Early vs late dining - Assigned Time Dining

As I mentioned in my last post (Anytime vs Assigned time dining), assigned time dining has two options, either 6pm or 8pm (give or take a few minutes depending on your cruise line). When doing assigned time dining I suggest seeing the maitre’d your first day on the ship in order to request a private table, otherwise you may be assigned a group table. These group tables will include non-kosher consumers eating food you cannot eat.

If like me, you have chosen the assigned dining time, you now need to choose which dining time you want, and once you choose, you are stuck with it. You cannot decide to do 6pm some times and 8pm other times. 

The first day your checked luggage may not arrive in your room until after the early dining time, so be sure you are comfortable eating in what you wore on to the ship if you choose early.

Evaluating your situation

Here are the factors to consider when deciding.

Ship’s itinerary – The days at sea, where you are not at port, are typically more show and activity heavy. There often are early and late shows, so you likely will not miss much regardless of which time you chose. Just consider if you prefer a show before or after dinner.

Port schedule could be a big factor. Make sure you check your itinerary before finalizing your dinner time. The last thing you want to do is rush back from the beach so you can shower and change before dinner. If most ports you get back on the ship by 3pm than a 6pm dinner is simple, but if most days you are at port 1-7pm, you might want to consider the later dinner.

Your family – This may seem obvious but think about who you are traveling with. Do the kids or elderly in your party need to get to bed early? All of these might factor in. Similarly if you are traveling without kids and don’t want to hear other people’s kids, you might be better with a later dining time, since early dining is more family heavy.

Formal nights – If you sail Carnival you may not notice a difference between regular nights and formal nights, but if you sail Princess you definitely will. If you want extra time to get into your formal attire for the formal nights, you are probably better off with the later dining. Keep in mind there will be extra photo stations set up on formal night too, so you might want extra time for pictures too.

How quickly you eat – The early dining will often feel a bit more rushed. The cruise is trying to feed 1,000 people and then flipping the room over for another 1,000, all within a 2-hour window. If you prefer a more leisurely meal you may prefer the later dining.

Summary

If you prefer to eat before your shows, have kids, or want to get to bed early you may prefer earlier dining. If you want more time at ports, fewer kids, or like a late slower paced dinner you may prefer later dining.