Early Dining Benefits

[travelplus]

From what I have experienced in my opinion if you do the early dining you can do the early show and be out early enough to enjoy the late night activities. If you want something else to eat you can go to the Promenade Cafe for snacks.

 

You also can enjoy the afternoon snacks and then eat at the early seating.

 

Whats your take on the pros of early dining for those who enjoy the evening activities( I don't mind staying out past midnight). While the older people can retire earlier I use it as a benefit to better enjoy my after dinner drinks, show, disco or sing-along at the Schooner Bar or enjoy the music at one of the other clubs.

 

Is my thinking right on track?

 

When at a port I usually hit the port after breakfast around 8:00ish and will be on board about 1-2 pm time for a swim or rest if needed. Since the upcoming cruise will be mostly sea days I don't mind losing some sleep on port days to enjoy both the port and ship activities.

[DonnaK]

To us, the biggest advantage to early dining is that we eat around the same time at home, and that we don't go to bed on such a full stomach. We usually see the show after dinner, and then attend a late night activity.

 

Whenever we've tried late dining, we were always too hungry (and bored) waiting for dinner. Most of the time, the show was before dinner, so we'd do a late night activity and then go to bed with that uncomfortable "stuffed" sensation.

[sleepless]

From what I have experienced in my opinion if you do the early dining you can do the early show and be out early enough to enjoy the late night activities. If you want something else to eat you can go to the Promenade Cafe for snacks.

 

You also can enjoy the afternoon snacks and then eat at the early seating.

 

Whats your take on the pros of early dining for those who enjoy the evening activities( I don't mind staying out past midnight). While the older people can retire earlier I use it as a benefit to better enjoy my after dinner drinks, show, disco or sing-along at the Schooner Bar or enjoy the music at one of the other clubs.

 

Is my thinking right on track?

 

When at a port I usually hit the port after breakfast around 8:00ish and will be on board about 1-2 pm time for a swim or rest if needed. Since the upcoming cruise will be mostly sea days I don't mind losing some sleep on port days to enjoy both the port and ship activities.

 

 

This older person also likes to stay out past midnight, partaking in late night activities, and that may include a drink or two at the sing along in the Schooner bar, w visit to the casino, a late night show and a midnight snack. This older person is usually on deck, basking in the sun, enthralled by the ocean breezes, with my first cup of coffee before 7:15 a.m. I hope I don't spoil your fun.

 

Age has nothing to do with activity level. A zest for living does.

 

I will agree with your reasons for early dining, as it does allow a full evening.

[GalloAJ]

Our family enjoys the later dining because we have an opposite schedule..we enjoy sleeping in later and going on the later excursions, if we do one, and like having a restful afternoon and enjoy late night fun; however, in our "normal" lives we are at home and in bed most nights by 10 pm..............but on vacation ( and we take most of them by a cruise...) we are "party animals" and stay up way past our bedtime...we are in our late 40's and mid 50's with a teenager and two children in their early 20's that usually join us.

[abridalmaven]

I hate being rushed and at 64 I still like to stay up late, so later dining works better for us.

[travelplus]

Thanks for the reply. Anyways at home I don't eat at a set time but usually my dinner is between 5:30 and 6:30 PM so a 5:30 PM is not a bad time. I don't really care if Breakfast is at 8 Lunch is at 11:30 or 12:00 Snacks at 4:00PM and Dinner at 5:30 followed by After dinner drinks and more snacks at the Promenade and dancing in between(:. Really I'm pretty active so I'll eat whatever and whenever my heart desires.

 

Cruising is about having fun and being waited on. I'm not for the soda package and am saving my money for the adult beverages.

 

Last year I was happy to have the Seattle's Best Coffee, Iced Tea with Lemonade makes Arnold Palmers at dinner. The hot tea selection was enough as were the flavored water. In the morning the juice selection was enough for me.

 

I would make my coffee with two packets of Hot Chocolate and some creamer.

 

Now that I'm on the Navigator the Cafe Promenade will be my friend. I can't wait to try their sandwiches, pastries etc. Having SBC coffee is great don't know why people complain but I like my coffee strong.

 

I will go to the specialty coffee shop if I really want a Latte but am afraid the Espresso will wait until Italy.

 

I'm a coffee addict and let me tell you the coffee on Royal Caribbean is really good and I drink it over the soda. I make myself iced coffee take ice and coffee add some creamer and a little sugar and poof a good iced coffee.

 

I may pick up some flavored creamers before I go if I want to mix it up a bit.

 

Oh and the Frozen Yogurt they serve is addicting. Vanilla Yogurt with Brownies on top or the Chocolate Frozen Yogurt and cheesecake.

[sunnysavannah]

We are early diners as well, even at home. We will sleep through breakfast on sea days. :)

[Mark_K]

From what I have experienced in my opinion if you do the early dining you can do the early show and be out early enough to enjoy the late night activities. If you want something else to eat you can go to the Promenade Cafe for snacks.

 

You also can enjoy the afternoon snacks and then eat at the early seating.

 

Whats your take on the pros of early dining for those who enjoy the evening activities( I don't mind staying out past midnight). While the older people can retire earlier I use it as a benefit to better enjoy my after dinner drinks, show, disco or sing-along at the Schooner Bar or enjoy the music at one of the other clubs.

