Great Cruise...but we are not in the demographic

[mjwood77]

Our comment card says it all. We gave everything great ratings including service, food, entertainment, etc, we even would recommend DCL to a friend. We had a great time. However, when it came to the question about cruising with DCL again. We said definetely not. There wasn't really a space to explain this to them. So they will probably think we are insane.

 

This was our 7th cruise, but first with Disney. All our others have been with HAL. We are in our early/mid thirties so it would seem like Disney might be a better fit, but it wasn't.

 

So we had wanted to try Disney Cruise line for a number of years. We love WDW/Disneyland (have gone at least once a year for 8 years). Everyone has told us what a great product it is. We didn't want to do a traditional Disney Cruise for a number of reasons 1) Price 2) Only 7 days 3) Lack of variety in itinerary (so even if we wanted to do B2B it isn't all that exciting) 4) Number of kids. So when the 14 day 2010 transatlantic was available for booking in 2008 we jumped at the chance.

 

Everyone we ever talked to said you will never see the kids even on a 7 day with 1200 kids. Swore up and down. There were only 400 kids, so a lot less than a typical DCL cruise. However, I have to say that was not the case for us. We don't have kids. We are not used to being surrounded by kids. All of our friends kids apparentally are are super well behaved. We do not hate children. In fact at our wedding last year we had about 30 kids under the age of 4. However, we saw many ill behaved children on the cruise. Talking to some people this may have been due to our location on the ship. We were on deck 6, so the rooms are bigger so more families. Kids running up and down the hall at all hours of the night, Slamming doors, screaming, knocking people over, running up and down the stairs, hitting all the buttons in the elevator with the parent standing right there, eating chicken fingers in the pool, tantrums in the shops, talking through the shows/movies (in my ear since they aren't in their seat but standing against my seat), kicking my seat through the entire show/movie etc. Apparently since we are on a Disney ship we are supposed to ignore the screaming baby at the 10:30 movie. Especially annoying after I specifically didn't sit near the kids, but I'm apparentally a magnet and they come in late and sit behind us, next to us, etc. Some of this may have been due to the expectations being built up by both DCL advertising and people's previous reviews. We expect that sort of behaviour at WDW, so I can sort of filter out the tantrums, but it's generally for shorter durations (3-4 days). After 14 days of crying kids, I had my fill.

 

I wish there were more adult only areas during the day. Basically there is in the quiet pool outside (can be windy/cool) , Cove (loud coffee machines), and Sessions. We tried to play games in Diversions, but there were a couple teens that would come in and be so ridiculously loud/obnoxious. So if there were more adult only areas during the day, that would have made a difference.

 

It also seemed as if they didn't have a good idea of how to entertain people for more than 7 days besides the shows/movies. This may have been partially due to some entertainment not making it to the boat due to the volcano. They ran "The Wheel" so many times. A good adult team trivia game would have made a much better replacement. A lot of the activities that we would enjoy (ie karoake, trivia, liars club, etc) were family activities so weren't enjoyable. Talking to some experienced DCL cruisers this is somewhat due to the fact that they got rid of the pubmaster.

 

So the things that are amazing:

Dinner service. Our servers were fabulous.

Dinner Food. Didn't have a bad meal.

Quick service Food. Good variety except the lack of real ice cream (but hey I saved calories because I'd rather go without than have soft serve)

Shows-we skip them typically on the other cruise line. These were really enjoyable. The Disney productions are amazing.

Pirate Night/Fireworks

Castaway Cay

 

Things that were lackluster/terrible:

Breakfast food. The pancakes were stale on multiple occasions. I don't eat at buffets because the food isn't fresh. So we specifically go to the restaurant service to avoid this. Unfortunately it appears it's the same food.

Breakfast service. Most of the time they didn't check back with us on refills and only got pastries 50% of the time. Since these are the same people that serve dinner and are amazing, this has to be due to Disney's tipping policy.

The coffee in the dining room/drink station is undrinkable and we drink the free stuff at work, this caused us to spend a lot more money on the specialty coffee than we normally would . Also espresso is not available for free (is on HAL) so this increased our bill as my husband enjoys espresso with dinner.

The ship is obviously in need of refurb which usually wouldn't bother us too much. The door between our state rooms wouldn't lock and the bathroom door wouldn't latch. Between the seats in the Walt Disney Theatre and the matress my back was killing me by the end of the 14 days.

