Early or Late? What do you like and Why?

I have always picked Late dining because I like to stay out at the pool as long as possible. However I have noticed that we don't always get to partake in the productions or comedy shows. Either they are too full or if we do get seats, they are crappy. Should I try early dining? Or even my time? I like sitting at the same table every night and having the same wait staff so this is why I have never done my time. The only hangup I have with early dinner is that I don't want to be rushed when getting ready for dinner.

What are your thoughts?

We do late because we find early dining is too close to lunch for our stomachs to be ready to eat again. Plus the kids like the extra time in the sunshine.

I have always picked Late dining because I like to stay out at the pool as long as possible. However I have noticed that we don't always get to partake in the productions or comedy shows. Either they are too full or if we do get seats, they are crappy. Should I try early dining? Or even my time? I like sitting at the same table every night and having the same wait staff so this is why I have never done my time. The only hangup I have with early dinner is that I don't want to be rushed when getting ready for dinner.

 

What are your thoughts?

Interested in feedback too. I have loved late but show issue was real on 2 cruises...my time on Carnival has been longer and a mess the one time I did it...

Early is too early but leaves less rush for shows I do like...

Next time I am thinking of early assigned but a kind head's up to new friends and table that a few nights I will not be there and will try to give notice as days evolve...Because my time at Chef's table and steakhouse and room service blt may be better some nights...LOL.

Also thinking about a snack..at the new Taste..early show and assigned late next time also...

My time as a solo has pros and cons...

Maybe with option 2 start time can all be at seven or so...early is too early and late is too late LOL....Sarah

We like late for a few reasons:

1. It gives us time to go to the Taste Bar or get some room service after a day in the sun.

2. We like the time to get some pre dinner wine or martinis.

3. We like the ability to take time to get ready before dinner.

4. We like that there is a more lively crowd at the late seating.

5. We like that we are not rushed through dinner.

I used to always do early, but we tried Anytime this trip. I really liked it because I could go when I wanted to and didn't have to stick so much to a schedule. Yeah, you don't quite get the relationship with your waiters but the flexibility made up for that.

Those are exactly my thoughts PurdueChefAmber!

We have always chose late, and I admit, it is a rush to see some of the shows sometimes, but the late seating just feels better for us....

Unless cruising with our kids, we always choose late. We are late risers, so breakfast is a little late, which makes lunch later.

It also affords us leisure on port days - our routine is to return from our excursion, have a bite if necessary, then shower and nap. If the excursion returns late, we might have sushi (in the past) or the taste bar before showering & napping. We also then are fresh for the late lounge or comedy shows.

I will say, we have to be careful to bring the antacid medication, though. DH can tend to get heartburn at bedtime when eating late, so he takes something daily. :)

Or even my time? I like sitting at the same table every night and having the same wait staff so this is why I have never done my time.

You can sit at the same table every night and have the same wait staff even with my time.

You can sit at the same table every night and have the same wait staff even with my time.

We've tried this on both Carnival & Norwegian and had mixed results.

On Carnival, some nights we could be seated in that section right away. Some nights we were told it would be a 30 minute wait. Also, this doesn't work when your first night wait team is not great (and we had this experience once, also).

On Norwegian, they looked at us like we had two heads when we asked for a repeat section. And again, had the issues with the wait times on some nights.

Also, I have no idea how you could be sure you got the same TABLE every night, even if in the same wait-team section.

During recent years, we changed to anytime dining since we prefer not being locked in to a certain time to eat.

Yeah, we didn't bother asking for the same section. We were on Spring Break and just grateful to be seated right away each time we went. Out of 6 nights we did 4 in the main dining room and 2 went really smooth...the other 2 pretty slow. The first night was tough and we almost left before dessert as my 4 year old was starting to squirm and act up. The other 3 we didn't care too much as he wanted to eat in the kid's club, so we weren't in a big hurry since it was like a date for my husband and I.

We too have done Norwegian and the first couple nights we ate in the large dining room and had terribly slow service, we did leave before dessert. The last part we went to the smaller dining room and it was great.

Moral of the story, if you have kids go to early dining and not anytime ;)

We've tried this on both Carnival & Norwegian and had mixed results.

 

On Carnival, some nights we could be seated in that section right away. Some nights we were told it would be a 30 minute wait. Also, this doesn't work when your first night wait team is not great (and we had this experience once, also).

 

On Norwegian, they looked at us like we had two heads when we asked for a repeat section. And again, had the issues with the wait times on some nights.

 

Also, I have no idea how you could be sure you got the same TABLE every night, even if in the same wait-team section.

We always go for early dinner. I do not like eating that late in the evening. Maybe I do not stay up as late as others.

Staying in the sun is not an issue as I have fair skin and burn easy so shade is my friend. We still have time for a glass of wine on the balcony before dinner.

Also, this doesn't work when your first night wait team is not great (and we had this experience once, also).

Then change the wait team without making a big deal. It is the beauty of My Time, right?

Also, I have no idea how you could be sure you got the same TABLE every night, even if in the same wait-team section.

