Main vs Late Dinner

[Shanti]

We have always done late dining but the most recent cruise my daughter (in the Edge) complained that all the other kids she hung out with had early dining and she had to always leave late dinner early to be on time for the evening programming.

I was considering early dining for our next Caribbean cruise (we've only had late dining so far), but all these reports of parents of kids needing early dining has changed my mind. I think there might be more kids at early dining than we'd really enjoy.

 

[nancyjo1998]

Having tried both, we prefer late dining. We don't feel rushed getting ready for dinner on port days, and we are not morning people so main seating breakfast was way to early. My DS practically slept through it on debarkation morning.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We also prefer late, even when DS was 5 (he is 9 now). While he was in bed around 8:00-8:30 at home, on the ship he had no issues staying up late a few nights. When he was younger, he'd have a nap with daddy around 4 pm and then was good to stay up. I planned our meals accordingly, lunch was a bit later, then if need be we fed him quick service or room service later in the afternoon. Nobody in our family was hungry to eat dinner before 6 and I also didn't like rushing to get ready that early. We often found we had the pool area to ourselves after 4:30, 4:45.. DS would ride the aqua duck or slide over and over with little wait then. Sometimes we'd head to the show before changing for dinner, so we had even more time.
We normally eat dinner around 6 pm at home, usually in the Caribbean it's 1 hr ahead of our time zone (EST) so 8pm is actually 7pm and so this seems to work fine on vacation for us.
Next year when we go to Alaska, 8pm there will be 5 pm at home.. again will choose late dinner.
We just prefer it on so many levels, but you know your kiddos best. Our friends' kids were usually miserable at dinner, sometimes falling asleep, even at age 7... Some kids are go with the flow easy going when they travel, others need their routine kept same as home or else . There is no point in keeping kids up if you know they will be whining come dinner time, thus making the parents cranky too

 

[ajgardner]

We have always done late dining but the most recent cruise my daughter (in the Edge) complained that all the other kids she hung out with had early dining and she had to always leave late dinner early to be on time for the evening programming.

This right here is my main fear. I guess I will sit down with the kids and look st the old navigators to decide. Other than that I’d be willing to give it a try!

 

[RedSox68]

I've always preferred the late seating because I always felt the early dinning was just too early for me personally. I'm sure if you gave it a try and didn't like it the DCL staff would be accommodating and change you back to early seating.

Early dining usually has a waitlist of people trying to get into that time. I wouldn't depend on that being available if you decide you don't like late dining

 

[bcwife76]

We always choose second seating eventhough our children are younger (will be 9&7 on our 4th cruise this May) and it's always worked out well. We like not feeling rushed and eventhough it's later our kids don't have a problem with it (we tend to eat later at home as well due to my husbands' work schedule though if he's really late obviously I don't hold it too late for the kids). It was only an issue for our youngest last August when we went to Alaska being another hour behind, she slept through 3 of our dinners! But overall it's worked out well, esp when we take cruises from Florida, since we are on the west coast an early seating would be very early for our body clocks lol

 

[MelSpees]

I was considering early dining for our next Caribbean cruise (we've only had late dining so far), but all these reports of parents of kids needing early dining has changed my mind. I think there might be more kids at early dining than we'd really enjoy.

We've only had main dining and hardly even know there are kids there. But, we've been on longer cruises with fewer kids, so that probably makes a difference.

 

[karatstravels]

We travel with young children and like late dining as well. Agree with everyone on not feeling rushed and we like to enjoy the show early ( if we choose). Plus our kids like to grab something to eat early and go to the kids club and we have a nice quiet dinner and by the time we are done they are tired and ready for bed (usually, we have had to keep ourselves awake as they were having too much fun ).

However we are West Coasters, so it is a little easier for us to be “night owls” on the East Coast. Those early mornings are killer so we live it up at night.

 

[TestingH2O]

We did late dining for the first time in Alaska and loved it. DD is more alert for the shows and, on days it's not a stage show, we can spend more time playing before dinner.

DD was 5 in Alaska and used to a 7:00 bedtime. But she adjusted with no trouble. (The inside room helped her sleep late and take good naps.)

