Late for Dinner Seating?

[starousse]

I was wondering, if you are on an excursion and get back to the ship later than your main seating of 5:45, can you go at any time after, or will they tell you that you have to go to the 8:15 seating? I see that on the Nassau port day, they leave at 7pm. If I'm spending $700 to spend the day at Atlantis, I think it's gonna be hard to leave at 3 to make it back for 5:45 dinner. Anybody agree?

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

One of the reasons our family is much happier with late dining. We got on board from Nassau BL and shopping at about 5:15ish-5:30. We got cleaned up in time for our 6:15 show but still had time after the show to get pirate ready for dinner. You can still get pizza and burgers etc around 5 or 6 if you want to, but it means we don't have to rush for dinner. At 8:15, we are ready.

Conversely, on our CCLs when our friends choose the 6:00 dinner every time, we were always running down the hallways if not late to dinner.

And then I go sit at the show after that heavy dinner, and my eyes just close. I am much better sitting down to a show at 6:15 and then having my dinner at 8:15 and then walking around and singing karoake and having a blast, and I don't get tired.

We love second seating. We requested it specifically. A big reason being the nice long port days and wanting to ride Aquaduck while still in beach attire after coming back on board.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Other passengers are already assigned to the 8:15 seating. You can always go up on deck to any of the fast-food places, or the buffet which isn't a buffet at night but a restaurant offering a few items from the menus of the three main dining rooms.

 

[Cruisin]

I was wondering, if you are on an excursion and get back to the ship later than your main seating of 5:45, can you go at any time after, or will they tell you that you have to go to the 8:15 seating? I see that on the Nassau port day, they leave at 7pm. If I'm spending $700 to spend the day at Atlantis, I think it's gonna be hard to leave at 3 to make it back for 5:45 dinner. Anybody agree?

No you probably won't be allowed to go to the 8:15 seating. Someone else will be scheduled to sit in your seat at that time.

 

[Lisa Lisa]

I was wondering, if you are on an excursion and get back to the ship later than your main seating of 5:45, can you go at any time after, or will they tell you that you have to go to the 8:15 seating? I see that on the Nassau port day, they leave at 7pm. If I'm spending $700 to spend the day at Atlantis, I think it's gonna be hard to leave at 3 to make it back for 5:45 dinner. Anybody agree?

I would just plan to eat dinner at Cabanas that night, that way you won't have to worry about rushing to get back to the ship and dressed for dinner. I don't think the MDRs can easily accommodate a one-night switch from early to late seating. Just make sure you let your server and tablemates (if you have them) know that you won't be there so they won't wait for you. On our last cruise we had a family just not show for dinner one night, and it was frustrating because we waited for 15 minutes or so to see if they would come. Our order ended up going in late and we were among the last in the dining room. DH and I are planning to go to Atlantis while on our cruise next month, and we will be eating at Cabanas that night.

 

[Weedy]

How the restaurants work is really quite amazing. They serve 100's of people at one time so everything has to go in order.


It does not work well to show up late for your dinner because the kitchen is timed so they can feed everyone at the same time. Also if your seated with another family it is hard for them to start just part of the table.

The tables are assigned, so it's not possible just to go to the later seating.

So suggestions are:
Tell your Head Server you will be late that night and he may be able to get you a table at the later seating if there is one available. On a Disney cruise you're serving team follows you to each restaurant every night. You may not have the same serving team if they move you to the later seating.

The buffet restaurant on the pool deck serves a sit down dinner every night except the first and last night. They serve a smaller version of what is served in the dining rooms. Plus a little more

The fast food restaurants on the pool deck will be open.

Also room service is available at no extra charge but you should
give a little tip.

Again talk with you servers or head server they want you to enjoy every meal.

 

[starousse]

How the restaurants work is really quite amazing. They serve 100's of people at one time so everything has to go in order.


It does not work well to show up late for your dinner because the kitchen is timed so they can feed everyone at the same time. Also if your seated with another family it is hard for them to start just part of the table.

The tables are assigned, so it's not possible just to go to the later seating.

So suggestions are:
Tell your Head Server you will be late that night and he may be able to get you a table at the later seating if there is one available. On a Disney cruise you're serving team follows you to each restaurant every night. You may not have the same serving team if they move you to the later seating.

The buffet restaurant on the pool deck serves a sit down dinner every night except the first and last night. They serve a smaller version of what is served in the dining rooms. Plus a little more

The fast food restaurants on the pool deck will be open.

Also room service is available at no extra charge but you should
give a little tip.

Again talk with you servers or head server they want you to enjoy every meal.

We generally like to eat dinner between 6 and 7. Because we're going on only a 4 nighter, I wouldn't wanna miss the second nights restaurant because it will be our only shot to try it. I like your idea about asking the head server for that specific night if we can have the later seating. Hopefully he can work some magic, otherwise we'll probably be at Cabanas.

 

[bumbershoot]

get back to the ship later than your main seating of 5:45

Well, on our cruise allaboard that day was at 6pm. So if you're much later getting onto the ship, you'll be waving AT the ship as it leaves.

But you probably mean getting back too late to get ready for the dining. I don't know...I bet you're paying a lot more for the cruise than for the Atlantis day...


You booked Atlantis through DCL? have you seen the interesting thing people do for a full pass to Atlantis, where they book the hotel immediately next door to it (Comfort Inn?)? This particular hotel gives you a full Atlantis day pass for each person registered in the room. It can be much cheaper than going through the cruiselines. (I googled "atlantis cruise excursion" though you can probably look for "comfort inn nassau" and get better results)

It also gives you a place to rinse off and get a bit more ready before catching a cab back to the ship, which gives you a little more time to get ready for dinner!

 

[nzdisneymom]

You can be a little bit late, but if you'll be more than 15 minutes late, then I'd make other dinner plans. And if you are late and still seated, you may want to skip appetizer / salad and just enjoy the main course - at that point you'll be "caught up" with the rest of the dining room.

If you are going to try to extend your time in port to the fullest but still want to make it for dinner, then I'd suggest laying out what you need for getting ready before you leave for the day so that when you get back on board, you can be ready for dinner really quickly.

 

["Got Disney"]

You can also eat where they have the buffets depending on the ship you are on...that would be like topsiders and such....that is what we always do if we are hungry when we come back from an excursion and to tired to get dressed up...I just wish they had open seating so you can go what ever time you want...to many times we miss out on going to dinner because we have been eating all day...that is why the late seating can be better if ya dont have real young children...but when we have the late seating we seem to always miss the shows... because they are before instead of after....