Would you book if there was only late seating left?

[Suzanne74]

We have decided to go ahead and try and book a disney cruise after doing lots of research (thank you all!!) Well, when we checked, all of the Sept 2005 7 night cruises are already on waitlists for early dinner seating. Whew, you dinsey cruise fans sure book early!!

So would you try and rebook for a similar cruise later on (maybe early Dec or May 2006 when prices are similar) and try to get early seating or would you just book now and either hoped to get changed once onboard or just it enjoy it as best you can?? This price is really good but there are some similar prices in early Dec or early May 06. I just don't think I can wait that long - I am so excited already!!!

My dd will just be turning 4 then - she can stay up late well, esp with naps and is a solid sleeper but everynight might be tough and I hate to already set ourselves up with potential problems

Has anyone else had this problem with preschoolers and late seating - am I looking too much into this??

Thanks in advance!!

 

[newfamilyman]

We are going on one of the West Coast cruises in August and after reading many disastrous reports of families with young children who were relegated to late seatings, I was getting very worried. However, I found through these boards in the Cruise Meets section a family who was lucky enough to have early seating, and they agreed to have our dining reservations linked, so bingo, early seating for us too! That's one way to get around the problem.

 

[depomas]

Been there done it. And now having had early seating on our last cruise, will never do it again....Too rushed..With all the food during the day we had to push ourselves to be hungry for the late seating, but, once the food arrived...

Nothing would stop me from cruising whenever I could..

 

[Mumph39]

When I went on my 1st cruise, my son was 4. We had late seating. At first I thought we would hate eating that late, but it turned out we loved the seating. We didn't feel the rush to be back for dinner when we were in port. Turns out we now request late seating because it works for us. If the cruise you really want has only late seating, I would book and hope you can change once on board or get on a waiting list. Others may cancel 90 days out who have early seating.

 

[sopandbass]

We have a 4-year-old and we had late seating on a 4-night Wonder cruise last April and then we had main seating on a 7-night Eastern Magic cruise this past January.

To be truthful, there are advantages and disadvantages to both but our DD was fine both times. She was still napping regularly when we went in April so she was fine for the most part (she did eat dinner with the Oceaneers' Club kids one evening). Main seating was fun for her because she had a tablemate her same age and they got along really well. That being said, they both had meltdowns during dinner on the same night as well. Main seating does not guarantee a stress-free dinner.

Don't be afraid of Late Seating. I guess it really depends on your lifestyle and when you normally eat dinner. We have wacky schedules so we didn't feel disrupted by eating later. And we enjoyed going to the show before we ate in April and she stayed awake through late shows in January.

Okay, so I'm not much help when it comes to making your decision. I guess my real point is that for the most part, I think either dining time is okay and you can make it work either way.

 

[KMovies]

Second seating has one big advantage - the shows are at 6:30 PM.

First seating has the 8:30 PM show time - and the kids may fall asleep during the shows.

Guess it is a trade off - but either way one thing is going to be late - dinner or the show.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

We've sailed every year since Feb of 2000 when DDs were 9 and 7. We had early then and then late every year after....I will NEVER book early. I have told this story many many times.....on our sailing in 2002 I was walking off and elevator sipping one of my favorite beverages going to check on DD at the internet cafe relaxing and thinkg of what a great day we had on our shoe excursions when all of the sudden I see a family of about 10....Mom, Dad kids Grandma and Grandpa running down the stairs yelling "hurry up, we are going to be late AGAIN for dinner"! Even @ CC you don't have to board the ship 'till 4:00 or so. then a trip to get some icecrean or a mixed drink, or even a walk to deck 10 to admire CC for on late time leave little time for shower (in our case 4 showers) make up, curling irons, getting dressed, then redressed.....(well you get the idea) and be downstairs before dinner.....and what if you want some pics?

 

[Suzanne74]

newfamilyman - you mean that party can call up and add more people to their dining party? We are only a group of 3 so that might be pretty easy - to add us on somewhere. Do I go around and post how nice we are - please take us, please take us!!! Seriously though if that works, I just might do that!

Oh, another thing for everyone - the disney main theater shows are shown BEFORE we seat - right? My TA told me that when she was talking to the receptionist when holding the cruise for me that she kept saying there are these 40min kid plays around 6 or 6:30pm that you can go to if you have late seating. Neither one of us had heard about that - I just thought she meant the main theater shows. Is there something else?

 

[gshoemate]

We prefer late seating. Our DS who was 2 during our last 2 cruises never had an issue in the dining room. Good food and entertainment from the staff......what could be better. You could take it night by night and if you have any problems you can always take your DD to the club and then come back and finish your meal.

