New to DCL

Hello everyone,

Wife and I are new to DCL. Do the Disney ships have buffets like RCL and HCL do? We are sailing out of NYC November 11, 2017 stopping at private island and Port Canarveral with transportation to Disney World ansd back to ship...Can someone enlighten me to any differences or similarities.

Much Thanks

Bill

Hello everyone,

Wife and I are new to DCL. Do the Disney ships have buffets like RCL and HCL do? We are sailing out of NYC November 11, 2017 stopping at private island and Port Canarveral with transportation to Disney World ansd back to ship...Can someone enlighten me to any differences or similarities.

 

Much Thanks

Bill

there are several people on this board who will be able to give you a very detailed response...

i think you'll be on the disney magic....

the magic has a buffet restaurant on deck 9 aft - it's called Cabanas....similar to the windjammer....

breakfast and lunch are buffet.....though i believe dinner is served sit down - not buffet...

the big difference on disney ships when it comes to dining - are the dinners....

there are three dining rooms - what you might call on royal, main dining rooms..

you will eat in all three of them (free - it's included in your cruise)..

you will be assigned a rotation -- meaning each night you will know which dining room you'll go to...

your waiter, assistant waiter and head waiter will rotate with you...

so you will have the same serving staff in each restaurant..

the three rotation restaurants on the magic are: Lumiere's, Animator's Palate, and Cariocas...

your rotation will be listed on your key to the world card (your door key/ charging key)....it will appear as LACLAC or something like that....depending on what you're assigned (on our last cruise, we started in animator's palate)

oh and you'll either have early seating or late seating - that you should already know..

keep in mind that if you have early seating for dinner, then you will go to the second show for the theater shows..

and if you have late seating for dinner, you will go to the first show for the theater shows...

don't miss the shows...they're really excellent..

especially be sure to go to see their production of Tangled the musical....it's super good....broadway quality....

and one more don't miss - on the night that tangled is in the theater - O'gill's pub is transformed into the snuggly ducking...a must see....it's great!!

(if you haven't seen the movie tangled, perhaps you should do some homework before the cruise, so you know what's up with that snuggly duckling)..

let's see....what else...

i hope the disney experts will flesh this out..

Have you done your online check-in? You'll need to do that and select a Port Arrival Time (PAT) as well as get the paper you'll need to enter the port.

You'll also need to go in and reserve any excursions - AND the bus and time to the Disney park you're choosing to go to for that day. You don't pay for excursions until you're on the cruise.

If you want to pre-reserve any spa services or adult-exclusive dining at Palo (dinner each night, brunch on sea days - $30/person and you may reserve one of each prior to the cruise) you'd do that in there as well.

Also Princess Gathering or Frozen Meet & Greet tickets. (Again, if available at this point.)

Note that excursions, Palo times, and even bus times are likely to be picked over at this point as booking those begins at 120 days for Platinum cruisers, 105 for Gold cruisers, 90 for Silver cruisers (those are the designations for Disney's Castaway Club - equivalent of Mariner's Society or Crown and Anchor), and 75 days for first time cruisers.

Alaska_Planner pretty much covered the MDRs. And she is correct - Cabanas is a buffet for breakfast and lunch, but dinner is sit down and is a mash of all the MDR menus. It is also NOT open the first or last night.

There are also grab and go places on the pool deck that have burgers, fries, pizza. gyros, etc.

Not sure what else you want to know...?

Wanna thank both of you for the insight. Is it true the cabins are larger than other cruise lines ?

I have found them to be.

The nicest part IMHO is that in all but the lowest category of inside cabins, there is a split bathroom. One has the toilet and a sink and mirror. One has a tub and sink and mirror. Makes getting ready a lot easier.

You'll find more alike than different among lines--at least we did. Yes, when the Magic launched in 1998, the cabins were 50% larger than most other lines. We've found that you basically have to go up to a "junior suite" or "mini-suite" to get the same size as a standard DCL cabin. My experience is that a "normal" cabin on other lines is OK for 2 people but really cramped for more while on DCL, the cabins are comfortable for 4.

Others have covered the meal situation--again the biggest difference is that DCL has no dinner buffet. Cabanas is a "cruise casual" restaurant where you can enter at any time they are open, but at dinner it is a sit down, table service with a salad bar.

You'll enjoy all the "Disney touches." Nice things are docking at Castaway Cay (no tender), etc. If you have people who are interested in character meet and greets, you'll want to get a free ticket for the Princess Gathering and Frozen characters on line in advance. The other characters are first come, first served.

One other difference not mentioned above...DCL ships do not have casinos.

Thanks all for the replies