Palo brunch availability

[DVC Doc]

My 10th (and final cruise as Castaway Gold) is coming up. I logged in right at midnight for booking and was very surprised to find ZERO availability for Palo brunch for 2 people. It is offered twice on our 6 night cruise that has two sea days. Never had this happen before!

Just lots of platinums on my cruise? New normal on DCL? Classic ships now holding more back for concierge? What gives??

 

[Maggie'sMom]

My 10th (and final cruise as Castaway Gold) is coming up. I logged in right at midnight for booking and was very surprised to find ZERO availability for Palo brunch for 2 people. It is offered twice on our 6 night cruise that has two sea days. Never had this happen before!

Just lots of platinums on my cruise? New normal on DCL? Classic ships now holding more back for concierge? What gives??

Or it could be a glitch in the system. I'd recommend calling in to ask.

 

[southerngirl528]

Or it could be a glitch in the system. I'd recommend calling in to ask.

Agree! If you log in again and it shows nothing, I too would call.

 

[DVC Doc]

Or it could be a glitch in the system. I'd recommend calling in to ask.

Tried that, as have multiple golds in our cruise group. We were told it’s full “due to popularity.”

 

[mmmears]

I'm not sure which ship but this happened to many of us who are sailing soon on the Magic. It's a cruise with 3 days at sea, too. Scott's blog mentioned this when he was in the Med a few weeks ago - he noted that they had saved lots of space for on board booking. IIRC he also was wondering if this was the "new normal" but I might have read that elsewhere.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

Is this a special itinerary where there might be a higher than usual number of platinums to take up the available slots? There will be some available to grab when you board. You can also check back online occasionally to see if any spots have opened.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Tried that, as have multiple golds in our cruise group. We were told it’s full “due to popularity.”

Wow! I find that hard to believe. I was able to get Palo branch on the Magic as a silver on a cruise with just 1 sea day. They must be holding back a lot more tables for on board bookings. Crazy!

 

[anricat]

Wow! I find that hard to believe. I was able to get Palo branch on the Magic as a silver on a cruise with just 1 sea day. They must be holding back a lot more tables for on board bookings. Crazy!

Wow, really? We were unable to book on our cruise with 1 sea day and I checked in right at midnight. I stalked the site almost daily and could never get one before our cruise. Then when I got on board they had no availability and I was on a wait list. Granted, I boarded a little later (I was at the Palo reservations table at 1:30 PM). Wait list never panned out either. I was pretty bummed.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Wow, really? We were unable to book on our cruise with 1 sea day and I checked in right at midnight. I stalked the site almost daily and could never get one before our cruise. Then when I got on board they had no availability and I was on a wait list. Granted, I boarded a little later (I was at the Palo reservations table at 1:30 PM). Wait list never panned out either. I was pretty bummed.

Yep. It was our March 2016 cruise on the Magic. 3 nights with just one sea day. I was silver, logged on at midnight, and was able to get a table for 1. But I'm quite certain a party of 2 would have worked as well.

 

[mmmears]

Wow, really? We were unable to book on our cruise with 1 sea day and I checked in right at midnight. I stalked the site almost daily and could never get one before our cruise. Then when I got on board they had no availability and I was on a wait list. Granted, I boarded a little later (I was at the Palo reservations table at 1:30 PM). Wait list never panned out either. I was pretty bummed.

Yikes.

 

[lorimay]

I'm so surprised with 2 sea days no availability , thats crazy.

We booked a 3 night on The Dream in May, 8 days before sailing and there were no openings, I got in line at 12:30 at Animator's Palate and was able to get one. The thing was there were so many open tables when we had our brunch I found it strange that they showed no availability online.

I have read on another forum they are holding more tables back lately (why I have no idea) if they let us book online we won't have to waste our time and the crews lining up to make ressies when we board.

 

[SnowWhite2]

We are platinum and booked our last cruise a few months prior to sailing. Of course there were no Palo brunch reservations available. We were able to get one on board. I wouldn't worry about it if you get to the port early.

 

[DIS_MIKE]

As a Silver member, I kept refreshing the page at midnight and was unable to book reservations for 11:30 brunch but I was able to get noon. Due to the massive demand and popularity, I feel like Palo is equivalent to BOG when it comes to securing a dining reservation.

For those who have been unable to get reservations, I would keep trying and check regularly as it gets closer and closer to your sail date. As SnowWhite said, get to the port early so you can go directly to the restaurant and see if they have any openings.

 

[schmass]

I just tried booking Palo early this morning at 105 days out and had no luck either! It was my first time not having any times to choose from aside from my very first cruise. Hopefully there is availability once we get on the ship!

 

[mmmears]

I'm starting to wonder if all the many "Palo Brunch is the BEST" posts are making it harder to book. I thought it was just DCL holding back a bunch of tables, but now I'm not so sure. It's become a "must do" for many people, when in the past I don't think the demand was there.

 

[TestingH2O]

Steve's blog mentioned this when he was in the Med a few weeks ago - he noted that they had saved lots of space for on board booking. IIRC he also was wondering if this was the "new normal" but I might have read that elsewhere.

Steve? I know Scott mentioned that on his Med cruise in early June. If there's another blog, link it! I'm always game for more reading.

Anyway, I had trouble getting a reservation on our recent med cruise. I was only able to get a reservation on our second sea day for 2 people (not 3 like we needed.) Many people in our cruise group weren't able to get reservations at all! We were boarding group 5, but we had lunch before I went to see about getting the third person added to our reservation. I was surprised how long the wait was (never waited before,) and there was very limited availability to add the extra person. That has also never been a problem before when we've traveled with others.

I think they are holding many more back, and I wonder if they've gotten pushback on how many experiences are being "taken" by status cruisers before new cruisers get a chance. If that's the reason, I wish they'd just release most of them in waves when each window opens.

 

[mmmears]

^^ Oops. I was still half asleep when I wrote that post this morning. Sorry Scott. I fixed the post.

 

[TestingH2O]

^^ Oops. I was still half asleep when I wrote that post this morning. Sorry Scott. I fixed the post.

I was really hoping there was another blog. Lol

 

[mmmears]

I was really hoping there was another blog. Lol

That would be nice. I love that one, but it would be fun to have lots of places to go and read about DCL all day.

 

[Shanti]

My 10th (and final cruise as Castaway Gold) is coming up. I logged in right at midnight for booking and was very surprised to find ZERO availability for Palo brunch for 2 people. It is offered twice on our 6 night cruise that has two sea days. Never had this happen before!

Just lots of platinums on my cruise? New normal on DCL? Classic ships now holding more back for concierge? What gives??

Even if it's sold out pre-cruise, you might be able to get it when you board the ship. They hold some reservations back for on-board reservations.