1st or 2nd seating on a 12 day Mediterranean cruise?

[snshn3]

This is a very long and extensive port cruise, so with that in mind, which is better, the 1st or 2nd seating?

My dilemma is that the 2nd seating would be great as we would not feel rushed, but having to get up so early every morning, I would not want to go to sleep at 11:00pm every night

[Bruin Steve]

We were on the Millie in August...and did First seating...
And we are glad we did...
First, we heard lots of complaints about second seating from shipmates--there were a lot of Europeans on board...and Europeans tend to eat later, so, they all had second seating...and they were there with their families--so there were more kids at second seating than first...and a lot of the French folks didn't exactly like living by all the rules--like assigned tables and such--caused all sorts of problems...

Anyway, first seating turned out great...We only felt really rushed once: We did a 10 hour Capri/Sorrento/Pompeii tour in Naples that ran late and we returned to the ship right about dinner time...had to rush to shower and dress...but we still made it to dinner only a half hour late and were still seated, served and had ample time...

Most of the ports, the ship set sail by 6:00, so you had to be back on board anyway...and dinner wasn't served until 6:30...

In a couple of ports--Santorini and Nice, the ship was in port until midnight...One of those nights (Santorini), our tablemates ate in port and we ate in the Olympic...In Nice, we were ALL beat from the heat and back onto the ship well in time for dinner anyway...

BTW, most of our shore excursions--most of them except NAples--got us back to the ship by around 4:30 or 5:00...plenty of time to shower and dress for the 6:30 seating...and we were HUNGRY after all that touring...would not have wanted to wait until 9:00 for dinner!!!

Summit, July 3, 2004: Alaska: 13 night cruisetour

[wwinfl91]

We were on the Golden Princess last summer in the Med and had PC (Personal Choice) dining. We had found that going to the dining rooms between 7:15 and 7:45 PM was the best time to go and avoid the lines and we never got back from any shore excursions too late to make it to the dining room. We are normally late dinner people and had asked for that on this cruise but ended up somewhere in the 200's on the waiting list so we tried the PC choice and enjoyed it. I would suggest if your choices are 6 or 6:30 and 8 or 8:30 take the later time.

Have a great next cruise.

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[DianneH]

We were on the Star Princess Med. cruise April, very port intensive as well. No way we could have made the early seating. We signed up for the late 8:15. You can always do the Personal Choice dining rooms any time or the buffet or room service. We did all of the above. We had dinner most nights with our table mates at 8:15, but there were occasions we just wanted to grab a bite after a day of touring and fore go all the dining rooms. We had friends that did the early and loved it. I found it to be too rushed for us, as we never got back to ship until the last minute. We too are late eaters and usually had eaten some where in port anyway. Late worked for us, but I think it's a personal choice thing.
ps Hi Warren....our trip was fabulous!!!!

[MareT]

We were on the Millie last August for 13 nights. We had the late seating and for us it worked. After the extensive touring we enjoyed coming back to the ship, relaxing in the T-Pool for awhile. There were a lot of Europeans at the late seating as Bruin Steve mentioned but we encountered no problems in our section of the dining room. It is a matter of choice, but we always prefer the late seating.

Maryann

[Hlitner]

We have done many many Med cruises, and always opt for late seating. If on a line like Princess where there is personal choise, we will usually take the choice and dine around 8. The problem with early seating is that you will sometimes be rushing from port to dinner. We have also found that there are fewer children in late sittings. As to European cruisers, it is true that they will generally go for the late sitting, which we find a very good thing. We have made some terrific European friends on cruises (mostly from England, Scotland, and Spain) and have been able to trade lots of good travel stories.

Hank

[Aussie Gal]

I agree with Hank and the other late seaters. We sailed last year from Copenhagen to Rome and there is no way we would have been ready for dinner at 6pm or 6.30pm.

Most of the time the ship sailed at 6pm and to have to rush to get to dinner would have ruined the meal for us.

We do eat later at home, around 7pm so 8.15pm wasn't too bad. It gave us time to have a pre dinner drink with friends and perhaps have a dance before our meal.

This year HAL has introduced four meal times and we are now requesting the 8pm which is even a little better than the 8.15pm we had last year.

We have just returned from the Tahitian Princess and had the late sitting there - 8.30pm which still worked for us as they put on some of the shows at 7pm for the late seaters and it meant that we could still have a reasonably early night which you need on that cruise!

Jennie

The next cruise is always the best!

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[SteveS]

If you are young (under 70 ) late seating is better, especially if you have a verandah. We like to watch the ship sail and relax before dinner. We then see the show and go bed at midnight and get up early for a tour. A port intensive cruise is not for sleeping.

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[jody]

Last summer when I did the Med on the Golden Princess, we had the early seating and it worked out well for us. We were never too rushed and it was nice to have time to see a show or walk around a bit after dinner before going to bed, without having to stay up until midnight to do it. The late seating was originally advertised as 8:00 pm, I believe, but was moved to 8:30 once you got on the ship. The second seating folks were still at dinner at 10:30 or later, when I was heading for bed for another early morning. Of course, we tried to be the first ones off the ship, so probably returned early too because of that. The thing we did miss out on was relaxing in the hot tub before dinner, which I like to do in the Caribbean where I prefer late dining. For us, early seating was the way to go for the Med. We were seated with retired couples (we're 30-somethings), but they were wonderful table mates and there were a variety of ages that we saw at the early seating at other tables. Decide if you prefer a lot of relaxation time before dinner or after, knowing you will have early and busy port intensives days. You'll have a fabulous cruise either way, I'm sure.
jody

NEXT UP: TBD
Golden Princess May 2003 (Mediterranean)
Golden Princess January 2002 (Eastern Caribbean)
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[dburger]

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this. With early dining, you may be rushed at one or two of the ports. With late dining, you're still digesting your food when they bring out the buffet. We went to the Med two years ago on Orient's Grand Odyssey and opted for early dining. We met some wonderful people and had no regrets.

[snshn3]

Thanks for your input. We chose the late seating, hopefully that is not too late as we need to get up early to go around the ports.

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[Andym]

Quote 'I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this. With early dining, you may be rushed at one or two of the ports. With late dining, you're still digesting your food when they bring out the buffet. We went to the Med two years ago on Orient's Grand Odyssey and opted for early dining. We met some wonderful people and had no regrets.'

If you are still full from dinner, why would you be interested in the buffet anyhow !

[Siegmund]

We were on the Brilliance Med cruise last year with an early seating. The late seating was really late to accommodate the large number of Europeans on board. The dining staff was very relaxed about arrival time. Some of our table mates would arrive at least 30 minutes after the beginning of the seating and were always accommodated by the staff. Quite a few passengers just "drifted" in on their own schedules. I am sure that this was frustrating to the waiters, but they were always very gracious.

[LEtue]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Siegmund:
We were on the Brilliance Med cruise last year with an early seating. The late seating was really late to accommodate the large number of Europeans on board. The dining staff was very relaxed about arrival time. Some of our table mates would arrive at least 30 minutes after the beginning of the seating and were always accommodated by the staff. Quite a few passengers just "drifted" in on their own schedules. I am sure that this was frustrating to the waiters, but they were always very gracious.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

We sailed in mid May and didn't experience any of this with late dining. I'm guessing that the time of year makes a big difference....

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[usavvy2]

I would look at the ship departure times and weigh the importance of sail away from each port. It killed me to be at dinner while we were sailing by such wonderful scenery in Norway last summer. (All departures were b4 1st seating so we could barely see it pass us by... we didn't have a window seat.)

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