MDR meals to-go?

[Aaryana]

Is it possible to get dinner to-go from the MDR? We have one person who is immune suppressed and would prefer not to be in the crowds of the MDR. As of now, we have late dining, which does not work for us for medical reasons for multiple people in the party. We are on the waitlist for early dining, but it's a completely full sailing. Not sure we'll get moved up. If we don't get moved up, can we pre-order our meals to have them available right at 8:15? Is it possible to get it any earlier if we don't want to eat in the dining room? I know room service and the pool deck are other options, but we don't want burgers/tacos/pizza for every meal. I appreciate any suggestions.

 

[Mommb]

I have heard of the main dining rooms boxing up food occasionally when someone is ill or needs to pick up a child, but not routinely. The ability to order dinner to the room is perk of booking Concierge.

Have you talked to the DCL Special Services department? Their phone number is listed on page 4 of the document below. I don’t know if they would have ideas for possible accommodations, or the ability to prioritize your party for early dining and/or a private table as far away from other tables as possible.

https://cdn1.parksmedia.wdprapps.di...Disabilties_Medical_Conditions_April_2025.pdf

 

[Aaryana]

We don’t need it delivered to the room. Other members of the party can pick it up. We just want to eat together, so we would want to take all meals back to the room.

 

[SnowWhite2]

The dining rooms don’t allow take out. They will send dessert or a plate if someone is sick but not as a continuing effort. If you need something specific, you need to talk to the special services department to see what they can provide. Having an immune suppressed person on a cruise ship is something I’m sure doesn’t happen but a few times for a make a wish trip. Are they going to stay in the room for the entire trip? That may trigger other services that you can get. Otherwise I suspect they will want you to order room service.

 

[lanejudy]

Having an immune suppressed person on a cruise ship is something I’m sure doesn’t happen but a few times for a make a wish trip.

There are a lot more people with immunosuppressed diseases than you think.

OP - I strongly suggest talking to the Special Services department about the concerns for this individual. The MDRs are not really set-up to provide take-out; other venues are available for that; even concierge suites who can order MDR get served each course separately. Is this more about the timing or the exposure to others? Late dining is likely to be less crowded.

 

[CruiseGoon]

Yes, you can get your MDR meals delivered. We have even pre-ordered the day before and had them delivered to our stateroom. We had an excursion booked on our Alaska cruise that would get us back too late for our first seating rotation on lobster tail night. We placed our orders the night before and they were delivered to our room. We ate on our balcony as the Wonder was departing port that night. Our serving team was fantastic on that cruise!

I don't know about every night, so you will likely need to make that request.

 

[Aaryana]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. We are planning to avoid crowded areas as much as possible. The party is all adults, so we will be sticking to outdoor adult only areas for the most part. We are going to watch the recorded versions of the shows this time instead of going to the theater. The immune suppressed person also has concerns about late dining due to needing to time bedtime medication at least 2-3 hours after a meal and not wanting to stay up until midnight to do so.

We will likely sail concierge next time, but there were some health changes after we booked. Looking into possible upgrades for this sailing as well.

 

[Kwami]

Yes, you can get your MDR meals delivered. We have even pre-ordered the day before and had them delivered to our stateroom. We had an excursion booked on our Alaska cruise that would get us back too late for our first seating rotation on lobster tail night. We placed our orders the night before and they were delivered to our room. We ate on our balcony as the Wonder was departing port that night. Our serving team was fantastic on that cruise!

I don't know about every night, so you will likely need to make that request.

Did you sail concierge on that cruise? Because having MDR meals delivers is not normally allowed except for in special circumstances unless you're sailing concierge. They might have made an exception for you on that one night because of your late excursion, though.

 

[Cfabar1]

I have seen exceptions granted, but exceptions are not guaranteed - I've also seen them denied...

and the rule very much s that you eat in the main dining room.

 

[lanejudy]

@Aaryana Please contact DCL Special Services, (407) 566-3602 or specialservices@disneycruise.com. There may be other things you have considered where they could help as well -- such as muster drill, etc. These accommodations need to be set-up in advance so please don't wait until you board.

 

[Aaryana]

@Aaryana Please contact DCL Special Services, (407) 566-3602 or specialservices@disneycruise.com. There may be other things you have considered where they could help as well -- such as muster drill, etc. These accommodations need to be set-up in advance so please don't wait until you board.

