How do I know my dining rotation?

[MAGICX2]

The only ressie we could get for Palo's was on our first night at 8:30pm. We really don't want to miss out on any of the three special restaurants just to go to Palo's without our kiddos. Is there anyway to know ahead of time where we will be dining what day? We leave this Sun. 1/20/08 on a 4 night.
We are the late dining time.

 

[CraftyMouse]

Unfortunately, you will not know your rotation until you get to the terminal. It will be printed on your KTTW card and there will also be tickets in your stateroom.

 

[MAGICX2]

How do I know if I have the "main dining"? In our Travel Booklet it says "Confirmed Dining:Second". Our kids typically eat around 6pm, but we thought we would have to get back on the ship before we wanted to if we took the first dining. Should we keep what we have or can we request a time change?

 

[atinkerbellmom]

The OP is correct, you will not find out your dining rotation until you get to the ship and check in. Since you have second dinner, you will be assigned to 8:00, 8:15 or 8:30 depending on the restaurant you are assigned to start in. Again, you find this out when you board. They base your restaurant on how many people they have to keep together, medical request/needs of other cruisers and abilities of the servers. Then everyone else is randomly assigned to fill in the holes. So there is no way they can know. Now if your are second dinner, "The Confirm Quote you refer to", the chances of you getting main first dinner is really unlikely. 1st dinner many times is booked over a year in advance just because people traveling with small children/toddlers many times put the kids to bed by 8PM, so on DCL 1st rotation is hard to get. There is a wait list, but at this point with your cruise being so close, you are more than likely stuck with 2nd. Your children will not go hungry though. There is endless food on the ship 24 hours a day. So to answer your question, you can request all you want, the chance of you getting it is slim to none. Did you know with second dinner you have to be back on the ship and your dinner show starts at 6PM. The only advantage is that you do not have to run to the ship to change clothes. There is time between your show and dinner if you want to do that and you are a little quick in clothes change.
As far as Palo, you will be missing one of your restaurants with the first night ressies. You will not know which one that is until at port, but it is just a decision you have to make. I will be honest, with only a 4 day cruise and this being your first cruise, the chance of you getting Palos on your 1 restaurant repeat day again is slim. So the truth is, you just have to make a choice, Palos or main restaurant as a family. I personally think all first time cruisers read and read on the web and try to get everything in. Know the trip is set up so that you can not get everything in..... This is what keeps you coming back. IMHO, 1st time cruisers doing short trips should try to save Palos until your second cruise, as it is so much just to get through all the basics.

 

[dmi188]

Perhaps once on board, you could get an early Palo time. Then you could eat at Palo, and pick the kids up and eat an appetizer and dessert at your rotational restaurant with the kids. Or better yet, when you board, see if you can book Palo brunch, and cancel the dinner. That's what we did on our first cruise, as we wanted to experience all the restaurants.

Another thing, since your Palo is the first night, you will miss meeting your servers and tablemates that first night.

 

[CraftyMouse]

How do I know if I have the "main dining"? In our Travel Booklet it says "Confirmed Dining:Second". Our kids typically eat around 6pm, but we thought we would have to get back on the ship before we wanted to if we took the first dining. Should we keep what we have or can we request a time change?

I noticed that you said you had late dining so I edited my post. It is probably too late, at this point, to change your dining time as the main (early) dining time is more popular. You can go to Wavebands (Deck 3 Forward) once you board to see if the change is possible. There is always the possibility so it's worth a try. Wavebands is also where you would go to change your Palo time. They do hold some reservations back for on board booking so you might be successful in getting a new time for Palo dinner. If you can't get early dinner I"d try to move Palo to 6:00 on your first night. Then you can go for dinner there before going to the dining room with your kids. If Palo is important to you I'd miss the show that night. If the show is more important then I'd cancel Palo. We didn't go to Palo until our 3rd cruise and didn't miss it as everything was so new to us and there was so much to do.

As for dining times, we have always had main dining and never felt rushed to get back from port, but that's us. We started cruising when our kids were 3 & 6 and they are now 12 & 15. Finishing dinner at 10:00pm is just too late for us so we prefer the early seating. As I said, Main dining is much more popular but if you think you'd like to switch it's worth a shot.

 

[Calle&Jakesmom]

My husband & I have never been on the cruise before. We're going on a 4 night Wonder in April with friends who have. We've got 4 kids between us and want to eat at Palo to have an adult meal without the kids. Should we do a dinner or the brunch? Seems like there are pros & cons to both.

 

[CraftyMouse]

My husband & I have never been on the cruise before. We're going on a 4 night Wonder in April with friends who have. We've got 4 kids between us and want to eat at Palo to have an adult meal without the kids. Should we do a dinner or the brunch? Seems like there are pros & cons to both.

First of all...Go Sox!

Okay, now on to your question...

If it were me I would try for the brunch. It is harder to get, as they only serve it on one day on the 4-day but it will mean you don't have to miss any of the dinners. If you do decide to go for dinner my advice would be to book it for the first night at the opposite time as your dining rotation. (For example, if you have Main dining book Palo for 8:00 and if you have Late dining book Palo for 6:00.) That way you can still go to the dining room with the kids. You can just get something light (if anything) and have your main meal at Palo. On the first night the show is a variety show so you won't be missing any of the main productions.