Early Dining vs Late Dining

[ColSavLan]

Advantages/Disadvantages to Early Dining vs Late Dining? Does it affect shows, comedy club, etc. depending on which one you choose?

[firefly333]

well there are several comedy clubs, but it would affect them if you wanted the later times that are x rated. shows sometimes, sometimes they have 2 shows. something like a game show is only done once or the welcome aboard show used to be just once a night.

 

if i eat late i dont have time to digest sometimes so it depends on how late you stay up.

 

of course if you eat early if you are still hungry, you can go up to the buffet and grab a helping or a extra dessert. the buffet often has the same items as the dining room, except for stuff like prime rib, lobster etc.

 

soft serve and pizza is 24/7 of course

 

i guess there is a reason some choose any time dining. i find it hard to choose myself.

[klfrodo]

Families with little ones usually like early.

I’m old and go to bed early, so I like early.

 

A problem with early can be coming back from an excursion late can put pressure on getting showered and dressed for an early seating.

[jakeT]

Many more younger people at Early Dining. I don’t have young children and like the later Dining.

[bnorris10]

We prefer early dining because we don't want to be rushing to get thru dinner to do night time activities

[lasekeye]

For all of the previously mentioned issues, we always have Your Time Dining. We are not rushed from excursions or trying to juggle show events.

[maryred]

All scheduled activities are centered around the 2 set times for dining. Depending on the ship

- late diners will go to the main production show at 6:45/7pm. By the time the show ends they will have 15-30 minutes before their tables in the MDR are ready.After dinner they can catch 2 out of the 3 comedy shows. Early dinner will eat first then proceed around 8/8:15pm to main theater for the production show, attend the second family friendly comedy act, or choose to wait to attend the first of the evenings adult comedy offerings. (This option seems prevalent on cruises where the main theater is also the dance club.)

OR

- Both dinner times can attend the main production show immediately following dinner with show times at around 7:30pm and 9:30pm. Times for the comedy options generally still run 7/7:30 and 8/8:30 PG shows, 9/9:30, 10/10:30, & 11/11:30 for the R-rated shows.

 

SO there's only a little advantage concerning show times when deciding between early and late.

The big advantages between the 2 seem to boil down to:

- Early = more kids but it's mostly because the kids camps & teen club closes between 5:30/6 and 7:30/8 so families can eat together, then when camp or the club reopens that the adults can catch at least 2 hours of entertainment without the young ones before the camps become paid night-care. Also ideal if in port late to overnight as there are sometimes special adult only excursions (ex moonlight sail or bioluminescent kayaking) that start at 8 or 9pm.

- Late = no rushing back from excursions to freshen up for diner. Less to no young children, because of camp & club activities or family friendly shows.

Disadvantages:

Early = possibly rushing back from an excursion to make the dinnertime.

Late = too late for some to have a heavy meal.

[gottaluvcruises12]

We like early because usually we get back with enough time to shower and nap before dinner then we have all night to get into different activities. I just don't like to eat that late.

[timc.jb]

My family and I also perfer early dining. We have more time for night activities if we eat earlier.

[iwantsomesun]

I always like late seating so there isn't a rush to get ready. Only issue for me is that I request a window seat and often it's dark when I'm eating so it's not as nice of a view. VERY MUCH a 1st world problem.

[tortuga1975]

We do late dining because we don’t like to rush back from excursions and we feel like we get two more hours to each day. Plus we can catch sunsets. Our evenings are usually hanging out at bars listening to music so that doesn’t matter when we start.

 

 

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[herdcruiser]

We always do late seating to allow us more time off in port. This give us time to come back on board to relax and not feel rushed. We can get a snack and at our leisure go back to the room and get ready for dinner.

[jrgreiner]

What about the drive in movies? Is early or late better?

[maryred]

The Dive In movies on the Lido deck tend to to be shown about the same times as the main production shows. The family friendly show could be at 7:30/8pm and the PG=13 to R rated one could be 9:30/10pm. Consult the HUB App FunTimes for the cruise long schedule upon boarding.

Some nights there may only be 1 movie, the family friendly showing, as there will be a deck party that will happen around 10pm. On rare occasions, most around holiday times, they might show 3 movies. In that case the schedule will be juggled that the last movie ends at midnight and that there is at least 20 minutes between each seating.

[Joebucks]

The vast majority of ports have a depart time no later than 5 pm. So most people, are back by what, 4:30? My last cruise had 6 stops, none any later. Who is really rushing for dinner at that point? Maybe if you take an hour+ to get ready.

 

I HATE late dining. By 6 PM, I am usually hungry for dinner, and I don't want to have to go find an extra meal to hold me over. It's also harder to sleep well when you just ate a big meal. What else are you doing to do from 5-7 anyways besides lay in the room? 6 is a great time for us. Then we have the whole night ahead of us.

 

What about the drive in movies? Is early or late better?

 

 

For me, it just depends on the movie and what else is going on. I generally won't miss comedy for the movie. Late dining, this also gets in the way of a movie.

[tiffy0428]

This is my first time picking late dinning. I chose late for this cruise because of the times we are coming back from the excursions. On the last two sea days I am going to eat at the specialty restaurants. I like to choose my dinning time over your YTD because I like for my wait staff to know who my party is

[Savmom9801]

We have a large party of 10 so we picked set dining so we can all sit together more easily. Also for reason already discussed, we picked late dining. I like to have a glass of wine and relax on the balcony, take my time getting dressed, maybe have some cheese and crackers with my wine. If our party wasn't so big, I would prefer Anytime Dining, because 7:00 is really my ideal time for dinner. We have booked specialty dining earlier.

[LadyMac72]

I prefer early dining. But that's mostly because I like a bit of ice cream before bed on a cruise (a treat I don't usually enjoy at home) and if I eat too late, I won't be hungry enough to truly enjoy it.

[beerman2]

What time do you eat at home?

Why change Dinner schedule just because you are on vacation?

 

Early for us as we eat 5:30-6:00 at home.

Eating late makes for a very restless night.

[texasgirl73]

I prefer late. Gives us time from excursions. I like to get photos before dinner on formal nights so we have a nice window while early diners are eating to do that. I always seem to eat late on vacation. I think it’s because I eat more at lunch on vacation so I’m not hungry around early dining times anyways.

 

 

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