diningroom over for another seating. We did early seating once, just to check it out, but all the rest of our 26 Disney cruises have been the late seating. We are from Chicago, so to us it's an hour earlier anyway.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[jlawall]

We've had both and late is better especially with kids your ages. My family preferred late seating. If you get hungry, order from room service or go up to the Deck 9 choices. Most of the time, we waited and had THE BEST EVENING ACTIVITIES because it was right after dinner.

 

[macbasset]

Hi, this december we will be taking our 4th DCL cruise on the magic eastern and will have our DS 14 with us and we have always requested late seating and wouldn't think of the early. you are eating so much with breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc. that you are not hungry around 5-6. By 8:30, you have had time to relax after a full day of activities, take a shower and dress, and then are beginning to get hungry. Since we have older children, we have enjoyed the later dinner seating. Most of the younger children go to the earlier seating; i believe it is quieter at the later one. barb

 

[Wishing on a star]

Shhhussshh!!!
Hey everybody, now your letting the cat out of the bag, and LATE seating will start to be the first to fill up!!

But seriously, especially if you are not planning on seeing the show every night (which would put you at an early show- before supper. ) late seating does afford that much more time and less rushing on those days! I vote for hanging out in my swimsuit, or on shore excursion, or whatever, while everybody else is rushing back to their cabins to get ready for that early supper!

Hey, more eating enjoyment too... Can always indulge in that big lunch, late afternoon snacks and treats, and not have to worry about spoiling your appetite for supper.

 

[mmouse37]

Count me in as well!!!! WE LOVE LATE SEATING!!!! In all our 6 DCL cruises we have always requested late seating. I keep asking if anyone would like to try earlier and they all say NO WAY!!! Especially now that we have done the cruise so many times, as other posters have said, you have so much more time to get ready and relax by the pool, or what ever else you were doing. We often don't do the shows anymore so we really enjoy that extra time to enjoy almost-empty facilities around the ship.

MJ

 

[mivvers]

Last year, we couldn't get early seating when we booked the cruise, but went on a waiting list and were able to have it changed at the last minute.

This year, we requested late seating, and am hoping that things don't feel as rushed this time. It did seem like a mad dash to get to dinner on time. We have two kids, 8 and 5 but we also own a higher-end restaurant (www.pazzo.ca if anyone's interested) and so they are used to behaving themselves while eating in a restaurant, even late. I'm really looking forward to it!

Ideally, I would like the times that they just tested out on recent cruises, which I think were 5:30 and 7:45. IMO, 7:45 would be perfect!

Hope you have a fabulous time!

 

[mog]

Wow - you've got me about half convinced to switch mine to late seating. I just figured with kids (10, 7 and almost 5), we should do early, but I admit on our last DCL cruise I did feel rushed to get all 5 of us ready by early dinner. I think my kids would be fine staying up for late dinner - my only question is this... Do they miss anything good at the clubs if they are at late dinner with us? Before they would change clothes after dinner and head for the clubs. With late dinner do they miss many kids activities?

 

[mivvers]

Hi Mog!
It seems to me that the more structured activities take place until 8:30, after which there is free time to explore and play and then movie time. If they were to participate until 8:30, they would have to be in dinner clothes while in the club so that you'd be on time after picking them up -- I guess that might be the only drawback. I plan on having a nice before-dinner drink in the Cadillac Lounge while they're playing!

Last year, my daughter, who had just turned 7, actually preferred eating dinner with her club two of the nights! We couldn't persuade her to leave!

I'm actually really looking forward to late seating. Hope I'm not totally off-base!


55 more days until our Land/Sea!

 

[imtigger2]

Count me in on late seating!

Castaway Cay is SOOO great that you really don't want to leave, for that reason ALONE I won't do early dining. On Castaway, we got to the beach early and laid around all morning having Pina Colada's and fresh fruit (at the adult beach) which kept us going till about 1pm when we had a HUGE lunch. After that, I couldn't imagine having to go to the boat a couple hours later to start getting ready for a big dinner.

When they finally 'dragged' us off the island at 5pm, it felt great seeing all the people all dressed up and getting to their early dinner, knowing that we still had a couple hours to shower, catch a show, then go eat.

It was perfect for Atlantis (Nassau) as well. We shopped in the city (great fun, I don't know why most people complain about it... the locals are very polite, just say "no thanks!"), then came back to the boat for lunch and to lay out on deck, then went to Atlantic's Casino and Aquariums. There's no way we could have done all that with an early dinner time.

Just my humble opinion!

 

[cruisnfamily]

The thing I can never figure out when people say "it's less rushed, you don't have to stop your activities early, etc" is, Do all you late seating people go to the shows? Because if you go to the shows, you have to get ready early anyway. My kids are 6 & 9 and we like the early seating....I think it really is personal preference.

 

[tstobb]

Originally posted by mog
I just figured with kids (10, 7 and almost 5), we should do early

Our little ones are 9,7 & 5. It also depends on what they're used to - at home we tend to eat later so it was less of a concern.
Also be aware of any possible time changes - Our tablemates were from California so the 8:30 was like 5:30 for them anyway for the 1st day or 2 so it made it easier for them to get used to the time change.

 

[thebecka]

Late seating on DCL is wonderful especially with children. Having taken my DD on DCL & RCL the late seating worked well on DCL as she was able to be awake for the shows - then have a choice to either eat with the family or eat in Kid Camp. There is no rushing from Port or activities...you can even squeeze in a nap. We never felt rushed to finish our meal - Lous was awesome! We had missed the Illustrators's show when we went to Palo's and the staff actually turned the video on for us while they were cleaning one night...that never would have happened on the early seating!!

 

[SC Minnie]

We had late seating and requested it again for our cruise next week. We went to the shows but there is enough time- about an hour- between the show and dinner to get dressed so you don't have to get 'all dolled up' before the shows if you don't want to. We usually had ice cream or fruit in the late afternoon so we weren't ever hungry at 6:00.