Unlimited food

Concierge guests can order breakfast on debarkation day, I am pretty sure you will receive information the night before (but if you have any questions you can ask a Concierge host)

True, I was referring to non concierge guests but you are right...concierge can order room service last morning.

MJ
 
I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise with my family in the 90s with unlimited food. . .my dad ordered 13 LOBSTER TAILS for dinner one night. And then suffered an allergic reaction - he is normally not allergic to shellfish, but I guess the double digit lobster tails did him in.
 
I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise with my family in the 90s with unlimited food. . .my dad ordered 13 LOBSTER TAILS for dinner one night. And then suffered an allergic reaction - he is normally not allergic to shellfish, but I guess the double digit lobster tails did him in.
That's nuts. I think the most I've done was 3 tails on a Princess cruise back in 06/07. We probably ordered 15-20 tails total but that was for 6 people.

I've stopped eating lobster and crab (no reason other than I lost my appetite for it.) so I guess I'll never hit that mark again.
 
Lots of great tips and advice here on food. A few notes:
- The wipes are only provided at the entrance to restaurants, not the counter service areas. The wipes sanitize hands when used properly and yes, can clean a small amount of dirt. No substitute for washing hands though. I know my last trip on the Wonder they had put hand washing stations outside Cabanas.
- Someone pointed out earlier that there are a few things they do charge for. When in doubt, ask. The only one that seemed a little tricky to me were the smoothies. They are next to the free ice cream and free counter service food, so it's easy to assume those drinks are also free. They are not.
- Yes, you can order more than one of anything on the menu at dinner. This is a great time to try new things or try things that you may believe you don't like. Order something more adventurous and something you know you will like.
- I love popcorn and wish it were free, but oddly enough, it is not. I've seen tips from people that have visited the parks that they will fill the larger containers from the parks when you order popcorn.

Happy Sailing
 


Lots of great tips and advice here on food. A few notes:
- The wipes are only provided at the entrance to restaurants, not the counter service areas. The wipes sanitize hands when used properly and yes, can clean a small amount of dirt. No substitute for washing hands though. I know my last trip on the Wonder they had put hand washing stations outside Cabanas.
- Someone pointed out earlier that there are a few things they do charge for. When in doubt, ask. The only one that seemed a little tricky to me were the smoothies. They are next to the free ice cream and free counter service food, so it's easy to assume those drinks are also free. They are not.
- Yes, you can order more than one of anything on the menu at dinner. This is a great time to try new things or try things that you may believe you don't like. Order something more adventurous and something you know you will like.
- I love popcorn and wish it were free, but oddly enough, it is not. I've seen tips from people that have visited the parks that they will fill the larger containers from the parks when you order popcorn.

Happy Sailing
I have seen wipes containers sitting on the counters where you pick up food or by the condiments and utensils table adjacent to the pick up windows, so these are readily available by counter service locations. There was also a container on the counter by the ice cream dispenser.

Although popcorn is not free, you can purchase a bucket on board and then pay $1.50 plus the 15% autogratuity ($1.73 total) for refills. We buy a new bucket every trip and just leave it behind when debarking. These are the same size buckets as you get in the parks, in some cases the exact same “Disney Parks” branded buckets.
 
That's nuts. I think the most I've done was 3 tails on a Princess cruise back in 06/07. We probably ordered 15-20 tails total but that was for 6 people.

I've stopped eating lobster and crab (no reason other than I lost my appetite for it.) so I guess I'll never hit that mark again.

I think a couple of years ago I saw on another cruise forum that they were limiting the number of tails any one person could order on RCCL after a few cruises where they actually ran out before second seating in the MDR and later My Time Dining seatings because people at early dining and in earlier My Time Dining slots were ordering ridiculous amounts.

I did lobster once on HAL - figured it was "free" so I might as well. It was ok, but I'm not falling over myself to order it again.
 
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They don't do this in any of the quick service places on the pool deck. So, I guess in those cases you just have to look out for your own allergy needs?

Yes, at the QS places you have to treat them similar to QS at WDW: tell the CM at the counter you have food allergies and would like to speak to someone so you can order something safe. They will get a manager or chef for you [there may be a wait] and then you will explain to the manager/chef what your allergies are and have a discussion about what they can safely make.

