5 Night Wonder Baja Cruise Dining Rotation Question

[crauen]

My family is scheduled to take the 5 night Baja Cruise on the Wonder out of San Diego in April 2022. I had a few questions about the dining rotation that I wondered if the board could help with. (I know we are a year out but I love planning things in advance).

My goal is to dine at Palo one night, Cabanas buffet one night (preferably Pirate night as I am a bit meh on the main dining room pirate menu) and each of the speciality restaurants with their regular menus on the other three nights. We are a family of 3 and are Castaway Silver and are traveling with another family of 3 who is currently castaway silver, but may be gold by that point)

Based on how the dining rotation typically works on a 5 night cruise would this pattern be possible?

Night 1 - Palo (kids eat in either kids club or by the pool pre-Palo)
Night 2 - First Main Dining Room
Night 3 - Pirate Buffet in Cabanas
Night 4 - Second Main Dining Room (preferred Tiana's for dress up night)
Night 5 - Third Main Dining Room

If this rotation is possibly do you think it will be easier to get our preferred order if we have second dining? We currently have second dining and are waitlisted for first.

Thanks!

 

[auntlynne]

Palo’s on the first night is a smart plan. Many times they have allowed you to pre-book two nights in Palo if the first one was Night 1. Hard to get people to give up meeting their waitstaff in MDR.

I haven’t sailed since Dec 2014. Have they made Cabanas a buffet at night? Previously, it was waiter service from a short menu (usually of food offered in the MDR + a ribeye or similar).

And yes, second seating seems to give more flexibility in changing tables.

Do they feed kids in the kids’clubs?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My family is scheduled to take the 5 night Baja Cruise on the Wonder out of San Diego in April 2022. I had a few questions about the dining rotation that I wondered if the board could help with. (I know we are a year out but I love planning things in advance).

My goal is to dine at Palo one night, Cabanas buffet one night (preferably Pirate night as I am a bit meh on the main dining room pirate menu) and each of the speciality restaurants with their regular menus on the other three nights. We are a family of 3 and are Castaway Silver and are traveling with another family of 3 who is currently castaway silver, but may be gold by that point)

Based on how the dining rotation typically works on a 5 night cruise would this pattern be possible?

Night 1 - Palo (kids eat in either kids club or by the pool pre-Palo)
Night 2 - First Main Dining Room
Night 3 - Pirate Buffet in Cabanas
Night 4 - Second Main Dining Room (preferred Tiana's for dress up night)
Night 5 - Third Main Dining Room

If this rotation is possibly do you think it will be easier to get our preferred order if we have second dining? We currently have second dining and are waitlisted for first.

Thanks!

Do you know the rotation on a 5 night cruise? That would determine whether you'd be able to "do" the 3 MDRs on nights 2, 4 & 5. I don't believe the rotation schedule would do that. On our Wonder 5 night Baja cruise several years ago the rotation was 12312. With the order of MDRs being Triton's, Animator's Palate, Parrot Cay (now Tiana's). So the 3 rotation options (if the rotation on a 5 night is 12312) would be TAPTA, or APTAP, or PTAPT.

And, yes Cabanas for dinner is a sit down table service with selected items from the menus available in the other dining rooms. Not a buffet.

 

[crauen]

Thanks. I don't know the rotation on the 5 night and am trying to figure it out as 5 nights are a lot less common. My understanding is that maybe pirate night is always a restaurant repeat? I.e. if you are 1223 on a 4 night one of those 2's is pirate night. So maybe the five night is something like 12331? I would love to hear from someone who has been on a 5 night if they have an example?

I looked around at some prior navigators and it looks like dinner is served in the kids club, but not on the first night. So if we did Palo on that night we would have to feed the kids by the pool and then take them to the kids club while we went to Palo. I was also confused that the pirate buffet is late night only but it looks like Cabanas has the regular sit-down menu on pirate night so I might still eat at Cabanas that night, particularly as that is our big shore excursion day and the kids (and adults) might appreciate an easier dinner after all day on shore.

Thanks again as this info is very helpful and appreciated!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thanks. I don't know the rotation on the 5 night and am trying to figure it out as 5 nights are a lot less common. My understanding is that maybe pirate night is always a restaurant repeat? I.e. if you are 1223 on a 4 night one of those 2's is pirate night. So maybe the five night is something like 12331? I would love to hear from someone who has been on a 5 night if they have an example?

I looked around at some prior navigators and it looks like dinner is served in the kids club, but not on the first night. So if we did Palo on that night we would have to feed the kids by the pool and then take them to the kids club while we went to Palo. I was also confused that the pirate buffet is late night only but it looks like Cabanas has the regular sit-down menu on pirate night so I might still eat at Cabanas that night, particularly as that is our big shore excursion day and the kids (and adults) might appreciate an easier dinner after all day on shore.

Thanks again as this info is very helpful and appreciated!

I edited my post because I remembered we'd done a 5 night Baja cruise in the past.

 

[JWelch62]

Do you know the rotation on a 5 night cruise? That would determine whether you'd be able to "do" the 3 MDRs on nights 2, 4 & 5. I don't believe the rotation schedule would do that. On our Wonder 5 night Baja cruise several years ago the rotation was 12312. With the order of MDRs being Triton's, Animator's Palate, Parrot Cay (now Tiana's). So the 3 rotation options (if the rotation on a 5 night is 12312) would be TAPTA, or APTAP, or PTAPT.

And, yes Cabanas for dinner is a sit down table service with selected items from the menus available in the other dining rooms. Not a buffet.

Our 5N (4/7/19 - 4/12/19) rotation was Animator's, Tiana's, Tiana's, Triton's, Animators. So, 12231

 

[auntlynne]

There’s a lot to figure out on these cruises. PrincessShmoo is a great source of help.

After 17 DCL cruises, I am still somewhat in the dark about dining rotations.

And i never want the pirate menu, so I try to figure out which port will get the fireworks and book Palo that night.

 

[auntlynne]

Don’t forget room service as an option for the kids’ supper. Instead of, or in addition to, poolside food.

 

[crauen]

Thanks. Those are very helpful suggestions. Room service on the first night might be great so we can keep the kiddos settled and feed them while we get dressed up for Palo. Fingers crossed we can get something like Animators, Tiana's, Tiana's Tritons, Animators. So our dining "rotation" would hopefully be Palo, Tiana's, Cabanas sit-down, Tritons (dress-up), Animators. We have considered Palo for pirate night but that is our day in Cabo where we are doing the beach club excursion and I am concerned about being too sun-fried to properly enjoy Palo but it is definitely something I will consider and bring to the rest of my group.

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

We were supposed to be on a cancelled 5 night Baja cruise in April 2020. I had asked the concierge team for the dining rotations ahead of time, they were all 12231. We have booked the same cruise for April 2022, hoping this one sticks!