Early Seating vs Late Seating

[DisneyLisa]

I know I've read posts on the advantages/disadvantages of the early & late seatings, but now that I have to make the decision, I can't remember what I've read. ...so I was hoping some of you seasoned DCL cruisers could post some of the advantages & disadvantages of each of the seatings for me to take into consideration. Right now we have the early seating but our TA said it can still be changed. The cruise is for me & DD (17). I tried to do a search but it's been disabled. TIA

 

[gdulaney]

We were early seating on our first two cruises...we opted for the late seating for the third cruise (we saw our server from the previous year and in order to be in his section, we had to switch our time to late seating)...to our surprise, we LOVED it!! And we've been on late seating since then! Extra time to spend in port, extra time to get dressed, and since you're full from dinner, less temptation to eat at the deck parties.

Have a great cruise!
Ginny

 

[DisneyGator01]

I have only ever had late seating.. but I can try to give you some of the pros and cons to both.


Pros to late seating:
1)More time in afternoon to do stuff. You don't have to rush back to your room to be ready for an early dinner.
2)Dinner is less rushed, since they don't have to get everyone out at a certain time.

Cons to late seating:
1)It might be later then you usually eat, especially with young children, who might fall asleep at the table, or be cranky because dinner will last until 9:30 sometimes.
2)To some being so full makes them tired, and want to go to sleep. Uusually what I did after dinner was take a walk on deck 4, or on deck 10 and let my food digest. I was usually feeling less full by the time the evening adult activities started. Or a lot of times I would catch the late movie or go relax in the pool, which is usually deserted by then. Quiet Cove is open until 12am!!

Pros to early seating:
1)Its around the normal time you eat, and you have plenty of time for your food to digest before evening activities begin
2)Might be better for younger children, who are more awake at that time, and will be able to enjoy meal more.

cons to early seating:
1)you'll have to get ready earlier, might make the afternoon feel rushed
2)I have heard the meal might be rushed, because they have to be done in time to clear and set up for the 2nd seating

Hopefully someone will be able to give you a better take on 1st seating. I have always been very happy with 2nd seating. And your daughter is older, so being up later won't be a problem!

 

[adambreakey]

I would say that for your situation, the late seating would be best. We were really happy with the early seating, but that is because we have a 6 yr old. But for someone with no little ones, I would suggest doing the late seating for the reasons mentioned above.


adamb

 

[tkd lisa]

You also will find that more people in your age range do late seating. It's for the reasons people gave to go with early seating (little kids get hungry!)

I'd like to emphasize a little more on the less rush comments.

If you have early seating and you do beach type excursions, you'll probably need to leave the beach by 2:30 or 3:00 to allow for travel time back to the ship and clean-up/picture activities before the early seating. With late seating, you can probably come back much closer to the all-aboard timeframe.

You'll also find that a lot of the ships areas clear out in the early evening as people are getting ready for that early seating. Pools are much less crowded, deck 4 is more open, spa appointments might be more available, etc.

Obviously it's your choice. But for what it's worth, I'd recommend late dining for you.

 

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

But my DD7 has a hard time staying awake waiting for dinner.

 

[OurDogCisco]

We've had early seating on other cruise lines and really prefer the late seating. We did late seating with our dd1 and dd4 on the wonder and they had no problems staying awake. Actually, we didn't take them to dinner so, no issues there (babysitting & the club). We prefer late seating for all the reasons mentioned above. I think, the only other disadvantage is that we had to sleep in later in the morning in order to keep the kids up at night later. So, if you are an early riser you might want to take that into consideration.

 

[jrabbit]

We like the late seating because:

Go to the show in the WDT and can get a seat where we want without having to be there EARLY.

We enjoy the cabarette shows (Rockin' Bar D) and the other family shows (Studio Sea) that are between the dinners and main theater shows. The early show lets out a litte before early dinner so you can get a good seat for these shows.

Finally since our dinner seat is "reserved" we can get to the restaurant on time and still have our seat (unlike in the WDT where the seats are first come, first choice)

Some problems with late seating:

It's late, not that after a couple of days on board that you are hungry, but by the time dinner is over, it's late and you are stuffed and they have more goodies around the ship that there is no way you can enjoy.

Sometimes dinner ran long and we missed the "adult" cabarette show (same performer as earlier in the evening but for adults only)

there are other pros and cons, will save them for later.

 

[savsawmom]

We originally had the early seating on the 11/01 cruise, but after two days found that our afternoons were VERY rushed and that the kids (ages 6, 6, 4, 3)could have cared less about sitting at dinner with us, so we were fortunate enough to "trade" up to the late seating (keeping our same servers) . . . WHAT a difference!

The kids ate from Plutos/Pinocchios or room service, we went to the early show and they went off to the clubs -- we then had dinner to ourselves each night (although they did join us on the last night due to a bday celebration).

As soon as we were done with dinner, we'd head to Rockin Bar D for the show . . . perfect for us.

 

[figment52]

We found that the wait staff themselves did not seem as rushed at the later seating and they had more time to talk to us and more personalized service. We had an opportunity to talk to them more because they were not concerned about the next group coming in.

We enjoyed their company more than some of the scheduled entertainment because of learning about their home land and ship life. Working the hours they do they isn't much time for them to have a social life and we found they really seemed to enjoy the interaction with us and our taking an interest in them. By the end of the week they were showing up with pictures of their families back home.

 

[DisneyLisa]

Thanks for all the replies...I'm definitely going to call my TA today and switch to the late seating.

 

[IrishCowboy]

I think Late Seating is the way to go if it doesn't interfere with your children's bedtime. We've always had the Late Seating and enjoyed it, but you can't help but notice a few younger children falling asleep in the chairs during the first few evenings of the cruise.

Have a great cruise!

 

[NYGiantsRule!]

WE have had both and we prefer late seating. As everyone has stated, not having to rush to get ready for 6PM is great. ALso, no one mentioned that on that last morning 1st seating eats breakfast at 6:45AM, late seating at 8AM.