Early or late seating

[Julie]

Trying to decide if we should take early or late seating for dinner in MDR.  We are cruising on Allure in November and I have a 12 year old daughter.  Late seems too late for us but I am worried the first seating will cut into our port time. Any advice?

[JayBird]

Late seating for us.  I feel like there is too much going on in port or on the ship around 5:00 or 6:00 and I dont want to miss out

[FreedomCruiser 58]

We choose the early seating, always . . . too late for me to eat at 8:00.  If you do come back late on port days . . .the Windjammer is always available.

[Matt]

We used to always do late but now we have a daughter (2.5 years old) so we do the early dining....for our sanity :P

[Bryce G.]

Early seating is fine. It won't cut into your port time, especially on Allure. I think the LATEST set sail time is 4 or 4:30. And you'd board well-before set sail time. Early is the way to go. Then you have the entire evening to enjoy activities. Rather than that awkward time between all-aboard and late-seating.

[JayBird]

We did an eastern caribbean sailing and I think it was St Thomas where all aboard was quite late because we didn't arrive until lunch time or so.  In that case, early seating had more of an issue with island time being cut into

[RCL4Life]

Early seating.  We did late seating once and being done with dinner after 10 is too late

[Julie]

Thanks everyone I think we will go with early  :)

[DAVE(Darkcabbie)]

We nearly always opt for late seating mainly because we try to stay ashore as long as possible and we like to go up top for the sail off as it's normally great fun and then we can get ready for dinner. If we want to catch a show then we would hit the buffet or maybe room service.

[hallyluhopper]

We opt for late seating also. This time (we just got home yesterday) our table-mates ordered two starters and sometimes two entrees. We had the best waiter, and he didn't mind accommodating us at all.

[Matt]

We opt for late seating also. This time (we just got home yesterday) our table-mates ordered two starters and sometimes two entrees. We had the best waiter, and he didn't mind accommodating us at all.

I almost always order multiple entrees and appetizers.  I love trying different foods and cruising is a big part of that

[annie111]

Early seating!

[baltodave]

I'm fascinated by all the responses.  Obviously, it's why Royal give everyone a choice.  For the reasons already stated, my wife and I almost always prefer late dining (but we don't travel with kids).  And this is in spite of almost never eating late at home.  If we are ready early, there's always the Windjammer (but not since the restart) or we grab a snack at Sorentos or Cafe Promenade to hold us over.

[Pooch]

And no mention of MTD?  Early is too early. Late is too late.  I book MTD for 6:30-7 every night, just right

[wstephensi]

Early with young children.  Late without.

[Jill]

My Time Dining (although don’t think that was a thing 7 years ago when this post was made!) 

[Atlantix2000]

Wow, how did you even come across a 7 year old thread!

[Reigert2008]

On 8/6/2013 at 2:53 PM, JayBird said:

Late seating for us.  I feel like there is too much going on in port or on the ship around 5:00 or 6:00 and I dont want to miss out

We’re the opposite! We choose early searing or if not available do My Time and pick the earliest time each day, generally around 5:30 PM.  With the late seating we feel like we loose time in the evenings and basically eat then head to bed. With the early seating, we get to wander around and people watch.

[teddy]

We're lucky if we can stay awake past 930-1000 pm.  Even when we've done My Time, we eat early.

...on the flip side, the ship is deserted at 430 am. 

[Joanna990]

In a week I am going on my first cruise, but I can already say, absolutely late dining. It's fascinating for me this division in early and late, because 7-8 o'clock in Italy is the normal time for dinner.

[Micheleyd]

This will be our first cruise with the kids. We did the my time dining and booked for 7:00pm each night. I figured that should give us time to have a bit of chill time and wind down after a port day. Kids are 9 & 11 so not super young. They can handle staying up late on vacation. 

[Peter D]

15 hours ago, Joanna990 said:

In a week I am going on my first cruise, but I can already say, absolutely late dining. It's fascinating for me this division in early and late, because 7-8 o'clock in Italy is the normal time for dinner.

 

12 hours ago, Micheleyd said:

This will be our first cruise with the kids. We did the my time dining and booked for 7:00pm each night. I figured that should give us time to have a bit of chill time and wind down after a port day. Kids are 9 & 11 so not super young. They can handle staying up late on vacation. 

Part of my assessment on dining preferences has been show times as well.  Early seating allows more flexibility to see shows as, in general,  the first show starts between 7-8pm and second is generally 9-930 pm.  Late seating generally limits you to only one feasible show time.

[LovetoCruise87]

We've always done early dining.

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

Always early seating for us.  More flexibility for shows, yes…but also for digestion so we can grab some Sorrentos pizza later on and still have time to digest that before heading to bed!  Sleeping on a full stomach causes restless sleep and when morning arrives just do not feel fully rested!