Rotational Dining on a Disney Cruise

Guests departing on their first Disney Cruise want to know which restaurant to “pick” each night of their cruise.  Well, since Disney makes things as easy as possible, guests don’t have to “pick” as traveling parties are assigned to a dining room rotation for either main dinner seating or late dinner seating, and are assigned to a specific table in each dining room.

Rotational dining allows guests to rotate through each of the main dining rooms during the duration of their cruise.  The serving team assigned to your traveling party will rotate with you and will serve you in each of the three main dining rooms.  If you choose to dine in Palo or Remy, you will be served with dining teams assigned to those restaurants.  As a cruise guest, you will be informed of your dining rotation in two ways.  One is when you check in at the port and are given your Key to The World Card.  There will be a series of letters and each stands for a dining room and the letters are in the order of your dining rotation.  For example, on our most recent cruise, our letters were “ERRAE.”  This meant we were dining in Enchanted Garden the first night, Royal Palace the second and third night, Animator’s Palette the fourth night, and Enchanted Garden on the last night of our 5 night cruise.  The second way you will be informed is with the dining tickets in your stateroom—one for each person in your party with the dining rotation listed, the location of each dining room, and your table number.  It is important to take at least one of these tickets with you to your assigned dining room the first night.  No need after that to bring your ticket along as long as you can remember your table number.  If you forget, no worries; this is Disney and they will look it up for you at the dining room.

While waiting in line to get the boy’s  kid’s club bracelet at the Port Terminal before boarding the ship for our most recent cruise, there was another mother in front of me who indicated that this was their first Disney cruise (I think our shirts give it away that we have done this before) and she asked how to find out their dining rotation.  I showed her on your Key to The World Card how she could find out and told her about the dining tickets she would find in her stateroom.

The main dinner seating is at 5:45 pm and the late seating 8:15 pm.  We have always opted for the main seating.  If you wish to change your dinner seating or rotation, check with Guest Services upon boarding the ship.  They will do their best to accommodate you based on availability. 

So, the only “picking” to do is what you are going to eat when you arrive at your dining room for the evening.  Unless, that is, you have opted to dine at Palo or Remy, which charge an additional fee and require a reservation, or choose more casual dining on Deck 9 or 11 respectfully depending on your Disney ship. 

I appreciate the dining rotation system and knowing which dining room we will be dining in each night of our cruise.  I don’t have a high need to know prior to our cruise as we typically don’t make reservations for Palo or Remy—we have eaten brunch at Palo on two cruises.  Knowing that the decisions are already made is comforting to me and my family.  We stayed at an all inclusive resort in the Caribbean which required making same day reservations at one of the seven on-site restaurants and it was an inconvenience to do that each day. 

Another great thing about rotational dining on a Disney cruise is that your serving team gets to know your family, especially on longer cruises.   So, don’t be surprised if your drink preferences are already waiting for you when you arrive at your table!

Dining at Enchanted Garden on the Disney Dream

Just as on any cruise, dining on a Disney Cruise is all part of the wondrous adventure that is cruising.  On our 5 night cruise aboard the beautiful Disney Dream, we ate at the Enchanted Garden dining room twice—once for dinner and once for breakfast.

Guests aboard a Disney ship will rotate through three main dining rooms while their wait staff—server, assistant server, and head server rotate with them.  There are two ways guests are informed of their dining rotation—the first is when they receive their Key to the World Card, as the dining rotation will be a series of letters on the front of the card.  Ours was AERRA:  A for Animator’s Palate, E for Enchanted Garden, and R for Royal Palace.  You can see from the order of the letters the order in which we dined in the various dining rooms on board. 

The second way for guests to know their dining rotation is to look at the dining tickets in their stateroom on their first day on board.  The tickets indicate the dining rotation, time of dining, and table number.  Guests need to bring these tickets with them to dinner their first night on board.  After that first night, there is no need, as the table number will stay the same.  Know that the same table number will be located in various areas in each of the three main dining rooms.

We ate in the Enchanted Garden on our second night of our five night cruise.

The Enchanted Garden is located on Deck 2 aft.  Guests may use the mid-ship elevators or the stairs in the Lobby Atrium to make their way to the Enchanted Garden.  The bathrooms are located just outside the dining room entrance on both sides of the hallway—men’s on one side women’s on the other.  There are also Shutters kiosks located in the hallway so that guests can check their photos or manage their photo accounts.

When entering the Enchanted Garden, guests are transported to a garden scene inspired by the gardens of Versailles in France.  There are garden scenes on either side of the entrance way.  A fountain is the middle of the dining room.

While dining, the garden transforms from day to night.  We enjoyed watching the flower petals on the lights open and close.

The menu is described as market cuisine.  Click here to read the menu.

I had the Ahi Tuna and Avocado Tower—with the Wasabi dressing (I couldn’t resist as Tow Mater has a great scene in Cars 2 with Wasabi dressing),  Baby Spinach Salad, and the Pan-Seared Sea Bass.  The husband had Lobster Ravioli, the Wedge salad, and Grilled NY Strip Steak.  I know I had the Banana’s Foster Sundae for dessert.  I don’t remember what the husband had.

What’s great is there is also a children’s menu combining kids’ favorites like chicken strips with some more daring fares such as the Lobster Ravioli.  The boy ate well (you can see the Lobster Ravioli on his face if you look closely at the photo at the beginning of this post), even trying our dishes, which he typically does, and he ordered the Banana’s Foster for dessert off the adult menu.  And, this type of ordering is okay on a Disney cruise.  If there was an appetizer on the adult menu that he wanted, such as Lobster Bisque which is one of his favorites, but it isn’t listed on the children’s menu, go ahead and order it anyway.  Again, it is okay to do this.

We dined at the Enchanted Garden the next morning, on our “at sea” day for breakfast.  The breakfast is buffet style offering traditional breakfast items, and we dined at a different table and got another perspective of the dining room.

Enchanted Garden is also open for lunch.  Check Navigators for specific days and times the Enchanted Garden is available for breakfast and lunch.

In terms of the 3 main dining rooms, Enchanted Garden would rank 2^nd.  It wasn’t our favorite, but it wasn’t our least favorite either.  We enjoyed ourselves and the new atmosphere, as there is no Enchanted Garden on the Disney Magic or Disney Wonder, so this was a first for us.

Click here to read about dining at Cabanas on Deck 11.

Click here to read about dining at Animator’s Palate, one ofthe three main dining rooms.