What is wrong with us?

[Rogillio]

We have been on 7 DCL cruise and have one coming up in a few months and we have never eaten at Palo/Remy....ever. Not from brunch or a diinner.

Sometimes my wife can be penny-wise and .....well anyway, she said 'we already paid for dining when we bought the cruise! why should we have to pay $60 to eat?'

So are brunch and dinner both $15 pp and is it really worth $60 for a family of 4? Oh, and we travel in jeans and Polos so that might exclude us?

 

[Handbag Lady]

We have been on 7 DCL cruise and have one coming up in a few months and we have never eaten at Palo/Remy....ever. Not from brunch or a diinner.

Sometimes my wife can be penny-wise and .....well anyway, she said 'we already paid for dining when we bought the cruise! why should we have to pay $60 to eat?'

So are brunch and dinner both $15 pp and is it really worth $60 for a family of 4? Oh, and we travel in jeans and Polos so that might exclude us?

Wellll, I think you are crazy. There is no place else at all where you can get THAT good of service and food for $20 a person plus tip.

And no jeans.

 

[allears]

I' pretty sure Palo is $20 per person for dinner and the same extra charge for brunch. By a family of four do you mean all adults? Palo is an adult only venue and they don't ever waiver.

Is it worth it, totally a personal thing, but I have only missed Palo once on my very first cruise which was a 4 nighter. I ALWAYS book brunch, dinner and high tea. In my opinion and experience, the food is outstanding, the service incredible and the experience more than worth it!

Sure you've paid for your meals in the main dining rooms, but Palo is a great treat, and just like in the main dining rooms you can order whatever and as much of whatever as you like!

However, they do have dress code and depending on the manager they can be strict about it. I always enjoy making it more special by dressing up.

You may want to try just one of the options, brunch is good, easier if you don't want to miss the main dining room and the view is much prettier during the day.

 

[kcashner]

Nothing is wrong with you. We cruised DCL for many years before I ever went to Palo for dinner. I did the tea when it was $5 (that tells you how long ago...)

OK, different reasoning. For us, vacation is family time and we have a rule that we always eat dinner as a family. We couldn't go to Palo as a family till my daughter turned 18, so no Palo for us. Now we enjoy Palo as a family, but as Platinum, it is comped other than the tip.

 

[perdidobay]

It's a toss up really, you HAVE paid for the regular dining room food and if you enjoy it and don't fell compelled to eat at the adult only options, you aren't really missing anything. And if you don't want to have to dress accordingly, then that really seals the deal.

I do like to eat at Palo, and don't mind the brunch or dinner surcharge, and I like the food enough to dress up a bit for it. That said, the longer length of the meal makes me sometimes wish I hadn't chosen it. I get tired of sitting through really long meals, which is why I'll never eat at Remy.

 

[Momma2Jax]

We honestly don't care one bit about "fine dining". To us, the MDRs are plenty good! We did do palo brunch for this last (our first) trip, and did enjoy it a lot! It was very good, and we felt like it was worth the alone time and good food. That being said, we aren't doing it again. We are penny wise, too, and it does feel like a waste if we keep doing it. I can promise you we would never even consider Remy.

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

I was thinking of surprising my husband with a brunch on our next cruise. How much should we tip? Thx!

 

[quickcat]

We are in the same 'boat' as you. We've been on 4 cruises and never been to either. And, dare I say it, we've never gone to the pirate show!!

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Wellll, I think you are crazy. There is no place else at all where you can get THAT good of service and food for $20 a person plus tip.

And no jeans.

Agree with Handbag Lady. We have not traveled on the Fantasy or Dream (yet); but every cruise we have taken we try and book at least one meal at PALO. Leave the kid(s) behind and enjoy fine dining. When we take our Dream cruise in December 2013 I hope we can get into Remy. I doubt we will do both.

And we also leave an additional tip on top of the service charge to get into PALO. It is worth every penny. We had great food and fabulous service each time we ate there.

 

[GrumpyBelle]

I also agree with your DW. I feel we have already paid for dinner so why should we have to pay extra. We are also not into super dressy just for a meal. We enjoy our MDR meals. DH and I did do a Palo brunch once. It was okay. They food was good, but it wasn't enough for me to feel that it is a must-do. I feel that I have been there, done that.

I do believe that if you show up in jeans, shorts, other less than formal attire you will be requested to return to your room and change--especially at dinner time. And as a PP said Palo/Remy is adults only and they do not waiver from that.

