Pros & Cons of Different Dining Times

[missmacie]

Which do you prefer and why?

 

Early seating? Late seating? Or anytime dining?

 

We're both first time cruisers and completely clueless when it comes to this.

[hfweather]

Which do you prefer and why?

 

Early seating? Late seating? Or anytime dining?

 

We're both first time cruisers and completely clueless when it comes to this.

 

 

We prefer anytime because of the flexibility of going when we want. That and we cruise with a younger child so, that is good we can be alone at a table without having her bother others if she gets in a "mood."

 

If you find waiters you like on anytime you can request to have them every night, we did that last cruise.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

[Brendarudd28]

I agree. Anytime Dining is the best option for us. We don't have to rush down for early seating nor do we have to "find" things to do to keep us busy until late seating.

As the previous poster said, you're at a table for just your party members, yet close enough that you can chat with others. Also, you still get to see the singing/dancing the waiters do if you time it right. You can be seated with the same wait team each night if you choose that. You may have to wait 10 or 15 minutes, but that's no problem. They'll just give you a little remote to carry about with you that will light up when your table is ready.

[cmorie]

First time cruiser here too (but research fanatic). I've seen several reasons on here but one that helped me pick early instead of late was that people who ate late felt so full afterwards that they just wanted to sleep after dinner lol.

 

There was a waitlist for anytime dining by the time we booked but seeing as its my first cruise I kinda wanted to experience the dining experience of having the same tablemates and waiters.

 

Of course everyone is different but big meals definitely put me on the chiller side of things so we picked early seating.

[MamaParrotHead]

JMHO.

 

Early seating is good because you don't feel like immediately going to sleep after having dinner. Bad because you have to rush a bit to make it on time if you have later departure from ports.

 

Late seating is good because you don't have to rush and can have a little snack after getting back from port and take a little nap before getting ready for dinner. Bad because you feel like going to sleep after a full day of "fun in the sun" and then a big dinner.

 

Your Time Dining is good because of the flexibility. Bad because the service is severely lacking (because there aren't just "Your Time Dining" waitstaff, they're juggling service of traditional dining time tables and YTD tables and turning them over and preparing for their late seating, etc.) and (if you're into that) you have to time it exactly right to see the singing and dancing waitstaff.

 

I lean towards preferring/recommending Early Seating. But next cruise we did book YTD only because we don't plan on eating in the MDR much. Mainly because we're tired of the menu.

[Cuizer2]

Which do you prefer and why?

 

Early seating? Late seating? Or anytime dining?

 

We're both first time cruisers and completely clueless when it comes to this.

 

Then pick the time that most closely matches the time you normally eat.

[pamela30fl]

If you have children that will be involved with any of the kids programs early dinner is the only way to go. Even with anytime if you have to wait at all the kids could be late to several of the planned events for them.

If your group is adults only it is really your choice. What time might you dine at home? One thing to keep in mind if it is all adults there will be less children in the later dinner time.

Personally I really enjoy meeting my table mates and eating with them nightly. They might turn out to be future friends and people you may not have came across if you were not sat at the same table.

P.J.

[valtandc]

I was on Miracle in June. We had a group of 6 with 3 generations. We did the early seating because of older folks. I liked the fact that we walked right to our table with no wait. The later seating there were people lined up all the way from front of ship to the main lobby. Hundreds of people in line. I couldn't deal with that. No way.

[kris12]

We normally choose late, the advantage being you don't have to rush back to the ship after a port day, or start getting ready for dinner quite so early. We are going to try Anytime dining on the Magic TA mostly because with the time change we weren't sure when we would be hungry. Anytime will give us more flexibility.

[gapearl]

I prefer late seating. Sometimes you may not get back on the ship until 4 or 5 pm and you don't want to have to rush and get ready for dinner. With late seating at 8:15, I can come back from port, take a shower, a little nap, and can take my time getting ready. Because late seating isn't as popular, I've noticed on some cruises there are quite a few empty tables, and the servers seem to be more attentive. Also, I'm a night owl and take part in all the last night festivities offered on board. If you're also a night owl and have no plans of going to sleep early, I'd say do late dining.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

JMHO.

 

Early seating is good because you don't feel like immediately going to sleep after having dinner. Bad because you have to rush a bit to make it on time if you have later departure from ports.

 

Late seating is good because you don't have to rush and can have a little snack after getting back from port and take a little nap before getting ready for dinner. Bad because you feel like going to sleep after a full day of "fun in the sun" and then a big dinner.

