Eating dinner on the Fantasy, not in MDR.

[bobbiwoz]

We have booked a last minute cruise, and first dining is not available, so we did waitlist.

We do prefer to eat around 6 and have never not eaten in MDR, except for Palo. Please tell us how the upstairs dinner works. I have read that it is not buffet, and is not available for first or last nights. What else should we know? Our MDR servers will get the tips, I believe, but what about the servers upstairs?

Thank you.

Bobbi

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We have booked a last minute cruise, and first dining is not available, so we did waitlist.

We do prefer to eat around 6 and have never not eaten in MDR, except for Palo. Please tell us how the upstairs dinner works. I have read that it is not buffet, and is not available for first or last nights. What else should we know? Our MDR servers will get the tips, I believe, but what about the servers upstairs?

Thank you.

Bobbi

Well, besides the buffet (which isn't usually a buffet for dinner), there's room service, adult dining, quick serve locations for dinner. Cabanas/Beach Blanket has serving times, and you can go anytime during those hours.

If you do dine in Cabanas/Beach Blanket for dinner, AFAIK, you can tip the servers there directly, or not, as you wish.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Thanks. Does anyone here have any food reports about Cabana's at dinner? We have Palo for 1 night.

 

[TgrFans]

We booked a last minute cruise on the Fantasy last Fall and got second seating also (first fills up quickly). As soon as we boarded the ship (before we headed to Cabanas for lunch), I went to Royal Palace where they had a table set up for dining rotation changes. I was able to switch my party of 4 to early dining without any problems! Give it a try!

 

[bobbiwoz]

We booked a last minute cruise on the Fantasy last Fall and got second seating also (first fills up quickly). As soon as we boarded the ship (before we headed to Cabanas for lunch), I went to Royal Palace where they had a table set up for dining rotation changes. I was able to switch my party of 4 to early dining without any problems! Give it a try!

Thank you, we will try that. In case I am not successful, I do want to understand what sort of meals we will have in Cabanas. I have thought we just may eat our main meal at lunch.

Who has eaten dinner at Cabanas? What was on the menu?

Bobbi

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thank you, we will try that. In case I am not successful, I do want to understand what sort of meals we will have in Cabanas. I have thought we just may eat our main meal at lunch.

Who has eaten dinner at Cabanas? What was on the menu?

Bobbi

The menu in Cabanas varies from day to day, as it's selected items from the other menus being served in the dining rooms that evening. This is the Cabanas menu from the night that the Prince & Princess menu was being served for dinner on our recent Fantasy cruise:

 

[Smuggs]

The rib eye I had there was excellent!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I really appreciate seeing a menu and I would also enjoy a rib eye! Definitely doable!

 

[Silver Queen]

Not to hijack the thread, but I'm curious about the ribeyes at Cabanas. Are they better than the ribeyes at Serenity Bay? We were very disappointed in those.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Not to hijack the thread, but I'm curious about the ribeyes at Cabanas. Are they better than the ribeyes at Serenity Bay? We were very disappointed in those.

I will make an effort to find out! I agree with you about the one I had at Serenity Bay....not good.

 

[kstaack]

If you are not successful at changing the time I would give the late seating a try. We had late seating for the first time on our trip a few weeks ago. I actually really enjoyed it because I never felt rushed to end what I was doing to get to dinner....and I was actually a little bit hungry by the time it was our seating.

This is the one thing that I don't really love about DCL. I wish you could do anytime dining. However, I realize this is not a possibly due to the way they have the rotational dining and the wait staff assigned to each person.

 

[bobbiwoz]

If you are not successful at changing the time I would give the late seating a try. We had late seating for the first time on our trip a few weeks ago. I actually really enjoyed it because I never felt rushed to end what I was doing to get to dinner....and I was actually a little bit hungry by the time it was our seating.

This is the one thing that I don't really love about DCL. I wish you could do anytime dining. However, I realize this is not a possibly due to the way they have the rotational dining and the wait staff assigned to each person.

Ok. We will be there on the first night, so, yes, we will try it! When we do RCCL or Princess, we do anytime dining.

