POLL: Do you prefer early or late seating? Why?

[amynkeith]

We're doing late seating because we tend to stay up later. However, I'm hearing that early seating might be the way to go because we can hit the late shows - where with the late seating you sometimes have to see the early show first.

 

Doesn't matter, there is a waiting list for the early seating. But I was curious to hear your opinions and see what everyone else prefers. :)

(We've only been on one other cruise and it was freestyle dining - so this whole early/late seating thing is new to us.)

[divaofdisney]

Personally I prefer early seating because this is when I am used to eating dinner. My husband likes the late seating. We are at odds on this one. Plus my youngest is 8 and there's just no way she can eat a full dinner at 8:30-9:00 at night. Just my thoughts.

[cawhite]

We've decided we prefer early seating, as the kids want to get back to the kids' activities around 7 p.m.

[Bell Ringer]

We can't enjoy dinner that late....even with the thought that we may stay up late enough to at least see what is on the Midnight buffet. we'd never have room for a snack!

The early dinner time ( about our usual) suits, so we can then go to the entertainment. The late dinner seating alternates between entertainment before or after dinner. We like our routine.

The only con is that sometimes we miss being out on the deck for a sailing off or that we may have rushed a bit to get ready- but hey! Any lovely dinner that I don't have to cook, serve and clean up after is wonderful. For it to be at our "normal time" is superb.

[torpeedo]

In our younger days we enjoyed the continental style late dining. Now that we are a bit older, we go for the early dining. For one thing, we can't digest that much food that late! We also found we were too tired to do anything after the late show. We changed to early dining about two years ago and we were surprised at how much more we enjoyed the evening activities. Evidently a lot of people feel the same because early dining is always waitlisted. Years ago, late seating was waitlisted!

[mrchips14]

We like anytime dining best of all. But when it is not an option we go with late dining. We like to get back on board the ship and sit by the pool or in hot tubs and relax before getting ready for dinner. Also after eating your meal it is sometimes hard to go right to see the show and stay awake. LOL.

 

We also tend to eat about 7-8:00pm normally, by the time I get home from work.

 

But this is a very personal decision, as everyone has there own feeling, ( not right or wrong, just what works for them. ) Anyway who cares just keep that food coming.

Enjoy.

[Rala]

We have always had early dining because we tend to eat earlier at home. We are not night owls and are usually sleeping by 11:30 or midnight and finishing dinner at 10:00 pm is just too late for us. We have never found it a problem getting back from port to get ready, but we usually do morning excursions. We have not noticed more children either at early dinner, but we tend to cruise when school is in session.

 

It really is a personal decision--whatever works best for you!! Enjoy your cruise!

[Binney]

 

 

I like the early seating because if nothing else, the chefs are not as tired and the food will likely be better. Also, if you are a casino fan, sometimes getting a slot machine is tougher later.:cool:

[slh2412]

I reserved early dinning for the first time and believe we may like this better. After late dinning, we couldn't stay up as late as we wanted to with all the day excursions and activities, I never made a late buffet. I'll let you know when I return from Alaska.

[Ollie_WA]

We prefer late seating. When I booked our cruise they gave us early and said that late was closed..I was put on a waitlist, and now we have Late!! I like the idea of going into port and not having to rush back. Now we get to take a nap, or lay by the pool, shower and get ready leisurely, then stop and have a drink before dinner...it's all about being relaxed right??

 

Only 3 more weeks.....WooHoo:D

Ollie:)

[MJ25]

We prefer late seating for a number of reasons.

1. We tend to eat late anyway. (I work shift work so I am used to eating anytime.)
   
2. You are never rushed to get back to the ship and get ready for dinner
   
3. We like to return to ship and lounge around the pool while at least half of the people are getting ready for early dinner.
   
4. We also like to get dressed and spend some leasure time having a drink and relaxing together before dinner.
   
5. The night clubs and entertainment in the lounges in getting ready to hit full swing around 11:00pm. Then we join the young people, and the young at heart, and dance the night away.
   
6. Late seating seemed to be choosen by young couples and couples like ourselves, mid 40's cruising without children. (Ours are grown)
   
7. We noticed few children at late seating
   

As stated before, this is a totally personal preferrence. One suggestion is to make reservations at the optional dinning room, (Portafino's on the Adventure of the Sea), for the seating time you do not usually eat and see if you like it.

 

Have a great cruise! :)

[Rich And Sylvia]

Dittos MJ

[Merion_Mom]

All three of us are late owls, nocturnal by nature. It may surprise you, but we prefer early seating. We like a lot of time after dinner for activities: we prefer the show AFTER eating, the casino, the hanging out, the special stuff, the occasional late night snack or buffet, then late to bed.

