Lots of questions about dining

[Liz]

We are booked for a western sailing on the Magic and requested the later dinner seating.

On port days, what do you do about lunch if you are away from the ship? Are you (generally) too far away to return to the ship and go back out again? Is there ever a time when we wouldn't return in time for dinner?

What is appropriate attire for dinner on the Magic? We are generally casual dressers but want to dress appropriately. We wouldn't be eating at Palo because DH, DS and myself are old enough but my DD17 isn't and we wouldn't want to leave her out.

If there's anything else I should know about dining that I'm not smart enough to ask please feel free to volunteer the info! I feel so clueless! Thanks!

 

[thomprod]

We are booked for a western sailing on the Magic and requested the later dinner seating.

On port days, what do you do about lunch if you are away from the ship? Are you (generally) too far away to return to the ship and go back out again? Is there ever a time when we wouldn't return in time for dinner?

What is appropriate attire for dinner on the Magic? We are generally casual dressers but want to dress appropriately. We wouldn't be eating at Palo because DH, DS and myself are old enough but my DD17 isn't and we wouldn't want to leave her out.

If there's anything else I should know about dining that I'm not smart enough to ask please feel free to volunteer the info! I feel so clueless! Thanks!

Liz, You can't be THAT clueless because it says that you have posted 3,889 times already.

If you are on a shore excursion that keeps you away from the ship over lunch, then you can either eat in port, pack something to take with you before you disembark, eat by the pool when you return, or call room service when you return. In our experience, missing a few lunches really wasn't a problem with all the food available the rest of the time.

The current dress policy says no swimwear or shorts in the restaurants for dinner. You'll have one formal night where you might want to dress up a bit. Good luck.

 

[logan1_2000]

I also saw the number of posts, but wonder if some (much?) of that is on WDW or other non DCL forums. Anyway...

We've always come on back to the ship for lunch, or a late lunch. If we were close enough, the trip back to the ship was followed by once again venturing out, or sometimes we'd had enough beach and sun by 2 or 2:30 and went back and had a late lunch. Others have spoken of ordering room service and wrapping it to go and bringing that with them, hopefully in some type of insulated bag you brought with you (we've brought the bags w/ us, but never used them, in an example of over-preparedness brought on by reading all the good ideas on the board).

 

[Liz]

Thanks for the info!

As for the clueless part, I've been to WDW many, many times but just delving into the world of cruising! Its all so new and different!

 

[lbgraves]

I agree that the number of posts doesn't mean that she has been on the cruise board very long. When we were planning our recent WDW trip I was pretty clueless with regards to MGM, transportation from the train station, and FPs but have been active on the cruise boards for a couple years now.

If you are in port you could always buy a meal locally. Some people also have posted about ordering room service to be delivered in the morning & taking that food with you in a small cooler. With the Western you wont arrive at Key West until after lunch so that wont be a problem. In Grand Cayman you will tender to the port and that could be time consuming, especially coming back. We had to wait a while for the next tender to return to the ship. In Cozumel you are docked and you could get off the ship, do some shopping or an excursion then return for lunch before getting back off the ship. At Castaway Cay there is a great lunch buffet provided at Cookies so you really don't have to go back to the ship early. Drinks & soft serve ice cream are also available during the day.

With late seating you shouldn't have a problem getting back to the ship for dinner but if it is your first cruise, which I am guessing it is by your questions, you wont want to miss the main stage shows even if your kids are older. They are very well done with top notch performers. You will be going to the shows before dinner. I believe that they start at 6:30.

You and your DH should at least have brunch at Palo, just the two of you. Your kids will be fine on their own or at the Stack. It is a wonderful experience.

Have you joined your cruise meets thread yet? That will give you the chance to meet other DISers cruising with you.

 

[DisneyZell]

it was never a problem for us, frankly we ate locally because it was fun.

in regards to ordering food and taking it with you, i understand there can be major fines to the ship if people are caught taking food off the ship. of course that might just be BS as I know alot of people have done it, but I don't think saving a bit of money is worth taking the risk IMO!

have fun!

 

[jrabbit]

You didn't ask these questions about dinning, but since you're new to cruising I thought that I would post one of my standard responses about dinning.

Things to know about dinning - In order of importance
1) Seating: Main (6:00) or Late (8:30)
2) Rotation: Which dinning room that night. On the Magic the restaurants are: Lumiere's, Animator's Palate and Parrot Cay so the three rotations are LAPLAPL or APLAPLA or PLAPLAP and on the Wonder the restaurants are: Tritons's, Animator's Palate and Parrot Cay so the three rotations are TAP or APT or PTA.

