Switching Dining Seating for First Night Only?

[BalooHoo]

We have the early dining seating for our upcoming cruise, and we'd prefer to keep it. We may have an issue on the first night of our cruise that would conflict with the early seating time, but we won't know until the day before we embark. We are wondering if we can switch our seating for that first night to the late seating, but keep the early seating for all of the other nights.

Anyone know if they can do this for us? If we have to switch to the late seating for the entire cruise in order to switch on the first night, then we can always consider whether we should do that. We also could just skip the main dining room on the first night so I know we have options, but I'd love to know if switching seatings on the first night only is one of those options. Thanks!

 

[evedein]

I'd like to know that too.

 

[Mommb]

I don't think it's possible to make a one-night change in advance, but you can certainly go to the area for Dining Changes once you embark and inquire about changing for only the first night. It is probably easier to move to later seating than to earlier seating, but it depends on the cruise. If there are other guests moving from late seating to early seating, that will open up space. It's also possible that the Dining Change team will know of a party that is booking Palo/Remy at their dining time and therefore opening up space for you that night.

 

[BalooHoo]

Thanks for the info, Mommb. It's good to know that it might be possible (no guarantees), and if we need this I'll make sure to check at the Dining Change area when we board. I agree that there will almost certainly be available tables at the late seating, but I didn't know if the request was too complicated for them. I wouldn't be able to do it in advance even if Disney would allow it because I won't know until the day before, so we'll give it a shot after boarding if we need to.

 

[gotomu212]

We’ve only done early dining one cruise, but it was a port intensive long cruise and one night my son just crashed before dinner and I didn’t want to wake him (or my husband) for dinner. Since we were sharing a table I ran down to the dining room to tell the Head Server so they didn’t hold up the service waiting for us. He asked why we were skipping and I said everyone was asleep. He told me to come down for late dining if they were up and to speak with him at the podium. Sure enough they’d found us a table and were even able to keep our serving team.

So it can be done, but it’s something the head server would arrange on the ship. As others said go the first afternoon to dining changes location, explain your situation, and if there’s a free table it shouldn’t be a problem.

 

[evedein]

What times are the 1st &second seating ion the Magic?

 

[MelissaE1]

What times are the 1st &second seating ion the Magic?

5:45 and 8:15 if I'm not mistaken.

 

[evedein]

Thanks

 

[Kritn4]

I was told on the ship the first day they would not switch your dining for one dinner. I was asking because I wanted early dining but would have to share a table with another family. I casually said “well if it’s not a good match we could always switch back.” The head waiter told me once I gave up my Current slot they would not be able to switch us back. It was because you were being put into a certain waitstaff team and if you changed again the tips, etc would be messed up. Also another party could come in and request a change and take your original spot.

 

[Travel60]

Is Palo open first night? If so, why not just book later reservation there first night?

 

[cadien]

I was told on the ship the first day they would not switch your dining for one dinner. I was asking because I wanted early dining but would have to share a table with another family. I casually said “well if it’s not a good match we could always switch back.” The head waiter told me once I gave up my Current slot they would not be able to switch us back. It was because you were being put into a certain waitstaff team and if you changed again the tips, etc would be messed up. Also another party could come in and request a change and take your original spot.

That depends on the headwaiter. Yours sounds less flexible than some, unfortunately. Like someone posted above, there are ways to move around that keep you with the same team. And sometimes they just have to deal with messed up tips. We haven’t asked to be moved around but we’ve been seated with people who did.

 

[cadien]

Is Palo open first night? If so, why not just book later reservation there first night?

You have an additional expense then though. And need to be traveling without children.

 

[Quellman]

You have an additional expense then though. And need to be traveling without children.

Could put them in nursery or kids club.

 

[remlap]

You could make a meal out of the options by the pool deck and or room service

 

[ScooterScott44]

We have the early dining seating for our upcoming cruise, and we'd prefer to keep it. We may have an issue on the first night of our cruise that would conflict with the early seating time, but we won't know until the day before we embark. We are wondering if we can switch our seating for that first night to the late seating, but keep the early seating for all of the other nights.

Anyone know if they can do this for us? If we have to switch to the late seating for the entire cruise in order to switch on the first night, then we can always consider whether we should do that. We also could just skip the main dining room on the first night so I know we have options, but I'd love to know if switching seatings on the first night only is one of those options. Thanks!

Why do you have to do the MDR on the first night? It seems easier to just keep the dining schedule as is, plan to get a bite somewhere and not waste your time trying to rearrange one meal. There are other options as mentioned - Palo (and Remy if you are on Dream class), room service, and the quick counters are all viable options. Some of the bars have also appitizers you can get to snack on.

If your schedule has something specific at the dinner time for the one night here is another option. Why not do a big meal at Cabanas buffet a little later in the afternoon before your first night event. That will fill you and then you could do lighter snacks from the cafe or the quick service later if you need a bite.

 

[BalooHoo]

Why do you have to do the MDR on the first night? It seems easier to just keep the dining schedule as is, plan to get a bite somewhere and not waste your time trying to rearrange one meal. There are other options as mentioned - Palo (and Remy if you are on Dream class), room service, and the quick counters are all viable options. Some of the bars have also appitizers you can get to snack on.

If your schedule has something specific at the dinner time for the one night here is another option. Why not do a big meal at Cabanas buffet a little later in the afternoon before your first night event. That will fill you and then you could do lighter snacks from the cafe or the quick service later if you need a bite.

Thanks very much for the suggestions. We don't have to do MDR the first night, and as i mentioned in my original post I know that we have other options. I just wanted to know if switching MDR on one night only was one of those options because we enjoy eating together as a family in MDR. We definitely will not go hungry!

 

[ScooterScott44]

Thanks very much for the suggestions. We don't have to do MDR the first night, and as i mentioned in my original post I know that we have other options. I just wanted to know if switching MDR on one night only was one of those options because we enjoy eating together as a family in MDR. We definitely will not go hungry!

Glad to hear, sometimes there are extenuating circumstance so just checking. The single day switch would probably be very easy after you have tlaked with you head server. It seems your situation is complicated by it being the first night and I understand your concerns with trying to do that. My fear is also you will waste too much precious vacation time trying to work it out.

Then there is the worst case scenario of losing time while waiting in line to make the change, explaining the situation again at the host stand later that night, and then you are not back on early seating so you have to do it all over again. While not likely to be that bad still, all possible hiccups. Enjoy wherever you end up dining.

 

[BalooHoo]

Glad to hear, sometimes there are extenuating circumstance so just checking. The single day switch would probably be very easy after you have tlaked with you head server. It seems your situation is complicated by it being the first night and I understand your concerns with trying to do that. My fear is also you will waste too much precious vacation time trying to work it out.

Then there is the worst case scenario of losing time while waiting in line to make the change, explaining the situation again at the host stand later that night, and then you are not back on early seating so you have to do it all over again. While not likely to be that bad still, all possible hiccups. Enjoy wherever you end up dining.

Thanks, those are all valid concerns to keep in mind. It looks like we probably won't need to worry about this after all, but if so I'll probably go to the Dining Changes area and see what they say about it. If it looks like it will be anything other than a smooth and easy process, we'll probably go with one of the many other options for dinner. Thanks again to everyone for the helpful advice!