Couple Palo questions

[FigmentSpark]

First, tipping. The cost of the brunch/dinner is put on your account, right? Do they bring you a bill to sign where you can add a tip? Or do you pay a tip separately? Also, what is preferred, cash or charge to your room?

Second, shoes for brunch. For men - are sneakers okay or do they have to have a dress shoe of some type? For women - are open toed sandals okay? Do they have to have a heel or can they be flats (just not beachwear/flipflops? What is typical?

Third, drinks. I assume any alcohol is an extra charge, but what about non-alcoholic drinks - coke, coffee, juices, etc. Is there a charge for these or are they included in the price?

 

[anricat]

First, tipping. The cost of the brunch/dinner is put on your account, right? Do they bring you a bill to sign where you can add a tip? Or do you pay a tip separately? Also, what is preferred, cash or charge to your room?

Second, shoes for brunch. For men - are sneakers okay or do they have to have a dress shoe of some type? For women - are open toed sandals okay? Do they have to have a heel or can they be flats (just not beachwear/flipflops? What is typical?

Third, drinks. I assume any alcohol is an extra charge, but what about non-alcoholic drinks - coke, coffee, juices, etc. Is there a charge for these or are they included in the price?

Yes, they bring you a bill and you add the tip there. It's charged to your room.

I wore some very nice looking open toed sandals (they had rhinestones and stuff on them). Mine were flats. Can't answer men's shoe question. DH wore dress shoes.

Most non-alcoholic drinks are included, just like in the MDR. But just like the MDR, there are exceptions. Sparkling water has a charge, even if, when they present it, it sort of sounds like it doesn't. Like, we were offered "sparkling or flat water" when the waiter first came over. I didn't ask and I assumed that, given that the two choices were presented together, sparking was complimentary (it wasn't). Also, just like the MDR, fancy coffee has a fee.

 

[diznymom]

I do believe that men are required to wear dress shoes. I know that sneakers / tennis shoes are not allowed.

 

[Agent 86]

Sneakers aren't allowed for men.

I got away with some dark brown, leather hiking boots which I thoroughly cleaned before attending. And my husband got away with some brown, suede-like "walking" shoes. For clarity - we weren't trying to bring down the elegance of Palo. But, as non-US travellers any cruise is normally part of a much longer overseas holiday and packing a pair of dress shoes for a single dinner doesn't make a lot of sense for us.

 

[bkfamilyof5]

My dh definitely wore “nicer” sneakers at Palo last week. He didn’t realize that’s what he had on and we had to take our kids to mdr and kids club before rushing to our reservation so he didn’t have time to change. No one noticed or said anything. He was otherwise wearing slacks and a button-down shirt. I wore a maxi-dress and flat silver sandals (not flip flops). We were fine and dressed similarly to everyone else there. It’s a cruise, not a 3-Star restaurant.

 

[DC to Poly]

I always wear a jacket a Palo. Tie for Remy dinners, but just the jacket for brunch. but that's just me. I wore my tux onboard once. Probably wouldn't do that again, but you've got to get that cost/use ratio somehow. It was a lot of fun and made for some great photos. I pack dress shoes and it's a pain but i also can check a few bags for free, so it's not too big of a deal for us.

 

[dcassetta]

First, tipping. The cost of the brunch/dinner is put on your account, right? Do they bring you a bill to sign where you can add a tip? Or do you pay a tip separately? Also, what is preferred, cash or charge to your room?

Second, shoes for brunch. For men - are sneakers okay or do they have to have a dress shoe of some type? For women - are open toed sandals okay? Do they have to have a heel or can they be flats (just not beachwear/flipflops? What is typical?

Third, drinks. I assume any alcohol is an extra charge, but what about non-alcoholic drinks - coke, coffee, juices, etc. Is there a charge for these or are they included in the price?

You may add a tip to your account or leave cash. I do not know what the servers prefer but, if you do leave cash they can deposit it into their account.

Dress code - Guests are asked to preserve the ambiance of this fine dining venue. Dress pants, slacks and collared shirts are recommended for men and a dress, skirt or pants and a blouse are recommended for women. Jeans may also be worn if in good condition (no holes). Please no tank tops, swimsuits, swimsuit cover-ups, shorts, hats, cut-offs, torn clothing, t-shirts with offensive language and/or graphics, flip-flops or tennis shoes.

If it is free in the MDRS, it is free in Palo - tap water, regular iced or hot tea, regular coffee, soft drinks, juice. Specialty coffees and bottled water are extra.

 

[FigmentSpark]

You may add a tip to your account or leave cash. I do not know what the servers prefer but, if you do leave cash they can deposit it into their account.

