First Disney Cruise in December: Questions for 7-day Western Caribbean aboard Fantasy

[junki]

Hi all,

My wife and I will be taking our 4-year old on our first Disney cruise this December aboard the Fantasy on a 7-day Western Caribbean itinerary. We were wondering what night would be your recommendation to book Remy and/or Palo? We've done a lot of Googling about the topic, and we've read recommendations for and against reserving on the first night, on Pirate Night, and on the last night. Complicating matters is that at this time we have no idea which night is what, and we also have read posts that suggest the patterns from 1+ years ago are now different.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Day 1 - Embarkation
Day 2 - At Sea
Day 3 - Cozumel
Day 4 - Grand Caymen
Day 5 - Jamaica
Day 6 - At Sea
Day 7 - Castaway Cay
Day 8 - Disembarkation

 

[o&smom]

I agree about not going on your first night. It is good to let your serving team get to know you and embarkation day is a little crazy. The second night is usually one of the formal/semi formal nights, so it might be a good option. Pirate night is not our favorite menu, but it is fun to be in the main dining room with so many people dressed up like pirates. I also would not go the last night. Too much going on with getting bags packed, etc. Hope this helps.

 

[Geomom]

We were on the Western in June. 1st day at Sea was formal night, 2nd day at Sea was Semi formal. Pirate night was Grand Cayman night. We actually loved the Pirate menu, especially the appetizers. First 3 nts were the menus for each restaurant,then Pirate menu, and the last 3 were the '2nd' menus for each restaurant --captains gala for Royal court, Prince and princess for enchanted garden, and the animation menu for Animator's palace. The drawing/animation in Animator's Palate is the 2nd night in the restaurant and not to be missed. Since you won't know your rotation until you board, I would pick night 2 or 3 for your adult dinner. You may want to book one of the brunches for the other restaurant so you're not missing the MDRs. (In 3 cruises, we have actually never done Palo/Remy and just enjoy MDRs instead.)

 

[Cheburashka]

I always go to Palo or Remy on the first night (the perfect time to enjoy it imo because I'm not yet overstuffed from days of cruise meals), but I don't have a 4 year-old. In your shoes, the biggest issue is whether or not he will like spending time at the clubs alone. If he doesn't and melts down or cries inconsolably, they will call you to come pick him up. I'd definitely spend some time the first day exploring and familiarizing the clubs with him via open house before dropping him off while you go to dinner. Even if he's used to daycare at home, these are different people, and it's a different environment, so you never know.

Palo and Remy usually both have dinner availability for 2 diners upon boarding for every night of the cruise, so you don't have to book them in advance. You might have to be flexible about times if you want a certain night, but I've never even found that to be a problem. Brunch is what sells out, not dinner. This is true even if it looks like dinner is sold out before the cruise. They hold back reservation spots for people to book onboard.

 

[Clarkson U]

We were on the Western in June. 1st day at Sea was formal night, 2nd day at Sea was Semi formal. Pirate night was Grand Cayman night. We actually loved the Pirate menu, especially the appetizers. First 3 nts were the menus for each restaurant,then Pirate menu, and the last 3 were the '2nd' menus for each restaurant --captains gala for Royal court, Prince and princess for enchanted garden, and the animation menu for Animator's palace. The drawing/animation in Animator's Palate is the 2nd night in the restaurant and not to be missed. Since you won't know your rotation until you board, I would pick night 2 or 3 for your adult dinner. You may want to book one of the brunches for the other restaurant so you're not missing the MDRs. (In 3 cruises, we have actually never done Palo/Remy and just enjoy MDRs instead.)

This is the schedule as I know it as well!

 

[junki]

Just for future cruisers who may find this useful, we decided to do the following:

1. Assuming we'll be able to change our dining session to the earlier main seating, we booked Remy for 7:30pm on the 1st night. This will allow us to still go to the MDR, meet the wait staff, feed our kid, and maybe get an appetizer for ourselves if we can't resist it.
2. We booked Palo for the 2nd night.
3. We booked another Remy for the 4th night, which we are assuming to be the Pirate Night. Our plan is to see how our 1st Remy dining experience goes. If we want seconds, or if the experience offers an alternate menu, then a second Remy night would be great. If not, we plan to just cancel it.

 

[Minnie352]

We were on the Western Sept 17th. Agree that above was the menu and dress rotation. We chose to do Remy brunch on Sunday (sea day & formal dress) since we wouldnt be "fooded out" yet. First time doing the Remy Brunch, and we loved it!!
For dinner in the main dining room, our least favorite menu is Pirates & Princesses. Hard to know which night it will fall on until you know your rotation. (You might want to look at the dinner menus online ahead of time.) We picked night 6 (sea day) to enjoy Palo dinner, and lucked out that P & P menu was what we missed.
Tip: if you're waiting in the terminal before boarding, you can log into the DCL App and see your dining rotation before you board. You might be able to message Guest Services and change/make a Palo/Remy reservation ahead of others.
You'll have a great cruise no matter what you decide!!

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

Tip: if you're waiting in the terminal before boarding, you can log into the DCL App and see your dining rotation before you board. You might be able to message Guest Services and change/make a Palo/Remy reservation ahead of others.
You'll have a great cruise no matter what you decide!!

They Sadly got rid of the chat with guest services feature through the app. It was one of my favorite things.