I find it very helpful to have a chef card with me for this conversation as it is VERY VERY noisy on the pool decks and can be hard to hear each other. The written chef card makes sure they caught all your allergens and didn't miss any due to the noise.

SW
 


Yes. You can ask about ingredients and how it's cooked but it's much more difficult for them to control cross-contamination and they have no separate preparation areas for allergies as they do in the MDRs. If you are at all concerned, I don't suggest you eat there. They do their best but it's just not set up for it. My primary allergies are reasonably easy to identify (mostly seafood) so it's reasonably easy to avoid or figure out what might be at risk. This is the same issue as with the buffet. You can have someone walk you through the buffet but it's difficult to completely control cross-contamination as I've seen people use spoons from one dish in another one. I always avoid taking anything at a dish that is beside one with seafood because of that.

My sister, allergic to seafood, ate lunch from the buffet at Cabanas during one of our early DCL cruises. She carefully chose items that did not have seafood and were not near any seafood-containing items. She still had a reaction, which landed her in the medical centre. No more buffets for her [I was already not doing the buffet, but I have many and more severe food allergies to her; buffets are just not safe for me].

We have eaten in cabanas at other times because we wanted the view -- so we pre-ordered our meals the night before at dinner and told them we would eat that meal at Cabanas. Other than the long wait for our food it worked out well.

But, during that long wait I did a lot of people watching. Including of how the buffet lines worked. Lets just say there is a LOT of cross contamination from dish to dish and utensil to utensil happenings thanks to fellow guests. e.g. people using the same utensil to serve multiple items instead of the dedicated to each utensil. People putting something on their plate then taking it off and putting it back -- except it has had the chance to touch andd be contaminated by anything else on their already laden plate. the list goes on...

The only things we will get ourselves from Cabanas are commercially pre-packaged foods (e.g. the cereal bowls - great to bring back to the room for snacks later) and at breakfast I will risk the cut fruit part of the buffet, since on Fantasy at least it is physically separate (across the walkway) from the rest of the buffet line and people tend to get a fresh plate for it, though it is still a risk, just less so IMO.

SW
 
Are the wipes more sanitary vs the hand sanitizer? I guess it's their way of ensuring that every guest going to the buffet or to the MDR has clean hands. I can only imagine how much waste it creates though.

Yes.

Wipes can kill (some) the germs and remove debris/dirt/allergens (transfer them off the hands and onto the wipe), while hand sanitizer can kill (some) germs, but as one of my professors was fond of saying, for the dirt/debris/allergens, it "just moves it around" and doesn't remove it (since there is nowhere to remove it too -- you are just rubbing your hands together).

A study was done some time ago looking specifically at food allergen removal: soap and water was best, but wipes also did a good job [just not as good]. Hand sanitizer alone did not remove allergens.

SW
 
That makes a lot more sense than what I was envisioning -- I thought people were talking about bringing full dinner plates into the live evening shows. Which I suppose you could assuming no CM stopped you, but it just seems like it'd be crowded enough that it'd be a bad idea (plus I think it's possibly the farthest away you can get from Cabanas, at least on the Magic and Wonder). Come to think of it, when I went to see the live demo by Todd Nauck on MDAS in the Buena Vista Theater, someone else had brought in an entire plate of desserts to enjoy during the show. I remember because I tripped over their leftovers on the way out, as they'd left the plate on the floor in front of the seat they'd vacated. I was...not the most impressed I have ever been in my life....

Tbqh if it were me and I had the munchies for something unusual while I watched a movie, I'd go up to Cabanas and put whatever food I wanted in my refillable popcorn bucket (you might have to plate it normally and then transfer it; they may not allow different containers at the actual buffet line). Nice and contained and it's natural to take it with you when you're done (and I bet the CMs are less likely to stop you from taking it in, too).

I was thinking fill the bucket too.

Also, at breakfast cabanas has commercially packaged dry cereal bowls. I think at lunch either there or on the pool deck there are the small bags of lays chips. Grab some extras to keep on hand for snacks or to bring to the theatre -- self contained, dry, and not that much different than popcorn, so much more likely to be allowed.