 

[suesings]

Hi,
We are going on our first DC in May with our two DDs. One will be just turned 22 months and the other just turned 5. Both have 8 or 8:30 PM bedtimes normally. I am wondering if the families who have had no problems with their children eating so late have bedtimes for their children. I would think that would make a big difference. We have neighbors who have two little ones 2 & 3 who have no bedtime at all. Up at 11:30 PM!! So obviously those children would have no problem with an 8:30 PM dinner.

Do you think this is the case with the people who love late seating with children or are things just different for the kids on the boat??

Thanks,

 

[joanb]

YES! I love late seating.

 

[jel0511]

My kids will be 7 and 4 when we sail in July and we currently have late seating. I booked knowing all that was left was late seating, but I do hope for early seating. I can also relate to the rushing around feeling associated with Early, since we felt it every day. But with my kids ages, and their usual bedtime is 8:30, the latest they can last on a cruise is 10PM. So, late seating does end up being too late for us. But, if we don't get early, I'll somehow make it work. Maybe we'll eat a lot in Topsiders, the kids can also eat in the clubs a few nights, so there are ways to make it work...... Since this is our second cruise in 7 months, I really don't care about missing formal night and probably won't even bring clothes for it. DH and I are probably going to try to eat at Palo's that night anyway.

 

[bytheblood]

We did the 8:30 seating with a 5-year-old and it was fine for us. There were very few small children in there while we were dining, so that was no whining for us.

The only downside was that our daughter could not stay awake during some of the shows.

 

[goofyshell]

I loved late seating and am doing it on our seven-day in December!!

Suesings-My daughter was barely three (by two days! Cost me $300!) when we cruised and her regular bedtime was 8-8:30. She did fine with the late time. She did take naps every afternoon. The only meltdown we had was over a character who appeared in the restraunt!

I think if your child is fairly adaptable, they'll do fine with late. If they are strict to their schedules, maybe it would be harder. I agree with the above poster who said they would cruise no matter what time dinner was!!

 

[goofyshell]

I loved late seating and am doing it on our seven-day in December!!

Suesings-My daughter was barely three (by two days! Cost me $300!) when we cruised and her regular bedtime was 8-8:30. She did fine with the late time. She did take naps every afternoon. The only meltdown we had was over a character who appeared in the restraunt!

I think if your child is fairly adaptable, they'll do fine with late. If they are strict to their schedules, maybe it would be harder. I agree with the above poster who said they would cruise no matter what time dinner was!!

 

[BuncoHappens]

We prefer the late seating and wouldn't book if only the early seating was available!

 

[wonderfan]

I'm also in agreement on the late seating -- we sailed in Feb and didn't mind it at all. Our sons 5 & 8 were great for last seating -- they are more mellow at that time of day anyway. Plus, we loved seeing the shows early -- the shows were better than the food anyway

Sometimes we fed them Pluto's a bit early and they just had dessert with us or snacked on fries or fruit while we ate.

Just a thought ....

 

[lbgraves]

We have had early seating for our two cruises & are hoping to be moved to early for our next one. To the person asking about booking in December for early...sorry! They are all booked too. We transferred our cruise in December for a year away & early was already full. Our kids do have a bedtime at home...DS 7:30/8 and DD by 9, thought that will change next year when she goes into Kindergarten. After dinner we always go to the shows, which last until about 9:30 and then we walk around. Of course the Pirate party goes on until after 11. We did make the kids go to the cabin around 3 to "rest" and they usually fell asleep for a decent nap. On the first cruise we actually dressed them for dinner while they slept. LOL! If we don't get to switch to early this time we figure that we will "suffer" with our fellow DIS friends & their DD since we are tablemates again.

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

We also chose late seating and are traveling with a 4-5 year old (birthday trip ) dd and 3 year old ds. The reasons being we are from the West Coast, so late there is actually closer to dinner time for us. We will be in Florida (WDW ) for 10 days before the cruise but if we play there the way we do at Disneyland that means afternoon naps and late dinners for those 10 day anyways. So I figure the kids will already be on that schedule, and if they get hungry I can fill in with snacks from the ship (dd is very excited about the ice cream shop "where you don't have to pay money and they still give you ice cream", lol).

 

[tvguy]

Second seating has one big advantage - the shows are at 6:30 PM.

First seating has the 8:30 PM show time - and the kids may fall asleep during the shows.

Guess it is a trade off - but either way one thing is going to be late - dinner or the show.

Actually, for some of us, that was the big DISADVANTAGE of late seating on Disney. This was my 8th cruise, and every other line does the show AFTER dinner, no matter what seating you have. We missed Hercules because of this, because we didn't look at the Navigator, never ever considered the show might be BEFORE dinner.

We had late seating and love it, but did not love having to rush to get ready for the show, and can not imagine getting ready in time for early seating dinner.
One great thing they did do with the Golden Mickeys was have a THIRD performance at 10:30 pm. So early or late seating folks could elect to see the show later, or for a second time.