Noise on the ship. You can hear EVERYTHING through the walls.

Also the boat creaked so much. It didn't keep us up, but our travel companions had to request ear plugs because they are light sleepers

Palo-honestly didn't think it was worth the money since the food wasn't that much better than the regular restaurant. Wasn't bad, but other cruise lines it is clearly a step above the regular dining room, and these seemed to be about the same.

 

There is also something I can't quite explain/capture. We just didn't meet people they way we normally do. Some of this may have been due to the lack of tablemates. We requested a table for 8 and got that, but with 4 empty chairs. We rarely were seated people for breakfast. Since there was no team trivia, we didn't meet new people that way. People were less likely to interact because they were with their families.

 

I can see that it is a great product especially if you have kids. Or if you are obsessed with Disney (if I never hear another Hannah Montana song again....) My BIL and SIL were traveling with us and they are 100% converts and will be booking with DCL again. But for us... it was good fun, don't regret it, but it's kind of been there...done that.

 

My husband and I had different reactions. He is even more convinced that he wants to only book with HAL in the future. I had a different response. Since I still had a good time, I'm more willing to try another line (ie Celebrity or Princess).

 

However, while we won't be cruising DCL again we will be going to WDW in September.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Even though DCL isnt for you I am glad you still enjoyed yourself.:D

 

I love DCL and I am a middle aged lady and we go as a couple all the time. However we are planning to try HAL next time. We have also done Carnival.

[djpolly]

Thanks for an honest review that really lets us know what fell below the bar you. I totally agree with you on the kids. On more than one occasion I had to tell my DD that just because their mom let's them do ____, doesn't mean I am letting you get by with that. My DD never gets to use the excuse "it's a kid friendly place" to let her have free reign. (And I am honest enough to know that she has probably driven some other people nuts because what I think is cute may be totally annoying for someone else, sorry)

 

And if you could take tantrums for 3-4 days you are way more tolerant than me. By day 2 at WDW I want to start "discussions" on parenting techniques. AND I really want to start smashing teens who bump into me while texting (and smash their cell phones too).

 

We, however, loved the cruise and have started saving for the next Disnay cruise vacation.

[luckylady79]

Interesting. We just got off the Wonder yesterday. The travel party was two couples. All cruisers are between the ages of 25 and 37 and we have NO kids. Yet DH and I have a blast every time we cruise Disney. Both couples rebooked while we were on board. DH and I rebooked for the Wonder and the Magic, and the other couple who were first time cruisers rebooked for the Wonder. I don't think it is fair to rule out our demographic just because the cruise wasn't right for you.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Also we saw not one tantrum our entire cruise. No teens running the hallways, and never once heard a Hannah Montana song. LOL!

 

We had great, fresh, delicious foods everyday. We also had a BLAST at karaoke as well as at The Feud which was a group team activity. We did a cognac tasting which was a LOT of fun and highly enjoyed the Adult pool :-)

 

Our stateroom had no problems whatsoever, nor did we see anything else on the ship that needed to be refurbed. In fact we even saw crew members doing minor paint touchups on small areas that we never would have even noticed. We had heard about a couple having trouble with the temp of their stateroom AC but they called and someone came out immediately and fixed it. The first thing I would have done if we had had your door situation is call maintenance. They are very good about taking care of any issues that you may have.

 

We will continue to be those people who swear up and don't that the children aren't noticeable because it has never been an issue for us. Never had any kids kicking my seat or hitting all of the elevator buttons....I could barely even think of a complaint to have about the kids because we so rarely see them. *shrug*

 

I'm not saying that DCL is perfect. Even Disney can't be 100% perfect. But, it is frustrating when people have issues with things that can be fixed but they don't ask to have them fixed. IE: service in a dining room, stale pancakes, broken doors, uncomfortable beds...all of which can be fixed if they are made aware of the issue. It is also beyond frustrating when anyone without kids automatically proclaims that clearly they are not the right demographic. DH and I ARE that demographic and we love DCL and so do our other childless friends. :-)

[grizz516]

We had the exact oppisate experience. Love DCL but will never take a HAL cruise again. I was so upset with the older population on HAL, felt like I was on a nursing home. In fact we had 3 deaths on our 15 day cruise to Hawaii. Loved Hawaii, but never on a HAL cruise again. Am looking forward to DCL doing something like this now that the Wonder will be on the west coast. Also got very tired of the asian cooking, I don't mind it once and a while but every meal had at least one asian dish and not much in other types of cuisine. But just my 2 cents worth. I have found that many either love a specific cruise line or hate it. Just wish Disney wasn't quite so expensive.