SW
 
Lots of great tips and advice here on food. A few notes:
- The wipes are only provided at the entrance to restaurants, not the counter service areas. The wipes sanitize hands when used properly and yes, can clean a small amount of dirt. No substitute for washing hands though. I know my last trip on the Wonder they had put hand washing stations outside Cabanas.
- Someone pointed out earlier that there are a few things they do charge for. When in doubt, ask. The only one that seemed a little tricky to me were the smoothies. They are next to the free ice cream and free counter service food, so it's easy to assume those drinks are also free. They are not.
- Yes, you can order more than one of anything on the menu at dinner. This is a great time to try new things or try things that you may believe you don't like. Order something more adventurous and something you know you will like.
- I love popcorn and wish it were free, but oddly enough, it is not. I've seen tips from people that have visited the parks that they will fill the larger containers from the parks when you order popcorn.

Happy Sailing

At least on the Dream and Fantasy, they have wipes containers at the self-serve drinks area, and at each of QS stations on the pool and other -- basically any station/location on the ship that serves food or beverage there is at least one wipes container sitting there available to use. Also where they have the condiments. Usually the container is just sitting on the counter, however, we did have a period of time on one of our Fantasy cruises where theere was a CM quietly holding the container and handing them out -- there was also a CM dispensing the drinks at the self-serve drink station. I assume it means there was an increased level of GI illness and they had stepped up their precautions.

The Dole Whips, alas, along with the smoothies, have a cost, too. But they come from the "bar" area next to the soft serve ice cream, and at leasst for the Dole Whip there are clear signs WITH the prices, so should not be a surprise. I always assume if it comes from a bar area there is a charge unless I am told otherwise (and we don't drink) :-)

OUr last cruise we decided we would order the meal we wanted, and then also order something for us to share to try. We didn't do it every meal, and most of what we tried we didn't like, but it was a good way to have what you knew you wanted and get to experiment a bit too.

Onboard they sell a refillable container for around $8 or $9 [it comes filled], then refills are $1.50 or so. Our last cruise, ti was the same refillable container they were selling in the parks at the time. They also sell more expensive fancy character-based refillable containers (which are often bulky and IMO rather impractical), especially at holiday or special sailings. Those may be more prominently displayed, but if you don't want one of those you can ask for the normal refillable containers -- they should have them in the back and can still sell them. There is also of course the normal cardboard one-off containers, which are not refillable.

SW
 
I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise with my family in the 90s with unlimited food. . .my dad ordered 13 LOBSTER TAILS for dinner one night. And then suffered an allergic reaction - he is normally not allergic to shellfish, but I guess the double digit lobster tails did him in.

See, the problem was that he needed to order 14 so it wouldn't be an unlucky number. Clearly.

Lots of great tips and advice here on food. A few notes:
- The wipes are only provided at the entrance to restaurants, not the counter service areas. The wipes sanitize hands when used properly and yes, can clean a small amount of dirt. No substitute for washing hands though. I know my last trip on the Wonder they had put hand washing stations outside Cabanas.
- Someone pointed out earlier that there are a few things they do charge for. When in doubt, ask. The only one that seemed a little tricky to me were the smoothies. They are next to the free ice cream and free counter service food, so it's easy to assume those drinks are also free. They are not.
- Yes, you can order more than one of anything on the menu at dinner. This is a great time to try new things or try things that you may believe you don't like. Order something more adventurous and something you know you will like.
- I love popcorn and wish it were free, but oddly enough, it is not. I've seen tips from people that have visited the parks that they will fill the larger containers from the parks when you order popcorn.

Happy Sailing

At least on the Dream and Fantasy, they have wipes containers at the self-serve drinks area, and at each of QS stations on the pool and other -- basically any station/location on the ship that serves food or beverage there is at least one wipes container sitting there available to use. Also where they have the condiments. Usually the container is just sitting on the counter, however, we did have a period of time on one of our Fantasy cruises where theere was a CM quietly holding the container and handing them out -- there was also a CM dispensing the drinks at the self-serve drink station. I assume it means there was an increased level of GI illness and they had stepped up their precautions.

