Welcome aboard, Robin!
Disney Cruise Line's Rotational Dining is one of my favorite parts of sailing with Captain Mickey!
When you arrive in your stateroom, you'll find tickets that list your dining rotation for your trip with a different restaurant each evening, so that you'll rotate through all three of the main dining restaurants throughout your sailing. For example, on the Dream, you may have Animator's Palate, Enchanted Garden, Royal Palace, and back to Animator's Palate again. If you're traveling with friends in other staterooms, you can link your stateroom reservations and request that you all dine together. Call Disney Cruise Line at 800-951-3532 to link them, with your reservation numbers ready. It really is fun to dine together and catch up after having spent a magical day at sea or in port, exploring all there is to see and do!
When you made your cruise reservations, you most likely chose a
dining seating time, either Main Dining or Late Dining. We prefer late dining because it gives us more time to unwind and shower and get ready after a fun day in port. Plus, the late dining offers that the kids get their meals first and can then meet the Youth Club staff about 45 minutes into the seating, once they're done eating, to head up to the clubs, while Mom and Dad can finish out the meal on their own. It's a win-win for everyone!
My favorite part about Rotational Dining is that our dining servers rotate with us. We meet our dining servers on night one and they come with us to each restaurant each night, so they get to know our preferences, and we get to know them throughout the cruise. We've had more than one teary goodbye, as we have come to consider some of them like family by the end of our sailings!
Happy planning, Robin!
-Marcy