Main Dining vs Late Dining

[Kwami]

I've been to Hawai'i a dozen times, and it just doesn't work that way for time switches of a few hours. I might try to stay up a bit the first night, but I'm "sleeping in" until 4:30 am. (Which would be 8:30 am in the midwest.)

That being said, when I return, I usually take the red eye, which means that at best I get a couple hours of snoozing, so I'm completely wiped when I arrive home mid afternoon. If I can manage to stay up until mid evening, it's a hard reset that typically resets my body clock.

So someone from Europe who takes a Caribbean cruise... well, that's a 5-6 hours time shift and you might as well bite the bullet and adjust to the new time zone. Someone from the central or mountain time zone who normally gets up at 6 am...why mess with it? Stay on your home time, eat late...and you can still get up at 8 am to do activities on the cruise.

Flying east is so, so much worse than flying west. Most long-haul flights heading east are overnight flights that get in really early and then you've got a whole day ahead of you, even though you just had a whole day. If you take an early morning flight instead, then it's late when you arrive and you aren't tired, yet. Either way, the first 1-2 nights is pretty bad.

 

[Alura21]

So it really depends on things. For me and my family, 5:30 is WAY too earlier to eat dinner. Our routine on the Alaska cruise was to see the show/movie go to dinner and then have a nice late-night drink in the Cadilac lounge while listening to the piano playing before going to bed. That's not to say you won't be able to do something like that during the main seating, but just remember that they have to seat the next dining at 8:30. So you technically don't have all the time in the world. Also if you go to bed early and want to see the show then maybe late dining is better because you can speed up a meal. You can't speed up a show.

 

[SirDuff]

Yes, I was surprised as that seemed super late for them. But they were in Orlando a few days before the cruise so I guess it worked for them. They never seemed to complain.

The PP had it backwards though. A dinner at 5:30pm East Coast time would seem like 2:30pm for your West Coast friends. So, a later dinner at 8:30pm East Coast time would feel like 5:30pm based on West Coast time. Meals would feel early, not late.

 

[katmigordon]

I thought room service was 24hr?

Cast member was quited confused as the bar was not yet open, neither were the stores. No way to eat or drink anything from CC at this (early) time of day. After calling on the radio to make sure they haven't overlooked anything, they offered to call the medics for help. Fortunately that wasn't needed as the drinking station just opened, waaay early of schedule. Lesson learned!

 

[Dug720]

I thought room service was 24hr?

The poster was talking about on Castaway. They were already on the island.

 

[katmigordon]

Oooooh I was thinking it was way to early in the morning for anything to be open on the ship... probably my own internal bias since if I'm going to go low it's going to happen while I'm sleeping.

The poster was talking about on Castaway. They were already on the island.

 

[Dug720]

Oooooh I was thinking it was way to early in the morning for anything to be open on the ship... probably my own internal bias since if I'm going to go low it's going to happen while I'm sleeping.

Pretty sure Cabanas is open before people get off at Castaway.

 

[Kwami]

Pretty sure Cabanas is open before people get off at Castaway.

And the always-available drink fountains on the pool deck, of course.

 

[Kwami]

...but just remember that they have to seat the next dining at 8:30. So you technically don't have all the time in the world.

I always go with second seating and it really does feel like I can stay as long as I'd like. But, don't forget that the servers and other crew members would probably like to get something to eat and then get some sleep before their next shifts in the morning. So, don't stay too late!

 

[katmigordon]

Oh yeah - I just hadn't caught the CC connection.
I was just trying to make sure that we could get room service during the time period when I'm likely to go low if I do it, because room service is pretty much my back up plan. I keep forgetting people can actually go low during the day when they're awake.

Pretty sure Cabanas is open before people get off at Castaway.

 

[katmigordon]

Are those always available? I thought they shut down when the rest of the ship does.

And the always-available drink fountains on the pool deck, of course.

 

[dcassetta]

Are those always available? I thought they shut down when the rest of the ship does.

Pre-Covid the drink station was open 24 hours. I am not sure if that is true now.

 

[Kwami]

Pre-Covid the drink station was open 24 hours. I am not sure if that is true now.

When cast members were serving drinks, the stations would close for a few hours overnight. But, the drink stations are back to self service, so they should be open. I guess you could always get a cup or two before you turn in for the night and put them in the refrigerator, too.

 

[Metalfan]

This has been a good thread to read through. Wife and I are going on our first cruise in November on the Wish. She wanted later dining because she feels that if we get hungry we can grab something but she doesn't want to feel rushed. My biggest issue was basically wondering what I'll miss if we spend 1 hour to 90 minutes eating later. Been watching a lot of cruise videos and it seems the things I would like to do (trivia, shows, etc) seem to run at multiple times to accommodate both groups. Made things a lot easier to digest. The fact that Disney gives you so many options to grab something small and quick if you need it helps. If we want to take a quick nap, we won't be in a bad spot for dinner. More and more i looked into it and watched some videos I realized that for us late dining isn't the worst option. We do tend to eat dinner at like 6 normally but our 6 is 7 EDT so we're not off by much.