Early or Late seating with teens?

[cookie1961]

Hi everyone,

 

We are in the midst of planning a cruise on Explorer of the Seas in 2007. My girls will be 13 and 17 during the Cruise. We have always enjoyed early seating at dinner but dh is complaining now because he wants to have the later seating for this cruise. My arguement is that the girls will want to participate in their activities so early seating makes more sense. Dh feels that since both girls will be teens at that time, their programs won't start until after our late seating dinner.

 

Any advice would truly be appreciated :)

 

Teri

[tugboat]

Because of the girls I would still go with Main Seating

[transam84]

There are lots of arguements either way. My son is 18 and we have been cruising since he was 6. We have always done early seating, but this year he decided he wants to try late seating. He is too old for Adventure Ocean and he says he feels like such a wimp doing early seating. I think he feels it is for younger children. We agreed, since we have also felt very rushed getting ready for dinner with early seating. I'm a bit worried that we are going to be starving by 8pm, but we are going to give it a try. I;m sure there will be lots to eat all the time (we also have the concierge lounge), so we just need to adjust our eating schedule. We cruise June 25 on AOS. Will post a review when we come back including how we liked late seating. Laura

[Browezilla]

In general my teen prefers the early seating as that aligns better with our schedule at home, but we really base it on itinerary. If we are in port late, then we chose the late seating, otherwise, early. As the poster above notes, there is plenty of food around so they can snag a slice of pizza, sandwich, or fruit to hold them over until dinner.

[cookie1961]

Thanks for the quick replies. Does anyone know what time the teen activities start on Explorer of the Seas?

 

We only have one late port.

 

If we had late dinner seating at a large table with you, would you find it rude if my girls left before before having dessert?

 

Thanks again everyone,

 

Teri

[cruiselife4me]

If I was a teen I'd prefer SECOND seating. For one thing it's for adults and older kids and it allows more time to do other things before getting ready for dinner.

 

I've done both, but I prefer 2nd.

[grapevine]

We used to do early but now we like late. 2DS are 15 (almost 16) and 11 (almost 12). They don't care either way. If they have something to go to, they will excuse themselves and leave. I don't think your tablemates will mind. When the younger one has AO dinner at Johnny Rockets or the Windjammer, he doesn't come to the dining room anyway. My DH likes late seating so we can spend more time in port and not rush getting ready. The only drawback is I am never hungry for the midnight buffet!

[cmich068]

Early Early Early...

 

The teen programs start after the early seating (usually the same time late seating starts), and we usually (as a group) went to the Early Seating comedy shows, meaning there were always people with second seating who skipped their meal or ate at the Windjammer during 1st seating.

 

Oh, and the programs end before Early seating, which means you have a gap of activities during early seating, besides the fact the majority of the group has Early Seating.

[prairie_fox]

here is something one told us who worked on the ship, early always gets the meals they want, late has a chance of running out of some dishes due to some in the first eating two of them......but we always took the early so we could hit the show after and then onto the things happening at 1030 and 11 after that

[cccole]

We always choose the late seating with our kids (now all teens) so that we do not have to rush getting ready. Last year they would come to dinner and then if they had things planned they would leave the table early. Our servers always brought their orders out right away while the rest of us had more leisurely dinners. Sometimes those who wanted to would catch a show before dinner. As others have said, it really depends on your family. We eat dinner late at home so late dinners work for us when traveling.

[zuscruiserz]

We have always had late seating with our teens. Most of the fun activities for the older teens don't start until after late seating, and we hate to feel rushed just to get to dinner. Our DD's started cruising when they were 9 and 12, now they are 13 and 16 and won't even consider early dining. Once, when DH and I were dining alone in a specialty restaurant, they went to late seating dinner alone and loved every minute of it! Our waiters catered to their every whim, and they still talk about how great it was:D !

 

I suppose it depends on the child/teen as to what time (early or late seating) works best for them. If one of ours was starving before dinner, they would pick up a snack to tide them over. They never went hungry!

[PAGA]

Teen activities generally begin at 8 or 8:30 pm (late seating is generally 8pm).

 

My daughter is 16 and has been on 5 cruises since her 13th birthday -- 2 of which were on Explorer. She was absolutely miserable on the one cruise when we had late seating (we requested early seating when booking, then our TA some how messed up... and although we made multiple requests -- before and during the cruise -- to be re-assigned we ended up being unable to change seatings...this was on Mariner).

 

That being said, I need to point out that we consider the ship our destination...we're not big island "touring" people. Meeting new people is one of the highlights of a cruise vacation for my daughter -- so her evening teen club time is a high priority. If your family is more geared toward touring/excursions and plan on doing most of your activities as a family, then you may prefer late seating -- as others have mentioned, it gives you more time to get ready for dinner so you don't have to rush back to the ship, miss sail-aways, etc.

 

FYI - no matter which dinner seating you choose, it is very important that your teens attend the 1st night "orientation" (teens only). This event (usually 9pm-ish??) seems to be when all the teens pair-up into social groups for the week. I've heard that it can be very hard for teens to "fit-in" if they don't attend this first session.

[cb at sea]

You will be much happier if you pick the dining time closet to when you eat at home. If you decide on late seating, and the kids need to leave, no one will stop them. It's really a family choice.