QM2 early or late dining?

[Norfolk Brit]

Some time ago there was a thread on here about the relative merits of early and late dining in Britannia. I have tried the search facility for the past few days to find it, but it seems to be distinctly unwell.

 

Next year early dining is 6pm, late 8.30pm; neither is terribly appealing, but I appreciate the logistical difficulties involved. Any comments on which is preferable would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Mary

[heywood]

I suppose it is really personal choice. On our Med cruises (not QM2) we enjoyed the late one because of excursions and on QM2 transatlantic we enjoyed the late one for the same reasons - a nice rest/ leisure time to get ready. There are usually shows to watch afterwards - that's our choice.

heywood

[supered]

It's really your choice. On out Transatlantic Crossing we took the late sitting as 6pm was too early for us. It turned out well as we had a lot of time to relax and get ready in our cabin before dinner. The only issue was that the balls in the Queens Room (particularly the Black and White Balll on the first formal night) were too busy when we got there as we didn't finish dinner until 10.15pm. This didn't bother us and it is entirely a personal choice. There is an early performace in the theatre for late diners.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Eddie

[lannp]

Mary, I saw your question regarding dining. On the crossing it's not a problem to be ready for an early dinner but on the Med. cruise you quite often don't have sufficient time to recover from your shore-trips before it's time to get cleaned up and make it to the dining room at 6 pm. I had table-mates who had to skip the dining room or arrived barely recovered from their day ashore.

Linda

[Norfolk Brit]

Mary, I saw your question regarding dining. On the crossing it's not a problem to be ready for an early dinner but on the Med. cruise you quite often don't have sufficient time to recover from your shore-trips before it's time to get cleaned up and make it to the dining room at 6 pm. I had table-mates who had to skip the dining room or arrived barely recovered from their day ashore.

Linda

 

Hi Linda, welcome back. 6pm does seem terribly early after port excursions, and 8.30 doesn't seem to leave much time after for other things unless one is an owl (as you know we're on the Med cruise, which I should have made clear in my original post).

 

Regards, Mary

[Kittycat]

Hi Mary, we usually have late sitting so that we can relax after shore excursions and not have to rush for dinner, but for our transatlantic crossing on 30th October we have opted to early sitting, purely because we'll be on the ship all the time and will still have plenty of opportunity of dancing after dinner. As far as we can see it, the only disavantage will be that we may not have too much room for taking afternoon tea!! Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

 

Sue

[YankeeClippr]

On the August 27th Westbound Trans-Atlantic, I chose LATE seating in the Brittania and was very glad I had done so.

 

The only time in about 12 trips on various ships (Cunard and otherwise) that I was required (!) to take the early seating, it was clear that we were rushed through dinner to make room for the second seating ... Given that I see dinner as a time to socialize with tablemates, I'd rather not feel rushed.

 

Not only does this accommodate Afternoon Tea, but it also accommodates the Captain's Reception; World Club Party; etc.

 

Further, on two of the evenings on that crossing (don't know if this is usual or not), they scheduled the big show "early" for the late seating, which worked out very well, I thought.

 

So, my advice is LATE seating is always preferable ... when there are port calls, it seems mandatory to me ...

 

Have a great trip!

 

YankeeClippr

[flag fan]

Another factor might be which direction you are traveling. There was another thread in which a number of people stated preference for a transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York because you gain an hour every day whereas you lose an hour in the other direction. It seems that although the alarm may be going off 1 hour "earlier" each morning when sailing east, the "jet lag" would mean that one is more likely to be wide awake at night so a late seating may work better when traveling west to east. (This is all theory, I haven't been on my first crossing or cruise yet.)