Why is Early Dining the preferred time slot?

[tidecat]

I had booked fairly early for my recent cruise on the Triumph, but wound up with YTD instead of early dining. It actually worked out well; the first day sailway wasn’t until 5:30, so I ate dinner around 7:15. The second day I didn’t feel great and ate dinner around 7:15 again. The last two days I actually went to dinner a few minutes after 6:00 PM - and even made it all the way through dinner in 45 minutes one night.

[GUT2407]

We’ve converted to my/any time, but if not prefer late. We eat early at home, but generally don’t get lunch, or if so it’s on the run, on a cruise there are so many options we rarely miss lunch or if we do might grab afternoon tea, so late suits fine.

 

[SRQbeachgirl]

We prefer YTD and on our last 2 cruises were able to get the same table (by a window) and same wait staff every night, but it doesn't bother us to get different wait staff. Some nights we would be at the dining room as soon as it opened, but other nights we got there about 6:30 - 7pm, depending on when we got back on the ship. We prefer to dine with just our family, so a set dining time with tablemates is not important to us.  

[MicCanberra]

We always went for late dining, until we did a NCL cruise in 2010 where they have freestyle, there was no fixed seatings and people were free to eat at any number of the restaurants at whatever time they liked (seating being available that is) or after a slight wait. Since then we have chosen to go Anytime, Mytime, Select Dining or whatever the particular cruise line calls it.

[Katie52]

When we cruise with friends who prefer late dining, I am always so tired after dinner that I go straight from the MDR to our cabin so I can go to sleep.  So our preference is early dining.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We much prefer late dining--actually we do Anytime dining--because we don't like feeling rushed to get ready by 6 or even earlier.  Plus, we are nightowls, don't eat early at home, and like to relax a bit before dinner, especially on long port days.

 

We just adjust our dinner time according to what we are doing that night--8 PM is good for us, but we often go later.  Dining rooms are less full, which is a plus.

 

I must admit that this often means we have a 'mini-meal' late afternoon, which adds more calories!  I'd think if health conditions, like diabetes, is an issue, eating a small meal late in the afternoon would help with that.

 

But, to each their own; do what works for you and your life style.

[Vacationdreamer<><]

Reflecting on this some more - when we did DCL we did do later dining and loved it. 

We saw the early show and then went to our dinners.  It was great because they were still wide awake for the shows and then even though they'd start to drag during dinner, the dinners were entertaining enough to keep them going.  Except for one sleepy parrot on Pirate Night.

[Vacationdreamer<><]

On ‎3‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 10:54 PM, Butterbean1000 said:

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.

 

Did you have reservations each night?  This sounds like a good idea for a mid-evening option.

[marco]

We also prefer the late seating.  We've not been on Princess for over a year now, but I hear now on Princess early seating is 5:30.......WAY to early for us!

[Butterbean1000]

Not really. We asked the waiter how we could have him every night and he said just ask for him when we got to the dinning room.  I don't know if he "reserved" our table for us or not, but it worked out great for us.

[Hlitner]

When we started cruising in the 70s, the late seating (there was no open dining on the mass market lines in those days) was the most popular.   Night life on ships went until after midnight with lavish midnight buffets, late night shows, etc.  But over the years the trend has reversed to where now a majority of cruisers prefer early dining.  On some ships it becomes almost silly with folks queuing-up before 5pm....to get into MDRs...even when they have a fixed assigned table.  And it is not just on ships.  Spend some time in Florida and you will see hoards flocking to "early birds" as early as 4pm..

 

DW and I are somewhat contrarian because we still prefer dining after sunset :).  Even at home we seldom sit down to dinner before 7:30 and on cruises our norm is later then 7:45 with open dining being our choice.  Because a majority on most cruises are doing an early dining schedule, the later diners face less lines, less crowding at the shows, etc.   But late dining does mean missing out on some evening activities (most of which we detest).   On some cruises (especially with HAL) the ships start feeling like morgues by 10pm.

 

It is all different if you are on a cruise with a lot of Europeans and/or South Americans.  Late dining and staying up after 10 are the norm.  Go on MSC (which still attracts a majority of Europeans) and you will find some of the various bands/singers do not even start to work until around 9:30 :).  Nothing surprising as you can vacation in parts of Europe (especially Spain) where restaurants do not even open until 7 or even later.  One restaurant we have enjoyed in Spain does not generally have any dinner customers until 9pm (and they are the early diners).

 

Hank 

[Knights on the Beach]

17 hours ago, Mommawo said:

My gosh I love the beach so jealous 

 

We had the most amazing sunrise this morning!

 

 

[lenquixote66]

On March 1, 2019 at 1:02 PM, 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?

