Alaska: Late or Early dining??

[miss1180]

we're heading to Alaska on the Wonder next summer- our boys will be 8 and 5. we normally do early dining on the Caribbean cruises. BUT with the few later "all aboard" times with Alaska (7:30, 7:45, etc) we're thinking of doing the later dining time to make the most of the port time. BUT we're east coasters, so 8PM there will be like midnight to us-- so i'm not sure!! Then again, I feel like we'll be all out of whack anyway, so does it really matter that we're eating later than we're used to? LOL
any input/ experience??

 

[Geomom]

We did early and it worked for us, but then none of us can eat a full meal after 8PM (and we also came from the east coast--but felt like we adjusted in our 2 full days in Vancouver pre-cruise.) Ask yourself if you're planning to go to all the shows--if so, with late dining, you'd only gain like an extra 1/2 hour on shore. Also, how tired will your boys be if you've had a full day of excursions, would you rather they were tired during dinner, or during the show?

 

[mmmears]

We chose late dining and were very glad we did. It is late, so I tended to order the lighter items on the menu though. We did a private excursion with friends who had early dining and they had to race to get back to the ship, shower, and change and be there in time for dinner. We had more time that night even though we made sure to go to the show. Just a personal preference though. It can also depend on the excursions you choose - some of the more active ones can mean that you might want to rest and shower before heading to the dining room.

 

[babycatsy]

We did the early dinner for a May Alaskan Cruise and it was great for us. We are from Louisiana (central time) and we were ready for bed.

Also you will want to sit on your balcony or on the deck to watch the sun set (really late) while you are going through the passages.

By the time we had to be on the ship we were hungry and ready to eat.

 

[TestingH2O]

We are from central time and traveled to Alaska with our 5 year old. We loved late dining. It was great seeing the shows or just relaxing before dinner. DD made the transition with no trouble at all.

 

[kid-at-heart]

East coasters here. We did a b2b last spring from San Diego to Vancouver and then Vancouver to Alaska. We had late dining on the first b2b (because we were late signing up for the cruise) and then early for the second part of the cruise. Early worked much better for us because we eat around 6:00 EST and found that we were way too hungry and sleepy to enjoy our "late dining", even with grabbing a snack around 5pm. With young ones, I would definitely go with an early dinner if possible.

 

[Heard02]

Book late dining!
You will not be sorry!!!

 

[DVC Doc]

Late dining was perfect for Alaska. It’s great that it’s still so bright out at 8pm and the sun doesn’t go down until 10-11ish.

 

[mmmears]

Yep. It was still light out even after we finished our late dinners.

 

[WDWLODGE]

Following, we are booked for May 2019 and had the same questions. We are east coasters as well. Our DD will be 16 and and DS will be 10. We currently have main dining booked.

I know for Caribbean Cruises main dining is typically more popular and it was always easier to switch from early to late dining. Is it the same with Alaskan cruises?

 

[Boogie70]

Late dining

 

[sharksfinatic17]

We did early dining and had no problems making it back on time. We did all private excursions and had no problems making it to our meals. Unlike our other Disney cruises, we didn't shower before dinner and after Day 3 we didn't even change for dinner except for our Palo dinner night.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

We had early dining on our Alaskan cruise. There was only one port day where we barely made it back for dinner. Our Port Adventures all started early in the morning (other then Ketchikan when we didn't even pull until port until noon) and we were usually pretty much done in by 5:00 anyway so having dinner was fine by us. We would still be in port, but after being out touring from 7:00am, by 5:00pm we were done and ready to relax and eat. Then we just headed to the evening shows. It was nice to have the rest of the evening to wander around outside and enjoy the views and sunset, even if it was at 10:00pm!

 

[Shanti]

Following, we are booked for May 2019 and had the same questions. We are east coasters as well. Our DD will be 16 and and DS will be 10. We currently have main dining booked.

I know for Caribbean Cruises main dining is typically more popular and it was always easier to switch from early to late dining. Is it the same with Alaskan cruises?

Yes, early dining fills up first for Alaska cruises.