What's your preferred dining rotation?

[jenjersnap]

Is the rotation a request that should go on your reservation from the very beginning? Where can I find out more about what happens each night of the Eastern to make the decision? The DCLtribute site? Any recommendations for our Palo night? Does it tend to be less busy on port days (not that it matters too much, pretty sure we're going to do the REAS package)? I feel like there is so much I need to find out! Thanks!

 

[soccercruiser87]

ive only gone on the western but i liked the PLAPLAP rotation...i liked having Parrot Cay first and last

 

[IrishCowboy]

quote:
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Originally posted by lrodptl
I found this to be the most overblown concern of the cruise.
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Just my opinion, but I have to disagree. In 7 cruises, we've had all rotations and prefer the PLAPLAP. We prefer to start off in Parrot Cay to kick off the cruise and prefer formal/semi-formal nights in Lumiere's and Animators. Somehow, formal attire just doesn't feel right in Parrot Cay. Tropical and Pirate themed nights also are perfect for Parrot Cay.

 

[bratray]

Where can I find out more about what happens each night of the Eastern to make the decision?

HI jenjersnap

if you have adobe reader this is a great graph someone made
http://www.knology.net/~jwoodrum/easternmatrix.pdf

you can also download adobe reader for free from this site
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

 

[pdarrah]

Although I agree this isn't a make/break issue for a cruise - it is rather weird being in Lumier's for Pirate Night. Everyone looks out of place with their pirate scarfs and the waitstaff in their pirate stuff. Mariachi music (we were on the Western and at Cozumel) also seems out of place there. It certainly didn't destroy our evening, but I would rather have APLAPLA on our next cruise!

Pamela

 

[jenjersnap]

Originally posted by bratray
HI jenjersnap

if you have adobe reader this is a great graph someone made
http://www.knology.net/~jwoodrum/easternmatrix.pdf

you can also download adobe reader for free from this site
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Wow! What an awesome graph. Thanks for sharing!

Now onto another question ... which restaurant/night of the week do you prefer to do Palo for dinner? Just looking at the chart, it seems that PLAPLAP makes the most sense in terms of activities lining up with restaurant theme. Parrot Cay with that rotation is done 3 times so seems the most likely one to drop but you don't want to miss Tuesday's tropical party there. How about the cruise's last night? Is that a popular night for Palo? Which nights did y'all pick to do Palo? Thanks again!

 

[crisi]

My understanding is that if the cruise itenerary changes (for instance, for weather, or maybe the cruises doing two CC days), the formal/semiformal nights aren't set in stone. Am I wrong?

 

[jjgarv]

We just got off the 11/6 Western. My DH and I booked the REAS package and requested our dining rotation. I then spent the next several months developing a spreadsheet (yes, I know I'm nuts) based on our requested dining rotation. We were traveling with my family (a party of 12 including children ages 3 up to 10), and we had been planning this family trip for two years. We made Palo ressies for dinner and brunch, as well as our spa ressie. Well.........once we got our KTTW cards, I came very close to a ridiculously inappropriate melt-down in front of my parents and husband, thinking that our cruise would be less than magical, because we did not get our requested rotation. In the end, it did not matter one bit where our tushies were sitting for dinner...we had delicious food from awesome servers (Prageeth and Joseph) on a beautiful ship with our family. I was also afraid that our character breakfast would intervere with our 9:15 massage, but since we had the early seating, this was no problem at all. The bottom line is this...be flexible, and you will have a marvelous time no matter what rotation you get! Once you're on the ship, it's all good!

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Originally posted by lrodptl
I found this to be the most overblown concern of the cruise.

I agree -- the rotation really doesn't matter.

My only caveat is that if you are in Parrot Cay on formal night, there are certain things you may not want to eat because they are messy. Our server told us that he usually recommends the wings, but not when I was wearing a bone-colored gown.

Marcy

 

[KeAlani's Mommy]

Cruising This Weekend...

Should I already know my dining rotation? Do I find out on the ship? Too late to request it now!?!?

(Ahh..the things you dont even know until you come to DisBoards!) BIG GROUP HUG TO YOU ALL!!!

 

[Masonpips]

I agonized over this the first cruise as well, but we got APL which is supposedly typical for parents of small children.
Western cruise

Second cruise was Eastern and we requested APL but ended up with LAP and it was even better.

3rd cruise coming up (Western again) and we've requested LAP to work with our REAS, but we'll see what we get when we board. Our only big "item" is that we don't like the regular Lumiere's menu so we've booked Palo for that night (the first night).

All rotations (that we've had) have their + and - to them but any of them beat eating a Lean Cuisine from the microwave at home...

 

[rocketralph]

We just got off the eastern cruise and had the early PLAPLAP rotation. I found it kinda of odd because it was just DW and I. Usually the PLAPLAP rotation would be for families with younger children and LAPLAPL would be for more for the adults. But I did like the part about having pirate night at PC and formal night at Lumier's. One thing I might want to add is the noise level was kinda of high on the PLAPLAP rotation.
Some of the families I talk to said that next time they were going to have late seating. This was because after a long day on at the ports or on the ship swimming, by the time 6:00 rolled around for dinner their children were wore out and falling asleep. They said that it would be better to let them take a nap about 5 or 6 and the go to dinner at 9:00.
If you book at night at Palo's make it one of the first 3 nights because this is when they have the standard dinner rotation menu. The rest of the week they have special menus like "It's a small world, or "Best of" menus. We chose to go the Palo's on first Animators night because I really didn't like what was on the menu for that night.
Here is a link to the menus that they have on each night.

http://www.dcltribute.com/menus/

Another note is the "Master Chef Series" dinner is on Wednesday not on Sunday.

You must also take advantage of the Brunch at Palo's. I really thought this was more enjoyable than the dinner but I would kick either one out.