 

[aymekae]

Palo brunch was really the must have for me. My DH is not adventurous at all, so he skipped pretty much the whole buffet while I gorged myself, and he compensated by ordering two chicken parmigianas (his favorite Italian meal) and died and went to heaven. He thought it was worth it just for those! A little dressy, but not formal, the view was gorgeous (I believe we were pulling up to Key West at the time) and I would love love love to do it again.

We had dinner for the same reason (just to make me happy) but neither of us really enjoyed it. Too formal, too long, we missed having dinner with our new friends at our MDR table, and I was just as happy with the food in the MDR (crazy, right? I must be the only one!) Actually, DH asked if he could have another chicken parmigiana instead, and they regretfully said they couldn't, but would have if we had given them advance notice! I think we'll just stick with brunch, where I truly was in my happy place.

Highly doubt we will ever do Remy.

 

[Rogillio]

Our youngest is now 19 so we can ll go. We never even considered it the kids weren't old enough as we too always dine together.

I thought it was 15 pp. Evidently it is now $20. So $80 bucks?! Someone posted that $20 is cheap for a meal....but it's not $20......it's $20 on top of what you already paid.

Oh well, no intention to pack dress clothes just to eat one meal.

 

[EeyoreIsMyName]

We are in the same 'boat' as you. We've been on 4 cruises and never been to either. And, dare I say it, we've never gone to the pirate show!!

You didn't miss anything not going to Pirate show. We FINALLY went so we could see the fireworks (we thought they were before the Pirate show).

 

[RN_Mom]

We have done 6 cruises and never done it but we are the type that that order fries with our dinner almost every night. We prefer SIMPLE foods. Our favorite meal last cruise was probably cabanas...huge steak with a delish garlic butter sauce and fries after my baked potato soup and ceaser salad. That's my type of meal! That being said...will we try it once we are platinum and its free? Probably..

 

[AnotherPrincess]

I don't look at it as missing what we've already paid for in order to pay again. It's an up charge, meaning if you were to pay for it on its own it would be much more. The cost takes into account that you have already paid for food. The brunch on its own could easily go for $50 plus tip. But since you've already paid for food, it's a $20 up charge. That being said, the other food offered on the trip is more than adequate if you don't want to spend more money or dress up. However, I didn't think jeans were welcome in the main dining rooms for dinner either. So if you brought clothes appropriate for the MDR dinners then those would at least work for brunch in Palo as well.

 

[Disneysince1982]

We just got back from our very first cruise. We were on the Sept. 29th Fantasy cruise. Loved it! We did go to the Palo brunch. The service is great. As far as we are concerned the food in the Main Dining rooms is just as good! I'm glad we went once to Palo but have no desire to go again. A little too stuffy for us. You can not wear jeans to Palo or Remy. Definite no no.

 

[tvguy]

We never went. And we never found time to use the pools either.

 

[CarolAnnC]

PALO IS HORRIBLE! DO NOT MAKE ANY RESERVATION(S) THERE FOR DINNER NOR BRUNCH! hehehehe more ressie times for us Palo lovers hehehehe

OH AND DON'T BOTHER BOOKING THOSE CASTAWAY CAY CABANAS NOR SPA TIMES EITHER, HORRIBLE JUST HORRIBLE.. insert another evil laugh here hehehehe

 

[darkwing818]

We've done 8 cruises to date & have always made it a point hit Palo; Dinner & Brunch. Now with the launch of the Dream & the Fantasy, We do Remy for dinner & Palo for Brunch. For us we just love the atmosphere (& the food) of both restaurants.

But bottom line "to each his or her own" as long as you have a Great Cruise.

 

[Woodmnky]

I will preface this with the fact that we haven't sailed Disney yet, but we have sailed 8 times in the past. Out of those cruises we have dined at extra cost venues 4 times. We have enjoyed the times that we have chosen this option, but haven't missed it the times we have skipped it.

I do hope to dine at Palo, mainly because of the ability to get a gorgonzola topped filet and a chocolate souffle (two of my favorite dishes in the world), but if we are not able to then I'm sure we will still enjoy dinner. We tend to eat pretty simply at home, tonight was bean burritos, so whatever we are served on the ship will be better than what we would have had at home.

If you have the desire to dine at Palo then the money will be well worth it; if not enjoy the other dining options that are available with no surcharge. Either way, I am quite certain that you will not leave hungry.