Maria

[mjwood77]

Too funny....the 15 day circle Hawaii on HAL was our all time favorite cruise and would do it again in a heartbeat.

[mjwood77]

I'm not saying that DCL is perfect. Even Disney can't be 100% perfect. But, it is frustrating when people have issues with things that can be fixed but they don't ask to have them fixed. IE: service in a dining room, stale pancakes, broken doors, uncomfortable beds...all of which can be fixed if they are made aware of the issue. It is also beyond frustrating when anyone without kids automatically proclaims that clearly they are not the right demographic. DH and I ARE that demographic and we love DCL and so do our other childless friends. :-)

 

I didn't mean all people in their thirties w/o kids. My BIL/SIL are in their thirties are complete converts. I meant my husband and myself are not in DCL's demographic. Probably could have used the word "market".

 

I wonder if some of the issues with the kids was because it was a long cruise. DCL seemed to run out of unique activities for the adults after 7 days, so the kids may have found the same issue. Seems like their activities repeated a lot too. So maybe they spent a lot less time in the clubs then on a 3 or 4 day cruise. Maybe on a port intensive cruise they would have been more worn out.

 

Also we did mention the poor service at breakfast times and they "took it under advisement", but it never got better no matter how busy or slow it was. It's night and day between dinner and breakfast. I requested something else when the pancakes were stale, and stopped ordering them the 2nd day they were gross. The trick is to order Mickey waffles because those are made fresh. However, I really prefer pancakes.

 

Not sure what they would do about the matresses. They are what they are. My BIL had same problem. If you are used to sleeping on a firm matress, you are out of luck. HAL has a much better mattress.

 

Regarding the refurb...like I said. That doesn't really bother us because that's the way of life in the cruise line. However, I've never heard such creaking! Thank goodness I'm a deep sleeper. We were wondering if it had anything to do with the way the ship is built (in pieces instead of one piece). I don't think a refurb will fix that. Other people complained about it, but there isn't much they can do.

 

I can see it is a great product. It's just not for us.

 

BTW

I don't know how you could have not heard a Hannah Montana song. They are in heavy rotation in the lobby and the number one choice of girls at karoake. Maybe the person that selects the music for the Magic loves Hannah Montana, and the person on the Wonder doesn't. :p

[AlexandNessa]

We love HAL too, so I can see your points. HAL is always elegant, quiet, refined (we are 3-star Mariners), but Disney is whole 'nother ballgame.

While we have only done a handful of Disney cruises (7-nights was our longest so far), we have been blessed not to witness the terrible parenting you did. We do have the WBTA booked for September though, and I'll be interested to see if the kids do become a problem the longer the cruise gets. (We are late 30s/early 40s and child-free by choice. So we are reasonably tolerant, but always ready to leave a tantrum or parent-free situation. ;))

I totally agree with you about Palo. We book it for the quiet. Not so much for the food. If Palo were our local land-based restaurant, we would not go.

The only time we have eaten breakfast on Disney is on debarkation day. We have never had much of a problem meeting people on Disney, but as others have echoed, DCL really does need to bring back their pubmaster!

Curious if you were in a suite? I ask because of the creeking. The moulding in the suites is certainly beautiful, but noisy. We had to ask the concierge to send in carpenters to caulk the moulding for us it was so loud, especially during high seas.

Thanks for your review!

[luv2gonow]

Thanks for your honest review.....I love Disney....loved my DCL cruise, I have an 8 yr old though. I would never cruise DCL without her. The ship rolls up at night about 11.

 

I'm glad to hear you like Hal.....I thought it was a "geriatric crowd". Were there lots of passengers you age.

thanks

K

[mjwood77]

We were not in a suite. We were in a Category 6. The creaking was hard to identify where it was coming from, but it was definetely not contained to the room. It sounded like somebody was bending the pipes in the ceiling. It was in the rooms, in the hallway, and even in some common areas (ie Diversions on Deck 3). So it may just be in that section of ship. Whatever it is, they aren't able to fix it. Some of our neighbors were really vocal about it, and the only suggestion they had was to get the ear plugs.

