Palo or not?

[ajgardner]

We are going on a 4 night cruise on the Dream in August. This is our first cruise, ever. I'm trying to decide if we should book a dinner at Palo - or just stick to our rotations. I know that Palo is supposed to be fantastic and I'd love to try it...but - I don't want to miss out on the other dining experiences either. Most people seem to try and book on Pirate night, but I would think for our first cruise we should experience this? Along with that, I do not know how my kids will react to the kids' clubs (ds - 7 and dd-12) - if one of them decides they don't want to go to the club that night (which is a possibility with my son because of sensory issues) then we would have to cancel.
So, what would you recommend - go ahead and book it and hope all goes well (if so, what dining experience should we skip)? Or, don't bother with Palo this time and if we do another cruise, go for it then?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are going on a 4 night cruise on the Dream in August. This is our first cruise, ever. I'm trying to decide if we should book a dinner at Palo - or just stick to our rotations. I know that Palo is supposed to be fantastic and I'd love to try it...but - I don't want to miss out on the other dining experiences either. Most people seem to try and book on Pirate night, but I would think for our first cruise we should experience this? Along with that, I do not know how my kids will react to the kids' clubs (ds - 7 and dd-12) - if one of them decides they don't want to go to the club that night (which is a possibility with my son because of sensory issues) then we would have to cancel.
So, what would you recommend - go ahead and book it and hope all goes well (if so, what dining experience should we skip)? Or, don't bother with Palo this time and if we do another cruise, go for it then?

Honestly, for a first cruise and a short one, I'd just go with the regular roatations. Save Palo for another time (as there probably will be one ).

 

[bellabaloo]

We are going on a 4 night cruise on the Dream in August. This is our first cruise, ever. I'm trying to decide if we should book a dinner at Palo - or just stick to our rotations. I know that Palo is supposed to be fantastic and I'd love to try it...but - I don't want to miss out on the other dining experiences either. Most people seem to try and book on Pirate night, but I would think for our first cruise we should experience this? Along with that, I do not know how my kids will react to the kids' clubs (ds - 7 and dd-12) - if one of them decides they don't want to go to the club that night (which is a possibility with my son because of sensory issues) then we would have to cancel.
So, what would you recommend - go ahead and book it and hope all goes well (if so, what dining experience should we skip)? Or, don't bother with Palo this time and if we do another cruise, go for it then?

We just got back from our first disney cruise and went to Palo for both a dinner and a brunch. It was far better than the dining room food. i think any night you choose will be fine. No one main dining rm experience is better than the others, imo. Palo was awesome.

 

[luv2sleep]

My fav was palo brunch. Try todo that maybe? The kids will probably enjoy the clubs when they are less tired.

 

[lbgraves]

We didn't go to Palo on our first cruise, a 7-night. We simply were enjoying the MDR with our kids and servers. We went to dinner our second cruise only because friends we had made on the boards and linked dining with insisted that the kids go to dinner with them. We have not gone to Palo each cruise since. It's nice, but if we don't go it's not a big deal for us.

 

[HollandmillerFamily]

Do the brunch! No issues with missing any dinners in the MDRs and, like another poster suggested, it might be more fun for your kids in the clubs during the day anyway. And no missed family time at dinner.
Good luck!

 

[tryin]

Do the brunch! No issues with missing any dinners in the MDRs and, like another poster suggested, it might be more fun for your kids in the clubs during the day anyway. And no missed family time at dinner.
Good luck!

I concur!

 

[dbenlee]

As others have suggested, I would do brunch at most for such a short cruise being that it is your first. And in my opinion, brunch is better than dinner. Don;t get me wrong, they are both great and well worth it.

 

[jdb in AZ]

The problem with brunch on a 4-day is that there's only one day it's available, which makes it difficult(!) to get reservations. So, if you can't, don't sweat it.

 

[darkwing818]

We just got back from our first disney cruise and went to Palo for both a dinner and a brunch. It was far better than the dining room food. i think any night you choose will be fine. No one main dining rm experience is better than the others, imo. Palo was awesome.

Gets my vote as well , do both. Who knows when you'll get to cruise again. Palo (or Remy) should not be missed.

 

[disneyholic family]

On my most recent cruise this past October, on the Dream, we really enjoyed the main dining rooms - both the food and the service.

We only ate in palo for brunch and were disappointed in both the food and the service.

So you see, everyone is different. You might like it, you might not.

 

[ajgardner]

I didn't think of the brunch because I don't typically like brunch - I'm weird, I either like breakfast food or lunch food, I don't like to mix them! However, maybe I will do it just to try Palo out and then hopefully there will be a next time where we are a little more "in tune" with the whole experience and we can do dinner then! I'm assuming brunch is served on the day at sea for the 4 night cruise? What time frame do they do the brunch?
I know it will be tricky to get the brunch resv. so I will take it as a sign if I can't get it!

