Palo reservation strategies?

[Lisa F]

Sorry for posting so many questions but I am having serious anxiety before our cruise. Here I am at WDW and I am having nightmares about missing out things on our cruise!

Anyway, my husband and I love gourmet food so Palo is one of the most important things that we want to do on the cruise (the brunch, dinner and tea). Do i have to wait on separate lines to make those reservations? Should we go right away to stake out a place on line as soon as boarding the ship? What time should we get to the port? I'm not even sure WHEN I want to reserve for but I am thinking for dinner Sunday night when the dinner that has food from the WDW parks is happening since we want something different on the cruise. How does that sound to palo veterans? ANy other suggestions? thanks!

Lisa

 

[inkkognito]

If you are an overly paranoid planner (like me), you will stake out a spot half an hour before ressies begin. We try to get to the port as early as possible...definitely prior to noon, as boarding generally begins at 12:15. We take Happy Limo so we are not dependent on the buses, and we fly in the night before & stay near the airport, or else on the first flight in the morning. Be sure to check out the ressie times in the navigator they will give you in the port. If you are there early, you should have time to enjoy lunch prior to having to start the "ressie scramble."
Have a chocolate souffle for me!
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Lisa F]

I think I am at least as paranoid if not more so! This is our first cruise ever and I really have no idea not to expect (the control freak in me is not enjoying that!!!)

Will the navigator list what the meals are for the week so I will know which one to miss or do I need to make notes from one of the great websites out there for me to figure that out? Do they EVER change the schedule? I feel like a nut for worrying so much.

Thanks for the help!

Lisa

 

[Limmer]

I was also very worried about missing anything as we were on our honeymoon and I wanted everything to be perfect. We did not board until about 1:45. I went straight to the spa and my DH went right to Palo's. We got everything we wanted except the tea. I think it has a lot to go with how many days your cruise is. We had brunch on the Monday and dinner on St. Thomas's day.

 

[Señor Ferrari]

If you're on the 7-day cruise, it's much easier to make Palo reservations. Both times I've done the 7-day, there was not much of a line at all. We boarded and went to the buffet at Topsiders. At about 12:45, I just ran up the steps to Palo and made reservations. They were supposed to begin at 1:00pm, but they were already taking them when I got there. While standing in line, they give you a slip of paper to fill out with name, cabin #, and first, second, and third choices for dinner. They have a big board at the front of the the line which shows the available times for the week. When you get to the dinner reservation table, they try to match you up with the available openings. You then proceed to the brunch reservations table, where they will take your brunch reservations. Not sure how high tea works, we never did this, and I didn't notice how they take reservations.

I'm pretty sure that the procedure is different on the Wonder. I think they take reservations in one of the clubs on deck 3.

 

[danicaw]

The Tea seems to fill up first. They started taking ressies earlier than was listed and we arrived just in time, but still missed the Tea.

Senor Ferrari description of how the process works is right. Once your in line you will make your way to all the ressie tables.
Don't get out of line after you have your dinner ressies if you want Brunch or Tea.