For those of you who love Palo.... Would I regret not going there on my first cruise?

[adSimba]

since I've never eaten any of the meals on DCL is it a good or bad idea to skip Palo the first time around (Alaska cruise)?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

since I've never eaten any of the meals on DCL is it a good or bad idea to skip Palo the first time around (Alaska cruise)?

If you were on a short cruise, where the menus in the dining rooms were only the Signature menus, I'd say "yes, skip Palo the first time". But, on a longer cruise, you are going to have other menus that you could miss and catch on a later cruise.

Our very first DCL cruise was a 15 night one and we did do Palo one night. I don't recall what menu we missed that night (and it's not important). We've been on multiple other DCL cruises, and I'm sure we've covered whatever it was we missed.

Of course, there's always the option of Palo brunch (I prefer that over the dinner), that way you wouldn't miss any dinner menus.

 

[DIS_Ag]

I'd do both brunch and dinner.

 

[MUN]

since I've never eaten any of the meals on DCL is it a good or bad idea to skip Palo the first time around (Alaska cruise)?

Life is too short for regrets. No, you won't regret skipping Palo. The MDRs, and Cabanas are perfectly fine and have a delicious variety of food. Feel free to skip Palo w/o regret.

 

[squirk]

since I've never eaten any of the meals on DCL is it a good or bad idea to skip Palo the first time around (Alaska cruise)?

I'm not sure it's a "good/bad" kind of thing. I'd say Palo is definitely worth trying, especially since your cruise is long enough where you'll be repeating MDRs. But I don't think you will find the cruise "lacking" in any way if you don't make it to Palo.

 

[godde8ss]

Do the brunch! To me, it is a must do and worth the cost.

 

[Marc D]

I've been on multiple DCL cruises and I never once ate at Palo or Rémy. I feel my enjoyment of the cruises is not lacking because of that.

Doing so would involve missing lunch or dinner with my son, something we do not wish to do. If he was bored at the MDRs or not interested in the food, we might have sent him to the kid's club to have a couple's dinner, but the meals are one of the highlights of the cruise for him. He loves choosing in the adult menu, watching the shows and interacting with the servers.

Also, we come from a city that foodies from around the world travel to. Having looked over the menus and pictures of the meals, including the tasting menu at Rémy, I can easily (and sometimes do) get a similar or better restaurant experience at home.

 

[MissMet]

You will only regret not going to Palo once you've already been to Palo. If this is your first cruise you could skip Palo & not at all feel like you're missing out since DCL has so much to offer already. Especially so if you are like me & from an area (ny) with really good Italian restaurants.

However, once you been to Palo you may feel like you're missing out if you don't go again, most likely.

I've been on 6 DCL cruises. I go to Palo brunch every time & I would absolutely feel like I'm totally missing out not going each cruise. I've only done Palo dinner (& Remy dinner) once. I don't need to go back to either for dinner, unless I was celebrating a special occasion, like we will be this cruise (our 5 year wedding anniversary) so we will have dinner at Palo.

I say just enjoy everything DCL has to offer in the main dining rooms and then next time go for the extras offered in Palo (& remy, if applicable) Maybe try for Palo brunch (it's so good!) but only if you don't mind taking half your day at sea for it. Between dining & getting ready it does take quite a chunk of your sea day.

 

[thumpie's mom]

While we do enjoy Palo's, particularly the brunch, on our first several cruises we never went because we did not want to leave our daughter. Dinner's are one of our favorite times together on the ship. Once she was old enough to come with us, we finally went (and well worth the wait). I don't regret not going on the previous cruises, but do enjoy the experience now.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

You didn't mention the details of your travel party. We put our kids in the clubs (first having them eat dinner either at the MDR w/my husband as i get ready, from the pool side venues or their favorite treat, room service -- they do not like the food offered at the kids clubs). It's a fantastic chance for my husband and I to have a quality date night and bc we really, really enjoy good food and service (not that you won't get that in the MDRs) . Maybe look at some menus and photos of the food (there's a thread on these forums) and that may help your decision making. Especially since your cruise is longer, I'd try it if it were me. Have fun!

 

[cedricandsophie]

We love Palo and never miss it. But that's a personal decision. We also love the MDR and enjoy all those experiences. If you do nothing else consider going to the Palo bar for a drink. It is small and lovely, you get to see the dining area and the bartenders are great.

 

[jenpink]

I didn't go to Palo until my 8th Disney Cruise and don't feel like I missed out. In fact, I don't think I will do Palo brunch ever again. I will go to Palo dinner, mostly because I get a free meal since I am Platinum. You will have a great time without Palo in my opinion

 

[Pens Fan]

We've been on five Disney cruises and never eaten at Palo. Do I regret that? No, not at all. When our son was with us we enjoyed mealtimes together and honestly never even considered Palo. Our last cruise was just my husband and I as our son is now in college. I did try to book Palo brunch ahead of time, but it was sold out by the time silvers could book. We talked about trying to book on board, but when we saw the line we just looked at each other and said, meh, who cares? We went on with our day and had a wonderful cruise.

Now, I guess to be fair I should that add we live in an area with tons of people of Italian heritage. There are wonderful authentic italian restaurants on every corner it seems, so going out of our way (and paying extra) for Italian food isn't really a big draw for us when we are vacation. We have always enjoyed the MDR experiences, anyway. Maybe someday we will try Palo now that our son can go. Who knows? But "regret" not going so far? Nope!

 

[wombat_5606]

If you do nothing else consider going to the Palo bar for a drink. It is small and lovely, you get to see the dining area and the bartenders are great.

I've been told this is no longer an option. Does anyone know for sure if this is allowed?

 

[cheermom2four]

Our first cruise was too short and we didnt know we were missing anything by not going to Palo. 2nd cruise was 7 nights and we did both brunch and dinner and will try again on this next one. Honestly, I dont think you would "miss" anything. I love the experience but its no big deal if all the time slots were gone by silver booking on our next cruise.

 

[CamColt]

If you are planning on cruising Disney again, I don't think skipping Palo dinner on the first cruise would be bad. If you are on a cruise with brunch though, I would definitely do that. I didn't do Palo on my first cruise and I don't regret it.

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

I love the main dining room experience. I would not want to miss it on a first cruise. I would also recommend brunch if you can get it.

 

[TiszBear]

Personally, on my first cruise I didn't even try to get Palo reservations as I wanted to experience the main dining rooms. For all my other cruises, I have tried for the brunch but it has never happened. For me personally, if I happened to get a reservation that would great but unless I am on a 7 night or longer I don't even try for the reservations.

 

[jrabbit]

I've been on multiple DCL cruises and I never once ate at Palo or Rémy. I feel my enjoyment of the cruises is not lacking because of that.
....

You Know, I feel the same way about not renting a Cabana on Castaway Cay.

 

[hanscarlet]

obviously depends on whether you would like a Palo experience or not... we mostly do it because it allows us to experience a date night without eating with the little ones for one night on the cruise but I don't think it's like a must do dinner experience and we skipped it on our first cruise and didn't feel like we were missing anything

the brunch on the other hand.... that I feel like is a must do, we love the brunch