Fantasy Cruise June 30th. to July 11, 2018

Sailing on Disney Fantasy 30 June 2018. :)Embarkation day everyone crowds the buffet (Cabanas ? ) can anyone suggest an alternative?

One of the sit down restaurants is always open for lunch. On our Fantasy cruise, it was Enchanted Garden. MUCH nicer than the buffet. It is essentially the same food, but you are shown to a table, beverages are served to you (along with refills). The meal is still a buffet, but ever so much more pleasant than the pool decks. We always do sit down lunch on embarkation day...on DCL and other lines!

Thanks for the information. Believe it or not but I called Disney and they said none other were open except the buffet.

Thanks again for the update. When did you sail last ?

Got to agree with @Moki'smommy (again) that its much nicer to go to the sit-down restaurant for this meal. No need to wander around looking for a table while carrying a tray of food. Your beverages are brought to you. Food is the same.

It was my understanding that the MDR that is open for brunch is no longer a buffet. Isn't that right?

There is also the quick serve on the pool deck available.

We are on that cruise too. And have done many other cruises on Disney. We never go to cabanas. We grab a table at the pool, put down our carry ons and every body gets the food they want at the variety of food places on deck...pizza, the grill, salads and wraps. We have never eaten anywhere but by the pool.

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Many of the people who answer phones for DCL have never even set foot on one of the ships, let alone cruised. Yeah, I was totally shocked when one of them said that she hoped she could go on a cruise some day! All they know is what they can find on their computer screens...and as we have all seen from the DCL web site, that can be out of date or just plain inaccurate. They used to get a tour of one of the ships when they were hired, but seems that has been discontinued...at least from what they will tell you on the phones. Ask one sometime when his/her last cruise was or some similar question.

We have never cruised on ANY line where there was not a "sit down" embarkation lunch available somewhere. The crew will often steer you upstairs, but if you insist they will direct you to the appropriate dining room. There is not nearly enough space in a single sit down venue for all the people boarding; that's why they try to get you to head upstairs. Your choices upstairs are the buffet or any of the fast food outlets. We just don't mess with that. I could see it if you had kids and everyone wanted something different, but we like sitting indoors in the cool and being served rather than running around trying to find a table, needing to keep one person at the table to "guard" the stuff while the other goes for food, drinks, etc. And I'll tell you a little secret--the dining rooms serve real brewed ice tea. The beverage station and Cabanas has the total yuk made from syrup. It's a no brainer for me.

We last cruised in April 2018.

Thanks for the suggestions. We will be a party of 5 adults and 5 children and it's nearly impossible to get a table for 10 in Cabanas without as you said guarding the table. I hate having to do that !

You said you last cruised Disney in April of 2018, what ship and where did you go ?

We have only 6 days to go and the adults as well as the "children" ( ages 11 to 16 ) can hardly wait !

Thanks again for your responses.

Gordon:cool:

We always do the sit down lunch. As someone upthread mentioned, the restaurants no longer have a buffet. You order off the menu. It is a very nice experience.