DCL Newbie: Question about dining rotation

[tinabinab]

Silly question...We are sailing on the DCL Dream in a few short weeks. Ours is a 5 night sailing. I booked a Palo dinner back at the 90 day mark, but I am not sure I should keep it. It is for the 3rd night of our sailing. Does this mean I will completely miss out on whatever our 3rd night dining room is since there would only be two nights left of our trip? Will there be another opportunity to eat there - breakfast or lunch? If so would it be the same type experience as dinner? I am guessing our rotation would start back over on Day 4?

 

Really wishing I had made it for another night, but of course it is all sold out now. What are my chances for changing it onboard if I find out that it will be a dining room I don't want to miss?

 

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Just so excited to try DCL finally! :)

[Shmoo here]

Silly question...We are sailing on the DCL Dream in a few short weeks. Ours is a 5 night sailing. I booked a Palo dinner back at the 90 day mark, but I am not sure I should keep it. It is for the 3rd night of our sailing. Does this mean I will completely miss out on whatever our 3rd night dining room is since there would only be two nights left of our trip? Will there be another opportunity to eat there - breakfast or lunch? If so would it be the same type experience as dinner? I am guessing our rotation would start back over on Day 4?

 

Really wishing I had made it for another night, but of course it is all sold out now. What are my chances for changing it onboard if I find out that it will be a dining room I don't want to miss?

 

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Just so excited to try DCL finally! :)

 

You won't know your rotation until you check in at the port. While you rotate through all the dining rooms the rotation isn't 1-2-3-1-2. It could be 1-2-2-3-1 or 1-2-3-3-1, for example.

 

Generally the first time you eat in a specific dining room, you will have that particular dining rooms Signature menu. This is not true if your first visit is a theme night. Theme nights are Pirate night; formal night, semi-formal (if your cruise has one). There are others. On theme nights all the dining rooms serve the same menu.

 

One of the MDRs will be open for breakfast and/or lunch. The experience isn't quite the same, but it is nice.

 

If you feel you want to change your Palo reservation, as soon as you board go to the dining changes location and ask about the possibility of changing it or being waitlisted for a different time.

 

:)

[tinabinab]

Thanks so much for the helpful reply! The rotational dining and the different themes look like so much fun - just hated the idea of potentially missing out on one. :)

[hexdragon]

Dude,

 

If you miss one restaurant, you can always take another cruise and catch it :D

(tinabinab.... hmmm is it Dudette????)

[meatloafsfan]

Hold on to your Palo reservation until you see what your dining rotation is. When you get your card, it will show you the abbreviation for where you are assigned.

 

There is a place onboard where you can change either Palo or your dining rotation (check the navigator you get when you board).

 

You can cancel your Palo reservation 1 day in advance with no penalty so my advice is wait and see how things work out on board.

[lpizzuro123]

Not sure what time your regular dining time is and what time you booked Palo for but we cruised Disney many years ago and were only to book Palo when you boarded. The only night we could get was our first night. What we did was go to our regular dining on the first night, met our servers and tablemates and had just something small to eat - maybe salad or something. We let everyone know we had Palo reservations for that night and left after 20 minutes or so and went to Palo to enjoy our dinner.

 

I know you will not get the full experience if you leave your regular restaurant after 20 minutes or so but at least it will give you a taste of what it is like if you will not be dining there again. Of course, this all depends on what time your Palo reservations are for.

 

Linda

[tinabinab]

Dude,

 

If you miss one restaurant, you can always take another cruise and catch it :D

(tinabinab.... hmmm is it Dudette????)

 

Yes, Dudette, and you're so right! :) (Actually planning another DCL trip but not until 2015...)

 

Thanks all! I am going to keep the ressie and decide on-board. I'm thinking now that I should be glad I snatched a ressie while I could, esp being a first-timer.

[pluto,]

you do not want to miss out on animerators (sorry probaly spelled wrong) the other two places you can go there for breakfast or lunch.plus anemerators is the best one imo. anemirators has no breakfast or lunch.