DoomBuggieDriver
Boston Strong
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2003
- Messages
- 536
Hi everyone,
Here's the thread dedicated to our stomachs and our ever-expanding waistlines on the Magic. I guess we could have headed to the health club to counter it, but we decided going up the stairs to Scoops and Topsiders counted as our daily exercise.
I have to preface this thread with a disclaimer. Of all things I worried about before boarding, dining was not one of them. I really didn't care about the rotation or the specific menus, which servers we would get, etc., as we are not picky at all (except for DD11 and she doesn't count) We just love dinners anywhere but home, so we are easy to please. That's why I am doing this as it's own thread-because it were me, I would want to skip this stuff.
Also, I found all the servers to be wonderful, from our wait staff to the bar staff and those behind the counter at the fast food places. That said, I think they are under a lot of pressure to do more than be classy, gracious, polite, helpful, and serve the food in a timely manner. I know we are paying a lot for the food and service after all, but it really is as simple as a nice dinner.
That said, here goes.
Dining rotation:
We were able to prebook this because of the category 3 room. I'll talk about the category 3 another time, but you can prebook your rotation with the Romatic Escape At Sea Package for a lot less than upgrading to a bigger room. Honestly, in our experience, all the restaurants are good and you can't go wrong in any of them on any given night.
We had the APL rotation, which put us in Animators the first night-Saturday, Parrot Cay for Sunday evening, and Lumiere's for the formal night; then as follows: Tuesday Animator's, Wed Parrot Cay for Mexicali-whatever night; Thursday in Lumiere's again for the semi-formal night which was the Captain's Best Of menu thing and Friday back in Animators where we started for the "Around the World" Menu. If I am off on any of this please correct me, as often dinner was a wonderful blur.
Seating time: we chose the early seating and it worked well for us. We live on the east coast, so that wasn't a factor. Our DDs are 13 and 11, so we could have managed the later time if we wanted. There was one night we did have to rush a bit to get to dinner on time, acutally arriving a little late (Cozumel day), but otherwise it wasn't a bind for us. A couple times I enjoyed going to dinner, then going back to the room for a short nap before going out. Other times if we were going to a show for 8:30pm, we had plenty of time to go back to the room and change or sit around before going to the theatres. I think with the late seating it would have been lights out for me after dinner!
Kids Menu: DD13 always ordered off the adult menu and enjoyed it. DD11 didn't like anything but french fries and an occasional chicken finger on the kids menu, but she isn't normal so don't pay any mind. There was always mac n. cheese, PB & J; pasta; chicken fingers, grilled cheese etc.
Palo: This was excellent! Don't miss it if possible. I was ready to skip it completely, but decided at the booking meeting in Sessions the day we got on board to just do both the dinner and lunch and see what the fuss is about. We decided on Tuesday night at 8pm for dinner, as it was the second night in Animators and the ship leaves the Grand Cayman port early anyway. We decided on the brunch for Thursday because it's a sea day, and had an 11am seating so we could sleep in. This meant we missed the seafood buffet, but I am the only one who really likes all kinds of seafood so it didn't matter to DH or DDs. Palo was really, really great. Our server Salvatore made us feel like we were the only ones in the restaurant; the view at brunch is wonderful; and the selection is great-something good for everyone. For dinner we tried several appetizers recommended by Salvatore; then my husband ordered filet mignon and I ordered the rack of lamb; of course with the chocolate souffle for dessert along with another selection for my DH that I don't recall because I was too busy enjoying the souffle.
At the brunch your server will lead you around to get you famiilar with the foods available. You are served champagne, and then you go through the buffett areas. After you are seated with that you place orders with your server for items cooked to order. DH had the eggs benedict and I tried the fish, again on the recommendation by Salvatore. Everything was on a higher level here. All in all, go to Palo. People may ask what I enjoyed more-brunch or dinner, and honestly it's a toss up. DH and I had a little scrum on Tuesday (see the Grand Cayman thread later) and were in no mood to dress up and go out on a date, but the Palo dinner changed the whole evening for us. And the brunch was on a sea day, so we enjoyed it without feeling rushed, and we really appreciated it as we never had breakfast or lunch in the sitdown restaurants with exception of the last debarkation day, when we went to Animators to clear out of the room to give the staff more time to do their work- it was always at Topsiders or the fast food stops by the pools. (We were literally under Topsiders, so it was really convenient, especially with kids, one of whom is picky.)
