Why some ships have 8pm and others 830pm dinner

[mcatmcat]

Hello

 

Most of the time the MDR dinner time is at 830pm but for my upcoming ship it will be 8pm, why some ships have different time?

 

Thanks

[negc]

Hello

 

Most of the time the MDR dinner time is at 830pm but for my upcoming ship it will be 8pm, why some ships have different time?

 

Thanks

 

There can be a multitude of reasons, ranging from the particular demographic on the ships, the itineraries which may determine the time when the ship leaves its ports, onboard entertainment schedules, or perhaps a personal preference on the part of the Captain or some other member of the staff. Not exactly earth shaking differences in the timing of the traditional dining times.

[edin_cruiser]

On med cruises, late dinner is at 9:30pm to suit the Spaniards

[Treacher1]

I was surprised to see our Liberty MDR time was changed from 6:00 to 5:30 - not a big problem, but a little more of a rush after getting back from shore excursions or even a sea day by the pool.

[DonnaK]

On our next cruise (Liberty in October), the first seating is at 5:30pm. Really early!

[peteukmcr]

That's the big advantage of MTD, no set times that may not be convenient.

[crownandanchors3118]

I've found that cruises out of Florida tend to have the earlier dining time my guess would be because of the demographics of the cruiser but that's a guess. I just spent 33 days sailing in the med and there were no 9:30 dining times on any Royal ship.

[foxgoodrich]

I'm not sure this is really the reason for the 5:30/8:00 seatings on some ships, but I did hear it from a MDR Maitre D' on a cruise out of Galveston a few years ago. (and we all know if we hear it from crew or staff it must be TRUE!;))

 

We were told that on some ships the MDR early seating fills up very early in the bookings. They then change the MDR seatings from 6:00 & 8:30 to 5:30 & 8:00 and notify those who booked early. The reasoning behind it is that this time change causes some people to bail out of early seating and change to MTD or late seating, thus freeing up some early seating space.

 

It made some degree of sense to me.

Judy

[crownandanchors3118]

Perhaps for that ship but the ones in Florida have been doing the earlier seating for years now.

[BND]

Perhaps for that ship but the ones in Florida have been doing the earlier seating for years now.

 

Vision out of Tampa was doing 845 for late seating on our Nov 30 cruise but I just checked and it's been changed to 8. Not all ships out of FL do early. We've had 830 on ships out of FL also.

Edited July 20, 2015 by BND

[crownandanchors3118]

No they don't all do it but the ones that do do it tend to originate in Florida.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

No they don't all do it but the ones that do do it tend to originate in Florida.

 

The Grandeur out of Baltimore often has the earlier times.

[ColoradoGurl]

I've always been surprised at how popular the earlier 6pm dining time is. For me, that's like having dinner at 4:30 (because I live in mountain time zone which is two hours behind). I know we all adjust time wise while on vacation, but it's still early, especially for the first couple days of the trip. It's also so close to the time most people get back on the ship for the day, which would make it hard to shower and get ready if you have more than one girl in your room needing to shower and do their hair and make up.

[foxgoodrich]

Perhaps for that ship but the ones in Florida have been doing the earlier seating for years now.

 

You're right - looks like some ships leaving from Florida started the earlier MDR times in 2013, or maybe 2012, so it has been a couple of years. I've just taken a 'cruise through the past' and looked through my stack of old Sea Pass cards!:p And since our dining time (late MDR) is printed on the card I have learned that….

 

*cruises out of Galveston started the 5:30/8:00 dining in 2010 (we've cruised at least once per year on RC from Galveston since 2006, so I know for sure that all cruises out of Galveston since Jan 2010 do the 5:30/8:00 thing.:))

*Voyager out of NOLA had 5:30/8:00 dining in Feb 2010

*Monarch out of Port Canaveral had 6:00/8:30 dining in Aug 2010

*Freedom out of Port Canaveral had 6:00/8:30 dining in Aug 2011

*Allure out of Ft Lauderdale had 6:00/8:30 dining in Aug 2012

*Navigator out of NOLA had 5:30/8:00 dining in April 2013

*Freedom out of PC had 5:30/8:00 dining in Sept 2013 (first change out of FL that we saw)

*all of our Alaska cruises (3) have had 6:00/8:30 dining

*all our cruises out of San Juan have had 6:00/8:30 dining

 

I also saw that our Legend Panama Canal cruise in April 2014 had 5:30/8:00, and that's probably definitely a function of demographics. (We are 66 & 65 years old and we were among the youngest on the ship on that cruise!:p It was a blast, though, as we had fun in every port, we had a fantastic Concierge (Larissa), we met some great people, and we got to hang out with Mario…but I digress…sorry!)

