Which seating would you choose and why?

[afranco21]

Which seating would you choose and why?

[Honey's Gal]

If you mean dinner, we always choose Main. We did have late once, and never will again. I just cannot eat that late. 6PM is fine for us, we eat dinner, a little casino, the show, and then if we aren't tired we can do whatever. With late seating, we were always waiting around. I am not a napper, so we just got ready and left the cabin and either went to the casino or tried the show. By then too tired to eat. Maybe because we aren't 30 or 40 anymore!!!

 

Many people love late seating but way too late for me.....

[gooselover]

MAIN! My first cruise we had late seating. By the time dinner was done, it was 9:30pm. I was so full and sleepy that I couldn't stay up and went almost directly to bed! I missed so much!

 

Never again - Main seating and nothing but!!!!

[Cruz4Days]

I don't like either seatings. One is too early and the other is too late. I usually choose the early and will eat in the dining room on the first night and will then do the specialty restaurants or the Windjammer on the other nights.

[Sue L]

We like late because you don't have to rush back from the ports to get ready. We usually come back to the ship grab a snack because we don't usually eat on the islands, take a nap and get ready for dinner. We love to sit in one of the bars before dinner and people watch or just relax on the balcony.

[dougp26364]

We prefer main seating. It leaves the rest of the evening open for relaxing around the ship.

 

But, we typically don't spend the entire day on shore so we're not exhausted and in need of a nap before dinner. Despite the fact we're night shift workers, on vacation, we're not night owls and prefer not to go to bed on a full stomach.

 

If we are in port late, we've cruised enough that we don't feel that we must dine in the main dining room. We've learned to relax and take a meal at one of the alternative venues be it the Windjammer, Seaview Cafe (on Radiance class ships only) or one of the specialty restaurants that has an additional charge. For us, cruising is all about relaxing and seeing the sites. Main seating just works out better for us. But that's just a personal choice.

[48is24is1]

We always go with late. It gives us enough time to get back from the ports-of-call and ready for dinner.

[TEXASMUNK]

#1 Less kids

#2 More liesurely meal, no rush for next seating

#3 Get to see same shows, miss nothing

#4 Wife can hit beauty parlor after a day ashore and be ready for dinner, no rushing

#5 Nap, if so inclined

#6 Casino time for me while wife is getting ready

#7 After dinner, crowds clear out...early to bed folks...easy to get seating in any venue....

[samtig]

Late seating for sure. We like to relax after an afternoon at the pool or on port days & not have to rush to get dressed for dinner.

[rharvey999]

I appreciate the comments as well. Our next trip will be our first with late seating. Wife's class reunion, so we are taking a stab at it. We have always done Main seating in the past, but hey, its a vacation and we can afford the gamble...lol. I especially like the comments of coming back from the islands and not have to rush to get ready. Plus the first formal night we give me an opportunity to let the sun burn settle down a bit before putting on the duds.

[BillOh]

I appreciate the comments as well. Our next trip will be our first with late seating. Wife's class reunion, so we are taking a stab at it. We have always done Main seating in the past, but hey, its a vacation and we can afford the gamble...lol. I especially like the comments of coming back from the islands and not have to rush to get ready. Plus the first formal night we give me an opportunity to let the sun burn settle down a bit before putting on the duds.

 

As some on else mentioned, the later seating is not rushed. If your traveling with a large group, as you seem to be, that relaxed after dinner conversations are fun. We had nice couples at our table and it was really enjoyable to leisurely finish our desserts and conversations. We are up every night to at least midnight anyway.

[Blue Waters]

Late seating is great if you would like to enjoy the pool areas when they are not crowded. We avoid the pool areas during the day and instead go around 3:00 or 4:00 when everyone else leaves. We are able to stay there until 7:30 and relax before dinner.

[above sea level cruiser]

And...you won't miss sail away on your first day! I have often seen people in a hurry to get to main seating right after sail away. - Not for me - We prefer to relax and not be rushed.

