Northern Europe Cruise-Dining Time with Kids ages 6, 10, 12?

[mthousing]

We are on the August 1-8 Northern Europe Cruise. It's our first time on DCL, and first time to Europe for my husband and kids. We normally eat dinner at 6pm at home, but with the time change/jet lag and excursions, should we move to the 8:30pm dining time (it sounds so late to us now, but maybe we'll be ok?!). There's also only 2 long excursion days, as the schedule is like this:

Day 1: On-Board
Day 2: 8am-6pm Kiel Germany
Day 3: At Sea
Day 4: 8am-7:30pm Nynashamn (stockholm)
Day 5: At Sea
Day 6: 8am-2pm Fredericia, Denmark
Day 7: 8:30am-2:45pm Oslo Norway

My husband thinks 8:30pm dining is very late for only 2 days. If we keep 6pm dining, is there enough food/will we miss out on much if we miss our dining time those days? Thanks for helping out this novice!

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

We are on the August 1-8 Northern Europe Cruise. It's our first time on DCL, and first time to Europe for my husband and kids. We normally eat dinner at 6pm at home, but with the time change/jet lag and excursions, should we move to the 8:30pm dining time (it sounds so late to us now, but maybe we'll be ok?!). There's also only 2 long excursion days, as the schedule is like this:

Day 1: On-Board
Day 2: 8am-6pm Kiel Germany
Day 3: At Sea
Day 4: 8am-7:30pm Nynashamn (stockholm)
Day 5: At Sea
Day 6: 8am-2pm Fredericia, Denmark
Day 7: 8:30am-2:45pm Oslo Norway

My husband thinks 8:30pm dining is very late for only 2 days. If we keep 6pm dining, is there enough food/will we miss out on much if we miss our dining time those days? Thanks for helping out this novice!

If you don't like eating that late at home, in my experience you won't like it on the cruise either. For me by the time the cruise starts (if you are arriving a few days before the cruise), or within 2 days I have adjust to the time difference and want to eat on my normal schedule.
Don't forget the start of the meal time is not when you actually eat. If dinner starts at 8:30, you are getting your first food around 8:45-8:50pm. Dinner is still going strong an hour later.

As for missing dinner on the two long days there is plenty of food available on the pool deck. I love to have one dinner away from the MDRs and have a "fun" pool food dinner. Depending on what restaurant you are assigned to, you could possibly miss the dinner show (music, animation etc). If thats a deal breaker for you then you might consider the late dining. However these shows don't change much or often, so if you plan to ever cruise again, you will likely have another chance to see them.

You can also grab some local food in ports on the long days to sample some local treats. Even just some small desserts and top it up with burgers and fries on the pool deck.

Something else to consider is if you like dressing up for dinner, having later dining can make it easier to have time to get ready before dinner on a port day. It is my no means required, and I have often walked onto the ship from port and head right to dinner with no changing required.

 

[Flossbolna]

I would recommend to keep the early dining. Jet lag can affect as to when you are hungry. I find that my stomach is used to being fed at certain times and therefore going to Europe I have no interest in breakfast the first few days as my body thinks it is night time. By dinner time that should not be an issue any more.

I assume you will have early starts most of your port days? Late dinner can stretch until 10 pm and then you have to rush to get kids into bed so they aren't cranky for the next day.

Also, are you really planning on being off the ship until all aboard time? For Kiel you have 6 pm all aboard according to your schedule, so you should be back on the ship by 5:30. Enough time to freshen up a little before heading for dinner. I think only Stockholm has a conflict there. Talk to your dining team, you might be able to come a little later, if you only order a main course. Often they also have more dining options on those days the ship is in port longer. We once were on a Disney excursion that was one hour late in coming back to the ship and the people who had first dining were giving the option to go and have dinner with the second seating.

 

[mthousing]

I would recommend to keep the early dining. Jet lag can affect as to when you are hungry. I find that my stomach is used to being fed at certain times and therefore going to Europe I have no interest in breakfast the first few days as my body thinks it is night time. By dinner time that should not be an issue any more.

I assume you will have early starts most of your port days? Late dinner can stretch until 10 pm and then you have to rush to get kids into bed so they aren't cranky for the next day.

