Disney Wonder Dining and Departure Time Changes - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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It seems like DCL will be testing a new dinning time on the Wonder for 90 days -
Dining Times:
From DCL -
• Effective May 11, 2008, They have made a slight adjustment to the rotational dining times on the Disney Wonder 3- and 4-night sailings. All Main Dining is at 5:45 p.m. and all Second Dining is at 8:15 p.m. Staggered dining times have been suspended on the Disney Wonder for a 90-day period.
• At this time, the Disney Magic will continue using staggered dining times with Main Dining at 5:30 p.m., 5:45 p.m. or 6:00 p.m.; and Second Dining at 8:00 p.m., 8:15 p.m., or 8:30 p.m. They are evaluating guest satisfaction with staggered dining times on 7-night voyages.
Disney Wonder 5:30 p.m. Departure from Nassau
• The majority of Guests return to the Disney Wonder in the late afternoon to prepare for the evening’s activities onboard. Therefore, effective May 11, 2008, we are sailing from Nassau at 5:30 p.m., and all Guests must be on board by 5:15 p.m. on the 3- and 4-night sailings.
Dining Attire on 3-Night Bahamian Cruises
The dress-up night on the third night of the 3-Night Bahamian Cruise has been altered. Dress-up attire is now optional instead of recommended.
I wonder if they will keep the changes on the Wonder after the 90 day trial.....
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I saw this in my Magically Speaking newsletter..... thanks for posting more about it! We'll cruising for the first time in Nov. so I don't know how the changes will affect..... but I hope it's all worked out and good by Nov.
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Thanks for the update. Note sure what I think of the change. It could be somewhat chaotic to seat all the guests at once...
The staggered seating times haven't been around all that long. For most of the ships' histories, they've seated everyone at once. While there was often a line of folks waiting to be seated, once the doors were opened the line moved very quickly. Most folks only need help getting seated for the first couple/few meals. So, on the Magic, the backups tend to disappear after the first few nights, leaving many more nights when it's not such a problem.
I suspect that the staggered seating times plan just hasn't been as successful as they'd hoped. It was supposed to reduce crowds outside the restaurant entrances before dinnertime, but for the times I've cruised since staggered seating times were added, I didn't notice a huge improvement in the crowds.
I suspect they're thinking, "If it's not really helping cut down on crowds, and it ends up making the guests confused (and possibly unhappy), then maybe we should go back to the old way."
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