Best Time for Dinner Reservation

[tigger8792]

I was wondering what is the best time for dinner reservation?  Is there shows and what time are they usually?  Thanks for any information.

[Mich3554]

Shows are usually at 7:30 and 9:15 on ocean cruises.  

[CCWineLover]

55 minutes ago, tigger8792 said:

I was wondering what is the best time for dinner reservation?  Is there shows and what time are they usually?  Thanks for any information.

On our 7 ocean cruises, we only had one cruise that did 2 shows (6:15 and 9:00).  But that was a full ship and pre-COVID.   All the others had just 1 show in the evening at 9:00 PM.

 

We found the restaurants most crowded between 7:00 and 8:00 and discovered we usually had no problems at all getting in at 6:00 to 6:30 PM and still then time for the 9:00 show.  I will say that each cruise had its own vibe and restaurant full times seemed to vary among the cruises.   On our last one, no one seemed to want the World Cafe (post-COVID reasons?) and the restaurants were quite crowded, for example.  So who knows?

 

As for you, when do you expect to get hungry?  A lot also has to do with whether you do afternoon tea (which was 3-5 PM post-COVID).  Those that ate a lot there tended to eat late dinners.

[Peregrina651]

You are so right when you say each sailing has its own vibe.  I've even seen sailings where the line to be seated was out the door before the restaurant even opened and others that were full of late diners.  Our two post Covid sailings, the MDR felt empty while the buffet was busy.  And this will all change when more people start sailing again. 

[Opinica]

We made reservations for 8:00 or 8:30pm for the Chef's Table and Manfredis, the specialty restaurants, because i those were the only times available.

 

In both cases the restaurants left messages on our room phone saying that earlier reservations were available if we cared to switch.  That's great.  I just don't want to be the last couple left in the dining room when the crew is trying to put the place to bed.

Edited March 16, 2022 by Opinica