Also, are you really planning on being off the ship until all aboard time? For Kiel you have 6 pm all aboard according to your schedule, so you should be back on the ship by 5:30. Enough time to freshen up a little before heading for dinner. I think only Stockholm has a conflict there. Talk to your dining team, you might be able to come a little later, if you only order a main course. Often they also have more dining options on those days the ship is in port longer. We once were on a Disney excursion that was one hour late in coming back to the ship and the people who had first dining were giving the option to go and have dinner with the second seating.

Oh that's good to know about the potential to just get the main course or possibly the option to have dinner with the second seating. Thank you for sharing your experience and advice!

 

[mthousing]

If you don't like eating that late at home, in my experience you won't like it on the cruise either. For me by the time the cruise starts (if you are arriving a few days before the cruise), or within 2 days I have adjust to the time difference and want to eat on my normal schedule.
Don't forget the start of the meal time is not when you actually eat. If dinner starts at 8:30, you are getting your first food around 8:45-8:50pm. Dinner is still going strong an hour later.

As for missing dinner on the two long days there is plenty of food available on the pool deck. I love to have one dinner away from the MDRs and have a "fun" pool food dinner. Depending on what restaurant you are assigned to, you could possibly miss the dinner show (music, animation etc). If thats a deal breaker for you then you might consider the late dining. However these shows don't change much or often, so if you plan to ever cruise again, you will likely have another chance to see them.

You can also grab some local food in ports on the long days to sample some local treats. Even just some small desserts and top it up with burgers and fries on the pool deck.

Something else to consider is if you like dressing up for dinner, having later dining can make it easier to have time to get ready before dinner on a port day. It is my no means required, and I have often walked onto the ship from port and head right to dinner with no changing required.

This is great advice. Yes, we'll be arriving Copenhagen 2.5 days before our cruise sets sail so hopefully we'll be adjusted by the time we're on the cruise. And yes, 8:45-8:50pm just sounds very late for my kids to have their first course-they are usually in bed around that time! While we like dressing up, we don't feel we need to dress up every night. Thank you!

 

[sabrecmc]

I struggled with this choice when my daughter and I did the Baltic B2B with the Norway cruise. My TA recommended late dinner so we would have longer in port and not be so rushed, which I did on the first leg of the B2B. I changed it for the second leg. It was just too late for us to eat, she wanted to be in the club, and we were always back on the ship in enough time to get ready for dinner (though...hurriedly, at some times!). We are just early dining people. Some people love late, and it is more relaxed, I think, to have that extra time, but just too late for us to be eating a meal like that.

 

[mthousing]

I struggled with this choice when my daughter and I did the Baltic B2B with the Norway cruise. My TA recommended late dinner so we would have longer in port and not be so rushed, which I did on the first leg of the B2B. I changed it for the second leg. It was just too late for us to eat, she wanted to be in the club, and we were always back on the ship in enough time to get ready for dinner (though...hurriedly, at some times!). We are just early dining people. Some people love late, and it is more relaxed, I think, to have that extra time, but just too late for us to be eating a meal like that.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think with my family used to eating dinner at 6pm, and my kids wanting to play in the club, we'll keep 1st dining. Thanks!

 

[kiford]

We found on our Baltic cruise that some nights, the early dining was moved slightly later to accommodate people who had longer excursions (the same was true on both of our Med cruises). And if those two nights are your anticipated return-to-ship time, you might actually get back a little earlier than the time stated, which they may have given just to make sure you get back in time, and you may still be able to make dinner at least one of the two nights. Also, if you're only expecting to be 15-30 minutes late, you can tell your server and the night before, and they may be able to accommodate seating you a bit later and just serving a bit faster.

Our Baltic cruise was 12 days, and we had an overnight in St. Petersberg (obviously not happening now!), but because so many people had late excursions, they actually had a buffet set up in Cabanas. Not sure that this seems likely for your cruise, but they are aware that people often do longer excursions in some of these ports, so you'll certainly find enough food if you have early dining but have a couple of late excursions.

