Dining Early or Late - Which Do You Prefer & Why?

[Married2Grumpy]

We have always done early seating but last cruise tried late. I liked late because it gave me more time during the day to eat and not feel full for dinner plus more time in the sun. Our cruise mates prefer early because it gives them more "evening time". Curious to see what others like about their preferred time.

[Ditchdoc]

We traditionally eat about 5pm at home or away.

Food does not digest as well laying in bed.

Of course if you are dancing till 2am, I guess it does not matter.

[tjcruisers]

We do the earlier one for more evening time. Also don’t want to go to bed too full

 

[OCSC Mike]

Early b/c I consider MDR meals small and I'm not a huge fan. I eat off and on most of the day unless on an excursion but I still have room for MDR portions at 5:30 or so.

I like having more time afterwards to check out the WJ, go to shows or other activities, have drinks, grab some Sorrento's, etc. and still not stay up super late.

[SpeedNoodles]

I have to do late because 5pm is about 1-2 hours after lunch for me and I'm never hungry. 

[WAYNO]

We eat an early dinner at home, so it makes sense to eat early on the boat.  And to see our shows, the earlier dinner works best.  Even then, our MDR dinners are seldom completed   in time to make our shows, so we often skip a course.  Or skip MDR altogether.  That's happening more than ever. 

[smokeybandit]

On a ship I like early dining because if I had late dining I'd be eating in the afternoon anyway, because, well, it's a cruise

[WAAAYTOOO]

We eat early at home so eat as early as we can on the ship.  We [are one of the few who] love My Time Dining and that starts a little later than traditional early seating so we get a bit of a later start than we usually like….but it all works out.

The really true reason we like eating earlier on the ship is because we spend most of our evenings in the casino and there is nothing more irritating to me than to have to get up and leave a table b/c it’s time to go eat.  I want that task OUT of the way before I settle in for a night of wagering fun !

[OCSC Mike]

10 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

that task

Eating is a task? Like a job, chore, or to-do list item?

How dare you!

[Srp431]

Late dining for us, it feels more relaxed and less rushed, knowing there isn't another group waiting to come in.

[Ampurp85]

I prefer late dining, 8pm is perfect. I eat late at home, after all the work and chores are done, so I keep a similar schedule when I cruise.

[Kelseylovestocruise]

I’m a late dining fan. I never eat before 7:00 at home so why would I on vacation. As well I’m normally up until about midnight listening to live music so I’m good! 

[MaryCS62]

when early dining was 6pm and late was 830 (or 9?) pm, early was good.  When they switched it up, we still had to go with early when traveling with my daughter who went to bed early (medical issues) so no choice there.  DH and I had MTD on a cruise last year, and it was hit and miss - didn't really care for it, plus we had to fight to not be stuck in a dark, out of the way table.  We have done late after it was changed to 730, and preferred that time. 

[Doug_Texas]

In a perfect world we would prefer around 6:30.  More and more often the first available MyTime became 7:30 or later so we switched to early seating.  Now Wonder and Icon have pulled early up from 5:30 to 5:00.  That’s a bridge too far.

[dr martini]

We are team late seating for many of the reasons listed above, early seating is just too early for us.  Most cruises with my wife and other friends or cousins we are having a great time bar hopping around the ship to various games, karaoke, other activities or up top around the pool at 3:30 or 4 enjoying cocktail hour after a day on the island and not wanting to head back and get ready for dinner that early.  We were raised as old school cruisers who still take the time to get ready and dressed up fairly formal and fancy for dinner and evening activities.  There's so much going on at night that I would hate to miss and that's vacation for us, we're gonna be out several hours later than usual until midnight or so and then sleeping in a couple hours later than usual, plus you can always doze around the pool at some point depending on how late the night was. 

Totally understand why other (perhaps older) cruisers would feel different and great that royal has earlier shows, earlier dinner and it certainly keeps the ship from feeling too crowded.

On cruises with our little ones along we have taken them to windjammer earlier when they're used to eating (5 or 6), then drop them off at kids program or with their grandparents and go to MDR late seating or a specialty dinner ourselves.  When the kiddos are a little older I would certainly try my time dining, but still wouldn't want to be locked into early MDR every night.

 

[Ryan79]

I’m still too full from lunch and afternoon libations to eat earlier than 7pm. I may adjust a day or two depending on entertainment times that I really don’t want to miss.

[ChessE4]

5 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

In a perfect world we would prefer around 6:30.  More and more often the first available MyTime became 7:30 or later so we switched to early seating.  Now Wonder and Icon have pulled early up from 5:30 to 5:00.  That’s a bridge too far.

We've almost always done early traditional dining, but we recently completed a cruise on another line.  The main dining room didn't open until 6:30 PM, no reservations required.  We arrived at opening and found it a perfect time for dinner.  If only MTD were reliable....

[happy cruisers 2]

We like MTD around 6:45 pm.  It gives us time to do happy hour first.  Then dinner.  Then we see a show before going to Boleros.  No matter what, it's hard to fit everything in when you're on a cruise!

