Poll: What do you prefer, Main or Late dining and why

[MamaParrotHead]

Our past 2 cruises we've chosen late dining and really enjoyed not feeling rushed on port days. This time, however, we're bringing our kids (6 and 10) and they obviously won't make it til 8 to eat, so we're trying out Main seating. Crossing our fingers!

[AACJ]

We just got comfirmed for the Main dining, since we are bringing the kids this time, that is a good thing!

 

 

 

Our past 2 cruises we've chosen late dining and really enjoyed not feeling rushed on port days. This time, however, we're bringing our kids (6 and 10) and they obviously won't make it til 8 to eat, so we're trying out Main seating. Crossing our fingers!

[G'ma]

Always the late seating.

 

Most of the families with kids are at the first seating and I avoid kids on a ship at all costs.

 

Besides, it just seems that the dining is a little more relaxed at the second because they don't have to turn the dining room around for other folks.....

[Eeyoregon]

Late dining is our favorite if we aren't freestyle cruising.

 

1st, we don't like being rushed on port days to get back to the ship and cleaned up in time for dinner.

 

2nd, we are from the West coast so most cruises we take are 3 hours ahead of our body clocks so eating dinner at 5:30 would be like eating at 2:30 in the afternoon!

[AACJ]

Just picked late for our next cruise.

[okgirl]

LOL.........I just realized that this poll was put out in 2005, before the advent of Your Time Dining.

 

But I actually perferred late dining when there were just 2 options because on Carnival ships they have sushi between 5-8 and I like to have that as a pre-dinner snack.

 

Now, I prefer YTD, generally go around 7:30.

[Haoie]

Your time is a fairly new thing for all lines hmm? Only within the last few years.

 

Me - Late. Fewer early birds and kids.

[mr green]

I know that this is an old post, but I have a point.

This poll, and other posts favor late dining, however, unless I book a cruise early, I find early dining is usually full.

I believe that older folk, such as my wife and I, enjoy early dining, BUT many of the same 'older folk' for whatever reason, do not belong to Cruise Critic.

 

john

[lucyintheskywithdiamonds]

What do you prefer, Main or Late dining and why?

I prefer it later because I love to take my sweet*ss time! it's too rushed otherwise & you have to scramble to the shower... you know! if you need a snack in between, you can always get fruit/ salad through room service.:)

[AACJ]

We always order the fruit plate along with a cheese plate from room service too. Then we enjoy this on the balcony with a glass of wine, or two.

[AACJ]

Thinking of doing the anytime dining in November.

[mjjden]

With the advent of Any time Dining, different names for different lines, we prefer it by far. We like to eat around 6 so it is perfect for us, we hit Happy Hour, and then go back to the room to get ready. Fits us perfectly!

[Illyria]

When we were on ships that had their main seating at 6:15pm or 6:30pm, that was good time for dinner. I'm not a huge fan of late seating, since if I go to bed stuffed, I'll wake up in the middle of the night with heartburn :(

 

However, on our upcoming cruse, there's only 5:15pm and 5:45pm (and it's waitlisted) - so I took the 8pm late seating (seriously, I can't eat dinner at 5:15pm, that's just way too early :D )

[cruiseryyc]

Resurrecting a post that was started almost 10 years ago!!!

[DonnaK]

We like early (main) seating, and then the show afterwards. It's closest to the time we eat at home. The few times we've had late seating, we got very hungry and needed to go up to the buffet around 6-6:30 for some "appetizers".

 

Some say that they don't like early seating because they don't like being "rushed" coming back from ports or the pool to get ready for dinner, but we've found that by 4:30-5pm, we are uncomfortable and ready to shower and change into fresh clothes. Also, most nights, the shows are before dinner for late seating diners, and we love to attend the shows, so we ended up having to get ready early anyway.

[Skywench]

Actually, I prefer neither. My preference is anytime dining. If I couldn't have that, then I would choose late. However, I don't eat in the main dining room every night of the cruise either.

[cruizinrican]

I prefer NCL's freestyle dining and you go to dinner where and what time you want. But if I had to pick early or late seating, it most definitely would be late. We enjoy napping after we return from our excursions and then going to dinner late. Helps keep us awake longer for the nightlife! Haha Getting old, I know!

Edited February 11, 2015 by cruizinrican

[kcstar]

I like late seating myself, as a lot of people have already mentioned, gives us more time at the pool, or in the port, and that way we don't have to rush around to get ready for dinner. (also gives us a chance to eat a burger or slice of pizza as a snack at the pool!)

[AACJ]

We selected late seating on out cruise in 2 months.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[mr green]

The poll it seems favors 'Late Seating', however on Princess, and HAL, the opposite seems to be the norm.

I have found that unless I book six moths in advance, 'Early Seating' is usually wait listed.

 

john

[MNfamilycruiser]

Main - we are from the midwest and tend to eat, and go to bed earlier.

Also, frequently have travelled with our children - not so easy for them to handle a late dinner.

 

Wow this poll is from 2005!! Funny how it got resurrected at different times over the years.

Edited September 12, 2015 by MNfamilycruiser

[Dayenu]

Do not discriminate against any time dining :D

 

We like early dining, same as at home. Going to be early, it's easier when the tummy is not full.

 

We also prefer fixed time dining: same waiters, same cruisers - only one introduction. When travel on NCL we get tired of repeating the same: names, where from, etc, etc...

[DocF]

Do not discriminate against any time dining :D

 

We like early dining, same as at home. Going to be early, it's easier when the tummy is not full.

 

We also prefer fixed time dining: same waiters, same cruisers - only one introduction. When travel on NCL we get tired of repeating the same: names, where from, etc, etc...

 

We also usually prefer early seating as I am diabetic and this more closely resembles our dinner time at home. Scheduling is important for blood sugar control.

 

You have also mentioned one of the many reasons why we will not be cruising NCL. The main one, though, is that our daughter and her DH were on the S.S. Norway when the boiler exploded. NCL did a terrible job of taking care of these passengers and have still to this day not compensated our daughter for her losses in that event.

[ronandannette]

Resurrecting a post that was started almost 10 years ago!!!

 

:p LOL - they're called "zombie threads", and I'm not sure why people object so much when one resurfaces...that's what the Search function is for, right?

 

The poll it seems favors 'Late Seating', however on Princess, and HAL, the opposite seems to be the norm.

I have found that unless I book six moths in advance, 'Early Seating' is usually wait listed.

 

john

Totally true. We much prefer early Traditional as it just seems to pace the evening better - dinner and then a show, rather than the other way around. But we haven't managed to snag early dining for our last two sailings and went with Open Seating rather than be stuck at 8:00 each night. Opinions may vary on this but I feel the wait staff is a little "used up" by second seating. We've had much better service going earlier. That said, there can sometimes be a bit of a "bum's rush" feeling as they try to clear the straggling first seating diners out to prepare for the second. (This is true in both the Traditional setting and open seating.)

Edited September 13, 2015 by ronandannette

[AACJ]

Main - we are from the midwest and tend to eat, and go to bed earlier.

Also, frequently have travelled with our children - not so easy for them to handle a late dinner.

 

Wow this poll is from 2005!! Funny how it got resurrected at different times over the years.

 

I am guilty of performing all the resurrections. Every time we book a cruise, I come back to it and post what my dinner seating is.

 

Plus, I started the poll back in 2005....wow, I've been on Cruise Critic for a LONG TIME!