 

Either way, you'll adapt and have a great time.

 

Carol

[Murphy]

There are benefits to both. Prior to our first sailing in 89, everyone told me that late seating was much better. We booked 3 month prior to sailing and late seating was already sold out. I was devistated! It was my honeymoon and I wanted the "best". TA put us on a waitlist, but it didn't clear and boy was I glad! We ended up sitting with 3 other honeymoon couples at early seating and had a blast. We really liked how the evening flowed and after that requested early eating for our next 9 cruises. Then last year, we decided to cross over to the other side and love late seating just as much as we used to like main seating! There are still some nights that I wish we were on early seating because the evening does seem to "flow" better, but we like the relaxed feeling of late now.

[Druke I]

We always request Early Seating. We eat early at home also, and are not night people.

[kenandlaura06]

I prefer late because there is no rush to get ready, plus fewer children (hopefully)!!!

[Folgy]

Late Seating :D

NO poopaloopas at late seating (fingures crossed) :p

[kg4pit]

For our 4 previous cruises, we chose early seating. The cruise we are going on in October (we're taking in-laws for their anniversary) we chose late seating mainly because formal night is the night we are in Nassau and I don't want my in-laws to miss that, but I also want them to see all they can of Nassau and not be rushed.

[love2vacation]

We have done 1 early and 1 late. We had actually requested early on the last cruise but got late and found we liked it because we did not have to rush to get back to the ship from excursions. We got into the habit of a snack about 4:00 to tide us over. :) Beleive me it was not a hardship - the food was great. We never had a problem seeing the shows on that cruise (Carnival-Miracle) as some of the shows did not start till midnight. We asked for late seating on our upcoming cruise, the Serenade, because we are in port till 5:30 at all the islands. It would really make it rushed to get back and "dress" for dinner in the dining room. We have used the Windjammer for dinner when we did not get back for our seating and it was fine.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We did early seating on our last cruise. We like to go to the shows after eating. However, we did find that we were in quite a rush and pretty stressed to get ready in time for dinner on a couple of port days. So, we decided on our next cruise, which is port intensive, to go for late seating. We usually eat between 7 and 8 PM anyway at home. If we were on a cruise that had more sea days we would probably go back to early seating.

[lori450]

I've done both. I prefer early. Here is why:

 

I enjoy the shows after dinner. I just seemed odd to go to the shows before dinner. If I wanted a leisurely cocktail before dinner I still had to go very early so I didn't miss the show. I wanted to be able to have a cocktail and watch the sunset, but the sunsets so late it didn't work anyway. I thought late would be great because my son is a picky eater. I could feed him at Windjammer then go to dinner after he is back at AO. It turned out to be very uncomfortable to sit all alone at dinner. (It may have had something to do with my table mates on that cruise.) I prefer to return early from our excursions. We schedule early excursions and I'm ready to go back, take a shower, a nap and a cocktail before dinner. Plus I don't have to fight the crowds returning at the very end of the day.

Either way, it's still a blast!

[PhoenixCruiser]

Amy, these old eyes have a really hard time reading your posts since they are in light pink...please, please, please, select another (darker) color :D :D

 

And to answer your question, we agree with MJ 100%, especially # 7. However, we didn't eat one meal in the main dining room during our last cruise since we like to eat when we are ready and not on a schedule.

 

Have fun planning :D

 

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[stuNYC]

As stupid as that might sound, I think that early sitting (eating at 6PM) is most people normal dinner time. I believe that this is backed up by the waiting list for early seating rather than late sitting.

 

The reason I have heard from my sister who prefer late sitting is that she doesn't want to rush back to the book from the port. Based on RCCL iternaries to the Caribbean that this doesn't usual present a problem since departure is usual prior to early seating.

 

On our last cruise, we were always the last to leave the dinning room at around 8:15, which enabled us to have a relaximg dinner and a whole night ahead of us to work off our meal,

[Flossie]

Have done both and I agree that each one has its pros and cons. Our dinner seating choice for this upcoming cruise is early. We also have requested a table for two. I know that the table size will offer another debate. Some cruises its nice to interact with others and some cruises its nice to just have some quiet time. It might make a differance as to what shore excursions one would be doing as to what time, early or late, as on some days the ship is in port late.

[travelgirl913]

We wouldn't go on a cruise unless we could get late seating. We can't rush back from port at 5pm then be ready for dinner by 6. It wouldn't be enjoyable. We eat dinner at home at 8pm anyway due to late work hours, so late seating is perfect for us. Plus no children in the dining room then either.