I'm converted! No more Late Seating for me!

[boandmeg]

it's great that everyone likes different dinner times. We like late dining b/c we like to get on the ship as late as possible from the ports. Then, we like to stand on top deck with a cocktail and watch as the ship pulls away from port without having to rush in, shower and get ready for dinner. If the ship leaves at 7, we are getting on board at 6....then we still can relax and not have to rush in to get ready for dinner. At all of our ports of call next April-the ship doesn't leave until 7pm. If i had dinner at 6, we'd have to be on board by 4 to start getting ready. I'd rather have those 2 extra hrs in Sicily or Dubrovnik or where ever we may be.

[sjcruiser]

We eat late I home, so early dinner wouldnt be a good fit for us. That booth situation would be a little too weird for me.

[gapearl]

I'm one of the few people that LOVES late seating. After I get back on the ship, I like to watch as we pull away from port and then I usually head to the spa to sit in the sauna for a little while. Then I head to my room, shower, and take a nap before dinner. Late dining works for me also because I'm very much a night owl (my average bed time at home is 2 am) and after dinner, I check out the shows, comedians, karaoke, and disco. I read a lot in reviews from people with early seating that people say they felt their servers were very rushed and overwhelmed because of the amount of tables they have. I have only done late dining on my cruises, and because it's not as popular, there are always many empty tables. I have had some nights where the servers are literally standing there waiting for us to ask for something because their workload is so much lighter. I could be wrong, but it seems there might be a little more attention given at late dining for that reason.

[quickrate]

We like late dining because we don't like to feel rushed at dinner. there are usually 8 to 10 of us and we drink wine, laugh, talk, and share our day. We usually take 2 hours at dinner and it's hard to do that at early dining as they have to get the dining room reset for late.

Pat

[golfadj]

DH & I always take early dining. Even when sailing NCL with freestyle dining we eat by 6 p.m.

 

We were both raised in rural Ohio, farm bred so to speak, where families sat down to eat together after evening chores of milking cows and feeding the sheep. Sometimes that was 5 p.m. in the winter, sometimes 6 p.m. in the summer. By 9 p.m. we were getting ready for bed.

 

We are now in our early '60s and have lived in the city since we were 19 but we still prefer to eat our evening meal earlier than later.

 

I'm sure if we were ever assigned late seating the waiters would be upset. They'd find us face down in our creme brulee.

 

Dianne

 

Better than face down in your soup.

[Trnkk]

For us, late seating, 8:30 eastern time is 6:30 mountain tiime, perfect...body needs no adjustment.

[boandmeg]

also, we still get to go to the after-dinner show and the late nite comedy show after late dining. And we're still in bed by midnight and up the next day by 7am. We just try to have as much time as possible in the ports of call and early dining doesn't exactly allow that. I LOVE late dining and would never do early dining. But, to each his own. :)

[Hot Nail]

Totally agree.....early dining is the ticket imo!

[jagsfan]

Twenty Five years ago, we wouldn't consider anything but late seating. Wanted time to

get back on board, shower, hair, makeup, shave for DH, and drink before dinner. We

thought that was the only way to go. Then we got stuck with early one time and that's

all it took. We are much happier eating early enough to digest our meal, and have time to

wander or see a show before bed. Reading in bed and still getting 8 hours is pure

luxury for me.

[iceleven]

And you probably didn't feel "rushed after port", did you? I never did understand that theory from the late dining advocates. You're typically back on board at 4:00 anyway.

 

We cruise for the itineraries and the ports--not the food, dining, or entertainment. We want to experience as much at the port as possible and sometimes that means getting back only a short time before the ship takes off. Our excursions are generally action-packed and we look forward to a little "down-time" before dinner.

 

I also enjoy watching the sail away, perhaps even catching the sunset. Can't do that when you are showering or blow drying you hair and trying to get to the dining room on time.

 

If we don't want to wait till our late seating we can always catch something on the buffet anyway. Another perk, there are less children in the later seating, thus a little bit quieter atmosphere.

 

We always enjoy our late-night walks around the ship after dinner and rarely eat so much that we feel stuffed. I agree, that would be awful going to bed on such a full tummy.

 

These are just my many reasons to the preference of late seating. It truly is a good thing there are choices for all of us.

[98Charlie]

Better than face down in your soup.

 

Or the warm melting chocolate cake. Yuck!:eek:

 

Dianne

[iceleven]

For us, late seating, 8:30 eastern time is 6:30 mountain tiime, perfect...body needs no adjustment.

 

Great point! Maybe that is why late seating is never a problem for us either and we are on Pacific time ;)

 

We naturally wake up early on the ship, too.

