Does anyone PREFER 2nd Seating?

[aring75]

DH and I are cruising on the 4-Day WONDER in February and were assigned the 8:30 PM seating for dinner. We weren't given a choice (I probably would've picked the earlier seating). After considering the pros and cons, we are still torn. Since we are travelling without children, the 2nd seating holds merit since it is supposed to have more adults - at least, that is what I've heard. However, we are used to eating dinner around 5:00 or 6:00 right now.

Any adults w/o kids prefer the 2nd seating? Can you tell me why/why not? Should I keep this seating or try to change to the 1st seating? Is it easy to find things to eat in between lunch and dinner to hold you over? I'm a little worried about that. Any tips would be appreciated!!

Thanks so much!!!!

 

[ClarabelleCow]

I always prefer late seating, you don't have to rush back to get ready for dinner, yes your shows are at 6:30, but you can go casual, the shows are usually only about 1 hour, go back, get dressed have a drink and then dinner at 8:30.

 

[MdmMim]

We (two older adults) prefer the later dinner seating. It is more relaxing, as we don't have to get dressed for dinner until 7 or so. We then go somewhere for a pre-dinner drink. After a leisurely dinner, we take a stroll on deck. Very nice!

 

[cjsmith]

I prefer the later seating even with my kids (thought they are older). I'm also used to eating around 6:30 or 7:00 so that helps. Don't worry, there is plenty to eat so you won't go hungry and will be able to make dinner. You can also order appys to your stateroom to carry you over, eat a later or bigger lunch than you're used to and then a smaller dinner, or just snack away on board! One good thing is you won't have to rush back from port or CC to get ready for dinner.

 

[Verandah Man]

I always prefer late seating, you don't have to rush back to get ready for dinner, yes your shows are at 6:30, but you can go casual, the shows are usually only about 1 hour, go back, get dressed have a drink and then dinner at 8:30.

Same here, at home we usually have dinner around 4pm, but on the ship we enjoy the late dining time, go figure, LOL!!! We've been on three cruises, and have selected the late dining for each cruise.

 

[aring75]

Don't worry, there is plenty to eat so you won't go hungry and will be able to make dinner. You can also order appys to your stateroom to carry you over, eat a later or bigger lunch than you're used to and then a smaller dinner, or just snack away on board!

It's good to hear there are plenty of opportunities to snack in between meals. This was a concern of mine. I wanted to try to keep 2nd seating. It seems like it will be possible. Room service! Duh! Didn't think about that. Gotta' try that cheese tray everybody keeps talking about, LOL!

 

[UGAFan0829]

We had late seating on our cruise, and we didn't mind a bit. Actually, we really liked it because it gave us time to get back to the boat, rest, walk around, go wherever we needed to go without being rushed to get ready for dinner. Not to mention that it feels like you have more time to talk to the servers and get to know them. If and when we do another cruise I'm sure we'll pick the late seating.

 

[jrabbit]

Here's a list of pros and cons of the different seating times that apply to me and my family.

Dinner Seating: Early vs. Late
Early Pros:
>Ready for the late night desserts
>Won’t go to bed stuffed
>Kids club schedules better timed with early seating
>“You’ve got the whole evening before you”
>Won't miss the evenings Adult Caberett shows or late night buffetts (pirates now)

Early Cons:
>On port days, gotta get back on board to clean up and be at dinner by 6
>Need to make a choice: go to the family cabaret shows and then sit farther back for the main show in the Walt Disney Theater or skip the family cabaret shows
>Stuffed from dinner – hard to stay awake in the nice and cozy darkened theater for the main shows
>Disembarkation Day: breakfast at 6:45am vs. 8am for Late seating

Late Pros:
>Have an extra 1/2 hour to get cleaned up after a busy day onshore (or onboard)
>Don’t have to be at the main show until 6:30 and you don’t even have to be “dressed up”
>If you do get dressed up for the 6:30 show, you can go to the family cabaret without feeling rushed (you’ve got a reserved seat for dinner)
>Won’t feel like snacking (as much ) late at night on the desserts (maybe this is a con)
>Overall, you’re not as rushed (getting ready for dinner and at dinner)
>Less children (if that’s important to you)
>Time to snack at scoops/plutos/Pinocchio's in the afternoon w/o spoiling dinner
>More time to "sleep in" on last day - Breakfast at 8am vs 6:45am

Late Cons:
>If your dinner runs long, you’ll miss the “adult” cabaret shows and the sail away parties (pirates)
>If you’re tired, I’m too stuffed from dinner to go to bed for quite a while
>May interfere with evening kids and teen activities (the kids might prefer to eat in the club/lab or elsewhere to be able to participate)

 

[tinksdad]

I would have to agree with the other's statements and opinions.
We have been on three cruises and all have been the late seating. Maybe we are just use to it now but we like the fact you don't have to hurry around to get dressed after the shows, which can go see in a more casual manner.
If you go hungry on a cruise, it's your own fault. There is SO much to eat and so many opportunities that it will make your head spin (and your belly full).

