Early Vs Late seating

[June Bug]

On all of our cruises we always have late seating and our meat is always done just like we ordered it...... could be revived by a good vet (in other words...pretty rare)! So no worries! Stay on shore late, be a lounge lizzard, whatever...just know your late seating food will be just as wonderful as the early bird eaters.:D

[meaty_petey]

Has anyone noticed a difference in dress between the early and late seatings? (i.e. do late seating diners tend to dress up more?)

 

Also, I am booked through a group and our agent is insisting our early seating is guaranteed. Is that true?

[Cotton]

Pete - No, I haven't noticed any difference in the attire of early or late diners, and I've had both seatings.

 

I don't know why your booking agent told you that your dining assignment is guaranteed. Nobody knows for sure until they get their S&S card just prior to boarding the ship. Everybody is 'equal' on the ship, no preferential treatment.

 

She has obviously put in a request for early dining, and has probably stressed it, but... still - no guarantee. What she has done, I hope, is to 'link' all your booking so that you'll all have the same dining assignment.:)

[jenniem723]

When it comes to seating choices it always a dilemma but for me it comes down to this:

When I sailed on the Carnival Pride in '03 and when I'll be sailing on the Miracle in about 2 weeks, its all about the scheduling.

 

The late seating's stage show is at 7pm and dinner is at 8:30.

The early seating's stage show is at 8:30 and dinner is at 5:45.

 

I would prefer to eat dinner and THEN catch the show after dinner and sit and have some after dinner cocktails in much the same way that at home I would usually go to a movie or a show after dinner. The idea of watching the show before dinner just doesn't appeal to me. I would imagine its the reverse for some people.

 

Just my two-cents. :-)

[Astronomer]

I have thought about that Jen, I really have, and I do understand your choice.

 

For me, I dont want to rush back from a port. and I dont mind the earlier show. besides, after dinner we can catch the late night comic if we feel like it.

 

We are so excieted now we can hardly stand it.

 

12 days until our first Cruise, I can hardly wait. :D

 

What is funny is that we have gone from ( we have to wait too long ) to, oh no only 12 days before we leave and there is too much we need to take care of!!!!!

 

Once I get on the ship, I dont want to be worrying about anything. :)

[suzy1212]

We had the 8:00 seating. I liked it, we are used to eating late, but all that food made me sleepy and some evenings I just couldn't party after dinner. :D

 

I considered asking for early seating for the upcoming cruise, but that just is too hard on port days. We ended up not eating in the dining room one port day just because it's hard to rest up and get ready for dinner.

 

I agree that the shows make more sense after dinner than before, but I don't go to them anyway. (At least I didn't last time.)

[jenniem723]

Its funny... every cruise I go back and forth on the issue. I got around the "too many kids in the dining room at early seating" issue last cruise by requesting a table upstairs along a railing. The area was mainly tables for 2 and some booths for 4 but the best part was watching the silly behaviour of the children/adults (or in some cases, GREAT behavior) from up above, at a distance. Every night it was very interesting to observe who showed up for dinner, who didn't and also fun watching what everyone ordered.

 

:-)

[britishiles]

There are some kids in the late seating too.

 

I have never had meat over done or under done on either of the cruises I have been on. We always take the late seating because we eat late at home at we didn't want to rush to make the early seating and we didn't want to be rushed at dinner so they can make way for the late seating.

[spinon4]

We happen to like early seating. That way the food gets settled before the Midnight Buffets and any theme dinners they may have later in the evening. Our shore excursions are usually early in the day so we're back in plenty of time for dinner. It's all a personal preference, though.

 

Sue

 

61 days till Miracle Sailing:)

[wmsherwood]

We've had early and late and generally pick the earlier seating, just because we like to go to the early show, then donate to the casino, then to a lounge or late-night show (rarely make the buffets anymore simply because we are not hungry - though we do check them out and sometimes...).

 

There generally are more kids at the early dining and it is a good point that they are in no hurry to get you out during the late seating as there is no more dining after you (this is particularly good if you like to come in 15-20 minutes after dinner has officially begun- with early seating you can feel very rushed).

 

Anyway, bottom line is the food should be cooked properly at any seating. If it isn't, you should send it back and have them cook it to your liking. They will happily (ok at least it'll appear happy) comply and bring it the way you like it!

 

Enjoy your late dining!

bill

[barefootsailor]

Sailed the Pride last September and had the late seating. We ordered prime rib twice, Beef Wellington, and NY strip throughout the week. The meat on every ocassion was rare and wonderful. All other entrees were cooked to perfection. We like the late seatings, as after shore excursions, a nap is nice before the evening fun begins. Enjoy :)

[Astronomer]

Thanks, you folks have made me feel a lot better about my choices.

 

Could you do me one more favor and move the calandar up another 10 days? :rolleyes:

[JLTMET56]

I found (and I dont know that this has anything to do with seating times) but last year we were on the Victory with a large group of people and because there were a number of children with us we went with the early seating 6:15) at that time I had been disappointed in the meats and how they were cooked and how tender they were..this past april we went on the Victory again but since we do prefer later seating we went with the 8pm seating and surprisingly enough I found the meats to be cooked exactly how I liked them, they were more tender..I really doubt it has amything to do with the different times

[tkportersat]

The closer we get to our first cruise, the more I seem to be worrying.

