Late Dining-Wait Listed

That's awful. Not sure what was going on with the serving team. I've had a slow team before, but it was because they were slow rather than overworked. This is just wrong.

But, as usual, Cabanas was great--glad that worked as an alternative. We have always had good food and service in the pool deck restaurants at dinner. Both are typically better than in the MDRs, probably because there are so many fewer people.

GTO-Girl: So sorry about your experience in the MDR. In addition to being wait listed, we had a couple of other "hick ups". However, after brining them to the attention of the service manager, they were handled quickly and to our satisfaction (gifts were sent to our cabin 2X as a kind gesture & they called to check on things). The reason why we cruise Disney is because in our opinion, the service has been better than other cruise lines and when mistakes happen, they try to make things right. Just wondering if you shared your experience with the head server or service area while on board? Thank you.

GTO-Girl: So sorry about your experience in the MDR. In addition to being wait listed, we had a couple of other "hick ups". However, after brining them to the attention of the service manager, they were handled quickly and to our satisfaction (gifts were sent to our cabin 2X as a kind gesture & they called to check on things). The reason why we cruise Disney is because in our opinion, the service has been better than other cruise lines and when mistakes happen, they try to make things right. Just wondering if you shared your experience with the head server or service area while on board? Thank you.

I did not share with the Head Server for a couple of reasons. I did not want our wait team to get in trouble as they were already running their heads off and I really did not see how they could possibly do anymore. There was a couple of large tables that appeared to need a lot of attention which seemed to take up most of our guys time....and it looked lke they were going to remain needy the rest of the week (if you know what I mean).....;);).

And the other reason is we could not handle such a late dining time. We are all early eaters at home so we decided to skip the dining room and so we could eat earlier.

I have no doubt the issues would have been addressed but I just preferred to leave my pre-paid tips in place and eat elsewhere. Hopefully that made it easier on our poor waitstaff.....

When cruises are first opened you can for sure switch the dining seating to early when making the booking.

On the old website, you could change the dining preference during the online booking process. The new website doesn't allow this. It defaults everyone to "Second seating" (late evening). Then you have to call DCL to change it to Main (early).

EDIT: OK, you can't do it during the initial reservation process. But, once the reservation is made, you can go to your reservation on "My Cruise Reservations" and there is an option to "Change dining".

On the old website, you could change the dining preference during the online booking process. The new website doesn't allow this. It defaults everyone to "Second seating" (late evening). Then you have to call DCL to change it to Main (early).

 

EDIT: OK, you can't do it during the initial reservation process. But, once the reservation is made, you can go to your reservation on "My Cruise Reservations" and there is an option to "Change dining".

The edit feature on the website was greyed out the whole time (1 yr) so we were never able to change our dinning time...

That makes sense. Thank you.

A couple of tips that I'm surprised haven't been shared yet.

When you have late seating, the main show is always before dinner, at roughly the same time as early dining. Early dining means you eat first and then go to the show. I know a lot of people with kids prefer to see the show over a fancy meal, so late dining isn't always bad if they need to be in bed by 9pm. It means they will get to enjoy the show without falling asleep.

Remember too that Cabanas serves dinner. It's really the same dinner they serve in the main dining rooms and it is table service just like the main dining rooms. It is almost never crowded and they can accommodate your allergies. They almost never seat you with another group. We've tried it and found it to be a nice experience. If you get late dining and just don't want to eat that late, you can always go to Cabanas. I would suggest trying to get to the MDR for your Animator's Palate night(s), but that is really optional as well.

When you arrive in the dining room if you tell them you are in a hurry and want to place your entire order right away or just want the entree and desert, they can usually have you out quickly. If you do the full course the way they lay it out, it takes about 2 hours. If you are going to do that though, I would suggest just going to Cabanas.

If you are coming from the West Coast, remember the time change. I have seen parents frustrated at their kids who were not hungry for dinner during early seating but we're trying to find food at 9pm. Remember that kids don't really adjust that quickly to time zone changes. 9pm on the ship (assuming you are sailing out of the east coast where most sailings occur) is really 6pm to them. Let dining may not be the problem you think it is.

I have heard about certain kids things that you might miss if you book late seating and I have complained to Disney before about some of the adult club areas filling up quickly, leaving no seating for late dining. That can happen, but if you have something you want to go to, make sure to tell them to speed it up.

And some servers are just faster than others! The few times we've had a dinner take 2 hours it was by our choice (we were hanging out). 90-100 minutes is more the norm.

