That wouldn’t have worked for me for a number of reasons. I was in a motorhome which would have to be parked, we didn’t want to eat that early and had a whole evening ahead of us. Sitting in the bar all evening drinking isn’t an option with my partner as she’s teetotal which does have advantages . As it happened the boat sailed on time, we were unlucky to be loaded last because of the type of vehicle. And I have a suspicion the restaurant was closed partly because there were few private travellers on board. A lot of trucks.
there's quite a difference being in the queue with the facilities of a motorhome and being there on a motorcycle, plus the OP's departure time lends itself to having dinner prior to boarding. My response was about the context of the OP and not relevant to anecdotes about other routes.