Cabanas or Enchanted Garden for lunch on embarkation day?

[PrincessShmoo]

Ok. Since we are in a concierge room next cruise, we will likely stick with Cabanas. We do love the view up there! And speaking of the drink stations, those dinky little glasses are precisely why we always bring larger Tervis cups. It's a pain to be constantly refilling the small glasses.

But you are using the "dinky" glasses to fill your bigger one, right?

 

[wehavesix]

Definitely! Being a pre-k teacher has turned me into a full blown germophobe.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Interesting, I'd seen a lot of "insider" advice recommending EG to avoid crowds and chaos, so that was my tentative plan. Plus, if I have the dining rooms figured out, someone at EG will bring me a real iced tea vs. "Fuze". (I did pick up on fewer options at EG, but calmer atmosphere is a net positive to me.)

We did EG for our first cruise on the dream and it was ok. The last 2 cruises on the Fantasy we did Cabanas and was much better. Here are my 2 tips to make it even better. 1) when you get on the ship turn left to go to the rear elevators, they take you straight up to the rear entrance of cabanas. 2) hit the hot beverage station and fill a coffee cup with hot water and 2 tea bags of choice, they have about 8-10 flavors, the black currant (or something like that is awesome). Let that seep while you get your food and fill up a 20 oz Tervis tumbler with ice. 3) enjoy lunch and the wonderful start to your cruise. I also highly recommend an outside table if you can get one

 

[Sunshine2U]

2) hit the hot beverage station and fill a coffee cup with hot water and 2 tea bags of choice, they have about 8-10 flavors, the black currant (or something like that is awesome). Let that seep while you get your food and fill up a 20 oz Tervis tumbler with ice.

That was pretty much my SOP, too. I would make enough to last all morning!

 

[phinz]

Ok. Since we are in a concierge room next cruise, we will likely stick with Cabanas. We do love the view up there! And speaking of the drink stations, those dinky little glasses are precisely why we always bring larger Tervis cups. It's a pain to be constantly refilling the small glasses.

I've never even gone near Cabanas when staying Concierge. There's enough food in the lounge to hold me off until the crowds die down.

The biggest thing that frustrates me about Cabanas is that the majority of diners seem to be first-time DCL cruisers, or first time on the Dream-class ships, so they don't understand the concept of station buffets, thinking it works like a standard buffet. They queue up just inside the door and give people nasty looks (sometimes even saying something to them) when others in the know move ahead of them to the next station. Eventually a Cast Member will come over and explain it to them, but for a while the line can block the entrance.

 

[mmouse37]

I've never even gone near Cabanas when staying Concierge. There's enough food in the lounge to hold me off until the crowds die down.

The biggest thing that frustrates me about Cabanas is that the majority of diners seem to be first-time DCL cruisers, or first time on the Dream-class ships, so they don't understand the concept of station buffets, thinking it works like a standard buffet. They queue up just inside the door and give people nasty looks (sometimes even saying something to them) when others in the know move ahead of them to the next station. Eventually a Cast Member will come over and explain it to them, but for a while the line can block the entrance.

We have found this often as well, but usually it is just the first day. The CM's do try to get people not to wait in one line and it can be off putting when someone gives you the evil eye for jumping ahead to a different station. It is just that dang buffet line mentality. People usually get the hang of it after the first day.

On our Fantasy cruise 2 weeks ago we opted for EG because we got on much later than we anticipated. We usually board with group #1 but didn't this time. We always go to Cabanas but heard it was packed so we went to EG. The wait on that one buffet line was at least 15 minutes. It never seemed to move. It was nice having our drinks brought to us by a server but I still much prefer getting onboard early and hitting Cabanas.

MJ

 

[OKW Lover]

We've done both and after the first few cruises (done 12 so far) we decided we preferred EG over Cabana. We like being shown to a table and having our drink order taken. We like that we don't have to juggle our food and luggage while searching for a place to sit. We've never noticed anything lacking in the buffet line at EG.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm partial to EG for first lunch. I won't eat heavy anyway. I'm surprised nobody has brought up the big variety of scooped ice cream available. Not something I eat but my family are all about the ice cream!

