Food on DCL

[crainbow]

We were on the Magic 9 - 16 OCT. Second seating. We found the first few nights the food was very good, the last few it was lacking. The only bad meal was the last night. We did not eat from the snack bars, nor did we eat any lunches after the embarkation lunch. We ate at Topsiders for breakfast and used the omlet station. Food was warm at all times with the exception of the debarkation breakfast. We found Palo to be very good.

Portions were of a good size, not the giant size that is infecting so many places these days. We also were the first table that was served by the team each night.

We did not gain any weight during the cruise, but we made a point of walking a mile after dinner to prevent that.

Chuck

 

[kab407]

Have to agree with Chuck. We were also on the 10/9 Magic. Most nights dinner was fine. Food was served acceptably warm. I think I had one dinner that that I barely touched. The best meal was at Palo.

I hit the omlet station at Topsiders every morning. The two times I had lunch were also from Topsiders (salad, shrimp). I did like the Asian buffet.

I did not come aboard expecting top notch fine dining. If I wanted that I would have stayed home and went into NYC everynight. It was a week of not having to cook, clean, or deal with work.

 

[Cruise04]

I am a picky eater and even I liked the food in the dining rooms. The atmosphere at Animator's is just worth eating there. And I really liked the atmosphere at Parrot Cay too. Lumiere's is nice but the atmosphere there didn't do anything for me. BUT the food was good. Was it as good as at Palo??? Probably not but for a picky eater all I had at Palo was some beef tenderloin, some pasta, and a few desserts (sampled a taste from several).

So I would not listen to her and go experience the dining rooms. On your next cruise if you didn't like the dining rooms on your first, then do Palo every night.

 

[MamaCrush]

Call me crazy-- but after cooking 4 1/2 years for two toddlers/preschoolers, I actually like chicken fingers and pizza! I think I'll be just fine...

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Well, the chicken fingers at Pluto's are the best I've ever tasted. I don't know why they're so good (sea air?) but I often crave them at about noon when I'm sitting at my desk, breathing canned air . . .

 

[coriedorie]

After 40 years of planning meals, cooking and cleaning up, I am just thrilled when someone else takes that job away from me!! We are going on our first cruise, and I am ready to be waited on...even if it is a PB&J !!!

 

[luckeylasvegas]

For me anything taste better when I know someone else is doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen !

We have sailed on NCL, Cunard and Princess and have yet to have a meal that was terrible. The food at Disneyland is very good , I should expect nothing different from the cruise.

Luckey

 

[jrabbit]

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.

The biggest hurdle to overcome is the quantity of food that has to be served "right now".

In Palo, over 4 hours they serve 150-200 dinners. And most folks are in there for close to 2 hours. And they come in at staggered times.

"Right Now" in each of the rotational dinning rooms they have to serve 450 (Right Now happens for appetizers, salad, main course and desert (4 times each seating)). Unfortunatly under those circumstances not all of the hot food is going to remain hot while being served. Some of the dishes will be sitting in a warming tray continuing to "cook" (dry out, get tough, etc) while others are being served. The servers have 18-20 people to serve so your food may cool down during the serving time especially if you are one of the last to be served by your wait staff.

In order to improve the quality of food DCL will need to cut down on the number of meals that need to be served "Right Now". They can either they increase the number of seatings, make the restaurants smaller (and increase the number of kitchens) or increase the size of the kitchens so more food can be prepared at one time. Another option would be to stagger "serving time" for different sections of the restaurants (which will stretch out the length of each) so that at each main seating time would have like 3 seatings (6, 6:15 and 6:30 to start) All of these options seem to be impractical to me.

Overall, considering the number of guests to be served at a time, DCL does a pretty good job of it.

 

[MRIrene]

I will love eating anything that I don't have to cook! My DGD is looking forward to eating steak every night. I hope she gets to.

 

[logan1_2000]

Getting back to the snob (and I am one so I should know!) who tried to ruin DCanoli's cruise--well, my subject line sums up a guess about her that I have,regarding her mistaken impression that only flowers and sunshine exit from her tushy.

First, its a FAMILY cruise, designed for FAMILIES, even families where the kids are younger at heart than on the birth certificate. And the passengers are a broad range--from the salt of the earth to nasty snobs who actually try to ruin someone's long anticipated vacation. Did she also tell everyone in line at the movie theater how "The Sixth Sense"ends so she could spoil that, too? My goodness, even Martha Stewart, the ultimate diva that rhymes with "rich" isn't carping about the prison food. Perhaps her children, if she is warm blooded enough to have live births instead of hatching her young from eggs, are better off in the Clubs than hanging with Mommy Dearest.

