dining question

[nancyv58]

We are a party of 10 with everyone over 18 except 1. My question is should we go to Palos for 1 night and leave the 17 year old out or just go to the other restaurants. We are only on a 3 night cruise. If we do go to Palos do we get to request the restaurant that we miss and if so which one should we miss?
We are celebrating 1 birthday one night and the other 2 nights we are celebrating 50th anniversaries (one each night) Thanks for the help.

 

[KMovies]

Since you are only on the 3-night, I would skip Palo's - especially since you will have a celebration every night. That way you don't miss any of the dining rotation - and the 17 year old can eat with all of you.

 

[disneyholic family]

i agree....stick with the rotation and skip palos....

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

I'd vote for skipping Palo. If we make it to Palo on our upcoming 7 day cruise it will be the first time. We didn't even try on our 3 day as we wanted to hit all 3 restaurants - and unless this is a repeat for a large portion of your party you don't want to miss those. The 4 day we checked to see if we could get reservations for the repeat night without luck. I don't feel like we missed anything. Our plan for the 7 is to try for ressies for either brunch or high tea but are planning dinner in the dining rooms all the rest of the nights so our group is together. Also have under 18s with us.

Deb

 

[westjones]

I agree, skip Palos.....BUT if you want to go there for the Wine Tasting event during the afternoon, that is a nice opportunity to experience Palos (while the under 21 group hangs out at the pool).

You won't want to miss a rotation resturant, they are all wonderful. Save Palos for your next cruise (believe me, when your cruise is over you will be wanting to come back again!).

DJ

 

[Wishing on a star]

Hey, I see that everyone is recommending to skip Palo's. So, I thought I would jump in and be a devils advocate here!

To DH and myself, we do not get out alone much at all. Palo's is one of the 'do not miss' on the cruise! So, if you decide that you really do want to go to Palo's, I would keep that in consideration!

As far as which restaurant to miss... That is the harder question. It may depend on your dining rotation ( Animator's would be my choice with no younger children. ) But then that may be the night that there is a 50th anniversary that you would not want to skip out on.

Also, you could take the opportunity to dine in the other three restaurants for lunch (except for Palo's!). So, you would not have to completely miss out. Hope this helps more than it complicates!!

 

[disneyholic family]

i totally disagree about skipping animator's if you don't have young children...
my kids are 15 and 18 and animator's was their favorite.....(though they liked all of them)...

 

[LindaDVC]

On our 4 night we skipped Palos but everyone acted like we missed something!!!
So on the 7 we spent a night there--
We personally thought the food and service there was just okay !

We prefer the regular rotation and wouldn't bother with Palo again.

Linda

 

[cruisnfamily]

I am a frequent reader/poster to these boards and on both our cruises we have chosen not to eat at Palos. I did sort of feel like we were probably missing something but we truly enjoy all of the rotation restaurants and we like to eat with our kids every night so we skipped it both times.

On our 4 day cruise last week we spoke to not one, not two, but three different couples who had all eaten at Palos and all three rated it from "OK" to "terrible". They went on to say that the food was average and the service seemed to be almost poor based on the descriptions. All three couples (and these were just random folks, they didn't know each other or us) said that they would not bother with it next time. We now don't feel like we have missed anything and won't bother with it on our 7 day next year. We may try the brunch though.

Regarding Animators Palate. Not only is our family's favorite based on atmosphere, we loved the menu there as well. This is the one restaurant I ABSOLUTELY wouldn't skip.

 

[ruvidu]

On our 9/14 Westrn cruise we heard basically the same story, " It is not worth the money or hassle to eat at Palos." I just passed it off as a one person thing until I heard several people, including a couple who ate with us, that it was not great but just passable.

Russ

 

[shmoogrrrl]

I don't really think your group will mss too much if you skip PALO, but I would recommend that you call up there and see if you can order the Chocolate Soufle'! That is the best part and you can even get one for the 17 year old because you can take it out on deck or back to your rooms!

Kathy

 

[westjones]

How does that work? You just go and 'pick it up'? Do you pay the $5 per person for it? I didn't realize you could just order it!
DJ

 

[gometros]

May I offer an alternative where you can do Palos and still expereince all three restaurants? Our first cruise was w/o children on the 3-day Magic. We ate at Palos on our parrot Cay night and had lunch at Parrot Cay another day. While granted the lounch menu is different than the dinner menu, but at least we got to expereince the restaurant and eat at Palos. Sort of like having your chocolate souffle and eating it too

 

[disykat]

Wow! I thought I was the only person in the world who didn't care for Palo's. We went on our 4 day. We wished we hadn't bothered - felt like we would have enjoyed our normal rotation more for both food and service.

 

[disneyholic family]

but if you only eat lunch at parrot cay you miss the cute little show that's during the rotation dinner....
my kids enjoyed the shows in each dining room as much as the food....
and we loved watching our waiters in the shows.....show isn't quite the right word....it's just a little thing they do but it was fun and they clearly were having fun as well....