Given these issues, when would you dine, early or late?

[PRINCESS VIJA]

I am completely new to all of this, this will be our first cruise.

PLEASE HELP!

DH likes to eat early (so the kids are used to eating early as well), I don't know that he would be ok with a late time.

I have 2 kids. I heard the programs start around 7:30. If we have the early diner, can I leave the restaurant and get them both signed into the clubs (one will be at the club, one at the lab) and then return back to dinner? Can both DH and I each take one so we are back sooner?

If they get hungry in the clubs, is there food/snacks available to them?

How long does dinner usually last?

What times are the shows? I assume they run them twice because of the different dinner arrangements?

Decisions, Decisions, BUT at least we are going!!!!!!!

 

[Buckaroo's Dad]

Hi PRINCESS VIJA.

DH likes to eat ealy

I don't know if they serve "ealy" on DCL...

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

HA-HA-HA!!! I will go fix that ASAP!

 

[Wishing on a star]

Hey Vija,

We have scheduled the late seating, since it will be getting dark later in the evening when whe cruise, and we wish to be out and about as long as possible, not rushing back to our cabin early to get ready for our seating. And, I assume that there is NO shortage of food for an early supper/snack!!!!

For you, the early seating may indeed work out well. Yes, the shows run twice, so you will be able to see any shows that you want to see. From what I understand, (is this right everyone??????) If you have the early seating, the kids are usually done in plenty of time for one of the parents to run them up to club if you want to linger over your supper and dessert and coffee.

And, no, there are no snacks in the clubs. But, if your children are in the clubs at the designated mealtime, they can go and have their lunch and/or supper with the club.

If we do Palo, that would mean that DS would have to have his supper before we go. We will probably get him something to eat on deck, and maybe even room service later. I am sure we will not go hungry!!!

 

[jel0511]

I liked early seating, since this is the time my kids were used to eating. We usually got the kids their main courses while we ate appitizers and they ate dessert while we ate our main course. I ran up my DD after that to sign her in. It only took a few minutes, so I'd suggest only one parent go, take turns, that way your servers won't think you left. Then DH and I were able to enjoy dessert alone and leisurely. The shows for late seating start at 8:30, so while DD was having fun in the club we saw the show walked around a little and picked her up at 10:00 for bed time. We usually got up to the club around 7:00 to check her in, so she didn't miss any of the fun activities!!!!

 

[rae519]

We like early dining, but found that we had more time to do things during the afternoon when we had the late dining scheduled.

Room Service is always available and there is a lot to be said about dining on your verandah in private!!

Rae

 

[Bev J]

We love late seating, Come back from touring can have a snack and a rest or swim. DS almost had the mickey pool to himself after 530 since most familys had early seating. He would swim till he could swim nomore and go back to cabin for some juice and a bath. We would get ready for dinner, walk around the ship a bit enjoy dinner DS could go to the clubs after dinner and we enjoyed the evening with other DS-14 who had no interest in the teen club.
On our first cruise we took early seating and we felt so rushed when we returned from touring and after dinner we were worn out, we needed the break between tour and dinner to wind down.
All cruises since have been late seating.

 

[lzj21428]

Late seating worked well for us on both our cruises. We would see the 6:30 shows and then go back to our room and get ready for 8:30 dinner. Never felt rushed this way. DS 10 would go to the lab around 9:30 and still had lots of fun in the evening.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

[wovenwonder]

We always eat early at home -- between 4-5pm. The first cruise we ate early and felt like we had to give up so much of our day. You have to start getting ready at least an hour before dinner time and that really cut in to the afternoon activities for us. By the time we were finished eating, we were relaxed (very tired actually) and barely made it thru the show after dinner --- then we were off to bed.

The next two cruises we ate late and LOVED IT! We could always grab a snack in the afternoon to hold us over. We would go to the early shows (wide awake ) and after the show have time to dress for dinner. After late dinner the clubs were hopping so we could just go right in to the evening life of the ship. We wouldn't do it any other way now.

 

[tkd lisa]

I'm another fan of late dining. As many have said here, there is never a shortage of food, so you won't have to be hungry at your normal meal time.

From your post, it seems that you think the clubs open at 7:30. Actually, the kids clubs are open pretty much all day long. Something like 9:00 am through 1:30 or 2:00. Specific times are on the navigators which are on Barbs castawayclub site.

You can sign your kids in and out all day long. If there is a specific activity your children want to do that is scheduled during your dinner time (and you don't mind if they don't eat with you), you have several options. 1) Have them eat dinner with the kids program. Check the navigators to find out what's the normal dinner time for the kids program. 2) Get something at the poolside food spots like pizza, chicken fingers, burgers, or wraps before they go to the activity. 3) Order room service (it's free, except for drinks and tip).

There are no snacks specifically in the kids' programs, but they do schedule ice cream breaks periodically. Again, check the navigators for typical time/frequency.

For us, seeing the shows first was the BEST! I know I wouldn't have been able to enjoy sitting in a dark theater after a full meal! We typically hung out at the pool til about 5:45, then got ready for dinner/shows. We went to the 6:30 shows. On the 7 day cruise, we then went to the family cabaret shows they held in the bars. The kids really got a kick out of them, and missed them a lot on the 4 day trip. On the 4 day, we filled in the time with the interactive game programs (usually held at Studio Seas) or the family karaoke, then went to the late seating.

You had plenty of time to get ready for dinner after the shows if you didn't mind missing that family entertainment time. That would buy you lots more pool time if it's what you like.

Have a great time!

 

[kajohn]

Check the navigators on Barb and Tony's site to see what the kids are interested in. My boys who were in the 5-7 group liked the activities that started about 7:30 each night, so early seating worked for us. We would do what the people above said, have the kids eat their meals a little faster than us, and then one of us would check them into the clubs around 7:00 or 7:15. Then I would come back and finish dinner.

My stepson who was in the lab wasn't interested in the activities until about 9:30, so he stayed with us and went to the show, and then the lab.

I like early dinner with kids. They were hungry, and not tired. We felt dinner was the best time of the cruise with the kids, we all enjoyed eating together everynight.

The one drawback of early seating is that we really didn't get an opportunity to enjoy the snacks up on deck, and unfortunately, later at night, around 9:30 or 10:00 when we wanted a snack scoops was closed! I felt that was kind of poor planning on DCL's part.


Don't worry too much about it, you will have a great cruise no matter which you decide!

 

[lbgraves]

We will be dining early. The kids eat between 5-6 here, that's after their naps from 2-5 or 3-6. We are not planning to do any excursions because of their nap schedule & the fact that we do not want to upset their routine that much for that long. We can go ashore for a little walk, then return to the ship. DH & I can take turns going back to the cabin with them while the other can relax a bit by the pool, then get ready for dinner before they wake up. This way they will also be rested enough to stay up a bit later for the kid's club special activities while we enjoy the shows.

 

[DisneyDadInFL]

Our first family cruise was last spring (5/02) for the 4-night Wonder. My DS was 6 and DD was 4. We elected early seating so we could enjoy the show and other activities after dinner. I feel we made the right choice with the kids at that age. We would be exiting the evening show at 10pm and late seating dinner would just be coming out and small children were being carried because they were asleep/worn out after a long day of fun.

We'll be enjoying a 7-night cruise 8/16/03 and right now, due to late booking, we are scheduled for late seating dinner which may not be that bad this year as my kid's will be 6 and almost 8. I've been reading everyone else's responses that late seating allows "longer" days for activities. Hopefully that will be the case.