Early or Late?

[bernman]

I know this will boil down to..."Whatever works for you," but I would like some thoughts on the matter for dinner seating times.

 

DW and I are going on the Elation on 1/9/05. We are currently booked for the early seating. The TA only asked early or late, not which early or which late.

 

We are planning on a bottle of wine before dinner and possibly a cocktail. In addition, I think the Sushi bar is only open before the late seating. (I would love to get some of that before dinner.)

 

:confused: Has the early seating ever caused you to have to rush the port time? Just looking for some opinions (if you have any :rolleyes: ) on the matter of Early vs. Late seating. :confused: Also, can you specify which of the 2 Early or 2 Late seatings you want?

 

Thanks!

[Bunkie103]

Which particular early or late seating appears to depend on which dining room you are assigned. I prefer late because you have more time to get ready after a busy day in port, but my DH prefers early because he doesn't like to eat as late as the later seating. If you don't have little ones to worry about I would strongly suggest the first of the late seatings. If you don't get that just ask the maitre d to change it for you.

[teedee]

I always get late seating. I like to have time to relax, shower, maybe nap before dinner. I don't think you can specify which of the early or late seatings you want, just early or late. We wanted the first late seating (8:00pm) on our last cruise, but we got the 8:30 one. When we made the booking our TA said she could only put in early or late for our request, but not which one. It wasn't a big deal since there is only a 30 minute difference in the two.

 

Terri

[Dee88]

We only cruised once and when we did, we did the early seating (there was only one early and one late on the Legend). We figured if we wanted do the late night buffet or have a couple of cocktails, we didn't want to be too full when we went to bed.

When we were in port, we didn't rush back so we can eat in the dining room.

We never saw these islands, so we wanted to enjoy them as long as we could.

The Lido Deck serves pretty decent food and if we missed that, we just had pizza.

[Cotton]

Prior to booking this upcoming cruise, my PVP has always asked if I wanted Early or Late seating.

I was pleasantly surprised this time when she asked, and I said Early - and then she asked if I wanted 5:45 or 6:15. :)

To answer the other question - I've always had Early seating, and have never felt rushed at all when returning from a port. (Of course, since I cruise solo, I don't have to hurry-up a companion or child!):D

[ebark23]

It has to be late. None of this eating at 6:00 stuff, it cuts to much into your day. I like to have a few extra hours to stay in port or just relax, not have to rush right into dinner. Late will always be my first choice.

[stlrboo]

I found that in April on the Triumph and we had late seating (830 I believe)

we were so full at 10 PM that we never made a midnight buffet and never did a 'show' except the 'welcome aboard' on the first night. We wanted to be ready first thing in the AM for our tours...etc. ;)

This cruise in April 2005 we have four ports of call on successive days..

I'm opting for early seating so we can catch a few early shows, and sit back and relax prior to retiring. Then up bright and early for the shore excursions.

If I miss the 'seating' there are other options..

My TA, who was not familiar with the Miracle, asked if I wanted early/early or early/late. Since there is only one dining room, unless they are hiding a second one somewhere, I opted for early/late but I'm sure there is only one seating; early or late! Correct me if I'm wrong..! It does happen.. :eek:

[Grayce]

For my upcoming cruise I choose the 6:15 seating. My biggest reason was because I prefer to eat early at home. Since this is my first cruise I guess I will see if it works for me :D

[elvisillusions]

We booked first early seating on our last cruise. We missed dinner in the dining room the first night because of sail-away... we were up on deck with our friends. We missed the second formal night dinner because we were just getting back from an excursion in port... so we only ended up eating in the dining room three times, the first formal night, the next night, and the last night of the cruise. Out of a group of 20 adults sailing with us, 4 went to the dining room every night, 6 never went, and everybody else went just once. Every time we ate in the dining room, I missed another beautiful sunset.

 

DH and I are going to try late seating for dinner on our November cruise... just to see if we can make it to the dining room more! ;)

 

Kim

[bethm214]

The early dinner times definitely interfere with our shore excursions. We like to be able to take one of the later tenders or taxis back to the ship, have time for a shower and/or a cocktail and then stroll into dinner right on time. We don't mind eating late...dinner is usally over at about 10 or 10:15p. We stay until after the dessert course. Folks that take the early dinner and try to enjoy the full time in port often arrive in the dining room late and disrupt the course of the meal. I discovered this one time when I was assigned early and could not change. The folks that came in routinely late were treated very nicely by the staff and by the table mates....but, to be honest...we were all rather ticked off by it. It slowed down our courses and then made the staff have to rush around to get us finished on time. so, if you are gonna take early...try to be on time for your dinner!!! otherwise, feel free to join us at the late eaters club!!!

