Main or Late dining?

[tweis]

crepe station is where they make the omlets in Cabanas....they had ice cream, bananas, different syrup and other stuff to fill the crepes with...

Thanks. I will be on the look out for it in 3 weeks when we are on the Dream again. I don't know how I missed it last time.

 

[yaddakal]

We just did late but maybe will do main next time. We ended up hungry eating room service or cabanas Everynight before show to tie us over until
Dinner. It's either dinner or show early , they flip
Flop.

 

[NoSoup4U]

I love all the debates. I have switched late to main for the time being because I know it will be easier to switch back to late dining should we opt to later on.
I have been looking at the navigators and I think dd12 will want to join in on activities at 6pm but i am ok with her eating before that on those occasions.
It's too bad we can't choose half the cruise late and half the cruise main

This is what i just did too. I switched from late seating to main seating just now. I figure i can always switch back to late seating if i change my mind, cause thats not as popular. Since main is harder to get, i better snag that now!

I cannot eat too late, i suffer from indigestion and heartburn. So main would work better for me. I think my group prefers NOT to eat so late as well. 815pm does seem kinda late to eat. Plus i figure this would be best since i have no doubt that my kid will make friends and would want to go along with the time that most people are eating.

One last thought.....I just checked my itinerary and 2 out of the 3 ports we are required to return by 5pm. So that solves the issue right there. For two of the ports, we'd definitely be back in time for dinner. We'd only miss 1 dinner, if we decided to stay on that island that long that is.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Yeah I TOTALLY get digestion issues. In my case, the more I walk around, the better. Unfortunately, this doesn't compute if I have to go almost immediately to the show afterward. Early or late, my body doesn't care about 'late' or 'clock' as much as it just plain doesn't do well if I go sit down for an hour. Even if I'm uncomfortable after finishing dinner at 9:30 (not because of dinner, because of my sensitivities), I still do MUCH better if I push myself to walk around, sing, go shopping, etc. after dinner.

And I would never set foot on a ship without a plethera of my handy dandy probiotics... (give me at least a lil leeway to enjoy some of the 'finer' menu items...)

 

[NoSoup4U]

Yeah I TOTALLY get digestion issues. In my case, the more I walk around, the better. Unfortunately, this doesn't compute if I have to go almost immediately to the show afterward. Early or late, my body doesn't care about 'late' or 'clock' as much as it just plain doesn't do well if I go sit down for an hour. Even if I'm uncomfortable after finishing dinner at 9:30 (not because of dinner, because of my sensitivities), I still do MUCH better if I push myself to walk around, sing, go shopping, etc. after dinner.

And I would never set foot on a ship without a plethera of my handy dandy probiotics... (give me at least a lil leeway to enjoy some of the 'finer' menu items...)

See for me, as long as I dont lie down after eating, im ok. If I lie down right after, it means trouble. BIG trouble. Im ok if i sit thou. Everyone is different. I just better not forget my indigestion pills just in case!

 

[momtomattclare]

We have done 5 late, and 1 early. I will not do early again (if given a choice). It just feels too much like it's in the middle of the day. And I haven't been to dinner till 10pm, but I'm sure some have. Mostly done around 9:30ish. We typically still do other things after dinner…walking around and stuff so it's not a problem. Also, in regards to the Aqua Duck…the same goes for the pools being less crowded during the early dining time too. We are always way off "normal" routines when on the ship, so even though we eat dinner at a regular time at home, we do not on the ship.
Good luck

I completely agree with this! I had late dining for our first cruise and loved it. 5:45 was just too early. I felt like there were times we rushed to be dressed and ready by the 6:15 show time so I know 5:45 would have cramped my style. Also we always wandered around and did more stuff after dinner. I think we usually finished dinner by 9:30, but we were always up until at least 11. Since we would sleep in till 8:30 or 9:00 we wouldn't eat lunch til 1:30ish so at 5:45 we were never hungry and if the kids needed a snack we hit Flo's or room service. While these hours are completely different from my "real life" hours, they were perfect on board. Best of luck with your decision.

 

[dpuck1998]

I completely agree with this! I had late dining for our first cruise and loved it. 5:45 was just too early. I felt like there were times we rushed to be dressed and ready by the 6:15 show time so I know 5:45 would have cramped my style. Also we always wandered around and did more stuff after dinner. I think we usually finished dinner by 9:30, but we were always up until at least 11. Since we would sleep in till 8:30 or 9:00 we wouldn't eat lunch til 1:30ish so at 5:45 we were never hungry and if the kids needed a snack we hit Flo's or room service. While these hours are completely different from my "real life" hours, they were perfect on board. Best of luck with your decision.

This is exactly how we felt, everything was moved back for us since we are on vacation. Usually at home dinner is by 6ish but on vacation eating later wasn't an issue and I think it worked even better.

 

[cmesq61]

Great info & opinions!! We are 2 adults, no kids (YAY!). I think we're going to go with late. Here's my thought process: we do the early show, have time for a PRE-dinner cocktail, late dinner, star gazing while strolling the deck, then Route 66. Even if we did early seating, then show, then star gazing & Route 66, we'd still be star gazing & Route 66-ing around the same time. But with late dining we have at least a chance of a quieter dining room. TOO MANY DECISIONS!!

 

[jetskigrl]

We are late dining people, no matter which coast we are cruising from

On our first cruise (2-night cruise to nowhere out of LA), we were assigned main dining and realized that we would miss the shipping leaving LA. We wanted to be out on deck as we went out the channel, etc. That wasn't going to happen if we had to get dressed and ready for dinner at 5:45. Plus we found out that means breakfast the last morning would be at 6:30 am (or something like that). Yikes - didn't like that

So we switched to late and loved it. We have since booked late dining for every cruise. DS loves the Dine and Play and we enjoyed having the option of getting ready before the show or after it, depending on what we were doing that day.

Our days on vacation seem to shift a bit. We sleep in a little later, have a later breakfast and lunch and maybe a small snack in the afternoon. So late dining is perfect. We also stay up late, usually having to drag DS out of the clubs at closing time, so no worries about going to bed on a full stomach.

The only downside we have found is on pirate night because we are too full to enjoy the buffet.

We also have late dining for our Alaska cruise next year. Because the daylight lasts even longer, we want as much of that daylight to see the scenery, etc. Having been on the Wonder three times already, the shows won't be as big of a draw for us as seeing Alaska from the ship will