Late dining v Early dining

[latitude918]

Hi there,

 

My fiancee and I are doing a cruise for our honeymoon, and are giving late dining a try. I am a little worried dinner will run late, and we'll miss things, like the comedy show.

 

Last time we had early dining, and it was alright, but we kinda had the feeling that we were missing out on things.

 

For the record she doesn't want to do your time dining, so YOUR TIME DINING IS NOT AN OPTION

 

Can anyone shed some light on the difference between the two? Are we going to miss out on anything, or am I worrying about nothing?

 

Thanks in advance for the helpful replies :)

[GatorGirl57]

Typically, you miss out on the same amount of things whether you have early or late dining. ie, you can go to an early comedy show when you have late dining, a late comedy show when you have early dining. The good thing about late dining is you can stay in port longer if you want.

 

Why doesn't she want to do ATD? (You knew someone would ask!)

[riffatsea]

Hi,

I wonder what you thought you were missing last time when doing early dining?? We do Anytime Dining and eat early(like early dining) and we don't miss anything at all.

You can see the comedy shows and you can see the musical productions and then you have the rest of the night to do what you please.

I think that folks who dine late can also see everything but there may be a line for the comedy shows if they go afterwards.

It is possible that it is just your personality to worry a bit about what you may miss when you are not really missing anything??

[Lace]

We've always done early dining, and the only thing we used to miss was the return party.

[ready2cruzagain]

We always do late dining and never miss anything. They have show times for the early seating and show times for the late seating.

[cb at sea]

Shows for LATE dining are BEFORE dinner. Shows for main dining are AFTER dinner. There is no reason to miss a show unless you want to!

[RenoNanaOz]

We have always done Late Dining and love it especially on port days. You can come back grab a snack and take a nap before your 8:15 dining time. They have late shows for those with the late dining. we have never missed out on anything, enjoy:)

[rlkubi]

We always did early dining until the last 2 cruises. My husband and I did anytime on the Splendor and since was just the 2 of us it worked. I don't like it as well because I like having the same wait staff and same table but it worked. On the Freedom we did late dining and loved it. We had 10 people and we had dinner and then would go immediately to the adult comedy. We plan to do late all the time now.

Edited March 6, 2015 by rlkubi

[latitude918]

Typically, you miss out on the same amount of things whether you have early or late dining. ie, you can go to an early comedy show when you have late dining, a late comedy show when you have early dining. The good thing about late dining is you can stay in port longer if you want.

 

Why doesn't she want to do ATD? (You knew someone would ask!)

 

With ATD too many things are variable for her. I just say okay because it is easier that way ;):p

[MarcelLucSell]

We would do late dining, catch the evening show at 7:15, eat, then see comedy show and pop into piano bar.

 

There is time to do it all.

[Seazond]

From what I recall, the adult comedy shows were at 11PM. Should be plenty of time to eat dinner and then snag a seat.

 

They did have a more family friendly show earlier, and you'd need to miss that one with late dining.

 

Another thing I seem to recall is the doors to the comedy area did not open up until about 15 minutes before the show. (Is that all ships, or just the one we were on?) This kept the people from grabbing seats and just camping out - seemed to be more of an equitable situation for getting seats.

 

The production shows are done twice nightly to allow for both late and early dinner guests. Same show, so you won't miss anything.

[LostPuppy]

I've found the early seating tends to attract families with children and the older crowd who are interested in going to a show and be asleep by 10.

 

The later seating tends to attract those who enjoy the late evening attractions such as the casino, piano bar, clubs, comedy shows ,etc.

[Martini Mom]

The main reason we choose early dining is because that's when we normally eat at home. If we ate at 8pm, we'd end up snacking too much at our normal dinner time.

[skrufy]

We do late dining all of the time. It gives us a period of relaxation after a day in port, and never have to rush and get ready for dinner. Theres plenty of time to catch the late show, or the comedy club. When both are on the same night you can go to one before dinner and one after. Also you need not rush to eat dinner to make the late shows.

[mumtopugs]

I like late dining so I don't have to worry about being back from port.

[pamrose228]

I like late dining so I don't have to worry about being back from port.

 

Maybe I'm mistaken but I recall having open seating at certain port of calls.

[PurdueChefAmber]

We are doing early dining on this next cruise because with MDR taking longer, we would not get out of dinner until almost ten. I like getting out of dinner by 8 and having the rest of the night to have fun. It is no big deal getting back from the ports by 4:30, if I was having too good of a time in port, we would skip MDR that night, no big deal.

[LilMissScareAll]

We always do late dining and never miss anything. Most shows they do an early and a late show. So you might have to see the show before dinner. I feel with early seating we are too rushed getting back from Port and getting ready. Plus we normally eat late at home, so late dining is closer to our normal dinner time (my toddler included)

I'm not sure what time the all ages comedy show is but we never had a problem seeing the 21+ show. Bars/clubs/casinos are open late, so by the time we finished eating, went back to the room to freshen up, and got to our evening entertainment, things were just getting going.

[xeroxme]

We have done Late, Early and Anytime. The time it takes to eat dinner is essentially the same. Late Dining is no problem at all just choose the early version of shows and the late, late shows will still be there too. No worries you will be fine. I would just choose late or early based on your itinerary.

Edited March 6, 2015 by xeroxme
misspelling

[NCbmwmom]

We've always done late dining. Never felt like we were really missing too much. There's no way I would be ready for dinner at 5:45!

[CraftyScribbles]

For my first cruise, I don't get a choice as I'm with a large group (business/leisure trip) and we're eating at late dining. I'm getting used to the idea; so I can't wait. No rush after ports, less/if any children, and I can snack prior. :)

[MarcelLucSell]

You can also check the menu during the day and decide to skip. We checked each day and went each night. There was a few "can't miss" things we wanted to try, plus we has an awesome dining staff crew.

[BigRed93]

We do late dining all the time. Like coming back from port and napping before dinner to prepare for a long night out ;)

 

 

 

 

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[Seawitch]

Anyone know the Traditional early and late seating times for dinner on the Carnival Splendor?

[cruznjan]

The main reason we choose early dining is because that's when we normally eat at home. If we ate at 8pm, we'd end up snacking too much at our normal dinner time.

 

Pretty much the same for us. Also, hubby is diabetic and he can't wait too late to eat.