Late or Early Dinner Seating?

[MartyParty]

I will be sailing with our just-turned-6 gran daughter in February. We’ll be 4 nights on the Magic sailing out of NOLA.

I just booked this and the early dinner seating wasn’t available. I joined the wait list but am rethinking. We’ve never cruised before but I’m pretty sure we care more about the shows than the restaurants. The problem is Dilly has a fairly strict 8:00 bedtime and I’m worried that she’ll be too tired for the later shows/dinners. She doesn’t nap.

What do all of you who go with younger kids do? Are the shows worth possibly missing a meal?

Thanks!

We just cruised on the Disney Dream this past October. Offering some of our experience that may help:

• Seems like we're always initially booked for the later dinner. So far we've always wait listed and got the earlier dinner. I unfortunately have acid reflux, so later meals aren't a good thing for me.
• The first night we did skip the early dinner (busy doing something) thinking we could rock up to the Lido Deck buffet. Forgot that's a Carnival thing (always open) and not a Disney thing. The sit down dinners are your best option at night, so its a good idea to get the time you want from the start.
• As for the shows, I thought they had two shows to accommodate the two different dinner times.
• The shows are worth it but so are the dinners. You should be able to do both even with your daughters 8pm bedtime, although with some pixie dust she might want to stay up late!

Lastly, it may not work out exactly as you plan with early or late dinners. At her age the kids club is fantastic. You may find yourself where she wants to be in the kids club most of the time. I recall my wife being "the planner" and kids club changing all our plans.

Good luck...

 

[jsmla]

Lastly, it may not work out exactly as you plan with early or late dinners. At her age the kids club is fantastic. You may find yourself where she wants to be in the kids club most of the time. I recall my wife being "the planner" and kids club changing all our plans.

if everything I hear about the kids club is true I’m sure she’ll love it. She’s not at all shy and makes friends very easily. The only tantrum we had in August was when her latest BFF had to leave the pool.

 

[Dug720]

How did you fit in the shows? This girl LOVED all of the shows at WDW so this is a priority for us.

If you have late dining, you go to the first show. If you get early dining, you go to the second show. It's simple.

 

[Carohs]

A child on a Disney ship is actively engaged all day long whether it's in club, poolside, or onboard activities. At night we feed them a 3 course meal and expect them to sit still in the dark after. Chances are if you think granddaughter would fall asleep in the bright dining room, she'd just as soon fall asleep in the dark theater at that late hour. After having both seatings assigned to us, we've determined late dining worked out better for us. DD is 7 now and sometimes will make it through dinner and sometimes not. But what makes the biggest difference is if we can find the time to carve out 30 min of quiet time in the stateroom, lights off, in the afternoon. And if she misses out on dessert or even her meal because she just couldn't make it through late dining, well there's Cabanas in the morning.

 

[jsmla]

If you have late dining, you go to the first show. If you get early dining, you go to the second show. It's simple.

I was trying to ask how kids who do not do well with late(ish) nights manage both dinner and a show on the same night. I’ve decided to keep our late seating and just make the best we can of dinner. I assume that we can just leave dinner if she starts to fall apart. We’ve been on several trips with her, including WDW, and she is definitely a 6:00 am-8:00 pm kind of kid. on the plus side we made every rope drop at WDW!

 

[jsmla]

A child on a Disney ship is actively engaged all day long whether it's in club, poolside, or onboard activities. At night we feed them a 3 course meal and expect them to sit still in the dark after. Chances are if you think granddaughter would fall asleep in the bright dining room, she'd just as soon fall asleep in the dark theater at that late hour. After having both seatings assigned to us, we've determined late dining worked out better for us. DD is 7 now and sometimes will make it through dinner and sometimes not. But what makes the biggest difference is if we can find the time to carve out 30 min of quiet time in the stateroom, lights off, in the afternoon. And if she misses out on dessert or even her meal because she just couldn't make it through late dining, well there's Cabanas in the morning.

That’s pretty much what I’ve decided. If we have to miss one I think she’ll enjoy the shows more. She doesn’t nap now but I’m going to try to carve out an hour or so of quiet time. This is one of the reasons I opted for a verandah.

 

[Annabell]

How did you fit in the shows? This girl LOVED all of the shows at WDW so this is a priority for us.

There is an early show for the late seating guests and there is a late show for the early seating guests. You will not miss the shows. But ofcourse then she will fall asleep during the show. You have to decide what you prefer, have dinner together or see the shows. For us, we prefer to have dinner together and just have her fall asleep if she is too tired during showtime.

 

[jsmla]

There is an early show for the late seating guests and there is a late show for the early seating guests. You will not miss the shows. But ofcourse then she will fall asleep during the show. You have to decide what you prefer, have dinner together or see the shows. For us, we prefer to have dinner together and just have her fall asleep if she is too tired during showtime.

I’ve already canceled my spot on the early dining seating. We are 100% about the shows. We took her to WDW and Hoop de Doo, Frozen Sing Along and Festival of the Lion King were huge hits.

 

[jsmla]

Sorry, posted twice.

 

[Salokin]

If you’re allocated early dining can you miss it and go to the early show or will they not let you into the theatre?

 

[OKW Lover]

If you’re allocated early dining can you miss it and go to the early show or will they not let you into the theatre?

They don't check dining times at the theater

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

How many adults are along? If there's more than one adult, and if she doesn't do well with trying the late dinner, you could always have one adult stay in the room with her later and the rest going to the dinner (if the adults would like to experience the dining rooms and menus). The wait staff might even be willing to box up a dessert or something for the adult staying in the room.

When you go to the late dinner the first night with her, tell the wait staff you would like to try and be done quickly due to having a child needing to go to sleep. Sometimes the dinner service can drag on to 2+ hours, but if you let them know you want quick service, that might help. Also go ahead and order all courses including dessert right from the beginning. Don't wait for them to return with a dessert menu after you've eaten.

After our first cruise with early dining, we've selected late for our past 2, and it definitely works best for us.