Concerned about getting Palo reservations

[wdwmom2]

OK, here is my concern. My family and I are using Disney motorcoach transportation for our April 2004 land/sea vacation. It will be my husband and my 5th anniversary on our last day at sea. Will we get there in time to make Palo reservations for our last night? My husband will be renting a tux and I will be purchasing a long gown. What a disappointment it would be to get on the ship and find out that all the Palo ressies are taken. In other words, all dressed up and no place to go!!! Should I be worried about this or would you go with other transportion such as FL Tours? I know that a towncar service would save a little money but that is not what concerns me. I would hate to waste all that money on clothes and then not be able to wear them. Not to mention the fact that we would LOVE to eat at Palo for our anniversary. Will the bus get us there on time or should we switch to towncar services? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[confal1]

Happy Anniversary!! Hopefully you will be able to get what you want. If you can't get Palo when you board the ship you may still be able to get it later on. We did not reserve Palo's when we boarded and were able to call on the 2nd day of our 4 night cruise and get in no problem. A lot of times couples with children make ressies but then the child doesnt want to go to the club and the parents have to cancel. Good Luck!

 

[clh2]

I would absolutely go with the towncar service - FL Tours was great on our recent trip. You'll have a nice quiet ride unless your group is making the noise. You can call the shots about when to leave the hotel. While I don't know this for a fact - when I was checking on this about 6 or 8 months ago - it seemed like the DCL buses didn't even leave the hotels until 11:00 or later. I would try to be at the port about 10:30 or 11 at the latest. If you have kids - there is plenty to look at while you or your spouse holds your place in line and they go off and explore, the time goes very, very quickly before you board the ship.

Of course - you don't want to miss Palo either, and getting to the ship earlier helps out with the ressies - especially if you really, really want them on a specific night!

The waiter we had at Palo was excellent - he suggested a particular bottle of wine for us - and when we saw him later on our cruise - he asked if it followed us to our next rotation.

 

[ChattyKathy]

Happy Anniversary!!

 

[wdwmom2]

Thanks Kathy! I must say that it has been the happiest "almost" 5 yrs of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JCLNJ]

We just returned from the Nov 1st cruise. We had no problems making dinner or brunch reservations for Palo's. We even made an additional reservation for brunch while there for dinner. Palo's is definately worth going to. We had Marco for a server for dinner and he was great. Hope everything works out for you. We boarded the ship at 12:00.

 

[strasfamily]

We just got back from the 11/1 cruise as well. We made our Palo reservations for 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Our tablemates waited to make reservations on Sunday morning and they were all booked. At 6:00 p.m. on Friday, I called Palo and asked if they had anything earlier. We were able to go any time we wanted. When we got there, we noticed that is was very empty, and even when we left around 7:30, it was still pretty empty. So if you don't get the reservation you want, ask them to call you if anything opens - I'm sure you will be able to get in.

 

[ThreeCircles]

The best way to ensure that you get Palo reservations is to arrive at the port as early as you can. Although we have arrived and boarded the Magic as late as 2:15 p.m., we have never had difficulty getting reservations for Palo dinner and Champagne Brunch. However, on the cruise that we did arrive later, we didn't get our first choices for reservations and had to settle for other, less convenient times.

The DCL buses, as others have mentioned, can run late. In fact, I have seen them arrive as late as 4:00 on our last cruise in August. I think that part of this is due to the fact that some passengers may not be as worried as getting to the port early and thus don't worry about getting to the meeting points on time for the transfers.