Waitlisted for early dinner

[Ladyhawke10]

We were waitlisted for the early dinner. Has anyone done the late dinner? I was thinking of not eating dinner and just going to show early, but are the dinners in the dining room something not to miss? I just can't imagine eating that late so we were thinking of just skipping it or getting room service earlier or something. Has anyone done this? This is our first cruise.
Marilyn

 

[NYGiantsRule!]

We have had early dinner once and late dinner twice. We prefer late. My DS are 11 and 14 so that may make a difference. The shows are performed twice each night. The 6:30 shows are for those who have late seating and the 8:30 shows are for the early dinner people. We like not having to rush back and get ready for dinner at 5PM. Sometimes we go to the show in casual clothes and then go back and change for dinner in the hour between the end of the show and 8:30 dinner.

 

[The4OfUs]

I would definitely choose late again...I can't imagine sitting down to a show after a huge meal and a couple of drinks, I'd be snoozing! It was nice to see the show, go back to the room, change, go eat, and then have the rest of the evening free, AND it helped me stay awake to go do things later at night, because just as dinner ended for us, new "adult" (and even some family) things were starting. *grin*

(Yes, I'm a very old 37 yr old... *sigh*)

 

[Ladyhawke10]

Is the dinner ready at 8:30--or are you seated at 8:30 and eat closer to 9? My 5 year old usually goes to bed at 9, that's why we were thinking of just skipping dinner; however, maybe its not worth it to book a cruise when you can't make the dinner.... Also, do children tend to stay up later on the cruises? I'm thinking maybe w/ all the excitement he'll be more of a nightowl (and me, too--I usually get up at 6 and am asleep by 10...). Are there evening activities that will encourage us to stay up (I'm a single mom w/ 5 year old...so I'm just eligble for family stuff...no babysitter w/ our party for me to go out...)

 

[The4OfUs]

I'm in bed by 9 every night, as are my 10 and 11 yr old...and up around 5...but on the cruise, it was a totally different time. We normally eat dinner around 5:30pm, and thought that the 8:30 would be too late, but what with room service snacks (a cheese tray with a nice drink in the cabin to relax for example), and all the food constantly available, we were fine waiting! Honestly, we didn't once eat "lunch" on board, never once...breakfast, then we grazed all day until dinner!

You're seated at 8:30, and the food starts coming your way quickly from that point on...

And yes, even small children seemed to be awake much longer than usual - they have activities in the kids club until ~1am, and family things (like family 70s night dancing) until about 10:15 or so...so there was plenty to keep us all going. I think that saved me from gaining more weight than I did, if I had had early seating I would have more than likely been asleep faster, and not walking/dancing/laughing all that food off like I did!

 

[crisi]

We had early dinner and someone was usually in bed shortly after nine, so late nights aren't universal. But my daughter loved the clubs, particularly the late night movies, so someone had to stay awake to pick up a sleeping four year old from the clubs around 10:15.

With late seating, you may want to take advantage of the clubs and the "eat twice" option. Eat at 6:00 with your kids at one of the other dining options. See the 6:30 show with your kids, check them into the kids club and go enjoy dinner. A five year old is not going to enjoy a 90 minute dining experience anyway. Pick up the kids after dinner.

The problem with early dining is that we didn't make it to the late show with kids. As they enjoyed the shows (we saw matinees when offered) more than eating out in fancy restaurant (they dined with the clubs twice anyway), late seating may have worked just as well.

 

[makaylee]

A five year old is not going to enjoy a 90 minute dining experience anyway.
[/B]

This is not true for all 5 year olds. Our dd did great at every dinner. Our servers kept her intertained along with the other child at our table. We went during the school year so she was used to going to bed early, but she had no problem on the ship. She even asked to go to the kids club after dinner afew times. It think it depends on your child. More than likely there will be at least one more child at your table to help entertain yours. Please do not miss the wonderful dinners because of this, try it at least once and see how it goes.

 

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

Marilyn - You may very well end up with early dinner seating.
We were also waitlisted for early dinner when we reserved our cruise, and found out upon checking in that we had gotten early dinner. Until that time, we expected to have late seating and I'm sure we would have been fine with it. I definitely would recommend eating in the dining room, regardless of the time. It is a fun part of the cruise experience.

 

[BMURPHY02]

Marilyn: did you book thru a travel agent have them call dcl and ask for the seating corinator for the magic or wonder and ask her to change your times. i have a grouop of 13 going in 7/3/04 i tried for weeks to get it switched and i call my ta and in 5 min she call me back and said no problem you have the first seating and if all else fails get onto the ship as quick as possable and go and get the time switched good luck

 

[crisi]

makaylee

Of course you're right. Some children will enjoy a 90 minute dinner - and DCL is great at keeping the dinner moving so the kids don't go too nuts. Our kids did great through the two dinners we took them to - but it seems many kids prefer being in the clubs anyway. So late dinner may not be a tragedy.

 

[tvguy]

You can always take a quick nap in the afternoon. That's what we do at Disneyland, in the park at 8 am, out from about 2 pm, back in about 4:30 pm until closing. But kids adapt very easily with the huge number of things to do on the ship, so if they get cranky, get them a burger or slice of pizza, or a cup of ice cream, and I'll bet your kids will do fine.
I'm on the West coast, and even on an Alaskan cruise we had late seating. But with our kids active life style, (it's 7:45 pm as I write this, and dinner is in the oven), we often don't eat dinner until 7:30 or 8 pm.......so late seating in the Caribbean, is like eating dinner two hours early for our body clocks!!!!

 

[Bbgrizzle]

Our first cruise we did not bring our kids, so we loved late seating. Our second cruise, we requested late dining again, even though we were bringing our kids. We figured that since we live on the west coast, with the time change and everything, late seating would be better. Then the more we thought about it, the more we wanted early. We were put on the waiting list, but that wasn't why we ended up with early seating. Some other DIS-ers on our cruise, who were in a category 3 concierge room, had our dining reservations linked to theirs, so that's how we ended up with early seating. We were really glad they were willing to do that. (And not just because thru them we were able to book our Palo reservations before leaving home!). Our kids wouldn't have enjoyed the late seating (especially our two-year-old!). If your kids are older, they might do well with the late seating though.

 

[Madaboutthemouse2004]

We had early seating and it interferred with some of the later excursion times.

 

[2xcruiser]

We just returned from a 4 day in early March '04. We booked at the last minute, so we ended up with late seating - our kids (4 and 7) are early-to-bed kids, so the late seating was not our first choice. We put our name on the wait list at guest services, but were told it is difficult to switch because early seating is very popular.

We decided to just go to dinner at the early seating, and ask if there were any openings. The manager was more than happy to seat us, and told us that there are always people opting to eat at Palo's (adult resturant) on any given night, so there is almost always an open table.

Further, he said that most people don't go through the formal wait list to get reseated, but simply ask him or the other resturant managers - so they are the ones who know what tables are open and how they can make it happen. He was able to permantly switch us. Can't gurantee that this will work for you, but it worked out well for us.

I would strongly recommend that you attend as many meals as you can. The servers go out of their way to make things fun for the kids (magic tricks, jokes, etc.), and this is a very memorable part of the cruise.