Early or Late Dinning-Pros and Cons

[Babyblue]

Ok everyone It has been about a year since I last cruised and I forget which is better,Early or Late dinning.Could you give me some of your reasons as to why you prefer early or late.Going on the Elation in December with my sis and niece and nephew and want to be able to see the shows etc...Is it better to pick early or late

Thanks to everyone for their input and suggestions.

Karen

 

 Till we are Elated again

 

 

 

 

 

Destiny 1-99

Celebration 9-00

Crown 3-01

Ocean 10-01

Golden 2-02

Golden 12-14-02

Grand 1-19-03

Conquest 5-4-03

Jubilee 8-23-03

Elation 1-11-04

Elation 12-19-04

 

 

[Cyt4SoreEyes]

We go early so we will have pretty much the whole night to do what we want!! Late is too late for us to eat especially with kids even if the kids werent with us early is our choice

 

Cyt

 

Atlantic

Oceanic

Norway

Enchantment of the Seas

Destiny

Voyager of the Seas

Conquest March 30th 2003

Glory May 29th 2004

Caribbean Princess Oct 23 2004

Legend November 19 2004

 

 

 

 

[ama-sam]

Last summer in the Med, DH and I found the late seating to be much too late for us. We usually ended up having a snack (closer to 5/6 pm) at the buffet or some other place onboard and then still having a full dinner at 9 pm - which was very late to be consuming that much food! Plus, we were not at all interested in the midnight buffets as we were (pleasantly) stuffed.

 

For this summer's cruise I am choosing to eat early and I will see what I think! But, we eat around 5 here at home and I think it will be a better fit for me.

 

Ally

 

Imagination....July 29, 2004

 

Brilliance of the Seas....June 2003

 

[travel girl23]

We always choose early because we eat early at home. We are not night owls even at home so we enjoy going to the early show after dinner. Then we have time to catch a few of the lounge acts. I think most people tend to choose the dining time they are used to.

 

Celebration - 9/99

Inspiration - 12/00

Jubilee - 10/02

Elation - 11/03

Elation again - 12/04

 until the Elation

 

[Lady_K]

I agree with what the others have said about when you 'normally' eat dinner. We chose early, since there was no way I wanted to wait so late to eat dinner, and we were happy to get the 2nd early seating - 6:15pm. This was perfect. Remember, that the courses are spaced out comfortably. It's not like going to the buffet at 6:15 and sitting down with your whole tray load of food by 6:20. By the time we perused the menu, talked a bit with our tablemates, enjoyed the appetizer, salad, and bread, it was around 7:00 by the time we got our main course.

 

Worked out great for us! We were usually out of the dining room around 7:30, then headed to the theatre for the shows, or did whatever.

 

Some people love late seating though. It's just a personal decision, but I'm sure we'll always choose early.

[rscima]

On previous cruises, we always chose early seating just because if we chose late, all we could do was go to bed after stuffing ourselves! On our most recent cruise however, we brought our 2 children & again picked early seating as everyone seems to recommend this if you have children. I will put a different spin on this idea though. If I had it to do over again, I would have chosen late seating believe it or not. I didn't know before we went that Camp Carnival is closed from 5-7pm. You are "expected" to take your kids to dinner in the dining room with you...which is fine & dandy if your kids are patient enough to sit for at least an hour & a half (this would be our dd-8). HOWEVER, we also have a ds-5 who can't sit for more than about 20 minutes! Needless to say, dinner was not so enjoyable for us. After knowing the Camp schedule, this is what I will do for future cruises...pick the late sitting. Take the kids to the Lido deck grill for Pizza, burgers etc. around 5:30, since this is when they're used to eating anyway, then take them to camp carnival when it re-opened at 7:00, then go back to the cabin & "peacefully" get ready for our "adult" dinner at 8:15. The one night camp carnival had the "coke-tail" party for the kids was wonderful for us at dinner, we actually got to take our time & not worry about our ds disturbing anyone around us.

Babyblue...I don't know how old your niece & nephew are but maybe this would be an option for you if they are young & don't like long "fancy" dinners. Wish someone had given me this idea before our cruise...oh well, you live & learn. All of the other great info. I received from these boards more than makes up for that little "glitch"

[Cotton]

BabyBlue ~ You won't miss any shows, no matter what seating you have.

 

Early seating: 5:45 or 6:15 - Early show at 8:30pm.

 

Late seating: 8:00 or 8:30 - Late show at 10:30pm.

 

As far as preference, I choose early seating and like the 6:15 seating, as it's around the same time I eat at home. Also, IF I choose to stay up late, I can grab a midnight snack without being stuffed to the gills.

 

"Laissez les bon temps rouler!"

Festivale 1987

Carnivale 1988

Mardi Gras 1989

Pacific Princess 1990

Norway 1994

Holiday 2001

Holiday 2002

Holiday 2003

Sensation 2004

[teedee]

I guess I'll be different. I always do late seating. I don't like to be in a rush coming back to the ship on a port day. Especially on formal nights I have plenty of time to relax, have a drink, take a nap or whatever before I start getting ready for dinner. They have shows for the late dinner seatings so I don't feel like I miss anything.

 

Terri

 

Skyward - 1989

Carnivale - 1991

Holiday - 1994

Fantasy - 1998

Century - 2002

Century - 2003

Jubilee - 7/04

Century - 9/04

Coral Princess - 3/05

Valor - 10/05

 

Days til Valor Vampires Cruise

[IMCruisin04]

I agree with most of the posts--early dinner is pretty nice. One downfall, though: we had the 5:45 seating since the 6:15 was full. We had a table to ourselves, so we were usually done in the dining room around 7:00. We had an hour and a half before the shows, or 3 hours before the bars started filling up. Two of the nights on the cruise, we went back to the room to check out our new towel animal and Capers, and ended up falling asleep. After such a long day, we needed to stay busy or we'd just pass out from exhaustion. I think we would have done better if we were occupied until 9:30 with dinner, then started our nightlife right afterwards. Of course a midnight buffet would be out of the question, though.

[Babyblue]

Thank you ALL VERY MUCH you have been very helpful and put a great perspsective on this.

Thankfully the kids are older(15 -will be 16 in Dec and 17)so they are old enough to sit thru dinner.

my main concern was being able to go to the shows-that has been made ok by Yall reminding me they do have shows for both dinning times.

the niece and nephew are soo excited already I just don't want aything to spoil it(not that it could as far as I am concerned )

Again Thanks to everyone who replied.I always come to the boards for help when I forget something or it is a new question I did not have for my previous cruises.

OK now if anyone can make 5 months fly by faster That would be good to know

Thanks All

 

Karen

 

 Till we are Elated again

 

 

 

 

 

Destiny 1-99

Celebration 9-00

Crown 3-01

Ocean 10-01

Golden 2-02

Golden 12-14-02

Grand 1-19-03

Conquest 5-4-03

Jubilee 8-23-03

Elation 1-11-04

Elation 12-19-04

 

 

[dolfinmusic]

I have only been on 1 cruise (so far) and we had 5:45 dinner - they did not offer 6:15. I think it all depends on what type of person you are - if your a night owl or an early riser. I found that with early dinner our days seemed soooo short! We would sleep till about 8 or 9ish - then by the time you wake up and get ready and eat breakfast - it's almost lunch - then it's time to start getting ready for dinner!!!! Next time I will try late dinner for sure!!! Good luck on whatever you decide!!!! Remember too that you do NOT have to eat dinner in the dining room every night - if you want to have a long day!

 

Terri

 

Legend 10/04/03

 

Legend CTN 10/22/04!!!! Here we come!!