Are we Crazy-No Palo

[Oh Son of Ours]

With so much to do and see, we were not planing on eating at Palo. Our son is not the problem, I'm sure he'll want to be in the kids program a lot.

Will we realling be missing something so great. I've seen other posts outlining the food in the dining rooms and the food seems good there too.

Keep in mind that we are only doing the 4 day cruise since we're doing the land & sea.


PS--All this planning will drive me crazy untill Sept. 05.

 

[abitjaded]

Yeah, you are crazy. Crazy to miss that pistachio berry torte. Crazy to miss the peace at the top of the ship. Crazy to miss the unhurried service. The food at most of the meals is just O.K. to me. But the food at Palo is REALLY good. Some of it amazing.

Carla

 

[jrabbit]

I've got a differing opinion. We've never had dinner in Palo. We have enjoyed our servers and tablemates that we have not had the desire to go up top to eat. Even on our first cruise (a 4 nighter on the Magic way back in '99) we had a "language barrier" with the families we were seated with. We still had a GREAT time with them and the serving team.

What we do do is go to Palo for Brunch (which is now offered on the Wonder 4 night sailings). The food is absolutly wonderful (at least on the Magic).

We'll be on the repo cruise next year so we probably will eat in Palo for dinner one night (hey we have 14 of them)

 

[Melrosgirl]

I didn't go to it when we were on the Wonder. Didn't even try. Ironically, I got a call from the maitre 'd (sp??) one day saying that our waitlist came through for 2 at Palos for that night. I never waitlisted. I called back and told them that, lol. I'm a really picky eater, so I probably wouldn't like it. With that said, I may try it next time around just to see what the hype is about and I know I would enjoy the chocolate dessert everyone raves about.

 

[Oh Son of Ours]

My husband is a very picky eater as well, so that is one reason we were thinking of skipping it. I think we can find more for him elsewhere.

I know it has a great view and atmosphere, but we are looking at it like if our son does want to go with us to dinner we aren't telling him that he has to do something else. I read that reservation needed to be cancelled ahead of time or you'll still be charged.

 

[txtara]

We love the food on Disney. We have enjoyed every meal...especially Palo. We have had both the brunch and dinner....In my opinion Palo is not to be missed....our service has always been phenomenal and the food just as good....give it a try....

 

[maryisme]

I think you should definitely give it a try. On our recent 7 day cruise, we had dinner and brunch. They were both wonderful meals, with great service and atmosphere. You will get many different opinions on the dining room food, but I wasn't too crazy about it. In my book, it was just okay.


Mary

 

[padams]

We didn't go to Palo. I don't think I missed anything. There are many fine Italian restaurants where we live. On a 4 day cruise, you can only do so much.

 

[erikthewise]

Perhaps not crazy, but definitely misguided. Palo is a couple notches above the other restaurants in terms of food, service and atmosphere. If you don't care about those things, then by all means skip it.

 

[crisi]

We didn't bother either.

We have some very good restaurants here as well, that I don't have to do the ressie rush for. On a four night, we really didn't want to skip any of our dining rooms - the only night we'd have considered Palo was the last night of the cruise - and the last night of the cruise our kids ate with us and we wanted to be there to give tips to our servers.

I may have missed something spectacular, but the menu isn't that compelling to me, and we tend to eat in a really really nice restaurant once or twice a year, so I don't need to experience notch above service. The atmosphere is beautiful - we peeked in the windows, but once again, not anything I regret missing - again, we eat in beautifully decorated restaurants at least once a year.

Then there is the "ressie rush." Had we been able to call ahead for reservations before leaving, or if they'd been easy to get, we probably would have done it. But with lukewarm interest, the ressie rush completely turned me off from the idea.

We will make time on our seven night - when we have "nights to spare."

 

[jrp]

My DW and I did all 3 Palo ressies on our 2002 7day estern
It was very good and elegant. You know you only go around in life once so make every minute count. You never kknow what the future will bring. INHO
James

 

[BethC1952]

We haven't gone either in our previous cruises, and aren't planning to go this time either. We enjoy the regular dinner rotation and have enjoyed all of our tablemates.

