Choosing Dining Time

[bqkali]

I'm new to Celebrity (have only sailed NCL) but I'm looking forward to a great cruise :) I've never experienced traditional dining, though I am definitely looking forward to having a great group of fellow cruisers to dine with every night! I chose late seating when I booked, but now I am having second thoughts.

 

I haven't seen any copies of daily schedules to get a feel for what time activities are held. On NCL, my favorite activities were almost always held at night: shows, comedians, games like "liars club" and the "newlywed show", etc. If I choose late seating, will I miss these types of things? Or will they be scheduled around dinner hours so I could make a 7pm show and a 10pm activity? (or something to that effect)

 

I would prefer late seating if I would still be able to take part in the evening fun, but the shows are my priority and if I will miss them, then I will switch to main seating. I don't mind hitting up the buffet or room service for a night or two in order to attend a show, but I don't want to do that every night.

 

If it makes a difference, I will be on the Millenium for 10 wonderful days sailing to Alaska :) For sure, I would miss either dining time on our Skagway day (in port til 8:30) but for the others, I should be ready for either dining time based on my excursion plans, so that is not a consideration. Thanks for all your help!!

[ghstudio]

The shows are scheduled so everyone can see them. If you have the late seating, your shows will be before you have dinner.

[Lsimon]

The general shows in the theater are repeated twice each evening so that they can be attended by both the early and late diners. For late diners some are before dinner and some after.

 

Occasionally there might be something like the newlywed game that you might miss although on our last cruise these were held late afternoon on sea days. I'm guessing there might be fewer of these types of events on Celebrity than NCL.

 

While the early dining probably is a little better timed if shows are a big concern for you you won't be left out at all with late dining - especially if you enjoy staying up a little late some evenings. We've always preferred late ourselves as early just seemed to early and we prefer to take it easy and relax after a busy day at port and have some time to enjoy a leisurely drink with cruise friends before dinner.

[bqkali]

Thank you all! I will stick with late dining.

[Longboysfan]

Rlue for dinner seating is like if you are way active and do not like to rush back to the ship.

Go late.

If you have seen everything and night life on ship is it.

Go early.

[ellbon]

In Skagway i never saw dinner as I ate in town before we sailed. I perfer late so i can relax before dinner. I get bathtub cabin and relax right the. alos i have been able to use the hot tub or steam room before dinner.

 

as far as shows I nevr missed one i wanted to see.

[Schplinky]

The shows are scheduled so everyone can see them. If you have the late seating, your shows will be before you have dinner.

 

Not necessarily. When we have done late dining, the shows have sometimes been before and sometimes after.

[cb at sea]

Pick the time that is closest to when you normally eat dinner--your tummy will thank you! No meals interfere with shows. It's a "stomach" thing, as to when is the best time for you! Late seating doesn't end until after 10 pm!

[Shirley and Les]

Pick the time that is closest to when you normally eat dinner--your tummy will thank you! No meals interfere with shows. It's a "stomach" thing, as to when is the best time for you! Late seating doesn't end until after 10 pm!

Don't forget you will be on either Pacific time (3 hours earlier than Eastern) or Alaska time (4 hours earlier).

 

So, for early dining, it will already be 9:00 or 10:00 at night Eastern time. Late dining makes it around midnight, Eastern time, before you have dinner. You can certainly adjust to the time change for eating but do you want to? :confused:

 

For early dining, the night club show will be scheduled to start about 30 minutes after dinner. As previously mentioned, the show for later diners varies from before to after dinner. If you have early dining, the assistant maitre'd can probably accommodate you somewhere at the second seating if you have a late shore excursion if you give him a heads up the day before.

 

My job involved a lot of commuting to the West Coast on a weekly basis. I became used to the time change. However, a 3 or 4 hour time change can affect your internal clocks. With the extended amount of daylight hours, waking up in Alaska at 4:00 or 5:00 local in the morningwas not a big deal. However, we were getting tired by 11:00 local at night.

 

Les