Western Dining Rotation request--are we crazy?

[Doctor P]

I am contemplating making a request for the dining rotation when we soon make our reservation for the seven day Western cruise. It will be myself, DW, and DSD (13 yo at the time we cruise). DW indicated that she really doesn't want to dress up for dinner any more than she has to. Given the rotations and special menus on the Western Cruise. It would seem to make sense then to get the APL rotation and go to Palo's on the first Lumiere's night. But I understand that this is the rotation that is given to families with small children (typically). Is this the rotation that would best suit our needs? Are we crazy to request it? We would be interested in the late seating no matter what rotation we received.

 

[llachance]

The first year we cruised - my daughter was 14 - we started in Lumiere's. This year she is 15 and we started in Parrot Cay. Both late seating....don't know that there is really a rhyme or reason as to how things are set up other then there are so many seats and the names fall into place. Requested late seating for our next cruise and will be happy with that.

 

[Pugdog007]

You are very likely to get Parrot Cay first even if you do not request it. Parties with young children typically start in Animators, with older children like yours Parrot Cay, no children Triton's/Lumiere's.

Both of my trips we had PLA (there is no PAL) and my daughter was 13 on the first trip, 14 on the 2nd.

 

[Doctor P]

I'm sorry, I got lazy and didn't check my notes. I meant that we would request the APL rotation (and changed the original post to reflect this), so that Lumiere's fallsl on both the formal nights and eliminates extra nights of dressing up for dinner. Are we likely to be able to get this with a request? Are we crazy to do this rotation given the make up of our party?

 

[mmouse37]

We just got off the Magic Western yesterday, boo hoo!!!! And I had requested the APL rotation before we left. We had a large party of 17 and were seated at three tables next to each other. In scanning the dining room I did not notice an abundance of small children. There were no more or less than any other rotation we had before. In our group we had kids 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 17, 18. We were late seating and the 7:45 time worked out great.

This rotation worked out great for us on the Western. We were in Lumiere's for the two formal nights (except hubby and I had Palo on semi-formal night). No one had to get dressed up any extra days. We were in Parrot Cay for the tropical night.

We really enjoyed this rotation. Go for it. You are not crazy!!

MJ

 

[Doctor P]

Thanks for the support. That will be the request I make then!

 

[Mtdewbuzz]

Doctor P- I just got back from my Aug. 3rd cruise also, and when I left, I was thinking along the same lines as you. When we got the KTTW cards, it said we had LAPLAPL rotation, and we wanted APLAPLA also, to minimize dressing up. When we went to Sessions to change it, the crew member asked "You want the kiddie rotation??" He said it's even bad during second seating. So, we ended up sticking with the same rotation, and only dressing up on formal & semi-formal day. We even booked Palo's for formal day too to avoid an extra dress up day.

The whole thing about dressing up for Lumiere's is a MYTH. The dress code is casual, just as it is for Animator's Palate and Parrot Cay. It even says the same casual dress guidelines on the Navigator. So I would say take second seating, take whatever dining rotation you are given, and bok Palo's for you & your wife on either of the dress up days.