From WDW To DL With Love - January 06, 2011

[LovesToRun]

One of each tea, brunch and dinner at Palo per stateroom to be reserved online prior to sailing.

Does anyone have a favorite dining rotation? Favorite night to skip regular rotation and have dinner at Palo? Do you prefer Palo as a date or larger group?

This would be so great if we could book a tea, brunch, and a dinner before the sailing for the PC cruise! I hope that is the case for this cruise... and I will try to get a 2nd dining at Palo for dinner after we get on the ship. We love dining there. This is one reason i want to find out what the different themes each night for the PC cruise. I'd hate to miss out on a theme night that is something new I've never experienced before.

As for a favorite night to skip regular rotation, it just has worked out that the 7-day cruises we've taken, we have always seemed to skip the Captain's Gala night and we go to Palo that night... and we've lucked out and had lobster at Palo each time, because they served it at the dining rooms for the Captain's Gala.

We like to be in the dining rooms for formal night, and pirate night. Other than those nights, we are fine missing any of the other nights.... we usually try to pick a sea day to do dinner at Palo, though, because we are always tired and sunned out, it seems, after a port day.

We've never dined at Palo in a group. We've only done it by ourselves, so I guess for us, we prefer to dine by ourselves there... it feels like a romantic date, and having 2 children, it is fun to have a "free" date night (and I put "free" in quotes, because it really actually is the most expensive date we've ever had... had to pay the price of the cruise to have a date night at Palo! haha. )

Also, I usually try to book Palo for dinner around sunset time, so we can watch the sunset, and I go to Palo when we are first on the ship and request a window seat for the night we are dining, and we've always gotten a window seat. So, that seems to work, even though they say they can't guarentee a window.

 

[aan1701]

I have done all three. Honenstly I do not think I will ever do dinner there again. We did not think it was any better than the dinning rooms. Now Brunch I love and DW loves the Tea because of the Scones. Funny note about that, I really do not like Scones, but I loves the ones at Palo tea.

 

[DisneyCruiser83]

Hey fellow cruisers!
Katherine, I have been on a make pasta/sauce and pizza dough/sauce from scratch kick lately, so se should get together for a dinner party!
Since there was some talk a little bit ago of rental cars, I started doing some research. Even with mousesavers, the least expensive rental I have found so far was $80 for a 23 hour one way rental! DH and I rented a car this summer and found a Ford on Priceline for about $15 a day. I guess we won't be able to find something like that, but $80 is just outrageous to me. Hopefully we can find something better closer to sail date.
I like going to Palo dinner as a couple, just at sunset with a great glass of wine...very nice. But, brunch, I see more as a group thing. I have never done the tea.
Does anyone know if we will get information about the theme nights beforehand so we are able to bring appropriate attire if we choose to dress up? Mexican night sounds fun, and if we have multiple formal nights, I would want to bring a different dress for each night. Thankfully, Southwest will take the luggage worry out of the picture! (Thanks Alan! )
DH and I saw Wicked for the first time this past Saturday, and it was amazing! We loved it so much, we bought tickets for next Thursday to see it again. If you have not seen it before, find a showing in your area, it is worth it!
Because we bought the second round of tickets, we are keeping Valentine's Day low-key, maybe go to see Wolfman or something (very romantic). What are your plans?
Have a great day everyone!

 

[aan1701]

Thankfully, Southwest will take the luggage worry out of the picture! (Thanks Alan! )

Don't thank me, thank our upper management. They are the smart ones. Seriously I think you should quickly send a emai or a letter via snail mail to let them know. If people write in and tell us that one of the reasons you are flying us is the free bags it may not change.

 

[RanCan]

Good morning fellow cruisers from around the globe. Hope everyone has a good day!!!

 

[glindamood]

For the past two years I've been on a major bread kick, teaching myself how to make different kinds of bread. I've learned how to make bagels, tortilla and I recently nailed down a great recipe for sourdough.

My dh lets me buy 25lbs of flour from Costco (for $6.50), so each loaf cost about .03 cents.

I just finished making 4 loaves and will go manically around my neighborhood giving people fresh bread.

It's like a bread making sickness, and I thought if anyone could understand that it would be a bunch of dissers.

Katherine

I wish you were MY neighbor. I have not had homemade bread in a very long time, guess that may be my major task for this coming weekend. We used to have a bread machine and used it a lot but sadly, it no longer works.

