Food on DCL

[Dcanoli]

Got a good question for all you "seasoned" cruisers!

I met a woman this weekend, and she had cruised several times over the years. My husband called me over to tell me she had just gotten back from a Disney cruise.

Of course, I was excited; I wanted to hear what she had to say...HOWEVER, she what she said was not good, and I'm wondering if any of you can confirm or DENY it! Thanks!

She said that the food on the Disney line is not as good as the other cruise lines and to avoid the general eating areas at all times. She suggested I run immediately to Palo (which she couldn't even remember the name of...she kept calling it "The Italian Restaurant") and make reservations for as many nights as possible. She said the food at Palo was excellent, and that she wouldn't recommend Disney for a cruise.

I told her I was actually looking FORWARD to sitting in the "general seating areas" with my kids, especially Animator's Pallete, to which she answered, "Oh yeah, that's neat, but other than that, put your kids in the club and go to the Italian restaurant."

How do the rest of you feel? I'm looking forward to going and enjoying all three restaurants on board, and compared to my daily regimine (sp?) of hot dogs and PB&J, I think DCL's cruise fare will be a welcome change! LOL! I actually WANT to be with my children, and apparently, this woman did not! I'm not making plans to attend Palo; I want to spend all my minutes with my FAMILY!!!

What did you all think and/or do on DCL?

 

[mackymaddyconnorsmom]

I haven't been on the dcl yet, but I am also looking forward to it. I will be happy as long as they have kid friendly food for my picky kids. My one daughter is planning on eating pizza all day for 7 days. She loves pizza and even loves her schools pizza. So I am sure she will be pleased and with chicken nuggets my other 2 will be pleased. I cant wait until Dec 4

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

There was just a long discussion about this subject. See the thread, 'The food is just so-so,' at:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=662186

 

[Dcanoli]

Thanks!

 

[CM_Mom]

The thread Horace mentioned has lots of comments. My two cents is that for those of us who exist on hot dogs, PB&J with an occasional roast or fried chicken, the food is fantastic.

If you regularly go to gourmet restaurants and spend $50+ per person each time you dine out, you might be disappointed.

My only complaint is that the sirloin in the restaurant didn't live up to my expectation - but I'm from Texas and a definite steak snob. DD has commented that in Florida they just advertize "steak" while in Texas they advertize "purebred ANGUS beef" steak. And the ONLY way to cook it is over a charcoal fire - preferrably Mesquite. I should have known there's no way they could do that in the regular dining on the cruise. They did however meet even my high expectations with the filet in Palo. It was melt in your mouth delicious.

Some folks think of DCL as a "park your kids" type of vacation. I feel sorry for them because they miss the joy of spending quality time with their kids and somehow I think they're always disappointed with the result.

 

[pvangordon]

Food is a personal thing, so it's very hard to judge whether you'll like something based on someone else's experience. In my opinion (and it's just an opinion), I think DCL food is pretty solid. I knew going on that cruiseline that food wasn't the main emphasis, but there was plenty of yummy stuff that I had no problem scarfing down. I also live in an area where good food with a wide ethnic variety is the norm. The only time I consciously thought the food wasn't good was the "Asian" buffet, but again, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area where you can get fantastic Asian food at the corner hole in the wall. I thought the main dining rooms were perfectly serviceable, Palo even better. But hey, there are even people who think Palo isn't that great!

Just go and have a good time - you'll love it.

 

[Dcanoli]

I always love reading your posts! You are truly a Mom to all of us on these boards!

Thanks Mom!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I don't think you'll be disappointed . Don't listen to her...

 

[Dcanoli]

Pea,

You are too funny! She did come across a bit snobby, if truth be told!

She asked me if I'd been on other cruises, and when I said, "No," she said, "Oh..." Like I was a vagrant or something....

Thanks for the in-your-face advice!

 

[CM_Mom]

Dcanoli, thanks for the kind words.

If the focus of your DCL cruise is the food, you've missed the whole point. There's so much else to surprise and delight you that the food becomes a wonderful extra.

I wonder if the poor lady (yep folks, she is really poor in attitude anyway) thought the service was inferior too?

If that's her attitude aren't you glad you didn't have her for a table mate?

 

[Dcanoli]

That's why I like you! You are always bending my mind in other directions!

YES! You are right! I wouldn't have liked her for a table-mate, but then ON THE OTHER HAND....she was probably in Palo anyway! LOL!

Thanks, Mom!

 

[lovesgrumpy]

I wholehearily agree with CM_Mom. Kids are truly a gift; we need to enjoy them and cherish what we have. When they grow up, you'll both have very fond memories of what you have shared. My daughter is in her 20's and we still have fun doing things together. She took me on my first cruise (Disney, of course!) last April; we has so much fun, we are taking my DH with us on another cruise in January. Some fo the food was really good, some things we didn't care for as much, but it didn't really matter. What counted was we had fun and shared a wonderful experience. (Would you believe she has convinced me to go to Paris with her next???)
Go on your cruise and have lots of fun!!

