"Best" night for Palo

[Donathius]

My wife and I have never been on a Disney cruise before (or any cruise for that matter) and we're doing a 7 night Mexican Riviera in January 2012. We'd like to do Palo for dinner one night and I'm wondering what menu people think is most missable. We really want to make sure we do the normal menu for Triton's, and we don't want to miss the show in Animator's Palette. We'd also like to make sure we get the Captain's Gala dinner. Since we've never eaten any of the cruise meals or special menus which night would people recommend we skip the regular dining and opt for Palo?

 

[DisneyZell]

To me you hit the three I wouldn't like to miss. However one thing to consider is that it is nice to do Palo for Brunch as well (frankly I like Brunch better because it is awesome food, but a little less stuffy). If you can, it is nice to do Palo for dinner one night and do brunch the next day. If you do this and you liked your server from dinner you can get them again at Brunch which is fun to build up a relationship. So I'd look at your itinerary as the brunch only happens on sea days. Other than AP, there isn't any that I wouldn't mind missing so I can do those two back to back. IMO!

DZ

 

[trimix]

I have done two Disney cruises, and both times felt I was missing something by having dinner in Palo. The next time I just might do brunch again and skip dinner.

On my first cruise we did Palo on formal night. That way we wouldn't miss a regular dining room meal, and if tablemates didn't want to dress up it would not matter (we like dressing up, and are both hold a negative opinion of people who insist on attending formal events dressed slovenly). It worked well for us, but we missed the formal night menu.

And remember, unfortunately you will not know your dining schedule until you check in. So try to get to the port early for a low boarding number in case you want to make changes after boarding.

 

[molly mouse]

I'm not a huge fan of the Pirate night menu, so that's the night I usually book in Palo.

On the transatlantic cruise a few years ago, we had the late seating, so we booked Palo at 6, so we could still make it down to the main dining room to chat with our servers (and maybe order another dessert!)

 

[LKFan]

I'm not a huge fan of the Pirate night menu, so that's the night I usually book in Palo.

Same for us. Pirate night and/or Parrots Cay are when we book Palo.

For the OP, since it is your first cruise, you shouldn't skip Pirate night.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Our family just completed our 8th Disney cruise, and still never skip any nights in the dining rooms. (There always seems to be something going on. Even on Pirate night, we don't like to miss the dining room 'show.') However, we still do Palo. We go to Palo early (630pm) and go to the dining room with our family afterwards (we just have coffee.) (We also always have 2nd dining.)

 

[deebs]

where can we find the rotation for the mexican riviera cruise?? I can't seem to find what night Formal , pirate night etc are..

thx

 

[kathi]

We don't care for the "show" night at AP and we really don't like Pirate Night - so we try to get our Palo reservation for one of those nights and then try to grab a cancellation at Palo for the other night. (If you check with the Palo desk early in the evening, you can often get a reservation that someone gave up.)

My husband and I enjoy fine dining and Palo is cooked to order food - so we think it is a notch above the dining rooms. But the dining room food is also quite good but service can be slow and the food is not the same caliber as Palo.

You might want to take a look at the menus posted on Disney's website to see if certain meals appeal to you more. That might help with deciding.

I totally agree with the poster who suggested brunch. Palo brunch is wonderful. Highly recommend it as well as dinner!!

 

[sambycat]

just my 0.02, but if it were my first cruise, i would try for brunch but otherwise just do the regular rotation... just to get a feeling for it.

you KNOW you'll be rebooking on board, right???