'Cons' of late dining time?

Hubby and I have always had the early dining time on past cruises (aside from NCL when we had anytime dining, and still found ourselves going early). This upcoming cruise has 6pm departure times for 3 of 4 ports. I really don't want to feel obligated to cut my port time short in order to be able to get back on the ship, showered and ready for dinner by 6pm. So this time I chose the late dining. I figured this gives us plenty of time to get back and get to dinner, maybe even partake in a nap...because lying motionless in the sun all day is EXHAUSTING! ;) But a nap might cure me of my need to go to bed at 10pm. These are clearly our 'pros' of late dining.

I read some posts that said that the dining times don't always line up with other evening activities on the ship. We don't go to the shows in the theatre anymore, but do like to see a comedy show when possible. Hubby likes to go to karaoke (he likes to sing, I just watch) and we end up in the dance club or the piano bar sometimes. Those things are generally over a long duration where you come and go anyhow, so a later time might be fine.

What are some of the cons to taking the late dining time? Will we be missing out on a lot of evening activities? (Probably no more than I'd miss out on by going to be at 10pm. :rolleyes:)

if you can switch to your time dinning. also, you dont always have to go the dinner room. The is always the buffet or the supper club for extra money

I kind of like the "your time" dining and if you go around the same time every night you can get the same table and wait staff. I like early dining better because then you have the whole night to work off your meal and do stuff around the ship. The excursion days you might want to go to a later seating, so I think I lean towards "your time" in non-group situations.

If you're unable to get the your time dining, then I would always go for the early. If your ship departs at 6pm, you have to be back on board by 5pm. If you are at a table to yourselves, you could show up a few minutes late.

We had to make the same decision since there was a wait list for your time by the time we booked for next month. We went with 6pm so we would not be eating too late and we would still feel like doing some things on board afterward. Besides, the ship gets into ports early and I don't want to get to bed but so late.

We did your time dining on NCL and kind of MISSED the set times for some reason. Same waiters, same people, makes it somewhat of an event onto itself. We met two of our dearest friends at dinner on a CCL cruise, seated at our table.

Although your time dining might get us OUT of the complete snoozefest table we were seated at last cruise. We loathed the thought of going to dinner and sitting through an hour of mundane conversation. Hmmm. Something to consider.

We love late dining! Have done ATD and Early and had issues with those. We have never once missed a production show, a comedy act or anything else because of late dining.

We like to eat late because when we eat early it seems we are too stuffed and ATD never worked for us...always a wait.

We also love the late seating because we can relax, take our time getting ready for dinner and have a cocktail before dinner without feeling rushed as we did for Early dining.

Of course I listed the pros because I do not see any cons of late dining personally

We have always done late except last cruise we did YTD. Late dining has a lot more pros than cons than early. I would never choose early unless I had kids. WE always make the late show with the late dining also. Since your not going to the shows you have no real con. The Comedy shows go til 11pm or midnite. I would hate early dining we would always feel rushed and have to cut our day short. Late dining you take your time and stop for a pre dinner cocktail or glass of wine on the balcony. It's awesome.

We have always done late seating and loved it!

But then, we've been lucky with tablemates.

You guys might be convincing me to stay with late. I usually spend some time laying in a drunken coma like this after days in port...

...this is a girl that needs a bit of time to freshen up. ;)

Hubby and I have always had the early dining time on past cruises (aside from NCL when we had anytime dining, and still found ourselves going early). This upcoming cruise has 6pm departure times for 3 of 4 ports. I really don't want to feel obligated to cut my port time short in order to be able to get back on the ship, showered and ready for dinner by 6pm. So this time I chose the late dining. I figured this gives us plenty of time to get back and get to dinner, maybe even partake in a nap...because lying motionless in the sun all day is EXHAUSTING! ;) But a nap might cure me of my need to go to bed at 10pm. These are clearly our 'pros' of late dining.

 

I read some posts that said that the dining times don't always line up with other evening activities on the ship. We don't go to the shows in the theatre anymore, but do like to see a comedy show when possible. Hubby likes to go to karaoke (he likes to sing, I just watch) and we end up in the dance club or the piano bar sometimes. Those things are generally over a long duration where you come and go anyhow, so a later time might be fine.