I don't mind not eathing at the midnight buffet - i sure don't need the extra calories that late at night! LOL

[HeidiHo]

I prefer the late seating. I don't think my DH cares but on our last cruise, we chose early because of our kids. Not because they can't wait til later (they are teens) but because they would miss out on much of the teen stuff going on in the evening if we had a late dinner. Mainly, the teen disco hours would have been nearly over by the time we finished dinner. As for myself, I like late so you don't have to get ready for dinner so early, especially on port days.

[IBEEMOM]

Since I am an early riser, each day, I prefer the early seating when I cruise. If there is some confusion about two early and two late seatings and just early and late, I think the ships with two dining rooms have the two seatings. The newer ships with only one dining room have only early and late.

[shannonh]

We got off of the Paradise this past Sunday (8/1/04). Before we left, I checked Carnival's website to see what seating we had and was thrilled to find out that we had the late main seating (6:15). We like early seating, but 5:45 seemed just a little too early. When we arrived on the ship, we found that we had been switched to the 5:45 seating. We immediately went to the Maitre D' to ask to be switched back to 6:15 and he stated that we should keep our 5:45 time, but relax and not show up until 6:15....this was just fine with him. It worked out great. Our tablemates did the same. There weren't many at our seating that did this, but since it was fine with maitre d', we went with it. So, I guess the moral is, if you get the 5:45 time and it seems a little too early, ask to show up later.

[kristikae]

I always book early now. I used to get late seating but found that after the big meal I was ready to put my jammies on and go to bed! I've never had any trouble getting to dinner on time. On the Conquest and the Glory the latest you were in port was 6:00 but you are actually required to be on board 1/2 hour before that so it was no big deal. What usually happens is we go to early dinner, meet the Hounds back on cruisers row for an after dinner cocktail then we all go out for the evening.

 

Also, on the Conquest when we had late seating we were never able to make it to the shows on time. If we were able to get there, there were no seats left.

[hstrybuf]

We book early because that suits my DH better. :) On the Legend we got the earliest seating, but I would have preferred the 2nd early seating. ;)

[jemingway]

My preference would be either late sitting, but because of the kids we take 2nd early. Ist early is just happy hour to me. All I need then are bar snacks.:rolleyes:

[mohavemommy]

My TA, who was not familiar with the Miracle, asked if I wanted early/early or early/late. Since there is only one dining room, unless they are hiding a second one somewhere, I opted for early/late but I'm sure there is only one seating; early or late! Correct me if I'm wrong..! It does happen.. :eek:

There are only two seatings on the Miracle. I will be chooing early too.....

[Cathys Cruising]

I prefer late & DH prefers early. We did early on our first several cruises but I feel too rushed. We did late 2nd seating last cruise and DH didn't like it. We'll compromise next go 'round. We have late requested and will try for the 1st seating.

 

I'm looking forward to trying PC dining on our Feb cruise, it may be just the ticket for us.

[pholter]

I prefer 2nd late because there tends to be the least amount of children during that time and I have time for a little Karaoke and a nap. This cruise we have chosen the 2nd early seating though due to Port timings in the Southern Caribbean and we're travelling when most youngsters will be in school.

[cmez]

DH always picked the early seating. I booked our upcoming cruise, and this time we're going to try late. It seemed like when we had early dining we were always rushing to get ready for dinner especially after excursions.

[dms_cruisers04]

We like the early for two reasons; first, DD is only 4 and waiting too late for dinner, especially after a busy day usually means her head in my lap before she finishes. Second, because we like to see the show after dinner and then get in some adult time, when DD feels like going to the club, before bed.

[sls]

We like early so we have time to do stuff in the evening. Can't sleep on a full stomach.

 

sls

[AllenF]

We eat around 530 at home so we are used to eating early and prefer the 2nd early seating.

[vermonter16]

I actually prefer to eat earlier at home but when I'm cruisin' I much prefer the late seating. That way we don't have to rush back to the ship (depending on the ships leave time) and we have ample time to shower and change and relax from being out and about in port. And...if we get hungry before hand (we always do) we hit the buffet for a bit of an "appetizer" about one - two hours before our late seating time... Oh, one more thing...we don't have kids and we find that the late seating is much quieter and more subdued.

vermonter16

Carnival Pride 1/2003

RCCL AOS 2/2004

Carnival Miracle 10/2004

[SallyMay]

We prefer the 2nd early so we can catch the early show and then hit the casinos for a short while. If it interfers with shore excursions we just skip for the one night. We also like to attend the midnight buffett and if we eat late, we are to full to enjoy it.