Ahoy, Laura!
Planning for dinner and a show
every night... yes, someone's gotta do it. And you and your family are just the right set of buccaneers to do this job!
Choosing one of two dinner seating times is a personal preference. My family and I are from California, so it's a pretty easy choice for us to go for the late seating due to the time zone difference. But when we sailed a couple times on the west coast (same time zone), we still did the late seating actually -- since we preferred watching the show first, and didn't mind having a late dinner.
If your younger kids are used to eating at a certain time on eastern standard time zone (EST), then I would use that as a gauge. I've met a lot of cruisers with young children from the east coast who prefer the first dinner seating at 5:45pm. If your little ones are too tired to watch the show with you, they could be dropped off at the
Nursery :-). Then the rest of the family can enjoy the evening show. If you decide to go with the late dinner seating at around 8pm, then you would watch the earlier show. Just in case you get hungry in the early evening before the 6pm show, you can always grab a quick bite to eat at the
quick service restaurants by the pool deck, or you can order something light from the complimentary
room service. This is just to hold you over, until your late seating dinner time.
There's a good amount of activity going on around you, and the kids will be excited - that may help keep them awake (sometimes).
Happy planning, Laura!
~ Dolly