Opinions needed...Early or late dinner

[The Moyers]

Hi everyone...I'd like to hear some opinions about early vs. late dinner. We usually select early dinner but we were recently on NCLs Star and LOVED the idea of freestyle dining. We ate lunch midafternoon and then had a late dinner. We're sailing Navigator in September and are thinking of switching to late dinner. Should we do it?? Anybody think we shouldn't????

 

The Moyers

Dennis & Debbie

Navigator of the Seas 9/18

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[Mark_K]

You'll never know unless you try it. The worst that can happen is that you'll find out you prefer Main.

 

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits" Mark Twain

 

"Nothing so needs reforming as other people's formal night attire, poolside attire, child rearing practices, walk-talkie usage, chair hogging, seat saving, line cutting ..." Mark_K

[redhummer96]

Hello! My wife, myself and 2 of our friends are going to be on the cruise with you in September!

We are going with the early seating (as of now). I thought that the late seating would put us getting to the shows/bars ect. pretty late. But, this is our first cruise so I may be wrong.

[clingandclatter]

I prefer late seating because you have more time when you are in port to do things and don't have to be rushing back to get ready for dinner. Only "problem" if you will is that we didn't usually get done with dinner until ~10:30 which meant we were never hungry enough for midnight buffets - not that we needed more food to begin with, but if you're into the whole midnight buffet deal, then maybe just eat less at dinner?

[GaryWT]

We like the main seating because we bring the kids and 80% of the kids seem to be there and then they run off to activities. Also I like the shows after dinner and with late seating half the shows seem to be before dinner. When the kids are grown and gone maybe we will try late seating but who knows.

 

3/98 Grandeur of the Seas

4/00 Grandeur of the Seas

2/02 Enchantment of the Seas

04/16/05 Navigator of the Seas

[JordanF]

I have done both, and found that my day simply rotated to fit whichever schedule I was on. Late seating meant staying up later, getting up later... The end result was it really did not matter. I think the "agony" over this choice results from it being the only choice you have to make!

[ugyvel]

Traveling with kids or teens = Early

 

Traveling with adults = Late

 

Golden 11/01

Monarch 12/02

Fantasy 6/03

Serenade 9/03

Radiance 11/03

Mariner 6/04

Enchantment 9/04

Legend 3/05

[Sheffie]

We have done both and find that we like late seating best. We love to be on deck for sail-away from the islands, and you cannot do that if you have to be at dinner in half an hour. There are shows for both dinner seatings, so you won't miss out on those. We usually have a light snack in the afternoon so that we won't be ravenous at dinner.

 

My husband is an early riser, and he adjusts well to this schedule.

 

Michelle

 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain

 

Till we sail Splendour of the Seas 3/26/05!

 

 

Century 3/20/04

Horizon 4/03

Golden Princess 3/30/02

Grandeur 4/01

Holiday 3/92

[maxxboy]

We prefer late because you can take time to relax after a long day at port and have time to watch the sunset. There are`less kids at the late seating as well.

[trish1c]

What time do you eat dinner at home? When you go out to dinner at home, what time? If the answer is early, you may not be happy at the late seating.

 

If you like to be finished with dinner quickly, you may not like late seating. I know I would be grumpy w/ early seating b/c I'd feel rushed to get through my meal so the next group could come in.

 

Trish

[kml2000]

I prefer early seating with my daughter. It is much easier for her to participate in scheduled activities. She made friends on our Grandeur cruise that had late dinner and the kids were always complaining about it. I think we will stick to main seating. Maybe when she is older (young adult), things may be different.

 

04/03/05 Mariner of the Seas

 

 

Grandeur of the Seas 04/2003

Disney Wonder 07/2002

Carnival ??? 05/1994

Nordic Empress - 1992ish

 

Karen

 

 

[timothy2000]

I always choose seating based on our itinerary. We are going on EOS in September and the itinerary shows us departing most ports between 5-6:30. We chose late seating this time so we don't have to rush back for dinner. We can go back, take a nap and have plenty of time to get ready.

[Mark_K]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ugyvel:

Traveling with kids or teens = Early

 

Traveling with adults = Late

 

Golden 11/01

Monarch 12/02

Fantasy 6/03

Serenade 9/03

Radiance 11/03

Mariner 6/04

Enchantment 9/04

Legend 3/05<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I've found the exact opposite. When it's just my wife and I, we prefer main. When we took the kids along when they were teens, they preferred late.

 

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits" Mark Twain

 

"Nothing so needs reforming as other people's formal night attire, poolside attire, child rearing practices, walk-talkie usage, chair hogging, seat saving, line cutting ..." Mark_K

[sunlovey]

late seating most definitely.... more time to enjoy the day, and well, 6 is just too early- we're not into the shows, we're more into the "nightlife" aspects of cruising (dancing until they tell us to leave!) so getting finished with dinner around 10 is the perfect segway to a later evening...

