Early or late Traditional MDR seating for Panama Canal cruise?

[Kingofcool1947]

DW and I are considering booking a 15 day Ocean to Ocean, Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco, Panama Canal cruise on the Coral Princess.

 

Any suggestions whether to book early or late MDR Traditonal dining. Pros and cons? We enjoy having the same waiter and aw serving us at dinner.

 

Times:

5:15 pm

5:45 pm

8:00. pm

 

Thank you.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Kingofcool1947

[GonzoWCS]

DW and I are considering booking a 15 day Ocean to Ocean, Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco, Panama Canal cruise on the Coral Princess.

 

Any suggestions whether to book early or late MDR Traditonal dining. Pros and cons? We enjoy having the same waiter and aw serving us at dinner.

 

Times:

5:15 pm

5:45 pm

8:00. pm

 

Thank you.

 

We like the 8:00 P.M. because we enjoy the sunsets and do not like being rushed after returning from shore excursions. That is not normal for us at home but since we are on the road we really enjoy the late sitting. One thing to consider is with a late leisurely dinner, timing for shows can be a challenge.

 

Steve & Vicky

[jasmith52]

We like the 8:00 P.M. because we enjoy the sunsets and do not like being rushed after returning from shore excursions. That is not normal for us at home but since we are on the road we really enjoy the late sitting. One thing to consider is with a late leisurely dinner, timing for shows can be a challenge.

 

Steve & Vicky

 

I prefer the late dining myself for exactly the reasons you stated. However my wife (the boss of me) can't wait that late to eat so we always get the early dining.

 

On sea days the high tea is usually around 3:30 or so. If you go to that and get out at maybe 4:15 it's only another hour or two until dinner. High tea works much better with late dining.

 

One more benefit of late dining perhaps not so applicable to a Panama cruise. There are generally only adults in the late dining. That's a big plus to some of us.

Edited November 14, 2016 by jasmith52

[Hlitner]

If you have to ask the question then you obviously have some concerns. So why not just do Select (Open) Dining and dine whenever it suits your schedule?

 

Hank

[fishywood]

The OP did say they prefer having the same waiter every night.

 

My take is: On port days we do not want to have to rush to get ready for dinner. On sea days we tend to not be hungry before 8:00 after a leisurely breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. On a 15 night cruise we would probably miss early dinner quite a few nights, even one with more sea days than average such as a full Panama Canal transit.

However, on a cruise with a couple bunches of consecutive sea days as this one, my observation is that more people do prefer early seating--and the lines at ATD form very early. I would suggest you lean toward what you believe your preference is on sea days over port days--with the caveat that the ship will still be in, or waiting to enter, the Pacific side locks at dinner time on canal transit day.

[eandj]

What time do you eat at home? 8:00, altho ok a couple nights, would be way too late every night. Knowing you can always hit the buffet or even select dining (yes, Princess ALLOWS this, altho it is frowned upon by other passengers:eek:) on the couple days you might be running late, I'd choose the 5:45. That's what we do.

We then show up at that time the first night and let the server and maitre d know we will arrive at the latest time possible for that seating. We are always at a table for two and don't mind a slow dinner as to not screw up the server's other tables. So with being flexible, we have usually been given 6:15 as a seating time. I'd NEVER try to work that out if sharing a large table or being on a schedule.

 

We enjoy the same table staff too. We've had lots of fun and learned a lot about other cultures. I remember many servers and sommeliers over the years.

Edited November 14, 2016 by eandj

[TW6cruiser]

We vary between early and late traditional dining (unless traveling with friends who want anytime). We also prefer the same waiter and in my experience we've had better service with traditional dining.

 

On our partial Panama cruise (10 or 11 days I don't recall) we did late dining. We liked that as it was less crowded. With a longer cruise like yours you will notice a bit older passenger base who mostly like early dining. I went to the dining room on the first afternoon to check out our table for two. I did not like the location (we were by a busy aisle or serving station, I don't recall) and I asked the matre'd to move us if he could. He said of course as our late dining was not full and we ended up with a table for four by a window that we had to ourselves. That may not be your experience but if table location is a factor or dining at just a table for two is a preference, I'd go for late dining.

[geoherb]

We prefer late traditional. We eat a little bit at the cocktail party around 5 to keep us from getting too hungry before then. But it's a personal choice depending on when you like to eat--and based on availability. I've noticed that first seating is more in demand on longer cruises.

[kruisey]

That it depends if one can keep hunger pangs away till 8.00PM.

If one has to snack before late time then one is only adding to calories and might even take the edge off enjoying a great dinner at 8.00PM.

My thoughts......:)

[Loonbeam]

One thing to consider, when we did the partial version, there were many early ports, which means early breakfast, typically early lunch, so 8:00 can be a long stretch to dinner.

 

Look at the port arrival and departure times. If you notice like ours a lot of the back on boards were 3:00, 4:00 pm etc then book earlier.

[Colo Cruiser]

We always eat around 8.

[Alaska05]

We're doing the reverse itinerary as you. We rarely pick traditional seating, but have picked late for this cruise. With so many sea days we know we'll sleep in and have breakfast late on those days. So this pushes the other meals back too. We may end up changing to anytime dining, but for now it's late for us.