Restaurants on a long cruise

Boopuff

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
2,904
I have only cruised on other lines, so not sure how Disney works. On a regular ship, if I don't want to eat dinner in the main dining, I can go to hamburger place, buffet... From what I understand, you have rotational dining on DCL. So if you're on a longer cruise, do you keep going to the same places, same "show" elements over and over? Do things change? Am I wrong thinking there are no alternatives?
 
There are different menus every night. The restaurant with shows will have different shows or no shows if you are there more than the two nights. You can get food from up by the pool deck. Cabanas used to be open for dinner, but has not been since the restart. We have requested they bring it back on the comment card before leaving the ship. You can also make a reservation at the adult only restaurants for an upcharge.
 
Other than the MDR's there is the specialty restaurants (Palo on all ships and depending on the ship a second specialty restaurant). The specialty restaurants require an advance reservation which if you never cruised on DCL would be difficult to get. You would have to check for availability once on board.

Other than that the only options for dinner are the quick food stands on the upper deck or room service. As the above poster said the buffet is currently not available for dinner.
 
As the above poster said the buffet is currently not available for dinner.

And it was never a buffet anyway. It was sit down and the menu was a mishmash of the MDR menus.
 

Like above posters have said you will have the main show/signature menus in each restaurant once

On a 4 night you also get pirate menu no show

Longer than 4 nights will either have special menus across all dining rooms like what is done with pirate…6+ May have a second show/signature but not sure as I’ve personally only done 3/4 nights with DCL
 
How does room service work ?
The room service menu is very limited, unless you are in concierge. It might work for a meal or two, but it's not what's being served in the MDRs. More like a scaled down hotel room service menu.
 
Longer than 4 nights will either have special menus across all dining rooms like what is done with pirate…6+ May have a second show/signature but not sure as I’ve personally only done 3/4 nights with DCL
On cruises six nights or longer, each restaurant usually has a second menu and show exclusive to that restaurant. Not all restaurants have shows. On cruises longer than six nights, one night will also be Pirates or Frozen. On cruises longer than 7 nights, additional ship-wide menus are offered on each additional night. You'll still rotate restaurants for those nights, but everyone will share a menu on each night.
 
I guess I stay at the wrong hotels. I found the room service menu pretty big.
Here it is , judge for yourself.
https://www.disneyinsidertips.com/free-room-service-on-a-disney-cruise/

I am intimately familiar with the room service menu. We quarantined starting dinner night 6 of a 9 night cruise in July when our son caught Covid. We were incredibly thankful we could order off the MDR menu, because after 1 or 2 meals, it would have been bleak. However, our son ordered room service pizza pretty much everyday for every meal. I would like to think it was because he didn’t feel well, but I know he probably would have done that anyway.
 
Other than the MDR's there is the specialty restaurants (Palo on all ships and depending on the ship a second specialty restaurant). The specialty restaurants require an advance reservation which if you never cruised on DCL would be difficult to get. You would have to check for availability once on board.

Other than that the only options for dinner are the quick food stands on the upper deck or room service. As the above poster said the buffet is currently not available for dinner.
Just for reference...when Cabanas was open for dinner it was not a buffet. It was a served meal.

MJ
 
So if you miss dinner, is room service your only option? Glad to hear that the menus change.
 
So if you miss dinner, is room service your only option? Glad to hear that the menus change.
There are quick service options on the pool deck, too, and at least one of them stays open late. Also, if you're scheduled to eat dinner at the first seating and you miss it, then they might be able to serve you at the second seating. You'd have to ask Guest Services if there's room and staff available to serve you, though.
 
So if you miss dinner, is room service your only option? Glad to hear that the menus change.
Room service, quick serve locations on the pool deck. Sometimes one of the bars will have a bar buffet (veggies, hot dogs, taco fixings, etc)
 

GET UP TO A $1000 SHIPBOARD CREDIT AND AN EXCLUSIVE GIFT!

If you make your Disney Cruise Line reservation with Dreams Unlimited Travel you’ll receive these incredible shipboard credits to spend on your cruise!



























DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter

Back
Top