 

[Cptnkirky]

We ate at Cabanas a couple nights on our first cruise. We had early seating, baby wasn't having it, so we had to return to put to bed and went to Cabanas after g-parents returned to watch baby.
The food there was excellent! Almost better then the dining room, specifically because it usually hot and quick. The menu is often some of the same items on the rotational menu that night in one of the DR. We had seen the menus that night in the DR and chose some of the same items in Cabanas we would have or did order in the DR already. The servers there are SOOOO nice, and it is quiet and wasn't too busy. However, we were there usually around 7:30-8pm, so not sure how it would be when it first opens.
If you can't change your DR choice, I would say to try Cabanas. Keep your DR as an option for some nights you might want to go later to dinner, but otherwise Cabanas is a great option IMHO

 

[MichelleVW]

Not to hijack the thread, but I'm curious about the ribeyes at Cabanas. Are they better than the ribeyes at Serenity Bay? We were very disappointed in those.

Yes...way better!! We ate at Cabanas a few weeks ago on the Fantasy the night of the National Championship game so we wouldn't miss any of the game. The food and service was awesome! I got the ribeye which was hot and delicious...and my daughter got the chicken (she's not very adventorous) and said it was really good. She had been getting the boring chicken in the MDR's and said the one at Cabanas was way better.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We ate at Cabanas a couple nights on our first cruise. We had early seating, baby wasn't having it, so we had to return to put to bed and went to Cabanas after g-parents returned to watch baby.
The food there was excellent! Almost better then the dining room, specifically because it usually hot and quick. The menu is often some of the same items on the rotational menu that night in one of the DR. We had seen the menus that night in the DR and chose some of the same items in Cabanas we would have or did order in the DR already. The servers there are SOOOO nice, and it is quiet and wasn't too busy. However, we were there usually around 7:30-8pm, so not sure how it would be when it first opens.
If you can't change your DR choice, I would say to try Cabanas. Keep your DR as an option for some nights you might want to go later to dinner, but otherwise Cabanas is a great option IMHO

This is so good to read! Thank you!

What about tipping the servers?

 

[Dug720]

Do keep in mind that Cabanas at night is not an option on the first or last night.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

This is so good to read! Thank you!

What about tipping the servers?

Are you asking whether you should tip the dining room servers? Yes. The tips that you give for "dinner" servers actually covers all food service (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, whatever). Your dinner servers serve breakfast & lunch in the MDRs as well as working Cabanas and the quick serve locations. I've even found our asst server bussing tables on the pool deck during the daytime.

 

[ksucats]

Are you asking whether you should tip the dining room servers? Yes. The tips that you give for "dinner" servers actually covers all food service (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, whatever). Your dinner servers serve breakfast & lunch in the MDRs as well as working Cabanas and the quick serve locations. I've even found our asst server bussing tables on the pool deck during the daytime.

I think they were asking about tipping the Cabanas servers. If they aren't working the MDR's for dinner, where do their tips come from?

 

[bobbiwoz]

Are you asking whether you should tip the dining room servers? Yes. The tips that you give for "dinner" servers actually covers all food service (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, whatever). Your dinner servers serve breakfast & lunch in the MDRs as well as working Cabanas and the quick serve locations. I've even found our asst server bussing tables on the pool deck during the daytime.

I think they were asking about tipping the Cabanas servers. If they aren't working the MDR's for dinner, where do their tips come from?

Right, I am asking about the Cabana dinner servers.

If we cannot change, we will meet "our" servers on the first night (when we will tell them of our plans) and then on the last night. They will get the usual tips. We have Palo one night. It's the up to 4 nights that we eat in Cabanas that we are taking about. Do they get tips from DCL based on their service?...or is there something diners do, as we do in Palo.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Right, I am asking about the Cabana dinner servers.

If we cannot change, we will meet "our" servers on the first night (when we will tell them of our plans) and then on the last night. They will get the usual tips. We have Palo one night. It's the up to 4 nights that we eat in Cabanas that we are taking about. Do they get tips from DCL based on their service?...or is there something diners do, as we do in Palo.

The Cabanas servers are in training. They are not the regular servers in the MDRs. Although, sometimes one might be pulled to cover for a server in the dining rooms (we've had that experience). Whether you tip them or not is up to you. Some people do, others don't. Usually you will tip them as you do in a "regular" restaurant, with cash on the table (or directly to them, whatever is more comfortable for you).