No main dinning.. 2nd seating only.. Hubby wants to cancel!!

[Lorilais_mommie]

When I book our next cruise they only had 2nd seating for dinner. (We have only ever had main dinning)

I didn't think it was a deal breaker, but now hubby wants to Cancel!
We have 2 girls (9 &4) and he thinks it will be to late for them.

can someone please tell me about 2nd seating??
Is it really that bad?

 

[Maggie'sMom]

When I book our next cruise they only had 2nd seating for dinner. (We have only ever had main dinning)

I didn't think it was a deal breaker, but now hubby wants to Cancel!
We have 2 girls (9 &4) and he thinks it will be to late for them.

can someone please tell me about 2nd seating??
Is it really that bad?

I love 2nd seating. You aren't as rushed on port days.

You can get on the wait list for first seating and ask to change once you are on board if you don't get first seating by the time you check in at the port.

 

[Medic193]

If you get on the wait list, you most likely will get moved. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Yes, get on a wait list for main seating. As stated, you can also try to change when you get onboard. If for some reason, you can't get main seating (not sure when your sailing, more popular times the ship will be fuller and harder to get main seating) your girls can eat earlier from room service, Cabanas, or various places on deck. Not worth canceling your cruise over.

 

[MUN]

When I book our next cruise they only had 2nd seating for dinner. (We have only ever had main dinning)

I didn't think it was a deal breaker, but now hubby wants to Cancel!
We have 2 girls (9 &4) and he thinks it will be to late for them.

can someone please tell me about 2nd seating??
Is it really that bad?

No, not for us; we love 2nd seating dining. However, for a 4 year old, that's awfully late. You do see very young children at the 2nd seating. Frequently, they are very tired or crying. Personally, I wouldn't like 2nd seating with a child that young.

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

When I book our next cruise they only had 2nd seating for dinner. (We have only ever had main dinning)

I didn't think it was a deal breaker, but now hubby wants to Cancel!
We have 2 girls (9 &4) and he thinks it will be to late for them.

can someone please tell me about 2nd seating??
Is it really that bad?

When my kids were those ages I found I had to build in down time during the day or let them sleep in if they could, but we managed to work with the later dining when needed. It was nice for the kids to see the shows early before dinner sometimes.

You can remind him that there are other food options for dinner too, so if on a given night the kids are too tired to wait to eat you can get room service, good fast-style food by the pool area, or eat at the buffet. Or you can get them fed early and take them to the kids club while the two of you eat in the MDR later. They'll probably have energy to play there no matter what time it is!

I believe you can wait list for earlier dining by calling. And once you board you may be able to switch to the earlier time if it's available.The Navigator will tell you where to go to ask about dining changes once you board. There is no guarantee but I've had good luck with changes a few times, so I know it is possible.

I hope you can convince him not to cancel - there are lots of ways to make it work, or you may even find you prefer it! In my opinion it's definitely worth a try.

 

[Rogillio]

Time is relative, right? Sleep later, have breakfast later, have lunch later, have dinner later, and stay up later. If you live on the west coast and flew out to the east coast your 6 pm normal dinner time would be 9 pm.

 

[ajgardner]

I don't think it's worth cancelling over. Like others have said, call now and be put on the wait list. If it's still not changed by the time of the cruise, find out where you need to go on board to put in the request as soon as you board. On our last cruise I put my family on the waitlist 6 months ahead and still was not able to move, requested it once we got on board and was told there was no availability but they would put me down and then 30 minutes before the first seating we received a phone call saying that they were able to move us - so there is room for movement right up until the last minute. They seem very willing to work with people. I have not done second seating (but we are considering trying it for our next cruise because so many people prefer it), but I would think with a late afternoon snack and requesting faster service you should be ok....and if not, there is Cabanas and the other food options on the upper deck.

 

[KathyM2]

Definitely not worth cancelling!! One other great idea...feed the kids before dinner and then take them to the kids' clubs so you can have a peaceful dinner!! I know...not every night...but at least once!! And there are indeed tons of other food options...and you may still be able to get it switched!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Our first DCL cruise my kids 4 and 7 and we loved second seating --so much so that it is preferred by us ever since. My kids definitely stay up later when on vacation. However, if not right for your family, you can wait list and ask to change on board, as others have suggested. I'd be interested to see a poll of how many people get it...

Worst case scenario, your kids eat on pool deck or room service, then you do the shows as a family, then you to eat a relaxing dinner without them while they are at the kids club before bedtime. Or you eat when you want as a family at Cabanas, which is a sit down dinner at night.

 

[quickcat]

Hated 2nd seating- It was too late for us to eat. We have two children too. We eat early all the time though. We were at late seating 3 times and got switched twice before we cruised. The third time I asked on board and told them we wouldn't be eating in the dining room unless we could have main seating. We were switched to main seating after the first night.
They want you to eat in the dining rooms so I would call Disney and get on the waiting list right away and let them know that its a deal breaker for you and your DH wants to cancel if you do not get switched before. Hopefully they'll be able to accommodate you before you cruise so you wont have to worry about it.
Good luck!

 

[saraheli]

My dds will 8 and 4 (almost 5) when we sail, and I chose 2nd seating. We travel a lot and the kids tend to wake up later and stay up later on vacations so it works for us. Our first cruise, we did the main seating and hated eating so early. We were never even close to being hungry by dinner time and always felt rushed to get there. Would never chose main seating again!

 

[havoc315]

When I book our next cruise they only had 2nd seating for dinner. (We have only ever had main dinning)

I didn't think it was a deal breaker, but now hubby wants to Cancel!
We have 2 girls (9 &4) and he thinks it will be to late for them.

can someone please tell me about 2nd seating??
Is it really that bad?

Get on the wait list for the first seating. We got moved up to first seating after final payment.
You can also request a change on the ship, first day.
You have an excellent shot of still getting first seating.

 

[Scrapcomber]

We always eat at 7.30 at home, so I just booked for 2nd seating, is there a reason people prefer earlier. It's my first cruise. 2 adults no children this time

 

[Dopey416]

We always eat at 7.30 at home, so I just booked for 2nd seating, is there a reason people prefer earlier. It's my first cruise. 2 adults no children this time

Cruisers with small cjildren prefer main dining. We are two adults and absolutely hated main dining, you have to rush back from the ports, rush to eat so they can get ready for the second seating and most of the time we weren't hungry so early. Keep your 2nd seating.

 

[darkwing818]

OP my advice, Leave your DH home.

Honestly, as PPs have noted, your chances of getting switched to main dining are very good.

 

[Scrapcomber]

Thank you, looking forward to eating later, I thought there maybe a problem with show times as it's my first cruise.

 

[Karlzmom]

Big fan of second seating here. It's a vacation with no rope drop involved! We tend to sleep in a bit which pushes all our meals back. Add in an afternoon snack and there is no way we could enjoy 1st seating. 2d seating has play and dine for the kiddies. As suggested, a bit of down time (cartoons in room "resting" or the like will work *wonders*!

 

[Autumnslight]

We had second seating with our 8 and 4 year olds, and it was perfect. As a result, we saw the shows earlier, which was nice. The kids usually went to the kids club while we finished up our meals, and that worked out really well for all of us as well. Our family is admittedly more of night owls, but even if you're not, I definitey wouldn't cancel a whole cruise just over having second seating!

 

[CamColt]

We will only do 2nd seating, and have been sailing with our kids since they were 8 months and 3 years old (they are now 18 and 15). As others have mentioned they can go to the clubs, or you can eat around the ship all afternoon/evening so no one will be hungry waiting until 8:15.
I should also add we eat very early at home, but vacation is a totally different schedule.