 

[mthousing]

We found on our Baltic cruise that some nights, the early dining was moved slightly later to accommodate people who had longer excursions (the same was true on both of our Med cruises). And if those two nights are your anticipated return-to-ship time, you might actually get back a little earlier than the time stated, which they may have given just to make sure you get back in time, and you may still be able to make dinner at least one of the two nights. Also, if you're only expecting to be 15-30 minutes late, you can tell your server and the night before, and they may be able to accommodate seating you a bit later and just serving a bit faster.

Our Baltic cruise was 12 days, and we had an overnight in St. Petersberg (obviously not happening now!), but because so many people had late excursions, they actually had a buffet set up in Cabanas. Not sure that this seems likely for your cruise, but they are aware that people often do longer excursions in some of these ports, so you'll certainly find enough food if you have early dining but have a couple of late excursions.

Good to know, thanks! It's hard because it's our first time on DCL and most of my family's first time to Europe-just trying to squeeze in everything but not over-tire ourselves on vacation too!

 

[kiford]

Good to know, thanks! It's hard because it's our first time on DCL and most of my family's first time to Europe-just trying to squeeze in everything but not over-tire ourselves on vacation too!

The nice thing with most ports on Baltic cruises is that they are much closer to the city or things you want to see, unlike the Med, where it can take you 1-2 hours to get to where you want to go. We took some reasonably long excursions but, even so, were often back on the ship in the late afternoon, especially if you leave early in the morning.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

For our overnight in Reyckjavick they had open dining in the main dining restaurants, they may do the same for Stockholm day. If not you may set up take away meals with your head server...

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

We are on the August 1-8 Northern Europe Cruise. It's our first time on DCL, and first time to Europe for my husband and kids. We normally eat dinner at 6pm at home, but with the time change/jet lag and excursions, should we move to the 8:30pm dining time (it sounds so late to us now, but maybe we'll be ok?!). There's also only 2 long excursion days, as the schedule is like this:

Day 1: On-Board
Day 2: 8am-6pm Kiel Germany
Day 3: At Sea
Day 4: 8am-7:30pm Nynashamn (stockholm)
Day 5: At Sea
Day 6: 8am-2pm Fredericia, Denmark
Day 7: 8:30am-2:45pm Oslo Norway

My husband thinks 8:30pm dining is very late for only 2 days. If we keep 6pm dining, is there enough food/will we miss out on much if we miss our dining time those days? Thanks for helping out this novice!

We Cruised out of Copenhagen August 2022. We ALWAYS do late dining but for the first time ever, really wished we had done early dining for our Europe sailing. Everyone got out of dinner around 10:30/11 as the sun was setting which was nice but far too late.

I would encourage you to keep early dining and talk to your serving team on board about the options to come to late dining on the nights you need. Our sailing wasn't anywhere near full last year so they were incredibly flexible with port adventures, etc for dining. If all else fails there is room service, etc but our dining team last year was able to move people around for a few meals here and there.

 

[mthousing]

@Chipmunkmaniac good to know we can talk to our server about other options such as later dining or takeout!

@DCLCruiseFan09 thanks for sharing your experience. We will keep early dining and see if we can have a later seating if needed on the few days we’re out late. Thanks!

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

@Chipmunkmaniac good to know we can talk to our server about other options such as later dining or takeout!

@DCLCruiseFan09 thanks for sharing your experience. We will keep early dining and see if we can have a later seating if needed on the few days we’re out late. Thanks!

Of course! Our dining team on our Europe sailing was phenomenal as they always are. There was a couple sitting near us who moved to Early dining after the first night and we wished we had done the same. We caught up later in the cruise when they had a late excursion in Alesund and moved to later dining just for the night with no fuss from the serving team.

 

[lollidrop]

The only thing I'll add as a "pro" to late dining is that typically we snack in ports and eat lunch when we get back on the ship, which on those shorter port days would prob be around 2 or so. It would be difficult for me to turn around and eat a full dinner at first seating. Food will be more expensive in Norway and such.

Obviously YMMV, but just wanted to add that piece.

 

[slindamood]

We have had early dining in Europe and found that when people arrived late" a CM was at the door telling us to go straight to the dining room as we were and we would be accommodated at our regular table. If it was almost the next dining time, they would tell us to go at the start time and they would find us a table. They were very accommodating and quite aware of the excursions and individuals arriving after the start of dinner.