Thank you. Yes, I've been in contact with them multiple times already regarding bringing on oxygen tanks, dining requests, transportation assistance, and other medical equipment and supplies.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Maybe a cruise is not the best type of vacation for your group right now. You mentioned it's a sold out sailing so that means wall to wall people everywhere you go. Unfortunately, people will sail sick and don't care that they might be spreading it to others. Every time we have sailed I've noticed people walking around openly coughing/sniffling and not covering their mouth or coughing, sneezing in their hands and then touching elevator buttons or hand rails. People can be absolutely gross and oblivious.

 

[Aaryana]

Maybe a cruise is not the best type of vacation for your group right now. You mentioned it's a sold out sailing so that means wall to wall people everywhere you go. Unfortunately, people will sail sick and don't care that they might be spreading it to others. Every time we have sailed I've noticed people walking around openly coughing/sniffling and not covering their mouth or coughing, sneezing in their hands and then touching elevator buttons or hand rails. People can be absolutely gross and oblivious.

Unfortunately this was planned and paid for before the changes to my father's health happened. We already rescheduled once and are running out of time on the credit. We have his physician's blessing to go with accommodations. Honestly, we're just so glad he survived to be able to take this trip.

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. We are planning to avoid crowded areas as much as possible. The party is all adults, so we will be sticking to outdoor adult only areas for the most part. We are going to watch the recorded versions of the shows this time instead of going to the theater. The immune suppressed person also has concerns about late dining due to needing to time bedtime medication at least 2-3 hours after a meal and not wanting to stay up until midnight to do so.

We will likely sail concierge next time, but there were some health changes after we booked. Looking into possible upgrades for this sailing as well.

One idea I just had: you could look into booking the private dining room at Palo for a meal. It will cost extra, but since your group is all adults you might enjoy having at least one proper meal with nice service etc.

 

[DisneyDad0315]

Is it possible to get dinner to-go from the MDR? We have one person who is immune suppressed and would prefer not to be in the crowds of the MDR. As of now, we have late dining, which does not work for us for medical reasons for multiple people in the party. We are on the waitlist for early dining, but it's a completely full sailing. Not sure we'll get moved up. If we don't get moved up, can we pre-order our meals to have them available right at 8:15? Is it possible to get it any earlier if we don't want to eat in the dining room? I know room service and the pool deck are other options, but we don't want burgers/tacos/pizza for every meal. I appreciate any suggestions.

I was on a Disney Cruise with my family and my son was napping during dinner time. My wife was just going to call in some room service while I went with my daughter and mother in law to dinner. The waitstaff asked about my wife and I said she was in the room with my napping son. The wait staff gave me 3 choices

1. They could send the dinner to our stateroom with my wife

2. My wife could pass on the dinner sent to her room and my wife could get room service

3. I could walk the dinner to my wife (I chose this option)

Our room was 1 floor below or above the restaurant (Animators Palate) so the wait staff handed me a plate with a metal covering on it. I walked it over to my wife and she was SOOO happy. It was NOT a big deal at all.

On my last cruise, I was also on the wait list for 1st dinner and it came through eventually. I did not get a notification or anything. I looked at the DCL website and it was changed to 1st dinner. Since you have a medical reason, I would contact Disney directly and inform them of your situation. I would not want burgers/tacos/pizza every meal neither.

 

[jimmymc]

Normally they don't offer this service. They might box up the plate you were working on if you need to leave dinner suddenly, but they wouldn't have a boxed meal available to pick up at your dining time. Without some sort of special accommodation, they'd probably tell you to use room service and the on-deck quick service windows. DCL unfortunately isn't the best option for people who don't like or can't use MDRs.

It's still worth calling the accommodation line. Worst they can say is no, best case scenario they might be able to set up a larger room service menu or send up the MDR plates as room service.

 

[Chrispy97]

Yes, you can get your MDR meals delivered. We have even pre-ordered the day before and had them delivered to our stateroom. We had an excursion booked on our Alaska cruise that would get us back too late for our first seating rotation on lobster tail night. We placed our orders the night before and they were delivered to our room. We ate on our balcony as the Wonder was departing port that night. Our serving team was fantastic on that cruise!

I don't know about every night, so you will likely need to make that request.

When we did Alaska we had a similar conflict between an excursion and first seating for lobster. I told our head waiter we would be unable to join them the next night, and he told us to come at second seating the next night and he would make up a table for us. They squeezed in an additional 4 top for the 3 of us and we had different servers than usual.

We did end up being able to get dessert to go because a full day excursion + second seating was too much for a 7YO. When our DD started melting down my wife took her back to the room and I asked for desserts to go and they gave them to me to take back up. But we did go down for the meal at second seating.