I admit every night may be a little exaggerated as I never specifically asked for that. But the last time I was on Carnival cruise, the hostess actually recommended a wait team, and we were sitting at the same window seat most of the days.

We do anytime and love it!

We have kids and sometimes they wanted to eat on the lido and other times in the kids club. So we would do what they decided and adjust when my husband and I went to eat in the MDR after dropping the kids off at Camp Carnival. It was great to not be worried about time.

We have always done early as frankly we are always ready to eat by 6 and it is the best time to be ready for the nights activities. There was one port day on our last cruise in which we just arrived back to the boat late and could not make our dining time and had to eat in the buffet. I would have liked YTD that day, but most days even with YTD, we would probably eat at 6.

Anytime for us. We like the flexibility to eat when and with whom we want to. If we find a wait team we like we ask for them again. If they are busy we just ask for another section. If we get a wait team we don't like then we just ask to be seated elsewhere next time. Before anytime came about we did early since that is the time we normally eat at home.

We choose anytime, but as it has turned out lately we never hit the dining room It has just lost it's appeal and we found we can find what we want without going to the dining room.

We have always done early as frankly we are always ready to eat by 6 and it is the best time to be ready for the nights activities. There was one port day on our last cruise in which we just arrived back to the boat late and could not make our dining time and had to eat in the buffet. I would have liked YTD that day, but most days even with YTD, we would probably eat at 6.

I agree with "asailligo' - We like early dining and are ready to eat by 6 pm.

We also enjoy YTD and have tried this on several lines -- only issue, we like a small table and have been ask to sit at large tables from time to time... unfortunately, we got put with some very talkative folks, my husband felt like he had to give his life history every night and that took the pleasure out of the dining experience for him - so we started insisting on tables for 2 for YTD.

Don't get me wrong - we like meeting new people, but if we are going to share a table we prefer to have assigned seating and get to know the same folks.

We do late dining.

Time to do the 7:15 show then drinks in the lobby bar before 8:15 dinner.

Then comedy show and piano bar before bed.

Agree with purduechefamber. As for shows, we go after dinner, and only had a couple of times where we did not get a decent seat.

I have always picked Late dining because I like to stay out at the pool as long as possible. However I have noticed that we don't always get to partake in the productions or comedy shows. Either they are too full or if we do get seats, they are crappy. Should I try early dining? Or even my time? I like sitting at the same table every night and having the same wait staff so this is why I have never done my time. The only hangup I have with early dinner is that I don't want to be rushed when getting ready for dinner.

 

What are your thoughts?

You hit it right on the head. We picked late dining on the Dream last June and finding a seat for the production show was just about impossible as they had a bingo event just before, that went late and of course no one left.

Anytime dining wasn't really anytime as on the Liberty they sat you in waves so if you went at the wrong time you waiting quite a while. May have been full at the wrong time as well. Either way we will go with Early and see what happens.

With so many choices there is no reason to complain.

I went on my first cruise in 2013 with a group of family and friends. We had late dining and I loved it! It just seemed to coincide with how we spent our days -- breakfast around 7am, lunch around 1 or 2, maybe a snack if we felt like it later in the afternoon and then by 8pm we were hungry again. The only downside is we had several small children in our group and it was torture for them. They were falling asleep at the table and whatnot.

Our next cruise is in May and we've chosen late dining again. No kids!

We've always done late. I would never be ready to eat by 6pm. We don't even eat that early at home due to dh's work schedule. Even going with the kids, we have chosen late dining. This cruise we are taking our oldest dd and her 4 year old. Remains to be seen how late works out for us this time, but if worse comes to worse, they can buffet it. :D

For you late seating diners that feel left out of the show times or feel rushed through dinner to get good seats, it's because your entertainment (excluding the last 2 comedy show times) is scheduled for before you eat with the show starting sometime between 6:30 & 7:15 depending on the CD &/or the port schedule. So if you want dinner and the most of the shows you will still be rushed to leave the port/pool before 6 pm to start getting ready for the evening. Only on nights where there is a single performance like the Welcome Aboard show or fly on act will they schedule it to be after everyone's set dinner time at 10 pm.

For those of you recommending the Any Time Dining it holds true if you go around the same time as the traditional set times are being seated or right after a major show lets out you will encounter long lines. The trick there is to carefully plan your dining between shows that you want to see and be flexible about getting Good seats (some balcony seats have an even better view than the main level seats under the balcony). On our last cruise we frequently arrived at the ATD MDR around 8:30/9 pm to eat after seeing the early production show, playing a little in the casino, and maybe visiting one lounge or another to hear the band/singers. The way we curbed our hunger was to around 6 pm visit the Lido buffet or taste bar for a snack sized appetizer. Because the MDR was all but deserted we had fast service usually having our 5 course in less than 1 hour with little or no wait to be seated in a section of our choice. This left us plenty time to line up to see the adult comedy shows at 10:45 and midnight or the option to see the family shows earlier with the same comedians.