Early seating or late?

[mong1114]

I am a newbie, cruising with an 8 year old and 5 year old and am curious what seating everyone recommends? I was leaning towards the early, but the agent recommended late so we don't have to rush back from excursions to make the early dinner time, which is a good point. Anything else to consider?

[pppiglet]

Kids tire easily and would probably do better on early seating. We are all adults, but prefer early seating. We love the food, but found if we did late seating we were too full to sleep at night. Also, DCL has great little midnight snacks that we didn't get to try on our first cruise since we had late seating and were too full from dinner to try. Same thing for the Pirate buffet. Every cruise after our first, we've chosen main seating and really prefer it. We plan our excursions to be able and get back in time for dinner and it's no problem.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

We prefer early too. If we run late from an excursion, which is rare we can grab a bite at the buffet. It isnt a buffet at dinner. It is sit down accept for a salad bar and smaller menu but a good one Or just grab a leisurely pizza from room service or eat around the pool.

 

I dont mind missing a meal in the dining room if I am off having fun some where. But out of all our cruises we have only got back late once and that was not the excusrion it was rough seas had come up while we were on shore and they had people backed up getting on board the ship. The gangplank came off the ship right in front of us:eek:

 

So CM's were taking you across one at a time so we were backed way up. They couldnt even check us in as we got on board due to all the water that was coming in with the waves. The floor was covered with piles of wet towels.

 

By that is a rare occassion. We have always had early and never missed it due to having to hurry back from an excusrions.

 

we always do early excursions so we can leisurely shop in the afternoon and then return to the ship.

 

Plus when we had kids with us they would fall asleep by late dining, they barely stayed awake for early dining.:D

 

If you decide to do the late dining the have a program now for kids. Cant think of the name but you tell your wait staff you want to participate and the kids will be served immediately and a counselor will come from the kids club and take them to the club while you finish your nice leisurely dinner.

I think they allow 45 minutes to seat and feed the kids and then they are off having fun while you eat.

 

Kathy

[pixiedustdawn]

With children that young I would do early dining.

 

Don't forget to take advantage of the "dine and play" option once in a while. Your children will get their dinners first, and then shortly thereafter they will be picked up by the counselors and taken to the club. They get to have dinner with you and then get to go play until you are ready to get them for the show or what ever.

 

I saw a lot of parents utilizes this program and it seemed to work.

 

My guess is you will probably be back onboard early from the ports anyway with young ones. I have noticed Disney doesn't usually stay in the ports very late, like other cruise lines do.

 

Have a great time!!

 

Dawn

[Presentation]

Kids tire easily and would probably do better on early seating. We are all adults, but prefer early seating. We love the food, but found if we did late seating we were too full to sleep at night. Also, DCL has great little midnight snacks that we didn't get to try on our first cruise since we had late seating and were too full from dinner to try. Same thing for the Pirate buffet. Every cruise after our first, we've chosen main seating and really prefer it. We plan our excursions to be able and get back in time for dinner and it's no problem.

 

 

 

My guess is your agent does not specialize in family cruises nor has young kids.

 

The reasons to book early are stated above.

 

The reason to book late is because early is full or you having older kids / no kids. Sure, a very small % of familyies with young kids will ask for late, but late NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER fills up.

 

Even when the boat is less than full there is a waiting list for early dining.

[NancyIL]

I prefer early dining, but chose late dining for my next Disney cruise. I had early dining on my first Disney cruise, and it was rather LOUD in the dining room.

[cruise newbie127]

I got suckered on that line too. However, if you have late seating for dinner, you will want to catch the early shows - if you plan on attending. So you will have to be back at the same time (roughly) anyway.

 

One advantage for late dining is that you get to have the later breakfast time on dembarkation day.;)

[metrowon]

Early only for children that young. They will be So exhausted for a late dinner seating. You may miss some late show's though! One thing is for sure, there's plenty to eat all day long, and they won't fall asleep hungry. Whatever you decide on, I'm sure you'll haave a Great Time. Metrowon

[metrowon]

My guess is your agent does not specialize in family cruises nor has young kids.

 

The reasons to book early are stated above.

 

The reason to book late is because early is full or you having older kids / no kids. Sure, a very small % of familyies with young kids will ask for late, but late NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER fills up.

 

Even when the boat is less than full there is a waiting list for early dining.

