early dining vs. late - pros/cons

[denise5374]

I had to chime in on this one.....my kids are (will be) 8 and 11 on our next cruise and I picked the early dinner for a couple of reasons.

1) thats what time we eat at home
2) eating until 10:00pm would make me miserable-especially if really full
3) my kids enjoyed the evening activities in the club/lab on our last cruise
4) we are night owls and enjoyed working off some of our food dancing in the clubs
5) You are hungry for the late-night snacks

I think it is all a personal preference. Do what feels right for your family

I never told my kids that they couldn't eat during the day beause they would ruin their dinner....after all they are on vacation, too.
(and I have had my share of ice cream in the afternoon, kind of an appetizer LOL)

 

[ldb1030]

LAMPSKIES-
This will be our 3rd disney cruise and I've always picked early!

 

[jrabbit]

There a many pros and cons regarding both seatings.

For us, the late seating seems to give us more time on shore or doing other activities than early seating - and we are "dressed" for the early show (so I'm not sure how this works - but it does)

We enjoy the cabarette shows (Rockin' Bar D) and the game shows (Studio Sea) (inbetween the dinner/show times). If you have early dinner, you really can't take in these shows if you want to be toward the front of the WDT for the late show because of the number of people going there. You have an assigned seat at dinner, you don't at the shows (so going to the first come first served shows, then to assigned seat at dinner is less stressful).

With late seating we missed the adult cabarette shows about half of the time because we were still at dinner.

With late seating we missed the Mexicalli...dosis party/buffett because we were still at dinner.

The kids wanted to get to the club/lab/teen activities - so they rushed dinner (which really is ok with us - they want to have their fun).

Early seating can be closer to "normal" for those who live on the east coast, Late seating is closer to normal for West coasters because of the time changes.

Stuffed after every dinner - frequently dosed through the show in the WDT when we had early dinner, but we were ready for some of the nummy desserts/snacks they had around the Beat Street area and the atrium. Never felt like partaking them with late seating. Frequently was ready for bed, but to stuffed to safely go to bed (late seating)

With late seating we definatly stayed up later and missed the sunrises in the morning.

On Disembarkation day, early breakfast (because early dinner) at 6:30 (up and ready to go BEFORE then - ugh Late breakfast because of late seating is around 8am - much easier to manage
And the list goes ever on with the pros and cons

 

[kcashner]

We prefer late seating. The only negative I see to it is that the best evening activity in the lab starts during late dinner.

We tend to eat earlier at home, but there's no shortage of food on the ship. If you're hungry earlier, have a snack.

That said, when DD was younger, we did early. I really don't make a big deal out of which seating. We request late, but if for some reason can't get it, I'm happy with whatever. We do request our favorite server.....

 

[rae519]

Originally posted by jrabbit
Stuffed after every dinner - Frequently was ready for bed, but to stuffed to safely go to bed

That's what we always find, we are so stuffed - all we think about is taking a nap! Sort of Thanksgiving every night for 7 nights!!! BURP!

Rae

 

[Mickeylover]

We did late seating on our first cruise and I have opted for early seating this time. We do live on the East cost, and eating that late nearly always made me feel overly full and usually reduces my energy level...plus my 7 year old DS missed out on some of the club activities because he wanted to eat dinner with us. (and fell asleep over dessert one night as well!) Heck I wanted to take a nap when we were still in the dining room at 10PM!

To me, there was little difference between rushing to wash up and get to the show at 6:30--you still need to be there by 6:15 or 6:20 for good seats-- than it would be to get to dinner at 6PM. I went to several shows with a wet head from the shower. On the Eastern cruise, you also have 3 days at sea plus embarkation day...which is a casual dinner anyway so that's 4 days that shouldn't be all that rushed with excursions.

Each family has their own reasons, but I think the early seating fits in better with our cruise style. (and you don't have to eat breakfast at 6:30am on disembarkation day--you can always hit the buffet).

And the debate goes on!

 

[Goodeguys]

Thanks for the wonderful feedback! Your comments have convinced me that we made the right choice afterall. We tend to eat dinner later than most, and if the boys need to leave the table right after eating to join an activity, oh well!! I guess DH and I will have to suffer through dessert by ourselves! I guess that means we may have to endure moments of peaceful adult conversation as well??!! :

 

[KennyK]

Hi Goodeguys,

I believe you are on the Easter Cruise, as we are. One additional thing that nobody mentioned is that if your children/child prefer to remain in the childrens club to do the evening activities they feed them dinner. They take the kids up to the buffet ( topsiders) for dinner. My grandson who has cruised with us, and will be 11 on this cruise loved this and rarely spent dinner with us as he prefered to be in the kids club.

There really isn't much of a rush at the late seating and as mentioned in other posts, you can really get to know your table mates and servers. We really enjoyed each others company and stay in contact with them via email.

Who knows maybe we'll be in the same dining rotation.

Kennyk