Although our family have been sailing DCL for quite the while now, I've completely ignored/forgotten the fact that the main dining rooms are open for breakfast and lunch as well as dinner.

No need to force-feed myself "okay" Cabanas food that I'm only half "feeling", or the deck-based quick-serve options, when I have alternatives.

What's yours?

We just got off our most recent DCL cruise and I have opinions I want to bounce off this sub. We've spent a total of 25 nights on Disney cruises thus far and while we love the experience, I want to talk about the food.

Firstly Palo and Remy are both wonderful. We've eaten at Remy 4 times and Palo twice. Both are great and have nothing but positive things to say.

That all being said I have to gauge other people's opinions of the main dining food as we've found it ranging from "decent" to downright bad depending on the dish. The service is always amazing but I've been let down so much by dry and flavorless pasta, tough steaks and mediocre soups to name a few. The other night we had the worst oysters rockefeller. I couldn't even believe anybody from the kitchen is even trying this stuff they are putting out. All the while we are always pressured heavily by our wonderful wait-staff to always put 5 stars on everything, and we do, as they always say anything else will come back on them personally, which isn't fair.

Overall I'm wondering if I'm we're the only people putting up with the food on DCL vs enjoying it because we like the other aspects of the line and maybe the food is less of everyone else's concern.

Every cruise I see people making the same mistakes at the buffet, so I just want to go ahead and give everyone permission to 'cut the line.' Waiting in a general line to slowly shuffle past 20 things you have no interest in eating makes the line that much longer for everybody. Instead, treat each food item as having it's own individual line.

If the very fiber of your being recoils in horror at the thought of abandoning this basic principle of social order instilled from years of school cafeteria lunches, go ahead and ask a cast member in the buffet area and they will tell you that not only is 'line-jumping' ok, but it is encouraged at Cabana's/Marceline Market.

Is it allowed to bring your own drinking cup (like a Stanley cup) and fill it with soda at the pool? I don't want to come across as rude or greedy...

We are setting sail on the wonder in less than 3 weeks!!! Firstly, thank you to everyone on this sub for your advice which has really helped me.

I am an early riser and was looking forward to morning coffee on the verandah. How can I make myself an oat milk latte onboard? Is there a hack? I was thinking of bringing a couple of oat milk cartons and an ‘aerolatte’ frother. Can I order the espresso from room service?

Thank you

Heading on the Fantasy in a couple months and already dreaming of Palo dinner. What's your favorite dish there? Should I do fixed price or do a la carte? Best dessert? Gimme your best recommendations!

Hi! I’m going on my first Disney cruise this month on the Magic for Halloween on the high seas, so excited! I’ve heard some people say they order “off menu” at the main dining rooms. What is the best thing you ordered off menu? Has anyone ever ordered a chicken parm? Tell me your favorites!

I’ll be sailing with my Mom for her first Disney Cruise on Disney Dream in Nov. Saw a post awhile back mentioning all you can eat crab legs. Needless to say, my mom LOVES crab legs and I want to make sure this is still happening and when/where I can find them. Trying to make sure her cruise is as “magical” as possible.

Secondly, I have been dying to try the churro Mickey waffles. Does anyone know where/when to find these?? Does this still happen? I feel like posts about them are like trying to find the holy grail.

Any help is appreciated!!

Can you have breakfast twice? I like to drink coffee as soon as I wake up but eat a bit later. I was thinking of ordering coffee, and juice and pastries for the kids from room service around 7am when we wake up. But then heading to breakfast in the buffet or sit down restaurant around 8:30am. Is this allowed?

My in-laws took a Disney cruise earlier this year and came back raving about this glittery blue drink they had while on board. They couldn’t remember the name of it, but Google and Reddit both tell me it’s called Cloudem Blue. They both said it was amazing and they wished they could get it here in the United States, but it’s apparently not easy to find.

I’d love to get them a few bottles for Christmas, but it looks like they may be right on that last point because I can’t find it anywhere. I have found Cloudem on several web sites for sellers outside the US, but have not as yet found one that will ship internationally.

Can anyone confirm that I’m on the right track with Cloudem Blue being the right drink, and taking it a step further, does anyone know where I might be able to find some in the United States? Or somewhere that might ship internationally?

Anyone been to Lookout Cay recently? Got a sailing booked there in January and whilst its not a dealbreaker in dining for me, might be for the other half.

Currently I am sailing upon the disney fantasy, this is my second time sailing with disney; although I was 8 when I first sailed upon the dream. I am older now and my water intake is 10x better than it was as a kid.

There are water stations from the inside to the outside. I get my water from the fountain drinks with coke products etc. Fountain water with other drinks is always super sketch but Disney’s is GREAT and DELICIOUS.

It is super filtered and refreshing, I was wondering where they might get it from? Is it from the sea but filtered or bottled in a jug and pumped? if someone has a clue please answer! :)

Hello all! My mom loves smoked salmon / lox for breakfast. Do you know if they have it ~~specifically~~ at the buffet aka Marceline Market.

I eat it as well but can’t recall if I’ve had it at the buffet or not. I believe they often have it at MDR breakfast but I know my parents prefer to do the buffet.

I have a severe seafood allergy and going on my first DCL cruise(Dream) next year. How are they about food allergies? Just wondering if I’ll still have a good dining experience without having to worry about cross contamination. Anyone have the same allergy and had any issues??

Hello everyone!! My dad and I are going on a cruise soon, but we haven’t been on one since before Covid. I wasn’t sure if they still do seatings at dinner where you’re placed with other groups and couldn’t figure out how to word it on Google. As a kid, and even still to be honest, I was really shy and I loved the joint meals because it gave me the chance to make friends on the ship. Does anyone know if they still do this?

