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

[AACJ]

Any experiences on the Costa Cruise Line?

[AACJ]

Are the times the same as say, Celebrity and/or Royal Carribean?

[walkswife]

I voted for early which is my preference but if a cruise has a lot of late port days (after 4:30) then I will choose late.... really depends on the cruise.... I don't have little ones to worry about so that's not a factor for me....

[walkswife]

I voted for early which is my preference but if a cruise has a lot of late port days (after 4:30) then I will choose late.... really depends on the cruise.... I don't have little ones to worry about so that's not a factor for me....

[goneclear]

Late seating.

1. You can enjoy most sail aways on top deck with a nice cocktail.

2. Less kids.

3. They dont rush you out to get ready for the next seating.

[newmexicoNita]

We prefer Anytime - we don't plan our day around food - when we are hungry we get ready for dinner and go - sometimes its 5:30 other times it 8:30 or somewhere in between.

 

Thank You Princess for anytime dining - its what brought us into cruising!

And that is why we prefer NCL, same as you. We want freedom and flexibility. I am handling a group cruise for our church. So many have signed up because of freestyle dining. They do not want to be pinned down. Most are past cruisers and have done the tradtional dining. It good we all have different ideas. NMnita

[Host Kewlguy]

We've had late seating on every cruise we've sailed.

[isujim]

Early seating.............my cardiologist says never eat a minimum 4 hours before going to bed........of course he probably hasn't been on a cruise:D

[sullaRaffaello]

Late seating. I like to have a fine dinner to look forward to as long as possible. Other than the elderly or children, I can't imagine why anyone would want to eat at 6:00PM.

[AACJ]

We just selected late on our upcoming cruise in June.

[Morgsmom]

We usually choose Late dining, especially in the Caribbean as I just can't stomach dinner while the sun is still shining.. For upcoming Med cruise we are switching to "first" seating, which will probably be 7:30 due to later European standards. Since it will be later in the year and the sun will be down, and we'll be exhausted from port intensive days, an "early" dinner then show might be just the ticket... (Late dinner on Costa can start at 9PM which DD definitely does not want!)

[flvol77]

anytime

[thegotogirl]

Late seating for us...we like to enjoy a cocktail party on one of our balconies (we travel in a party of 3 couples) before we head to dinner. This time we are cruising with Princess, and we also had the choice of anytime dining...we still opted for late seating, not anytime.:)

[cb at sea]

Pick the time closest to when you eat at home. You'll be happier, and your tummy will thank you!

[TwoMateys]

We chose main seating on our only cruise. I cruise with a child, age 8, and I enjoy having her at dinner with me and we have great conversations and after, I often drop her at Camp Carnival for some evening activities. We ate at a table for 2, and also chatted with a couple who were also at a table for 2 next to us.

 

A lot of previous posters are saying they choose late seating due to less children. Perhaps because I was enjoying my own child (well-behaved) I did not hear or notice other children causing a problem. What have other cruisers noticed about early dinner problems due to children? We will choose early again.

[NAJNLA]

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

 

We've done early, late, and anytime on our various cruises. We feel that anytime dining is MUCH better.:) You have complete flexibilty; you never feel rushed; on some ships (Princess) you can go to any of 3 different dining rooms; and perhaps the nicest benefit, it allows you to meet and converse with a wide variety of people during the cruise. New places, new faces.:)

[RetireeWannabee]

Late. Partially to fully enjoy time in ports and partly because we are late risers. Leave the early seating to those who have awakened in the single digits.

[Senoj84]

Late seating. I wake up late. I eat breakfast for the late risers and I eat lunch late. Plus it gives me enough time to enjoy the activities.

[alphakitty]

We prefer late seating....don't want to miss those beautiful sunsets at sea. :)

[RetireeWannabee]

I see that people have thrown Anytime into the mix - that would be my choice over traditional whenever offered.

[JackieH]

We always do the earlier one(Main). We have 3 kids, but even if we didnt have kids with us, I prefer eating early to late. We are not late night people LOL...I prefer eating early, taking kids to kids program, then going to the nightly show, then picking up kids, going to bed LOL..Yes, we are old and boring;)

Plus, I am always so stuffed after dinner, I would hate going to bed like that. I like a few hrs to digest before calling it a night.I figure if we are out doing an excursion and miss the main dining time, we could always hit the buffet for a quick dinner.

[cruiser2101]

We prefer the early seating, plus it's closer to the time we eat when we're home. Tried the late seating on our first cruise and we were completely miserable at bedtime.

[956wenbrook]

Late seating hands down for multiple reasons already stated on this thread. Allows ample time to get to dinner and enjoy time before with cocktails and no rushing of the meal.

[concour]

I prefer late seating because that is when the DW wants to eat and I don't want to eat alone.

[forensic]

We normally eat later as our norm anyway. Plus the first time we cruised we did main dining and found ourselves rushing back to the ship from on shore to get dressed for dinner or back from the pool, etc. We find it much nicer to take a rest before dinner and then take our time getting dressed and find it very enjoyable to visit the Martini Bar, listen to the music and relaxing before dinner. For us this is part of the delightful, and elegance of cruising.