One of our favorite things about cruising is having the same staff at dinner that get to know you, anticipate what you like and always remember our names. And we've always done late dining. It's closer to the time we eat at home, we have 2 teenage boys so we all end up staying up late on vacation and our traditional cruising schedule has been comedy club and dinner together, then the boys go to their club and we go to the big show.
But the last 2 cruises, the schedule has made it almost impossible to make the late show. We just got off the Panorama and the shows were starting at 9:15, some even started at 9. Even if we rushed through eating (which is not the point of eating in the mdr) the earliest we ever got done with dinner was 9:30 and that was on the night we were in Puerto vallarta and our wait staff only had 2 tables. Most of the 7:30 comedy shows were also 18+ only shows so we weren't able to go to any but 1 pre dinner comedy show.
Also our room steward was off work at 8. (Rightfully so, I'm not faulting that the stewards need to be off the clock) We've always chosen evening cleaning and our room was straightened up during dinner. But since he was done at 8 we had to be out of our rooms by 6:45 ish when we'd normally be getting spiffy for dinner. It was awkward to have to rush getting ready, especially on port days, and our steward standing outside our door waiting for us to leave. We usually just ended up sitting around the ship somewhere because we don't really drink and weren't able to attend any of the entertainment.
If you prefer late dining how have you been able to work in other activities in the evening? I don't remember this being an issue at all prior to our last 2 cruises. They were both on vista class ships. I'm afraid we may have to make the switch to any time dining. 😞