The best time to have dinner
Mike Savad
is the late seating better then the early?
and besides the time difference, are there any other differences between
the two times? advantages?
---Mike Savad
--
---
Mike's Stained Glass - http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1141/
Dan Bahr
>
>is the late seating better then the early?
>
>and besides the time difference, are there any other differences between
>the two times? advantages?
We always choose the late seating for several reasons. First, we generally
eat dinner late at home. Second, the late seating allows us to spend more time
ashore without rushing to get back to the ship. Third, there are less likely
to be little children in the dining room during the late seating. We don't
miss any shows because each ship generally schedules two shows so that everyone
has an opportunity to attend. The only drawback we have found is that when eat
late we are not hungry for the midnight buffet. ;>)
But does that stop us? Noooooooo!
Laura
Frankly a no brainer for me - my kids would be cranky beast children by late
seating! Also have read that if NOT travelling with children, late seating
is best. No rushing to get ready and just a nice leasurly evening for you
then. Ahhhhh someday!
Laura
"Mike Savad" <esa...@home.net> wrote in message
news:Xns90D2DE6491E...@24.3.128.74...
Mike Savad
news:20010702222023...@ng-cc1.aol.com:
it's required by law to eat everything on a ship...
as far as rushing when your still ashore, doesn't the boat board and leave
before dinner? in our case we'll be on the voyager, and the only late day
is in cozmel.
George in NY
Usually yes but more rushing to be ready for dinner than rushing to ship. If
ship is leaving say 5pm and dinner is at 6:30, though plenty of time you
lose time to relax from scurry about an island in hot weather. With late
seating you can take a shower, lounge around for a while and power nap or
order in some nice tea and cookies, power down a cocktail or two, whatever
floats your ship ;) Most new cruisers initially look at an 8:30 dinner time
and equate it with thier normal hours at home whereas shipboard schedule
will probably be far different for many people.
Early seating with kids works better for families usually. Also for early
risers that like to jog around deck at sunrise and good healthy stuff like
that often hitting the sheets earlier to be ready to jog those miles again
before heat sets in. At home I am generally up by 5 am, on ship never leave
cabin before 11 am most times. That's what room service is for. So I am
never ready for dinner until late.
George in NY
My EXPLORER review is at http://www.bestweb.net/~travel1/
"Mike Savad" <esa...@home.net> wrote in message
news:Xns90D2E382529...@24.3.128.74...
Helen
the second (Dawn Princess) and definitely preferred late. Sitting or
walking around on deck during sailaway was incredibly relaxing. We
also liked getting ready for dinner at a more leisurely pace and the
fact that there are few noisy children at the late seating. Our teen
daughters also liked late seating because they were treated more like
grown-ups!
Whatever seating you choose won't make or break your cruise, just
depends on your preferences.If you don't come rushing back from shore
excursions at the last minute like we do, then early seating may work
fine for you. Happy sailing!
Helen (leaving on our first HAL/first Mediterranean cruise July 20!!!
the anticipation is more than I can bear)
Mike Savad <esa...@home.net> wrote in message news:<Xns90D2DE6491E...@24.3.128.74>...
villa deauville
There are many pros and cons on this subject. We, in the past, have
found late seating works for us. No rushing. Time before dinner for
listening to some music that abound on the ship or a pre dinner
cocktail. We are about to try Personal Choice on our upcoming Golden
Princess cruise in October. Dining room open from 5.00 p.m. to midnight.
SUNNY<..........prefers PC and Freestyle to the rigidness of on-time
dining
Lee Schwartzberg
<esa...@home.net> wrote:
> i've been wondering when is the best time to have dinner?
>
> is the late seating better then the early?
>
> and besides the time difference, are there any other differences between
> the two times? advantages?
>
>
> ---Mike Savad
There are pros and cons to late and early seating, as others have offered.
So, here's my take.
I've done both early and late, and I fell both have their advantages and
disadvantages.