[DebJ14]

We prefer late seating. We are late risers so all the meals are shifted to later in the day, especially on a cruise. On port days we enjoy watching the runners, getting showered and often take a nap. If we are hungry we just call room service and order a salad or something light. Sometimes we end up rushing to make the show before dinner. After dinner we go and listen to some music and have a nightcap. We found on the few cruises we got stuck with early dinner that we ended bored in the evening and dropped way too much in the casino. We live in the central time zone so late dining out of Florida is only 7pm for us. When we sail out of the west coast late dining is only 6:30 for us and feels way to early. Cruising out of Galveston late dining is just right for us. We don't do MTD at the request of special needs because we are Gluten Free and order our meals the night before. They need to know what time we are eating and at what table in order to deliver the cooked to order dinner at the right temperature.

[98Charlie]

Great point! Maybe that is why late seating is never a problem for us either and we are on Pacific time ;)

 

We naturally wake up early on the ship, too.

 

Great point and that's why ships offer different strokes for different folks.

 

When we cruise out of California from Ohio I wish ships would offer us a 3 p.m. dining time. Seems like my internal clock needs fed at that point.:)

 

Dianne

[westview1]

Or the warm melting chocolate cake. Yuck!:eek:

 

Dianne

 

That could leave a mark. :D

[cruisecrazy02]

We have been on two cruises with the third on the way. We have tried both ways. We choose early dining for our first Mexixan Riveria cruise. It worked out well because our port times weren't as long. Our second cruise aboard the Miracle - Southern Caribbean, we chose late dining. While yes, sometimes you go to bed kind of full, it was nice not to have to rush back to your cabin, get ready for dinner. We really enjoyed taking our time getting ready, then going to the lobby bar or piano bar and have a pre-dinner drink. Most times, we would chat it up with someone else who was waiting for dinner.

It is definately a personal choice, but late dining is for us.

[sandij]

We always take the first seating, only once did we do late and it was 10:00 before we were out of the dinning room, and then felt like nothing but sleeping. With the early dinning you can do more events in the evening and you also feel like partaking of any midnight or late night events they may be having. We usually like a large table, gotten stuck with a table for two several times and you know what, it was nice but we already had talked to each other all day.

[BenjiRodney]

We always do early and then have a late night snack from the lido or room service.

[mrpayroll]

And you probably didn't feel "rushed after port", did you? I never did understand that theory from the late dining advocates. You're typically back on board at 4:00 anyway.

 

Never could understand this one either. Nothing but early for us..

[GlendaleCruiser]

Always early for me. I cannot sleep on a full stomach. I like to have dinner then get a drink and go listen to a band or the piano man, a show, wander the ship, take a late night stroll to see the stars and then it's late and I'm ready for bed.

[Name Of The Game]

Never could understand this one either. Nothing but early for us..

 

Me neither. When I come back from port I can hardly wait for dinner at 6:00 never mind 8:15!

[98Charlie]

My first 2 cruises I sat at larger tables with strangers and I didn't mind. But DH is a bit more reserved than I am. At least with a large table, you're more likely to find someone you click with. The 4 people booths still scare me, hahahah.

 

On Carnival the seating at tables is anything but random. They use a program called "Table Where" for seating.

 

About 5 days prior to the sailing the Maitre d' has access to information about all of the passengers for the cruise. This includes names, cabin numbers, age categories, country of residence, and the date the booking was made.

 

The age categories are in 10 year spans (25-35, 35-45, etc.) so you will normally be seated with someone about your same age.

 

The country of residence is used for language purposes. That limits the chance of one couple speaking only one language and the other speaking only a different language.

 

The date of booking is used as a preference "tie-breaker" in receiving your requested dining time and table size. The earlier you book the better chance you have at having your requests met.

 

VIP status can be a trump card and get your requests honored regardless of the time you book.

 

In 30 cruises with various cruise lines we have never had a problem with tablemates.

 

Charlie

[moonandsun]

We have tried late HATED IT, early was much better, but the way to go for us is anytime. We have NEVER had to wait, we always get a table for 2 (which we like). We just love it. :D

[lowbass]

We love the "late seating", for dinner. We love to find a local place in port to grab something to eat so we're not hungry even if we get back on the ship at 5pm. And if we were hungry there's always pizza to be had. We also see some late night shows and hit the casino for a few hours after dinner. So we never go to bed stuffed.

 

But the number 1 reason we don't like "early dinner seating" is because it makes us feel like we're on a schedule. And for us, a vacation means "NO SCHEDULE"!

[huggs]

We have tried both and really did find ourselves so rushed when we got back from port and usually longing for cool shower and then nap. We also would often enjoy a snack of some sort in the port mid afternoon and therefore not hungry for dinner at 6 pm. Sometimes we were tired following dinner, but usually a stroll on the deck, catch a show and or quiet time in our room before we settled to sleep would avoid issues with sleep- besides with all the fun, sun and good food...sleep is rarely a problem for us. Our next cruise ( Hawaii - Vancouver) will be intersting...with 7 port intensive days we are more than happy to have late dining, but we may find on those 5 sea days that a trip to the buffet may beckon us...then again...we will have time to stay up late, sleep in, and still have that afternoon nap ;) and enjoy late dining.

It really is a personal choice and as long as everyone is happy ...that is what it is all about.