Early/Late Dining Seating... Pros/Cons? Which do you prefer and why? Please help me decide!

[Sherrilatte]

Because of our time zone, we prefer late dining. Early dining would be a late lunch for us at home.

 

[texaskristi]

We've only been on one other Disney cruise and I can't remember for sure if we had early or late dining. I am thinking late because it seems like we had a hard time getting to the shows on time at times. Do any of you know the times of the shows and of dining? I can't remember them at all. Last time we cruised, our kids were 11 and 8. Now they are 16 and 20. We can eat early, we can eat late - we are pretty flexible as far as that goes.

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

If you have the flexibility (like not traveling with little ones, and don’t go to bed super early) I would choose late dining.

For me the biggest reason is I would never be hungry for dinner on a cruise at 5:30-ish. Breakfast and lunch (especially if you do Palo brunch) usually keep me very full until at least 7. And you can always get an afternoon snack if you’re hungry earlier.

I’ve also heard many people say 2nd seating is quieter and less rushed, but since I’ve never done 1st seating I can’t personally vouch for that.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We've only been on one other Disney cruise and I can't remember for sure if we had early or late dining. I am thinking late because it seems like we had a hard time getting to the shows on time at times. Do any of you know the times of the shows and of dining? I can't remember them at all. Last time we cruised, our kids were 11 and 8. Now they are 16 and 20. We can eat early, we can eat late - we are pretty flexible as far as that goes.

If you're talking about the main show in the Walt Disney Theater, the show times are, basically, the same times as the dinner seatings.

So, if you have early dinner you go to the show afterward. Late dinner, you go to the show beforehand.

 

[EveV]

We've always preferred late dining, even when our daughter was young, because we are just used to eating late and she would stay up all hours at the kids club or at the movies. My husband and she would do the shows while I got ready, so it always worked better with the 2nd seating.

 

[Ikaikalani]

We always do the later seating. If you have first seating, then Palo brunch of the Remy dessert experience just don't work. It's too much food! Plus, it's nice to not be rushed after coming back to the ship from wherever we've been that day. I guess there's still a bit of a rush on the good show nights, but it's not every night. The downside, I guess, is that you're still full later.

Later breakfast on the final morning is also really nice. Not if you're transferring to WDW, though. That bus leaves too early to have second seating breakfast on the final day.

What is the Remy dessert experience? Sounds great!!

 

[Kwami]

What is the Remy dessert experience? Sounds great!!

You get ~6 really tasty desserts prepared by the chefs at Remy and the head chef explains to you what they are and talks about some other things. It was really good, but of course it's also really filling. You can do a wine pairing with it, too. You also get a drink included with the price. If you don't drink alcohol, then you can get a really tasty tea-based drink that doesn't taste like tea. I wish I knew what that drink was called so that I could ask for it elsewhere.

 

[Ikaikalani]

You get ~6 really tasty desserts prepared by the chefs at Remy and the head chef explains to you what they are and talks about some other things. It was really good, but of course it's also really filling. You can do a wine pairing with it, too. You also get a drink included with the price. If you don't drink alcohol, then you can get a really tasty tea-based drink that doesn't taste like tea. I wish I knew what that drink was called so that I could ask for it elsewhere.

Thank you! Sounds like a must do for me. Deserts and cocktails too! How can you go wrong?

 

[Kwami]

Thank you! Sounds like a must do for me. Deserts and cocktails too! How can you go wrong?

Here's a post on Scott's blog from a few years ago. The desserts change each time, though I think the final one is pretty constant.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/20...atisseries-dessert-experience-presented-remy/

 

[MomOTwins]

For me the biggest reason is I would never be hungry for dinner on a cruise at 5:30-ish. Breakfast and lunch (especially if you do Palo brunch) usually keep me very full until at least 7. And you can always get an afternoon snack if you’re hungry earlier.

For sea days, sure you can eat on the ship all day (though booking Palo brunch is easier said than done for us lowly silver CC status people!) But for shore days, it’s an early breakfast and usually light lunch (or in the case of Cookies BBQ, there is an option to eat a big lunch, but the food is not good enough to tempt me to do more than nibble at the potato salad). So itinerary may matter too.

 

[CaptainMarvel]

I cruised in Summer 2019 with extended family (our travel party ranged in age from 13 to 81). We had late dining by simple virtue of when we booked and everyone came away strongly preferring late dining. (We're all booked for a B2B on the Wish this coming summer and have selected late dining for that as well). There were a number reasons for this:

One, not only are we all from the West Coast, no one in the family goes to bed early. Even my Grandmother (the oldest member of our travel party) rarely ever goes to bed before 11pm and my sister and I (who are both adults and had our own room) were usually up past midnight. So having dinner later ensured that no one was really getting hungry before they went to bed.

