Which do you prefer ???

[Debbie Torres]

Late or Early Dining ???? I have had late dining on my two Disney Cruises . Now, for my third we were able to get main dining . Now I am second guessing myself . My DH is thrilled but DD is not so sure . She says she enjoys the show before dinner.

So share your thoughts .

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Late or Early Dining ???? I have had late dining on my two Disney Cruises . Now, for my third we were able to get main dining . Now I am second guessing myself . My DH is thrilled but DD is not so sure . She says she enjoys the show before dinner.

So share your thoughts .

We prefer early dining, with show afterward. Mostly, because we're fairly "early to bed" types, and eating that late is hard on our tummies.

We've done late dining on a few cruises. For the Med, since many of our excursions (port heavy itinerary) were late back to the ship.

There are others who love late with the show first.

No right or wrong answer.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

Only bc i can't go to bed on a full stomach and we normally eat around 5pm anyhow. ... Early for us! It is tough on port excursion days, though!

 

[WeLoveDisneyAlways]

I wish they'd do early dining at 430-5, I find even after 6 very late, having an earlier first dining would allow second seating to be more reasonable time. I thought about booking late dining this cruise and skipping the MDRs all together to allow us to see the earlier shows since I've ever only seen 1 show in 2 cruises. Doing this would allow us to eat at multiple locations/room service but you can't change your showtimes

 

[ktb2002]

My son and I used to only do early dining. We now actually prefer second seating. It's nice not having to rush to get ready for dinner on a port day, on longer cruises we skip MDR 1 night and take advantage of almost empty pool but that is also because we skip the shows a lot since we've seen them so many times.

 

[Aby]

2 adults here - we prefer late dining because with all the great breakfast, lunch, and snack offerings there is no way we'd be ready to eat dinner at the main dining time. Also, we prefer not to have to rush to get ready after a day in port. For each family there will be different preferences...in 2018 we will be travelling with a family with two young children and we assume they will want main dining - we're certainly open to try, maybe we'll change our minds, who knows!

Aby

 

[xlxo]

I guess it depends on where you cruising what time and time zone you normally eat.

I like the 2nd feeding.

• more time in port, have a local snack before reboarding and let it settle (eg Crab shack).
• 2nd feeding is less crowded and rushed, it feels more relaxing
• clothes are cleaner for shows and photos as you eat after the show
• kids are taken to the evening program right after the meal
• if you have a cabin near a busy elevator, being a night owl and sleeping after midnight means the corridor is quieter
• you get to sleep in an extra hour on debarkation morning for the 2nd breakfast.
  • more time to pack
  • get to relax and wait in the dining room for your assigned debarkation time
  • really important on Alaskan cruises because all the posted times are Pacific Daylight savings..... you LOSE an hour of sleep leaving Alaskan time the night before

 

[wilkeliza]

Late.

More time in port, I don't have to rush on formal and semi-formal night, I can enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail int he mostly empty lounges, never feel rushed in our meal because they is no one after, and we eat late anyways. I'd be starving at bedtime if I ate at 5pm.

 

[Dug720]

Late. More time to chill after a port day. Time to finish getting ready between the show and dinner if necessary - or more time to just relax if you skip the show.

 

[Geomom]

I suggest doing whatever time is closest to your normal dinner time. For us, that's main seating. We can't eat a full meal after 8PM.

 

[mevelandry]

Late or Early Dining ???? I have had late dining on my two Disney Cruises . Now, for my third we were able to get main dining . Now I am second guessing myself . My DH is thrilled but DD is not so sure . She says she enjoys the show before dinner.

So share your thoughts .

Having been stuck with Late dining twice, I did not like the fact that I was ready to go to bed right after dinner (we're 5:00 AM -10:00 PM kind of people) the first time we were sleeping during the fireworks. The second time we stayed up but I was exhausted and cranky and it took forever to get to the stairs (forget the elevators!) after the pirate show/fireworks.

We we have done our Carnival cruise we had dinner earlier and it felt much more natural for us.

For our upcoming DCL cruise, we have first seating and I can't wait...

 

[Justacruiser]

We like main dining. Port adventures rarely impact our main dinner time. The second dine is just to late for us. It can be about 10 pm before we get out.

I actually having the main dining, going to the show and then grabbing a piece of pizza or some great fries on the upper deck before dinner.

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

We like main. Going show after dinner.

 

[cantontrebor]

We have settled on the late dining option. Can't verify it but it appears there are less small children at the later time and this makes it a little less noisy.

No offense to families with younger children but my kids are teens and they (with Mom) have settled on the late dining. I don't get much of a say...until i the credit card needs to be paid after the cruise.

 

[AquaDame]

Early - I don't consider going to bed at 10-11 late but my body is still stuffed if I eat 8-9. I don't do that at home either... way too hungry at 6-7. Eating before I eat dinner makes no sense to me either.. I don't want to put weight on!

 

[M<3'sMickey]

We always book the second seating. We're late eaters at home, what with getting out of work late and trying to get to the gym, etc. Plus if I'm eating lunch at 12:30/1:00 I'm not hungry by the early dining time and I want to be hungry. Additionally, I don't want to cut my time short at the pool or in the ports to rush back to the room to get ready to be at dinner. I much prefer a leisurely pace when it comes to getting ready and eating dinner.

 

[CamColt]

We prefer late dining. While at home we eat early and I am in bed very early, on a cruise I'm up much later, and I don't want to rush the afternoon, evening. And quite honestly, most time by dinner time, I'm not even hungry as I've been munching all day.

 

[jetskigrl]

We prefer late dining since our hours seems to shift on vacation. We like to sleep in later (except when we have excursions planned) and usually don't go to bed before midnight. So late dining allows us to have a later breakfast and lunch. Works great for us.

The time zones have never made much of a difference for us either. We adjust to the time zone we are in after the first day anyway.

 

[karin6996]

For us it depends on the length of the cruise.

For short cruises we like early dining. That way we can enjoy the pirate buffet and late night snacks in the clubs. We also feel like the servers move through early seating quicker and you spend less time in the dining room. When it's a short cruise, we want to maximize our ship time.

For longer cruises we like late dining. We feel like we have more time to relax and enjoy the meal without feeling like we're missing something else.

 

[abja09]

We prefer early dining at that is when we normally eat at home. We are not late night people and 8:30 at night is just too late for us to eat. We never feel rushed to get to the dining room for the early seating.