Early or late Dinner?

[travel with kids]

We will be on the Wonder for 4 days with DS,13 & DD,8. We plan to do shows, excursions, kids programs and a little quiet time for DH & me. There are obviously benefits to both early and late dinner settings. However, since this will be our 1st cruise we do not know what those benefits are. Any suggestions?

 

[jordanyosh]

For us being our 4th DC, it's a toss up. Going to the late seating is nice because going to the first seating means you are getting ready for dinner maybe at 4:00-4:30. It kind of cuts into your daytime fun/nap time etc. BUT going to the late seating, cuts into your night time fun. You don't get out of dinner until 9:30-10:00. So you are already deep into your nighttime fun. I would take a look at some Navigators(daily itineraries) and see what activities are offered when so you can make a more informed decision.

Good luck

 

[lancerguys]

I had the early seating on my last cruise. I really liked it because we had dinner and then we had the entire night to do stuff. although you might have to get ready earlier, there really isn't much going on in the afternoon. I would go with the early seating, but it is a personal preference

 

[jaysmom4285]

We've done both early and late, but we don't travel with kids. We noted that the earlier seating definitely has more small children; late seating is more adult and quieter and more sparsely attended. Your kids aren't all that young and may not be as likely to fall asleep in their soup as really little kids, so they may like the quieter setting and fewer people. Late seating does let you have more time at the end of the day, as was noted, to do things in port or spend time at the pool, and we personally found that to be a plus. Most activities for families (shows and movies) are offered more than once, so your kids wouldn't miss any shows. And most of the later evening entertainment is aimed at adults, anyway. It's a personal preference, so go with what feels right for you.

 

[dianedisney]

I have heard both good and bad on the early versus late dining. Dine early and kids fall asleep in the middle of the show, dine late and they have a hard time making it thru dinner. You may just want to pick a nite or two to do the early show and then order room service. It is kind of a catch 22. Me....I always do late dining but I don't travel with children, mine is grown up now.

 

[CoolMom02]

My kids are 8 and 15 and we found the late dining to work best for us. We usually weren't hungry at 6:30 since we had late breakfast and late lunches. Also late seating dinner guests also have late seating at the character breakfast at 9:30 rather than 8 am. We don't like getting up early on vacation.

 

[TootyJane]

We like late seating. I found it very hard to round up 3 kids and get them ready (plus myself) for dinner at 6pm. We're on the West Coast and generally don't eat dinner until 7-7:30pm anyway so we weren't very hungry at 6pm. If you think you're kids might get hungry, don't worry. There is always something to eat somewhere on the ship.

I think the best thing about late seating is on the day of disembarkation. If you have early seating you need to be in the dining room (the dining where you ate dinner the previous evening) at 6:45am. If you have late seating you need to be in the dining room (the dining where you ate dinner the previous evening) at 8:00am.

 

[tezb]

Our first 2 cruises we did early seating only because we didn't really think about it or know better. My kids are teens so this time we will do the late seating. Having done the early, it is harder to get ready so early in the day so looking forward to the extra time. Also we were always hungry later in the evening and hard to find anything quick to eat other than room service. Eating the late seating, I doubt we'll have that problem this time. Also since my kids are teens, they found that all their friends ate later than them, so this way we'll all be on the same schedule. All the dancing for adults doesn't start til after 9pm anyway.

 

[musicgirl]

I have to agree with Lisa about the last breakfast. I wouldn't want to get up that early on the last morning. Also, I found that with being up early for excursions we ate about 8:00, then lunch about 12:30 and then the late seating. I felt like it stretched out the time for meals a bit and I got to eat more! I never eat like I did while on the ship (I'm guessing that not many do), so I wanted to make sure I was hungry for dinner. If you get hungry, a nice little snack is alway around the corner.
this was especially true on the first day. Some people get to lunch at 2:00 or even later. There is no way I'd be ready to eat at 6:30.
As for the kids, we had three with us, niece-12 nephew-7 and ds-12. They all went right to bed after dinner the 2nd night, even though they missed the party it kept them from being crabby the next day. We also enjoyed a little adult time (with frequent check-ups of course). The last night, my nephew slept through dinner, which actually was ok. He had lots of food through out the afternoon anyways!!

Our personal choice is late seating hands down!

 

[goodstarr]

Just came off 4-day Wonder last week and had late seating. This was my 9th cruise and have always had late seating and wouldn't have it any other way. Whether we went ashore or stayed on the ship, I would have been too rushed to be ready for dinner at 6:00. Somtimes, after coming from off the ship and getting a snack,we took a nap while watching t.v. in our room. Then we were more than ready for dinner and had energy for after dinner activities. Even though people have written that you miss activities if you have late seating, everything is offered at the convenience of both seatings. After late seating activities start at 10:00. Movies are at 10:30. Shows are before late seating (6:30) while early seating is eating. Early breakfast is too early for me.

 

[travel with kids]

Thank you all for responding --this is why I love this site- getting the information you need. We decided on the late seating. I think the "nap" comment was the winner!!

 

[disneyfan551]

We are going to take a gamble on the late seating too! We will have 3- 2 yr. olds, 1 teen, & 5 adults with us. I just hate the idea of having a mad scramble in the middle of the day! Our dd's pretty flexible, and used to being drug around for long periods of time, so we aren't that worried about it!