The only downside I can see is the late night buffets. I'm usually stuffed and don't partake.

 

[aring75]

Thanks for listing everything side-by-side like that jrabbit. It's nice to see a comprehensive pro/con list.

 

[wishstar]

I wanted first seating but was given second seating on my October cruise. Now that I've done it, I'd would always do 2nd. I have an 8 year old and she was so active she needed a nap. 2nd seating worked perfectly. We would do whatever afternoon activities we wanted and then go back to the cabin in time for an hour nap. When we got up, we would order a cheese plate from room service (a suggestion I got from this forum) and get dressed. That would tide us over to supper. We would go to the first show and then catch a show in one of the lounges. Then off for dinner. If we had first seating, my DD would have been asleep half way through dinner. This way there was no hurry and she was rested enough to do something after dinner in the Lab.

Yours,
Julie

 

[SueEllen]

I love late seating. You are not rushed to get ready for dinner on port days, you have a later breakfast dining time for the character breakfast and for your departure day. There are a number of reasons, these just being a few.
Sue Ellen

 

[TootyJane]

With or without children -- we prefer late seating. No need to rush back after being out on excursions, etc. and since we don't eat until 7-7:30pm at home late seating and the time difference are perfect for us. Early seating, for us, seems as if we're eating dinner at 3:00pm! HTH

 

[Keggy]

We always prefer late seating. When traveling alone or with kids. We don't go to every show so we don't have to go to the cabin to get ready for dinner any earlier. After dinner we are able to go straight to the entertainment. It just works out well for us!

Kelly

 

[gweeptrish]

We prefer late seating when we're travelling alone. At home we eat dinner between 7 and 8pm anyway. We're trying really hard to get our group of 17 moved to early seating for our Feb 19th cruise because we have a family with a toddler who just can't do late seating. If we can't get the whole group moved, we're going to have to move just that one family and not eating together does diminish the value of the reunion trip for us.

If your kids will let you do the later seating, I would. As many other posters have said, it's much less rushed.

 

[oybolshoi]

we've only sailed once so far and we had the late dinner seating - we really liked having extra time to get ready for dinner and liked the fact that we could spend extra time in the dining room chatting with our servers once dinner was over (there was no rush for them to get the next dinner seating ready).

We did miss part of the Pirate deck party because dinner ran late, but that didn't really bother us too much. And we were so stuffed from dinner that we didn't even want to eat anything at the late night buffets (that can be good or bad, I suppose!).

We're doing second seating on our next cruise, too. Just seems a little more relaxed to us.

 

[disneyfan551]

We loved the late seating on our 1st cruise, and there were 3-2 yo's in our group too. We enjoyed it so much that we have requested the same seating for our 3-4yo's & 1-5yo! (and us, of course! )

 

[plutojudy]

We had early seating on our first 3 cruises and late on the other two. We like late better. No rushing to get to dinner. We enjoy the shows, then change for dinner. The only disadvantage to late was when we would get out of the dining room after the deck parties started. We fixed that by leaving the dining room as soon as we finished eating on the evening of deck parties.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Whenever I see this question asked I simply post what I saw on one of our previous sailing.......After a perfectly "Magical" day of shore excursions and lounging around on the deck I took a strool down to deck 3 to check on DD at the internet cafe around 6 o'clock. I was just strolling sipping on my favorite beverage enjoying all that DCL had to offer......when a family of about 9, Mom, Dad, Kids, Grandma and Grandpa came running down the stairs yelling and screaming....."hurry up we aren't going to make dinner.....I told you that we shouldn't have done that excursion, now well miss the start of dinner again!".....

 

[prymsu]

and I really do prefer the late seating. When my son was younger we went with the earlier because i knew he would never be able to make it through late seating. Now that he is older and can hang on for dinner, we love it because we don't feel the need to rush to get ready for dinner, and if we are in port we feel like we have extra time to enjoy our port rather than be back for an early dinner.