[whitsmom]

If you mean dinner' date=' we always choose Main. We did have late once, and never will again. I just cannot eat that late. 6PM is fine for us, we eat dinner, a little casino, the show, and then if we aren't tired we can do whatever. With late seating, we were always waiting around. I am not a napper, so we just got ready and left the cabin and either went to the casino or tried the show. By then too tired to eat. Maybe because we aren't 30 or 40 anymore!!!

 

Many people love late seating but way too late for me.....[/quote']

 

We feel the same way too, only we are late 40's. We like to get up early and don't like to go to bed on a full tummy.

[critterchick]

And...you won't miss sail away on your first day! I have often seen people in a hurry to get to main seating right after sail away. - Not for me - We prefer to relax and not be rushed.

 

Well, we missed sailaway two weeks ago because we departed at 8:45 instead of the scheduled 5:00.

 

We like late seating because we rarely eat dinner before 8:00 at home, so 6:00 is just too early, especially if we're on eastern or central time. 8:30 is a little late, especially if you have tablemates who think that means 9:00 is just fine, but it suits us a little better.

 

I agree with cruz4days - I don't really like either choice. Late is just the lesser of two inconveniences.

[mrdiv]

Main....because I get too hungry and can't wait until the other seating LOL

[texancruzer]

We choose early...... just seems to feel like the right order.....

 

dinner

walk a bit

show

walk a bit

casino

maybe a drink at one of the lounges -or-

maybe a drink on our balcony

SLEEP

 

to go to the show before dinner feels out of order..... weird huh ?

I agree with other posters also regarding being too full too late.

[cb at sea]

We always do late, mainly because that's closest to our dinner time at home! Plus there's the added benefit of less children!!!! I prefer to drink prior to eating--after dinner, we really don't drink at all, so it works out great for us. Laze in the sun all day, get dressed, have a few drinks and catch a good buzz, eat a good meal, maybe gamble for a bit, then hit the hay! Works for us!

[spotcat]

We cruised with ten of our friends and all agreed on main seating. We had so much fun after dinner! There is quite a bit going on in the evening. You can go to a show, listen to music, go to the casino, whatever. We thought that we would be interested in the nightlife and didn't want to stop for dinner.

 

We are all in our fifties and thought that we would be too tired to eat late. Wrong! We were out late every night. We still agreed that the main seating works best for our group.

[TXRed]

Which seating would you choose and why?

 

We always chose late.

1. we don't have to rush back when we are in port.

2. early is too early for us, late is closer to our nornal dinner time.

3. less children to deal with..not that we don't like children, we just prefer to dine with as few as possible:rolleyes:

4. we don't feel rushed to get out for the next seating

5. our favorite time to stroll the decks is after dinner. Works for us because if there's a show we wanted to see..we have already seen it.

6. love to people watch after dinner....they often get funnier the later it gets;)

[dougp26364]

Just a comment on late seating and shows. Last cruise to Alaska, we did late seating because we were with friends who had never been and wanted to spend as much time in port as possible. There was a couple of times we had to leave shows/events early because they were running over into the late seating time. This was the scheduled shows for late seating guests. So it is possible for show times and meal times to make rushed.

 

It's really just whatever works out for you on a personal basis.

[vator90]

We choose main so our kids can get off to adventure ocean and we can have a bit more adult time. One thing that kind of gets to me is how people mention " less kids" at the late seating. Not everyones children are misbehaving ruffians, some are more well mannered than the full price paying adults.If they arent misbehaving or being noisy, then why would they figure into the equation? There are plenty of other reasons to eat when and where you want without making children an issue.

[texancruzer]

We choose main so our kids can get off to adventure ocean and we can have a bit more adult time. One thing that kind of gets to me is how people mention " less kids" at the late seating. Not everyones children are misbehaving ruffians, some are more well mannered than the full price paying adults.There are plenty of other reasons to eat when and where you want without making children an issue.

 

WOW I don't normally respond to a post like this.... but gee nobody said anything about children misbehaving or being ruffians..... just that they preferred less kids around..... just like you do when you want your "adult time" while the kids are at AO......