Why do you choose your dining time?

[BENHANDEL]

As a newbie to this forum, I am loving the multiple (and often passionate!) opinions on the same subject. I find myself changing my mind multiple times (and feeling more simultaneously imformed & empowered! ).

 

So do you prefer early or late dining, and WHY?

 

We tend to eat early at home so i choose 6pm. I am also not a night snacker and like many hours between dinner and bedtime. But there are 4 others to consider...

 

Our kids will be 16, 14 and almost 12 when we cruise CCL. What are the pros and cons about early vs. Late seating?

 

Side note...DS requested the late seating ...On a DCL voyage 2 years ago, our oldest (who is now 16) never ate in MDR (although we made him sit with us) because he ate all afternoon at the free spots and wasn't hungry (BUT would continue to hit the pizza place after 8...). I think he just preferred fast food and freedom over MDR food?

 

TiA

[waterwatcher]

Late dining is too late for us. Early dining means planning on being at the dining room at a specific time. We like to go when we are ready and sit by ourselves. That's whey we chose YTD (Your Time Dining). You can go anytime from 5:45 - I guess 8. We go around 5:45 or 6 but depends on what time we are ready and ask for a table for two. Works for us.

[Hotdog 52]

It's been years since we have chosen early or late dining. We choose ATD.

[MommytoAsquared]

We prefer your time dining. Especially on vacation, I don't want to be tied down to a dining time.

 

Plus, I am in a profession where I talk to people all day long. On vacation, I just want to eat with my family and not make chit chat with tablemates.

[tw67]

We have always requested late, even when the kids were younger. We do not eat early at home, and we never liked the idea of rushing back from port to get dressed. Some nights when the kids were younger and wanted to go to the kid's clubs, my husband would feed them at the buffet, and we would have a date at dinner. My older one has celiac, always orders the night before for his food, and was always worried that if we did early seating, his food would be rushed, and could be cross contaminated. This Christmas as a family we are trying Anytime Dining for the first time. Sometimes my younger one wants to do things with the teen group, and he felt that late dining didn't work for him. My BFF and I are doing a 4 day next month. We are doing anytime dining, but we have steakhouse one night and chef's table another.

 

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[lennythenose]

All of us (two teens included) prefer set dining. We had YTD once and did not enjoy it. We eat late at home so originally chose late but soon discovered that the kids missed too much of the evening club activities that usually start at 8. So we have settled on early and it works well. No kids club activities during it and they still get the full dining experience that they love.

[MissMarmalade]

I always choose late dining. I don’t want to feel rushed during the day to change from a bathing suit to dinner clothes. I also love routine so it’s nice to go to the same table with the same waitstaff every night

[BENHANDEL]

Late dining is too late for us. Early dining means planning on being at the dining room at a specific time. We like to go when we are ready and sit by ourselves. That's whey we chose YTD (Your Time Dining). You can go anytime from 5:45 - I guess 8. We go around 5:45 or 6 but depends on what time we are ready and ask for a table for two. Works for us.

 

 

With 5 people, will we be seated with strangers? And if so, will it be a family "like" ours? (I thought they did this on DCL, but we traveled with another family so it was a non-issue).

[sanmarcosman]

YTD only.

[jasong38501]

We use YTD. We prefer being able to go when we want. Some nights we are hungry later than others. Plus we enjoy trying different wait staff and when we find someone we particularly like we request them the rest of the week.

[pjhootch]

With 5 people, will we be seated with strangers? And if so, will it be a family "like" ours? (I thought they did this on DCL, but we traveled with another family so it was a non-issue).

 

You may be with another family with similar aged children, or at a table by yourselves. We have had it both ways on the many cruises with our kids. We have done early and late seating, depending on port stops and hours. If the kids get hungry after an early dinner their are plenty of snack options later. If you have late dining sometimes the trick is having just enough snack to hold you until 8 p.m without stuffing you full.

 

We like the on deck movies and dinner time can interfere regardless of which seating you have. When we cruise without kids we always do anytime dining.

[RRLLAL]

We do early dining because it’s easier to plan the shows we want to see plus we like the casino and are able to get there earlier and spend a few hours without it getting late. We don’t do YTD only because we like have the same wait staff every night and getting to know them.

 

 

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[skrufy]

We did late dining for many years. 3 years ago we switched to any time because of the not enjoying the seating every night with people we really did not get along with. We still sit with others and enjoy different people every night. They sometimes seat us at a table for two.