Non-Palo favorites:
I know this is unusual, but I loved the Mexicali night in Parrot Cay. I really like Mexican food here at home, and I loved the shrimp & rice dish. Otherwise, the filet mignon with the potatoes Richard, or was it Peter, I don't remember, in Animators on the Around the World night was great.
Best dessert: Ok; the chocolate souffle at Palo is above and beyond, but I was expecting it to be because of these boards. The unexpectedly good dessert was the Chocolate Decadence in Animators the last night- outstanding. Unfortunately, after the spuds I couldn't finish it, and I am still thinking about it!
My DDs went to the dessert buffet Thursday night and got goodies and took pictures, but we missed it. I just wasn't up for trying to eat anything more.
As for the kiddos when we were in Palo; they had goodies from Topsiders, and skipped dining alone Tuesday at dinner, and they got a tray full of food from Topsiders for breakfast on Thursday morning. Interestingly, we saw two different couples seated near us leave their children for dining on the regular shift with much different results. One girl and boy-preteen age, were in Lumiere's alone and were angels. They carried on a conversation, watched what was going on around them, and were respectful. I caught their Mom at the theatre, introduced myself, and told her how wonderful her children were. On the other hand, on another night we were near a table with some kids who were really awful-again 3 preteenagers. The second their parents left they morphed into creatures from hell. They were calling the servers over at every turn, taking their food and dunking it into water glasses, spilling everything and leaving a mess on and under their table. It wasn't pretty and their parents would have been ashamed. They were back to being respectful at breakfast the next day.
As far as the fare at Pinocchios Pizzeria and the Hot dog stand and Scoops- all just like fast food. Not outstanding, but the kids loved it and it was easy and good enough when you were hungry.
I think that's it. As I said on the Top 10 letdowns etc., I wish we ordered breakfast for room service at least one day. And being in category 3, we can order anything from the menu any night, but it was really nice to go out.
Kathy
Here's the thread dedicated to our stomachs and our ever-expanding waistlines on the Magic. I guess we could have headed to the health club to counter it, but we decided going up the stairs to Scoops and Topsiders counted as our daily exercise.
I have to preface this thread with a disclaimer. Of all things I worried about before boarding, dining was not one of them. I really didn't care about the rotation or the specific menus, which servers we would get, etc., as we are not picky at all (except for DD11 and she doesn't count) We just love dinners anywhere but home, so we are easy to please. That's why I am doing this as it's own thread-because it were me, I would want to skip this stuff.
Also, I found all the servers to be wonderful, from our wait staff to the bar staff and those behind the counter at the fast food places. That said, I think they are under a lot of pressure to do more than be classy, gracious, polite, helpful, and serve the food in a timely manner. I know we are paying a lot for the food and service after all, but it really is as simple as a nice dinner.
That said, here goes.
Dining rotation:
We were able to prebook this because of the category 3 room. I'll talk about the category 3 another time, but you can prebook your rotation with the Romatic Escape At Sea Package for a lot less than upgrading to a bigger room. Honestly, in our experience, all the restaurants are good and you can't go wrong in any of them on any given night.
We had the APL rotation, which put us in Animators the first night-Saturday, Parrot Cay for Sunday evening, and Lumiere's for the formal night; then as follows: Tuesday Animator's, Wed Parrot Cay for Mexicali-whatever night; Thursday in Lumiere's again for the semi-formal night which was the Captain's Best Of menu thing and Friday back in Animators where we started for the "Around the World" Menu. If I am off on any of this please correct me, as often dinner was a wonderful blur.
Seating time: we chose the early seating and it worked well for us. We live on the east coast, so that wasn't a factor. Our DDs are 13 and 11, so we could have managed the later time if we wanted. There was one night we did have to rush a bit to get to dinner on time, acutally arriving a little late (Cozumel day), but otherwise it wasn't a bind for us. A couple times I enjoyed going to dinner, then going back to the room for a short nap before going out. Other times if we were going to a show for 8:30pm, we had plenty of time to go back to the room and change or sit around before going to the theatres. I think with the late seating it would have been lights out for me after dinner!