 

If I had a video camera I might have recorded it. I actually was able to ignore it, but other people had to get ear plugs from guest services. From what I understand, people on the Deck 8 didn't have it. We had smooth seas for a Transatlantic crossing, so it the ocean had been rough it probably would have been more annoying.

[Muushka]

I also appreciate your honest review.

 

Our first cruise was DCL. It was the only way I could get my husband on a cruise!

 

We did a 7 night and then a 4 night the following year on DCL and then Celebrity for 2 and then our final DCL in 2008, a 7 night.

 

We probably won't do DCL again unless we can get a great rate on the Dream (I really want to try that slide!).

In the meantime, it is Celebrity for us. While the kiddos on DCL never bothered us (we didn't seem to get the obnoxious ones on our cruises on DCL but have seen a couple on X), we don't have children so given our choice of a ship with lots of kids and one without, I would choose the without. I enjoy the dining room a little quieter and the atmosphere a little calmer.

 

We want to try HAL one of these days, but just can't seem to find the deals on them like we do on X.

[Holly g]

We have sailed on both the Magic and the Wonder. We've also had some pretty rough seas on both but didn't notice much in the way of creaking noises.

However, we sailed on the new Celebrity Equinox in February and although it's truly a beautiful ship it kept me up half the night with the LOUD creaking noise in the cabin. We had a balcony cabin, the seas were rough but the worst was the wind. We left Cozumel 3 hours late because it was so windy and that night at sea the cabin creaking was really bad. So even the new ships can make a lot of noise if the weather is not the best.

[zeppsstteerr]

I have to agree, you posted a very honest and thoughtful review. Disney is my absolute favorite cruise line with HAL right behind. To be honest, I have not been back on a HAL cruise since 1996 so haven't had the pleasure recently. My wife and I are blessed with a beautiful, well behaved 12yr old daughter, but I would happily take a Disney cruise as a couple (wife agrees) or solo even as I enjoy the atmosphere so much.

 

Here's to more successful ventures on HAL for you and perhaps sometime in the future, you'll give DCL another shot.

[alenushka]

It is amazing to read all these posts! :eek:

I am one of those who would swear on DCL and would sail over and over again with them. We booked our next DCL cruise for the next year spring break and we can hardly wait. We sailed on Magic and Wonder - we have nothing to list as their "negative" sides. Our teenaged son swears "Disney cruise was the best vacation we had ever had!". I don't remember tantrums, bad behaved kids/teenagers/ or slamming doors/ etc.....

 

Also, I am surprised you did not find Palo special... My DH is counting days he can go back to Palo. My daughter is still teasing me "mom, don't you wish you could have those lobster ravioli from Palo". I guess, it is always a matter of opinions....:rolleyes:

 

On the other hand - we have just sailed with HAL. A lot of people rave about it. But - we are very disappointed....

We had great company (thanks to cruise critic boards) and that made our vacation very special. You can read my review on CC (Ms. Noordam, april,10). You can also read a lot of other HAL reviews there, and - guess what? - people were complaining on bad behaved kids!!!! :eek: Is it bad parenting or more global issue as amount of children with PDD/ADHD/etc..is growing at catastrophic rates.:confused:

 

Just wanted to share and to remind that DCL is the only cruise line who stayed extra day at Castaway Cay bs seas were rough and winds were high. They had to deal with consequences of delaying other passengers, but they thought of safety first!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All other cruise companies sailed through the weather and experienced bad times.....

 

 

In conclusion: May be 14 days made a difference in your experience with DCL? May be you should give another try to DCL but on a shorter cruise. And you can meet a lot of people on roll call, here on CC boards, prior to your cruise and request to share a table with them.

[fieldser]

Wow, It's hard to believe that we were on the same cruise.

 

We throughly enjoyed the 14 night transatlantic on the Magic. We were traveling as a party of five, myself, dh, DS7, DD6, and my Mom. We had cabins on deck 2 and deck 5- both forward. There was one or two nights where the ship did rock a good bit - and I felt it more in the deck 5 cabin. We were in cat 11 and cat 12 and felt like the cruise was a tremendous valus.

 

My Mom cruises quite a bit. She usually goes on Oceania but she was blown away by Palo. We managed to have several meals there- at brunch the tilapia and the grape pizzas were out of this world. We had dinner there twice and it was outstanding each time and we even enjoyed the tea. My mom did mention; however, on oceania the high tea in included whereas on DCL there was a 5 dollar upcharge.

