Disney Cruise Line - Is Rotational Dining Couple Friendly?
Disney Cruise Line is known for their unique rotational dining through their three main dining rooms, but is it couple friendly, or is it more for families?
Rotational dining is the Disney Cruise Line way of making sure that all guests get to enjoy each of the 3 themed dining venues while on board. Upon boarding your Disney Cruise, check My Plans in the Disney Cruise Line (DCL) Navigator app for your restaurant schedule. Then, each evening, you, your tablemates, and servers will rotate to a different restaurant. As you rotate, the same wait staff—who know your preferences—will serve you each night while you get to experience the unique atmosphere of each restaurant.
Disney Dream: Animator’s Palate, Enchanted Garden, and Royal Palace
Disney Fantasy: Animator’s Palate, Enchanted Garden, and Royal Court
Disney Magic: Animator’s Palate, Lumiere’s, and Rapunzel’s Royal Table
Disney Wonder: Animator’s Palate, Triton’s, and Tiana’s Place
As far as attire goes for the rotational dining restaurants, for most of the meals the dress code is “Cruise Casual” this means that t-shirts and shorts are permitted though tank tops are not. Depending on the length of your sailing, there also may be special “dress-up dinners” like formal night, semi-formal night, or special themed events like Pirate Night.
While the rotational dining restaurants are not adult-only, we know you would all like to know if they are couple-friendly, and we think it is safe to say they are couple-friendly!
By couple-friendly, we mean that your overall rotational dining experience will cater to your needs and take care of any requests you may have during your meals as a couple.
Now, as we said before, the rotational dining restaurants are not adult-only, so there are families and children also dining in the restaurant and may even be at all of the tables around you. This does not mean you will not have a good experience.
In the past, Disney Cruise Line has given guests “table-mates”, meaning that other guests not in your traveling party will be seated at the same table with you. Every Disney Cruise we have sailed on, we have not had table-mates and it was just us and our traveling party. Just keep in mind that this could potentially happen to you, but that doesn’t mean it is a bad thing! We have met so many wonderful people while cruising and we have spoken to many people, including Taylor’s aunt and uncle, who have had table-mates and became great friends.
If something happens that you do not enjoy your table location or table-mates, if you contact guest services, they will help you to fix the issues because they do want you to have a magical vacation.
Here are a few tips to have the best time during your rotational dining on your next Disney Cruise as a couple.
Go in with an open mind. After reading this post you already have an idea of what to expect, so don’t go into your first night of dining thinking about how there’s going to be so many children and families there causing a ruckus. If you think about it, it’s dinner time, everyone is going to be eating. One of the great things about DCL is that the kid’s clubs will feed the children if they stay in the clubs during meal times, so there is a possibility that not all of the children will be in the dining room if this is a concern for you.
TIP: If you are worried about the ship feeling like it’s overrun with kids, don’t fret, because it will never feel this way! You can spend the majority of your cruise in adult-only areas and the only time you may see kids is at the main pool and in the rotational dining rooms.
Take your time. Most families with children tend to eat and leave quickly because they are so excited to get back to all the activities, so if you take your time, other guests will have left the restaurant before you finish your meal making it a more enjoyable experience.
Book adult-only dining reservations. It is an extra charge to dine at the adult-only restaurants, but take an evening or two to indulge as a couple at these amazing restaurants in the quiet, elegant environment. On all of the Disney ships, you can enjoy Palo, the Italian restaurant, and on the Fantasy & Dream, you can also enjoy Remy, a fine-dining French restaurant.
Just enjoy yourself! Everyone knows that Disney is all about families and being family-friendly, but obviously, they try to cater to anyone who wants to vacation. If you’re booking a Disney Cruise, chances are you are a big Disney fan and have probably been to the theme parks, so you are used to the “Disney” environment.
If you have any other questions about rotational dining post them in the comments below, and be sure to watch our videos from our Disney Cruises!