What are your favorite "off menu" items to order?

[dani24]

This will be our first Disney cruise. We've done several with Princess, and I've learned over time that just because it's not on the menu, it doesn't mean it isn't available. On Princess, I routinely asked for a bowl of mixed berries with breakfast (and was only turned down once at the end of a 10 day cruise when they were out). We'd also asked for minced garlic in olive oil for our bread.

I've seen people mention things like ordering Mickey bars or shrimp cocktail in the MDRs. But what other things do you like to order off the "secret menu", or what special customizations do you like to request to menu items?

 

[Trera]

Not sure I know of the secret menu..................I have however asked for something off the menu from one of the other dining rooms before and it was no problem getting it.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

My daughters love calamari and every night they asked for it and got it whether it was on the menus or not. We thought that was so nice.

 

[cantontrebor]

My daughter is vegetarian and we have had a couple of curry dishes that are not on the menu. Both are delicious. In fact, I'm not veggie and I order the curry when my daughter gets it. This needs to be ordered the night before.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

My daughter is vegetarian and we have had a couple of curry dishes that are not on the menu. Both are delicious. In fact, I'm not veggie and I order the curry when my daughter gets it. This needs to be ordered the night before.

Do they show you a menu, or do they just tell you the available curry selections?

 

[cantontrebor]

The servers find out that my daughter is vegetarian and then ask her if she would like a curry. No real "options" given but i know we have had at least two different curries.

The servers know when a "not so hot" veggie menu is coming up and recommend that my daughter go "off the menu". Number one rule we have learned is to trust the servers. They know what people like.

I would ask them about any vegetarian curry options. We have always found the servers to want to help. Enjoy your cruise.

 

[mmouse37]

Some off menu items may be able to be provided but many can't. Many off-menu things need to have some lead time.

We have requested Jerk chicken wings and coconut shrimp (off the old Parrot Cay menu) a few times and we have always been accommodated but it is served a night or two down the line. We always request from our head server. A few times the chef himself came to our table to ask what we would like off menu. We have also been told by our server that he wanted to get us something different from the regular menu.

MJ

 

[cantontrebor]

Just thought of another item. On one cruise when the head server asked if everything was going well, my wife replied that the only issue is that dessert is served last. The next night our serving team had one of each dessert on the table when we arrived. All the diners near us were jealous. Many of them asked us how we did that.

Morale to this story is do not hesitate to ask. The serving team is there to make you happy. And do whatever they can to increase their tips.

 

[Dug720]

In Palo I was able to get the Strawberry Soup without asking (I was telling my parents "Oh, it's not on the menu anymore. So I'll skip soup." as our server was approaching and I guess he overheard and knew what I was asking about because he appeared after greeting us and going to get our drinks with two goblets of it and a promise to get more if we wanted. He also had my flatbread made up half the sausage I ordered and half grape and gorgonzola which I didn't but he did ask if I was adventurous ("As long as it's not fish or anything that lived in water...". I know those aren't the main dining room things.

MDR the only thing I've gone off menu on is the Mickey Bar when I could not stomach the thought of mango mousse. Yuck!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I adored the cranberry and orange sauce that my wife had with her fried camerbet cheese in Royal Table one nkght. So they brought me that every night. Also my wife had fries on the side most nights. I liked extra veg.

 

[CamColt]

I have been able to get spaghetti with marinara sauce even though it wasn't on the menu. Also, on our last cruise after having the Prime Rib in Enchanted Garden, our server brought it to DS and I 2 more nights.

 

[Dug720]

I have been able to get spaghetti with marinara sauce even though it wasn't on the menu. Also, on our last cruise after having the Prime Rib in Enchanted Garden, our server brought it to DS and I 2 more nights.

Good to know about the prime rib. I'm pretty sure there is pasta with marinara sauce on the kids' menu, so that's super easy.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

It's not really off-menu, but when you have rotational dining and are in one of the two dining rooms that share the kitchen you can order from the other's menu. But only when they are serving their own rotational menus. On 'special' nights like the Captain's Gala the dining rooms all serve the same thing.

 

[dani24]

Just thought of another item. On one cruise when the head server asked if everything was going well, my wife replied that the only issue is that dessert is served last. The next night our serving team had one of each dessert on the table when we arrived. All the diners near us were jealous. Many of them asked us how we did that.

Morale to this story is do not hesitate to ask. The serving team is there to make you happy. And do whatever they can to increase their tips.

Oh man... that is a dangerous suggestion!

We definitely found on Princess that servers were more than willing to make you happy as long as your request was reasonable, something they had the ability to fulfill, and you were respectful in the way you make the request. Glad to hear DCL is likely the same.

 

[Dug720]

It's not really off-menu, but when you have rotational dining and are in one of the two dining rooms that share the kitchen you can order from the other's menu. But only when they are serving their own rotational menus. On 'special' nights like the Captain's Gala the dining rooms all serve the same thing.

How do you know if they share a kitchen? Is it the ones on the same deck - so Lumiere's/Carioca's on the Magic or Tiana's/Triton's on the Wonder?

 

[Quellman]

Just be sure that if people are going above and beyond to get off-menu items to be sure to Tip accordingly and also provide a written comment on the card and use their NAMES to ensure proper credit.

 

[dani24]

Can you easily swap sides or sauces between menu items?

Say there's a particular potato side paired with an entree you don't want, but you would love to have it (either in addition to or instead of the side that normally comes with your entre). Or there's a sauce on one dish you want on another dish. Is that something the servers can accommodate?

On our Princess cruises the servers made it seem like they couldn't give us just a portion of one of the dishes, and instead just brought us out an entire second entree and told us not to worry about it if we only ate the portion we wanted. It seemed really wasteful, so we generally avoided even asking after that. But in looking at the DCL menus I see some opportunities where I'd love to swap if possible.

 

[CamColt]

Good to know about the prime rib. I'm pretty sure there is pasta with marinara sauce on the kids' menu, so that's super easy.

I believe in general you can get anything off the rotational menus even if you aren't in that particular restaurant. For examples they could have gotten me the prime rib from Enchanted Garden when I was in all 3 restaurants on the rotational menu night. However one of the nights my server offered it to me was a non rotational menu so I was a bit surprised about that.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Can you easily swap sides or sauces between menu items?

Say there's a particular potato side paired with an entree you don't want, but you would love to have it (either in addition to or instead of the side that normally comes with your entre). Or there's a sauce on one dish you want on another dish. Is that something the servers can accommodate?

On our Princess cruises the servers made it seem like they couldn't give us just a portion of one of the dishes, and instead just brought us out an entire second entree and told us not to worry about it if we only ate the portion we wanted. It seemed really wasteful, so we generally avoided even asking after that. But in looking at the DCL menus I see some opportunities where I'd love to swap if possible.

Yes, you can easily swap sides and sauces. I've done that many times. And my experience with DCL is similar to yours with Princess regarding extra entrees. I wanted to try something new but didn't want to pass by an entree that I'd enjoyed on previous cruises. They brought out two complete plates. But that was when I wanted two different entrees. If all I wanted from the second plate was a side, they would just do a swap.

 

[Lizzards]

I love coffee desserts and ice cream. I kept asking and teasing our waiter about some coffee ice cream. At our last dinner, the head server made fresh coffee ice cream for our entire table of 10. It was so sweet! And so yummy!!