 

I felt like the entertainment did suffer a bit the second week- but hey, there was a global airline problem with the volcano.

 

The kids did enjoy the clubs and had a good time. We did not make it to Diversions. Loved the adult pool and the cove cafe.

 

We saw a few kids acting out; but, overall I was amazed at how few problem children we saw. We had second seating for dinner- maybe all the bad kids ate early?

 

We booked both a 3 night short cruise and a 7 night Alaskan while onboard.

 

Previously, we cruised HAL to Alaska- about 7 years ago. Felt like we had checked into the nursing home and DH spent a good bit of time helping older people.

 

Right now we're looking into a Celebrity for just DH and I- but we were really happpy with DCL. We liked the entertainment- loved the fact that there was so no casino and we saw very little smoking..

 

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

[kstetser]

Very interesting reading all the reviews and nice to have honest opinions both pro and con.

 

We have been on Disney three times, but only for the 3 and 4 day cruises (most recent April 2010). We just booked the 7-Day for November for a party of five (Ages: 6, 37, 44, 74 and 88). So we span a pretty huge demographic.

 

We were all on the cruise in April and I agree with many of the things the original poster said about the cruise, with the exception of rampant bad behavior and the food in Palo.

 

I am not someone who can tolerate bad children. I generally avoid other people's children and try very hard not to be on vacation with them. I was totally expecting to be miserable on the Easter Cruise and I was pleasantly surprised. Don't get me wrong, there were certainly poorly behaved children, but I managed to avoid them most of the time. We had the second dinner seating which definitely helped and we avoided the kids pool during any peak times. If there were more than 10 kids in the pool, we found something else for our daughter to do! I am also a Mom, so I don't hesitate to give bad kids and their parents the "Mom stare" if I notice inappropriate public behavior. It works maybe 50% of the time..... We also spent a lot of time in the Rainforest Room in the spa (heavenly) and we found Cove cafe to be a pleasant environment. Possibly too noisy to ready, but cozy to sit in. We also liked the lounge above Cove Cafe (can't remember what it's called) but it was adult only and usually completely empty except for the Disney Officers (who seemed to like to hang out in there.)

 

We are foodies and do not usually have high expectations for mass produced food. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food on the Wonder. I agree, it's not the same as cooked to order food in a high-end restaurant on land, but it was definitely a cut above my expectations. The service in Palo was wonderful and we really enjoyed the food.

 

We are looking forward to trying other cruise lines as our daughter gets older, but I think for now, Disney is probably our best bet for a few more years.

[tigger917]

We've cruised Disney twice and loved it. We did a 3 night and a 7 night, no complaints. I agree that it could have been the length of the 14 day cruise that got a lot of the kids a little stir crazy. Maybe because it was Disney, some parents take it for granted and let the kids run wild.

Of course, everyone has, and is entitled to, their own opinion. I have a friend that swears by Carnival, but after we did RCI and Disney, we haven't been going back to Carnival! I guess sometimes it just depends on your individual taste and expectations.

I'm glad you had a good experience overall, though! I have heard good things on HAL, maybe we'll try that some time!!

[Dizzyworld]

After our first cruise with DCL, I swore never again. Most of my issues were due to young children unsupervised across the hall. The following year, my best friend who lives in FL got us the FL rate. Terrific rate. I knew the children from both familes would have a good time just being together. The cruises were different like night and day. It was 100% better. Although each cruise appeals to a person differently, what I learned from those cruises is each week the experience can be totally different depending on the passengers. We've also sailed with RCL too, before kids, and enjoyed those experiences as well.

[BunlessInSeattle]

We're 30somethings, no kids, went on DCL because we had several people tell us that it was the best one to go on if you don't have kids. For us, it held to be true. However, our room was right underneath the spa, so between the spa, rainforest room, cove cafe, and adult pool, we rarely had reason to go elsewhere on the boat. Just a dash across the top deck to get some sandwiches was enough to remind us to stay in the adults only area. We also ate during the later seating, and then stayed up late in the clubs.

 

The food for us was fine, but we're used to food elsewhere being just fine. We're spoiled with the food where we live and haven't found better anywhere we've travelled.

 

I'm curious about the Cove Cafe, though. To me, it wasn't any louder than any other coffee shop out there. Maybe because I'm used to the coffee culture here in Seattle?

