Dining Time Seating later than 5:45 PM?

[Ariel 2021]

For our last cruise we had main dining (5:45 PM) but the app told us that our time was at 6:15 PM and that's when we arrived as it appeared that they were staggering arrival times to the dining hall. Was that just due to COVID restrictions or do they always do this? If they do always stagger does anyone know what the latest possible seating time might be?

 

[TRTRguy]

They are no longer staggering dinner times within each block. I'm sure you could talk to your server the first night and see if you could arrive maybe 15 minutes late.

 

[FightingIrishman]

The main lights in the MDRs were turned on and the music stopped every night at 7:30 promptly to signify it was time to exit.

 

[brentm77]

The main lights in the MDRs were turned on and the music stopped every night at 7:30 promptly to signify it was time to exit.

If you make it to the lights, you know you have very poor servers or really good company. We made it to the lights nearly every night when sailing with family we love catching up with.

 

[tvguy]

If you make it to the lights, you know you have very poor servers or really good company. We made it to the lights nearly every night when sailing with family we love catching up with.

That's why we are late seating diners. I would feel rushed if we were only allowed an hour and 15 minutes for dinner. But thankfully with late dining, you have the option of a leisurely meal. Most of our Dinners on the Magic lasted 2 hours.

 

[DCLMP]

I've never understood how people eat dinner at 545 or even 615. You can't possibly eat this early at home unless you don't work. I just got back from Europe and most of the restaurants don't even open until 7pm. We've always done late dining even when the kids were little.

 

[holula]

I've never understood how people eat dinner at 545 or even 615. You can't possibly eat this early at home unless you don't work. I just got back from Europe and most of the restaurants don't even open until 7pm. We've always done late dining even when the kids were little.

I do eat at 6-6.30 at home. I live in the UK. However I do that at home as I like to have a whole evening after food where I can chill after work and not have to think about cooking at 7pm. Also most days I WFH now but even before that I did work and eat around the same time.

On the cruise I prefer late as it doesn’t feel as rushed.

 

[Giraffe Lounge]

Different strokes… we prefer the slightly faster pace of early dining to enjoy more evening time around the ship.

 

[lanejudy]

I've never understood how people eat dinner at 545 or even 615. You can't possibly eat this early at home unless you don't work.

Typically we eat at 5-5:15 at home. I work full-time but I'm pretty much able to set my hours and start early so I can end by mid-afternoon. We have diabetics in the family and that timing works well. Plus DD goes to bed early and this allows for some family evening time that isn't just dinner-and-bedtime. So the "early" dining at 5:45 is slightly later than our normal.

 

[ekmom]

DD and SIL both work full time jobs (remote since COVID) and have 3 kids. Both end work around 5:00, one picks up the kids while one makes dinner and they sit down by 5:30.

I've never understood how people eat dinner at 545 or even 615. You can't possibly eat this early at home unless you don't work. I just got back from Europe and most of the restaurants don't even open until 7pm. We've always done late dining even when the kids were little.

 

[jimmymc]

I've seen some of the entertainment start as early as 15 minutes after the start time, so while you could show up later I would recommend 6:00.

 

[MamaMermaid]

I've never understood how people eat dinner at 545 or even 615. You can't possibly eat this early at home unless you don't work. I just got back from Europe and most of the restaurants don't even open until 7pm. We've always done late dining even when the kids were little.

I teach high school - home by 3pm. Hubby works from home now. And we have a 4yo who's in bed by 7:30 nowadays. Late dining is my fear!

 

[nancipants]

I've never understood how people eat dinner at 545 or even 615. You can't possibly eat this early at home unless you don't work. I just got back from Europe and most of the restaurants don't even open until 7pm. We've always done late dining even when the kids were little.

Late dining is after my son's bedtime, haha. He would never be able to sit through late dining and still be functional. We work from home and usually eat between 5:30-6. I pick my son up from daycare at 4:45. I either prepare dinner before leaving or my husband cooks after he finishes work around 5. On days my son doesn't go to daycare, we usually eat earlier.

 

[DCLMP]

I'm glad so many of you like to eat in the middle of the day. It's means I'll never have to worry about not getting late dining.

 

[lanejudy]

I'm glad so many of you like to eat in the middle of the day. It's means I'll never have to worry about not getting late dining.

Yep, and my guess is you aren't out-and-about yet when we venture to breakfast early

 

[DCLMP]

Yep, and my guess is you aren't out-and-about yet when we venture to breakfast early

Jogging out on deck four by 7am.

 

[tvguy]

I teach high school - home by 3pm. Hubby works from home now. And we have a 4yo who's in bed by 7:30 nowadays. Late dining is my fear!

Wow, a tip of the hat to you. We certainly could put our kids in bed that early at the age, but neither of them would go to sleep before 10 pm.
My son is experiencing that now. My Granddaughter is 3 and no matter what they try, she won't go to sleep before 9 pm

 

[nancipants]

Wow, a tip of the hat to you. We certainly could put our kids in bed that early at the age, but neither of them would go to sleep before 10 pm.
My son is experiencing that now. My Granddaughter is 3 and no matter what they try, she won't go to sleep before 9 pm

Our son is the opposite, no matter what we do we can't get him to sleep later than 7 am.

 

[n2mm]

Obviously main dining is the most popular one to get. It always has a waitlist. I’m waitlisted for October. We always eat around 5pm at home. We are early risers too. Often walking deck 4 at 5:00am. ( and we’re not alone at that time. Both guests and CMs).

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I've never understood how people eat dinner at 545 or even 615. You can't possibly eat this early at home unless you don't work. I just got back from Europe and most of the restaurants don't even open until 7pm. We've always done late dining even when the kids were little.

What time zone are you in? We’re in central, so everything seems to start a hour earlier compared to eastern. I’m not a big TV viewer, but I know that our late afternoon news comes on the TV starting at 4 pm, and the network broadcast nightly news is at 10 pm. One local station has nightly news at 9 pm. Our local high schools start at 7:30 am, so bus pick-ups are between 6:30 and 7. Some of those high school students start lunch between 10:30 and 11:00 am. They end classes by 2:30 pm or so. For many folks in this part of the country, the so-called 9-to-5 day is more likely to start by 8 am. The end result is that a 5:45 or 6:15 dinner time is not all that strange.