 

[robhawk]

First reservation is at 10am. I believe it goes til 2pm
On our first cruise we did this. The kids went to the movies.
I think it will be easier during the day. Love Palo brunch!!!

 

[disneyholic family]

by the way, on our first cruise we didn't do palos because our kids weren't old enough and we didn't want to eat any meals without them

Our son was in the teen club on that cruise, but he had all meals with us (that was our family time).
So we didn't want to give up one of those times by going to palo without him.

On our second cruise, both kids were old enough for palo so we did the palo brunch. The food and service were good, but it wasn't the big deal that everyone makes it out to be. We wouldn't have done it again.

However, on my last cruise, i was with my mom and sister. So i decided to reserve palo dinner, remy dinner and palo brunch.
But then my sister decided that remy was too foodie for her, so i canceled that.
And then we fell in love with our regular MDR wait staff (our server was beyond outstanding - he was superb, amazing, incredibly good) so we didn't want to give up even one night in the MDRs, so we cancelled the palo dinner (no charge as they had a waiting list of people who wanted it).
In the end, we only did the palo brunch and this time i was actually disappointed by both the food and service. And my mom and sister agreed with me.

I'm sorry i didn't have a chance to eat at remy, but there's always next time.
Anyway, that's the full story

 

[oliverdj]

I think you should make the reservations for Palo (at least you have the option)

On our 1st disney cruise last fall my DH & I ate at Palo & we really enjoyed our experience there.

Like others have posted, who knows when you will cruise again

Have fun on your cruise!

 

[iloverags2]

We absolutely love dinner at Palo, and feel it is definitely a must do on our cruises. Since you will be on the Dream, try and book Palo for the night you will repeat in one of the three dining rooms. If I remember correctly, you will repeat the same dining room on nights 3 and 4, with night 3 being Pirate Night. If that isn't a good option (i.e. you do not want to miss Pirate Night along with wanting to dine together as a family on your last night of the cruise), then I would skip either Enchanted Garden or Royal Palace, as I think your children would love Animator's Palate (although if one of them has sensory issues, AP might be overdo for them since it is quite loud in there...in that case, you may decide that is best dining room for your family to miss). Of course, you will not know your rotation prior to your cruise, but you can always call DCL and request a certain rotation (AP/EG/RP/RP or RP/AP/EG/EG or EG/RP/AP/AP). Not a guarantee, but they will try to honor your request. And if the rotation ends up not working out with your plans, you can try and change Palo dinner after you board the ship.

Now, if you do decide to have dinner at Palo your children still have a few options for dinner that evening. First, they can eat in the dining room alone. Just let your servers know ahead of time, and they will tend to them! There are also a few other food options on the ship. Cabanas buffet will be open on certain nights of your sailing. If it happens to be open on your Palo night, you can take your kids to eat there before your dinner. Also, room service is available 24 hours...they can enjoy a fun in-room dinner before heading off to the clubs, while you head off to Palo. Lastly, they can get a bite from Flo's where you will find burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, salad, pizza, and the like.

Hope this helps!

 

[AlexMaxAunt]

I would skip Palo. I just got off my first cruise yesterday and did Palo brunch on Friday. I did not think it was that much better than the main dining room and two of the four of us said we probably wouldn't do it again. The desserts were about the same as MDR. The pizzas that everyone raved about do not even compare to some pizza places I've been to. I was expecting better. I was also not expecting much from the MDR and buffets and was pleasantly surprised because I thought they were above average.

 

[starousse]

Do the brunch! No issues with missing any dinners in the MDRs and, like another poster suggested, it might be more fun for your kids in the clubs during the day anyway. And no missed family time at dinner.
Good luck!

I was gonna ask the same question...and I think this is the happy medium. As much as it would be nice to have a date night with the hubby. I would feel bad not all eating together, especially that it's only a 4 night cruise.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I would skip Palo. I just got off my first cruise yesterday and did Palo brunch on Friday. I did not think it was that much better than the main dining room and two of the four of us said we probably wouldn't do it again. The desserts were about the same as MDR. The pizzas that everyone raved about do not even compare to some pizza places I've been to. I was expecting better. I was also not expecting much from the MDR and buffets and was pleasantly surprised because I thought they were above average.

I think this is how I feel too. Because the MDRs are much nicer than other cruise dining options, it's no contest. Anything you don't like, send back or ask what you want and ours really worked hard to get it for us as quickly as possible. Our weight staff was impeccable. Super super. We didn't miss out anything missing the MDR but it was a 3 day cruise, and so every night counted. Now we get a 4 day, but when you spend extra $$$, you expect extra. When you don't spend extra dough, you might be pleasantly surprised! That's how we roll.

Can't wait to try the new dining rooms on the Magic as well!

 

[nikkistevej]

Do the brunch- well worth it!!