 

Your Time Dining is good because of the flexibility. Bad because the service is severely lacking (because there aren't just "Your Time Dining" waitstaff, they're juggling service of traditional dining time tables and YTD tables and turning them over and preparing for their late seating, etc.) and (if you're into that) you have to time it exactly right to see the singing and dancing waitstaff.

 

I lean towards preferring/recommending Early Seating. But next cruise we did book YTD only because we don't plan on eating in the MDR much. Mainly because we're tired of the menu.

 

how is the service in YTD severely lacking? I'm not following?

 

Just got off the Liberty and we had great service on the nights we went to the dining room.

 

Bill

[Jasalth]

I actually just changed our dining time from Early until YTD yesterday. My husband was concerned about this since we have always done a set time and he didn't want to have a long wait. His mind was that it would be like going out on a Friday/Saturday night to some place popular. Depending where you go around here, you are looking at a 1+ hour wait time, or places like we went tonight and walked right in at 8pm.

 

All of our other cruises we have had early seating. They have been 3 generation cruises (my family, my mother and my grandmother).

 

One of the reasons I personally changed was because after reading here, and looking at our ports and what we have planed, I wasn't sure if a set time would be worth it for us.

 

We are using to eating at the same time every day, it's a must in our house and that time is normally 6:30 so you would think Early would be perfect. Even with 2 kids (10 and 13 on the cruise) all but one of our plans at port include food. I don't think that me and my oldest would be able to handle food at say... 1pm and then again at 6pm on those days. My youngest and DH can eat non-stop and do, and they never gain a pound. My and my oldest DS look at a piece of bread and gain 3 pounds.

 

I also didn't want to have to rush back to the boat, get 2 kids un-sand covered, dressed, me dressed and my husband dressed in a limited time, with one bathroom. I also know my oldest that he will immediately want to download our pictures and start organizing them as soon as we get back on the ship so he can take more (he plans on doing a review on here).

 

While I am sure the service might be lacking, the service on our last cruise forced us to not eat in the MDR after night 2 and it was set early seating (not Carnival). To put it lightly.. we came home and went to IHOP a few days later... she got a giant tip because she was better than our MDR staff (who never got better, my mother, step father and grandmother still went to the MDR every night.. you would think with 4 less people they MIGHT have gotten better... ).

 

I now plan on going to the MDR at our "normal" eat time between 6:30-7. I would rather keep our schedule that forgo it just because we are on vacation.

[Colorado Kat]

We've always chosen early dining, but now we're going to try YTD. On our first cruise, we had wonderful tablemates, that we just loved. Since then, we've mostly had a string of bad luck with table-mates. Lots of no-shows, some people who refuse to talk to us, table-mates who say they're coming the next night, and we wait and wait, and they never show up, so we get our dinner really late.

 

The few times we've had late seating, it was just too late to eat that much food.

 

With YTD, if we meet people, we can dine with them, or arrange the dinner time to suit our family. Worth a try.

[xbatt8]

Another night owl here who hates to cut my time in port short. So we are late diners. DW is not as big a fan, as she is not a night owl and ends up going to bed full sometimes. But when you close down the disco, you need to get your feed bag on as late as possible.... :D

 

Bob

[SASA13]

After doing anytime dining twice now, we will never go back. The biggest plus is that you are not always watching the clock, as to not miss dinner. I hated when I am lounging at the pool, or in port, that I was always trying to figure out how much time I needed to get back to the cabin, shower, change and make it to dinner. Now, I have a 4 hour window to show up.

 

Please keep in mind, that if you get a wait staff you like ( this cruise it was on our second day, last cruise it was on our first day ), you can request them every evening afterwards. This way, you don't miss out on the personal touch.

 

Whatever you decide, enjoy your cruise.

[truesdpr]

We really loved YTD and we had excellent service every time. We even had the same waiter every evening but it would have been no big deal if we hadn't. I quite like the idea of having different tables and different servers - makes it like going to a different restaurant each time. We find early dining far too early esepcially if we have been off the ship -it's a bit of a rush to get back and changed after an excursion. LAte dining would be our preference if YTD was unavailable. YTD gives us the option of eating early on sea days and later on port days if we need it - and we generally get our own table.

 

Pam.

[wasiii]

.....we always do Early Seating. We don't like to eat so late at night and we're never rushed from getting back from port because we're always back on the ship early. Besides, we like sitting with other people amd talking to them.

