Palo and 7-night Cruise

[sweetsue]

I'm sailing on my first ever Disney cruise - the Eastern cruise in September. I saw lots of posts about the 3-4 day cruises but I couldn't find any posts about what night is best for Palo on the 7-day cruises. Any suggestions? I don't want to miss ANYthing!

Also - what is the best time of the evening for dinner? Do you end up missing the show that night?

Thx!

 

[natsmom125]

Sweet....

IMHO....any night is good at Palo!!!

PJ and the crew will treat you like you are the only couple on the ship!!!
I'd go there every night if I could.....I've always loved our dining room servers, and we've had the best...but Palo is so special.....DH and I don't get much "alone" time, and it's a special time for us.

Just my thoughts....oh and don't forget Brunch and High Tea.....

Phyllis

 

[Laurajean1014]

Every night is great at Palo's. It may depend on your seating circulation. DH and I loved Luminere's. So we made it a point not to book that evening. We also would not miss Formal or Semi formal night (DS loves to wear a tux).

Artist Room (black and white) was good, but not great, so we used those evenings to go to Palo's.

Also, you may want to pick a night when you are on the boat all day instead of leaving an island early.

There are so many options - it's really up to you.

Don't forget to do their "brunch." It's excellent.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

We didn't want to miss any night in the dining rooms, so we 'double-dipped.' (We booked Palo for 6:30, so we could enjoy our regular dining rotation with our DD. We just had coffee, and didn't miss the light show in AP.)

Unfortunately, you probably will have to 'miss' something to dine at Palo. We didn't care if we missed one or two nights of the shows, so we skipped on that. (Might have been Hercules?)

Anyway. One dining room you'll do three times. Friday night will be your third night in one of the dining rooms. I suggest not missing that, as the waitstaff has a surprise..well, I don't want to spoil it.

 

[mamalle]

so what night on the eastern is the formal and semi formal nights so we know not to book palos? thanks

 

[clh2]

I'm sailing on my first ever Disney cruise - the Eastern cruise in September. I saw lots of posts about the 3-4 day cruises but I couldn't find any posts about what night is best for Palo on the 7-day cruises. Any suggestions? I don't want to miss ANYthing!

Also - what is the best time of the evening for dinner? Do you end up missing the show that night?

Thx!

You absolutely DO want to miss at least something... you'll have your excuse to rebook! Sorry - can't help you with the 7-night question though.

 

[DrCavin]

so what night on the eastern is the formal and semi formal nights so we know not to book palos? thanks

Formal night is on Sunday, semi-formal on Thrusday. We booked Palo on Thursday & dressed in our formal attire again. Made Palo a little more special of a night getting decked-out again..

The first night your Animators Palate is when the "show" occurs, you probably wont want to miss that. I would say any night after Monday would be good for Palo, since you will have been in all 3 dining rooms after Monday nights dinner.

Don't forget to book the brunch in Palo as well, it is even better than the dinner!!!

 

[mamalle]

thanks so much.I'll have to remember that when I book our palos. we did AP on the wonder two night in a row this past trip. due to the rough seas they did the show both nights since alot of people missed it the 1st night!

 

[donaldsgal]

sweetsue, i just welcomed you on our cruise's thread.

I've never done a 7-day cruise before, but here's my philosophy. I tend to be a bit anal about planning (what? a DISser anal about planning? ), so we requested to eat in Parrot Cay the first night on the ship so we can be in Lumiere's Sunday night - formal night. That would give us the PLAPLAP rotation - Parrot, Lumiere's, Animator's, Parrot, Lumiere's, Animator's, Parrot.

We're doing Palo's brunch on Monday, the second day at sea. Tuesday is Pirates night, and I wanted to be in the lower key, fun restaurant for that night. The semi formal night is Thursday, and I wanted to be in the "medium-level fanciness (what a silly phrase )" restaurant that night, so that's Animator's. Finally, Friday night would be the third night for Parrot Cay, so I picked that night to make our Palo dinner ressies.

Granted, I may worry about this more than I should, but I just know how I like things, and with so much you can't control on a Sept cruise (specifically weather!!!), I like to control when and where I get to eat!

HTH.

 

[sweetsue]

Jenny - I thought Friday night sounded good too (3rd night in same restaurant) but Mickeyhugger suggested not missing Friday night.

HELP!

I figure there's brunch, tea and dinner. I don't want to do any of them on the same day. I don't want to cut time in port short. Don't want to miss the formal/semi-formal nights which leaves arrival night (not good with the 4yr old), Monday night (but it's the 1st rotation and if it's Animator's we'd miss the color thingie), Wednesday night (which is my birthday and for some reason I think I need to spend it with my DD so she can help me blow out the candles on my cake - although we could do that any night and she wouldn't know the difference), or Friday night. So - Friday night it was! I'm second guessing that now. Hmmm, not so sure this information stuff is a good thing!

