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Dinner substitutions a No-No ?


Joie
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I read somewhere that there are no substitutes on the dining room menus......is that true.

For example, can you ask for baked potatoe instead of mashed, if both are on the menu, but your items states mashed....

Or can you also not have special sauces on your meats if the are listed?

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I read somewhere that there are no substitutes on the dining room menus......is that true.

For example, can you ask for baked potatoe instead of mashed, if both are on the menu, but your items states mashed....

Or can you also not have special sauces on your meats if the are listed?

 

I've always been able to substitute an item that was already on the menu (on a different entree offering).

 

I've read reports where some were told by their servers that substitutions aren't allowed, but I don't know if they were asking for something completely off menu or not.

 

You can ask for sauces to be served on the side, or not at all, if you wish.

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That's good to know......cruising with my son and DIL and he is very picky about his food....just plain old dishes for him....lol

Doesn't want a loaded baked potato.....just a baked potato!!!!

 

All the menus have the Lighter Fare offerings. Typically baked or broiled chicken, fish, or steak with steamed veggies or baked potato.

 

My husband and I have occasionally just gotten that when we've gotten tired of the "fancier" dishes (usually on our long cruises).

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The kitchen will be usually more than happy to accommodate a reasonable request (like a plain potato, etc). In some cases, the sides may be pre-plated (one of my complaints with Disney food is that they generally don't do a la minute plating...) which will make it harder to switch out...

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I've never been told no...But normally I don't request anything crazy, just say steamed veggies not fries. I don't order mushroom soup without mushrooms...

 

(though my dd DID order bacon mac and cheese, without bacon. :eek: )

 

btw the every loaded baked potato i've gotten is plain, then the asst server comes around with a tray of toppings for you to select.

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Never had a problem with substitutions or sauces on the side. Yes, it means that your server has to request a special plating rather than grabbing one off the prepared area...and it might take an extra minute or two. That's not a big deal at all.

 

Any server who tells you otherwise is being a lazy so and so.

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I cannot have bell peppers, so the servers are always more than helpful with that (sometimes I see the next night's menu the night before so the chef can prepare my plate sans bell pepper). We have never had a problem requesting an item. I think I wanted calamari a second night and they were out, they still had it at Palo, but not in the MDR's, but really, that was an off menu item. I think the servers will go out of their way to get you what you need. There may be exceptions to this on show nights or other events, just to get everyone out of the dining rooms.

 

We do request a cheese plate to start dinner many times. Of course, once you have requested something once, it tends to show up night after night after night. Not a bad thing, just sooo much food.

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Our 2nd Disney cruise, the waiter would give my husband the hardest time making any substitutions. Usually it was just requesting a baked potato, but sometimes it was picking a side from another dish. He was turned off of Disney cruises - I'm so glad I MADE ;) him go on another cruise. Our waitstaff was wonderful the next cruise! No request was treated as an inconvenience!

 

I think it depends on your service staff. I have had some (other cruise lines included) that treat requests as an inconvenience, some who seem personally affronted by a request and some who will bend over backwards to get you what you like. I make sure I go out of my way for the latter bunch - not just tipping, but mentioning them by name to the maitre de and on the comment cards!

Edited by Landlocked_N_Texas
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Our 2nd Disney cruise, the waiter would give my husband the hardest time making any substitutions. Usually it was just requesting a baked potato, but sometimes it was picking a side from another dish. He was turned off of Disney cruises - I'm so glad I MADE ;) him go on another cruise. Our waitstaff was wonderful the next cruise! No request was treated as an inconvenience!

 

I think it depends on your service staff. I have had some (other cruise lines included) that treat requests as an inconvenience, some who seem personally affronted by a request and some who will bend over backwards to get you what you like. I make sure I go out of my way for the latter bunch - not just tipping, but mentioning them by name to the maitre de and on the comment cards!

 

As I said above, if a server on DCL is not getting you the substitutions you want, they are just being lazy so-an-sos. There is absolutely no policy against substitutions provided that the item desired is on the menu. Going off menu is possible, but works best with advance notice. Special preps are an every day thing for allergy or other medical need situations. (these are a different issue than substitutions though).

