early dining vs. late - pros/cons

[Goodeguys]

This being our first cruise ever, we are wondering whether we made the right choice when we selected the late seating for dinner. Our travel agent recommended the later seating because our kids, DS8 and DS10 can hang in there, and it tends to give you more time during the day. However, I've heard others say that you are so full after a late dinner that you don't feel like doing much of anything. We'd love to hear from the seasoned travelers who may have experienced both seatings.

 

[Robert and Kelley]

We have had both the early and late dinner times. We prefer the later time as it does give you more time during the day. We did have the night where we finished dinner at 10pm and the desert buffet started at 1115 pm..arghhh. But we did venture forth and did our best. Just remember if you have later dinner your show is at 630pm. The shows are among the best I have ever seen so you won't want to miss them. My best advise though is to stick with the later times. The servers seemed to have a little more time to chat since their was not another seating after us. Just dont have too much of a late afternoon snack before.

 

[justhat]

We have always eaten at the late seating and found this worked well in that we were able to leave the ship and enjoy our day, then reboard, shower, get changed, and go to dinner without rushing. We don't normally eat that late at home, but didn't mind at all on the ship since it was so much nicer than having to rush to get ready (we ate at the specialty restaurant one night at 6pm so that's all I can compare it to). We never had kids with us though, so that might make a difference. We'll have our 3 month old on our 1st Disney cruise in June and are booked for the late seating so hopefully it will work out well then too.

 

[cantsitstill]

We're no seasoned veterans but we had the late seating last July and it worked out wonderfully. Our boys were 9 and 11 and they liked it, too. We met for the show before, back to the room to change, and then dinner. We were always done by 10:00 (though never felt rushed), so we still had time to hit the theme night at the club and the boys headed off to the Oceanears Lab, arcade or whatever else they felt like doing. A couple of times we started getting hungry around 6:00, but there's no shortage of food - pizza, fries, burger, so.........something to tide you over is no problem! We've booked the late seating for our next one!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

LATE!!!! We had both. I have DD's 13 and 11 and the late was much better. On our last sailing I thought of the at least 50 posts on this subject when I was casually walking past the internet cafe (with my ESPN mug recently filled up) after an absolutely perfect, relaxing day in St. Maarteen when there was a family rusing down the stairs yelling at each other to "hurry up or we'll be late for dinner!" They sure didn't look like they were having fun.

 

[lbgraves]

It definantly depends on your kids & your normal routines. I know there is no way our kids would make it thru the late seating. On our 11/15 cruise we had them either go to a movie to relax (& DD fell asleep rather quickly) or go to the room for a nap. It was easy to dress them for dinner because they were sleeping. Also it gave me the chance to get dressed for dinner in peace. I left DH in the cabin a couple days & went up to quiet cove for a bit.

 

[makaylee]

If you don't have the early dinner don't you still have to be at the show at the same time as early dinner? Wouldn't you still have to be back on the ship at the same time to dress for the show?

 

[Mickeyhugger]

By all means, with the ages your children are, I'd most definitely do the late!

When we first cruised DCL in 2002, DD was 7. We booked only about 3 mos before we sailed, so late seating was all that was available. It turned out to be the best 'misfortune' (if that's what one would call it LOL!) for us! We were able to take our time to get ready for dinner and did not feel 'rushed' out of the dining rooms. You can see the shows before the late seating too! If you plan on enjoying shore excursions, you won't have to leave so early to rush back and prepare for dinner.

When we rebooked early enough for the following year, we actually had a choice for early or late seating. LATE! There's no way we'd want early now.

(I can certainly understand preferring earlier seating though, for those w/preschoolers and toddlers.)

 

[AKB]

We haven't cruised yet, but we elected the late seating from information we got on this board. We are looking forward to the late seating, but I still occasionally wonder if I made the right decision. Then I read the post like those above and know that late seating will be right for us.

 

[goingbacksoon]

One advantage of late seating...