** NOTE: At this point in time I don't know what DCL is doing on the 4 night cruises - so you will want to check this info out.**

If you are on the 4 night cruise DCL has now changed the rotation again (2nd time) to having the third and fourth restaurant the same (in other words - the last two nights in the same restaurant). So the rotations are as of March 13, 2005: TAPP, APTT and PTAA (this is the way it was way back in the beginning in '98-'99). And Pirates Night is on the third night (Tuesday). Note1: early in 2005 DCL change to having the first 2 nights in the same restaurant (ie. TTAP, AAPT and PPTA) because of the new Pirates Night show/buffett. Note2: BEFORE Pirates Night the rotation on the 4 nighter was TAPT, APTA and PTAP.

3) Table Number: (same table number in all of the dinning rooms)
4) Your Serving Team: they will be with you for all of your rotational dinning
5) Your Tablemates: Most families will share a table with other families. They will be with you for dinner in all of the rotational dinning rooms (so get to know them - you have 3 to 7 nights to make new friends)
6) Tipping (it's an entire topic in and of itself!!): On the ship you do NOT need to tip your waitstaff at every meal (and it's not expected). Tipping happens on the last night of the cruise. Other than dinner, you will most likely have other servers than your assigned servers. You do not need to tip them. The published gratuity "chart" assumes that your tip will cover not only your dinners but all other meals as well (because your waitstaff is working someplace on the ship at all meals).
-----
Here's one of your questions...

On port days, what do you do about lunch if you are away from the ship? Are you (generally) too far away to return to the ship and go back out again? Is there ever a time when we wouldn't return in time for dinner?

Many of DCL's excursions include a lite lunch, drinks, and/or snacks. We've NEVER eaten off of the ship. If we not on an excursion, we come back to the ship for lunch. Yea, we've done that but most of the time after the first full day onboard, my family skips lunch. We're big breakfast eaters and with the yummy dinners we usually only eat breakfast and dinner and have some fruit in the middle of the afternoon.

 

[Liz]

Thanks for the great info!

Are there different stage shows every night or just some nights?

Isn't there one night when we are supposed to dress up more than others for dinner? Would you say khaki pants and polo shirt for guys on regular nights and summer type dresses for ladies/teens? Or can you go more casual that that? What about capri pants?

I'm really getting excited the more I learn, even though we aren't going till Oct. 2006! Good thing though, we need that long to save up all the money we'll need!

(And I just did a search. Out of my 3000+ posts on the DIS, this is my 20th on the Cruise board!)

 

[lbgraves]

You can check this site to see some recent navigators and get an idea of the events on the ship. There are so many. It also gives info on the shows. http://www.dcltribute.com/ I also recommend getting the Passporter's Disney Cruise Line book. It is great to take along for reference & has alot of the tips you see here condensed in one place.

 

[crisi]

Thanks for the great info!

Are there different stage shows every night or just some nights?

Isn't there one night when we are supposed to dress up more than others for dinner? Would you say khaki pants and polo shirt for guys on regular nights and summer type dresses for ladies/teens? Or can you go more casual that that? What about capri pants?

I'm really getting excited the more I learn, even though we aren't going till Oct. 2006! Good thing though, we need that long to save up all the money we'll need!

(And I just did a search. Out of my 3000+ posts on the DIS, this is my 20th on the Cruise board!)

Different stage shows each night. Three big productions, then variety acts for the other nights.

You are supposed to dress up a little for dinner. Capri pants and sundresses are fine. Jeans are now ok too (though who would wear them on a tropical cruise is confusing to me). You aren't supposed to wear shorts (the skort debate is a different question). There is a semiformal and formal night on the seven day cruises. Some people go all out, black tie, floor length gowns. Others wear "church clothes." Palo is a little dressier than the dining rooms (I wouldn't wear capri's to Palo myself.) On seven day cruises, Topsiders is open for dinner as well for those that don't want the full dining experience.

 

[mecook]

Just back....the rotation is now with the 2nd and 3rd nights in the same place.

I was APPT, so we had Parrot on Monday and again on Tuesday for the Pirate night. It was SO great to be in the tropical atmosphere for Pirate night. The servers were all dressed up; we did a conga line and limbo.

We had first seating and we dined at 6 every night. Some people dined at 5:45 and others at 6:15. The late seating was 8, 8:15, or 8:30.
You don't change times; it just spread folks out so the lines didn't get long.

From what I can tell from my Navigators, here's the breakdown as of 6/26.
5:45 was TAAP
6:00 was APPT (this was me)
6:15 was PTTA

8:00 was TAAP
8:15 was APPT
8:30 was PTTA

Hope this helps with the "wondering" what the new schedule would be like.

Melanie