Two, late dining is definitely a lot more quiet/less child filled than early dining and the pace was so much more leisurely--my family has a lot of picky eaters and ordering would sometimes take a while because of that. We never felt rushed by our servers and, because no one was rushing off to bed, we never minded being one of the later groups to leave the dining room.

Three, getting back from late afternoon excursions was much less stressful. One of our excursions ran super late and we got back a full hour after we were originally scheduled (and barely an hour or so before the start of early dining). As it was an excursion where we'd all been swimming and exploring nature, everyone was in need of a shower. And while my sister and I might have been able to get showered and fully ready for dinner in time for early dining, my aunt and uncle, who had five in their room, would have had no hope of getting everyone in and out of the shower and dressed in time. With late dining, it was just so much more relaxing--my sister and I had time to shower and get a snack from room service before we even had to think about getting anywhere else on the ship.

Four, this is a very specific preference, but I vastly prefer to see the show before dinner. On long days, I'm going to be more awake seeing it earlier and, regardless of how busy that particular day has been, whatever performance happened that night makes for great conversation over dinner. (On land, unless it's a Thursday night preview showtime for a big franchise movie, I almost always go to matinees or early evening showtimes and then get dinner afterwards, so this is a consistent thing for me).

 

[MomOTwins]

Curious, for everyone saying they feel super rushed to get to earlier dinner, do you guys skip the broadway show? I feel like being on time (early, in fact, if you want to get a good seat) is much more important for a show than for dinner, so this comment always puzzles me.

 

[yowcruiser]

We've done both and on a go forward basis... this will become an "it depends"

• Is is a port intensive cruise, with a lot of early morning excursions? Main... or late in port days Late
• Lots of sea days - with no real fixed schedule, and seen most of the shows already? Late...
• Time zone changes vs home time?
• Wanting to grab a good spot for fireworks and deck parties? Early for cruise with fireworks... but late for cruise with deck parties mostly"in between dinner times"

We have come to appreciate the quality of the service, and the slightly more relaxed atmosphere during late dining... but this also often means going to bed on a full stomach, and usually having to snack around 5 or 6pm (popcorn...). Late dining also allows you more time to "process food" on a day you go to Palo for brunch!

 

[Kwami]

Curious, for everyone saying they feel super rushed to get to earlier dinner, do you guys skip the broadway show? I feel like being on time (early, in fact, if you want to get a good seat) is much more important for a show than for dinner, so this comment always puzzles me.

I'll always go to the big show (e.g. Beauty and the Beast), but I don't always go to the other shows that I've already seen. So, we might have to rush around on some nights, but not every night. With early dinner, it's every night.

 

[Cheburashka]

Curious, for everyone saying they feel super rushed to get to earlier dinner, do you guys skip the broadway show? I feel like being on time (early, in fact, if you want to get a good seat) is much more important for a show than for dinner, so this comment always puzzles me.

One or two shows max per cruise has been typical for us. Didn't find it necessary to be way early for them, when we did go. Lining up 15 minutes or so in advance was fine for getting a good seat. Maybe the earlier shows are less crowded than the later shows due to early dining being more popular with families.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

We have had late dining on our previous 3 cruises but our next cruise is Alaska heading (a little) west for our family with 2 young kids now so we are going with early dining, and I’m not sure if my youngest will even make the show. My older guy is a night owl so he’ll be there

 

[tvguy]

We have had late dining on our previous 3 cruises but our next cruise is Alaska heading (a little) west for our family with 2 young kids now so we are going with early dining, and I’m not sure if my youngest will even make the show. My older guy is a night owl so he’ll be there

We've done 2 Alaskan cruises (both on HAL) and we went with late seating there since sunset is so late there. Don't want to be sitting in the dining room when there is so much to see with the wildlife coming out.....on the shore.....not the ship, LOL.

 

[Anna131517]

Early. My kids can’t stay up that late and would mutiny off I waited that late to feed them.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

We've done 2 Alaskan cruises (both on HAL) and we went with late seating there since sunset is so late there. Don't want to be sitting in the dining room when there is so much to see with the wildlife coming out.....on the shore.....not the ship, LOL.

Our first Alaska cruise we did late but there is no way the newly 2 year old can stay up for late dining. He’s asleep by 7:15 at home which is 6:15 in Vancouver

 

[anneeb]

Early because the kids would get too hungry and tired to make it to the late seating. But if it were just my husband and I we'd do late so we have more time in port and a more leisurely meal.