Spoke with a couple this weekend that had sailed on the Pride, the one VERY IMPORTANT tip they has was that we should choose the early seating, and not the late seating as the food was better on the early seating.

They said all the meat was too well done on the late seating. The food just was not as good.

Usually I take things people say with a cow lick of salt, but this one threw me.

I had booked us on the late seating for several reasons.

Although we usually eat fairly early at home, on vacation we seem to use a later time clock, staying up well into the night.

The late seating offers us more time in port in locations like PV where they ship will be there quite late.

The later seating we have heard has fewer children, we love children, we must, we had 4 of them, but we like well behaved children which seems to be going out of fashion these days.

Now I am doing a double take.. perhaps I made a mistake?

Or am I worrying needlessly... again. ( or is that still? ) :eek:

I have done both, and the food was equally great. I prefer the earlier dinner because the late dinner makes me want to take my full belly back to the cabin and take a nap!

[bikinibottom]

We have a kid age 6 and we are late seating people.

We are from the West Coast and the time difference makes 8ish perfect for us to eat. More than anything though we hate rushing to get to dinner and love to be able to have time to enjoy getting ready and having a few cocktails prior to dinner.

[vermonter16]

DH and I have always had late seating. This time though our TA wants us to sit with her (we are going in a group) and go with the earlier seating time of 6:15 (four times on Glory)... I've agreed because we always have a blast together and of course she would change us if we wanted it... I think I'm being resistant to change. After hearing all the good things about late seating (and why we chose it in the first place)...I don't know if I'm going to like the early seating.

 

Our port times are only until 4pm, (2) 5pm's, and a 7pm out of Cozumel. I don't think that it will affect us that much in rushing... I will miss our pre dinner, dinner...and sail away...and our quiet times before dinner on the balcony....

 

However, staying up for the late seating initially is difficult for me. My normal "bedtime" is 9pm...(no, I'm not old - I'm 31). ...and then I don't necessarily want to do a lot afterwards because I'm full and tired...

 

Augghhh...someone give me good reasons for keeping with the early!

[cruzzza]

There are good and bad things about both seatings. I found that the food was not quite as good on the Elation, and it was the first time in years that I had late seating. I don't think I can blame it entirely on late seating, however. I had some of the same things I had on other cruises, and they were VERY similar, just not quite as good. I would not complain about the quality of any of the food, however, and the difference was subtle. Maybe it was the time, maybe the ship, maybe the chef, who knows. Don't sweat it.

 

I loved late seating on my first cruise. Then I got assigned to early (after requesting late) and didn't bother changing. I enjoyed it a lot, too. So much, in fact, that I requested early on my next cruise. The next time I sailed, I requested late again, and was glad I did. I guess my point is that I was happy with both times, for entirely different reasons. If I had to choose between the two, I do think that I tend to prefer late for cruising just the two of us. If we were to bring parents or kids along, I think I'd prefer early. I chose late for my upcoming cruise.

[blackwing]

I don't really follow the "I like the late seating because I don't like rushing back from port" theory. Everyone has to be back from port at a certain time, otherwise the ship leaves without you! I guess it depends on the itinerary, but it seems that most port departure times are early enough (4 pm, 3 pm, etc) that you wouldn't have to come back early in order to make dinner?

 

I prefer the early seating. I like the fact that it's still bright out when you are eating. Watching the waves pass by the window while eating is kind of neat. Also, on some ships, you generally do see the show before dinner (it was this way on Conquest, but not on Fantasy) and that's kind of weird to me. I prefer to think of the show as "after dinner entertainment".

 

Some ships, there are some activities that seem to conflict with the late dinner seating. I know that there was country line dancing and Saturday night fever dancing lessons at 8 pm on our recent Fantasy cruise, and that was the only time offered.

[Leo Jay]

I don't really follow the "I like the late seating because I don't like rushing back from port" theory. Everyone has to be back from port at a certain time, otherwise the ship leaves without you! I guess it depends on the itinerary, but it seems that most port departure times are early enough (4 pm, 3 pm, etc) that you wouldn't have to come back early in order to make dinner?

 

But I can see why one might want to have some extra naptime or other downtime after coming on board before having to get ready for dinner. Particularly if you have a couple of kids and only one shower!

 

But thank goodness people have different preferences, otherwise the dining situation would be a nightmare!

[Astronomer]

I don't really follow the "I like the late seating because I don't like rushing back from port" theory. Everyone has to be back from port at a certain time, otherwise the ship leaves without you! I guess it depends on the itinerary, but it seems that most port departure times are early enough (4 pm, 3 pm, etc) that you wouldn't have to come back early in order to make dinner?.

 

You may be right on some ships, but on the Pride our Itinerary has us in one port until 10pm and in another until 7pm

[britishiles]

That may be true but when we were on the Rhapsody 2 years ago we ported in Key West from 3 until midnight. The dining room only had one seating for dinner.