What's your opinion...early or late seating for dinner???

[cruiseapril]

We like early dinner as we get up at 6 a.m. for earlybird coffee, do morning excursions, afternoon beach activity, and are usually hungry by 6 pm. Then, we can do a variety of things in the evening.

[DocF]

We eat at the early seating. I am diabetic and part of tight control is scheduling. The early seating more closely mimics our regular eating pattern, so that is the main reason we select it.

 

Doc:D

[RAVI360]

the guys i travel with is usually starved by 6 o clock , so we do the early seating....

[Name Of The Game]

early seating all the way, don't want to eat too late.

[Maxax]

Early....we like to get dinner over with...(enjoy it of course)...but get dinner over with...and then move onto a longer evening. Not to mention...we try to get up...fairly early...so we don't stay up TOO late. Got things to do each day ya know!

[SCFCRUISER]

We used to do late, but on our last two cruises we did the early 6:15 sitting. For us, the late seating was just to late to finish eating, all we wanted to do was go to sleep after eating all that good food. Who wants to go to sleep on a cruise at 10:00pm?? Not us anymore!!! Thats when it's time to have some cold ones.:) :)

[Havinsnest]

Early!

 

I don't see it as rushing back from port since you usually have to be back on board at 4:00 anyway. I typically have dinner at 4:30 at home since I skip lunch.

This is us, too. We never felt rushed to get from an excursion to our dinner since we were already on board at least 90 minutes before our early dinning time.

 

We eat dinner at home around 5:30 so early dining is what we are used to.

 

Besides, if we ate during late dining my DH would be too full for his "after the show" pizza and ice cream. :rolleyes:

[mrsfuzzmo]

Late for us for sure. Seems the ship doesn't get rockin (casino, disco, piano bars, etc) until about 10 or so anyway. We really like to spend every last minute on shore as possible, so we are usually the some of the last people back on after a port day, then shower, nap, dress, cocktails and dinner, then usually a stroll on the deck and we're ready for the evening activities. The ONLY drawback for us is that we don't ever feel like participating in any midnight buffets....which are going by the wayside anyway.

[UpstateCruizer]

We have always did late and that's the plan for our next cruise, but I am thinking what are the advantages to both times? Why do you pick what time you have dinner????

 

First cruise we were assigned late seating. We went the first night but found it was way too late for us. The Maitre `D changed us to early. The next 3 cruises we had early. We are however looking forward to open dining and hope they have it on out April cruise. I know it's supposed to be fleet wide by the time we sail in October 2009. On our port intensive cruise early was too early and we felt rushed. Again though 8-8:30 is too late for us so we had no other choice for dining room dining. Open dining we would use the reservation system and plan around our ports :)

[154300]

It`s got to be late.

Gives you time to relax and get ready for dinner after your excursions!!

[peppymom98]

I chose the late seating.We are leaving the kids home (not alone) and it feels more like a couples vacation to eat late. Plus we'll have more time to get ready, relax instead of rushing to get to the dining room.

[Leo Jay]

We chose late for our first two cruises, but last year, early was the only seating with available 2-tops, so we did that, and found we liked it.

 

Kinda liked being able to see the sun set as we ate (not that we couldn't have done that on deck), but also it gave us more flexibility with what we wanted to do with the rest of our evening. If we didn't feel like seeing the early production show right after dinner for whatever reason, we could always do something else and then see the later show.

 

I was afraid of all the kids I heard about at early seating, but I don't remember seeing many at all. Maybe because we were up on the second level?

[DesrtDrmr]

We have not sailed on Carnival before, but love "anytime" on Princess. Even when we do have anytime dining, we still pick early times for seating. We usually go to bed around ten or eleven when at home, so if we eat early, we have time to a/digest our food, b/go to the show, and c/go to the casino. We find that late seating leaves us hanging around waiting for dinner, maybe getting to a show, but usually not, and going to bed full and uncomfortable. We live in the Pacific time zone. When we cruise the Caribbean, we also do early. We tried late, which coincides with our home dining time better, but for all the above reasons, we still prefer early. I'm not sure we would have felt this way in our 20's or 30's. :D

[DqALEX]

I like early because I eat at home between 5 an 6

[Payd]

We have always did late and that's the plan for our next cruise, but I am thinking what are the advantages to both times? Why do you pick what time you have dinner????

 

We always choose late. We enjoy port time and a nap, so it allows time for both before dinner.

 

Not sure which ship you are on, but the Legend is doing a trial on "anytime dining". Just show up and request a table. One poster said they always were told a 15 minute wait - that turned into a half hour.

[marci4tony]

I like early - Much more to do AFTER dinner than before... ;)

[vegasvick]

We've had late on all of our cruises, with the kids and without. We eat dinner between 7-8 p.m. at home, so early doesn't work for us.

[dmdiver]

we've always done the 6pm dinner, catching the show at 8 or 8:30 (whichever it was). that's what we are used to doing at home. plus, if we were to go to the midnight buffet, our dinner would be all digested. i also like to be able to get out of my dinner dress & put on something more casual for watching the shows & going out on deck.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Everyone keeps talking about being stuffed for bed. Youre on vacation - no time for bed:D

 

I personally like early dinner because I don't want to miss a minute of karaoke:) and it is closer to my normal dinner time at home. If I have a late excursion, then I just eat at lido buffet.

[scperk]

Late for us, DW does not like being rushed to get dressed after being in port..also leaving the sunshine and pool deck early..We always stay up late on the ship anyway....Dennis

[suzy1212]

We've always had late seating, either 8:00 or 8:30. We eat at least that late or later at home. I would like to try the early because late takes up such a big chunk of the evening and leaves you full and sleepy, but I don't think I'll ever get my family to try it.

[southbayer]

For me, it depends on what time of the season it is.... For summer travel, if im lucky to get a window seat, the sun is out later, and I can eat and see out the window. For Fall, when the sun goes down early, I take early seating... Because when the sun goes down early, and I have late seating, I'm looking out a pitched black window. Even when not at a window seat, its cool to eat and still look out at the sea, even at dusk.

We have always did late and that's the plan for our next cruise, but I am thinking what are the advantages to both times? Why do you pick what time you have dinner????