Three dining times coming

[Dug720]

Each family has their own table.

As numbers increase, the odds of them giving every party its own table decreases, so I would not count on this being true 100% going forward.

 

[LambertLion]

I would love 3 dinner seating options. The meals last WAY too long in my opinion. We are usually ready to go well within an hour, if the wait staff is moving along with us. Also, less crowded meal times are great with me too. My family is not looking to linger over dinner with so much else going on throughout the ship.

 

[katmigordon]

See? This could actually work for us if they let the last seating of the night linger - we LIKE lingering over dinner, but hate missing anything else going on on board. With the late, late seating maybe we could have the best of both worlds - and something to do when the rest of the ship is settling to sleep.

I would love 3 dinner seating options. The meals last WAY too long in my opinion. We are usually ready to go well within an hour, if the wait staff is moving along with us. Also, less crowded meal times are great with me too. My family is not looking to linger over dinner with so much else going on throughout the ship.

 

[tvguy]

I would love 3 dinner seating options. The meals last WAY too long in my opinion. We are usually ready to go well within an hour, if the wait staff is moving along with us. Also, less crowded meal times are great with me too. My family is not looking to linger over dinner with so much else going on throughout the ship.

LOL. You would have really hated my first cruise. One seating at 6 pm, and dinner was a 3 1/2 hour 12 course show. Cruising sure has changed. THAT type of situation used to be the norm.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We are usually ready to go well within an hour, if the wait staff is moving along with us.

I'd rather see them just open Cabana's every night for the people who want to chew and screw.

 

[Lilsia]

I think that on a cruise that is more family focused, having a dinner seating that is not dragged out makes sense. I would not mind if they had a 3rd seating earlier that puts the food out faster for those who want that. Especially those with little kids. Nobody sits for hours at home for their meals so I don't know why it is such a strange concept to not do so at a restaurant. But I would also feel like adding a third dinner service would be too much for the staff. They run their behinds off as it is. I can't imagine if they have to do it 3 times a night instead of 2. I also would never linger at the end of the night and make the servers work longer. We are more then capable of going somewhere else on the ship to finish our conversation. Maybe because I have actually worked closing shift in restaurants and know what it is like to have people not wanting to leave. You are so exhausted at the end of the night and just want to go to bed.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I think that on a cruise that is more family focused, having a dinner seating that is not dragged out makes sense. I would not mind if they had a 3rd seating earlier that puts the food out faster for those who want that. Especially those with little kids. Nobody sits for hours at home for their meals so I don't know why it is such a strange concept to not do so at a restaurant. But I would also feel like adding a third dinner service would be too much for the staff. They run their behinds off as it is. I can't imagine if they have to do it 3 times a night instead of 2. I also would never linger at the end of the night and make the servers work longer. We are more then capable of going somewhere else on the ship to finish our conversation. Maybe because I have actually worked closing shift in restaurants and know what it is like to have people not wanting to leave. You are so exhausted at the end of the night and just want to go to bed.

The problem with a third seating is that it forces everyone into a rushed meal. If you have a two hour window, you can order four courses or you can order an entree and then bail if that's what suits you. Two longer windows allows for both styles, while three shorter windows would force the rushed style.

 

[katmigordon]

Now see? This is why you shouldn't use words like "nobody" my family and I always linger over dinner, a habit picked up around my grandmother's dinner table. The dinner table was where we all gathered and chatted.

I think that on a cruise that is more family focused, having a dinner seating that is not dragged out makes sense. I would not mind if they had a 3rd seating earlier that puts the food out faster for those who want that. Especially those with little kids. Nobody sits for hours at home for their meals so I don't know why it is such a strange concept to not do so at a restaurant.

 

[Lilsia]

Now see? This is why you shouldn't use words like "nobody" my family and I always linger over dinner, a habit picked up around my grandmother's dinner table. The dinner table was where we all gathered and chatted.

You spend 2+ hours at the dinner table every night? Even the small children? Of course some people have family meals on the weekends that they can spend more time on. But as a rule, most people don't have the time during the week to do that. The rest of us have jobs.

 

[katmigordon]

You work at night?
And no 2+ hours is a bit much, but most folks I know call spending more than half an hour at the table "lingering". Bout 1.5 to 2 hours is just perfect for us. And of course the day of small kids is long gone in my family... but yes, when I was one of them I sat there at the table along with everyone else while we all talked about our days and current events.

You spend 2+ hours at the dinner table every night? Even the small children? Of course some people have family meals on the weekends that they can spend more time on. But as a rule, most people don't have the time during the week to do that. The rest of us have jobs.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You work at night?
And no 2+ hours is a bit much, but most folks I know call spending more than half an hour at the table "lingering". Bout 1.5 to 2 hours is just perfect for us. And of course the day of small kids is long gone in my family... but yes, when I was one of them I sat there at the table along with everyone else while we all talked about our days and current events.

My kids are 7, 4, and 2 and we've had no trouble sitting through dinner each night on two cruises in the last 6 months. So many families had iPads out in the dining room and it took all of my strength to not yeet them into the ocean.

There's pizza and chicken strips on Deck 9 if you can't sit through a meal.