[redwings1958]

I agree with UGYVEL.

Early sitting with kids

Late sitting with older teens and adults.

 

Radiance of the Seas 12/02

Inspiration 12/98

Norwegian Wind 12/94

Monarch of the Seas 12/92

Carnivale 3/88

Jubilee 12/86

Holiday 12/85

Tropicale 12/84

Mardi Gras 2/84

Skyward 6/82

 

Bruce

[Fetzer_94]

Early dinner works for us (early 30's no kids):

 

This is our 7th RCCL cruise and we tried late dining once on the Explorer in 2002. We found that it didn't really make too much difference as far as what could be done in the day but that by the time dinner was over - at a super late hour - we were so full that it made us tired and we went to bed earlier that cruise than any other.

 

We are not really "kid people" but we have never noticed a lot of kids at main dinner. It's always implied that kids are all over the place at main dinner, but in my experience most people with kids in the dining room keep them pretty well behaved and therefore not too noticeable.

[dougp26364]

We ordinarily prefer main seating. We like to get up early, have breakfast and get off the ship and into port before everyone else does. It gives us a little time with less crowds. Often, end up skipping lunch or just having snacks so we're hungry by the time main seating comes around.

 

Our next cruise we choose late seating. We did thins because our adult kids decided to go with us. I doubt they'll be able to cruise often and this will be their first trip out of the country, so we wanted to give them as much time ashore as they would like to have.

 

Seating preference is really an individual thing and I think that itenary plays a part in it as well. For instance, should we take an Alaskan cruise again that include mystic fjords, we'll take late seating. Sailing the fjords occured when we were at dinner and we didn't get to see everything I'd like to have seen.

 

Future cruises

Monarch OTS - Mexico Baja 1/05

Explorer OTS - Eastern Caribbean 11/04

 

Past cruises

Vision OTS - Alaska 7/03

Legend OTS - Alaska 7/02

[SeaUThere]

We prefer the late seating. We usually eat an early dinner at home, but while at sea we like to be able to relax after ports and not have to rush to dress for dinner. We are both up early (5-6am), but it does not interfere with our dinner or the shows. I also like the late seating as there are less young children. (Not that there is anything wrong with young children)

 

Grandeur of the Seas-September 4, 2004

Galaxy-June 7, 2002

Fascination-March 17, 2001

 

 

[cruiserforlife]

Have never done early seating because a)we didn't want to be rushed through dinner and b)didn't want to sit with a table of kids.In all our cruises (8),we have never sat with children during late seating.

 

However,as I get older (46),finishing a big meal at 10-10:30 is getting harder to take.We like to catch a show after dinner and it's always a rush to get a good seat.

 

I'm begining to think early seating is too early and late seating is too late.

 

That may be the one benefit of freestyle dining.

 

"a bad day at sea is better than a great day at work and a lousy day at sea is still pretty damn good!"

[serene56]

I have taken early seating for all our cruises except the first one. NEVER EVER have I been rushed through my meal to let them get ready for the next people. On the Voyager we were some of the last outta there for our seating. It was absolutly the best dinners I had on any of my cruises.

 

Going NOWHERE

 

 

Miracle, February 13, 2005

Legend, October 22,2004

Voyager August 31,2003

Victory September 22,2002

Regal Empress,June 2001

Sensation,August 2000

 

 

[pbillington]

I prefer the late seating. You don't have to rush and change when coming off of an island. You can take your time getting ready and may even get a nap in before dinner. You can go to the show before dinner since they always have two time slots.

 

Navigator of the Seas 05/15/04

[christineann]

My teenagers and I were on the Voyager in June, and we did the late seating. It was great - we enjoyed the hot tubs and pools in the late afternoons without large crowds (note: we enjoyed these all day long, too!)

[Snow Queen 32]

We like the late seating. I want to enjoy being outside when it's light out and with the early seating I'd have to go in too early to shower and get dressed for dinner. I don't want to rush through my afternoon even if all we are doing is sitting outside watching the ocean. We have never missed a show or not gotten to do what we wanted because of late seating.

[megalyce]

We prefer late...it leaves time for a good nap after the days activities and before dinner.

 

 

I LIVE for naps.

 

Carnival Imagination 4/00

Holland America Veendam 3/03

[TonyaJune]

We definitely prefer early seating. We never feel too rushed to get to the dining room because we are usually back to the ship around 4:00 and that gives us plenty of time to relax and get ready for dinner. I don't think I would want to go to the show first and then dinner. And around midnight you can stop at the Cafe Promenade for a slice of pizza and a cookie.

 

UNTIL I SET SAIL ON THE JEWEL OF THE SEAS