Last I knew the times are 5:45 and 8:15

Could be - I just know that late dining was at 8:30 on our November cruises. And, as we all know, it could change multiple times before we sail.

I have done all three. Honenstly I do not think I will ever do dinner there again. We did not think it was any better than the dinning rooms. Now Brunch I love and DW loves the Tea because of the Scones. Funny note about that, I really do not like Scones, but I loves the ones at Palo tea.

You and DH will get along famously - he could care less about dinner but, now that we are platnium and get a 'free' dinner from there, we go. Brunch is our favorite - best meal on the ship as far as I am concerned.

Well, I hope all of you in this storms path are stocked up with food and come out on the other side unscathed. We are only to get a few inches so no worries here.

 

[carmie3377]

Honenstly I do not think I will ever do dinner there again. We did not think it was any better than the dinning rooms.

We don't plan on doing it again either. It was good but we also thought our food was really good in the dining room for most part.

 

[carmie3377]

For the past two years I've been on a major bread kick, teaching myself how to make different kinds of bread. I've learned how to make bagels, tortilla and I recently nailed down a great recipe for sourdough.

My dh lets me buy 25lbs of flour from Costco (for $6.50), so each loaf cost about .03 cents.

I just finished making 4 loaves and will go manically around my neighborhood giving people fresh bread.

It's like a bread making sickness, and I thought if anyone could understand that it would be a bunch of dissers.

Katherine

Ooh, I love homemade bread! We had a neighbor that just moved and she was always bringing over homemade bread and pasta (she was born and raised in Italy). I sure do miss her, and not just for the homemade bread

 

[carmie3377]

This is what I was thinking, too. We chatted quite a bit with our server on our cruise last week, and he said the same thing, that Saturday's are exhausting because of the turnover of passengers, and he said they have to serve at breakfast, lunch and dinner. But, he also said that by dinner on Saturday night on the 7-day cruise, he gets a second-wind to make it through the next week because it's fun to meet new passengers, get to know new people, etc.

He told me they work 90 hours a week, every week they are on the ship, with no days off for all the months they are on the ship. But, he said they just get used to it, and if you get in the right mind-set, it's not as difficult. But, I also thought that a 15-day cruise would be a bit more relaxing for the dining room servers and the room hostess' because they get more or less a "free" Saturday where they aren't trying to turn the ship around.

Although, our server did say that usually by Thursday or Friday of a 7-day cruise, he is starting to feel the exhaustion of working long days without a break, and that is why he thinks seeing new passengers, new faces, etc. on Saturday gives him a second-wind. So, with the 15-day cruise, I wonder if they ever get that "second-wind" half-way through. It probably depends on the person.

I am going to bring some fun little gift for our server, assistant server and room host/hostess because 15 days is a long time, and I know I will appreciate every day they work to make our trip amazing! I also think the 15-day cruise will allow us more time to get to know our servers and room host/hostess... seems like the 7-day cruise, we are just getting to know each other on a more personal level, and then the cruise is over.

I didn't think about new passengers giving them a second wind. Makes sense

 

[carmie3377]

Since there was some talk a little bit ago of rental cars, I started doing some research. Even with mousesavers, the least expensive rental I have found so far was $80 for a 23 hour one way rental!

I looked over the weekend and I found a rate for $55 for a fullsize with Budget. I didn't book it yet and of course the rate could have changed a dozen times since then. I'll look again today if I have the chance and post back what I found with what code.

Does anyone know if we will get information about the theme nights beforehand so we are able to bring appropriate attire if we choose to dress up? Mexican night sounds fun, and if we have multiple formal nights, I would want to bring a different dress for each night. Thankfully, Southwest will take the luggage worry out of the picture! (Thanks Alan! )

I'm looking forward to the different theme nights too. And yes, thank goodness for SWA so I don't have to worry so much about luggage restrictions.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Re Mexican night, do folks dress up? Unless I misunderstood, yes is the answer?
How /where /what do they dress???
Any pictures??

 

[LovesToRun]

Re Mexican night, do folks dress up? Unless I misunderstood, yes is the answer?
How /where /what do they dress???
Any pictures??

I don't know from experience at all, but our waiter from our cruise last week did the '08 PC cruise, and he said the waiters all dressed up on Mexican night in Mexican attire, and he said he remembered passengers dressing up, too, in Mexican attire. I asked him specifics (like did passengers wear sombrero's, and stuff like that), and he said he couldn't remember specifically, but he just remembered people dressing up like in a Mexican style.

