Main Dining vs Late Dining. We need help

[chrismiss56]

Hi

My husband and I are sailing the Fantasy for 11 nights in June. We are in our 60s and traveling alone.

Can't make up our minds between early and late sitting. If we take the early sitting we get to watch the shows after but then what....... are there late night activities?

If we take the late dinner seating then we see the shows first. Is there a disadvantage?

Welcommg any and all opinions

Thank you!!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi

My husband and I are sailing the Fantasy for 11 nights in June. We are in our 60s and traveling alone.

Can't make up our minds between early and late sitting. If we take the early sitting we get to watch the shows after but then what....... are there late night activities?

If we take the late dinner seating then we see the shows first. Is there a disadvantage?

Welcommg any and all opinions

Thank you!!

No advantage/disadvantage to either way. Mostly depends on whether you want to eat early or late. Late dining you're eating around 9:00, early dining you're eating around 5:45-6:00.

For the most part, there's not a whole lot going on after the late dinner/show is over (after, say 10:30ish), but some of the lounges are still a little active.

You can look up past Navigators here: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators/ and get an idea of what sorts of activities are available and hours that things are open.

We're on that same cruise.

 

[Disneyteachers]

I'd vote late. We liked the show first. We did, however, mags the mistake of thinking 3 7yos would also like it. Not! The only thing I would say is if you aren't night ppl (I'm not) you're going to to bed on a full (very full some nights) stomach.

 

[anna08]

Remember you can do sit down dinner in Cabana's on any night except the first and last nights. We opt for late dining as we tend to do excursions that get us back to the ship around 4pm and it's a bummer to have to rush to get ready for early dinner. We like to sit by the pool, get a drink and watch the sun set before dinner. Not well known, but Cove Cafe will fill it's dessert case with savory snacks at 6p (olives, cheese, proscuitto) so if you need a little something to tide you over, just help yourself in there. We liked to make a small plate and take it and a glass of wine up to the top deck and watch the sun set. Just depends on your mindset. MDRs are not stuffed with people in late dining either.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The only thing I would say is if you aren't night ppl (I'm not) you're going to to bed on a full (very full some nights) stomach.

Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. We're not late night people, either. And the few times we've done late dining, it's been rough on my tummy.

 

[cmph]

We did late seating on the Wonder and felt like there was stuff to do afterward. Some of the performers had adults-only shows. John Charles had a late show that my parents went to, which lasted until something like 1am. I got the impression the crowd was really engaged, and he kept taking requests beyond his typical end-time; my parents love him and thought that was his best show. (DH and I didn't go, I think we had an early port morning.) They have the adults-only couples sort of game show things then too, plus lounge singers. Unless you're particular about what sort of entertainment you want - I think you'll find stuff to do. It's sort of counter intuitive, but my parents were a little surprised they stayed up as late as they did, most nights - b/c on other cruise lines, they haven't necessarily done that. The key being a lot of the entertainment is not to my mom's conservative taste for adults' only shows on other lines, but DCL's version of adults' only is pretty tame. Oh, and I think some of the alcohol tastings are late, or at least the bourbon one was for DH (something like 10:30).

I think you'll be happiest with late dining if you're late risers, so that's pretty key.

 

[oakleycat]

We look ve late dining because we prefer to have more time in the afternoon for activities. It's much less crowded around the ship while everyone's at early dining. Plus more relaxed with less kids (including our own) because kids club picks them up halfway through!

 

[Bsmitty]

We had late dining on ours & I really worried about it. We ended up loving it & dont think we'll ever do early dining. I remember being relieved there was no rush getting ready. There was plenty of time in between the early show & getting ready for late dinner. Then we were out late enough after late dinner that my daughter ordered a small room service snack every night.

We are also from the west coast...which makes a huge difference, imo, because to our body's... early dinner would theoretically be at 2:45/3:45 PST, depending on what port we were in. So late dining felt perfect to our internal clock, if you will. We loved late dining for these reasons.