I prefer dining, then theater, then snack rather than theater, dining,
snack option. Often times with late seating, they have the late diners
watch the show before dinner (while the early diners are in the dining
room), and the early diners get to see the later show. If you like going
to the shows, and the late diners are supposed to go to an early show,
then you essentially still have to rush back tot he ship and get ready for
dinner, at pretty much the same time as the early diners. This is not
always the way it's set up, but it has happened at least once on all of
the cruises I've been on. On HAL, the only time we opted for late seating,
we missed a few shows because of this scheduling thing that we really
didn't like.
Since the cruise lines seem to be moving away from the big late night
buffets, my next point is really not as big a deal. But, if you eat at the
late seating and also want to take advantage of the late night buffets,
for me, it wasn't enough time to get over the fullness of dinner, before
it was time to eat again. With early seating, you're done with dinner by
8:00, and then you have approx. 3 hours until the buffet. Plenty of time
for a show, some casino time, a walk on deck. Then, a late night snack
before bed.
There will be more kids at the early seating, however they do try to seat
families with kids with other families with kids. On the three very family
oriented ships that I've been on, where I've opted for early dining, I
don't ever remember hearing or being disturbed by anyone's kids. So, for
me, the kid-no kid issue is a non-issue.
Usually, the ship leaves port at around 5:00 which means you need to be on
board a half hour before then. If early seating is at 6:00 or 6:30, that
will still give you plenty of time for a power nap, shower, and cocktail
before dinner. In some instances, the ship leaves a bit later, which does
interfere with your shore time, if you have early seating. On those
nights, you always have the option of skipping the dining room and going
buffet.
We tend to pick active things to do in port, and really work up an
appetite. So, sometimes waiting until 8:00 or 8:30 is just too long. And,
you don't really want to fill up with snacks before the dining room,
because then you'll miss out on all of the menu goodies. In this case,
we'll usually grab a snack as soon as we get back to the ship, (5:00ish)
and then relax in the cabin (nap, shower, etc) before dinner.
Some folks feel that the early seating diners are rushed through their
meal, so that they have time to get the dining room ready for the next
shift. We've never found this to be the case, happily. Early seating has
been, in our experience, as relaxing and unrushed as late seating.
Menus are identical and waitstaff is the same, so I can't really think of
any specific differences between the two.
You're travelling with a large family group, right? I would think that for
you, the best time to have dinner is when the rest of your group is having
dinner.
Lee
Randall Krakauer
the same thing!
Basically, the early sitting gives you a longer evening and a midnite snack
while the late sitting gives you a longer afternoon, which on our last cruise
(European, port intensive, aerobic sight-seeing) we used for napping.
Mike Savad
news:lee-030701...@whitefish.campmor.com:
we'll have 12 to the party, so we'll have our table/tables. the group (or
atleast one person in the group), wanted the late seating; mostly because
that's what the agent said.
we had to fight for the early. we wanted it early, because late eatings
messes up our system too much. plus it's a little more relaxing to
digest/explode, while watching a show or something.
plus i'd (hopefully), be able to catch a sunset or two. the late seating
may not let me do that.
thanks
Marsha L
If you really want to watch the sunset... I don't know if early seating
would work.... I think you'd be eating then.
My first cruise I was presented with the choice of "main" or "late" and I
went with main. On subsequent trips, I opted for late.
I like relaxing by the pool while the early seating folks are reading for
dinner... enjoy quiet time in my cabin before my own ablutions. It's a good
thing to not have an appetite for the late buffet<G>, and that might not be
the case if I were to have eaten early.
As for shows, the main ones on most cruises are run twice, to accommodate
both seatings.
Marsha
"Mike Savad" <esa...@home.net> wrote in message
news:Xns90D3BD09F7B...@24.3.128.74...
Len C.
the main or earlier seating and then like to enjoy a nice after dinner
cocktail out on deck watching the sunset. It's strictly a personal
preference in my opinion. Also if you want to participate in one of the
midnight buffet extravaganzas you will have more of an appetite if you
eat dinner earlier!
Len... :-)
Mike Savad
294.iap.bryant.webtv.net:
that's what i've always figured, more room for more food..
i've always wanted sunset pictures. but from where i live, all you see is
trees and more houses. powerlines don't look good in a picture, even if i
can edit them out.... :ΕΎ
Carole Dunham
my shoes. Fortunately my daughter and my cruising buddy both like early
seating as well. I started cruising in 1959 a d never once have I ever
encountered bratty children in the dining room, lucky me. I have definitely
encountered bratty adults howeve, especially the tableful of drunks who
started singing very badly when we wereabout 1/3 through dinner. They were
all very quiet the next night though.