 

This past cruise I did ATD for the first time. It was very convenient, never had to wait. I did miss the interaction with other people, and yes I know I could have asked to be put with other people but I didn't because this cruise was all about us and no one else.

 

wasiii

 

 

 

wasiii

[ccruisequeen]

I'm on mere with a specific schedule, so I prefer YTD oe Early. Also, gives us more time to get to shows, casino etc.

[*Mach*]

Which do you prefer and why?

 

Early seating? Late seating? Or anytime dining?

 

We're both first time cruisers and completely clueless when it comes to this.

 

First, let's narrow it down between what is considered 'traditional' seating and Your Time Dining. We prefer traditional (early or late...) to YTD simply because we like dining with friends and we generally sail with a lot of friends!! If we're not with friends then we get a great deal of pleasure from meeting new folks and sitting at a large table affords us that opportunity.

Early v. late? We do late because we most often sail in the spring and fall. Late lets us enjoy the sunsets at sea which are just spectacular! Also, we normally have dinner at around 7:30 so late is comfortable for us.

Which ever way you elect to do it I'm sure that you'll have a great time.

:)

[H82seaUgo]

our first cruise, we just chose the time that most closely matched out home eating time.

 

the downside at thar time was that there were three meal eating times that it covered, which included breakfast. and if memory served, the early breakfast time back then was 6:45!

 

open seating, and alternative dining fixed that, beside, i never miss that omelet station since it was introduced.

 

your time dining is out for us, as we like to walk directly to our table, and served by the wait staff that leans our eating patterns as the week progresses.

 

we tried late dining once, but it was too late. yes, it extended our afternoon, but it cut our evening. we were ready for bed after the main show. it was hard to step it back up at that hour.

[Katoo]

We'll be taking our 4th cruise next year and we've done early once and late twice. We found early too early and late too late.

 

Guess what we are going with this time? We are going to try your time dining.

[TheGrandparents]

We do early, always.

 

It matches our regular life best and generally just works for us.

[amysb]

JMHO.

 

Early seating is good because you don't feel like immediately going to sleep after having dinner. Bad because you have to rush a bit to make it on time if you have later departure from ports.

 

Late seating is good because you don't have to rush and can have a little snack after getting back from port and take a little nap before getting ready for dinner. Bad because you feel like going to sleep after a full day of "fun in the sun" and then a big dinner.

 

Your Time Dining is good because of the flexibility. Bad because the service is severely lacking (because there aren't just "Your Time Dining" waitstaff, they're juggling service of traditional dining time tables and YTD tables and turning them over and preparing for their late seating, etc.) and (if you're into that) you have to time it exactly right to see the singing and dancing waitstaff.

 

I lean towards preferring/recommending Early Seating. But next cruise we did book YTD only because we don't plan on eating in the MDR much. Mainly because we're tired of the menu.

 

Last November we tried YTD for the first time. I did not see our waitstaff taking care of any tables outside of the YTD area. Our service was always exemplary. After the first night, we requested the same waitstaff every night & had a great time with them. We never experienced any lapses in service, nor did we have to wait any evening - usually going between 6:30 and 7:00.

 

All that praise for YTD, but next cruise we're dining late as we're with a group, and want to socialize with them. We've usually dined late, as everyone above says, because we don't like to feel rushed when returning from port. Just try not to overeat so you can stay awake and enjoy the fun ;)! If I had children, however, I would definitely choose early dining.

 

Have a great cruise, whichever you pick!

[Angeladh1981]

On our last cruise, which was 7 days, we had 3 different servers for our late seating in the MDR. All were good to excellent, but we missed that familiarity of one waitstaff. Interestingly, the maitre'd visited our table three separate evenings during that same cruise. On our two previous cruises, no such visit took place.

 

We prefer late seating. I love a nap and shower before dinner. The same shows are offered each night, so we don't miss anything. Some evenings we just stroll the ship after dinner, which relieves full bellies.

[StingRaysfan]

We do traditional early. It's perfect for us because we eat early at home and we like having the same servers and table mates... knowing where we are going to sit.

 

Each cruise there has been only one day we just weren't going to make it to early seating... the second formal night. (BOTH TIMES!) One cruise we relaxed and ate that the buffet and the other we made some slightly later last minute steakhouse reservations.

 

Another reason we have stuck with early seating is because for awhile there seemed to be a rash of reviews about bad service and cold food... it seemed to me back then that all of them were doing YTD... so it's made me hesitant to try it when I like what we do already...