Late Dinner

[jmps]

We are going to be on late fixed seating on our next cruise (Westerdam). Does this mean we will go to the show before dinner if we want to see the show? We have never had late seating before. What else do you find to be fun before the late dinner?

[ugagrad98322]

We are going to be on late fixed seating on our next cruise (Westerdam). Does this mean we will go to the show before dinner if we want to see the show? We have never had late seating before. What else do you find to be fun before the late dinner?

 

 

jmps,

We prefer the fixed late seating and usually request it. We go to the 2nd show after dinner (a late show has been offered on our previous cruises), although sometime we just make it in time or entered a few minutes late. I like to visit the piano bar as well as the Explorer's Lounge after dinner also.

[cb at sea]

Sometimes, the show will be prior to your dining time....sometimes, it will be after....no worries...they do NOT schedule shows to interfere with eating!!! Check the daily schedule...it will tell you when each day's shows will be.

The only "downside" to late seating, is not being able to partake of late night snacks...I'm usually too stuffed to eat a bite more after dinner!

[RMLincoln]

We had late dinner on Amsterdam - just got home. Nearly all the shows for our seating were BEFORE our dinner - shows were at 7 and 9, 7 for the lste dining folks, and 9 for the early dining folks. There are a couple of exceptions: the first night there may be only one short "show" of introductions; for the special Crew Show night there is only one show, usually very late after the crew gets off duty at 10:30 or 11pm, and we had a movie earlier in the evening on those nights.

 

Those with Open Dining can schedule for either show/dinner or dinner/show combination.

[RuthC]

What else do you find to be fun before the late dinner?

End my "day" late, take a good nap, shower and dress for dinner leisurely, then go for cocktail(s). Now I'm all recharged for a nice evening---that's fun.

[bob brown]

On HAL, there is the main dinner, and the late dinner. On other lines, there is the early dinner, and the main dinner.

What does that tell you?;)

[RuthC]

On HAL, there is the main dinner, and the late dinner. On other lines, there is the early dinner, and the main dinner.

What does that tell you?;)

On HAL the late (8:00) dinner is referred to as "main seating". The seating at 5:45 is referred to as "early".

[bob brown]

On HAL the late (8:00) dinner is referred to as "main seating". The seating at 5:45 is referred to as "early".

I stand corrected. I owe you a pillow chocolate!

 

I'll hide it for you in the corner of the safe of Amsterdam cabin 2619.:D

[Dieter]

We are cruising since 1997 and always had the dinner at 8:15 resp. the last years at 8:00.

Including February this year the (late) show for us was always at 10:00.

Last month on the Volendam from Singapore to Sydney it was (for us) the first time at 7:00 (before our dinner) and the late show was already at 9:00.

We like it.

[bob brown]

Perhaps they are showing the show before dinner for the late dinner guests because many of them have the late seating only because the early was already full when they booked, and they don't want to stay up so late. The late show at 10 pm may have played to a half empty house, which is demoralizing for the performers.

[m steve]

The earlier one reminds me of senior early bird specials. Maybe if you have children but dining around 8 is quite civilized.

[SusieKay]

You might consider HAL's AYWD option of open seating-we found it worked well for us on the Eurdoam by dining around 7 pm in the MDR-no reservations and no waiting-we enjoyed some great fun afterwards in the Piano Bar which opened at 9 PM -still time to take in the 1015 pm show if you wanted-or just hang with Les on the piano!

[jmps]

Thanks for all the info everyone. We did use Open seating on our first HAL cruise this past summer on the Zuiderdam to Alaska. It worked very well for us but we wanted to try fixed dining to see if service would be better than open seating. We are also traveling with another family and like the fixed time.

 

It sounds like we won't know for sure when the shows will be until we are on the cruise. I would prefer after dinner unless we have to rush through dinner to get there. The piano bar sounds like a great idea as well. We haven't spent much time there before.

[RuthC]

It sounds like we won't know for sure when the shows will be until we are on the cruise.

That's it in a nutshell. I've had the times change from one segment to the next on a Collector's Voyage, so even the times from the previous cruise can change when you board.

[SwissMyst]

Ah, yes, I forgot to comment on this on our first Vista class trip (Oosterdam Christmas cruise) after having post-dinner shows on the R and S class ships. We couldn't figure this out and thought it was a mistake at first, but since the late show started at 9pm and dinner started at 8pm one either had to do to the early show to see the whole thing, race through dinner to get to the late show by 9pm or end up seeing only the last part of the show by showing up late which is what we ended up doing since we just did not feel like rushing to get ready for our 8pm dinner and show first at 7pm.

 

This seemed odd but then the late starts at 10pm on the other ships also had us often too sleepy after a busy port day to stay up for these shows too. Seemed like the best answer was to start the last show at 9:30 pm for us late dinner people. Not sure if this is a change on all ships or just the Vista ships.

 

Since ship evening entertainment is not one of our travel needs, this was an inconsequential nuisance for us. Just more of a mystery why it had changed so much from our original HAL smaller ship experiences. The acts were good that we did get to see (partially).

[m steve]

and miss a show, there's always the casino and bars for entertainment and the ship profits for those venues. If you sail the same cruise line often, you've already seen most of the shows.