Early or Late Sitting ? - and Why !

[jdybnsn]

I have to ask this because I'm interested in everyone's views...


On our last cruise we went for the early sitting - but boy did we regret it !

Infact I would go as far as to say it was the worse thing about our cruise !

Our dining time was 5.45pm and it was just way too early - this was not helped by the fact that we are late eaters at home and normally don't sit down to eat until 7pm (due to running our own business).

We always felt we had our afternoons cut short as we were having to go and get ready at 4.45pm ,and that one meal time would almost merge with another. Consequently, the kids were never hungry, and we never really had an appetitie, to do the lovely evening meals justice

At times we felt that all we were doing on the cruise was eating - and we found this was (excuse the pun) totally all consuming, and that the cruise had turned into an eating marathon ! Don't get me wrong, I like my food , but it was just over whelming !

We did manage to cut back on the time spent and food consumed by taking a light breakfast in our room (highly recommended - its a free service, but you have to tip a few $s). Thus cutting out the full breakfast and the time this took up.


Needless to say that we have elected for late seating on our next cruise ... though with the earliest late seating starting at 8.00pm I can foresee that we might experience a few different problems with this

I'm interested to hear the views/ experiences of others on the subject - particularly since having an early seating is apparently so sort after on these cruises.

[Sue F]

OMG, you have got me to thinking now. We have requested early seating for our August cruise, mainly because of DD2 (13months) being able to eat with us. However, I am now wondering whether to change it to late seating and feed her from room service earlier. She would then probably sleep in her pushchair while we ate, and I am guessing that DD1 (11) would be off in the kids club either way so we would get to eat 'alone' for a change.

Would they let us take the pushchair into the restaurant if we were on late seating?

[jdybnsn]

Yes, you can bring strollers into the dinning room (just FYI you can rent strollers on board if for some reason you don't want to bring your own).

Don't panic about your choice just yet, as others may put a totally different light on the experience (which is why I asked !).
Also it would be very easy to change your request from an early to a late, but not the other way round, since so many people with kids seem to opt for early seating.

I would hang on, and hear what others have to say first.

PS my kids were a DD4 and a DS8 at the time of cruising, if that helps with assessing our experience.

[Guest]

Hi

We booked late seating 8.00pm on our last cruise. It worked out pretty well, apart from the fact that if you wanted to see the shows you had to be ready for 6.30 pm for the start of the early shows. After the first meal we did not see our DS (9) during meals as he wanted to stay in the Oceaneers Lab and they take them for meals with their new found friends at around 7.00 pm. It is all really well organised and they take them to Topsiders Buffet. The only criticism my DS had was that he had a Cast Member helping him pick his food and putting it on the plate for him, I think this is for hygiene reasons, but I guess for younger children this is a godsend. I agree with the eating bit and we stuck to three meals a day with maybe an icecream or fresh fruit in the afternoon but you have the chance to be really glutenous on a cruise. The other downside (if you can call it that) about the late sitting is that you are too full to appreciate the midnight buffet at 11.30pm on Pirates of the Carribean night. There is savory as well as desserts so just had to look in wonder! See pic

[jdybnsn]

Originally Posted by jules_c

Hi

The other downside (if you can call it that) about the late sitting is that you are too full to appreciate the midnight buffet at 11.30pm on Pirates of the Carribean night. There is savory as well as desserts so just had to look in wonder! See pic

See more...

We were too full from the early seating to appreciate the buffet LOL

Lovely pic.

[nixieh]

We had early seating at 6pm and loved it, the kids would eat their dinner much quicker than the adults and then after my main course I would drop them off at the kids clubs for a while to play and then returned to enjoy a leisurely dessert. After dinner my DH and I would have a stroll or visit the shops/shutters for a bit before collecting the kids to go and see the evening performances of the shows. I would definitely recommend it for younger kids (ours were 3,6,8 at the time) as they would have been too tired to wait for dinner until 8pm and would probably have filled up on snacks all evening and not done dinner justice.

I think there are pros and cons to both seatings and you should consider your own families needs/ages when making your decision. Remember it is much harder to get earlier seating so maybe better to book that when you book the cruise and then change to later seating at a later date if you decide that would be more suitable.

Nicola

[Guest]

I have decided on the late seating for our cruise in the hope that we wont feel as 'rushed' I am one of those people that no matter how early I start getting ready it always ends up in a panic and a mad rush out the door usually 10 mins late for everything!
I figured that the kids will have been snacking all day so wouldnt have wanted to eat a full meal as early as 5.45pm, and if they dont fancy eating with DH and I they can go off to the kids club.
I was also worried about DH eating a big meal then sitting in the theatre to watch the shows - he has a habit of falling asleep after big meals and snoring very loudly!
I guess there are pro's and con 's to both seatings, its just sitting down and trying to work out which you think will suit your family better.

As for pirates night, I think I will refuse dessert during the evening meal to keep a little room for the midnight buffet

[Michelle]

We went for the late seating I can't remember the exact reason though, something about eating late at home

I am sure we will be fine.

[rylisal]

When we booked, early was full so we had no choice-I was worried but it was actually better!
As said we didnt have to rush to be ready by 6 and as food's available all day we wouldnt have been hungry then either!
Also a big reason is that on last morning you have to attend immigration at 6am.If your on 1st sitting, you have to then breakfast at 6,30am which for me is far too early to eat! So, after immigration at 6 we returned to s,room & had a doze before our breakfast sitting at 8am.Also, as that marks the end of your cruise, far better to 'eak' it out till 9am ish rather than have to leave the ship earlier!
BTW, everyone has to be off by 9.30am!

[TinkTatoo]

I've booked early as the kids like an early dinner but I might switch it to late.