Early, Late, or Your time dining on Carnival cruise??

Awesome, congrats! Where are you headed?

I love cruising, never been on Carnival though. I always pick the my time dining. I have been on cruises in the past that didn't have the "freestyle" option. I didn't like being on a strict schedule. Depending on what you do during the day you may want to eat late or early so I always play it by year.

We are going to Nassau, Half moon cay, and Grand Turk! Yes they put us on late but I was managing my cruise and seen that there was a your time option. I eat whenever I'm hungry whether it's 5pm or 8 pm, so I was worried about that.

I'm not a frequent cruiser (just once), but I can tell you it comes down to personal preference. Do you typically like to eat early or late? The flexible option is you have to wait for a table to open up and you don't get one server with whom to build a rapport, so I am less fond of that style personally.

Are there any cons to choosing your time? Such as longer waits?

Even if you have freestyle times, you can still make a reservation. We did every morning based on what our day looked like. We ate anywhere from 6:30-9 depending on the day and if you find a waiter you like, you can request them when you reserve your table

Does the set time only apply to the Main Dining Hall or to all of the restraunts that are on the ship

My only recommendation is that if you choose the early meal time it sometimes does cause you to go back onto the boat from ports at a reasonable time instead of possibly staying at port till last call

I think just the main dining hall. Like I said, I've never been on Carnival. Any speciality restaurants that cost extra usually open up to reservations a few months before. Those you definitely want to book early if you plan on going to any of them because they book up fast! We have 4 nights included at the special places so we have to decide 3 months in advance which places we want and which nights. Kind of annoying but I don't want them to go to waste

Yes FutureMrsLittle I definitely don't want to have to leave early especially if I'm not even hungry yet.

We cruise often, and have enjoyed the late dining on Carnival.

1) We usually find that there are less children at this time

2) You are not rushed to get back on the ship from port

3) We had extra time on Sea Days to enjoy the sun, and could go back to the room at sunset to get ready

I've always done my time dining. When we get on the ship we usually go to the Matire'd (spelling?) and reserve a time that works for us for the whole trip. We usually eat early 5 pm which leaves us time to do whatever we want the rest of the night. Typically we end up back at the buffet to grab snacks before they close. This is on Royal Caribbean.

We did Your time and it was wonderful! Not a long wait and you can eat when you are hungry

We usually pick the later dining and this way even if we are hungry earlier we can grab something small a few hours before dinner so that will hold us over.

We found the later dining better because it gave you more time in port and we werent rushing back to the ship to be ready for dinner.

I have never done freestyle before but we are doing a Norwegian Cruise for the honeymoon so we will see how we like it

Your time dining is what we do and we love it . Eta : we like to be able to go when ever we want and not miss any shows or anything!

I like the my time dining, but just be prepared that there may be times that you have to wait for a table. I've never been on Carnival so I don't know if that is an issue, it was on Celebrity. If you choose a early timed dining and want to stay in port longer you can always eat at the buffet that night, or room service.

Also if you have the option get the faster to the fun pass it's so worth it

What is the faster to the fun pass?

I've done all three and the later the better because I'm always snacking while walking. But you don't have to go to the sit down dinner if you don't want to

I am a frequent cruiser and much prefer the later dining. It is nice because you are constantly eating anyways during the day, you don't have to rush back on the ship when you are at port to shower and get ready and it allows time to take a nap midday if you aren't at port. The only downside is that sometimes it is harder to get seats at the shows. With my time sometimes you end up waiting awhile and you aren't always with the same table mates. I enjoy getting to know others and to hear about their adventures throughout the trip. Any way you go though you will love it! I would also suggest looking into the unlimited alcohol packages (it's nice not to even have the think about getting a drink) and look at cruisecritic.com

We always do the later option. We love it for the reasons that pp have listed. Also, we are night owls, so missing the first showing of a show isn't a big deal, we just go to the later one. If you go to bed kinda early though, maybe earlier is better since the shows can be a lot of fun to see. You can also, at any time, skip the formal dinning room and grab food from the buffet or other mini food places if there is a reason later doesn't work. We usually do that about 1-2 times a trip.

Faster to the fun basically gives you priority when boarding and debarking the ship at the beginning/end. It also gets your luggage to you quicker when you get on (highly recommend you take your luggage with your yourself when you get off though).