Why is Early Dining the preferred time slot?

[ProgRockCruiser]

So...there have been a few threads recently (as there always are) about someone not getting the Early Dining slot, and wanting to change to it now, but it is Closed/Full, so they are waitlisted.  They get the usual useful (I assume) suggestion to check with the Maitre D' on embarkation day.  I rarely see anyone asking about switching to the Late Seating.

 

I see that this seems to be the defacto situation: Early Dining usually fills up right away, and many folks have to switch to YTD or might just settle for Late Dining.

 

We have almost always selected the Early seating (we have picked one future cruise with Late Dining), but I always thought that we must be the unusual ones, and wouldn't late dining be preferred by most cruisers?  We pick early because we eat around then at home (somewhere between 6pm to 7pm, i.e. much earlier than the 8:15pm late seating), but also because it just feels like the right time, based on the activities we like to do afterwards - maybe catch a show, but usually just hang out at the Alchemy Bar, or wander the ship.  Timing for pre-dinner drinks well for us too: again, usually the Alchemy Bar for a few, then head to dinner. 

But I honestly felt that by selecting the Early Dining it was like I was admitting I was with the early-bird special "older" crowd at Crackerbarrel.

 

I would have thought the majority of cruisers would want a later dining time, to allow them to catch an early show (assuming they can get from show to MDR in 15 min or so), or linger in the cabin or in the Lido area or in the casino a bit longer after a day in port.  And maybe all those (maybe mostly younger) folks that like to stay up late would shift their time patterns so they sleep in a bit later, have a later lunch, and want a later dinner before hitting the dance-floors.  And having a Guy's Burger around 4pm is a great way to have a nice afternoon snack, and you won't be feeling too full enjoy dinner later on (unlike if you had the 6pm dinner slot - I've made that mistake twice now - I need to remember to hit Guy's at 3pm or earlier). 

 

I live in the Orlando area, and the restaurants in the tourist area (I-Drive) usually gets busiest from 7:30pm to 9:30pm - it is far easier to waltz in without a reservation at 6pm and get a table than at 8pm.

Is it because Carnival does have a fair share of families cruising together, and families tend to lean towards earlier dining?

 

Is it because many/most cruisers don't stay up late any more, and want to be tucked into bed by 10pm, after having seen the 8pm show and maybe one nightcap at a bar on the way back to the cabin?

 

Or is it because YTD is the actual preferred dining option?  This hypothesis is for ships that have two MDRs, one dedicated to YTD, the other to the two fixed time seatings:

 

If 50% of the folks want YTD, and the dining room remains "fairly full" the whole night, then if 40% want Early Dining then some of them may be out of luck, since the Dining room may be full with 30% of cruisers seated, so they overflow into Late Dining.

 

Just a few thought experiments on human behavior.

 

What are you thoughts on why the Early Dining time seems to be the most popular fixed-time dining slot?

[xostacylee]

Although it doesn't answer your question, we actually do the Late Dining option - figure it gives us time to get back from excursions, relax for a bit, then get ready for dinner. I'd love to hear more though!

Edited March 1, 2019 by xostacylee

[broberts]

Families with younger children often prefer early dining.

 

Some people find it easier managing medical conditions like diabetes by having an early rather than late dinner. 

 

[levon10]

Totally agree with xostacylee. We also always do late dining for the same reasons. 

[Cruiser_1977]

I agree with @xostacylee I choose late. I dislike feeling rushed to be back on the ship and immediately shower and head to dinner. I like to shower, maybe nap or read at a more leisurely pace. However, I also "dress" for dinner every night. I better not be "rushed" to do anything while on vacation 😉 I also don't care one way or the other about shows and entertainment. If I happen to catch one great, but have yet to set any plans around that type of thing on a cruise ship.

[CheckersMidwest]

We always choose Early Seating. At home, we eat between 6:00 & 7:00 pm. I work until 5:30 then immediately start dinner. We're hungry then and if you get late seating at 8:15, I assume it's after 8:30 when your food arrives. For us, that's too late. Even when we go out to eat, it's around 6:00 or so. The only drawback for the early seating for me, is in order to get showered, hair done, etc and to the dining room by 6:00, we have to be in the shower by 4:45. That makes it tough if we're in port and it cuts the sail away parties short.

[Knights on the Beach]

In all our cruises we only had early dining once, hated it. We attempted to change to late once on the ship but we had a large party (12 I think) and we were told we'd be split up. We chose to keep early so we could all sit together.  Even when our kids were younger, we all preferred the later time.