That being said, next year we're considering back-to-back 3/4 night cruises. We may do Palo on one of those two trips, just because we will have the time!

Beth

 

[DrCavin]

I would make every effort to go to the brunch for sure. I still recomend going to dinner as well, but the brunch is must do!!

I can only speak about the 7 day cruise, but I think the "ressie rush" is way overblown on this board, it may be a problem on the 3/4 day cruises. We did not rush to get reservations & by the time we did go they still had every evening open.

 

[tchoney]

We didn't visit Palo either and will not in May. Dinner time is our Family Time. We had exceptional servers and the food was wonderful too. The family atmosphere was most appealing to us. It was also a time when our family was together and got to talk about all of the fantastic things that we had done that day. Our kids really appreciated that they were treated just as the adults were. In fact, it was the times at dinner that were more memorable to our boys.

 

[NYGiantsRule!]

We have never had dinner at Palo either. We have done the brunch several times. We will probably do dinner on the repo cruise next year, just because there will be more opportunities.

 

[mickeyboat]

We were fortunate to get brunch and dinner ressies for Palo even though we did not borad the Magic (7 days) until 5PM.

Our Palo meals were some of the best memories we have of our cruise.

In my book, Palo is a Not to Miss experience.

Denae

 

[videogal1]

Originally posted by Oh Son of Ours
With so much to do and see, we were not planing on eating at Palo.

Will we realling be missing something so great. I've seen other posts outlining the food in the dining rooms and the food seems good there too.

I think that, if I hadn't signed up for the REAS package, which includes it, I'd skip it next time (December). Last time (May) I was seated in a booth directly behind a couple of deck-mounted towel bins and that was my view from Palo. The food was ok but I'll look for somewhere more lively next time. Don't get the wrong idea...Sure, I went solo but Cash and I got so much attention from the CMs that they might as well have just pulled up a chair...My preference, though is to people-watch (within reason) and observe the general ambiance, the CMs, the bartender, etc. and it was difficult to do...Booths have high backs (Am I THAT short?), encouraging privacy but blocking cross-restaurant views), people seem to be more reserved (no kids in the mix) and no CM entertainment....Ok, ok, so romance isn't supposed to be entertaining except to those directly involved....
I had already been on board for a few days, eating my way to and from Nassau, and by the time I ate at Palo I was stuffed...had already skipped my beloved Mickey waffles for fresh fruit slices a la room service at breakfast a couple of times...(No people-watching there, either....) and, compared to the other dinners the Palo fare was just ok. So, be crazy. Skip Palo....or not....

 

[HookedonMagic]

Skip the Palo dinner and enjoy your meals with your son and/or tablemates and servers. But, why not try the brunch? It is a lovely experience and really offers something for everyone,even a picky or plain-food eater (it has everything including cold meats and cheese, fruit, pastry, soup, pizza, pasta, eggs, pancakes, fish and chicken!)

Just an idea...it is what we did on our last cruise. We had such a great time at dinner everynight in the dining room we simply didn't want to miss it. Our tablemates even cancelled their Palo dinner so as not to miss the action at our table!

Happy Sailing!

 

[taeja71]

Just a thought, if you do decide to go to Palo and your husband still isn't full, find more food he'd eat on deck or from room svc.. Happy planning for your trip from a post first time cruiser (9/19 Wonder-4 day adventure).

 

[antmaril]

I am not going to stress about getting ressies for Palo either. We are on the 2/13/05 Wonder cruise and I'm sure alot of people will be trying to get reservations at Palo for Valentine's Day. We are staying the night before our cruise at POFQ and I really don't want to rush to the Port just to get dinner reservations. I'm sure it is VERY nice, but we eat out quite a bit, so I'm not going to worry about it. If I can get brunch reservations, that will be fine. If not, oh well. I would rather not arrive at the port too early and try to avoid any lines. I think we will plan to arrive at the port about 1:00 p.m. Hopefully, the crowd will have thinned out by then.