Early vs. Late Seating - opinions needed

[JCarangal]

Hi all -
Another OC planner here! We are planning on cruising the 7 night Eastern next May 2004. It will be DH, myself, DS (6 yo at time of cruise) and DD (4 for the cruise). We did the 3night last year and loved it. But, we had the early dinner seating and I personally had trouble with that. Often-times, the kids would fall asleep while we were getting ready for dinner and/or we were rushing around after a day in the sun to get dressed and ready for dinner. In fact, on our cruise last year, our server was nice enough to push 2 dinner chairs together to make a little "bed" for sleeping DS who we carried in to the restaurant sound asleep. I am thinking a late seating would be better. Ordinarily, we eat dinner at 7-7:30 pm anyway so the children are used to a later dinner. DH thinks we should stick with early seating because we'd have to get back and dressed and showered anyway since the shows for the late seating are before dinner. He also made the point that by next year, the children (esp. DS) will not be napping as much as our last trip so that wouldn't happen as much as it did last year.

Although I am thinking DH *may* be right, I am just not sure.
What are your opinions/experiences with early vs. late seating and young(ish) children?
TIA!

 

[dizmomof2]

My kids like the early seating best. They normally eat late at home but are always hungry enough to eat at the early seating. They really wanted this because of the clubs. Most of the fun stuff in the club takes place in the middle of the second seating.
My one DD was 6 the last time we cruised so I know for a fact that that age group has a lot of great activities planned for second seating.

I'd check the navigators out before you make the decission. that may help.

www.castawayclub.com

 

[LAMPSKIES]

We had early seating Feb2000 and DD's were 10 and 8. It was o.k. We had the late seating Dec 2002 DD's were 12 and 10 then and I would never have the early again. Early seating is at 6 which means you want to be down there by 5:30 or so for some of those great pre dinner theme pictures DW likes to show off all over the house. Which means you have to be in your stateroom by 4:00 or so for DD's and DW to "get ready". Which means we have to be on the ship by 3:45 from shore excursions. I'm on vacation I don't want to be rushed.
The late seating is at 8:30 the show was at 6:30 that gives an extra hour to get to the show (no pics there). The show lasts about an hour. You still have about an hour between shows and dinner. Our next two I booked the late. But neither of our DD's spent any time at the kids clubs so I don't know about the late programs. Good Luck!!

 

[OurDogCisco]

We did late seating on our 3 day last year and I thought it was great. Our children were 1 and 4 at the time of the cruise. Next, we are going on a Western Cruise in May too and I picked late again. My older dd used the clubs mainly at dinner time. She went to dinner with the club. She spent the day with her parents and then, for a few hours she hung out at the club. Our 1 year old spent dinner time at the nursery. We loved it. We love our kids but we enjoyed the dinner break. My older dd had no interest in seeing the shows so, we'd drop her off early then see the show after the show we went back to the cabin and got dressed and fed dd some dinner. After that we did photos. One night we did keep dd until photo time to do a group shot. Then, usually around dessert time dd would page us. After dinner we pick up the younger one at the nursery.

I guess, it really depends on what you want. Do want your kids to eat dinner with you every night? Can you eat that late and still go to bed shortly after that. I am a late riser in the morning so, my dh used the gym in the morning while I used it at night. So, I never had the stuffed feeling when I went to bed because I exercised, too.

Good luck on your decision.

 

[keith & co.]

Pros & Cons.........

Early seating IMHO, has very few pros....... My kids do not want to sit for 1-2 hours to eat........ they are at the table for 30 mins at the most!! With the late seating we have the choice of feeding the kids from another resturant, or room service. They usually eat in the room while DH and I dress. Then it is off to the shows or the clubs.
The early show is best because the kids can stay up for the whole show! Playing in the clubs is one thing, sitting in a dark theater with a full belly after 8pm is another! We see the show as a family and then the kids are off to the clubs...
We usually try to have at least a couple of family dinners. The kids will have a snack while we dress and then something light or just dessert at the late seating....... then off to the clubs!!!!
What we really enjoy are our quite adult only dinners when the kids are eating and playing .... yep..... in the clubs! See a pattern?? We feel the best way to really get our money out of a DCL trip is for the kids to spend as much time as possible IN THE CLUBS!! Strangely enough.... they agree!!!
We love our kids and spend alot of time together during the days and we love the DCL kids programs so we don't want to waste them!
Enjoy!!
Barbara

 

[mmouse37]

Another vote for late.....being ready with 3 teens by 6:00 pm is impossible for us. The kids still want to be outside as long as possible. My DD15 uses some time before late dinner for naps as she tends to stay out late on the cruise....they have seen the shows so many times that now they use show time for naps for other activities.

MJ

 

[jiminy579]

On our first cruise in October we didn't have an option and were "stuck" with the late dinner. I ended up being thrilled with this seating. It was awesome having time to get ready for the shows, and we took plenty of photos between the shows and dinner. I hope this helps??
Take care!

 

[keith & co.]

Hey gang..........

We should be careful about our praise of the late seating If too many people get wind of all the late seating perks it will end up being as hard to get late as it is to get early now!

Sooooooo....


I officially change my vote for all you new readers...... Go to early seating!!! Yea, the late seating is bad and not good!! You should all get early seating........ The rest of us will just be 'stuck' with late and suffer through it..... Yea, that is really what I ment to say the first time!!!