 

I'm going on a HAL cruise in July. While I'm going in order to have quiet 'me time', I'm a bit nervous about it being a very different demographic.

[Muushka]

We're 30somethings, no kids, went on DCL because we had several people tell us that it was the best one to go on if you don't have kids. For us, it held to be true. However, our room was right underneath the spa, so between the spa, rainforest room, cove cafe, and adult pool, we rarely had reason to go elsewhere on the boat. Just a dash across the top deck to get some sandwiches was enough to remind us to stay in the adults only area. We also ate during the later seating, and then stayed up late in the clubs.

 

The food for us was fine, but we're used to food elsewhere being just fine. We're spoiled with the food where we live and haven't found better anywhere we've travelled.

 

I'm curious about the Cove Cafe, though. To me, it wasn't any louder than any other coffee shop out there. Maybe because I'm used to the coffee culture here in Seattle?

 

I'm going on a HAL cruise in July. While I'm going in order to have quiet 'me time', I'm a bit nervous about it being a very different demographic.

 

We are kidless, but a little older than you. We went from DCL to Celebrity. We were very surprised at the number of much older passengers. But at the same time, we were very happy for the quiet. If it is quiet you're after, HAL should deliver. I think their ships carry even older cruisers than Celebrity. Enjoy!

[AlexandNessa]

We're 30somethings, no kids, went on DCL because we had several people tell us that it was the best one to go on if you don't have kids. For us, it held to be true. However, our room was right underneath the spa, so between the spa, rainforest room, cove cafe, and adult pool, we rarely had reason to go elsewhere on the boat. Just a dash across the top deck to get some sandwiches was enough to remind us to stay in the adults only area. We also ate during the later seating, and then stayed up late in the clubs.

 

The food for us was fine, but we're used to food elsewhere being just fine. We're spoiled with the food where we live and haven't found better anywhere we've travelled.

 

I'm curious about the Cove Cafe, though. To me, it wasn't any louder than any other coffee shop out there. Maybe because I'm used to the coffee culture here in Seattle?

 

I'm going on a HAL cruise in July. While I'm going in order to have quiet 'me time', I'm a bit nervous about it being a very different demographic.

 

 

We are also HAL fans, and yes the age demographics trail upwards. Oldies night and country line dancing lessons are always well-attended. Eighties night, not so much. (Maybe it's because my idea of 80s music isn't exactly Caribbean Queen by Billy Ocean, which is a favorite of HAL 80s night, even though I have never seen anyone dance to it ever on a HAL cruise, ever.)

Which ship are you sailing and what is the itinerary? July will have more families, and the age demographic should trend downward if you are doing 7-nights in Alaska. It will trend upward if you are doing a 12-night in Europe.

[vek239]

We too were on the 14 day transatlantic and loved it! This was our 15th cruise (mostly on Royal Caribbean) and 2nd with Disney. (we're late 50's). Our first Disney was a 4 day over a holiday weekend in January and I'll admit, was overrun with kids. However we encountered no problems with the kids or anyting else on this cruise. Had a table for 8 with probably the best table mates of all our cruises! We count this cruise as our best overall cruise experience yet! Will do our first HAL later this summer to AK; it will be interesting to compare.

[AddictedtoFL]

The Breakfast got to be worst I ever had, your choices of Omelette are: Plain, cheese, ham, or ham and cheese. :confused:

[luvsunnydayz]

I have to agree with you re: Palo. DH and I took a 7 night cruise last May and had brunch and dinner at Palo. We were not impressed. It just didn't live up to all the hoopla. The only thing worth remembering was the chocolate souffle! The other offerings were just OK. Actually we just returned from a 4 night cruise and we skipped Palo all together. We are booked for a 5 nighter on the Dream next July and have no plans what so ever to book Palo.

[Host Mick]

I have to agree with you re: Palo. DH and I took a 7 night cruise last May and had brunch and dinner at Palo. We were not impressed. It just didn't live up to all the hoopla. The only thing worth remembering was the chocolate souffle! The other offerings were just OK. Actually we just returned from a 4 night cruise and we skipped Palo all together. We are booked for a 5 nighter on the Dream next July and have no plans what so ever to book Palo.

 

Clearly you didn't have the rack of lamb and the mushroom risotto. Outstanding! :D