Confused about restaurants and seatings.

[Moonlady]

I warned ya'll that I would have more questions re: 3 night cruise:


What is Palo? Is this a surcharge restaurant on the ship?

Is there a fromal night on a 3 night cruise?

I noticed some posters talking about requesting certain restaurants. I thought there were three and everyone eats in one on a different night?

Are breakfast and lunch available in the sit down and be waited upon restaurants or is this just dinner?

I requested late seating because I don't like to rush getting ready for dinner. Will we be missing anything important?

Is Bingo played on DCL? If so I hope it is more exciting than on Carnival.

I'm sure I'll think of more questions for you later

 

[Favorite Auntie]

What is Palo? Is this a surcharge restaurant on the ship?

PALO is a surcharge restaurant. $5 per person and it is so worth it! (I tip on top of the surcharge)

Is there a fromal night on a 3 night cruise?

Not sure, I have only been on the 7 night adventures!

I noticed some posters talking about requesting certain restaurants. I thought there were three and everyone eats in one on a different night?

People are actually requesting different restaurant ROTATIONS, everyone eats in the same restaurants, jut in different orders.

Are breakfast and lunch available in the sit down and be waited upon restaurants or is this just dinner?

You can do sit down for lunch and breakfast as well as dinner...

I requested late seating because I don't like to rush getting ready for dinner. Will we be missing anything important?

I don't think so, they arrange it so no one misses much because of dinner.

Is Bingo played on DCL? If so I hope it is more exciting than on Carnival.
They do play bingo on Disney, and it is a RIOT! A show in and of itself!

I hope this helps...

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

While I always say there will be something interesting going on while you're doing something else (and not to worry about it), the main thing going on during dinner is that night's show. As there are two dinner seatings, there are two showings of each show, to accomodate the different dinner times.

There is no formal night on the 3- and 4-night cruises. However, the suggested dress for the night you eat at Triton's is a bit dressier than the casual dress of the other two restaurants. The suggested dress is "jacket recommended." This is also the suggested dress for Palo every night.

 

[jott3]

Moonlady, check out these sites for Navigators, menus, pictures and more:

www.castawayclub.com
www.dcltribute.com
www.disneycruise.com

 

[HundredAcreWoods]

All the questions have been pretty much answered, there was just one I wanted to elaborate on.

Dinner rotations: There are three restaurants on the Wonder that are part of the dinner rotation - Parrot Cay, Animator's Palate, and Tritons. Palo's is your optional adult dining experience, which as mentioned requires reservations and $5.00 additional.

If you are on a 4 day or 7 day cruise you will (assuming you don't dine at Palos) go to one of the restaurants one more time than the rest.

The Magic has Parrot Cay, Animator's Palate, and Lumiere's (the dressy one). There are couple things to consider here:

1. There is a formal night, semi-formal night and a Caribbean night (at least on the Eastern) so it would be nice if your formal night was at Lumiere's and the Caribbean night was at Parrot Cay, but it is really personal preference.

2. If you really like a specific restaurant more than another one you will want your rotation to start with that restaurant so you can dine there three times instead of two on a 7 day.

Of course if you dine at Palo's than you can disregard number 2.

 

[Moonlady]

So the 3 night has this Palo's. It sounds like we should try to eat there if we want a superior meal. How and when do we make reservations for this restaurant. Is this something you can only do once you are on onboard?

If we are able to make these reservations which night would you suggest? I don't want to miss the night in the restaurant that offers the balck and white to color experience.

 

[HundredAcreWoods]

When you first get to your stateroom there will be some items to look through which will include the "Personal Navigator". You can find examples here -

http://www.disneycruiser.info/w3day1.htm

http://www.disneycruiser.info/w3day2.htm

http://www.disneycruiser.info/w3day3.htm

http://www.disneycruiser.info/w3day3.htm

You will also receive information on your dinner rotation. The dressiest (is that a word?) will be at Tritons. You can make reservations for Palos one of the other two nights once you know when you will be at Tritons.

The sooner you make the reservations the better. Since it is a three day you may not be able to make reservations for more than one night so others have a chance to book Palos too.

Have Fun!

 

[Penny12]

You'll know your dining rotation when you check in at the Port (plus they give you your first Navigator then as well) so you don't have to wait until you get to your stateroom to decide - it'll be printed on the bottom RH corner of your KTTW card eg PAT or ATP.

The Navigator will tell you when and where reservations for Palo will take place - you should get there at opening for the best chance of getting the time and day you want - especially on the 3 day.

 

[Buckaroo's Dad]

Good morning Moonlady.

If we are able to make these reservations which night would you suggest?

Since you're starting your DCL experience on the 3-night, my recommendation would be to skip Palo. There is so very much to experience aboard ship, don't concern yourself with trying to fit everything in that the Wonder offers. Relax. Enjoy the restaurant rotation. I'm sure before all 3 nights are memories you'll desire a Disney cruise of an extended duration...

 

[Moonlady]

Hello Buckaroo'sdad.

