Can't get early seating...

[jac07]

We are planning to go on the Wonder 7/20. All they have is late seating available. We have a 12 year old and a 5 year old. The youngest won't make it till 8:30 p.m. to eat dinner. I was told we could be put on a wait list, with no guarantees. Has anyone ever had this experience and were able to get the early seating? The cruise the week before has the early seating available. I guess with a lot of finagling, we could do that cruise, but really prefer the 20th. Thanks! Judy :(

[Belle]

We are planning to go on the Wonder 7/20. All they have is late seating available. We have a 12 year old and a 5 year old. The youngest won't make it till 8:30 p.m. to eat dinner. I was told we could be put on a wait list, with no guarantees.

Wish I could help - I have just run into the same thing for a June cruise on the Wonder. I have a 4 year old, and there is no way 8:30 is going to fly. They suggested we do casual fare for her at an earlier time, then maybe get her dessert at our dinner slot. I guess if she can stay awake that long, it might be an option. *sigh*

{hugs}
Belle

[NICU rn]

Hi! I have one suggestion that worked for a friend of mine on our May10th Magic cruise. See if you can find anyone on these boards or over at the DIS cruise boards who will be on your same cruise and have the early seating. If they don't mind you can get your reservations "linked" together and then you will have early seating too! The only pitfall is you must share the table with them all week so if you don't like each other, you're stuck. You can generally get a good feel for someone if you "talk" enough via e-mail, etc. Good luck! It worked for her! :)

[dvcreg]

We always have late seating, and, while there are fewer children, they are there.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. There are so many places to get a late afternoon snack, and then you'll be at the show. Every night there are photo ops with characters in between the show and dinner. All of these should be enough of a distraction to stave off any hunger pangs.

And don't forget room service. You can have an order delivered while you're getting ready for the show that night.

[CelebrationMom]

Hi Jac07!

I just booked with an agent who has little ones and she actually advised the we book the late seating.

She pointed out that early dinner also means EARLY breakfast. I forget what time, but it was a scary number. Way earlier than I plan to wake up on vacation.

In the past, she has booked late dinner, then taken her girls out of the Oceaneer's Club early for a swim and kiddie supper by the pool. Then they go back to the Club while Mom and Dad enjoy dinner together. The girls are still up when they pick them up after dinner, since they're sleeping later in the morning.

My son is three and usually goes to bed at 9:00-9:30, later if he get's an afternoon nap, so I'm thinking it will work out for us.

good luck!

:minnie:
CelebrationMom

[LisaG]

Hi CelebrationMom,
From your post I gather breakfast is assigned. When we took our last cruise, breakfast was on your own schedule. Has this changed to an assigned time as well? Or does this only apply to the character breakfast on the 7-day cruises? Thanks.

[CelebrationMom]

Hi LisaG,

Hmmm...I wonder now. The agent certainly did imply that breakfast was in a fixed time slot, early or late depending on the dinner slot you book. But we're only going on the 4-day cruise, not the 7-day. I'll try to find out more.

:minnie:
CelebrationMom

[LisaG]

Thanks. Our last cruise was the 4-day on the Wonder. We had a choice of Parrot Cay for a buffet or Triton's for breakfast that you ordered off the menu. Also we could do room service. There may have been other choices but this is what I remember.

Hopefully it is the same. I need breakfast as soon as I get up and since we are doing the late seating for dinner it might not be early enough for breakfast.

How soon are you cruising? We loved our 4-day cruise so much we have been planning our 7-day for this November ever since!

[DisneyPam]

I think the reservation agent was referrring to breakfast on Debarkation day. For debarkation, you are assigned a time for breakfast in the dining room where you last ate dinner. For folks with Main(early) Seating, breakfast is really really early. For folks with Late Seating, breakfast is only really early on that day, lol. You bring your carry-on luggage with you to breakfast and the idea is to eat breakfast and then head off the ship. I think the buffet is also open on deck 9 with Continental Breakfast fare.