 

What are some of the cons to taking the late dining time? Will we be missing out on a lot of evening activities? (Probably no more than I'd miss out on by going to be at 10pm. :rolleyes:)

gerd

We always have done late dining but have ATD scheduled for our Nov. cruise. Late has worked for us cause we get to spend a big portion of the days in port and then can come back and shower & nap before having to be at dinner at 8:15pm. We always were able to make the late shows comedy etc. and were better rested. Took ATD just to see what it's like.....

miss some of the earlier comedy shows

I have done late dining a few times and like it for several reasons, but since you are asking for cons; the only one I can think of is;

You might find yourself getting hungry a few hours before 8pm, so have a little snack somewhere, but not too much, since you might spoil your appetite for dinner.

Lots of pros to late dining too, but personally I prefer anytime dining, and if that were not available I would be happy with either early or late dining. Late dinner should be finished by 10pm and still time for comedy show and karaoke, plus lots more.

gerd

That's the sad fact for many people. I wish there was a way to make it stop on vacations. :mad:

gerd

That's the sad fact for many people. I wish there was a way to make it stop on vacations. :mad:

Care to share what you mean by this?

I think they are referring to acid reflux. Although, if you're eating healthy and taking care of yourself, you can limit that condition quite a bit. I used to be on medication daily for reflux, but since changing my diet and making better choices all around, I now only have to take it once in a great while.

It does seem to show its ugly face more often if I eat VERY late and/or spicy or fattening foods.

As far as late dining, I usually do late --- have done ATD once because I was sailing with friends who do ATD and wanted the option to eat with them when the stars aligned. However, a couple of cruises ago, I had late and friends had ATD. I was sailing solo and went with them I think once, maybe twice, to the ATD dining room and they had no issues with seating me with them.

Have a great time either way! :)

Omeprazole takes care of Gerd.

I prefer ATD, but prior to that option, we always chose late dining. For me, there are no "cons" as I would never choose early dining. I don't have to rush back to the ship on a port day to get ready for dinner and a lot of times I'll eat a late lunch, so don't want to eat so early for dinner. Don't usually see a lot of kids/families at late dinners, which I also find a plus. Never found that I missed any ship activities by dining later.

No rush after coming back from a port call

A nap, if you so choose

An adult beverage....which I will always choose

Far fewer children

Dining versus eating...If you enjoy the setting, the conversation, the presentation, then you are dining.

Rush...no rush, not pushed, no time limit

No rush after coming back from a port call

A nap, if you so choose

An adult beverage....which I will always choose

Far fewer children

Dining versus eating...If you enjoy the setting, the conversation, the presentation, then you are dining.

Rush...no rush, not pushed, no time limit

Could not have said it better. I love not being rushed.

About 6:00 i go grab a snack, a drink and relax then cleanup and hit the casino while the wife is getting ready.

Clay.

Just off the Facination and we tried Your Time Dining for the first time, and we loved it!

Cons - you're supposed to only use a specific dining room.

Pros - we could go when we were ready, which was usually around 6:30-7:00.

We were able to be through in time to catch some of the shows (which we've missed in the past).

We liked our wait staff so much that we asked to be seated in their section each night, and were able to with no problem. Most nights we had no wait time for a table, the very last night we had to wait about 15min to be seated.

We will def choose this again next time!

We had late dining for our last cruise and deliberately booked early dining for our next cruise.

Cons of late dining - Late! If you've had a busy day or you're one of those people who returns from a port day utterly exhausted, then you might find yourself yawning through dinner. You also might be tempted to snack before dinner if you're hungry, which might make you less hungry for dinner. You also miss the prime-time movies-by-the-pool - on our last cruise, Skyfall (I hadn't seen it!) started at 8pm, same time as dinner. The more-adult-focused Hasbro game show began at 8pm as well - we ended up attending the afternoon Hasbro show, and it was disappointing because the only people chosen for the show were kids - had we realized that, we wouldn't have attended.

Pros of late dining - Taste Bar on 2.0 ships, relaxed dinner atmosphere, you have enough time to get ready for dinner, usually something going on once you're done with dinner. Can go to bed right after dinner if you'd like, and the lobby/promenade clears out considerably so you can take photos or just relax if you'd like.

We like the early dining, as we normally have diner about that time at home. We have tried the later dining time, but it seemed to interfere with other activities on the ship we liked.

The biggest con for us for the later time is that we felt so full when it was bed time.

The biggest con for me, and this may have already been said, is that I'll have a drink or two before and/or with dinner and then dinner is long and I am very sleepy by the end and just want to go to bed.

We had late dining on our last cruise, this time we're trying early dining.

We chose late because we usually eat around 8:00 at home, but by the time dinner was over we were so stuffed and sleepy that we just went to bed. We missed a lot of shows and nightlife, but if you're not really into that, that wouldn't be a problem.