Barbara

 

[Jobro2]

Guess I'm in the minority here, but we had early last cruise..kids were 9 & 11 and will have it again in June with kids 11 & 13..we are used to eating at 6 pm at home, and since dinner on the ship takes 1 1/2 hours, we don't get done till 7:30..then kids are off to clubs, shows...if we get hungry later, there are always snacks and room service..for us eating dinner at 8:30 and not getting done till close to 10 pm doesn't work well...I will agree at times we feel rushed to get to dinner at 6 pm, but for our family, that outweighs not getting done with dinner till so late....just another point of view!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Ya, ya keith $ co. is right.......I like the early seating. Ya that it....the early seating.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

keith & co.,

I was thinking the same thing 'till I saw your post.
There was a post last week that had a poll and late was winning HUGE!!!!!
I have my lateseating locked in for the next 2 cruises so I'm o.k for now. ssshhhhh

 

[JCarangal]

Well, I have wavered back and forth a few times reading everyone's replies. I am still leaning toward the late seating (shhhh -- it'll be our little secret), and now DH seems more open to the possibility as well. My one thought is that we were hoping to double-dip our regular restaurant and then Palo's one evening. An early seating seems to fit this idea best -- regular (light) dinner at 6; Palo's at 10. Any ideas on this?

Thanks for everyone's input -- I greatly appreciate all of the wonderful info/tips from all of the great dis-ers!

 

[Mommypoohbear]

JenC

You are not alone in this decision. We leave in two weeks and had the late seating wait listed for the early. Then a few weeks ago we got the early seating. We also have two young children ages (just about 4) and (turning 5) when we sail, they also eat a little late 7 pm or so at home.

I did not expect it to happen an had planned for the late, then when I saw that we got the early I felt that I might not want it.

I even did a survey on these board and found that its about 50/50 for late vs. early.

So to make a long story short, after pondering for a long time, I decided to take the chance and switch back to late. I think that the kids will be more awake for the shows, and we will not have to rush from daily activities to get ready. Also the kids may end up eating with the club on some nights.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[candleonwater]

I usually think early - because don't you know you're not supposed to eat after 6pm? At least that's the way it was when I was growing up!

However, it was a pain to get ready in time for dinner, and my DD (6) is a night owl... so I'm looking at the later seating for our next cruise. The weird thing is going to be going to the shows before dinner! But then again, we really didn't go to all that many of the shows!

 

[kajohn]

I vote for early. My kids were almost 5, 7 and 9. To us some of the best times of the trip was all eating together. My kids did fine with the 1 1/2 hour dinners. It was so wonderful seeing them try new foods, act like little grownups eating appetizers etc, and they looked so cute dressed for dinner.

I don't think my kids would have been all that into dinner if it was at 8:30pm. Also, the two youngest liked the activities in the clubs that started about 7:30pm, so they would have had to miss dinner with us or the activity if we had late seating.

We even cancelled Palo reservations because we didn't want to miss a dinner with our kids, (we did do brunch though)!

 

[Jobro2]

Well, after reading all the positive posts re: late dinner, I talked with the hubby and started thinking, maybe we should try late this time....the kids are 11 & 13, and Plutos is open till 8pm...this gives them the chance to snack there later in the afternoon and be hungry again by dinner time..we were bumbed last trip that Plutos was not open late at night, only Pinnocchio's Pizza...soooo, I contacted Dreams and changed to late seating.....the more we thought, the more we decided maybe you guys were right! Having more time during the afternoon and not rushing may be just the thing while on vacation!!! Thanks for your posts!!

 

[currycook]

QUOTE: - Hey gang..........

We should be careful about our praise of the late seating If too many people get wind of all the late seating perks it will end up being as hard to get late as it is to get early now!

Sooooooo....


I officially change my vote for all you new readers...... Go to early seating!!! Yea, the late seating is bad and not good!! You should all get early seating........ The rest of us will just be 'stuck' with late and suffer through it..... Yea, that is really what I ment to say the first time!!!


Barbara



GREAT !!!!!!!!!
our experience was we heard how everyone wanted early seating and we got stuck with late seating. But we ended up loving late seating for a variety of reason including that our kids liked it. This time on our second cruise we wanted late seating.

 

[MFan]

Here is another vote for late seating. We're from California, so all Caribbean cruises are 3 hours ahead in time zones. For us, early seating would be like eating dinner at 3 PM, way too early! But, for the same reason, we've never made it to the formal breakfast either. We always went to the buffet because we usually don't get up until 9...

 

[imgoingtodisney]

At home we usually eat dinner btwn 5-6pm. My day is usually from 6am-9pm. When I cruised NCL with freestyle dining we usually went to dinner about 6pm. I chose main dining, which we have. DH & DS dont take long to get ready for dinner. I dont wear makeup so all Ill need is a quick shower; have short hair which I just brush. It doesnt take us long to get ready.

A thought I had last night was when we are at Cozumel - play mini-golf, go back to ship for dinner (and drop off DS to the Lab) and go back to Carlos n Charlies. I got there w/NCL but DH has never been.
Grand Cayman & Castaway Cay we leave at 430
The only day dinner may be a problem is Key West - not sure how I'll handle that 1 yet. Maybe Topsiders, maybe Palos, maybe it will be our AP show night.