Veendam Manhattan sailout times?

[TomTraveler]

We'll be on Veendam New York-Bermuda in a few weeks (third different cruise line for this cruise). We love the sailout past the New York skyline, Statue of Liberty, etc. We also are confirmed for early dining in the MDR, and we're wondering if those two will conflict.
So, if you've been on this cruise recently, a couple of related questions:
1. Do you remember about what time the ship got past the Verrazano Narrows bridge?
2. How late can one arrive for the early "fixed" dining? The schedule says 5:45, but can we push that to 6 or later?
If these two are going to conflict, we might make reservations elsewhere.
Thanks.

[karenj4546]

At 5:30, we were passing the Statue of Liberty. DH wouldn't leave the deck and my MIL had made 5:30 reservations (we didn't get a fixed dinner time). Got to the Rotterdam dining room at 5:35 to find that we had a window and they'd watched the statue as they waited for us. Passed under the bridge during appetizers....
Hope that this helps...!

[RuthC]

2. How late can one arrive for the early "fixed" dining? The schedule says 5:45, but can we push that to 6 or later?
There's supposed to be a 15 minute "window" for arrival to fixed seating, but you should make every effort to arrive as close to 5:45 as possible. The stewards have a rhythm for serving, and then they have to ready your table for the 8:00 diners.

[kaleighsgram]

Tom, We, too, had the early dinnertime of 5:45. We had no problems. I have at least 30 pictures of the Statue of Liberty to prove it! When we got to the dining room, everybody had arrived on time. Enjoy! BTW, what part of western PA are you from? I'm from the Kennywood area.

[TomTraveler]

Kaleighsgram: We're from around Greensburg, but have spent many pleasant days at Kennywood -- eating the Potato Patch fries and riding the Thunderbolt!
Thanks to all for the info.