That was a Merry Christmas! Kid's r FUN. Go LIONEL, next year. Metrowon

[mong1114]

I'm confused? You have assigned breakfast times as well? Can't you just eat whenever you want? Please advise! I feel like such a rookie with all of this! Thank you all for your help. Although I like the idea of not being rushed with the later seating, I am a realist and know my kids will be cranky at a later one. My husband is pushing for the late dinner with an early evening nap...which I know will never happen!!!

[NancyIL]

I'm confused? You have assigned breakfast times as well? Can't you just eat whenever you want? Please advise! I feel like such a rookie with all of this! Thank you all for your help. Although I like the idea of not being rushed with the later seating, I am a realist and know my kids will be cranky at a later one. My husband is pushing for the late dinner with an early evening nap...which I know will never happen!!!

 

There are assigned breakfast times only on the last morning, IF you choose to eat in the dining room. If you have early dining, you will eat in the dining room where you had dinner the previous night at about 6:30 a.m. If you have late dining, your assigned breakfast time will be later. You can also eat in the buffet whenever you want.

[LasseKjus]

Really it depends on two things, your kids bedtime and where you are from.

 

The ship will be on eastern time. If you are coming from the West Coast, early seating for you is the equivalent of eating dinner at 3:30. That's a little early.

 

For those on the east coast, it's the same, 6:30, a more reasonable dinner time.

 

However, I find that the pool clears out at about 5 and those with late seating are left to the pool by themselves. Course, the Disney shows also get in that time slot.

 

I've taken 10 cruises, 7 with my children who now age 6, 3, 1. Late seating always. But we usually eat at 9 p.m. after the oldest gets home from gymnastics practice. But on Disney, the 6 p.m. show leads to 8:15 dinner. Otherwise, the 6 p.m. dinner leads to the 8:15 show. Depends on which you value more. The shows (or empty pool time) or dinner.

[Host Mick]

There are assigned breakfast times only on the last morning, IF you choose to eat in the dining room. If you have early dining, you will eat in the dining room where you had dinner the previous night at about 6:30 a.m. If you have late dining, your assigned breakfast time will be later. You can also eat in the buffet whenever you want.

 

They're not enforced and you don't get your regular servers (unless you seek them out) so eat and disembark when you like.

[mong1114]

Really it depends on two things, your kids bedtime and where you are from.

 

The ship will be on eastern time. If you are coming from the West Coast, early seating for you is the equivalent of eating dinner at 3:30. That's a little early.

 

For those on the east coast, it's the same, 6:30, a more reasonable dinner time.

 

However, I find that the pool clears out at about 5 and those with late seating are left to the pool by themselves. Course, the Disney shows also get in that time slot.

 

I've taken 10 cruises, 7 with my children who now age 6, 3, 1. Late seating always. But we usually eat at 9 p.m. after the oldest gets home from gymnastics practice. But on Disney, the 6 p.m. show leads to 8:15 dinner. Otherwise, the 6 p.m. dinner leads to the 8:15 show. Depends on which you value more. The shows (or empty pool time) or dinner.

 

Good point...my kids eat at 8:30 some nights, after football practice, so they are used to eating late. They told us the early seating is 5:45...6:30 wouldn't even be that bad, but 5:45 is early! Well, my hope is that my kids will be so tired they will sleep in a little bit and not get up at 6:30am (like at home!!!), so bedtime will not matter so much!

[akeogh]

I have cruised on 4 Disney cruises, 3 of them with my children. We always booked early seating until this last cruise. Because we booked only 3 months before sailing, the main seating was sold out and we had to take the late dinner seating. My kids were 8, 5 and 3 at the time, and I figured, OK, sometimes we eat late at home. Well! My whole family never made it to a single late seating together. They were so exhausted from the kids clubs and the overwhelming nature of it all, that by 8pm, they wanted to be in pjs in the cabin, not getting their hair brushed to go sit down to a 1 1/2 hour meal (yes, the meals can take that long from start to finish). It was such a mistake! Even my husband was too tired to eat starting at 8:00 at night. So, he told me he would go back with the kids to the room and order in room service. I felt so disappointed because I wanted us to all enjoy the different dining rooms, and the experience of it all together, but the only one who had any energy or interest in going was me! I went one night by myself, because it was Animator's Palate (my favorite) and everyone else wanted to either hang out in the kids club or go back to the room to get in pjs. We were paired with another family of 5 at a long table, and they were like, "Where is your family?" It was the 5 of them and then, space-space-space-space-ME! There was one night where we brought our 3 year old, and left the other 2 kids in the kids clubs, and we had to make a bed for her across her siblings' empty chairs with the dinner napkins and she fell asleep. In fact, the people at our table met two of my children for the first time at the disembark breakfast, and we were all introducing ourselves to each other. A little embarassing. The whole late dinner thing just didn't work for my family as a whole. And it threw off the feel-good feeling of the trip in the evening...even though we did love our trip, don't get me wrong. I think your travel agent is encouraging the late seating because either (1) main seating wasn't left; or (2) maybe there is some sort of mouske-encouragement to book late diners. In any case, there is a reason why everyone wants early seatings! Since you have kids, you would be taking a big risk with late night seatings. If there is only late seating as a choice, then change your booking to a different week, IMHO.