So, I don't know if it's like pirate night where they make a big deal out of it, or if it's just a matter of matching the dinner theme...

I'd love to see pictures, too!! and, I'm only passing on info from our waiter... like I said, this is not info from my own experience.

I'd love to know details, too, though.

 

[JenKatt]

Re Mexican night, do folks dress up? Unless I misunderstood, yes is the answer?
How /where /what do they dress???
Any pictures??

No pics from our cruise, but considering we didn't know what to expect, there will still a bunch of people in "festive tropical" attire. Some somberos, but a lot of bright colors (and tequila - lots of that)
They brought back tropical night for us (which had been replaced by pirates night). I don't have access to the pics at my office, but I'll see what I can find tonight.

 

[carmie3377]

Since there was some talk a little bit ago of rental cars, I started doing some research. Even with mousesavers, the least expensive rental I have found so far was $80 for a 23 hour one way rental! DH and I rented a car this summer and found a Ford on Priceline for about $15 a day. I guess we won't be able to find something like that, but $80 is just outrageous to me.

I just found a full size on budget for $65 including tax and fees. I used the Discover card discount code - S232000. I went ahead and booked it but plan on keeping an eye on rates. So many people on the main cruise board state that that can usually get a rate of $50 or less including all fees and taxes. We did in Dec and it would be nice to lower our rate.

As far as priceline, I have heard that you can't do one-way rentals. Would be great though to get that $15/day!!!

 

[CruznLexi]

We looked into getting a rental car from here and driving to WDW and then to PC it would cost about $250 then add 2 fill ups which would be about $60 so that is over $300 SW will cost us about $150 for the 2 and then do DCL for $70. I prefer to get to the port early but we have 15 nights so leaving at noon means we can have a relaxing am.

 

[CruznLexi]

The comment cards really are important for the servers and cabin stewards. If you mark anything less than excellent they will get a smaller section of passangers and staterooms. Change over days are hard dinner maybe done by 1030pm but then the dinnning room has to be reset and most have extra duties they have to do. They are normally done by midnight and then have to be in the dinning room 30 min before the meal. So now you are looking at 530am! They have no off day but good coments can get them an afternoon off on a port day. Never a sea day. Plus also some on boarding day have life boat drill duty. The 15 night cruises do get you some relief but the sea days are long as some people never eat any place but the dinning room and show up 15 mjn before the end of the meal. Carnival now has the behind the Fun tour which you have to pay for but it is worth it. It's a behind the scenes tour. Well worth it.

 

[JenKatt]

We have all of our navigator's from the 05 PC cruise. Let me see if I can't get Jeff to put them up on the website.

 

[aan1701]

You and DH will get along famously - he could care less about dinner but, now that we are platnium and get a 'free' dinner from there, we go. Brunch is our favorite - best meal on the ship as far as I am concerned.

Well, I hope all of you in this storms path are stocked up with food and come out on the other side unscathed. We are only to get a few inches so no worries here.

Even when I hit Platnium, if I can't have the Brunch as my free meal it will go to waste. I know that sound really weird but we were very unimpressed with dinner at Palo. Becides, I always love my servers and don't want to miss a night with them. I think it is safe to say from my stand point, I will not be having dinnner in Palo anytime soon. Well more rain here today. Shouldn't last to long like it did over the weekend. It looks like just a few hours of rain today.

 

[CruznLexi]

I would love to try Palo but hubby does not like to pay for extra food. I tried to get him to do this on the Carnival Dream and no way. Made my first real payment for the cruise last week. Only 7 more to go and then I might can do something for the fall.

 

[glindamood]

Even when I hit Platnium, if I can't have the Brunch as my free meal it will go to waste. I know that sound really weird but we were very unimpressed with dinner at Palo. Becides, I always love my servers and don't want to miss a night with them. I think it is safe to say from my stand point, I will not be having dinnner in Palo anytime soon. Well more rain here today. Shouldn't last to long like it did over the weekend. It looks like just a few hours of rain today.

We had a favorite server that we had for several cruises so it was an excuse to go up and see Anne Marie. I got sort of choked up when we said good bye to her after that cruise - what a sap I am.

And I hope everyone's weather stops with the precipitation, liquid or otherwise.