Edited March 1, 2019 by cruisemom2

[Story2write]

We also agree with xostacylee and others who prefer late dining.  We don't have to rush coming back from an excursion instead relax a bit and unwind from all the fun.   As JennyB1977 stated, "I better not be "rushed" to do anything while on vacation "

 

 

[ABQrobin]

Not us.  We get up by 5am every day at home, can't sleep past 6am on a cruise.  We get up and workout daily, so we are not going to be eating dinner late.  We always do early seating or YTD and go at 6pm, our dinner time at home.  We might grab a snack after a show in the evening, but we aren't eating a full meal that close to bedtime.  I'd be up all night if I did.  

[Garth2]

1 hour ago, levon10 said:

Totally agree with xostacylee. We also always do late dining for the same reasons. 

 

I agree with both of you.  Plus, it can be less crowded and quieter in the MDR.  We also like to sleep in on sea days, which puts us on a late breakfast and lunch schedule.

[BigEasyCC]

25 minutes ago, ABQrobin said:

Not us.  We get up by 5am every day at home, can't sleep past 6am on a cruise.  We get up and workout daily, so we are not going to be eating dinner late.  We always do early seating or YTD and go at 6pm, our dinner time at home.  We might grab a snack after a show in the evening, but we aren't eating a full meal that close to bedtime.  I'd be up all night if I did.  

 

Thank you ABQrobin! I was starting to think we were the only early risers and diners on the ship. Agree with you about a snack after the show in the evening too.

[mntbikejack]

We always do late dining. It just gives us more time in the afternoon / evening to do what we want.

 

[moondog73]

Since the inclusion of YTD dining we always get that now.  Early always made us feel rushed to get back on the ship on port days.  Late was so late it seemed like we missed a lot of activities and were exhausted after eating so late.  YTD allows us to eat when we want.  We don't necessarily need the same wait team.  I wish they had and MDR express option.  2 hours to eat is way to much of a waste of time for us.  We like to eat in the MDR, but they waste too much time between courses.

Edited March 1, 2019 by moondog73

[SandiLynn]

On our first cruise, we book late on the spur of moment .It was my 40th birthday cruise. We had no choice but to do the late dining. I am pre-diabetic and have to be careful about how long I go without eating. I absolutely hated late dining. I would be shaking by the time our food came. At that time I was on very low carb diet. I am now on medication and it helps but I can not wait that long to eat.  

[Mommawo]

But I honestly felt that by selecting the Early Dining it was like I was admitting I was with the early-bird special "older" crowd at Crackerbarrel.

 

 

Hahahaha I suppose I am this person Bwahahahaha. Hubby and I get up early for work therefore are in bed early most nights. Sadly I can say sometimes even as early as 8 pm lol.  We are in our 40’s.  We chose YTD for our cruise in a few days.  It’s our first one so idk but I think we will probably be there as early as possible.  We normally eat at 6ish.  We are not ones for sleeping in too late even on Saturday mornings he is pushing me out of bed to go eat breakfast at our favorite spot.  Can’t imag our schedule changing that much for a week. However we are gonna try tea really hard to stay up and enjoy some shows and the club possibly 

[NCbmwmom]

Early riser here too, however, we have chosen late every cruise. We don’t eat here till after 7pm so that would just be a pita to get ready so early. We stay up till 2 am so we aren’t eating right before bed either. Down by 2, up by 6 even on vacation. 

[AmBear]

2 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

So...there have been a few threads recently (as there always are) about someone not getting the Early Dining slot, and wanting to change to it now, but it is Closed/Full, so they are waitlisted.  They get the usual useful (I assume) suggestion to check with the Maitre D' on embarkation day.  I rarely see anyone asking about switching to the Late Seating.

 

I see that this seems to be the defacto situation: Early Dining usually fills up right away, and many folks have to switch to YTD or might just settle for Late Dining.

 

We have almost always selected the Early seating (we have picked one future cruise with Late Dining), but I always thought that we must be the unusual ones, and wouldn't late dining be preferred by most cruisers?  We pick early because we eat around then at home (somewhere between 6pm to 7pm, i.e. much earlier than the 8:15pm late seating), but also because it just feels like the right time, based on the activities we like to do afterwards - maybe catch a show, but usually just hang out at the Alchemy Bar, or wander the ship.  Timing for pre-dinner drinks well for us too: again, usually the Alchemy Bar for a few, then head to dinner. 

But I honestly felt that by selecting the Early Dining it was like I was admitting I was with the early-bird special "older" crowd at Crackerbarrel.

 

I would have thought the majority of cruisers would want a later dining time, to allow them to catch an early show (assuming they can get from show to MDR in 15 min or so), or linger in the cabin or in the Lido area or in the casino a bit longer after a day in port.  And maybe all those (maybe mostly younger) folks that like to stay up late would shift their time patterns so they sleep in a bit later, have a later lunch, and want a later dinner before hitting the dance-floors.  And having a Guy's Burger around 4pm is a great way to have a nice afternoon snack, and you won't be feeling too full enjoy dinner later on (unlike if you had the 6pm dinner slot - I've made that mistake twice now - I need to remember to hit Guy's at 3pm or earlier). 

