Perks of second seating?! Your thoughts, with kids!

[JARNJ3]

To me one of the best parts of the second seating, is that you get the later breakfast on the last day

When we left the ship, it was easy to find our luggage - it was one of the last ones left!

 

[holden]

Love late dining. No need to rush back to the ship or leave the pool to get ready for dinner!

 

[Lisa F]

I gave up my coveted main dining seating for late dining for my February cruise. My kiddo is 11 and has gotten better at eating later and neither of us will starve. I figured it would work better with my 3:45 chocolate and liquor tasting and 4pm mixology. Requested a private table too and hoping we get one for 2 even though it seems harder. I work with people ALL THE TIME and am very people fatigued right now.

 

[Missus_Aitch]

On our first cruise my daughter was used to dining at 6:00 and going to bed at 8:00. Nevertheless we had late dining. I was a bit worried, but ultimately I loved it. Especially on port days it gives you a chance to relax, shower, just chill for awhile after your day of activity and before dinner. And it made her sleep later than her then-customary 6:30 a.m.!

Not sure how it would have gone if she had still been a toddler, but for a bit older, it worked.

Edited to add: You also find the shortest line on the water slides when the early diners have to leave the pool deck to get ready for dinner.

 

[enjayws]

My daughter was 10 when we had late dining a couple of months back and I loved it.
We never had to rush after getting back on board after excursions (was a Europe cruise). Could queue for front row seats at the show, rather than rushing to crowded theatre after dinner.

I guess the only downside for me personally was that on the Magic (not sure about the bigger ships), unlike other lines I've sailed on there was a fairly long wait from when the buffet closes until late dinner. This was mostly only a problem when returning from excursions hungry and being unable to find quick food (needing gluten free food probably made this a lot harder)

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

I've been going back and forth with this myself as we have second seating on our Alaska cruise this summer. We normally are early eaters - my teens like to eat every few hours...but I thought with the sun setting late it would give us more time to enjoy the day and then just turn in after dinner if we're tired. We cruise to the Caribbean later in the year and currently have first seating. I'm going to see how the Alaska cruise goes and decide then if we'll keep it or move it to second seating.

I would think if your kids don't mind later eating hours, keep it! You won't have to rush to dinner that way

Remember that you can grab snacks in the hours before dinner, such as something from the grill on the pool deck or room service. That might tide your teens over until the later full dinner.

 

[ljcrochet]

I love late dining. My daughters have cruised at age 2, 5, 10, 11 and 14. First and last cruise we had early seating. After the first time, I had said never again but last cruise was a gift from grandma and sister in law wanted early seating. During the cruise they all said we should have done late seating since the little kids all went to the kids club till 11 any way.

I felt so rushed. No time to do anything. We never had an time to just chill at the pool. No time for afternoon naps.

 

[isabellea]

I currently have main dining but debating if I should switch to late but DH thinks main is better for our kids. Is it too late to ask for a change once onboard?

 

[ekms]

We had second dining a few years ago on an Alaska cruise (our first ever) with our two boys who were 6 and 8 at the time. We are early eaters (6pm), big schedule followers, and also on the east coast - so I was worried that dinner at 8pm (which was really 1am on east coast time) was going to be a disaster. Happy to say I was very wrong .

We loved having the relaxed time in the evenings. Coming back from port, we had time to relax and get ready for the show. After the show, I would grab cheese and crackers from Cove, and we'd hang out in our room, watch the ocean go by, and play cards until it was time for dinner. And, our servers were great at reading our energy level and knowing when to move things more quickly if the kids were getting tired. Those relaxed evenings were our favorite part of the cruise - both for us and the kids.

 

[NicholeB630]

To me one of the best parts of the second seating, is that you get the later breakfast on the last day

When we left the ship, it was easy to find our luggage - it was one of the last ones left!

What do you mean? I didn’t think breakfast was a timed event?

 

[DisBNewB]

What do you mean? I didn’t think breakfast was a timed event?

On the last day, if you want to eat in the MDR, it is. (Cabanas is also open, if you don't want to eat in the MDR.) You're assigned to the dining room where you had dinner on the last night, and early dinner has earlier breakfast, late dinner has late (well - later XD) breakfast. (as a family of Very Much Not Morning People, if we'd had early breakfast, we likely would've gone to Cabanas instead.)

 

[NicholeB630]

On the last day, if you want to eat in the MDR, it is. (Cabanas is also open, if you don't want to eat in the MDR.) You're assigned to the dining room where you had dinner on the last night, and early dinner has earlier breakfast, late dinner has late (well - later XD) breakfast. (as a family of Very Much Not Morning People, if we'd had early breakfast, we likely would've gone to Cabanas instead.)

Ah that makes sense. We are concierge and I think I read somewhere we are able to leave the boat a little later? Not sure how late and if it makes a difference or not. We are early risers even on vacation. Its ridiculous sometimes haha. Im like can we all just sleep till 8 for once!!!

 

[wishuponastar1984]

Ah that makes sense. We are concierge and I think I read somewhere we are able to leave the boat a little later? Not sure how late and if it makes a difference or not. We are early risers even on vacation. Its ridiculous sometimes haha. Im like can we all just sleep till 8 for once!!!

Concierge status has nothing to do with when you eat breakfast on departure day. You can have breakfast at anytime on departure day in Cabanas but breakfast in the MDR is special on departure day in that there are two assigned dining times based on your regular rotation. As a concierge guest you can depart the ship at your leisure. There is generally a crush of people who book early flights so they are hot to get off the ship ASAP. We were local and drove to the port and had no real agenda on departure day. Breakfast seating is 6:45 and 8:30 in the MDR. It was nice to see our waiters one last time and enjoy a nice seated breakfast.

 

[StlZNF]

I currently have main dining but debating if I should switch to late but DH thinks main is better for our kids. Is it too late to ask for a change once onboard?

We had main dining on our first cruise and switched to late once on board. It has worked well for us for 5 cruises now. We probably helped someone move to main by opening our spot!

 

[NicholeB630]

Concierge status has nothing to do with when you eat breakfast on departure day. You can have breakfast at anytime on departure day in Cabanas but breakfast in the MDR is special on departure day in that there are two assigned dining times based on your regular rotation. As a concierge guest you can depart the ship at your leisure. There is generally a crush of people who book early flights so they are hot to get off the ship ASAP. We were local and drove to the port and had no real agenda on departure day. Breakfast seating is 6:45 and 8:30 in the MDR. It was nice to see our waiters one last time and enjoy a nice seated breakfast.

Ah ok that makes sense. Our flight is like at 1 I believe so we won't have to rush too much.

 

[mab2012]

It definitely wouldn't have worked for my family when my kids were that age, but if your kids are flexible you'll probably be just fine. One issue I had with main dining on our last cruise was that we were almost always in the dining room at sailaway. We like to be out on deck at sailaway, so that was a bit disappointing. And of course the other implication of dining at sailaway is that you tend to be a bit rushed getting back on board and off to dinner on port days. So that's one advantage of late.

We're scheduled for late dining on our upcoming cruise and I'm a bit conflicted over it. At 11 and 14 my kids are old enough to handle it now, but I think we might still prefer early seating overall. I guess we'll find out!

I currently have main dining but debating if I should switch to late but DH thinks main is better for our kids. Is it too late to ask for a change once onboard?

I don't think you'll have any trouble at all switching to late dining. Main is the one that is always full. Keep in mind that if you ask to switch mid-cruise you will likely also get a different serving team.