Dining time on westbound crossing

We will be doing a westbound crossing in October. We were on the late seating but for some reason our TA had waitlisted us for early. Now it seems we have early. We have not had an assigned dining time in ten years and would never dine at 6 p.m. at home. On the other hand, we would not dine at 8:30 and since we are going westbound that time will be an hour later body time each evening. We do enjoy a before dinner cocktail and the Commodore Club sounds inviting. Recommendations? I expect we could change back to late at this point.

Can you upgrade to BC? (or PG or QG) That way you may dine when you choose, a different time each night if that suits you.

Personally, we enjoy activities in the afternoon and cocktail hour but don't attend the balls and only see a few shows, so the late seating works best for us. (Especially as a gay couple, when the LGBT get-together, as mentioned on this board, starts at 5 PM). If you are fans of the ballroom dance floor, you may find early is best.

Especially on a Westbound crossing, that extra hour of sleep is an even stronger argument for late seating for us.

- Mark

Late lunch?

The early seating is always overbooked, whereas second sitting is not. Having just returned from a transatlantic crossing both ways, I would always book early sitting. If you then want to move to second sitting once onboard it will not be a problem, as there are always far more people,trying to move to first seating than the other way around. We were on second sitting going over to NYC and we had a table of 8 to ourselves, with two more empty tables close by, whereas first sitting was completely full.

Can you upgrade to BC? (or PG or QG) That way you may dine when you choose, a different time each night if that suits you.

Don't I wish!

We have not had an assigned dining time in ten years and would never dine at 6 p.m. at home.

Then don't! I'm a late diner myself and I do assume that the late sitting is more relaxed in general. (I don't have any experience with the early sitting). Also, I wouldn't be able to have dinner just two hours after afternoon tea. Pre-dinner drinks are big on QM2. Personally, I couldn't start drinking before 1800.

That said, late sitting means that usually you can get the table size you want. There's no hurry if you tend to have extensive conversations and I do find the staff to be quite relaxed and chatty. I would go for one of the big tables on the lower deck, close to the Captain's tables.

Here are some old plans, though they may be outdated: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1451478. The

Also, if you possess any Italian, Spanish or even French heritage: late sitting is what your DNA commands, early dining is for Brits, Swedes and Germans. ;)

I agree with the suggestion of upgrading to Club if the budget allows. We love the flexibility that "anytime" dining provided. It was a real splurge for us and meant some belt tightening but a TA crossing the QM2 may be a once in a lifetime event for us. Impromptu cocktails with new friends, a specular sunset or just forgetting what time it is can all be accommodated when you don't have a set dinner time.

Harold

We always dine late on TAs and go for a pre-dinner cocktail in the Commdore Club.

If you want to switch to second seating, you should be able to do it via the personaliser or give Cunard a call.

Have a great trip

The extra cost of 'Club' is, in my opinion, an excessive amount to sit in the corner of Britannia to choose to effectively dine at 7pm.... ish

(a tadge over simplified, maybe, but to dine an hour earlier costs how much?!)

For me it's a no-brainer: Late seating, and it will be very easy to change as late is less popular. On a westbound, with the extra hours, eating late will not throw your tummies into turmoil. We love to stay up late and hang out. The ship is gorgeous at night, outside as well!

The extra cost of 'Club' is, in my opinion, an excessive amount to sit in the corner of Britannia to choose to effectively dine at 7pm.... ish

 

(a tadge over simplified, maybe, but to dine an hour earlier costs how much?!)

The fare difference between a mid-range Britannia balcony stateroom and the Britannia Club varies considerably. It can easily be $100 to $200 pp per day.

I had a voyage in BC once. We had booked an obstructed view Britannia room and there was a significant lowering of fares. Rather than keeping the same room at a lower fare, we upgraded to BC for $400 pp for a week more than our original fare. This was a good deal and we enjoyed it. Not only can we dine at any time at our assigned table for all three meals, there is an à la carte menu and a flambéed dessert every evening.

The last time we had early sitting in Britannia we decided we would take the late sitting from then on. We found it impossible to get a seat in any lounge after 5:00 p.m. When we are on second sitting, there is plenty of room in all lounges whilst the first sitting people are at dinner. When in the Grills and BC we generally go to dinner between 7:30 and 8:00, so the Britannia late sitting of 8:30 wasn't awkward at all. It gave us the opportunity to enjoy the afternoon tea and a pre-dinner drink.

With the "real" time changing just about everyday on a TA just "pretend" it's earlier than it is. Have breakfast and lunch an hour later than usual and 8:30 becomes 7:30.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Forums mobile app

Thanks for all the replies. I have changed us to the late seating. Sounds much more relaxing.

we always do late sitting much more relaxed and you don't have to get ready so early :D:D:D