 

The late and anytime dining gives you a chance to relax after a day in port, grab a bite to eat at the Buffett. Then leisurely get ready for dinner. The early dining is to much of a rush to get to dinner. Anytime dining you can eat early or late, plan your evenings a lot easier.

[cruiserbrianj]

We’ve always done the your time dining and haven’t had any complaints. Sure, sometimes there’s a small wait, but we will get a cocktail, play a board game with the kids, etc. At least for us, it’s no big deal and we don’t want to be tied down to a specific time.

 

 

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[lennythenose]

We have always been seated with another similar family or by ourselves. I tend to be shy with strangers but have always enjoyed the other families to my surprise!

[kristinp36]

We get early set dining whenever possible. We prefer having the same table and staff every night. Unfortunately we have been stuck with YTD the last couple cruises because set dining was sold out.

[MnMomW3Boys]

We prefer early dining, we have three boys 12,16 & 17 and we enjoy eating early and then planning our evening activities. Besides if you eat dinner

Too late you aren’t hungry for pizza when the dive in movie starts We

also eat around 6 at home so the schedule works for us.

[caitmac1]

I've done late on all but one of my cruises. Early is just too darn early for us, and since we're not really into shows or comedy, that doesn't effect our scheduling much. YTD/ATD was okay the once but I really liked having the same waitstaff with the scheduled dining.

[lasnev]

We always do YTD because we don't want to adhere to a schedule on vacation. We might be back late from a port day, extra time in the pool area or just not wanting to rush.

 

Turns out we mostly go at the same time every night between 6 - 6:30 and usually have the same wait staff and same seating area.

[MMastell]

I really don't want to have the time I have dinner dictate my schedule. Do we want to lay by he pool a little longer? Do want to go to the early show instead of the late? Are we tired and want to eat earlier? Do we want to eat in an alternative restaurant?

 

Those are the things that makes having a set dining time very inconvenient. I have been cruising for over 20 years and I really disliked having to let your tablemates know, 24 hours in advance that you wouldn't be there the next night. Then telling the waiter and the Maitre 'd. Sorry, but that's a pain in the butt and we would have stopped cruising if NCL hadn't introduced Freestyle and in a few years all other cruise lines followed.

 

Also, there were two times we had tablemates from Hell. Or maybe one set were from heaven. They were angry that we didn't participate in their prayer service. :confused::rolleyes:

 

Take care,

Mike

[SNJCruisers]

With 5 people, will we be seated with strangers? And if so, will it be a family "like" ours? (I thought they did this on DCL, but we traveled with another family so it was a non-issue).

When you made your reservation, did you put in a request regarding table size? If you did and chose large table, then you'll get put at an 8 or 10 top with a family like yours. If you didn't, you'll probably be put at a table for 6 and it'll be just the 5 of you. But, it all depends upon how the pieces are put together by the Maitre D.

[sc4125]

I started out years ago doing Late Seating, then switched to YTD for a few cruises. When it's just me and my sister we'd ask for a table for two, but we were always inches away from the next table, and it's a little uncomfortable (for me anyway). Do you talk to them, do you pretend you can't hear their every word to each other?

 

So, I started asking for Early Seating and requested a booth for two. Worked wonderfully for the most part. In October my sister and I are going alone again, and I requested YTD. This will be a quiet, relaxing, gamble in the casino cruise - and we are in a Lido Balcony. I think we may not eat in the MDR more than one or two nights. With YTD we don't have to worry about the waiter not knowing whether we're coming or table mates being held up because the waiter thinks we may be coming in a little late. We can ask for a table for two and deal with the awkwardness a couple of times (lol)

[naxer]

YTD and eat when we want.

[teknoge3k]

At home sometimes we eat at 5pm, sometimes it's 8pm. We eat when we get hungry, not based on a clock. Plus if we're in port late we don't want to have to rush back to the ship just to eat or miss anything later in the evening just because of dinner. With that, we always pick Your Time Dining. It fits us best. We get there and tell our server we're not interested in a long drawn out ordeal so we go when we want to and are in and out within 45 minutes. It's great for us!

[teknoge3k]

We do early dining because it’s easier to plan the shows we want to see plus we like the casino and are able to get there earlier and spend a few hours without it getting late. We don’t do YTD only because we like have the same wait staff every night and getting to know them.

 

 

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Just so you know, you can have the same wait staff each night with YTD. When we find someone we like, we ask to be sat in their section when we arrive. Never once have we not been able to. It's literally exactly like any land based restaurant. :)