Casual Dining?

[FayeW]

I am in the "information gathering" stage of planning a first cruise for my family of 4. Kids will be approx. 9 & 11 at time of cruise, and we are not "formal" dining people. Are there casual buffets, etc that you can just pop in whenever you are hungry for any of the 3 meals, or are they specific restaurants at specific times?
Thanks for your help!

 

[crisi]

For breakfast and lunch you can go anywhere you'd like. Lumieres/Tritons serves sit down in an elegant atmophere. Parrot Cay and Topsiders/Beach Blanket both have buffets.

There is counter service available as well. Hamburgers and hot dogs, pizza, and wraps (wraps were being served out of Scoops).

For dinner, Topsiders/Beach Blanket Buffet is open if you choose not to dine in your assigned dining room. The counter service spots are open as well. And room service is available (free, but remember to tip).

But "formal" dining on a Disney cruise isn't a huge deal. On a three or four day cruise and on nights other than formal and semiformal on a seven day cruise you just can't wear shorts or jeans. Capris or khaki pants work great. And the meals are definately worth it. If the kids don't want to sit through a long meal, they will get taken to the buffet in the kids clubs, or you can ask your servers to feed them quickly and then they can take off (at their ages, they are generally allowed to sign themselves in and out of the kids clubs and run free).

 

[kcashner]

There is always food available! Buffets at Topsiders for all 3 meals are quite casual. Breakfast and lunch are also available as a "sit down" at various restaurants--casual dress and rather quick service. Pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers/cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, fruit, ice cream, wraps, etc. are available on deck 9 most of the day.

Sit down dinners are more "formal." Most nights are casual dress, but the idea of sitting for dinner is the same. You will have 2 servers, multi-course meal. You don't have to dress up. Remember, this is Disney. The dining rooms are arranged so that kids of the same ages are grouped together--one rotation will have older kids/adults....but even there, DCL always has kids aplenty. The only place that is truly "fancy" is Palo, the adult only restaurant.

 

[jollytammy]

We went to topsiders for dinner one night and was surprised that it was not buffet. We had a waiter and ordered from the menu, but we were dressed in shorts. I was disappointed, I like buffets!

 

[jerry112]

We took our first DCL cruise 11/2003 and I too was apprehensive about dressing for dinner. As it turned out, my children DS10 and DD6 still talk about our dining experience. No one ever complained about having to dress nicely. Generally,we wore slacks, capris and button-down shirts with my DD wearing sundresses. We will be cruising again 11/6/2004 and have been told by the kids that they will go to dinner without us if we choose palo one night. This from two very picky eaters! btw you will have plenty of other dining options if you choose.