Lovesgrumpy

 

[paulmc80]

DCL food is about average.

But then again, nothing compares to what good ol' Mom used to make.

 

[traycie2201]

Food was great some nights, not so great others, same for lunch and breakfast, loved the snack bars and loved palo, LOVED room service., each to their own but let it be said i did not go hungry

The cruise was fantastic and DS really wasn't interested in kids clubs it was nice to be able to spend time together playing cards and hanging out.

You and your family will have a great time, looking forward to booking our next DCL cruise.

 

[joanb]

I've been on three cruises and never eaten at Palos...I love eating with my kids....and they have kid friendly food everywhere, at evey restaurant. If I don't have to cook or clean up I'm thankful.

 

[mmouse37]

Here is a link to one of the dishes onboard...it was a pork loin with gravy, corn mash and sweet potato....and it was very, very good!!!

We have sailed DCL 11 times and always found the food to be good, even better now than when DCL first started...

http://community.webshots.com/photo/197639313/197639899gYeRaG

And here are some pics of the late night dessert buffet in Lumierer's...

http://community.webshots.com/photo/196738898/197630795ASInSe

http://community.webshots.com/photo/197630855/197630855tOArxn

http://community.webshots.com/photo/197639313/197639535LAPSLw

http://community.webshots.com/photo/197639565/197639565BcABYo

There are even more photos that we took and they are truly a work of art (the desserts...not the photos)!!!

MJ

 

[Dcanoli]

All those pictures! You are making me very hungry for 7:30 in the morning!

I think it's all about what you go on the cruise for....we are not going to be in the lap of luxury...we are going to have a great time with our kids and "do Disney."

I figure the food is second to all the other fun! That's going to be my view! Why harp on the food when there are so many other great things to be doing?

 

[mrsltg]

Generally the rule of thumb is, "you'll have a bad time if you let yourself have a bad time." Obviously there can be circumstances beyond your control, but you can't plan those anyway so why worry about it. I think that DCL is a line that you should at least try.

I'll be honest, I didn't find the food to anything special, even in Palo. It was fine. What was wonderful was the service. Not to mention the ship itself - the Magic is beautiful!

I didn't plan on spending every minute with my dd (3.5) and I didn't. There were things that I wanted to do, things that DH wanted to do, and things that she wanted to do. We all did them without guilt of missing spending every single second together. Go with the attitude that you'll take things as they come. If one of your kids wants to go to the Club instead of having dinner with the family, let them. This doesn't make you a bad parent who's uninterested in "family time". If you want to go to the wine tasting and have the kids stay with Dad or in the club, go! Just enjoy yourself! And make sure you see Hercules, Golden Mickey's, and Disney Dreams!

Erin

 

[KyBuckeye]

We were on the Magic 10/9-10/16 and had a wonderful time. However I have to agree with some that we found the food to be just so-so. Yes it was plentiful, yes the children were happy with mac & cheese and chicken tenders most every night, but the adult offerings in the restaurants were average at best. Out of 7 nights we only had truly hot food once. Every other night it was luke warm to almost cold. Now I realize that they are serving roughly 1200 folks per dinner seating, but we have cruised other lines without this problem. We found the seafood choices to be very fishy tasting and not fresh. In fact we commented more than once how ironic it was that we could generally find fresher seafood in landlocked Kentucky than we were finding right in the middle of the Carribean. (And hey, I know they aren't fishing off the back of the ship!!) My husband is a big beef eater and probably ordered the steak selections 5 nights and always orders med rare. Almost every night his meat was fairly tough and had gristle in it (even beef tenderloin, twice). We ate supper every night with our children so didn't try Palo's. However I feel if Disney can do such a fine job at Palo's then the possibility exists for them to raise the bar in their other restaurants as well.

Please understand that over all we were thrilled with our cruise, we enjoyed it immensely and would recommend Disney to anyone with a family. We would also consider cruising DCL again in the future. And of course food was not the end all of our experience. But as food opinions were asked for, we found it to be one area where Disney could stand improvment.

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Originally posted by Dcanoli
How do the rest of you feel? I'm looking forward to going and enjoying all three restaurants on board, and compared to my daily regimine (sp?) of hot dogs and PB&J, I think DCL's cruise fare will be a welcome change!

Ignore the woman. DCL food isn't The Palm, but it sure beats microwavable mac any day. I would prefer that the dining room fare be a bit better/different, but that didn't stop me from gaining 5 pounds.

Don't ignore her about "the Italian Restuarant". It's amazing and shouldn't be missed.

(Is the woman a New Yorker? Because when i read your post, I "heard" the woman's comments in my mother's voice. )

Marcy