When to eat in Alaska?

[mrbudyhed]

I have experienced both main and late dining on DCL. I don't necessarily prefer one over the other--maybe I need to take more cruises to form a solid opinion? Anyway, I picked main dining for Alaska cruise July 2016 because for the warmer cruises this seems to be the seating that is more difficult to get, and I figured I could change it later if I wanted. But with Alaska, is late dining better because there is so much to see and it stays light so long? Does it really matter? Thanks for any opinions!

 

[dclpluto]

I have experienced both main and late dining on DCL. I don't necessarily prefer one over the other--maybe I need to take more cruises to form a solid opinion? Anyway, I picked main dining for Alaska cruise July 2016 because for the warmer cruises this seems to be the seating that is more difficult to get, and I figured I could change it later if I wanted. But with Alaska, is late dining better because there is so much to see and it stays light so long? Does it really matter? Thanks for any opinions!

Main seating is always the most popular doesn't matter what cruise it is.

 

[xlxo]

Agreed... main seating is the first to go. Especially by those who want to feed closer to their native time zone.

I love late dining....

• watch the earlier show without food stains
• can have a larger snack at the port restaurants (eg Tracy's Crab shack)
• more port time!
• great for night owls
• not as rushed
• some enjoy the kid's staff coming to the dining room to fetch the kids for the evening program
• you get to sleep in and enjoy the later debarkation breakfast. Important because the debarkation breakfast is MOVED one hour earlier because of the time zone change! The later breakfast means I can wait comfortably in the dining room waiting for my debarkation time instead of wandering around the ship for a few hours.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I was going to mention the time zone as well. We are coming from the East Coast so for us Alaska is a definite Main Dining which is what we choose anyway. We are arriving in Vancouver 2 days ahead to adjust and luckily adjusting 3 hours is a lot easier than Europe at 6 hours.

Heather

 

[xlxo]

To clarify.... you spend most of the cruise in Alaska time.... your debarkation morning is Pacific time. What time is that first breakfast? What time do I need my luggage outside my room? What time do you want me to walk the debarkation plank? I thought cruising is supposed to be relaxing... not so on debarkation morning. That second dining/breakfast is helpful.

That 7am first breakfast, is really 6am Alaska time!

 

[cruisehopeful]

But with Alaska, is late dining better because there is so much to see and it stays light so long? Does it really matter? Thanks for any opinions!

I went in June last time and the sun set around 10:30pm. I think it will set earlier when you go. I don't think that will make any difference though in terms of choosing a time to eat. If you are on the west coast, either time should work. If you are on the east coast, you'll want early because you'll be used to it being 4 hours later. We always choose second seating, but I normally don't eat that late and often end up eating before dinner and skipping the MDR. I'd just think more about what time you normally eat and make the time adjustments for that.

 

[sdjen]

We cruised to Alaska in August. We had main dining and it was fine for us. However, in one port, all aboard time is later than main seating. On that day we had a late helicopter excursion and didn't get back on this ship until after our dinner had started. We could have gone to dinner late but we chose to dine in Beach Blanket Buffet which is sit down in the evening. We choose main dining because it works better for us. I can't eat that much so late!

 

[KristiMc]

We cruised this past June and had the second seating. Even though we are east coasters, late dining didn't bother us. Our bodies adjusted quite quickly.

 

[Saamh]

Main seating is always the most popular doesn't matter what cruise it is.

On our 2014 European cruise late seating filled up first. We had to be put on a wait list for late seating but luckily cleared about a month before the sailing. Since all aboard time was later, I think many preferred the late seating so as not to miss or rush to dinner.

 

[Heard02]

We did main dining. When we were in one of the ports, we had to rush back after a Disney excursion to make dinner time and barely made it. Sure, we knew that might have happened when we booked it but if we had it to do over again, we would choose second seating.
We found ourselves getting bored after dinner and before the shows.
Our style is to eat and go to adult entertainment.

 

[bksaffle]

You really need to look at the port times. When we went to Alaska, we were in port later and if we did main dining, we would have missed a lot of time in port. We ate second seating, and it worked well for us. We found Alaska was more casual than our other cruises, so it didn't take as long to get ready. One thing we did was scheduled Palo on Tracy Arm night for around 5:30, so we could watch as we left...it was really pretty.

 

[China Expat]

I always do late dining in Alaska because more times than not my shore excursion is not finished or just finishing by main dining...not enough time to change.