Hi there, Catherine!
Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! I am so glad you stopped by with your question about your upcoming MAGICal Disney Cruise Line vacation! My family’s first Disney Cruise was aboard the Disney Magic and I hope your family loves it as much as we do!
Palo is one of my husband and I’s favorite indulgences when onboard a Disney Cruise Line ship; we love the delicious Italian cuisine and the views are spectacular. We always look forward to our “date night” onboard since they seem to be few and far between back at home with busy schedules. But, we also enjoy experiencing the main dining room restaurants with their themed menus, entertaining dinners and our always FANTASTIC dining room servers! But, recently we have discovered a way to do both and it gives us the best of both worlds; we simply take our children to the main dining room dinner at our regular dining time and make our Palo dinner reservation for later! After dinner in the main dining room with our boys, we check them into the onboard
Youth Clubs and make our way to Palo for our meal. We have found that if we have the first dinner service then we plan to make our Palo reservation for 7:15PM or 7:30PM. If you have second seating in the main dining room, you will want to make your Palo reservation for 6:00 or 6:30PM to be able to attend both. Please be aware that you likely won’t be able to make both dinners AND the evening entertainment that night, so keep that in mind when planning.
Wishing you a memorable adventure at sea with your family! Oh, and remember to save room for the chocolate soufflé at Palo; it's simply magical!
Happy Sailing!
Stephanie