YOUR ADVICE PLEASE -- Key West, Sunset, Late Dining

[invaderzim]

Hi, all....

I have a question for all you seasoned Western Caribbean cruisers! We have only cruised in November. This will be our first cruise where it will stay light for so long.

What did you do about watching the famous sunset at Key West if you have late dining? I'm sure it falls right around 8:30 or so. We wanted to go to the southern most point to watch it, but I guess we'll have to pick between eating and watching?

Thanks,
Cathy

 

[cgdmom]

There is a web site somewhere with the exact time of the sunset ( I'll see if I can find it) Right now in key west the sunset is around 8:20--I would think in october it would be earlier. We sail saturday and will be in keywest on sunday---we are going to blow off dinner and hang out in key west longer. (WE also did this last summer) we checked the menus and decided that we could live without going to lumiere's on sunday. We requested pla rotation when we booked our reas package so if all goes well we will not have to make any changes. You could also plan this to be your palo night and make your seating for a time that would work around the sunset. I would think though that your 8: 30 dinner would not really be a problem with an october sunset. good luck --Jill

Try keywest .com--they may be able to help with the exact timing of the sunset

 

[cgdmom]

I don't know why I thought you were sailing in oct! I just typed in sunset times ---a us navy site came up where you type in the city and date and they calculate the exact time for you--good luck!

 

[CACruiser]

We just got back from our summer western cruise.
Yep, you will have to choose between eating and sunset watching at the SMP, but you have other options too.

Eat at topsiders buffet and then go to the SMP and watch the sunset. You can also watch it from the deck. That is what we did and it was GORGEOUS. It was 4th of July, so we hung out by Goofy's pool, watched the sunset on one side and then scooted our chairs to the port side to watch the fireworks!

You can also eat in town, before or after, there were many great places to relax and consume great food and drinks.

You can ask the head waiter if there are any openings for an EARLY seating on KEY WEST night only. They will try and accomodate guests the best they can. We had early dining, but on Palo's night, the head waiter called us and asked if he could give our table to some late seating diners. I told him to give our blessing! Since Key West is the first port, try and see if you can get this ASAP.

Have a great trip, full trip report from me will be posted soon.
Lisa

 

[mrsfuzzmo]

Well.....in our planning stages, I was all worried that we would get the dining rotation where our night in AP would be the night on Key West. We spend as much time in the ports as the ship will allow. We had planned on going to Mallory Square and see the weirdos/entertainment, planned on having dinner on Key West somewhere BUT I didn't want to miss the AP show. LUCKILY, we had PLA rotation and we missed Lumieres. We had also planned and planned on where we would watch the sunset, read eveything on Ship vs. shore, Palo vs deck, etc. We had such a great time walking down Duval, having a few cocktails, visiting the Garden of Eden, Eating in a WONDERFUL restaraunt that we just happened upon, spending hours in a sing-a-long at Sloppy Joes and Irish Kevin's and finishing up the evening in Hog's Breath.....We missed it all. Mallory Square, Sunset, all that we had planned for....and you know what??? It was one of the most fun nights of the cruise. Way better, in my opinion that doing the things we had planned, mostly because it was impromptu, and a complete BLAST! We wouldn't have traded that night for any sunset. (But we are going back to Key West for a week in October, so I'm sure we will see at least one!?!?).

Moral is....just don't over plan anything. What may sound dissappointing to you now (missing the sunset) may actually be something more fun! Be open and flexible and have a great time!

Mrsfuzzmo

PS - Now that we've done it....I'd skip the AP show for dinner in KW anyday!

 

[invaderzim]

mrsfuzzmo

I agree -- too much over planning can cause some real disappointments and too much stress!

AP is our least favorite restaurant. PC is our favorite, followed by Palo's and then Lumiere's. We arranged it this time so we have APL rotation. That way we have Lumiere's on formal nights, and AP three times so that we can do Palo's on one AP night and maybe room service or buffet on the other AP night.

Thanks for the info.

 

[mmouse37]

Don't over plan...what if it rains???

There are so many beautiful sunsets on a cruise that we missed the Key West sunset once and didn't feel cheated in the least. Some of the best sunsets were at sea. The one time we did catch the KW sunset is wasn't anything more special than other sunsets I have seen.

MJ

 

[disneyfan551]

Are there any other DISer's that would recommend skipping dinner on the ship to stay and enjoy the restaurants & sunset at Key West? I'm so confused?!

 

[mouseclick1]

Our last cruise was the '04 Easter cruise. The sunset was somewhere around 8:00 that night. We booked a 9:00 reservation at Palo so we would have time to walk around Mallory Square, enjoy the sunset and not feel rushed. We ended up with plenty of time, and could have even made our regular dinner seating (we had late). In fact, our boys did go to dinner without us and were there on time. We called Palo and asked if we could come a little early - they said no problem. It was a great evening!

 

[lbgraves]

LOL! I wonder how many people are going to be surprised this year when DLST is changed. It is just waiting for the President's signature. It will be the last weekend in November now & start in March next year instead of April.

 

[OurDogCisco]

We cruised in May 2004 and did the sunset sail out into the ocean and had late seating. I believe, on that particular cruise late seating was 8:30. I can't remember because it was at a different time than usual. Anyways, I believe we were like only 5 minutes late for our dinner. However, we weren't dressed up for dinner since we were so late. I thought, the sunset at that time was around 7:30 ish however, it did take time for the sailboat to dock and the bus to pick us up, etc... I'd would think in November the sunset would be early in the evening...

Tina

 

[lbgraves]

DH went up on deck 10 to take pictures of the sunset before early seating on our December cruise.

 

[scrapperjill]

LOL! I wonder how many people are going to be surprised this year when DLST is changed. It is just waiting for the President's signature. It will be the last weekend in November now & start in March next year instead of April.

If you don't mind me asking...what are you talking about? What is DLST?

 

[karenb33]

I read this online @ USA Today:

Daylight-saving would start three weeks earlier than usual, the second Sunday of March, and end a week later, the second Sunday of November.