Late or main seating??

[rlstamps]

I will be cruising on the Fantasy in April 2016. This will be my first ever Disney cruise as well as my first ever cruise with kids. We will be traveling with friends, so there will be 4 adults and 5 kids ages 3-8. What seating do you suggest? I would like to be able to make all of the shows as well as have some time alone at night as adults with the kids in the oceaneer's club. Any other tips you have to share? Thanks :-)

[Shmoo here]

I will be cruising on the Fantasy in April 2016. This will be my first ever Disney cruise as well as my first ever cruise with kids. We will be traveling with friends, so there will be 4 adults and 5 kids ages 3-8. What seating do you suggest? I would like to be able to make all of the shows as well as have some time alone at night as adults with the kids in the oceaneer's club. Any other tips you have to share? Thanks :-)

 

Late or early - it's really up to what you feel will work for your family.

 

Regardless of which dinner time you choose, you'll still have the option of seeing the shows. There are 2 shows every night (roughly around the same times as the dinner seatings). If you do early seating for dinner, you'll go to the show afterwards. Late seating, you'll go to the show before dinner. There are usually adult shows in the adult lounge area every night, also. Theses tend to be scheduled after the late show/dinner, so you won't really have to miss any of those if that's what you want.

 

Kid's clubs are open, pretty much, 9:00 am - midnight (sometimes later) every day.

[blueteam]

I will be cruising on the Fantasy in April 2016. This will be my first ever Disney cruise as well as my first ever cruise with kids. We will be traveling with friends, so there will be 4 adults and 5 kids ages 3-8. What seating do you suggest? I would like to be able to make all of the shows as well as have some time alone at night as adults with the kids in the oceaneer's club. Any other tips you have to share? Thanks :-)

 

We prefer late dining without kids and early dining with kids. In our experience, the young ones don't wait until late dining time (8:30 on Royal I think), which means either ruined dinner from a buffet run or cranky whining. Without kids, I like more time to nap between port-return and dinner, or for late departures I still get the dinner.

[moki'smommy]

I agree with the above. Main seating works best with kids, late seating without kids UNLESS you are coming from the west coast of the US.

 

On DCL, regardless of meal time, all activities will be available to you. If you have main seating, you have second show time. If you have late seating, you see the show before dinner.

 

The adult activities start at 10:30, so after the late dinner and late show. Kid programming is open till midnight routinely, 1 am on some nights (check your Navigator). There are sleep mats, so sleepy little ones can opt to watch a movie on a mat...and no one cares if they fall asleep!

[fourel]

I recommend the main dining.

[MoreMouse]

Even as an adult, I prefer main seating. We go to bed pretty early anyway. Yeah, when we cruise too. :o

 

I have been with children and without on a few DCL cruises and noticed that a lot of the little kids at second seating were pretty tired and cranky. ;)

[~~~~~~~~~]

If you like to watch the sunset choose late seating.

[Gwyndylan]

We are booked on Fantasy in October 2015 & I chose the late seating even though our kids will be 5 & 7. I assume we will be sleeping in somewhat compared to at home & snacking throughout the day, so I thought I'd let someone who felt strongly that they needed the early dining for their little bitties have our place. Crossing my fingers I made the right choice!

 

 

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[BullDawg91]

We liked late even with kids. Early was too early. We enjoyed an afternoon snack from room service before the show and dinner after that.

 

 

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[cruzmonkey]

We were on the Fantasy in early December and had the early dinner. My GS is 3 and this worked pretty well for him except it was mac & cheese and broccoli every night. The only negative for us was the feeling of being rushed to get there on time, especially on a port day. He was so excited ( like a sugar high ) that he wanted to constantly be on the go, so early to bed wasn't even an option.

 

We're going back on the Fantasy in April ( 16th ) of 2016 to celebrate his 5th birthday and this time I opted for late dinner. I'll just make sure that all of us have a later lunch.

[kiloecho20]

We just cruised end of Jan. and ate late and ended up loving it!

We had our 4 1/2 yo son take late naps (which gave us more morning and day time to do stuff together) and when we woke we'd have plenty to do to kill time, including see the early show, then change for dinner before 8:15. The best part - servers brought his meal out very quickly and then kids club counselors would come around 9:15 to pick children up. This was right around when our grown-up meals would arrive and my husband and I were able to eat dinner and dessert date-like each night! The kids will be up late on the ship either way is also what we figured. And, as the above commenter mentioned, with early seating you have to make sure you're back in time from port. With the late you have a little more flexibility.

Edited February 7, 2015 by kiloecho20

[Cedricandsophie]

We have always done late seating with or without kids. Just give the kids and yourself a late snack. The early dinner is way too rushed for me. And I find that if I eat that early I am ready for bed by 9. With late dinner we are forced to stay up and then go out after dinner.

[sunset@sea]

We just did a sailing with the main (early) seating. It was too early for us. We felt rushed every day and it made the day seem short. The kids (6,4,4) ended up going to kids club after dinner every night and then staying up late after baths watching movies. And DH and I actually got a bit bored walking around after dinner since everyone seemed to be in the shows and the clubs were empty (this was the Magic).