We booked fairly late (90 days out) for our recent Fantasy cruise. We were given late seating and thought it would be ok (we have a 4 and 8 year old). After 2nd night, we realized it was just too late for us (all of us). Went to guest services and asked if there was anything they could do. Basically, what ended up happening was that our head server would call families in 1st seating who had Palo/Remy rez to see if they needed the table, and if they didn't, we got their table. Worked out for all nights except for 1--and we just went to Cabanas at 6:30. I was surprised that our server went out of his way like that to get us the first seating. We really appreciated it (and he got an extra tip!).

We booked fairly late (90 days out) for our recent Fantasy cruise. We were given late seating and thought it would be ok (we have a 4 and 8 year old). After 2nd night, we realized it was just too late for us (all of us). Went to guest services and asked if there was anything they could do. Basically, what ended up happening was that our head server would call families in 1st seating who had Palo/Remy rez to see if they needed the table, and if they didn't, we got their table. Worked out for all nights except for 1--and we just went to Cabanas at 6:30. I was surprised that our server went out of his way like that to get us the first seating. We really appreciated it (and he got an extra tip!).

Rcl did that for us the first night! I was shocked, and very happy! After that, they created a table for us. It helped that my kid was about to have a complete melt down!

We eat at 5-530 at home. Bt is 8pm. We don't do the shows. I'll have to look into Cabanas... SAME food? App, meal, dessert? Is it like anytime dining or do we need reservations? I'll have a five year old, and two 1yr olds. No idea how they will do, so an option for mdr food/service on our time, without hours wait (ncl) would be great.

We've only missed mdr once, slept through dinner on our second cruise, Dh missed the last night on our last cruise, slept through.

When cruises are first opened you can for sure switch the dining seating to early when making the booking.

No response here. I'm just wondering why the CC system greeked out C K Y O from the user name.

Rcl did that for us the first night! I was shocked, and very happy! After that, they created a table for us. It helped that my kid was about to have a complete melt down!

 

We eat at 5-530 at home. Bt is 8pm. We don't do the shows. I'll have to look into Cabanas... SAME food? App, meal, dessert? Is it like anytime dining or do we need reservations? I'll have a five year old, and two 1yr olds. No idea how they will do, so an option for mdr food/service on our time, without hours wait (ncl) would be great.

 

We've only missed mdr once, slept through dinner on our second cruise, Dh missed the last night on our last cruise, slept through.

The menu in Cabanas for dinner is a menu made of selected items available from the other dining rooms. On those nights when the 3 Main Dining Rooms are serving their own signature menus, there are 1 or 2 items from each MDR's menu. On the nights that the same menu is being served in all MDRs, the selection is more limited (but still is what is being served in the MDRs).

No reservations necessary, just show up during the available hours.

No response here. I'm just wondering why the CC system greeked out C K Y O from the user name.

Well, I have an idea, but I can't post it here. :o

No response here. I'm just wondering why the CC system greeked out C K Y O from the user name.

Add two letters on the front and one on the end for a phrase that likely is verbotten.

Add two letters on the front and one on the end for a phrase that likely is verbotten.

That was my thought also. The system just recognizes those 4 letters in that configuration as a probable bad phrase.

The menu in Cabanas for dinner is a menu made of selected items available from the other dining rooms. On those nights when the 3 Main Dining Rooms are serving their own signature menus, there are 1 or 2 items from each MDR's menu. On the nights that the same menu is being served in all MDRs, the selection is more limited (but still is what is being served in the MDRs).b

 

No reservations necessary, just show up during the available hours.

Does cabanas post the menu nightly like mdr?

And, I never have, but could I go to mdr just for my dessert and coffee?

Does cabanas post the menu nightly like mdr?

 

And, I never have, but could I go to mdr just for my dessert and coffee?

Yes, and yes.

But, if it were me, I'd give my servers a head's up that I'm only going to show up the next night for dessert and coffee. And not arrive as soon as dinner service starts. The kitchen puts up the courses in order, so dessert is not typically available as soon as service begins.

Yes, and yes.

 

But, if it were me, I'd give my servers a head's up that I'm only going to show up the next night for dessert and coffee. And not arrive as soon as dinner service starts. The kitchen puts up the courses in order, so dessert is not typically available as soon as service begins.

Yeah, I'd have to time it right to not throw them off, that's why I wasn't sure. I confuse them enough with Dh & kid leaving and me staying. We let her have ice cream after dinner once...I'm still shocked we weren't kicked off the ship from her screaming all night.

I'm glad we have another option, if everything goes crazy.

Thanks Shmoo!

No response here. I'm just wondering why the CC system greeked out C K Y O from the user name.

I wonder that as well :)

My first thought was maybe it was too long, but it's not taking up less space with the *'s. Who knows.