 

So, from my old Sea Pass research tonight, I believe the MDR time change started in Galveston in 2010, and all the RC cruises out of New Orleans, during the 3-4 years they cruised out of NOLA, had the 5:30/8:00 dining times. The first time we saw it in Florida was on Freedom in 2013.

 

Hey - that was fun! It was a real 'trip' to look at 20+ old Sea Passes tonight. Now I need to end this post and go shop for a cruise….I don't care if I eat at 8:00 or 8:30…I'll deal with it…I just feel the need to have a NEW Sea Pass in my hand or in my pocket…I just need a cruise…;)

Judy

Edited July 21, 2015 by foxgoodrich

[leaveitallbehind]

No they don't all do it but the ones that do do it tend to originate in Florida.

 

Two recent cruises out of Baltimore last summer (Grandeur) and Bayonne (Liberty) two weeks ago were both 5:30 and 8:00. We also experienced 6:00 and 8:30 on recent year's cruises out Florida so I'm not sure it's regional. But it certainly has been varied of late on different ships and itineraries.

Edited July 21, 2015 by leaveitallbehind

[Dave4120]

Have never heard of 9:30 dinner on a Med cruise to cater to Spanish travelers. We just completed a 13 night Med cruise out if Barcelona and our late seating was 8:30 for dinner.

[Tarnished45]

Not exactly earth shaking differences in the timing of the traditional dining times.

 

I didn't like this comment on the end of this post. IMO seemed to be trying to belittle the OP's issue. :(

[Frankmac]

On med cruises, late dinner is at 9:30pm to suit the Spaniards

 

 

It's 8.30 on our upcoming Allure cruise

[edin_cruiser]

It's 8.30 on our upcoming Allure cruise

 

Hmm I haven't cruised on royal in a couple of years but back in the days of Liberty in Barcelona and Adventure in Malaga it was always 6:00/9:30

[NorbertsNiece]

Was on a Rhapsody B2B earlier this year (where'd the time go?)

 

The first leg they had an 830pm late sitting which was rescheduled to 8pm for the second at the request of the diners (many on the B2B)

[Paulette3028]

On our next cruise (Liberty in October), the first seating is at 5:30pm. Really early!

 

On the various cruises we have taken....the early dinner (which we prefer) was never as early as 5:30pm. Our first cruise on Navigator we took the 8:30, late seating and learned it really wasn't for us....the friends who we were with who had been on several cruises enjoy that seating time -- definitely not for us.

 

So on our remaining cruises we have had mostly 6pm early, but 2x had 6:15pm (once on Her Majesty and the other on Jewel); 3x we had 6:30pm early seating.

 

As I look back on the dining times....Her Majesty of the ship -- had all three over the course of our 11 sailings on her to date.

 

I don't think there is any logic or specific reason for it. Perhaps it has more to do with the Hotel Manager on board and the Executive Chef and how they like their kitchen staff to be running that determines the dinner times on board.

[kernow]

We did a couple of cruises out of Malaga when RCL was cruising there a few years ago and late sitting was indeed 9pm one year and 9.30 pm the next. Malaga always seemed to attract high numbers of Spanish cruisers.

 

Our TA on Splendour this year from Brazil to Barcelona had 7pm early and 9.30 pm late sittings because most of the passengers were Brazilian. Apparently the cruises before ours that departed and returned to Brazil had even later, 7.30 and 10pm.

 

Julie

[edin_cruiser]

Hmm I haven't cruised on royal in a couple of years but back in the days of Liberty in Barcelona and Adventure in Malaga it was always 6:00/9:30

 

Actually now that I remember it the LOTS Barcelona cruise may actually have had different dining times for each dining room :eek:

 

 

 

Early was at 6, I can tell you that for a fact. And there was a sitting at 9:30pm, but that may just have been in one of the dining rooms. It was a couple of years ago so I'm probably talking nonsense :eek:

[BonTexasNY]

My Argentine family usually has dinner at 10pm and that's on a work/school night.

 

I wonder if early seating dinner doesn't last as long as late since the tables have to be reset for the next seating. We prefer MDR to MTD and that's what we have on our next cruise.

[CaptData]

One of the reasons for the times is that Americans/Canadians eat early while Europeans eat later.

 

I'm diabetic and must eat by around 5:30 or my count goes low (and it could be fast). I eat early because of this. When I wasn't diabetic we would eat around 7:30 or 8 pm. I'm glad that the dining times now start at 5:30 so I can eat and enjoy the evening.