Rotational Dining, late seating on our 1st DCL cruise

[Osukirk]

So excited for our first cruise but, because we booked late, we are in the late seating. Does anyone know if this means we won't be able to catch the shows?

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

The shows are shown twice a day. Once earlier in the evening for late diners and then again after the early diners are done.

There are also occasional matinees in the afternoon but you never know with that. They tend to be on Sea Days on longer cruises.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Yep--you'll be able to see all the shows.

We kind of like the late seating. Not as rushed since they don't have to clear the entire dining room within a certain period of time as they do with the early seating.

And no rush to return from an excursion etc just to be on time for dinner.

Some will say less children running all over the place as well, but we've found late seating to have plenty of kids...

 

[lorimay]

Yep--you'll be able to see all the shows.

We kind of like the late seating. Not as rushed since they don't have to clear the entire dining room within a certain period of time as they do with the early seating.

And no rush to return from an excursion etc just to be on time for dinner.

Some will say less children running all over the place as well, but we've found late seating to have plenty of kids...

100% agree.
We prefer late seating.

 

[GrannyDee]

We deliberately chose late seating because it approximates our usual dinner hour at home (with the time difference calculated).

 

[Sytrace]

We love late seating!
On our earlier cruises, we had first seating and found it to be rushed,and we were never really hungry at that point. We would come back from excursions and have to hurry to get ready, then hurry to eat dinner before they had to prepare for late seating.
We also love late seating because we don't have to get up super early to hit breakfast in the MDR's (my kids are not morning people...neither am I) This gives us a little more time to sleep and be more relaxed as we disembark.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Another family here that prefers late seating. We had early seating once and never again. You really do need to watch the clock in the afternoon, stop what you're doing just to head back to get ready for dinner. Then like other's have said, your dinner is rushed because they need to clean and set up for the late crowd.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Another family here that prefers late seating. We had early seating once and never again. You really do need to watch the clock in the afternoon, stop what you're doing just to head back to get ready for dinner. Then like other's have said, your dinner is rushed because they need to clean and set up for the late crowd.

Except for a few cruises, we've always had early seating. I've never felt rushed to either make to dinner on time, or rushed through dinner so they could reset for late seating.

 

[ahain]

Except for a few cruises, we've always had early seating. I've never felt rushed to either make to dinner on time, or rushed through dinner so they could reset for late seating.

Us too. We have always had early seating, but also make certain to arrive ON TIME for dinner so that we can get things underway in a timely manner. We have seen people showing up for the early seating as we were LEAVING the dining room, so I'm sure those people will feel rushed.

 

[Flossbolna]

You can call DCL and request to put on the waitlist for main seating if you prefer to eat earlier. Also, once on board on the first day around lunch time there is a place to go to to change dining assignments. The information about this will be on the Personal Navigator, the daily schedule, which you will get at the port for the first day. You can always go there and see if they can move you.

Like a number of previous posters, we love late dining as we feel that we have more time in the afternoon before we have to get cleaned up for dinner.

 

[JenniHP]

We've had late seating both times and it has it's pros and cons. One of the nice things is that pretty much the common areas empty out when the early seating starts so you'll have your pick of things to do. We attended a couple of the shows and never had a problem getting a good seat. The Con is that sometimes your starving waiting for the late seating or by the time your done with dinner (we finished after 10pm some nights) that we were ready to go to bed.
If you are concerned about the late seating, like someone else said, you can ask to be put on the early dining wait list or you can go on embarkation day to see if your seating can be moved up.
Enjoy your cruise!

 

[NAB]

If you have late dinner the show time is 6:15 , Early dinner go for the 8:30 shows. Shows are usually an hour long so you have time to go get dressed if you so choice. Lots get dressed before , maybe they head to pictures after.

If you have kids they will bring there dinner out faster so the youth counselors can pick them up and take them to the club. This is a nice thing since when my kids were little we had one of us run the up .

Pictures are also timed so you can get them taken at 5:15-600, or 7:15-8:30

Lots of people like to do the aquaduck at this time since the early dinner people are eating and less busy.

Only con we found was we were not hungry to do the pirate buffet because we just ate. We always have a snack mid afternoon to hold us out for dinner.

 

[Love2Cruz]

I've done both, I much prefer late seating....the day is much more relaxed and you're not rushing to get ready for dinner. You can see the show before hand if you like and it always left an hour or some time in the day for a short nap if you wanted to stay up for the Pirate Night...which we missed the first time as my DD wiped out. But being I got her to take a nap on Day 2 (though we missed other things), we were able to stay up late for Pirate Night to enjoy the show and the party afterwards.

 

[PlanoNana]

We like late seating also. This will be the first cruise with little ones so we'll see how it goes. Plans are to get a late afternoon snack for the grand girls or anyone else who's hungry - yea chicken fingers, see the show with the family, wander around a bit or get pictures between the show and dinner. Have the servers bring the girls food quickly and let them go to club and nursery if available. We think this will work best for us. When cruising without kids we definitely prefer the late seating.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Except for a few cruises, we've always had early seating. I've never felt rushed to either make to dinner on time, or rushed through dinner so they could reset for late seating.

Several times we've arrived right on time for our late seating and seen the staff herding out the remnants of the early diners...whether they were done the meal or not!!

 

[jnsma]

We have done early seating with the kids as it is closer to their normal routine, but are going to try late this next trip as they are getting older and I prefer late.

BUT, you should also check if there is availability for main seating when you board. Two years ago we booked last minute and were given late seating and were put on the waitlist for main. When we checked in we were still late seating but then we checked if there was an option to change. It wasn't a problem and got a great rotation and table in the main seating. Check your navigator where to go when you show up.

 

[RedSox68]

We like late dining and that's all we've done. It is quieter with fewer children and you don't feel as rushed. Plus you get more time in ports, or just more time between lunch and dinner LOL. The show is before you dine -- which gives you the option to go to the show in casual clothes and go back to your room to change into something fancier for dinner if you choose.

 

[LilyFlor]

Another fan of late dining. DH and I are night owls so it's always worked well for us in the past. Our last cruise was just a month ago and we were traveling with a 12 month old. We still did late seating since her schedule at home usually has her eating after 7pm anyway. The first night was a disaster but I chalked that up to a very long day with very little downtime. Every other dinner was great. Most nights we were having such a great time with our server that we wound up sitting at the table long after our meal was done. I know that wouldn't have been possible with main dining.

 

[scootch]

Everyone says they are a fan of late seating, but it never books up, early seating does. IF you prefer to have Main seating, you can be put on a waitlist and many times these go through. You also can check as soon as you get onboard and often get switched to main dining. Either dining though, you won't miss the shows and such.

 

[RedSox68]

Everyone says they are a fan of late seating, but it never books up, early seating does. IF you prefer to have Main seating, you can be put on a waitlist and many times these go through. You also can check as soon as you get onboard and often get switched to main dining. Either dining though, you won't miss the shows and such.

It might be because more families are sailing with kids and they don't want late dining. I think the late dining crowd is all adults or ones with older kids, but I don't think there are as many of us as there are families with little ones. I know every time I sail on DCL, I read about people waitlisting for early dining.