 

Is my thinking right on track?

 

When at a port I usually hit the port after breakfast around 8:00ish and will be on board about 1-2 pm time for a swim or rest if needed. Since the upcoming cruise will be mostly sea days I don't mind losing some sleep on port days to enjoy both the port and ship activities.

it has not been my experience that I could consistently be done with dinner in time to make the 7PM show.

[DonnaK]

it has not been my experience that I could consistently be done with dinner in time to make the 7PM show.

 

Same here, but we always have 6pm dining (and are usually finished around 7:15pm, or 7:30pm if we really try to slow things down).

 

If the OP has 5:30pm early dining, which is available on some ships, then it is possible to make a 7pm show. But, that would require setting a fast tone with the wait team, and possibly rushing through the meal or skipping dessert.

[welikepalms]

We also enjoy early seating. This is closest to when we eat at home and allows us to go to the early show and have the rest of the evening for other activities. I don't have an issue with snacking in the afternoon and then eating early. (maybe why I need to lose a few lbs huh??) We also enjoy having a snack later in the night.

 

It all comes down to personal choice. In our family we enjoy traditional dinning more the MTD but you will find as many people who enjoy the flexibility of MTD.

 

Happy Cruising

Andy

[MrsKC08]

We have tried early, late and my time dining on our cruises. It seems, for us anyway, that when we do early dining we feel "rushed" to be able to get out to the shows and that makes for that uncomfortable feeling you get when you eat fast. Although we normally eat around 6:30-7:30 at home (sometimes earlier if we are visiting my in-laws on the weekends), we don't rush our dinner at home and don't have a night of activities planned. We too stay up into the wee hours of the morning when on our cruises so eating late doesn't put us to bed with a full feeling. We tend to be up late enough to get the food digested. :)

[mtsublueraider]

We actually prefer the late seating. In our opinion there are less children, not that we've ever had a problem, but that's just what we feel.

 

ALSO... the main reason is we love to watch the sun set from the pool or from the deck. Those few hours while people are getting ready for dinner and we're still soaking in the hot tub are our most favorite of the day!

 

Things seem to clear out at the sun starts to make it's way to the horizon. Just perfect! We sail out Saturday! WOOHOO!

[Scotico]

Why not get the anytime dining so you can go whenever you want. I hate having to be there at a certain time but if I had to choose it would be late or I would just eat in the specialty restaurants. I think on our last cruise we just ate one night in the MDR and it was not that great (guess we were spoiled from eating in the specialty restaurants).

[tiger belle]

we usually do the early seating, because the late seating is just a little too late for me...I would tend to get a snack around the time of the early seating and then not enjoy my actual dinner as much...the only negative I have found is on certain port days if I book a later excursion; but if I've had to miss the early seating at dinner, there are other options available...overall, I like the traditional dining experience, because I've truly enjoyed my tablemates over the years and meeting new people

[kingsgirl]

I've done both early and late. Early is sometimes too early as I like to watch out on deck when we leave port, but this runs into traditional early seating. Late seating seems like it's too late, even though we sometimes eat late at home.

 

I'm hoping MTD will be the happy medium and give us more freedom.

[cruisersnorkler]

Our vote is early dinning. The shows seem to work out better ,too. That is what we are doing on the Allure, and everything worked out. We can go dancing after show or go to bed. One time we had late dinning, and we hated it. It was awlful to go to bed on full stomach night after night. Sometimes during the show, I got so hungry, I could hardly stand it. The teens couldn't wait and were grabing a pizza or snack, so by the time we actually sat down to late dinning, they picked at their food. Also, sometimes we had to fight to stay awake, so even if we wanted to go out and dance, we couldn't do anything but go to bed on full stomachs.

[rednancy1]

We do early dinning also. Mainly because we are early birds in the AM.:)

[ahecht]

I don't know how it works on other ships, but on Independence of the Seas there was a string trio that played in the Main Dining Room only during the late seating.

[lemonade-sails]

it has not been my experience that I could consistently be done with dinner in time to make the 7PM show.

 

Same here, but we always have 6pm dining (and are usually finished around 7:15pm, or 7:30pm if we really try to slow things down).

 

If the OP has 5:30pm early dining, which is available on some ships, then it is possible to make a 7pm show. But, that would require setting a fast tone with the wait team, and possibly rushing through the meal or skipping dessert.

 

We had dinner at 6pm each night we made it to the dining room. Because it was just the two of us, we were able to have app, dinner and dessert each night and still make it out just before 7 - and, mind you, we were not rushing to eat and sometimes sat talking while we waited between courses. We made it into the theater a few minutes after the shows started - we planned to sit in the back anyway. The rest of the evening was open for other activities and snacks in the cafe. I think that if early dinner started at 5:30 you would be able to make a 7pm show without any problem.

[Jimnbigd]

I usually do late dining, but this time the majority in the group wants early dining -- 5:45pm I think on my upcoming Mariner March 31. So I probably won't eat as much lunch as I usually do, which I guess is a good thing. Also, sometimes there are games shows on the ship during late dining, so I'll get to see those. And, I'll be a little rushed this time enjoying my free cocktails in the Diamond club -- I think it opens at 5pm. Well, maybe I'll have time for an after-dinner/before-show drink in the club.