How long does dinner take?

[Grand Michig(ian)?]

We are preparing for our first cruise, on Disney Dream, so we have some questions about some things. Generally speaking how long would the early dining take assuming a 5:45pm start time, and the standard restaurants not Palo or Remy? I know that might vary with different groups but with several courses and enjoying ourselves some what time window would at least be reasonable? I ask because we plan on putting kids in the kids clubs after eating so we can enjoy the ship kids-free for awhile. So I’d like to get a general idea when to book nursery time. Would we be done at like 7:30 so sign up for 7:45 nursery time for example. Thanks

 

[lorimay]

We are preparing for our first cruise, on Disney Dream, so we have some questions about some things. Generally speaking how long would the early dining take assuming a 5:45pm start time, and the standard restaurants not Palo or Remy? I know that might vary with different groups but with several courses and enjoying ourselves some what time window would at least be reasonable? I ask because we plan on putting kids in the kids clubs after eating so we can enjoy the ship kids-free for awhile. So I’d like to get a general idea when to book nursery time. Would we be done at like 7:30 so sign up for 7:45 nursery time for example. Thanks

7:45 is totally doable, you should be done by then for sure.
I hate long dinners, an hour is good for me. Thats one reason we always request our own table, we eat at our pace and go when were ready to go.

Have fun!

 

[Marc D]

I would say 90 minutes if you order starter, main, dessert and coffee. Even if you have a private table, servers will generally bring the food all at once for all of their tables, unless you request a fast dinner. A good indicator of the norm is the time the activities between the seatings are scheduled. During those, the MDRs are most;y empty and turned around.

 

[xQuizx]

It all depends on how quickly you eat and or when your little one wants to conk out.

We originally set our nursery time at 8:00PM but that was too late, so we moved it to 7:00PM. I'm thinking for our next cruise to set it to 7:30PM, he will be a year older then.

Bring whatever your little one needs to dinner so you can just bring him/her straight to the nursery when it's time.

I would drop off our little guy right after the main course and be back to the table for dessert.

Cheers!

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

We had late dining (8:15 PM) on our recent cruise, not early, but dinner was about 90 minutes each night. That said, we typically had drinks, apps/salads, entrees, and dessert. A family seated near us always just had main courses and took their desserts to go; they were done in 45 minutes or less.

DD was generally done well before us, and either busied herself coloring or left with the counselors for Dine & Play at 9:15.

 

[Rabb it]

You can tell them you're on a time crunch and they will expedite things for you. They are very accomodating

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

Your timing sounds good to me! Especially with the early seating, which IMO tends to go a little quicker (after the first night, at least) because the staff has to clean up and do it all again for the later seating. I'm not saying they rush you, but I always felt like they do try to keep the pace at the early seating because of the next seating, and very likely for families like yourselves that have schedules to keep. For that reason my husband and I prefer the second seating, where we feel we can take a few more minutes if we need to without holding up other guests. That said, we don't want to keep the staff working all night either since their work days are long enough already!

 

[MelSpees]

We've had slow tables. I'm not sure if it's been us, our tablemates or our servers. We've had the early seating and it wasn't unusual to be there two hours, or close to it. It really was a bit too long for my taste, but when you're 2 people sitting at an 8-top you go with the flow.

 

[Grand Michig(ian)?]

Thank you to all for the info.

 

[Spork24]

We had a party of 13 with 7 kids, they seemed to keep things moving pretty fast for us. We were usually done by around 7, 7:15 at the latest.

 

[Spork24]

Also if you book 7:45 I would imagine you would almost certainly have no problem dropping them off early if you finish early. I was surprised how flexible the nursury was!

 

[Grand Michig(ian)?]

Also if you book 7:45 I would imagine you would almost certainly have no problem dropping them off early if you finish early. I was surprised how flexible the nursury was!

Thats good to hear. We just want 1.5 - 2 hours after dinner to check out the bars and adult only areas. If we eat slow enough to enjoy dinner, drop kids off, go to bars, and pick kids back up without it being too late for the kids, that would be ideal. But its tough to judge the times without cruise experience so its good the nursery can be flexible. Looking forward to to testing my wife's motion sickness levels.

 

[KristiMc]

Thats good to hear. We just want 1.5 - 2 hours after dinner to check out the bars and adult only areas. If we eat slow enough to enjoy dinner, drop kids off, go to bars, and pick kids back up without it being too late for the kids, that would be ideal. But its tough to judge the times without cruise experience so its good the nursery can be flexible. Looking forward to to testing my wife's motion sickness levels.

Not sure how old your kids are, but don't forget about the amazing shows. With early dinner you would watch the later show at 8:30.

 

[Grand Michig(ian)?]

Not sure how old your kids are, but don't forget about the amazing shows. With early dinner you would watch the later show at 8:30.

Yes. We intend to keep the kids, who are 4 and 2 by the way, with us for at least one show.

 

[KristiMc]

Yes. We intend to keep the kids, who are 4 and 2 by the way, with us for at least one show.

You will all like the shows. As far as the adult areas, we love Skyline. Great drinks and atmosphere. Enjoy your cruise!

 

[bookluvingbabe]

Dinner seemed faster on the Dream than on the Wonder. We were usually done in 60-75 minutes on the Dream but the Wonder would regularly take 90 minutes.

 

[CM Dad]

You will all like the shows. As far as the adult areas, we love Skyline. Great drinks and atmosphere. Enjoy your cruise!

If you enjoy Skyline, do you get their "passport" you get 5 of their drinks for the price of 5 I think. My wife and I shared a passport on our last cruise on the Fantasy

 

[KristiMc]

If you enjoy Skyline, do you get their "passport" you get 5 of their drinks for the price of 5 I think. My wife and I shared a passport on our last cruise on the Fantasy

Yes, we shared a passport also on the Fantasy.

 

[jdg345]

We are preparing for our first cruise, on Disney Dream, so we have some questions about some things. Generally speaking how long would the early dining take assuming a 5:45pm start time, and the standard restaurants not Palo or Remy? I know that might vary with different groups but with several courses and enjoying ourselves some what time window would at least be reasonable? I ask because we plan on putting kids in the kids clubs after eating so we can enjoy the ship kids-free for awhile. So I’d like to get a general idea when to book nursery time. Would we be done at like 7:30 so sign up for 7:45 nursery time for example. Thanks

With a 5:45 seating, we were generally done by just after 7pm most nights ... so 7:30 seems very doable. We always had more than an hour to burn before the 830pm shows.

 

[GPaLarry]

When our 8-year-old granddaughter is with us we close the place down...super slow eater...at home, too without all the distractions. We still get out in time for the shows. Ah, don't forget your Mickey Bar!!!