Carole
cruz...@cruisemstes.com
"Dennis M. Marks" <denm...@dcsi.net> wrote in message
news:030720011540377820%denm...@dcsi.net...
> Carnival now has 4 seatings. One dining room is 5:45 and 8:00 and the
> other is 6:30 and 8:45.
>
> In article <Xns90D2DE6491E...@24.3.128.74>, Mike Savad
> <esa...@home.net> wrote:
>
> > i've been wondering when is the best time to have dinner?
> >
> > is the late seating better then the early?
> >
> > and besides the time difference, are there any other differences between
> > the two times? advantages?
> >
> >
> > ---Mike Savad
>
> --
> Dennis M. Marks
> mailto:denm...@dcsi.net
> http://www.dcs-chico.com/~denmarks
Diane
So, you eat in 15 minutes or less, do you? If you eat at 6 or 6:15,
sunsets in the winter in the Caribbean are between 6 and 7 pm.
Diane
Donnassei
My vote is with early, more time after dinner for all the fun night time
activities, shows, casino, etc. At least it works for us, really don't care to
be eating at 9PM, but thats just us. So far, have never had a problem getting
back and dressed in time for dinner.
Donna
Tuesday Chat Host
www.cruisemates.com
jec...@webtv.net
like waiting in lines or crowds, this is not the place to be! On the
Century, we had to wait in line for a long time before we were let into
the buffet area.....only to find out the line was for admiring the food
and picture taking. We then had to get in line AGAIN for "the real
thing"!! I think we all felt like a herd of cattle.....I even heard a
guy "mooing"! Heaven forbid you set your fork down for a drink!!!! They
will whisk your food away right from under your face!!! Although the
presentation was nice, I hardly felt it was worth the time we spent in
line (twice) for, OTOH....I guess everyone needs to experience the
midnight buffet at least once!!!
Mike Savad
267.iap.bryant.webtv.net:
i'll be doing it, mostly to get everything i can out of the trip. buffet
lines i'm used to...
Linda Marie Greenburg
shows, piano bar, karaoke, etc, and working up an appetite for a
late-night snack in the process. :-D
jec...@webtv.net
about teasing hungry people!!! (Early dinner seating)
Larry Stone
early was 5:45, late was 8:00 (plus Personal Choice in the other dining
room). And we were travelling with our 7 year old son.
A couple of the nights, the late dinner show was before dinner but that
meant 7:00 or 7:15 still giving you and extra hour plus over the 5:45
early seating. Two evenings, we took our son to the Horizon Court for
dinner so he could go to the Fun Zone (children's program) in the
evening with us eating alone in the dining room. Also, two of the port
days were 7:30 departutes. The only night that things really didn't work
was the second formal night due to the Captain's Circle party being 5:00
to 5:45 leaving us with over 2 hours to then kill.
As for making it to dinner, that's what the afternoon tea is for! :-)
Also, regarding sunsets, by the end of the cruise (Seward), even late
dinner was over long before sunset!
--
Larry Stone
la...@stonejongleux.com
http://www.stonejongleux.com/
William Coleman
the buffet.
Bill
<jec...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:609-3B4...@storefull-265.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
Katrina
The food is exactly the same... but at the late seating there is a chance of
them running out of something.
The second seatin on our ship was at 9pm... by the time you get out of there
it is 10:30 usually... You just do not enjoy the midnight buffets so soon
after eating!
I would suggest the early one of possible!
Katt
"Mike Savad" <esa...@home.net> wrote in message
news:Xns90D2DE6491E...@24.3.128.74...
Mike Savad
news:0bg47.243624$WB1.36...@typhoon.tampabay.rr.com:
these were my some of my thoughts. my grandmother stuck us in the late
seating. and we told her to bring it down. dunno if she did it or not. in
either case our family will be at the early seating, regardless...
thanks