 

[Kimosabe]

Although Cabanas certainly has its hectic feel during those first few hours on the ship, that is our go-to spot. I guess the crowd is just a quick reminder that we're finally somewhere that we weren't the day before (home, work, school, etc.) and that vacation has officially started...alone on a ship...with 4,000 of our closest friends! Even with carry-ons and what-not dragging behind us, there's something about Cabanas that screams "vacation" and we know we'll have a week ahead of us with plenty of opportunities to escape crowds if and when we want to do so.

 

[tweis]

We've done both and prefer EG. We just like the less hectic atmosphere to start our cruise but I get why others prefer Cabanas. Cabanas does have a much larger buffet with more choices but we are perfectly happy with the smaller buffet and as @sweetpee_1993 mentioned, the scooped ice cream that my boys (and husband) enjoy. When DH and I cruised solo, we had Cabanas for lunch the first day and enjoyed it out on deck and it was wonderful but we weren't trying to help our kids get their lunch and drinks ready either. There really isn't a bad choice in my opinion. It just depends on what kind of atmosphere you want.

 

[saraheli]

I personally felt that Cabanas was mayhem on the first day of our cruise and it was definitely not the way I like to start a vacation. We're sailing concierge our next trip and plan on having lunch in the concierge lounge. If we weren't sailing concierge then I would definitely head down to Enchanted Garden for lunch.

 

[phinz]

I saw at least one room with room service trays outside their room not long after we were able to check into our rooms, so there appears to always be that as option. I've never ordered room service, so I'm not sure.

 

[moko]

I have only cruised once (we did EG) and I think that was the right move for us. I tried breakfast in Cabanas the next morning and I guess because there were 5 of us, we could NOT find a place to sit. A lot of the tables are 2 or 4 top and not close together. Then the larger tables are often occupied with 2 people but can't blame them because they probably sat there with no other options when they arrived. I felt like a vulture waiting for them to finish so we could sit. LOL To me, it seemed difficult to dine there because we wanted to sit together. We returned to Cabanas a few other times during our cruise and seemed to run into this problem most of the time. I enjoy the dining rooms because there's always a table for us.

 

[Eric Julie and Hailey]

I saw at least one room with room service trays outside their room not long after we were able to check into our rooms, so there appears to always be that as option. I've never ordered room service, so I'm not sure.

There is no room service on day 1 (embarkation) or day 8 (debarkation). Some grab trays of food from Cabanas and bring the food to the stateroom (once rooms are ready).

 

[phinz]

There is no room service on day 1 (embarkation) or day 8 (debarkation). Some grab trays of food from Cabanas and bring the food to the stateroom (once rooms are ready).

That would make more sense to me.

 

[phinz]

There is no room service on day 1 (embarkation) or day 8 (debarkation). Some grab trays of food from Cabanas and bring the food to the stateroom (once rooms are ready).

Do they provide the covers for your plate in Cabanas or Enchanted Garden? Because there were covers on these plates. It was actually our next door neighbors who left the tray outside their room.

 

[Dug720]

There is no room service on day 1 (embarkation) or day 8 (debarkation). Some grab trays of food from Cabanas and bring the food to the stateroom (once rooms are ready).

I am pretty sure I have read more than one person who ordered the cheese and fruit plate from room service to have their own sail away party on their verandah. That would indicate that there IS room service on embarkation day.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

There's also the munchie items you can pre-order off the website prior to sailing. Like where you order flower arrangements, water packages, beer mugs, etc. I think there's meat & cheese or a fruit plate or something. That could be what the trays were on embarkation day. Hubby ordered a couple once when we sailed with my brother. I know Ed had them in the staterooms prior to sail away.

 

[jpeppers]

I didn't like EG. The line was long and the food choices seemed to be way less than at Cabanas plus I love immediately having that view.

 

[Dug720]

There's also the munchie items you can pre-order off the website prior to sailing. Like where you order flower arrangements, water packages, beer mugs, etc. I think there's meat & cheese or a fruit plate or something. That could be what the trays were on embarkation day. Hubby ordered a couple once when we sailed with my brother. I know Ed had them in the staterooms prior to sail away.

I know there are those, but I am pretty sure people have specifically said they ordered the tray from room service.