So do you don't think the food in Palo is that much better than in the other restaurants?

I just had pretty bad food on my latest cruise and I had been told by some that it was going to be great, some said it would be not that great. I was ok with it turning out not so great because I was prepared.

This will be my mother and sister's first cruise and I want to take all measures that they will have at least one wonderful tasting meal. If the other meals are pedestrian but served in a unique atmosphere or manner that would have to do.

 

[SydGrif]

Eat at Palo every chance you get! This is a no brainer. The food is wonderful! The service is perfect . . . the other three restaurants are OK . . .but just like a HOTEL with lots of children around.

 

[tkd lisa]

Food is always supercharged, because everyone has their opinion. I don't think I've ever heard DCL food described as pedestrian though. Palo's is a step above the food in the rotation restaurants according to the majority of people's opinions (we didn't get their on our first two cruises, so I don't have a personal opinion). You will be very busy on a 3 day cruise, so it might not fit in for you though. Even if you don't make it to Palo's, you will still get a nice evening meal.


A little more elaboration on the breakfast/lunch sit down options. For breakfast and lunch, you can do three different kinds of food, with some variations. There is always a buffet at Beach Blanket Buffet (on deck 9, some indoor seating, some outdoor) with similar buffet style food in Parrot Cay (Deck 3, all inside seating). Triton's serves based meals for breakfast and lunch. It's open seating at all breakfast and lunch menus, and don't be surprised if you are at a large table to have people seated with you. If you want to sit alone, you need to mention this to the server who seats you. You can also request room service at no charge (except the recommended tip). For lunch, there are many snack type foods available on Deck 9 (hamburgers, hot dogs, wraps, chicken sandwiches, pizza, etc.) if you don't hit the buffet or Triton's times.

 

[jrabbit]

just like a HOTEL with lots of children around

Duh, It's Disney, Disney = Families, Families = Children (both young and old!!!

The food at Palo has to be "better" than the food in the rotation restaurants because they serve less than 200 meals per night in Palo and in the regular restaurants they have 2 seatings with about 475 people in each seating (ie: 900 meals per night per restaurant). In only 3 hours time or so.

If you don't like the food, don't assume that its pedestrian, bland, blah or bad. The way it was prepared just didn't suit your tastes. For most of us it is very good. I have had dishes that I didn't especially care for - they sounded interesting so I tried them (and won't stop trying new things). I wouldn't call them bad because I didn't like it - others at our table said that it was delicious. Everyones tastes are different. And a lot of us have to save very hard to afford to go on the cruise at all and can't afford to have expensive tastes in food.

The great thing about the cruise is you are able to try new foods and be adventurous with out fear of not liking what you ordered and being out $30 or $50 for the meal. Just ask for another selection and your waiter will be more than willing to bring you something different. Or if you really liked it - order seconds. Or if you see something else on the menu that strikes your fancy, order that too. (I wouldn't eat that much, but have seen some of these teenage boys who can eat all four courses and have two main courses and two deserts at one sitting - it's quite a sight to see

 

[HundredAcreWoods]

I totally agree with jrabbit, but food is sooooooo subject that it is hard to give an answer that will suit all. We like the three restaurants and the rotational dining.

My famliy has been on the Wonder twice and the Magic once. We have never dined at Palos. You see we have a daughter who enjoys our company and we love being with her, so we never wanted to leave her behind to dine at Palos.

Besides we enjoy being kids more than adults so why dress up and go to a fine dining experience when you can play.

I know we are in the minority and Palos is really nice, but it isn't really for us.

 

[crisi]

Are you travelling with children....?

DCL tries to do your dining rotation to fit your party. IIRC - If you are traveling with small children, it is usually Animator's Palate, Parrot Cay and Tritons. I think adult parties usually get Tritons, Animator's Palate than Parrot Cay and families with older children usually start with Parrot Cay, then Tritons than Animator's Palate.

Not always. So don't count on it.

We haven't cruised yet, so I'm parroting information I learned here or other places and can't fill you in on if Palo is worth it. We are like Hundred Acre Woods - we are traveling with children and don't know if they will prefer the kids clubs over dining with my husband and I. And this will be our first cruise - and only for four days - we figure skipping Palo won't be a hardship (and we won't have to worry about a reservation scramble). But we have a number of great restaurants locally and I'm not cruising for superior meals.

 

[Moonlady]

Thank you everyone for our help on this, I really appreciate it.

I love to try new food and almost never have I met a food I didn't like. The food on Carnival Triumph was bad not just in my opinion, but others at our table as well. I'm not talking bad taste, I'm talking ill prepared. Warm cheesecake, Lobster Bisque with the consistancy (sp?) of water, dried out lobster tail, sushi that had the dye running off the fish into the rice. Things like this really taint the food experience. (The pizza was great!)

I'm sure it isn't like this all the time on all the Carnival ships. But just like in land based restaurants, sometimes the chef has an off night OR the chef is just plain bad.

As long as something is edible I'm sure we will have fun, just like on my last cruise.