Early vs. Late Dining Seating?

[gjd215]

Hi Everyone!

We currently have the late seating assigned to us for our 7-night Eastern Carribean cruise in May. My wife and I are wondering what the advantages/disadvantages are to having the late seating as we have two boys ages 6 and 5. Is this too late for them?

Thanks!

 

[KSDisneyDad]

At home, we eat at 5:30 or 6:00 pm each night and our kids are in bed between 8 and 9 pm during school times (even our older kids go to bed early as they have to be up so early).

On the cruise, we've done both early and late and now prefer the late seating. Our kids seem to adjust quite well to it as well.

We like it as we don't have to rush to return from excursions or can spend more time at the pools without the large crowds in the late afternoon. If you have early seating, you seem to cut off your day sooner.

If you want, you can arrange to have the kids club counselors get your kids about 1/2 way through the late meal. That way, they can eat with you and then leave to have fun at the clubs while you finish a leisurely meal.

 

[Simbalic]

It's personal preference (and if Disney will let you switch!)

I think 8:15 is a wee-bit late to start eating your biggest meal of the day---but there are plenty of other places to eat on the deck or you can have room service bring you something if you are getting hungry.

I'm sure you'll hear of others that love having the second seating. But for us, we like the routine of eating at the earlier seating, and then catching the show in the Walt Disney Theatre before bed.

Have a great time!

 

[Stacey6274]

Hi - we did both - the first one my dd was 41/2 and we did late - and we liked not rushing around and most nights she was ok with it - but a few nights she fell asleep at the table - when we went last year she was 61/2 and we did the early - we had to rush from all the fun - had to leave the pool early to all go and get ready and dressed and stuff like that - so we did late this year - much more realxing in my opinion. And if the kids one to eat early they can go to the kids room and eat early. good luck!

 

[Princessandthemommy]

DD3 and I did second seating (we eat late at home anyway). It is not as many children or it wasn't as many children during second seating so she go a lot of extra attention from the assistant waiter IMO.... He played with her, feed her with the whole airplane fork thing, I was busy talking and turned around he had feed her most of her veggies, she was the youngest at our table the other kids were 7 and 9 I think, and I thought they all got alot of attention.

My only tip if you do late- Pirate night starts about 9 or so, so by the time you get to the party is is kind of crowded, then you are stuffed and can't enjoy the Pirate night buffet on deck 9 (they had the large Turkey legs, nachos, all kind of sweets and much more)

I would consider what works best for your family and what time the kids normally eat. And go from there...

 

[Disney Fans]

For us we love early dine and have boys now ages 8 and 10. But we also like to dine with our boys as a family. And if we had late dine time then ours would be eating something like hambugers or pizza around 6:00pm and could not wait until after 8:00-8:30pm to get food so for us it would also be a waste of time because the only thing they would end up eating at late dine would be the mickey bar.

It is always easier to switch from main dine to late dine then the other way around.


But also I think it is where you are from, if you are from Calf. or West coast you may want late dine due to time change would fit about right for those from the west coast and not much adjusting to time when you get back home.

 

[andrewsmommy]

We are on central time, so are used to being an hour behind, so while we thought we'd hate the later seating, it worked out great for us. Since you can get food any time, we would just get a later snack and it would tide us over until dinner just fine. Plus, the kids were better at the early show because they weren't so tired.

 

[jbuckent]

We MUCH prefer late dining. We had always been assigned late, until our last cruise, we book super early and decided to try early dining. We hated it. We should have switched the second night. Last trip my kids were 1.5 and JUST turned 5. I don't know why it felt different but we felt rushed having to get ready for dinner. Where as when we go to the show first and then dinner, even though we get ready for the show that doesn't feel rushed. LOL Our evening routine involves us getting dressed then going to the Promande lounge for a coctail (kids get kiddy coctails) and a snack (chips with salsa and guac). Then to the show. Then to dinner. The snack holds us over to dinner time. The kids are wide awake to watch and enjoy the show and they are happy with all the attention received at dinner too! I don't see us ever choosing early dinner again.

 

[trimix]

I prefer late seating when sailing off the east coast, since I live on the west coast and times are three hours off for me.

And for me, the 'so you don't have to rush' line doesn't work. I actually enjoy and look forward to attending the shows, so I would have to be ready at the same time either way - each group dines while the other group has their show time.

My mother and her husband eat far more than I do. They like late seating because the kitchen is no longer holding back food for the second seating, and have boasted about eating four or five lobster tails at one dinner. So late seating might be your preference if you like to pig out.

