Main vs 2nd seating - please share your thoughts

[havoc315]

The early seating, pros:
Closer to a "normal" dining time for us. Leaves plenty of time for evening activities.
Cons: It is on the early side, and may feel rushed back from port/excursions.

Late seating, pros:
No rush to get back from port. The Oceaneer's club will pick up the kids half-way through the meal, so you can dine partially without the kids .
Cons: It's a bit late to eat. If your family doesn't consist of night owls, you could finish too late to really do much after dinner. I don't like a heavy meal right before bed.

So I prefer the early seating. Can always skip the formal dinner if I'm out at port, it's not the end of the world. But I wouldn't want to wait till 8-9 pm to get dinner every night. I prefer ending the night with the show, or a drink at a bar, don't like a heavy dinner being so close to the end of the night.
But if my kids were older (they are 8, 10), if they were teenagers, I'd consider the late dinner.

 

[jetskigrl]

We are a second seating family. We started cruising when our youngest was 7 and even then we loved second seating (he was a big fan of Dine and Play). We naturally shift our meal times on vacation anyway (sleep in later so all meals are later).

We have never had a problem with eating late and going to bed. Most nights we were still up at least 2 hours after dinner was over anyway. But even on the early to bed nights (because of early morning excursions), we still had no problems.

So second seating is just what works best for us.

 

[MelSpees]

During our cruise DH and I got Second seating (8:15). The problem is we usually go to bed around 10:00 PM! And we eat lunch between 11:00 AM and noon. At 5:00 PM we are really hungry.

This time I chose Main Seating but I was wondering at what time is it? Between 5:00 and 7:00?

Thanks in advance.

Main seating is at 5:45.

 

[mevelandry]

Main seating is at 5:45.

It's perfect!

 

[krisinparis]

I'd say you will prefer the option that corresponds the most with what you would normally do. For example, my DD has softball practice from 6:30-8-- if this was your schedule, would you eat before or after the practice? We eat before, but other families on the team eat after. As you can guess, we prefer main seating. There is no right or wrong choice, just your own preference.