It seemed being late seating allowed us to receive more of the sumptuous desserts they have. Our server always brought enough to feed a small (but hungry!) army, and when I asked he explained they had to use the entire batch of ingredients that day.

Therefore, we got two of everything involuntarily.

That and we always had more time to chat with our tablemates, have coffee and socialize with the wait staff

On the down side, by the time you go to the club and see some of those yummy snacks laying around, you don't want to see food until breakfast.

goingbacksoon

 

[rcdisneyfam]

On our cruises we have always pick EARLY. First of all, our dinners at home are early. I know at times things get rush a bit but we just plan our days according to dinner time. We NEVER missed out on anything. We enjoy dinner then do the show then hit the night life WITHOUT being bloated. Our kids are in their teens.

 

[WDWLVR]

I think the key is to go with what you are used to. Like rcdisneyfam we are used to early at home and that is what works best for us on the cruise. We did late seating once last February and it just didn't work for us.

If you and your family are used to eating and staying up later it will be great for you. If like us you aren't then go with early.

 

[DreaminDisney]

We requested late dining our or upcoming cruise.

 

[rae519]

Although we eat early at home, we found out that dining early on the ship can cause you to miss some terrific sunsets (depending on the time of year your cruise). Sunset at sea is spectacular, so I'd look at the sunrise/sunset schedule and plan accordingly if this is something you'd like to do.

Rae

 

[professorandmom]

One big plus to late seating I almost never see mentioned is the crowd at the early shows:

You see, early seating is generally most popular and usually is full full, where late seating (even on a full ship like our July cruise) is not necessarily full

What that translated to, in our experience, was that the early shows (for those with late seating) were not jammed - you could still find a good seat 5 or 10 minutes before the show. I had carefully planned to be at the shows at least 15 minutes early for good seating (took notes from the boards before the trip) and found that we were almost the only ones in the theater...

Since we knew we didn't have to rush, we usually went to the shows in casual clothes and then changed for dinner (there was time)...

Now one con to late seating - my twin DS9s liked to go to the lab for the late activity which usually started about 9:30 (something like that) which meant that they left dinner when I was just getting dessert and coffee - was fine with me but if you hope your kids will sit and linger with you....they may miss some activity in the lab

Bottom line, both seatings are awesome compared to eating ANYWHERE else! While one worked better for my family I would trade being in Indiana in the snow for early seating anyday!

Barbara

 

[geffric]

Our first 2 crusei we had early seating .. the kids were young.. but we found that having ice cream sundaes in the late afternoon ruined dinner for them and us..

 

[DutchsMommy]

I noticed it seemed like most people who replied had older kids - has anyone had any experience with under 5s and late seating - and could you pls confirm what times early and late are. I think I would enjoy a less crowded/rushed dinner, however DS will only be 3 when we cruise and currently bedtime is 8:30pm. I'm leaning towards early and keeping him on his regular schedule (as much as possible) however I would like opinions if anyone is in the same boat (haha) as me. Thanks!

 

[geffric]

Our first 2 cruises we had early seating .. the kids were young, so I thought that would work best... but we found that having ice cream sundaes in the late afternoon ruined dinner for them and us. As well as, i felt like the vacation witch.. telling them they had to get out of the pool, shower and get dressed when they were having fun.. so this time I have booked late for lots of different reasoms

1. my kids are now 10 and 12.. so i didn't want to take up space on the early seating, since i believe, familes with little kids need this seating
2. Since the boys are in the pre-teen mode, they like to sleep later than before, so the late time will work for the whole day..
3, If the kids/DH gets hungry, they can have ice cream, burger etc mid day without MOM worring that they will spoil their dinner..

 

[ldb1030]

If so many people prefer late seating, I wonder why early always fills up first!?!

We'll do early again as my nephew will be 4 and I can't see him still sitting at dinner at 9:30-10pm everynight. Plus, eating all that food so late would make me miserable!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Lbd1030......there are always more "first timers" than CC club members!!! First timers almost always want early.......we did.