 

[Jenlynn3]

We have a party of 12 and we are at a split with the seating. We were wait listed for early and just got it for our July sailing. After putting more thought into it and talking with everyone, we are still at a split

 

[daedelus]

How late do you usually stay up on the cruise? If you're planning to go to bed right after late seating lets out, I don't know that I'd want to eat that close to bedtime. Because I usually didn't go to bed until at least midnight, though, late seating was great for me. amyg1 has a very good point about time zones; since I come from the mountain time zone, late dining in the Caribbean meant I was actually eating at my usual dinner time.

Pretty late! You can sleep when you get home!

Seriously, we're night owls. We're usually off to catch a late movie in the BVT or I'll go up on deck and grab a chair and read and just enjoy the ride. If we're in bed by midnight, that's about average for us.

 

[Jenlynn3]

Half of our party are night owls the other half not so much

 

[YawningDodo]

Pretty late! You can sleep when you get home!

Seriously, we're night owls. We're usually off to catch a late movie in the BVT or I'll go up on deck and grab a chair and read and just enjoy the ride. If we're in bed by midnight, that's about average for us.

I used to take that attitude, but then I realized I was getting sick after every single trip....

But yeah, if you're up late anyway I don't see why second seating would ever be a bad thing. I was late to bed and late to rise on my cruise and had a great time, and I wouldn't hesitate to book the late seating again.

 

[cruisnfamily]

If you have late dining, what time is the show that you go to? How long does that last and what time is late dining? When do you get dressed? Before the show or between the show and late dinner? How about pictures? When's the best time for those?

 

[wallskm]

If you have late dining, what time is the show that you go to? How long does that last and what time is late dining? When do you get dressed? Before the show or between the show and late dinner? How about pictures? When's the best time for those?

I want to say the show is at 6:15 or 6:30. We were usually out of the show by 7:30 and has 45 minutes in between the show and dinner. If we were going to the show we usually went ahead and got dressed for dinner before the show and then went to find something to do on board between the two (usually an activity in the D lounge, movie up on deck, sometimes the kids wanted to go to the club for an activity). You have about the same kind of lag time between dinner and the show with main dining as well. The benefit for us came on the days we didn’t plan to go to the show. Then we wouldn’t have to get ready for anything until about 7:30.

 

[cyclenut]

We typically prefer late seating when we book a cruise, but I'v been tempted to book the main seating with Disney. It feels like some of the adult after hours venues fill up before we are able to get to them when we eat late. I've been unable to get a seat sometimes when we go straight to the club after dinner. I prefer late so you can take more time to get back on port days. We used to live on the West Coast, so late seating never felt that late. Now we're in the central time zone, but we still typically eat dinner around 7:30 pm or later, making late seating more similar to when we normally have dinner.

 

[Snowwhyt]

If you have late dining, what time is the show that you go to? How long does that last and what time is late dining? When do you get dressed? Before the show or between the show and late dinner? How about pictures? When's the best time for those?

Get dressed before the show check your navigator for character locations (usually in atrium) get your photos, then get your nightly backdrop/background photos last. Those photographers are assigned there longer while early dinners are being served.
As for when to get dressed to maximize your photo and alternate entertainment options, plan to be at your first character photo 15 minuets early and the rest will fall into place.

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

It’s funny, I’ve always done second seating for dinner, so it seems normal to me. Here’s our case for 2 adults not wanting late seating.

When I was discussing plans with DH about our upcoming January cruise, I asked him his opinion on main or second seating. His response was a non-negotiable, no question, no hesitation MAIN seating!

We do tend to eat dinner between 5:30-6:00 EST on normal days, so it makes sense for us to do Main. We usually eat dinner on the early side, and then snack later on. Our all aboard times are 4:45 for 3 out of 4 ports, so “getting ready” for dinner for the two of us won’t be a problem or be rushed.

So Main seating for the first time for me in January!

 

[DIS_MIKE]

We've decided on early dining this time around. The 2nd seating is very nice and relaxed so you don't feel rushed at all. Our last cruise we'd be there close to 10PM and I've always missed the Pirate buffet because i'm too full from just eating! I am not a morning person though so being at that super early bfast will be difficult. I really have no appetite at 6AM so I think I'll skip it, sleep in for a bit, and just go to cabanas on debarkation day.

 

[RysMomma]

We do early seating. I just can't eat that late and neither could my kids. But that's just us!