 

We've already selected second seating for our next sailing. We're hoping the kids club staff still come to the dining rooms and take the kids to the club halfway through second seating (if they want to go). We'll be on the Fantasy next time.

[Gwyndylan]

Thank you for sharing your experiences, I feel more at ease with my late seating decision!

[cyclenut]

We always choose late seating. (by the way ... it is called early seating ... there is no such thing as main seating). Both dinner seatings are really the same experience. The only difference is with early seating you have dinner then the show and with late seating is show then dinner.

 

We continue to prefer late seating, but we are from the West Coast, so late seating really still feels like 5pm. We also don't want to feel rushed after returning from port. With late seating you can get on the ship and go right to the show. There is usually enough time for a quick shower and change of clothes between the show and your dining time.

 

We also don't like to show up until right at or just after the dining time. No waiting around for the doors to open. After dinner, there is enough time to make your way to the adult only shows if you prefer or you can catch a movie in the theater. I don't like to go to bed right after eating such a big meal.

[moki'smommy]

We always choose late seating. (by the way ... it is called early seating ... there is no such thing as main seating).

 

If this is true, it represents a change. On DCL for 15+ years it was "main" and "late." I just went to the DCL web site and did a fake reservation--it gave me the choice of "First Seating" or "Second Seating," not early or late. I'm not sure what the Navigators are showing today. Again, September 2014, it was Main and Late on the Magic.

[cyclenut]

OK ...yes ...first and second seating ... but not "main". The term "main" seating implies that there is something second rate about the second seating, which isn't the case at all. Maybe they did change it, but I have never seen it called "main" seating on any booking or sailing. I just haven't started sailing DCL until a couple of years ago.

[Sainter4]

We returned from our first DCL cruise last week. The Navigator from Feb 1 lists dinner times as "First Seating" (5:45pm), and "Second Seating" (8:15 pm).

BUT, we made a reservation for next year while on board and the new reservation shows that we have "Main" dining....

[Shmoo here]

OK ...yes ...first and second seating ... but not "main". The term "main" seating implies that there is something second rate about the second seating, which isn't the case at all. Maybe they did change it, but I have never seen it called "main" seating on any booking or sailing. I just haven't started sailing DCL until a couple of years ago.

 

The dinner seating designations have been "Main" for early and "Second" for late on all of our cruises - 2008 (Magic), 2010 (Magic 2X), 2011(Wonder 2X), 2012 (Wonder),2014 (Dream & Fantasy 2X).

 

The term "Main" is often applied to late seating on most other cruiselines, but on DCL it is early seating. As a designation of the seating that most people tend to want. Not that it's "better".

[cyclenut]

The dinner seating designations have been "Main" for early and "Second" for late on all of our cruises - 2008 (Magic), 2010 (Magic 2X), 2011(Wonder 2X), 2012 (Wonder),2014 (Dream & Fantasy 2X).

 

The term "Main" is often applied to late seating on most other cruiselines, but on DCL it is early seating. As a designation of the seating that most people tend to want. Not that it's "better".

 

That is very interesting Shmoo. I just got off the Fantasy and I've sailed the Wonder in the same timeframe and I've never seen that designation, even on other cruise lines. Where is that listed? I'm very curious now.

[Gwyndylan]

Regardless of the actual technical names of the dinner times, I'm looking forward to eating later with my kids, and glad to avoid the rushed feeling mentioned.

[vinotinto]

What time zone are you in? What time do your kids typically eat at home?

 

Disney has two seatings: early at 5:45 pm and late at 8:15 pm. It also has two shows every evening: an "early" show for the late dinner seating and a "late" show for the early dinner seating. Basically, while one group is eating, the other one is watching the show, and vice-versa. So, the question is more what time do you want to eat, based on when your kids get hungry and whether you prefer to watch the show before or after your dinner. Typically, the "early" dinner is full, as there are so many families with very little kids (babies, toddlers, preschoolers) who simply can't make it to an 8:15 pm dinner,

 

We were going to take late dinner with our kids (they are 7 and 10 - not that young), but since we're going to the Western Caribbean and we are on EDT, some days our 5:45 dinner seating will be more like 6:45 pm dinner. At home, we eat dinner at 6:30 pm, so I felt early was better. If we would have been on Central, Mountain or Western time, or if we would be sailing Bahamas, Eastern or Southern Caribbean (on Eastern or Atlantic times), then we could have easily done late dinner seating.

 

HTH!

[Gwyndylan]

I am in South Dakota, Central Time Zone & we generally eat about 6.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Gwyndylan
Edited because I oopsed & bumped post early :)

[moki'smommy]

I am in South Dakota, Central Time Zone & we generally eat about 6.

 

For your family, I don't think it will make a huge difference. Early will be an hour later than you eat at home and late will be an hour and a bit later. Either way, the kids will adapt. If late, do an afternoon snack.

[TheGaDawgFan]

We're also cruising on the Fantasy April 2016, and we're trying to decide the same thing. The early seating seems SO early. On Royal Caribbean, we do My Time Dining, so we can just eat at the time we are hungry or based on what we're doing that night. Excited about trying Disney though!