Dress code - Guests are asked to preserve the ambiance of this fine dining venue. Dress pants, slacks and collared shirts are recommended for men and a dress, skirt or pants and a blouse are recommended for women. Jeans may also be worn if in good condition (no holes). Please no tank tops, swimsuits, swimsuit cover-ups, shorts, hats, cut-offs, torn clothing, t-shirts with offensive language and/or graphics, flip-flops or tennis shoes.

If it is free in the MDRS, it is free in Palo - tap water, regular iced or hot tea, regular coffee, soft drinks, juice. Specialty coffees and bottled water are extra.

I knew about the dress code, but I wondered about the shoes. I thought there was something about women must have closed in heels, but maybe that was Remy?

 

[dcassetta]

I knew about the dress code, but I wondered about the shoes. I thought there was something about women must have closed in heels, but maybe that was Remy?

I do not own any dress shoes that cover my foot completely. The word "sandal" covers lots of different shoes.

 

[Trip planner]

How much do you tip at Palo? 20% of $30/person? Since the $30/person is technically an upcharge to a meal that would imply the actual meals costs more.

 

[anricat]

How much do you tip at Palo? 20% of $30/person? Since the $30/person is technically an upcharge to a meal that would imply the actual meals costs more.

We tip quite a bit more. We tip closer to what a comparable meal would cost in an actual restaurant.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

I wear dress shoes to Palo because DW & I like to dress for dinner. One time while on Magic, we were heading into our dinner at Palo when we passed a young couple that was waiting outside at the Maitre D' station. The horrifically embarrassed (based on the bright red blush) wife waited for her husband to change from sneakers to dress shoes. Not sure how he had both with him, but at that point I merely muttered 'there but for the Grace of God go I." Yeah, he was hurrying I'm not ready to test to see if it's different for brunch. DW usually wears nice open toed sandals.

For tips, I usually tip 30% - the service warrants it. As was mentioned above, we charge to the room.

 

[babyberger]

Tipping, like others we tip more, based on what the meal would have cost us, we also leave it in cash.

As for the shoes, they do not need to be heels. I only bring Tieks (ballet flats) on my cruises. DH brings his dress shoes for formal night and Palo dinner, but wore his leather slip on loafers for brunch.

 

[FigmentSpark]

So....have I got this right?

No, no, no!!!

or

or

Okay, passes:

or

or

or

Yes, definitely!

or

 

[oakleycat]

For tipping, we tip as we would generally on the bill for a restaurant of equivalent quality.

On shoes, I wear nice sandals (from you "passes" category), DH wears dress shoes. One cruise he completely forgot them somehow and they gave him loaner dress shoes- they have standard black pairs in several sizes and will loan them out if you don't show up in proper shoes. Embarrassing, but saved the day for us. I've also seen them make guys in sneakers change into loaner shoes. Though last time at brunch, there was a man in nice (leather) flip flops, so either they're more lax at brunch or he slipped through.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

For tipping, we tip as we would generally on the bill for a restaurant of equivalent quality.

On shoes, I wear nice sandals (from you "passes" category), DH wears dress shoes. One cruise he completely forgot them somehow and they gave him loaner dress shoes- they have standard black pairs in several sizes and will loan them out if you don't show up in proper shoes. Embarrassing, but saved the day for us. I've also seen them make guys in sneakers change into loaner shoes. Though last time at brunch, there was a man in nice (leather) flip flops, so either they're more lax at brunch or he slipped through.

That must've been what I saw. He was *very* flustered as he hurried to put on the shoes.

 

[Beth D]

First, tipping. The cost of the brunch/dinner is put on your account, right? Do they bring you a bill to sign where you can add a tip? Or do you pay a tip separately? Also, what is preferred, cash or charge to your room?

Second, shoes for brunch. For men - are sneakers okay or do they have to have a dress shoe of some type? For women - are open toed sandals okay? Do they have to have a heel or can they be flats (just not beachwear/flipflops? What is typical?

Third, drinks. I assume any alcohol is an extra charge, but what about non-alcoholic drinks - coke, coffee, juices, etc. Is there a charge for these or are they included in the price?

Shoes - youll be just fine with how you categorized them in your photos.

Drinks - they used to offer a complementary glass of prosecco or a bellini with brunch. not sure if this still is the case...

 

[rhinodadz]

How much do you tip at Palo? 20% of $30/person? Since the $30/person is technically an upcharge to a meal that would imply the actual meals costs more.

We typically tip at least 50% of the upcharge per person (plus the auto-gratuity on alcohol)

 

[apathetic]

I've worn black sneakers (tennis shoes?) to Palo and nobody said anything. Of course, with black slacks they probably didn't notice. It's kind of silly (for a man, anyway) to pack a pair of shoes you will wear once for 2 hours. If they had said something, I probably would have left. I'm in a suit with sneakers and it's bad, but if I had worn a pair of "nice" wranglers I"m good.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We typically tip at least 50% of the upcharge per person (plus the auto-gratuity on alcohol)

So... $15 each for Palo? $43ish for Remy?