Why is Early Dining the preferred time slot?

[sanmarcosman]

2 hours ago, asalligo said:

 

The demographic for cruises is still older and they still like the early bird special. 

After all the state bird of Florida is the Early Bird and most Carnival cruises sail from there.

[GradUT]

We were on the Pride last fall, dining late as we always do.  The Maitre D’, Ken, stopped by our table to chat one night and mentioned that half as many people had opted for Late Dining as opposed to Early Dining, so our waitstaff had more time to devote to us.  Plus, we were able to get a table in a primo location next to a window. 

[wardamnweagle]

41 minutes ago, GradUT said:

We were on the Pride last fall, dining late as we always do.  The Maitre D’, Ken, stopped by our table to chat one night and mentioned that half as many people had opted for Late Dining as opposed to Early Dining, so our waitstaff had more time to devote to us.  Plus, we were able to get a table in a primo location next to a window. 

 

This is my plan. I’m taking my in-laws on their first cruise. I knew from research that early fills up. I figured we will get better service at the late seating, which will help their cruise experience. Wife and I are also early risers (out the door by 6 every day). On vacation or weekends, I’m still the early riser, while she sleeps til 9-10. I figured brunch, late lunch, nap, and then dinner. Also, plan on taking full advantage of port days and don’t want to get back on and be rushed for dinner. We can get ready and open a bottle of wine as we watch sail away. 

[Mommawo]

5 hours ago, NCbmwmom said:

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. 

I would be such a ***** lol gotta have my sleep. Well more of one anyways 

[sanger727]

My preference is YTD; though I typically eat by 6:30 so if I couldn’t get that I would definitely want early. I’m actually the opposite. I work the evening shift so typically have dinner around 8 and go to bed around 12 during the work week. I much much much prefer to be in bed by 10 so on weekends and vacations I really enjoy getting to bed early and rising early. Going to bed early is a guilty vacation pleasure for me (and dining early just goes hand in hand with that); sure some feel the same about staying up late and leisurely sleeping in. For me personally, sleeping in holds no pleasure and I just feel like I wasted half my day.

Edited March 2, 2019 by sanger727

[monykalyn]

Only one cruise experience so far (Oct 17)-all adult group, we were early dining.  Did work for us as we would hit piano bar or club after, snack later (pizza!) and sleep in, and that is what travel agent booked for us. Upcoming cruise (yep-hooked that easily-is it normal to start having 2 cruises planned out at a time??) that is just our family with teens I chose YTD as I just don't know what the kids will want. I have a feeling the snack options by pool (Guys burgers, Iguana etc) may kill hunger pains til late. Of course my almost 13 year old son can pretty much eat nonstop while awake and still complain he's hungry 🤣. I'm feeling a little at loose ends though with not having a set dining time and not much experience! 

[Butterbean1000]

We chose YTD.  Early seating is just too early and late seating is just too late.  We like to eat around 6:30ish.

[lennythenose]

Late seating matches when we eat at home but when our kids started going to the teen club they would miss evening activities there or have to leave dinner early so it’s early dining for us now. I do feel rushed on some port days but we do enjoy going to shows and grabbing a late night snack.  We had YTD once on a last minute cruise and even our kids asked to go to any set dining even if only late was available. YTD is just not for us. 

Edited March 2, 2019 by lennythenose

[mikayla73]

We prefer early, even though we stay up later. Getting finished with dinner 9:30p - 10p is too late for us. Ideally I'd like 6:30p , maybe 7p for dinner, but I like just going to my table when it's time for dinner and not dealing with the YTD process. So early seating for us.

[nbrgirl]

We have done all 3. Our first cruise was late dining and we hated it. For health reasons I can't eat a big meal close to bedtime. So now we do early or YTD. Our next cruise has some later port times so we went with YTD. 

[CheckersMidwest]

I am in my late forties. (ahem, clears throat) but we ate earlier even when I was in my 20's. Our age doesn't have anything to do with our time preference. Agree it is interesting to read the 'whys' everyone has.

[Vacationdreamer<><]

7 hours 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.  

 

This is us. While I do agree getting ready for the early dinner puts a time crunch post-port, as early risers an 8PM dinner seems oppressively late. 

[Vacationdreamer<><]

1 hour ago, Butterbean1000 said:

We chose YTD.  Early seating is just too early and late seating is just too late.  We like to eat around 6:30ish.

 

I like having the same servers, but I would prefer 6PM

[Butterbean1000]

17 minutes ago, Vacationdreamer<>< said:

 

I like having the same servers, but I would prefer 6PM

On one of our cruises, we asked for and got the same servers all 7 nights.  We got to sit at the same table also.  We were a party of 6.

[moongal]

On my first cruise we did the late dining, and it was ok, no problem, but then after that we chose YTD and i will never go back to an assigned dining time.  I like being able to be free while on vacation.  We have to be on schedules for school and work and on vacation I just love having NO SCHEDULE at all!!  So we always choose YTD and that way we can eat whenever we feel like it within the time allotted.   It is so important to me, that I have canceled bookings and refrained from booking if the YTD was not available.  I didn't want to have to fuss with going to a maitre de on embarking, and worrying that our request wouldn't get granted, so for my money, I want to eat when I want... so no YTD,  no cruise.