 

I live in the Orlando area, and the restaurants in the tourist area (I-Drive) usually gets busiest from 7:30pm to 9:30pm - it is far easier to waltz in without a reservation at 6pm and get a table than at 8pm.

Is it because Carnival does have a fair share of families cruising together, and families tend to lean towards earlier dining?

 

Is it because many/most cruisers don't stay up late any more, and want to be tucked into bed by 10pm, after having seen the 8pm show and maybe one nightcap at a bar on the way back to the cabin?

 

Or is it because YTD is the actual preferred dining option?  This hypothesis is for ships that have two MDRs, one dedicated to YTD, the other to the two fixed time seatings:

 

If 50% of the folks want YTD, and the dining room remains "fairly full" the whole night, then if 40% want Early Dining then some of them may be out of luck, since the Dining room may be full with 30% of cruisers seated, so they overflow into Late Dining.

 

Just a few thought experiments on human behavior.

 

What are you thoughts on why the Early Dining time seems to be the most popular fixed-time dining slot?

Not for us,,,,,its 'my time dining' or we don't go!

[pyropoodle]

We've always had late dining on all of our cruises because before having children, the 6:00 time was just too early to eat.  I don't even get home from work most nights until 7pm, so late dining was a good option for us.  The dining room has never been full, so it's possible more people elect to do early dining.

 

now, (for the last cruise and for our upcoming cruises) we have booked ATD, which works best for us at this time.   I do miss the late seating, but with young kiddos, there's just no way at the moment.  

[Hotdog 52]

We eat around 6pm, go to bed around 1am. We like alot of time between dinner and bed time to help us sleep better.

[originalgeek]

We always select early dining because it's basically the opposite of what we do at home.  I'm 55 and my wife is...ummm...not..but I get home from work late so we don't usually eat before 8:30~9:00.  We live in Longwood but I work near the I-Drive area in Orlando and it just takes a while to get home after work.

For some reason, we just like the early dining and continuity of knowing at 6:00 someone is already making us dinner and we don't have to do squat but show up and eat it.  Then we have time afterwards for whatever entertainment there is - we are used to staying up late so the partying is is easy after the early dining time.

[sanmarcosman]

Simply because humans procreate our species and their young eat earlier than most adults. This is why we choose YTD and go later in the evening.

[asalligo]

No secret to why people flock to early dining. Most people just like to eat earlier. We have come to love YTD, but if it was not available, we would want early seating. We are just usually hungry by 6. We also stay up very late and often find ourselves finding a snack again before bed. 

[ProgRockCruiser]

14 minutes ago, asalligo said:

No secret to why people flock to early dining. Most people just like to eat earlier. We have come to love YTD, but if it was not available, we would want early seating. We are just usually hungry by 6. We also stay up very late and often find ourselves finding a snack again before bed. 

 

Well, in this thread (not a scientific study in any sense!), 9 folks have responded they do late dining, 9 have said Early (including your preference in lieu of YTD, also including me), and a few more have responded YTD.

 

So it appears to be evenly split so far.  Interesting.

 

After our cruise where we booked the Late Dining seating, it will be interesting to see whether we prefer that or are glad to be switching back to Early.

[asalligo]

2 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

 

Well, in this thread (not a scientific study in any sense!), 9 folks have responded they do late dining, 9 have said Early (including your preference in lieu of YTD, also including me), and a few more have responded YTD.

 

So it appears to be evenly split so far.  Interesting.

 

After our cruise where we booked the Late Dining seating, it will be interesting to see whether we prefer that or are glad to be switching back to Early.

 

The numbers are pretty clear on the ships. Lines back into the atrium waiting for the doors open for early seating. A wait list to move from late to early seating on nearly every cruise. Completely full dining rooms at 6pm and quarter empty dining rooms at 8:30. The demographic for cruises is still older and they still like the early bird special. 

[fer]

I am having quite the conundrum over choosing a dining time for our next cruise. We usually do late dining since we are usually cruising to the Caribbean which is ahead a few time zones. But our next cruise is to Alaska which is behind a few time zones. I have been going back and forth about dining times. I know I don't want YTD because we love having the same table, we never have to wait for it, having the same wait staff, and meeting new table mates. So that leaves late or early. Late dining for Alaskan cruises is 7:45 which is 9:45 at home. And I feel like we would be starving and/or too tired to grab a few cocktails, enjoy dinner, and then go to shows afterwards. Early dining is at 5:30 which would be 7:30 at home, which is usually about the time I get home from work. With the exception of 1 port day, we will be back on the ship no later than 1pm and 3pm, so there is no rushing to get ready for dinner and no missing sail away. I feel like early dining is probably the choice for this cruise. But I am still torn.