Early or Late Seattiing in MDR?

Hello,

I'm a newbie to cruising. A few questions about dining in MDR, and etiquette whilst sharing a table with strangers.

What is better? Early 6 pm or late 8:30 pm. seating in MDR? Pros and cons? The wife and I are not keen of being around young children whilst trying to enjoy a nice dinner. Sorry, to all parents with young children. :(

BTW: I love lobster. How can I find out in advance , the nightly featured menu so I can work around return from shore excursion or eat off ship?

Also, is it ok to request a double serving of lobster? Would eyebrows be raised by the other dinner companions at the table if I asked? I don't want to embarrass myself if I did so. :p

Thank you.

Sorry to ask simple questions.:D

Depends on what time you like to eat ..do you eat late usually?

Check the time in the ports usually the ship sails early maybe 6pm some exceptions apply

There are always the specialty restaurants you can book other time slots (fee based usually )

Buffet is another option

In my experience the lobster tails are small so most people order more than one

What cruise line are you sailing on? Maybe ask on the cruise specific forum

Enjoy

Late seating has fewer kids....and they try to put families together.. We LOVE table mates...it's much more fun than eating alone. Everyone has vacationing in common...

Lobster tails is usually on the 2nd formal night....and yes..you may ask for more! It's not frowned upon at all!

To find out when lobster is served, ask the waiters. Not all lines are the same, and you haven't said which line you're on.

The main drawback with second sitting as I see it is that it limits what you can do after dinner. For example, depending how your line arranges shows, you might find that if you go to a show you have to miss out on some other late evening activity. Or you might be able to do the show before dinner.

On the other hand, of course, early dining limits what you can do before dinner. It depends on your ship - with P&O, I prefer early dining because late diners can't do the show and the syndicate quiz. On Fred Olsen, I prefer late dining because the quiz is much less suited to my talents (they keep putting pop music in it!). They both sail from Earth, so they may be the lines you're thinking of. ;)

In most cases, you will not be in port late enough to eat dinner off the ship.

Late seating always = less kids.

You can not only have 2 lobster tails, you can have 4 or even more. No one cares. Really.

Issue with late dining - you either go to a show BEFORE dinner or the LATE show depending on the ship. If you like to stay up late, then late seating will be for you most of the time. If you like to go to bed by 9 or 10pm, then you are far better off with early seating.

If you are on NCL (and some RCL ships) you can have dinner in various restaurants, so seatings don't matter at all. Restaurants that cost extra usually = no peeps with kids or if the kids are in there, the parents make sure they behave in most cases. Worst case scenario, there is always the buffet and you can go to the MDR anytime you want - the later the better.

All good replies to the OP. We like late dining, so that when we return from shore, we have plenty of time for sail away, getting cleaned up, and maybe an adult beverage or two before dinner. Some times, on some itineraries, early dining is just shortly after departure time.

As to the lobsters, no one counts how many you eat. Enjoy!!

Late Seating. Pro is if it is a port intensive cruise you don't have to rush back to the ship and change and get ready to eat. Con is that you end the meal very late and don't have adequate time for your meal to digest before going to sleep unless you stay up very late.

Early. You finish early enough to do other things after you eat and have time for the meal to digest. Con is you have to get ready early for dinner.

Keith

Lobster and prime rib is served on the 1st "Formal" night which is usually the 2nd night. If you want more than one lobster tell your waiter how many more when you order. You can also order surf & turf - lobster and prime rib. Many people order more than one! You can order more than one of anything- my husband orders two shrimp cocktails or one shrimp cocktail and another appetizer.

We do not like the early seating at all. When you go on a tour you have to come back and may have to rush to shower and dress for dinner. We often take a nap in the late afternoon and would have to cut that short if we eat early.

We had friends who only ate 1st seating until they cruised with us and we said 2nd. They were so surprised about that and couldn't figure out why they used to like 1st. Now its 2nd only for them too. You will not miss any shows as they are timed for 1st seating then 2nd seatings so all can go. And there will be fewer children at 2nd seating.

I know you didn't ask, but, how about Anytime, also called My Time or some version of it.

This way you don't have to pick one time but can go when you're ready.

BTW, on lobster night, I am usually offered a second -- or even third -- lobster. Waiter staff knows people really like more than one, as they are pretty small.

I always pick early 6pm. i am from Atlantic Canada so that is 7pm my time. For me that is pushing it. I could never do late dining , but that is just me

Also to the note of young children we have never been around any at the early dining on any of my cruises and if they were there I didnt notice them.

Now the windjammer that is a totally different story lol

I dislike the late seating in the traditional dining room because it seems like we never got out of the dining room until close to 10PM, if not later if we had really chatty tablemates. By then I was tired, especially if we had a long busy day in port, and just wanted to lay down. But I couldn't because my tummy was full.

Finally we tried Anytime Dining and it is MUCH better for us. Love the flexibility of being able to choose what time we want to have dinner that day, meeting new people every night over dinner, and not finishing dinner so darn late.