Disney Cruise Line in a Jiffy: What is Rotational Dining?

Are you excited about your first Disney Cruise? A unique feature of Disney Cruise Line dining is the use of rotational dining in the Main Dining Rooms. Here’s what that means.

Across the industry, cruise lines handle dinner service differently. Some ships have no set dining time, and no dining room assignment. Others serve the meal at a set time, and you’ll have a set table assignment. This lets you keep the same service team throughout your cruise. Some cruisers don’t care about this; I find it’s nice to have a service team that gets to know your taste. On all DCL ships, you’ll have a set dinner time and assigned table.

On many ships that have this setup, there may only be one Main Dining Room. Even if there are a few, they aren’t much different and on any given night they’re all serving the same menu. That’s where Disney Cruise Line breaks from the pack. Every Disney ship has three Main Dining Rooms — all unique. Each one has a theme that’s carried throughout the restaurant. Everything matches, from the tableware to the decor to your service team’s uniforms.

Each restaurant’s menu aligns loosely with the theme. For instance, on the Disney Fantasy the Royal Court dining room is inspired by the courtly castles of the Disney Princess films. And the food is fancy French and American fare like soufflés, escargot, lobster, and rack of lamb with a dijon crust.

Since the dining rooms are so different, Disney gives guests a chance to experience each one. From night to night on your cruise, you’ll “rotate” between the different venues. Your table number won’t be the same in each restaurant, but your service team will move with you. You’ll find the same friendly faces each time you sit down for dinner, garbed to match the theme.

On a three-night sailing, you’ll visit each dining room once. For longer sailings, you’ll continue to rotate through on a nightly basis. But don’t worry, when you make a repeat visit to the same restaurant, the menu will be different. Some of the venues have a show component; that will change too.

You don’t need to make a reservation to eat in your assigned dining room. You’ll automatically move between the restaurants each night. Once you’re on board, you can find your dining room and table number on the Home screen of the DCL Navigator app. (It’s also on the My Plans tab.) If you’d like to see your schedule for the whole sailing, you’ll find it on the More tab.

If you don’t want to eat in your assigned dining room, there are a few other options for dinner. You can make reservations for the upcharge, adult-only restaurants. You can grab food from the quick service windows on the pool deck. And of course, there’s always room service, which is free on Disney Cruise Line. (You will need to tip the Cast Member who delivers it.)

Disney Cruise Line in a Jiffy is for first-time Disney cruisers looking to learn about the DCL experience. Got a question about a term that’s unfamiliar to you? Suggest it in the comments below!