Is a late seating better or early?

[Petra]

Can anyone help

 

[Sanny]

It all depends on your likes and dislikes. The food is the same at both seatings. We have done both, early and late, and have never seen any difference in the quality of food. All shows on the ship are run twice, so that the people at both seatings have the chance to see them. Also take into consideration your itinerary, the times that you are in port may influence which seating you choose. An example - We are taking a mini cruise / getaway in April, it's from Tampa-Cozumel-Tampa. Since Cozumel is our only stop (7am-12pm) we opted for the late seating. This way we won't have to split up day in port for our meals. Besides, cruise ships are giant, floating "snack bars"!

 

[Mr. Utley]

Really depends on whether you're a night person or morning person. Early diners are early risers and get the best deck chairs.

 

[FLBRATT]

If you like eating then pick late seating if not goto early.

 

[ljeanbrown]

That really depends on what you like and when you like to eat. We don't like to eat late so we do the early seating. We had no choice once and had to take late and I didn't like finishing eating at 10 o'clock at night, but that is us. Now many people like the late seating so they don't have to rush for dinner. If they take a shore excursion or go around an island they don't want to have to cut it short and come back early for dinner.Also there are more families at the early seating and some people prefer not to be around a lot of kids if it is during a school break. Dinner takes about an hour and a half to two hours depending on if you have dessert and coffee while talking to your fellow tablemates etc. Really is a personal choice kind of thing.

 

[Petra]

If I choose late seating does that mean I have to go to breakfast and lunch ealy?

 

[ljeanbrown]

Breakfast and lunch are usually open seating where everyone goes between certain times and no 1st or 2nd seating is done.

 

[John]

I prefer late seating since your never rushed after a day in port and your not sitting down during most sail-aways.. even on the first day onboard. Its true, it can make for a late evening and is not always perfect... but, I do like not missing sailaways. I make up for this by usuasly not eating in the main dining room one night. So I can have a full night of fun onboard.

 

[Trish1c]

When do you normally eat at home or on land when you go out to dinner?

What time you are seated for dinner does not have an official impact on your other meal times. Your stomach may have other ideas.

I prefer late, lesiurely meals. Others have pointed out that you may not be hungry for the midnight buffet if you only finished dinner at 10 pm. Those folks would rather a quicker dinner then on to the next activity.

It is truly a personal choice.

 

[Petra]

Thanks

 

[Lady2fan]

I prefer late. I love to soak up every last drop of sunshine then get ready for dinner. I normally am not a night person, but manage to stay up a lot later on a cruise by eating dinner late. We sometimes visit the Midnight buffet but dont eat that much. Usually we're too busy having fun to even remember it. I'm still up pretty early each morning, it's like I don't want to miss a thing.
JoAnn

 

[SandyBeach]

We prefer early seating so we are ready to eat again at the late night buffet! (Plus there are some things we enjoy doing onboard ship that are often scheduled during that second dinner seating...so if we are assigned that again we will probably ask to be changed.)

 

[beowulf]

I recently posted the same question - even though we have had late seating on three prior cruises and liked it. We are cruising again in June and have selected late seating. Early seating would be a bit rushed at times, and most importantly would have meant that I could not have taken a pre dinner nap when I felt like it. After a 30-40 minute nap we were ready to go until 1, 2, 3. . .and were never tired too soon. It worked well for us and we really took advantage of all of the entertainment until wee hours of the morning. ( last cruise was 2 years ago, I was 58 then - and the nap was nice - may be that it is not as important for those who are a bit younger - though I am very active )

 

[beccabt]

I love the late seating..........go to port and not rush, take a nap or lounge by the pool, and have plenty of time to get dressed. I rush around in my everyday life and want to be a slowpoke on vacation.

 

[cruisingirls]

We had the early seating last summer and loved it! We had been encouraged to get late seating so we would not be rushed, but once on board changed it to early. The reason it worked out so good for us is that after dinner we had time to enjoy the karaoke bar...which closed at 10:00 then go to the show and later see the comedian. This was only a 4 day cruise though. This year we are on a 7 day and getting early seating again. Hopefully we will like it just as much!

 

[Kim1319]

Our Family prefers late seating, also because we don't like to be rushed getting ready for dinner. LOL and even though we have a late seating we're still up for a little midnight buffet. At least once, anyway. We've been to a couple and we just don't really get into it that much I guess. But our family can eat anytime, LOL.. we're pigs. I was once asked where all my food went cause it doesn't look like I ever eat... blah But like everyone says,, its a personal preference. Everyone, and every Family is different.

Happy Cruising!

Kim

 

[Belizemama]

We have had both early and late. We prefer late for all the reasons given. We always hated having to rush back to the ship, get a quick shower, and then rush to the dining room to be on time. Whew !! NOT worth the hassle. This way we can take our time. Relax. Have a before dinner drink. Watch the sunset. Window shop. Watch the sunset. (that one is important to me...lol). Then we liesurely stroll to dinner. So what if you are not hungry for the midnight buffet? It is never anything to write home about. Usually just leftovers from the day. We do make the Gala Buffett where they let you walk through and take pictures. That's all we do. We don't usually eat there. If you happen to be hungry later, don't forget pizza, ice cream, room service, etc. NEVER a shortage of food on a cruise.

Conquest here we come...May 2nd.

 

[Jeff & Susana]

We prefer early seating.................


.........get in, get out, get on with the cruise!


There is soooooo much to do and see the faster we can eat the better.


A 5 minute meal is fine with me............

 

[Camelia]

Also remember - you don't have to eat in the dining room at all. You can always eat any time you want at the casual restaurant.

 

[livin4cruisin]

Camelia -

We lived by that standard! We ate dinner in the dining room each night.. but for breakfast - we did the buffet! Either way - you win!