Fantasy Western Caribbean - Remy and Palo

[iloveeeyore]

Hubby and I would like to book dinner at each of these restaurants but don't want to miss out on any of the great activities or best nights to be in main dining. Any thoughts or suggestions on best nights and times to book dinner at these restaurants?

Thanks in advance! Also, we booked this cruise very last minute and there is no availability for brunch at either place. What are the chances of adding a brunch reservation once on board?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hubby and I would like to book dinner at each of these restaurants but don't want to miss out on any of the great activities or best nights to be in main dining. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance! Also, we booked this cruise very last minute and there is no availability for brunch at either place. What are the chances of adding a brunch reservation becoming available once on board?

Typically DCL does hold back some reservations for Palo. I would think they also do that for Remy, but I have no experience with that. You need to keep checking online for a reservation to pop up, however. There are people who book things "just in case" and then cancel prior to the cruise. If that doesn't come through, you head for the Palo/Remy dining changes desk once onboard (it'll be listed in the Navigator you get in the terminal) and ask about making a reservation.

 

[Rob1872]

Hubby and I would like to book dinner at each of these restaurants but don't want to miss out on any of the great activities or best nights to be in main dining. Any thoughts or suggestions on best nights and times to book dinner at these restaurants?

You can start an 80 comment argument on the DISboards over what the "best" night is to book things like Palo/Remy. Some people will say that MDR X has the worst menu and they always skip it, other people will tell you that MDR X is the high point of their cruise. Some always want to skip Pirate Night (like me) and others would never dream of skipping Pirate Night (my wife). So it is all highly subjective.

My 2 cents would be to not schedule Palo or Remy on the first 3 nights so you get a chance to go through each MDR first (assuming that since you are on a 7 night Caribbean your rotation will go through each MDR once before starting your repeats). Also, since you have a good chance to add a brunch, try to schedule Palo/Remy dinners on a port visit day to keep all of your sea days as possibilities for the brunches. While some people might be able to do a brunch/dinner on the same day, I can't image enjoying the dinner after stuffing myself at a Palo brunch.

You can drive yourself crazy trying to optimize your MDR rotations to align with ensuring you miss a specific restaurant for a Palo/Remy dinner. No matter what night you pick you'll have a good time.

 

[Lisa F]

You can start an 80 comment argument on the DISboards over what the "best" night is to book things like Palo/Remy. Some people will say that MDR X has the worst menu and they always skip it, other people will tell you that MDR X is the high point of their cruise. Some always want to skip Pirate Night (like me) and others would never dream of skipping Pirate Night (my wife). So it is all highly subjective.

My 2 cents would be to not schedule Palo or Remy on the first 3 nights so you get a chance to go through each MDR first (assuming that since you are on a 7 night Caribbean your rotation will go through each MDR once before starting your repeats). Also, since you have a good chance to add a brunch, try to schedule Palo/Remy dinners on a port visit day to keep all of your sea days as possibilities for the brunches. While some people might be able to do a brunch/dinner on the same day, I can't image enjoying the dinner after stuffing myself at a Palo brunch.

You can drive yourself crazy trying to optimize your MDR rotations to align with ensuring you miss a specific restaurant for a Palo/Remy dinner. No matter what night you pick you'll have a good time.

Totally agree with this. People always say the pirates menu is the worst but it was one of my faves when we went in February 2018. The samosas were DELICIOUS and I really liked the jerk chicken too.

just know you can't do everything so you will miss a MDR by doing palo and/or remy dinners and that's ok!

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Agree with the PPs, do the first 3 night at your assigned MDR then try to get a reservation for Palo/Remy when you can. Don't worry about missing anything going on around the ship, ............ You'll Be Back ..............

 

[kathi]

I would look at the main dining room menus and decide which ones appeal to you the least. Book Palo and Remy for those nights. We always go to Palo on Pirate night because I prefer less "activity" during dinner. We try to go to Remy on the night that we are in Animator's for the Crush show, but sometimes that is hard to predict.

I would keep checking directly with the restaurants if you can't grab a brunch on the first day. They get last minute cancellations sometimes.

Good luck!

 

[ScooterScott44]

I’ll agree with all the posts above in that the choice of which night is best really subjective and only you can decide.

Expanding on @kathi point from above. If you have done a DCL cruise in the past or plan to do one in the future then missing one of the main dining rotations is really not a bad thing. For the past several years the “standard” menu has had very few changes. If you go to the French menu on any of the ships expect - fried Brie, escargot, duck confit and so forth, at Animators the tuna, enchanted garden the scallops with the asparagus in the star pattern, etc. Since there is very little variety from cruise to cruise, ship to ship and year to year with the standard menu you can very likely try that dish on another cruise if you miss it in this one.

Part of the reason people can say to skip X meal is because they know what has historically been on that menu and what “activities” will take place on that day. So it works the other way also - if you miss it this cruise you can likely experience it on a future cruise.