[JohnK6404]

We prefer early dining as we like to see an 8:00-9:00 show after dinner and still have the rest of the evening to do whatever.

I'll be the first to admit I had to learn to avoid eating lunch too late and eating too large a meal! I ate a huge lunch at Portside BBQ one day and could barely eat my dinner at Chops that evening. 

[jbrinkm]

On 2/8/2024 at 4:47 PM, OCSC Mike said:

I like having more time afterwards to check out the WJ, go to shows or other activities, have drinks, grab some Sorrento's, etc. and still not stay up super late.

I'm team early for these same reasons.

[ckruetze]

For us it depends on the program for the evening.

Do we want to go to a show after the dinner - go early.

No fixed plans - go slightly later.

Return late afternoon from an activity and no plans for the evening - go late.

[WesKinetic]

I prefer early just because (a) like others have said, I like having more free time in the evening and (b) on those nights when I might "overindulge", I don't like that feeling of trying to go to sleep when I'm still completely stuffed. 

That said, I lot of times I will skip MDR altogether and just head to Windjammer or Sorrentos whenever I feel hungry. 

[tonyfsu21]

We always book early dinner because the majority of people (especially on the Miami based sailings) eat late. The casino is quieter, the bars and most other venues are not as busy and it’s overall more peaceful. The thought of eating a full meal at any point after 6pm makes me sick to the stomach. 

[Michcruiser75]

I would rather see something innovative utilizing the Dining Rooms in 4 seatings at 5, 6, 7, 8

Smaller number of diners at each hour, group dining staff into 2 service teams A) 5pm & 7pm and B) 6pm & 8:00 pm.

Each dining time still receives a 2-hour window, with  RC two tiers of dining rooms available there is certainly enough seating capacity

The sheer numbers of people who want MyTime Dining truly tells the story of how unhappy passengers are with either a very early dining time at  5:15pm or very late 7:45pm

As a long time Cruiser the numbers of passengers utilizing the dining room dwindle daily.. to the point on my fall 2023 Cruise the dining room was actually calling passengers asking them to come back as so few were showing up, we were asked if something was wrong ie staff, food... the only thing that was wrong was scheduling. Any restaurant who has such an observable loss of business would have made the changes long ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tonyfsu21]

22 hours ago, Michcruiser75 said:

I would rather see something innovative utilizing the Dining Rooms in 4 seatings at 5, 6, 7, 8

Smaller number of diners at each hour, group dining staff into 2 service teams A) 5pm & 7pm and B) 6pm & 8:00 pm.

Each dining time still receives a 2-hour window, with  RC two tiers of dining rooms available there is certainly enough seating capacity

The sheer numbers of people who want MyTime Dining truly tells the story of how unhappy passengers are with either a very early dining time at  5:15pm or very late 7:45pm

As a long time Cruiser the numbers of passengers utilizing the dining room dwindle daily.. to the point on my fall 2023 Cruise the dining room was actually calling passengers asking them to come back as so few were showing up, we were asked if something was wrong ie staff, food... the only thing that was wrong was scheduling. Any restaurant who has such an observable loss of business would have made the changes long ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not insane to consider that the MDR may disappear in the next 5-10 years as cruising evolves. IMHO the MDR has lost its appeal and could be replaced by a new concept as the next generation cruiser wants quality, efficiency and won’t be deterred by excessive up charges (aka the new cruise experience). Personally I think it’s time to either wipe the MDR slate clean and start over (again) or axe the entire program. This is going gen up the legacy cruisers who don’t want to spend much beyond the ticket price but will most likely appease the actual targeted cash cow cruisers that RC markets to. 

[Michcruiser75]

2 hours ago, tonyfsu21 said:

It’s not insane to consider that the MDR may disappear in the next 5-10 years as cruising evolves. IMHO the MDR has lost its appeal and could be replaced by a new concept as the next generation cruiser wants quality, efficiency and won’t be deterred by excessive up charges (aka the new cruise experience). Personally I think it’s time to either wipe the MDR slate clean and start over (again) or axe the entire program. This is going gen up the legacy cruisers who don’t want to spend much beyond the ticket price but will most likely appease the actual targeted cash cow cruisers that RC markets to. 

We tried 5:15, but to come in from an Excursion or if you're in the pool you're ending your day by 4:00 so you can go shower and dress for dinner  previous we tried the 7:45 but that was too late..it was not "fun" it was a chore.

In this Cruise half of our group went to 5:15 the other half to 7:45 it worked for no one.

Your point about today's Cruisers addresses additional issues. Americans in particular have gotten far less formal, Generations younger than mine (Boomer) do not dress for dinner, nor even have dinner at a dinner table, and eat in restaurants weekly.

The cost of bringing extra luggage for formal/dresswear is cost prohibitive with the airlines fees

This Cruise, my group opted for attending two formal nights and wear dressy/casual. The biggest issue was the time of dinners.

Other Cruise Lines do dinner differently some of our group/family & friends have chosen to cruise with them instead.