Cabanas for Dinner

[Smeck123]

Just booked a seven night cruise on the Fantasy. I heard Cabanas serves a sit down dinner if the main dining room doesn’t suit your fancy on any given night. Can anyone confirm?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just booked a seven night cruise on the Fantasy. I heard Cabanas serves a sit down dinner if the main dining room doesn’t suit your fancy on any given night. Can anyone confirm?

Cabanas is a sit down table service venue for dinner. I'm not exactly sure about the menu, as it used to be selections from the other MDRs menus being served that night. But others have reported that Cabanas now has it's own menu, so it's the same every night.

 

[Dug720]

However, it is not open the first or last night.

My one experience trying to go there is it is a menu cobbled together from the MDR menus - in my case all the things I wanted to avoid.

 

[gatordoc]

The food is made to order, so often hotter/fresher than what is served in the MDRs. And they have their own grill - the steaks they prepare there are excellent!

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

I agree they make the best steaks.

 

[diznymom]

The best NY Strip steak ever.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/menus/cabanas-menu/

 

[lorimay]

We have eaten there on 2 different cruises and have never been given the menu options that @diznymom just posted.
So they do change it up, whether its changed nightly or what, I don't know.
But it was great, for a change up on the longer cruises.
Both times we went, was after having the Palo brunch, we just wanted a salad and not a huge meal.
Its so nice and quiet too.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

On our 7 Disney cruises we've eaten at Cabanas for dinner 3 times. The first time was fantastic - great service, hot & fresh food and great menu choices. The second time wasn't good - service was bad, the food wasn't hot, and we left all around a little disappointed. The last time (January 2019), it was fine. Not great - the food was okay, it seemed like limited choices and it came out too quickly to have been made to order and service was rushed at points and then non existent at others.

My dad and I both ordered basically the same thing:

BLT Salad



Pasta Pursettes



Steak



Mashed potatoes

 

[Gothemi]

Since you are not eating with your head server here, do you need to tip the Cabanas server outside of your standard tipping?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Since you are not eating with your head server here, do you need to tip the Cabanas server outside of your standard tipping?

That's up to you. The Cabanas serving team are servers in training. To the best of my knowledge, unlike the regular servers, they are salaried, so not as reliant on tipping. But that's certainly you choice to tip (or not) as you see fit.

 

[Gothemi]

In this case, would you just leave cash on the table or make a note of it at the end of the trip? All new to me.

 

[JackieF]

We have had the same menu on the Wonder (June 2019) and Fantasy (Nov 2018). We also have asked about the tip and was told by the officer in charge of dinner service the servers could not accept tips but we could list them on our comment cards.

 

[Happy99]

The best NY Strip steak ever.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/menus/cabanas-menu/

This is an old menu. The one Jackie F posted is the newer menu

 

[disneylove69]

Since you are not eating with your head server here, do you need to tip the Cabanas server outside of your standard tipping?

No. These are waitstaff in training.

 

[BCV23]

In this case, would you just leave cash on the table or make a note of it at the end of the trip? All new to me.

The few times we've had dinner at Cabanas, I've always left a cash tip. If you order an alcoholic beverage, there is a line to add an additional tip for the bartender just as with any other alcohol purchased on board.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The few times we've had dinner at Cabanas, I've always left a cash tip. If you order an alcoholic beverage, there is a line to add an additional tip for the bartender just as with any other alcohol purchased on board.

That would an additional tip beyond the automatic 15% tip.

 

[BCV23]

That would an additional tip beyond the automatic 15% tip.

Exactly. That's why I said additional. Pretty certain the bartender in Cabanas are not "in training." The bartenders rotate around the ship according to one of them.

 

[bfamily5]

tried the search function and found this thread - I'm wondering about Cabana's dinner hours - Are we able to just walk in anytime between certain hours or is dinner service set the same as main and late? TIA!

 

[BCV23]

tried the search function and found this thread - I'm wondering about Cabana's dinner hours - Are we able to just walk in anytime between certain hours or is dinner service set the same as main and late? TIA!

You may walk in any time it's open. Typically 6:30 to 8:30 pm in our experience.

I've not cruised on any of the European itineraries but others have posted that in some ports, the Magic has been a buffet rather than sit down. Years ago when we were on an 8 night Bahamas cruise from Galveston that included a WDW day, Cabanas was open as a buffet the evening we were docked at Port Canaveral if memory serves. We enjoyed Palo that night so not 100% sure.

 

[KashasMom]

You may walk in any time it's open. Typically 6:30 to 8:30 pm in our experience.

I've not cruised on any of the European itineraries but others have posted that in some ports, the Magic has been a buffet rather than sit down. Years ago when we were on an 8 night Bahamas cruise from Galveston that included a WDW day, Cabanas was open as a buffet the evening we were docked at Port Canaveral if memory serves. We enjoyed Palo that night so not 100% sure.

Wow, is that true? I've never read that anywhere. Hoping someone can confirm. I'd love that option - and it would be great for European itineraries where you're too tired to deal with a long drawn out dinner in the MDR.