At home I eat dinner at 4:30 PM and if I go out to dinner,usually no later than 6. On every cruise except my last one I booked early dinner. On my last cruise we were invited by a couple who we met on a previous cruise to join them at 8 for dinner.

I found that I actually liked that time and will be dining at 8 on one of my cruises this year.

[feathersandnananose]

OK, we're weird late diners.  I am usually awake by 5 am, hubby by 6:30..... and our at-home dinner is around 6 pm.  On a ship, we still get up early.....but the breakfast is much heartier than the one at home, lunch is a bit later, and there's always a snack in the afternoon.  Followed by Happy Hour (which might have appetizers) and/or some live classical music (Adagio in the past, probably Lincoln Center Stage next trip).   So we do late.  I admit sometimes the seating is sparse (we've been the only two on a table for six, for example....).  But I really like having the same servers who learn our preferences, the wine steward who always has my wine ready at my elbow, etc....... I want to be indulged.

 

[MicCanberra]

I like to eat when I am hungry, hence the ATD, Mytime or Select dining is best.

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 3/1/2019 at 11:02 AM, ProgRockCruiser said:

.

 

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

My guess is that it is that more people like to eat earlier than like to eat later.

[MicCanberra]

Perhaps people like to eat at a similar time as to when at home and then have time ( 3 or 4 hours) for their dinner to be digested before laying down for the night.

[evandbob]

19 hours ago, cruisemom2 said:

 

We had the most amazing sunrise this morning!

 

 

Thanks for the picture, wonderful.  I've never seen a sunrise while on a cruise and I've been on over 50.  Can't stay up that late anymore, lol.  1 AM seems to be my limit.

 

As for the OP's question, I've never done early dining, so it's not my preferred time.  Either late 8 to 8:30 set time or ATD or specialty restaurants about the same.  Few  families, less crowded, better service, just seems to work with our preferences.

 

There is no right or wrong time to have dinner, do what ever works best for you and your stomach.

[SheriAZ]

Early for me, I dont sleep well  if I have a late dinner. At home we often skip lunch so eat early.

[MicCanberra]

5 hours ago, evandbob said:

Thanks for the picture, wonderful.  I've never seen a sunrise while on a cruise and I've been on over 50.  Can't stay up that late anymore, lol.  1 AM seems to be my limit.

 

You do not have to stay up late or all night, just get up early.

[sailing canary]

On 3/4/2019 at 2:42 PM, lenquixote66 said:

At home I eat dinner at 4:30 PM and if I go out to dinner,usually no later than 6. On every cruise except my last one I booked early dinner. On my last cruise we were invited by a couple who we met on a previous cruise to join them at 8 for dinner.

I found that I actually liked that time and will be dining at 8 on one of my cruises this year.

Just as well you're not on a land trip to Spain! You'd just be finishing lunch at 16.30! We once went into a restaurant in Spain at 21.30 and there was no-one there.

Although I do this this thread is largely aimed at/answered by North Americans. As Hank said, no Europeans would eat that early as most people don't finish work till much later.

[evandbob]

16 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

You do not have to stay up late or all night, just get up early.

  Ummm, nope.  That doesn't work at all for us.  Thanks anyway.

Edited March 5, 2019 by evandbob

[Mommawo]

17 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

You do not have to stay up late or all night, just get up early.

 

22 hours ago, evandbob said:

Thanks for the picture, wonderful.  I've never seen a sunrise while on a cruise and I've been on over 50.  Can't stay up that late anymore, lol.  1 AM seems to be my limit.

 

As for the OP's question, I've never done early dining, so it's not my preferred time.  Either late 8 to 8:30 set time or ATD or specialty restaurants about the same.  Few  families, less crowded, better service, just seems to work with our preferences.

 

There is no right or wrong time to have dinner, do what ever works best for you and your stomach.

Wow 1 am???  Don’t think I could make it til then lol 11 is probably this old woman’s limi

[kochleffel]

For me, early is too early and late is too late - I don't sleep well if dinner is that late. I'm just back from a cruise where friends wanted to eat early because of going to 7:00 p.m. shows, and I didn't like it -- with seating at 5:30, they still had to ask for expedited service and I felt rushed. (When there's a choice, I go to late shows.)

 

I think that a fairly high percentage of people in the U.S. and Canada eat early at home, around 6:00, especially if they have children, but this is probably changing because of work schedules and long commutes.

 

I have a cruise coming up where flexible times were not available when I booked, but I will probably try to change it.

Edited March 5, 2019 by kochleffel

[Warm Breezes]

I personally prefer Anytime.  Then we can go when we can go on our schedule....which can easily vary day by day.