Thanks Val for the info! Well I have been reading a lot of the dis boards and a lot of people have been saying that the food on the ship is horrible and palo wasn't worth it ! Have you or anyone had bad experiences on the Disney cruises?
I'll tell you my opinion and then let my Bob tell you his. I think the food is ok, but it depends on what you eat. It also depends on what you think of as good. We all have different opinions, not right or wrong, just different. We live in San Francisco and have been spoiled by some pretty wonderful food and we enjoy different spices and foreign foods. My relatives in the Midwest love their fresh produce, "meat and potatos," and what we consider unspiced foods.
That said, if you go hungry on the ship it is your own fault. Remember, you can always ask for something else if you don't like what you get. Also, if you don't like anything on the menu ask for something such as a steak and baked potato or chicken breast or salmon. They have those available all the time. Bob often doesn't like what he gets, but then he is more sensitive to things and it seems as if there is one spoiled piece of fish, meat, or glass of milk, he will get it.
I hate their bacon and pizza and it is hard to find ripe fruit on the ship. No big deal. Have one of the thousand of other things. For breakfast, I like Goofy's Galley, out by the pool. They have interesting yogurt parfait and for Bob, much better Danish then what they have inside or by room service. They also have fruit juice available there. They do close early though, like nineish. I bring travel mugs and take them topside, pick up coffee and breakfast and bring it back to the room. The drink station has coffee, tea, chocolate, and cold drinks. For lunch, the chicken strips at Pinocchio's (also up by the pools) are really good, so are their french fries. Pirate night, after the fireworks, they have a buffet which includes turkey legs. I am never hungry enough for the buffet if I have had dinner just an hour or two before. So, you might want to have a late lunch and then go to the buffet for dinner. The big desert buffet is at the pirates night buffet too. Like most desert buffets, in my opinion, they look 90% better then any of them taste -- in part because they are looking more for ingredients that will stand up to sitting out for hours than for flavor. The head pastry chef explained to me that that means whipped non-dairy products instead of cream, stabilizers in the chocolate and not a lot of butter, which spoils - why bother??
Palo is good -- not great. The service is wonderful, but I think all the service is good onboard. We go once or twice but it would be ok with me if we didn't.
If you are not going to be at your designated restaurant, because you are going to Palo or make other plans, let your server or table mates know so they don't wait for you.
Room service is prompt and the food is ok. I like their steak sandwiches and Bob likes their warm cookies and milk. I suggest you bring a stash of $1 bills to use as tips. They appreciate it better then if you add a tip to the receipt.
Bob here, now it's my turn. We've sailed on five different cruise lines, and four are consistently average -- Celebrity was somewhat better, but a bit staid. The problem on ships is that the galley has to serve 1,000 entrees in less than an hour.
There's no table service or buffet for late breakfasts or late lunches, but room service is available 24 hours. Breakfast at the restuarant and buffet is only served from 7:30 until 10:30 and lunch from noon until 1:30ish. Then you have either the fast food places around the pool or room service until dinner.
Stuff is precooked and reheated or kept warm, so there will be servings that are dried out -- except, it seems, the steaks, which are cooked to order. Other observations and tips:
* All bread products are baked aboard, and most are very good.
* Ice cream is made aboard, and each day brings a different special flavor. The soft-serve at Goofy's is, however, pours out of a carton into the freezer, same as at most fast food places.
* I don't like the frosting on the cakes, or most of the desserts, for that matter. I often grab some cookies in the lunch buffet and save them for dessert in the cabin.
* But you can order room service at no charge; the cookies there are good, and try the brownies.
* If you don't like canned, condensed coffee (really!) in the morning, don't go to the drink dispensers on Deck 9. Also, don't go to any of the dining rooms, because that's all you can get.
* Is there real coffee anywhere? As far as we've learned, only at the coffee bars on decks 9 and 10. They charge your room for it. The rats.
* The buffet line is closed at dinner. Not the dining room -- you are escorted to a table, given a menu, and you order. A bit more classy than a buffet, but you don't have to get all dressy or appear at a designated time.
* Palo (note no S at the end) is quieter, with no parade of waiters. It cooks most of what it serves, so it's not production-line food like the main dining rooms. There's still sizzle on the steak when served, but try something unusual!
* Tell your server the first night if you have any food limitations. I, for example, refuse to eat anything with cilantro. And I always like milk with my dessert. They figure out the milk after a couple of days, but I should just tell them.
* No matter what you order, if you don't like it, you can send it back and get another one cooked to order, or a different order altogether.
* Or you can order nothing but desserts, or two entrees. No rules.
)but is anyone else who booked GTY and HAS a cabin # still checking DCL's site to see if the cabin number has changed?