 

[Kwami]

I pretty regularly spend about an hour at the dinner table every night at home. Sometimes 1.5-2 hours if there's something interesting to talk about. I don't have kids, though. I guess I wouldn't want to spend more than 30 minutes with them if I did.

The two hours (ish) meals on DCL are perfect. I would hate to see them shortened to fit in a third seating.

 

[CmdrThor]

My kids are 7, 4, and 2 and we've had no trouble sitting through dinner each night on two cruises in the last 6 months. So many families had iPads out in the dining room and it took all of my strength to not yeet them into the ocean.

There's pizza and chicken strips on Deck 9 if you can't sit through a meal.

There's pizza and chicken strips on Deck 9 if you can't stand how someone else eats dinner.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

There's pizza and chicken strips on Deck 9 if you can't stand how someone else eats dinner.

iPads don't belong in dining rooms.

 

[Lilsia]

My kids are 7, 4, and 2 and we've had no trouble sitting through dinner each night on two cruises in the last 6 months. So many families had iPads out in the dining room and it took all of my strength to not yeet them into the ocean.

There's pizza and chicken strips on Deck 9 if you can't sit through a meal.

We had no issues with it either and this was before the technology that kids have now. But I can see why some people would like a shorter dining time, especially since there are other things to do on the ship. I think a big problem is that they want to bring out the kid's food first and so the kids will eat and then get antsy and want to go. We ordered adult food for the kids and had them bring it out all together and so we ate all together.

 

[nancipants]

Two year old literally can't be expected to sit still more than five minutes. Five year olds no more than 15 minutes. My kid is pretty well-behaved in restaurants but eventually he gets bored. I could give a crap if he's looking at a phone, an iPad, reading a book, or playing with his cars, as long as he is entertaining himself, not making a fuss, and not running around the damn restaurant. Same goes for every other kid.

 

[tvguy]

You spend 2+ hours at the dinner table every night? Even the small children? Of course some people have family meals on the weekends that they can spend more time on. But as a rule, most people don't have the time during the week to do that. The rest of us have jobs.

We sure don't at home. But on a cruise, we are on vacation and it's nice to have a leisurely 2 hour meal. We always have late seating, and on our Magic cruise our son was 16 and our daughter was 12. Our son was REALLY into magic tricks and after dinner he would do some magic trick for our servers, and that snow balled into OTHER servers coming over and showing him THEIR magic tricks. A couple of days into the 7 day cruise, our table was surrounded by servers and other guests as everyone tried to one up each other. We were never out of the dining room before 10:30 pm (which is 7:30 pm at home). We'd take our walk on the top deck for a couple of hours, so plenty of time for dinner to digest. As I have mentioned before, this was our second cruise for our kids, the previous on HAL which still ha midnight buffets. On Disney, No Midnight buffet, which disappointed our kids because they got a huge kick out of going to the buffet at 1 am to get a snack, or make a trip at the carving station, before bed.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Not a fan of 3 dinner seatings. It is fine the way it is. I don't mind the crowds at dinner. Makes things interesting. This will also likely impact the live shows.

I agree completely. IT is an un-necessary step.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We had no issues with it either and this was before the technology that kids have now. But I can see why some people would like a shorter dining time, especially since there are other things to do on the ship.

I think you can get a shorter dining time by simply ordering an entrée and then being done with it. We take 1.5 to 2 hours, but that's with appetizer, plus soup or salad, plus entrée, plus desert. I have no doubt you could be in and out in 45 minutes if all you wanted was an entrée.

I think a big problem is that they want to bring out the kid's food first and so the kids will eat and then get antsy and want to go. We ordered adult food for the kids and had them bring it out all together and so we ate all together.

Not to mention that the kids food sucks. But yes, we do the same thing. The "kids food early" doesn't work for us.

 

[Lilsia]

We sure don't at home. But on a cruise, we are on vacation and it's nice to have a leisurely 2 hour meal. We always have late seating, and on our Magic cruise our son was 16 and our daughter was 12. Our son was REALLY into magic tricks and after dinner he would do some magic trick for our servers, and that snow balled into OTHER servers coming over and showing him THEIR magic tricks. A couple of days into the 7 day cruise, our table was surrounded by servers and other guests as everyone tried to one up each other. We were never out of the dining room before 10:30 pm (which is 7:30 pm at home). We'd take our walk on the top deck for a couple of hours, so plenty of time for dinner to digest. As I have mentioned before, this was our second cruise for our kids, the previous on HAL which still ha midnight buffets. On Disney, No Midnight buffet, which disappointed our kids because they got a huge kick out of going to the buffet at 1 am to get a snack, or make a trip at the carving station, before bed.

If you read through the what I said, I was referring to how people eat at home. Someone seemed to think that it was completely normal to have long, drawn out meals. My point was that the majority of people don't eat this way on a daily basis, especially with little kids. Some people are very much affected by how and when they eat. Having 1 service where they can go a bit faster and 1 where they make it a more leisurely event is not unreasonable for a cruise line that caters to kids. Of course people have times where they linger at dinner, but that is not usually an every day occurrence.