Does any one skip dinner the first night on the ship?

[bynum66]

I was just wondering. I would want to tour the ship and get my bearings the first night, plus there's always the midnight buffet. I guess it depends on when you board the ship.

 

[gonna go cruising]

You are boarding at lunchtime and have plenty of time to explore before dining. I guess some may choose to skip dinner, but we were always excited to get to dinner. You could always order room service.

 

[LVTravel]

DCL does not have a true Midnight buffet like you may be familiar with. They have various places on the ship at about 11 PM (normally Beat Street and Promenade lounge area) that have cookies, pastries and pizza and chocolate covered strawberries.

Topsider buffet closes at 8:30 PM
Pluto's Dog House closes at 10:00 PM
Pinocchio's Pizzeria is open from 9:30 PM - 12:00 AM
Scoops closes at 8:00 PM

on the day of sailing.

And as the other poster stated, you can order room service (tip expected upon delivery but food is free)

Have a great cruise!

 

[rae519]

Depending on when you get onboard, and what time your dining is - you may find that you have enough time to have a nice relaxing meal in the rotation dining restaurants. Generally, the meal takes 90 minutes from the time you sit down til you leave.

Rae

 

[musicgirl]

If you have the later seating, you won't have any trouble having enough time to roam. Even if you have the early seating, you have about 2 hours to explore before and after the drill.

Also, since you are on the Wonder, I don't know if I would want to miss any of the meals. You should check out the menus. They are very yummy!

Have fun!

 

[MarkLem]

We had the early seating, and were excited to get to dinner the first night! The sail away party was over for the most part, so it wasn't like we were missing something to get to 6:00 dinner. Also, we boarded at 11:45 AM, so we had been on board a good bit and had "settled in" by dinner time for the most part.

 

[sandygirl]

My DH skipped dinner on our first night last cruise because he was just exhausted. They let me bring him a plate back to the room. This year we are flying in a day early so that maybe he will make the sail-away party and dinner. I found that the servers are a wealth of information and meeting them the first night will probably enhance your cruise. The ship is big and beautiful, and they do have maps of where you are by each elevator (very helpful). I would go to dinner and explore the ship afterwards. Plus you don't want to miss a great meal!

Have a wonderful, Magical cruise!

 

[dvarallo]

I would highly advise againt missing dinner the first night or any night. First of all, you'd be missing a great meal. Sure, you can order from Room Service, but you can't order as nice a meal as you would get in one of the restaurants. The most important reason is because of the Norwalk Virus. Disney is so concerned about illness on board and when someone misses a dinner, they worry that it is because they are sick. They will most likely send someone to your stateroom to check on you. I've known people to skip meals on the first day because of being "too tired" and ending up quarantined for 72 hours. If you are tired or just want to explore, go to the dining room and let youor server know and they will prepare a tray for you to bring back to your room.

 

[mariamard]

but is dress casual on the first night??? i cant see having to rush to the room to change after the sailaway party.....

 

[sandygirl]

but is dress casual on the first night??? i cant see having to rush to the room to change after the sailaway party.....

Dress is resort casual on the first night.

 

[bynum66]

Thanks to all Cruise Vets, I can't believe I was thinking of missing dinner. I will just have to get the gang to the port on time.

Mariamard, I was thinking the same thing. Who wants to get dressed for dinner after unpacking.

THIS BOARD IS THE BEST. All my questions have been answered. I'm sure I'll have a few more before my 200+ days are up. Thanks again.

 

[jrabbit]

First thing - don't eat lunch before boarding the ship - there is a terrific embarkation day buffet.

Second, don't miss ANY dinners - they are terrific. When we cruise, after the second night on board we start skipping lunch. We all enjoy breakfast and as I said, dinners are not to be missed, but there gets to be a point where you can't continue eating (and I'm NOT a small guy!!) and something has to give and it's lunch - DW and the kids gennerally skip it to - ok teenage boys will never stop - but he slows down!

Third, get to the port before noon so you can get checked in and on board. THis will give you plenty of time to participate in the "ressie rush" if needed, sign any children in the club/lab and gives you a chance to visit the teen club and councilors (before it becomes off limits to parents). Then you will have plenty of time to explore the ship before and after the safety drill. The safety drill will confuse you a litte because they open up stairways and doors that are normally off limits to guests - and you will not be able to use them the rest of the cruise. I remember thinking - "Hey, there used to be a stairway around here somewhere" After multiple cruises, I finally figured out what was going on.

 

[dclwdwlover]

Another reason not to miss first night meal is that you will want to meet your terrific servers and nice table-mates.
Although my husb & I very much enjoy our alone time, we also very much look forward to meal time & meeting everyone & hearing some very interesting life stories.

 

[CRenze]

Or at least I did. I was on the Nov. 1 cruise and the waters were very rough that night and my sea legs hadn't kicked in yet. I dressed for dinner (late seating) and headed to my assigned dinning room..mistake...as I got closer all I could smell was food which instantly turned my stomach. I told my SIL, there was no way I could go to dinner and I headed back to my cabin. But my suggestion is Don't miss it, don't miss any dinning experiences.

Cindy

 

[HooKooDooKu]

I would want to tour the ship and get my bearings the first night

I would not skip dinner just to try to get bearings. I've spend an accumulated 20+ days on board accross 5 cruises and still get confused as to which way is the front of the ship relative to where I am, and is fill in the blank located on deck 3, 4, or 5.

Yes, spend some time just exploring the ship, and keep one of the handy ship's maps in your pocket. You can even spend some time learning the layout of the ship ahead of time. But don't skip a meal just to learn your way around on board.