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- Feb 8, 2003
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This is a tough one- and very personal. There are pros and cons either way- and what one feels is a con- someone else feels is a pro. KWIM?
Here are some things to consider:
If you're worried about rushing back from the port- it doesn't matter either way because you'll still be rushing back to see the show if you have late dining time, or for dinner if you have early dining time. The only way that makes a difference is if you'd be okay with missing the show but not okay with missing dinner and having to eat somewhere else instead of in the dining rooms.
From 2 cruises so far (albeit not a huge amount of experience- but some.. unless things change? LOL) I can say that having late dining can interfere with kids activities. It seems like they plan on most kids eating early dining time and so they do most of the "fun stuff" (atleast according to my kids of all ages for the past 2 cruises since 2006) during late dining. This can lead to unhappy kids just wishing they could go to the club/lab the entire time you're trying to get them to eat.
A way to avoid this is if you're open to them either you taking them somewhere else to eat before your dining time or letting them eat at the early dining time they have WITH the club/lab. But this means either way they wouldn't be eating with you in the dining room. We've tried it both ways- the first time they ate with us and it didn't take long for them to figure out they were mising out on the fun stuff during dinner and start wanting to leave dinner practically the moment they sat down to go to the club/lab. (and this led to them trying to eat quickly and as each got finished eating one of us parents would have to run them to the club or the lab- it was hectic for us parents trying to eat our meal!) The 2nd time we let them eat (either with us or with the club/lab) during the early dining time and then we ate without them (most nights) in the late dining time we had. Pros and cons both ways on that too- obviously also personal and no one person can say which is best. ALTHOUGH having late dining and letting them eat earlier can interfere not only with them seeing the shows (which they didn't on our 2nd cruise- not most nights anyways) but with YOU seeing the shows. If they don't want to eat with the club/lab and need to eat before your late dining time so they can be in there doing "fun stuff" during your late dining- you're the one taking them to eat somewhere and thus not seeing the show (and/or putting off getting ready for dinner so you're getting ready during the show... after they've eaten)
IDK which we think is best. We haven't tried main seating yet simply because we didn't like the idea of rushing back at port to get ready for dinner. We chose late dining for our 2010 cruise (and our kids will be older so things might work out better for us- plus we plan on being more flexible and maybe not eating in the dining rooms at all on some nights) but when we switched some dates to the 2009 cruise somehow we got waitlisted for main seating. I'm leaving it that way- maybe do a trial run to see how we liked main seating.
Another thing to consider is if you're going on a cruise where many other DIS'ers are going and they are all mostly on main seating... you're eating at different times and therefore not doing things at the same time as them either since you're eating when they are done eating. KwIM?
Then there is the problem mentioned before- that we experienced on both cruises- that when you eat late dining you tend to have to rush to (or end up late to) any deck parties that are after late dining... and you're not hungry anyway because you just ate! Plus not hungry for the midnight buffets or midnight dessert either. Not being hungry enough to eat again really didn't bother us- but being late or having to rush like crazy to deck parties wasn't all that fun...
And for us we rushed back anyway for the shows (before dinner) on the first cruise and ended up missing quite a few of the shows all together on the 2nd cruise. So I'm wondering now if we had to get back and ready for early dining if we would then for sure see the shows... probably. So that's something to consider and whether or not you don't mind missing the shows.
As for excursions that might be during early dining times- there are other options so you could skip that night in the dining room. (but a good tip is to let your servers know, especially if you're at a table with others, so they don't make everyone wait on you for awhile until they are sure you aren't coming. Better to let them know in advance your plans to not be there that night-- just as a courtesy to them and your tablemates)
And yet another thing- it seemed the shows had a lot more seating available at the earlier time (with late dining) than the later show (with early dining). I assume that is because more people with kids have early dining and more of them are interested in seeing the shows with their families? Just a note about that- not sure if you care if you see the shows at all or whether or not how crowded they are matters to you. Just saying the early shows there were always plenty of seats even if we were late- but we saw huge lines for the later show after early dining... and heard it was crowded complete with problems with people saving seats/etc. LOL)
so basically I think either way has it's benefits and it's "problems" to work around... it all boils down to what matters to you the most. Just note that if it has to do with hurrying- you'd still be hurrying to the shows before late dining unless you don't mind missing the shows, if you have kids the fun activities tend to be during late dining, and late dining tends to have you rushing to any evening activities in the clubs, deck parties, buffets, etc. after eating. If all things considered- nothing else bothers you but eating at the time you're used to- then go with that time.