The Dole Whips, alas, along with the smoothies, have a cost, too. But they come from the "bar" area next to the soft serve ice cream, and at leasst for the Dole Whip there are clear signs WITH the prices, so should not be a surprise. I always assume if it comes from a bar area there is a charge unless I am told otherwise (and we don't drink) :-)

OUr last cruise we decided we would order the meal we wanted, and then also order something for us to share to try. We didn't do it every meal, and most of what we tried we didn't like, but it was a good way to have what you knew you wanted and get to experiment a bit too.

Onboard they sell a refillable container for around $8 or $9 [it comes filled], then refills are $1.50 or so. Our last cruise, ti was the same refillable container they were selling in the parks at the time. They also sell more expensive fancy character-based refillable containers (which are often bulky and IMO rather impractical), especially at holiday or special sailings. Those may be more prominently displayed, but if you don't want one of those you can ask for the normal refillable containers -- they should have them in the back and can still sell them. There is also of course the normal cardboard one-off containers, which are not refillable.

SW

I've been curious about whether they'd do refills on a Disney popcorn bucket you clearly had not bought on the current cruise. For instance, when I sailed, I was able to buy a Marvel Day at Sea popcorn bucket. It's the same size and shape as the ones sold in the American Disney parks, but clearly branded as an MDAS item. I kept the bucket (I found it handy for a variety of things during and after the cruise beyond the popcorn refills), but I wonder if it's worth bringing it back on the next cruise if it's not an MDAS cruise and they'll know I didn't buy it on that trip. Similarly, I don't know whether you can get away with using Disney parks popcorn buckets. If you're planning to get popcorn even twice, I want to say it's probably worth buying the refillable bucket.

IIRC the only real specialty container I saw was a smoothie cup shaped like Iron Man's helmet. Did not buy -- as you say, it was bulky and impractical; it didn't look like it actually held that much liquid and I couldn't see having a use for it post-cruise.

And yeah, another confirmation that on my cruise the QS stations on the top decks did have sanitary wipes. I want to say they had CMs handing them out on embarkation day, then just had the containers on the counters on subsequent days.
 
You'll have a great time on the cruise and you will never go hungry.

I'll chime in a little but as others have said, you do have the free room service option in the morning for breakfast. Room service does run 24 hours. just throw them $1-2 per item as a tip. The menu is limited though, so do keep that in mind. Many love to start off with a coffee or tea and pastry in the morning. It's even better if you have a verandah so you can be out there and relax.

The best option in the morning is to head up to the main pool deck for Cabanas buffet. No need to scan your KTTW card. Nobody counts how many times you go up for food so you can definitely take advantage of those Hobbit appetites. Many times I'll just be walking through Cabanas to get somewhere else and I'll see something I want to snack on so I'll grab a plate. You can even load up and take it back to your room or into the movie theater if you want. Nobody is judging you. I wouldn't say it's a relaxed area as there are kids all over the place heh but it is what you'd expect at a Disney buffet. It's a very simplified process so you won't have any issues except where to put all the food.

For a more quieter setting, you can go to the restaurant (normally Enchanted Garden) where they also have a buffet-with fewer options as well as a table service menu. I tend to order a nice omelette there and the waiter will take your order. You've all talked me into bagels and lox now, so I need to try that on my upcoming cruise!

Lunch is the same deal as breakfast for the most part but you can also go to Tow Mater's Grill which is a quick service area open until the late evening for all your snacking needs. Food is aplenty here with all your favorite comfort foods such as pizza, burgers, hot dogs, sausages, sandwiches, chicken (amazing chicken tenders-WDW quality), fries, wraps, salads, desserts and fruits. I've read that they can also do custom orders as well so that's something to keep in mind. They also run a daily special so plenty of options.

*on Sailings of 4 days or more, Palo offers a brunch which comes highly recommended. I'm looking forward to my first experience.