 

Asking for a plain baked potato should NEVER be a problem. They are on the "lighter fare" section of the menu, so placing one on a plate and serving it is not exactly difficult!

 

We've actually had servers who went "off menu" for us every night without our asking. One learned that broccoli is my daughter's favorite vege. Every night he had a serving of steamed broccoli for her!

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As I said above' date=' if a server on DCL is not getting you the substitutions you want, they are just being lazy so-an-sos. There is absolutely no policy against substitutions provided that the item desired is on the menu. Going off menu is possible, but works best with advance notice. Special preps are an every day thing for allergy or other medical need situations. (these are a different issue than substitutions though).

 

 

 

Asking for a plain baked potato should NEVER be a problem. They are on the "lighter fare" section of the menu, so placing one on a plate and serving it is not exactly difficult!

 

 

 

We've actually had servers who went "off menu" for us every night without our asking. One learned that broccoli is my daughter's favorite vege. Every night he had a serving of steamed broccoli for her![/quote']

 

 

I totally agree! And our 3rd cruise, the server learned my son liked a plain salad with croutons as a starter. It was there every night waiting on him.

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Our servers were fantastic and went out of their way to get us just what we wanted. I asked for a child's menu and every night after that, it was waiting for me at the table. I would often mix and match entrees with different sides from both the regular and children's menus, and usually asked for a regular caesar salad instead of the salads on the menu. The baked potatoes were typically not hot enough for my taste, so I started ordering the smashed potatoes off the kids menu--those were DIVINE!

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Some servers are more than happy to get you a substitute, others are lazy and try not too. If you have an issue please bring it up to your head server, that's what they are there for. Poor service will continue if you never bring it to anyone's attention.

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Even the lazy servers should be able to do it. I've had servers who were so lazy they just brought me both entrees. It's no trouble at all for them to pick up an extra prepared plate. It's more hassle for them to pick up a plate of sides (with no meat) and then bring it to another station and ask for the meat.

 

Other than the waste, I don't mind receiving 2 entrees. After all, I"m getting what I asked for... and more.

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I can only speak as of my last DCL cruise, 18 months ago (sigh), where our servers not only were happy to make substitutions, they often recommended taking item A from entree B and pairing it with entree C.

 

Even though my next cruise is not on Disney, I still closely follow the DCL forums here and elsewhere, and I have not seen anything posted about changes that may have been made which would take away the ability to make changes to your meal.

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I can only speak as of my last DCL cruise, 18 months ago (sigh), where our servers not only were happy to make substitutions, they often recommended taking item A from entree B and pairing it with entree C.

 

Even though my next cruise is not on Disney, I still closely follow the DCL forums here and elsewhere, and I have not seen anything posted about changes that may have been made which would take away the ability to make changes to your meal.

 

There is no policy against substitutions. There are sometimes jerk servers who don't want to do any extra work and try to tell guests that they can't substitute.

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On the Wonder to Alaska, our table presented with 2 out of 9 travellers having a specific dietary issue and they had no problems with substitutions.

 

My mother in law had informed DCL prior to the cruise that she had some issues with certain foods and they were very accommodating as long as the foods she chose were allowed according to her diet. They were quite strict with keeping within the allowed items list but she was free to make any substitutions within that group of permissible foods.

 

Diner #2 is always very picky and usually doesn't like much except for meat, hamburgers, pasta and potatoes. Seafood and ethnic food are not on his favourite list as well. About a week before the cruise, he had a flare up of an intestinal condition and ate mostly steamed veggies and the occasional hunk of meat for the entire duration of the cruise. Our server had no problem bringing him a huge plate of steamed broccoli or asparagus every night. Initially, the head server noticed that he was not eating and even offered to bring him some Indian food that the crew eats. Even though Diner #2 refused his offer, I blurted out that I like Indian food and he brought a delicious tortilla and curry vegetable dish to our table the next night. What a surprise!!

 

Additions were also not an issue. My sister in law ordered 2 lobster tails with her main dish accompanied by a single serving of potatoes and asparagus.

Edited by DarthShoppingMaul
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