DCanoli--go, enjoy, the many posts on here are valid that if you live extensively in 4 and 5 star restaurants, this will not match up to that (and if so, get onto a Crystal cruise and enjoy). Have a great cruise, enjoy your children and their faces as the Walls change at AP. Two DCL cruises and have never been to Palo's, and I might or might not next time.

Anyone mind that I flamed that Cruela?

 

[zeke11]

I thought the food was great! Except for the room service hot dogs

Kris

 

[Dcanoli]

Kris,

Weren't you supposed to be on the 9/27 cruise?

 

[zeke11]

Yep -

I was on the 9/27 cruise.

I booked another in May, but as of this moment, I'm not sure that I'll be able to keep the reservation.

My teen is acting up *bad* and not sure if she'll be going with us and I absolutely cannot leave her home alone.

So.....

who knows ---

Kris

 

[Henlady]

When we experiene DCL cuisine for the first time I hope to have realistic expectations. We are from central PA, not a big city.
We eat out for supper usually twice a month. If I can get my husband away from his favorite Chinese buffet restaurant, I am happy with Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden or on a special occasion the Red Lobster. I have never paid more than $25 per person for a meal (and those meals were at WDW). Every day I prepare supper for my family - not soup and sandwiches, and that is after working a full day. I obviously do not frequent gourmet restaurants. As others have noted, at least on vacation, I don't have to select, purchase and carry groceries into the house, put them away, find out what to prepare that DH and DS are hungry for, prepare it and then clean up afterwards. For those 4 days I do not care if everything isn't perfectly seasoned (I'll add a little salt if needed), or the perfect temperature. I will be happy that I can select what I want to eat and have it prepared and served by someone else. I am a woman of simple needs.
And there is nothing wrong with that, nor is there anything wrong with someone else only finding happiness in expensive haute cuisine. But I resent people who are snobish and think they are better than someone else because of it.

Well, that's my opinion.

 

[Dcanoli]

Well, Kris, it will be too bad if you don't get to go in May; we can hope (and pray) that things will improve by the time the middle of March rolls around.

I know you'd like to go again, and deep down, you know your teen would love to go again too--no matter what is going on on the surface....you're just going to have to be the constant in her life right now and show her right from wrong and what is expected of her while she is living at home. You're going to have to be the example.

I'll keep you guys in my prayers and send a little pixie dust your way too....keep the faith.

Deb

 

[zeke11]

Aw thanks, Deb!

You are really sweet so send those kind thoughts my way. I do appreciate it!

Hugs, Kris

 

[minmom]

Here's the point compared to making food at home and everything that goes with it the food on Disney is great. My friends who just went with us on their 1st cruise ever thought it was great. But if you've been on other lines it's not that great. Palos is great for Disney but compared to other specialty restaurants on other lines it's just OK.

 

[Dcanoli]

Okay! I think that last post sums everything up!

Everyone has made such good points! I am going to take everything EVERYONE said into account when we board the Wonder in January! I'm sure that when I taste something, and it's either good or bad, I'll remember something that somebody has said on this thread!

You guys are the best!

 

[castlegazer]

Originally posted by jrabbit
The biggest hurdle to overcome is the quantity of food that has to be served "right now".
"Right Now" in each of the rotational dinning rooms they have to serve 450 (Right Now happens for appetizers, salad, main course and desert (4 times each seating)). Unfortunatly under those circumstances not all of the hot food is going to remain hot while being served. ......
In order to improve the quality of food DCL will need to cut down on the number of meals that need to be served "Right Now".

This is not true. I have cruised the Grand Princess and several Celebrity ships - all have had higher food quality ratings than DCL and all have similar "right now" scenarios. Our food was always hot - I will accept nothing less - and was amazing.

This all being said, I am cruising on DCL in a year and a half. I do not expect Celebrity level food quality nor do I care. But this argument for lack of food quality is not right - DCL, unlike other lines, has three separate kitchens for the three separate dining rooms. This is not the case on other lines.

I have heard that DCL has lower food quality due to its clientelle's tastes - whatever the reason, it really is no important to me as DCL has a lot to offer in other areas that are not offered by other lines.