[calmpets]

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and disagree with everyone. Sort of. On DCL you either have dinner followed by a show, or a show followed by dinner. So, if you have early dining you will eat at 5:45, and then afterward you will go to the main show. If you have late seating you will go to the 6:15 show and have dinner at 8:15. Both evenings take about the same length of time. Personally if I were traveling with kids I would rather they miss the dinner than the show, since there are plenty of other food options available to get them fed dinner (Topsiders, quick serve, room service, etc.), but you know your own kids best. What would they enjoy more? If they can't make it past 8pm, they'll be missing one or the other. Would they be happier with a quick burger followed by a fabulous stage show, or a fancy dinner and no show?

[cobbmom123]

We did late dining when my daughter was 3 and it was PERFECT. She loved, loved, loved the kids club. So we'd get her a bite to eat earlier, send her off to kids club where she usually watched a movie and fell asleep and we enjoyed a nice supper. She actually requested to "go to bed" in the kids club. So we would have our nice meal and enjoy after dinner drinks or a quiet walk around deck or whatever else was going on knowing she was content and well-cared for. We didn't have to rush back to get her and when we did go pick her up she'd be asleep and we could just carry her back to the room and plop her in her bed. She loved this arrangement!!!

[mong1114]

Do they have a place in the kids club for them to sleep? Or is it that some kids just crash? And is there any babysitting in the cabins for a fee? Also, my neighbor told me to stick with the early dining and if we get on board, we can always switch to later dining if we find it is not working for us because late is always available. Is that true? Do they frown upon that? Thanks all! So much to think about and I overanalyze everything!

[pixiedustdawn]

Do they have a place in the kids club for them to sleep? Or is it that some kids just crash? They have bean type bags in the older kids club and covered mats in the younger kids club for the kids to "crash on". I have not seen a completely separate area for naps or sleeping. They will make sure they are out of harms way if all the other children are running around. And is there any babysitting in the cabins for a fee? Not that I have ever been aware of. Also, my neighbor told me to stick with the early dining and if we get on board, we can always switch to later dining if we find it is not working for us because late is always available. Is that true? Yes, get early dining and switch if you are miserable with it later. Disney wants you to be happy. They also probably have another family in late that would like to be moved to early. They will let you know if they can do it or not. Of course, they would rather leave it the way it was, but if you are miserable, they will take care of you. Do they frown upon that? The only problem I would for see is if you are switching just for the heck of it. Or, I have seen people switch on the last night, just to get a later breakfast on debarkation day. It isn't very fair to the servers then. Thanks all! So much to think about and I overanalyze everything!

 

 

Have fun and enjoy your cruise!

 

Dawn

[cobbmom123]

when we went on wonder, in the evening they'd settle the kids down, turn the lights way down and put on a movie. The kids had mats on the floor to lay down on and watch the movie. All were asleep when we would pick up our daughter. This was the younger age group (my daughter was 3 at the time), I am not sure how it worked for the older group.

[cruiserbryce]

we enjoy late seating as well...this way we get more time in port and dont need to worry about missing dinner. Really just depends what is important to you. I have seen some young ones on board before that probably should have done early b/c they were a little tired and cranky by the time late seating came

[Tak8]

When do you normally eat dinner early or late? I would stay close to your normal routine. I like early, because we tend to eat about 6. Also my DS was 7 on our Disney cruise and it worked well to eat early then let him have some fun in the kids club while we enjoyed a little adult time.

[grand isle joe]

When do you normally eat dinner early or late? I would stay close to your normal routine. I like early, because we tend to eat about 6. Also my DS was 7 on our Disney cruise and it worked well to eat early then let him have some fun in the kids club while we enjoyed a little adult time.

 

Great minds think alike.:D Couldn't agree more.

[travelgyalrox]

I found I was tooo full to enjoy dinner on my early seating. But we had to because my brother was only 4.

[NancyIL]

Since this thread was bumped up - I'll mention that I did NOT care for late dining on my Disney cruise in December.