[FSHLOT]

Early dinner for us too. Mainly because we love MDR dining and we cant get there fast enough. We also aren't late night party people, so early is fine with us.Plus, we are usually with a group of 10 or more and most opt for early dining. The only time we take late seating is when we go to Bermuda, The long days there means we dont get back to the ship till later on in the day. So i guess it depends on the itinerary.

[Fla Mike]

11 hours ago, sanmarcosman said:

After all the state bird of Florida is the Early Bird and most Carnival cruises sail from there.

 

14 hours ago, asalligo said:

 

 The demographic for cruises is still older and they still like the early bird special. 

 

 

We fit the older Florida demo, I'm 63 and DW is 71.

We always pick late seating, have been since we started cruising in the 1980's

 

Our dinner time at home is always around 8 PM, so it makes sense.

At home, our "Early Bird" is "Happy Hour", cocktails until about 6, then we watch the news and catch up on emails.

Cruising, we find a nice location and do "Happy Hour" until about 6-7 then go shower up, get dressed, (yes I'm the guy everyone is looking at in the Tux) and head to dinner.

 

We like the long drawn out dinner that late offers, if we stay until after 10 PM, so be it.

We also love big tables and conversation.

 

A stroll on deck and a nightcap on the balcony and all is good with the world.

 

I have noticed that late seating is not filling up anymore, there are alot of empty tables, as opposed to past years, and, at least for me, the crowd at late seems older. Maybe they are just sitting us with older folks.

 

My guess is that early seating is popular for families, and also people want to get up, out and do things. See the shows, party, gamble, not hang around at the dinner table all night.

[purplephenom]

Late seating for us as well. Just 2 of us in our 30s. We like taking advantage of port days, doing an excursion and then wandering around and returning to the ship for lunch. So it’s usually 2:30-3:00 before we even eat lunch. Then eating early would be too early, and we like having a set time so we don’t end up debating when to go eat (yes that happens at home). We prefer a table for 2, so we’re udually done by 9:15 and have time to go to the piano bar after dinner. 

[13cheermom]

So YTD is our favorite based on several items others have stated.  The flexibility depending on port times and not rushing to get back on ship and get ready is very important to us.  Also you can request to sit at the same section every night and have same servers if you like.  Sometimes it also allows you to change up and meet different servers and their teams too.  We've also requested to sit different areas of the dining room (left, right, rear, etc.) and they've always been accommodating in the past.  We also sometimes decide to skip the main dining room for dinner and just go to the lido instead, and with YTD we're not holding anyone else up waiting at the table.  It works best for us and we will probably always stick with YTD as long as it's available.  It's interesting to read others opinions on subjects like these to get a different perspective.

[Joebucks]

Never would I even consider anything other than early. I don't get how it's "rushing" things, other than I have lots to do, requiring the early dining. How often are we back from the ports (if it's even a port day) later than 5? In my last 10 ports, it was 1 time, maybe. Normally we are back 4-430. As much as I don't want to waste the day with a nap, we actually still have a little time to relax, shower, and be ready for dinner. Then 6 comes, we are hungry. There is no wait for a table. We have the same team waiting for us. The only rushing I'm ever doing is if there is an event at 7 or 7:30. Eating my meal at 9 pm is a definite loss of some activity on the boat, not to mention not the time I want to eat such a big meal. 

[OkieRican]

Our first cruise we did early dining. We had our kids with us at the time. Once or twice we were just not hungry because on vacation we eat what we wanted, when we wanted. Not to mention, we had to hurry back to the ship to get ready for dinner. This time, we are going without kids and are doing YTD. We shall see how it goes. 

[AmBear]

15 hours ago, fer said:

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. 

Why have someone else tell you when to dine? Be an adult(joking), go with 'my time', 'any time', whatever they call it, and EAT WHEN YOU WANT!!!-))

[slyman17]

We only do early dining now. On our first cruise we thought it would be a good idea to eat late to give us time to get back from excursions and afternoon activities. However, we realized that by the time we got done with dinner (9:30 - 10:00), we were so full and tired that we didn't really get to enjoy the night life like we wanted to. Just my opinion. Have fun!!

[Knights on the Beach]

On 3/1/2019 at 1:02 PM, ProgRockCruiser said:

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.

 

I missed this when I first read your post.  We lived in Orlando almost all our lives until we moved to the beach in 2017.  We get up at 5:20 Monday - Friday and drive from Cape Canaveral to Orlando for work.  On weekends we get up early because sunrises are one of the best things about living on the beach.  We actually have YTD on our Hawaii cruise next year and I think that will be the best of both worlds - we can go when it suits us, not too early and not too late. 

[Mommawo]

6 hours ago, cruisemom2 said:

 

I missed this when I first read your post.  We lived in Orlando almost all our lives until we moved to the beach in 2017.  We get up at 5:20 Monday - Friday and drive from Cape Canaveral to Orlando for work.  On weekends we get up early because sunrises are one of the best things about living on the beach.  We actually have YTD on our Hawaii cruise next year and I think that will be the best of both worlds - we can go when it suits us, not too early and not too late. 

My gosh I love the beach so jealous