Mediterranean Cruise and Main Dining

[GeauxTigers23]

Those of you who have been on the Mediterranean cruises, will there be issues with main dining seating and excursion times?

I have a few excursion where we get back at 5, 5:45, 6pm. Also, would this conflict with any shows? Thank you for your help.

 

[o&smom]

You should be fine. I think on the European cruises that they move the dining back, so first seating starts at 6:00. If there is a day that you think that you might be late, just let your serving team know ahead of time. They have always been very accomodating if we ever returned late. You should not have any issues making it to the show which I belive start at 8:00. Have a wonderfil cruise!

 

[gotomu212]

They do push the dining time back slightly, but in the Med we always needed to take showers after excursions. It can be really warm and sticky in the summer and after walking all over we were always a little gross. With your return times you would be going almost straight into dinner.

 

[longboard55]

we had the late dinner, but we did back to back all day tours that went from 8 to 5 and we were pretty tired by the end of the day. We had time to make the show but could have used more time to unwind. Italy was amazing and it was worth the effort for a one time thing, but not really my idea of a vacation.

Disney slips in more sea days than anyone, we had friends on another cruise who did 11 stop days in a row.

 

[cedricandsophie]

I would definitely recommend second dining. Much more relaxed. You go to early show st 645 and then late dinner. I Personally would not recommend early dining.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

We did main seating on our two European cruises and had no issues. Of course we do always go out on our own, not with DCL.

 

[Pens Fan]

Looking at the latest Navigator on the Disney Cruiseline Blog for the Med, the evening dining times were only pushed back 15 minutes until 6:00 and 8:30. This is similar to what I remember from our northern Europe cruise a few years ago on the Magic. We always prefer second seating anyway, no matter the itinerary, but I do understand that it doesn't work for some families. One thing to remember is that with the exception of the first and last nights, Cabanas is open for dinner with no set dining times. According to the navigator I was looking at Cabanas was open from 6:30 to 8:30 for dinner.

Personally I wouldn't want to have to rush to dinner after a full day of touring in the Med in the summertime. I'd either pick second seating or plan on an alternative (Cabanas, room service, pool deck food) for those long days in port.

 

[sambycat]

My DH wanted to switch to main dining this week (leaving a week from tomorrow!!!!), so I changed it and the time was available, not waitlisted. We have long tours every day and hope toneat in the dining room but be able to shower and change beforehand...

Typically we do the second seating and I feel like I get too tired after food and wine to really enjoy the show so typically show then dinner is better.

 

[Duck In Blue]

We had main dining on our Med cruise last year and it was tight getting back for dinner on our two full day excursions in Naples and Rome. We mentioned to our servers the day before the first one that we may not make it for dinner the following night (and why) and they insisted that we came. Our server said as long as we arrived by 7 p.m. it wouldn't be a problem (I don't think we would have gone that late). We did have a table to ourselves so that may have helped. We had a quick shower when we returned and managed to get to dinner no later than about 6.15 p.m. although it was a rush.

 

[GPaLarry]

Last Sept. we did the same thing as Duck in Blue above. We also had main dining and used DCL excursions that were long, nearly 11 hours, in Naples, but got shorter as the cruise continued. As above, we let our servers know we would be a bit late and they were great in accommodating us. It was a grind and tiring, but well worth it...sites on land and shows on board. We made it a B2B with WBTA...that was our relaxing vacation. 18 nights with the mouse and loads of fun. Because of rough water at Monte Carlo, we couldn't tender into port so they made it an "at sea" day and we docked at Marseilles instead the next day...all part of the adventure.