 

[tvguy]

And for me, the 'so you don't have to rush' line doesn't work. I actually enjoy and look forward to attending the shows, so I would have to be ready at the same time either way - each group dines while the other group has their show time.
.

Yeah, Disney does throw a monkey wrench into things for those of us who like late seating so we don't have to rush...by doing the late seating show before dinner instead of after like other cruise lines.
At least with the Golden Mickeys they did a 3rd, 11 pm show for folks who either didn't want to attend their scheduled show, or wanted to see the show a second time.

 

[mattmommy]

Late is great. We'll get ds something around 6ish (fast food from Plutos or room service) to tide him over. Go to the show, then dinner. He'll probably eat a little something and either go to the club or fall asleep.

No big whoop. It's vacation--we go with the flow.

 

[gjd215]

Thank you for all the recommendations. Sounds like the late seating will work best for us especially since we do not like to rush to get ready for dinner

 

[paraflier]

We're west coasters that eat at 7 most nights. So eating at 8 will actually be EARLY for us. Also our kids are very flexable, they adapt quickly to changes and can go with the flow easily.

 

[luvthebeach]

We are taking out 5th cruise in March and we always had early dining, but this time we are thinking about switching to late because of the fact we did feel rushed to get ready. We won't be attending all of the shows, since we have seen them many times already and my daughters are older (23 and 18). On the navigators there doesn't seem to be much activity between 8 & 10pm so we thought we might like to try late dining. My question is has anyone done this and still were able to make the 10:15 live act (comedian etc.) without rushing through dinner? We like to go to the clubs after.

 

[materise]

We love the late seating. It gives us time to really enjoy the day, have a nap so the girls are not to tired at night and if need be enjoy some room service, always a treat!!

 

[cbastedo@sympatico.c]

My kids and I love the late seating. You aren't rushed after your excursions and the shows run after dinner so you don't miss anything. My kids are 6,7 and 11

 

[dragonfly08]

A lot depends on your kids.

My girls were 4 and 6, and late dining did *not* work for us at all. Unfortunately, despite being first on the waiting list when I went to Wavebands to try and change our seating, they weren't able to accommodate us at the early seating so we went the entire cruise without eating a single dinner in the dining rooms. My kids simply couldn't wait until then to eat, and feeding them earlier didn't work for two reasons...1) we really wanted to eat our dinners as a family, and 2) my 4 year old wouldn't go to the club after the first day so she'd still have had to sit with us in order for DH and myself to eat and no way could she stay up that late since my kids don't nap and are a mess by 9PM.

We did fine with counter service, room service, and the buffet and I think it was actually better, for my family at least, to be able to eat when we wanted rather than around a set schedule (having done it both ways, I'm very aware that traditional dining is the one part of a cruise that I really don't care for).

 

[cbryteach]

A great option we did with my nieces this past week on the 2nd seating was the dine and play. It is only offered during late seating. The brought the girls their food while we ordered and got our appetizers to eat. Then Oceaneers Club and Lab workers came and picked them up at 9:10. This way they got to spend time with us at dinner and their Mom and Dad got to enjoy the rest of the meal.

 

[*love*2*shop]

we had the early seating the 1st time we went and we missed 1/2 the shows...we would eat dinner, then the kids were too tired and would need to go to bed...( they were 4 &6)

This time because we Just booked, all they had was late seating....we are going to try it...it will be nice to actually see all the shows , then go eat....I am interested in the play n dine option?

A great option we did with my nieces this past week on the 2nd seating was the dine and play. It is only offered during late seating. The brought the girls their food while we ordered and got our appetizers to eat. Then Oceaneers Club and Lab workers came and picked them up at 9:10. This way they got to spend time with us at dinner and their Mom and Dad got to enjoy the rest of the meal.

 

[BealsRwe]

We live in FL, so we are on the east coast. in my previous 11 cruises, we have had late dining 9 tmes, and early 2. With that being said, we are switching back to late dining with this next cruise. Our DD has been cruising with us since she was 5 months old. In the early days of her cruising, she would fall asleep on me or in the stroller at dinner. I remember one cruise, our server created a bed with chairs for her. She was always awake for the shows. This most recent cruise (DD 6th), we had early dining. I found myself leaving the table during my meal to take her to the clubs. We are heading to the western Caribbean in 6 days, and I am looking forward to the relaxed pace that 2nd seating seems to give us. On our early dining times, we never enjoyed room service, as dinner was early for us...too close to our late lunches that we enjoy on the ship. When we are on vacation, all 3 of us stay up later and sleep in...making second seating perfect for us. It is truly a personal preference, but just throwing my opinion in there.