Here are some things to consider:
If you're worried about rushing back from the port- it doesn't matter either way because you'll still be rushing back to see the show if you have late dining time, or for dinner if you have early dining time. The only way that makes a difference is if you'd be okay with missing the show but not okay with missing dinner and having to eat somewhere else instead of in the dining rooms.
From 2 cruises so far (albeit not a huge amount of experience- but some.. unless things change? LOL) I can say that having late dining can interfere with kids activities. It seems like they plan on most kids eating early dining time and so they do most of the "fun stuff" (atleast according to my kids of all ages for the past 2 cruises since 2006) during late dining. This can lead to unhappy kids just wishing they could go to the club/lab the entire time you're trying to get them to eat.
A way to avoid this is if you're open to them either you taking them somewhere else to eat before your dining time or letting them eat at the early dining time they have WITH the club/lab. But this means either way they wouldn't be eating with you in the dining room. We've tried it both ways- the first time they ate with us and it didn't take long for them to figure out they were mising out on the fun stuff during dinner and start wanting to leave dinner practically the moment they sat down to go to the club/lab. (and this led to them trying to eat quickly and as each got finished eating one of us parents would have to run them to the club or the lab- it was hectic for us parents trying to eat our meal!) The 2nd time we let them eat (either with us or with the club/lab) during the early dining time and then we ate without them (most nights) in the late dining time we had. Pros and cons both ways on that too- obviously also personal and no one person can say which is best. ALTHOUGH having late dining and letting them eat earlier can interfere not only with them seeing the shows (which they didn't on our 2nd cruise- not most nights anyways) but with YOU seeing the shows. If they don't want to eat with the club/lab and need to eat before your late dining time so they can be in there doing "fun stuff" during your late dining- you're the one taking them to eat somewhere and thus not seeing the show (and/or putting off getting ready for dinner so you're getting ready during the show... after they've eaten)
IDK which we think is best. We haven't tried main seating yet simply because we didn't like the idea of rushing back at port to get ready for dinner. We chose late dining for our 2010 cruise (and our kids will be older so things might work out better for us- plus we plan on being more flexible and maybe not eating in the dining rooms at all on some nights) but when we switched some dates to the 2009 cruise somehow we got waitlisted for main seating. I'm leaving it that way- maybe do a trial run to see how we liked main seating.
Another thing to consider is if you're going on a cruise where many other DIS'ers are going and they are all mostly on main seating... you're eating at different times and therefore not doing things at the same time as them either since you're eating when they are done eating. KwIM?
Then there is the problem mentioned before- that we experienced on both cruises- that when you eat late dining you tend to have to rush to (or end up late to) any deck parties that are after late dining... and you're not hungry anyway because you just ate! Plus not hungry for the midnight buffets or midnight dessert either. Not being hungry enough to eat again really didn't bother us- but being late or having to rush like crazy to deck parties wasn't all that fun...
And for us we rushed back anyway for the shows (before dinner) on the first cruise and ended up missing quite a few of the shows all together on the 2nd cruise. So I'm wondering now if we had to get back and ready for early dining if we would then for sure see the shows... probably. So that's something to consider and whether or not you don't mind missing the shows.
As for excursions that might be during early dining times- there are other options so you could skip that night in the dining room. (but a good tip is to let your servers know, especially if you're at a table with others, so they don't make everyone wait on you for awhile until they are sure you aren't coming. Better to let them know in advance your plans to not be there that night-- just as a courtesy to them and your tablemates)
And yet another thing- it seemed the shows had a lot more seating available at the earlier time (with late dining) than the later show (with early dining). I assume that is because more people with kids have early dining and more of them are interested in seeing the shows with their families? Just a note about that- not sure if you care if you see the shows at all or whether or not how crowded they are matters to you. Just saying the early shows there were always plenty of seats even if we were late- but we saw huge lines for the later show after early dining... and heard it was crowded complete with problems with people saving seats/etc. LOL)
so basically I think either way has it's benefits and it's "problems" to work around... it all boils down to what matters to you the most. Just note that if it has to do with hurrying- you'd still be hurrying to the shows before late dining unless you don't mind missing the shows, if you have kids the fun activities tend to be during late dining, and late dining tends to have you rushing to any evening activities in the clubs, deck parties, buffets, etc. after eating. If all things considered- nothing else bothers you but eating at the time you're used to- then go with that time.