For dinner, you'll experience Disney's renowned rotational dining where you'll dine in 1 of 3 beautifully themed restaurants each night. The seating times are roughly 6PM and 8PM with the latter not feeling as rushed. They do verify your room number upon entering. This is a full 4-course menu beginning with an appetizer followed by a soup or salad choice. The waiter will then bring you your entree and just when you think you're done, he or she will slide you the dessert menu as well. Now if you cannot decide between a certain dish, you can definitely ask for both or a double appetizer. Liked something the night before? They can still get it for you. I love the escargot so I'll order 2 of them if I'm not in the mood for their appetizer selection. The main takeaway here is that you are in control and the menu is only a suggestion. You can totally just order 6 desserts for dinner if you want. I'm not a huge fan of sweets, so I tend to order a double entree or double app.

You can also skip the dining room and head up to Cabanas as well. I've noticed a lot of people doing this to save on time so they can enjoy more activities.

Of course, you cannot forget about Remy (French) and Palo( Italian)- the adults-only dining options. These restaurants are not included with the cruise so you have to pay extra for them. Remy is currently $95 per person without wine pairing and Palo is $30. Both have very strict dress codes.

You do have the late-night pirate night buffet so be sure to save room for that.

And I almost forgot about Eye Scream ice cream available all day. Banana is my favorite!

So there ya go. The Food is very unlimited - including soda, and it goes the same for Castaway Cay as well.

Now I'm really hungry.

Now I am excited for all the food! And I love banana ice cream!
 
In your original note you mentioned eating like a Hobbit. We just got back from three weeks in Australia and New Zealand. While in NZ we took two Lord of the Rings and Hobbit tours (most of the films were made there). Now, to my point. You can ask, but I doubt that DCL offers Merry's Mulled Cider, Elven Lembas Bread or Bilbo's Tea Cake. This might be the theme of a future cruise if Disney can lean on Peter Jackson for a few rights to a Hobbit or two or even some of their unique food. Can you imagine Gollum bringing you Middle-Earth's "Roast Mutton for the Trolls" as part of room service at 2 am? Yikes!
 
You can ask, but I doubt that DCL offers Merry's Mulled Cider, Elven Lembas Bread or Bilbo's Tea Cake.

It's almost certain they won't have any of those as they are part of a brand they don't own or have the rights to. The odds of winning the lotto are probably better.

This might be the theme of a future cruise if Disney can lean on Peter Jackson for a few rights to a Hobbit or two or even some of their unique food. Can you imagine Gollum bringing you Middle-Earth's "Roast Mutton for the Trolls" as part of room service at 2 am? Yikes!

Disney will have to let their recent acquisitions digest first, not that the current rights' owners for the Hobbit or LoTR are likely to be willing to part with them for less than a looooooot of $$$$. I don't believe Peter Jackson would even be the proper party to woo as he does not own the rights for the stories, characters, etc... as far as I can tell.
 
Yes, you can order more than one of anything on the menu at dinner. This is a great time to try new things or try things that you may believe you don't like. Order something more adventurous and something you know you will like.

I will also note that this is true for kids. Kids can order from the adult menus. This is a really good opportunity to have your kids try things they might not get exposed to as readily. My kids were eating things like the tuna tower, salmon, lobster and similar that in some cases they're familiar with, and in other cases are far less common in their daily life.

Because it's easy to get tenders and pizza at Cabanas or on deck, I was setting a requirement that they go a little further afield at dinner most nights.
 
I will also note that this is true for kids. Kids can order from the adult menus. This is a really good opportunity to have your kids try things they might not get exposed to as readily. My kids were eating things like the tuna tower, salmon, lobster and similar that in some cases they're familiar with, and in other cases are far less common in their daily life.

Because it's easy to get tenders and pizza at Cabanas or on deck, I was setting a requirement that they go a little further afield at dinner most nights.

I SO agree with this! There is only one problem with expanding their pallets in this no-risk environment...

SUCCESS. I got my sons into Sushi and Salmon and such at a young age, and now that they are teenagers, it is bankrupting me. LOL. But I'm glad they enjoy a wide variety of things.
 
I SO agree with this! There is only one problem with expanding their pallets in this no-risk environment...

SUCCESS. I got my sons into Sushi and Salmon and such at a young age, and now that they are teenagers, it is bankrupting me. LOL. But I'm glad they enjoy a wide variety of things.

Yep! Actually, for my kids, salmon is almost a comfort backup. But lobster and scallops are less frequent for us land-lubbing northerners.
 

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