More advice?

 

[donaldsgal]

Sweetsue,

I didn't know about the surprise... given that piece of information, this is my thinking...

I'll either stick with the plan I've got and miss the third night, or I'll do as the other poster suggested and do the double dip. Do you know what that is? You go to your regular dinner seating but also make Palo ressies before or after that time. If you eat at 6 in the main dining room, make a reservation for 8 at Palo's. If you eat at 8:30 in Palo's, make early ressies for Palo's (like 5) or late ones (10-10:30). Eat light at the main dining room seating.

Does that help? Don't stress - if you miss the surprise in the main dining room, darn it all to heck if you won't have to book another DCL cruise to catch it!

 

[sweetsue]

You absolutely DO want to miss at least something... you'll have your excuse to rebook! Sorry - can't help you with the 7-night question though.

Sounds like a plan to me! I already told my Mother we have to figure out our NEXT cruise now - so we can be ready to rebook on the ship!

 

[sweetsue]

I'll either stick with the plan I've got and miss the third night, or I'll do as the other poster suggested and do the double dip.

I heard about the double dip but I think I'll change my ressie instead. Somewhere on this list I read Friday's are pretty open because people cancel at the last minute for packing, etc. I'll switch my ressie to Wednesday night (St. Thomas night) and then I can always switch it to Friday if I need to.

 

[lisa702]

We are sailing the 9/03/05 Eastern and I booked Palo for Wednesday night as well. Our normal dining time will be 6 pm, so I booked Palo for 9pm. We'll be double dipping that night! Hope you have a wonderful time!

 

[lbgraves]

The last night makes the most sense to me. IMO there really isn't a big deal at the last dinner except for the fact that it is your last night with your servers and you can give them their tip envie on Thursday night instead. You will be able to see the 5 pm kid's final show if your DD wants to be in it and still have time to do Palo. The farewell variety show is touching since it is the last night but then if you are going to miss a show...that is the one to do. On Pirate night they show a movie in the theater so that is also an option for you. I don't see which seating you have but you could always grab a quick meal with DD up on deck 9 before taking her to the club or if you have early seating go to the regular dining room to sit with her for 30-45 minutes while she eats & you have a drink. Your servers will be able to bring her food out right away so you could make a 7 or 7:30 pm Palo resie without a problem. That allows you 2 hours to eat before picking up your DD at what will probably be the PJ party in the club and have time to get up to deck 9 for the pirate deck party at 9:45. You will get to experience the dining room for Pirate night, pick up your special menus, listen to the mariache band, collect your pirate bandanas, and join in the limbo line while still enjoying Palo and catching the deck party. Hope this makes sense.

 

[sweetsue]

On Pirate night they show a movie in the theater so that is also an option for you...

So what night is pirate night? Is that the night in St. Martin? What about the next night - the night in St. Thomas? For now, I've booked Wednesday (St. Thomas night) at 8pm. We have early seating so I planned on having a "hold-me over" light, light, light appetizer while she ate dinner at 6pm then dropping her off at the club while we went to dinner at 8pm.

 

[donaldsgal]

So what night is pirate night? Is that the night in St. Martin? What about the next night - the night in St. Thomas? For now, I've booked Wednesday (St. Thomas night) at 8pm. We have early seating so I planned on having a "hold-me over" light, light, light appetizer while she ate dinner at 6pm then dropping her off at the club while we went to dinner at 8pm.

Embarkation Day – Saturday
Day at Sea – Sunday – FORMAL NIGHT
Day at Sea – Monday
St. Maarten – Tuesday – PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
St. Thomas – Wednesday
Day at Sea – Thursday – SEMI-FORMAL NIGHT/CAPTAIN’S GALA
Castaway Cay – Friday

HTH.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

The last night makes the most sense to me. IMO there really isn't a big deal at the last dinner except for the fact that it is your last night with your servers and you can give them their tip envie on Thursday night instead. QUOTE]
_________________________________________________________

IMO it IS a big deal because of the 'farewell' performance the servers do. This is an opinion board, and I missed Palo on my first cruise and didn't regret it. I would've regretted missing the dining room farewell performance.

However, it IS good reason to rebook another cruise.

 

[lbgraves]

Yes, and since the only other posts regarding this were the same opinion as yours, I was giving the OP another view. Seeing the parade of flags vs her going to Palo is what I was considering. We also didn't go to Palo on our first cruise since we just had so much fun in the dining rooms. No, I am not dismissing national flags before someone jumps on that.

 

[ljql_5969]

This is good info. Thanks!