Kids Menu: DD13 always ordered off the adult menu and enjoyed it. DD11 didn't like anything but french fries and an occasional chicken finger on the kids menu, but she isn't normal so don't pay any mind. There was always mac n. cheese, PB & J; pasta; chicken fingers, grilled cheese etc.
Palo: This was excellent! Don't miss it if possible. I was ready to skip it completely, but decided at the booking meeting in Sessions the day we got on board to just do both the dinner and lunch and see what the fuss is about. We decided on Tuesday night at 8pm for dinner, as it was the second night in Animators and the ship leaves the Grand Cayman port early anyway. We decided on the brunch for Thursday because it's a sea day, and had an 11am seating so we could sleep in. This meant we missed the seafood buffet, but I am the only one who really likes all kinds of seafood so it didn't matter to DH or DDs. Palo was really, really great. Our server Salvatore made us feel like we were the only ones in the restaurant; the view at brunch is wonderful; and the selection is great-something good for everyone. For dinner we tried several appetizers recommended by Salvatore; then my husband ordered filet mignon and I ordered the rack of lamb; of course with the chocolate souffle for dessert along with another selection for my DH that I don't recall because I was too busy enjoying the souffle.
At the brunch your server will lead you around to get you famiilar with the foods available. You are served champagne, and then you go through the buffett areas. After you are seated with that you place orders with your server for items cooked to order. DH had the eggs benedict and I tried the fish, again on the recommendation by Salvatore. Everything was on a higher level here. All in all, go to Palo. People may ask what I enjoyed more-brunch or dinner, and honestly it's a toss up. DH and I had a little scrum on Tuesday (see the Grand Cayman thread later) and were in no mood to dress up and go out on a date, but the Palo dinner changed the whole evening for us. And the brunch was on a sea day, so we enjoyed it without feeling rushed, and we really appreciated it as we never had breakfast or lunch in the sitdown restaurants with exception of the last debarkation day, when we went to Animators to clear out of the room to give the staff more time to do their work- it was always at Topsiders or the fast food stops by the pools. (We were literally under Topsiders, so it was really convenient, especially with kids, one of whom is picky.)
Non-Palo favorites:
I know this is unusual, but I loved the Mexicali night in Parrot Cay. I really like Mexican food here at home, and I loved the shrimp & rice dish. Otherwise, the filet mignon with the potatoes Richard, or was it Peter, I don't remember, in Animators on the Around the World night was great.
Best dessert: Ok; the chocolate souffle at Palo is above and beyond, but I was expecting it to be because of these boards. The unexpectedly good dessert was the Chocolate Decadence in Animators the last night- outstanding. Unfortunately, after the spuds I couldn't finish it, and I am still thinking about it!
My DDs went to the dessert buffet Thursday night and got goodies and took pictures, but we missed it. I just wasn't up for trying to eat anything more.
As for the kiddos when we were in Palo; they had goodies from Topsiders, and skipped dining alone Tuesday at dinner, and they got a tray full of food from Topsiders for breakfast on Thursday morning. Interestingly, we saw two different couples seated near us leave their children for dining on the regular shift with much different results. One girl and boy-preteen age, were in Lumiere's alone and were angels. They carried on a conversation, watched what was going on around them, and were respectful. I caught their Mom at the theatre, introduced myself, and told her how wonderful her children were. On the other hand, on another night we were near a table with some kids who were really awful-again 3 preteenagers. The second their parents left they morphed into creatures from hell. They were calling the servers over at every turn, taking their food and dunking it into water glasses, spilling everything and leaving a mess on and under their table. It wasn't pretty and their parents would have been ashamed. They were back to being respectful at breakfast the next day.
As far as the fare at Pinocchios Pizzeria and the Hot dog stand and Scoops- all just like fast food. Not outstanding, but the kids loved it and it was easy and good enough when you were hungry.
I think that's it. As I said on the Top 10 letdowns etc., I wish we ordered breakfast for room service at least one day. And being in category 3, we can order anything from the menu any night, but it was really nice to go out.
Kathy