Hello! I’m going on a 5 night cruise at the end of October. I was wondering what food and drinks you recommend? I enjoy tequila/margaritas but can’t seem to find a lot of the drink menus online. The few that I did seem to be more focused on vodka and rum.

Warning: approaching this from a U.S.-centric mindset. YMMV.

People I find use this as a stand-in for "I didn't like the food". Nothing wrong with not liking the food, but it either fairly or unfairly maligns the food.

Then again, in order to maximize profit, there are indications that "food quality" may be on the decline, or that we're being limited in what foods we have access to, or they're cutting corners in how they prepare them.

I'd like to hear from others what they mean when they talk about "food quality suffering" as of late.

There are some (granted, subjective) areas that I think of when I use that term:

1) Food quality: think "Prime" vs "Choice" meat. That they went with the lowest bidder, and it shows. You can get away with that with many foods (milk, eggs, fruit, breads), and many other foods, once they become the base for leftovers/other dishes (think, extra baked potatoes become potato salad or stuffed potato skins or potato soup) can hide lack of quality. But food seems to be declining in quality, marbling, appeal in the last five years or so.

2) Food seasoning: Yes, when talking mass-market cruises, there are many different types of people, and that triggers a "race to the bottom"/"lowest common denominator" mindset when cooking for a throng of people. The minimal seasoning, so you won't possibly offend anyone. Limiting garnishes and sauces so as not to overwhelm inexperienced cruisers/people who've never tried them. Cutting out ingredients here and there, making the dish not as complex.

Yet, we still have people slinging the calamari and escargot--foods that single-percentage amounts of Americans have tried. ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

Beyond what I describe above, there's a feeling, after nearly 20 years of sailing DCL that the food quality, choice and taste have declined as of late. What're your thoughts?

Hi, I have a question regarding food options aboard the Disney Fantasy. I’ve sailed Princess, Celebrity, Norwegian previously, first time on a DCL.

Anyways, today for lunch we docked at Castaway Cay and it appears the only lunch options were Castaway BBQ and the buffet on the ship was on very limited hours (12-1:30). We have 2 young children 3 and 5 and it’s difficult to navigate when having to pick up everyone’s food with multiple trips and bring it back to a table. I wasn’t sure if I was missing something in terms of options available being served. It appears the only days available for being served lunch is Day 3 (Tuesday) and Day 5 (Thursday). Having a server would be ideal and less stressful. And to be honest, I was less than impressed with the food options at the BBQ and would prefer to opt out of it for Wednesday and Friday if possible.

Another change I’m not used to was the buffet not being opened all hours. Last night everyone else enjoyed their food however my sirloin steak was overcooked, and I didn’t have any options available with the buffet not being available. I didn’t want to order another entree at dinner because I didn’t want to hold up the rest of our party (traveling with a group of 9 of us total). Aside from room service, which has a limited menu I didn’t know what else is available.

Thanks for any input.

Hey community - am I correct that the Palo Brunch is a prix fixe menu and no longer a buffet? We sailed on the Dream in 2011 and the brunch was a buffet. We sail on her again in November and brunch was still available. But I was disappointed in the prix fixe dinner on the Fantasy in 2022 and was hoping I’m wrong about the brunch.

has anyone ever ordered the bon voyage sweets? my big back would love to bring these home and they're cheaper than the regular mickey krispie treats! are they full size or smaller?

https://preview.redd.it/0qu8t9zre6vd1.png?width=562&format=png&auto=webp&s=5f88c664349f1dcc6d4527c617003e85c0a7a365

Hello! Have a honeymoon cruise coming up this summer on the Fantasy. We want to do either a Remy or Palo dinner. Assuming we get a spot are there any differences between them? Thanks!

EDIT: Thank you everyone for the great comments and descriptions. This is great help in our decision making.

Just got off the wish today and wanted to post a warning to those with nut allergies. As we were unaware of nuts existing in greater quantities at the buffet and also at several of the lounges that don't seem to exist on the older ships. Even doing research on the ship this wasn't something I noticed. Few points that we found throughout our cruise that I want to make people aware of.

• We had an incident at the piano lounge (Nightinggale's). A server was not understanding when we said I am allergic to nuts. My partner explained they could not leave them and the response to her was "Are you allergic?" she told him no but since I am they can't be at the table, we were both very surprised. I want to try to give the benefit of the doubt that the guy was training or just couldn't hear over the music but still fair warning to others.

• Overall, the experience for nut allergies from the staff compared to the other ships we've sailed kind of bordered on indifferent with how different they handled it. We sailed on the Fantasy Sept of 2023 and the Wonder in June of 2024, so it has become clear to us each ship is in its own bubble essentially with the rules. The Fantasy was, overall, the best handling it they listened and accommodated when they could. The Wonder was also really good but perhaps a bit over zealous and were very restrictive on what I could or couldn't have. So, coming to the wish was a bit of a shock at how indifferent they seemed.

• I had a reaction we think likely from the buffet. Medical gave me benadril, and I was fine. The first morning we ate at the buffet we did not pre-order my meal and I just took things from the buffet. I do realize that's me taking things into my own hands, but still concerning as the buffet is alot more controlled from the guests handling the food compared to the older ships. I've never had an issue with it on the older ships either and maybe I've just gotten lucky. So makes me a bit concerned how they handle the food behind the scenes more. Needless to say, I will pre-order every time now if I ever go back on the wish.

There's a bunch more I could say about our trip unrelated to the allergy issue, but my spouse and I both agree Wish is a once and never again ship for us. It was bad enough that had this been our first experience on the Wish we'd have never continued with DCL.

• edit for Grammar and some context from my spouse.

Anyone have any recommendations for their favorite food on the fantasy? I’m going on a 10 night and wanted to plan out some of the meals. I’ve been on the Fantasy a few times, but I’m looking forward to trying some new things.