Main Seating/Second Seating

[Diyara]

I just got a question about main and second seating.

As we booked our cruise, we had to choose which seating we prefer. 18.00 is really early normally we have dinner between 19.00 and 19.30 when my DH arrives from work. So we had choosen second seating.

But now i´m asking to me, which seating is the better for our family. We are 3 - myself - DH and DS (6) - will we miss something when we stay at second seating? Is there a different? Or will there be shows/animations etc. for people of second seating? Is second seating more for people without kids??

 

[clten]

You will still be able to see the main shows -- they are opposite your dining seating so with late seating dinner, you just see the show before dinner. There usually isn't too many other activities scheduled opposite the show or dinner so you won't miss much, if anything. With late seating dinner, if your 6 yo wants to go to the club, the Youth counselors come to the dining room to pick them up -- saves you a trip from your dining to the clubs.

Yes, there are less kids at late dining but there are still plenty. I like late seating. Most of our servers tell us that they enjoy late seating better because they have more time to get to know their guests. On first seating they are rushing to get things served and people out so they can set up for late seating. So things are a bit more relaxed at the later seating.

If the time works better for your family, I wouldn't worry about missing anything. (Usually the only thing you can't partake in is Pirate night buffet since you finish dinner just before it is served!)

 

[AmandaRG]

Some people prefer early seating. We LOVE late dining. I wasn't thrilled with it when we booked 6 months out, there was no early dining available. It worked out so well for us. Others had terrible experiences with it.

We had no trouble getting upstairs for the Pirate show!

 

[Debers17]

Since we're traveling from CA, we figured the early dinner would be lunch time for us, so the later seating would be right around the time we're actually eating dinner

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

We selected late seating because for us it was full of advantages.

On the day of disembarkation, we can sleep in a little bit instead of having to be at the 6:45am breakfast.

If we get a Remy reservation, we can still probably manage to take the kids to the show and get there on time.

The CM's will take the kids to the club after dinner so we can hit the adult lounges (we might have to take the almost 3 year old to the nursery but still- it's a bonus).

Being from the west coast, it worked out well time wise for us since it would be our regular dinner time. Thankfully our friends from Toronto are late eaters because it was also their preference.

 

[Ikaikalani]

I always go for second dinner seating, but only one issue. Sometimes dinner takes longer than the first seating (I assume because the staff is not as rushed). A couple of times we missed out on the adult entertainment in the clubs because of this. Easy fix though...if theres a show we want to see, we just skip desert (if time doesn't allow that is).

 

[clten]

Easy fix though...if theres a show we want to see, we just skip desert (if time doesn't allow that is).

There's an even easier fix and you still get to have dessert -- tell your dining team that you want to be out by XX time to see a show and they will do it for you!

 

[Karen from VA]

We too eat at around 6 at home but I prefer the late seating because it means you don't have to rush back to your stateroom in the early afternoon to get ready for dinner. There is plenty of snacking and late lunch options available that is easy for us to shift our meals by 1.5 to 2 hours without any issues.

 

[Maddle]

On Disney, we prefer the late seating. (On other cruiselines my preference is for early - but that is a whole different conversation.) Late seating gives you the earlier show, which starts a little later than the early dining time - so already you have an extra 30 minutes built into your day. After the show, you can go back to your room to do final "touch-ups" to get ready for dinner if necessary. Or, there's plenty of time for a drink or visit to one of the lounges for a game show, etc.

We have found late seating to be a little more relaxed. We are a party of two adults. (There were lots of children at the late seating also at other tables near us. Some went off with the Dine and Play program, and servers were very accomodating to their needs.)

Maddle

 

[Makayna]

My fiancé and I chose late seating because on port days, you sometimes have to rush back to the ship if you're early seating. That, and if you're on the West Coast, early seating will feel like 3 in the afternoon.

 

[JecHec]

Hi everyone, Quick question. We have early seating. Does anyone know what time that is usually over? Avengers Endgame will be playing at 815 on Sunday.

 

[Van Houten]

Hi everyone, Quick question. We have early seating. Does anyone know what time that is usually over? Avengers Endgame will be playing at 815 on Sunday.

Second seating starts at 8:15, they will get you out of that room much earlier in order to prepare the tables. Typical timespan is about 1:30, some folks do stretch it out a bit, but by 7:45 everyone who in on early seating should be out of the dining room.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Second seating starts at 8:15, they will get you out of that room much earlier in order to prepare the tables. Typical timespan is about 1:30, some folks do stretch it out a bit, but by 7:45 everyone who in on early seating should be out of the dining room.

We usually finish dinner between 7:15 and 7:30, and we usually feel that it takes us longer than many of the other tables in the MDR.

 

[Van Houten]

We usually finish dinner between 7:15 and 7:30, and we usually feel that it takes us longer than many of the other tables in the MDR.

7:15 (e.g. 1h30m) is about right for most, but I have seen folks stick around longer, while the rest of the room was being prepared for the next seating.