Kosher Disney Cruising Part 2 – Meals

This is part 2 of a 3 part series, to read part 1 (overview) go here, for part 3 (in between meals) go here

Lunch

Your first meal on the boat will be lunch.  As opposed to many other cruise lines, Disney will offer a free lunch every day, even days at port.  On your embarkation day (the day you leave) if you head up to Cabanas there will be a buffet lunch served, and if you locate a server they have had kosher options available as well as fresh fruit. Throughout the cruise you will be able to have a kosher lunch on the ship, even days where the ship docks at a port. You just need to arrange it with your server ahead of time (they will be stationed at one of the lunch locations each day) or just make sure they are aware of where you will be eating as well as  your order, and your meals will be taken care of.

All Bahamian and Caribbean cruises make a stop at the Disney private island, Castaway Cay (Pronounced Key). Some other cruise itineraries may offer this destination as well. Disney really decked out the island and it has been named the top cruise-owned (but really leased) island by the cruising industry many years over.  Part of the experience is that Disney provides a free BBQ lunch to everyone.[1]

Breakfast

When it comes to breakfast you are given the option of having kosher meals prepared for you in one of the breakfast venues (this is also true for lunch meals).  However, we actually preferred to:

• order a free breakfast to our room (plus tip: suggestion of $1 per person) which can include fruit, cereal, coffee and juices.
• Take advantage of the breakfast buffet

On every ship, Cabanas serves a breakfast buffet which includes the usual breakfast fair (including the waffle batter which is under the OU) and gave us a good easy going breakfast of cereal, coffee, juices, yogurt, and fresh fruit.  There have been reports that the bread and/or English muffins are kosher as well but you should check yourself because this can change.

Dinner

The meal that they really go all out on a Disney cruise is dinner. Not only are there interactive experiences in the restaurants themselves but the servers are amazing.  They are quick to learn you preferences where we had 2 plates of vegetables plus all of our drinks ready to go 5 minutes after sitting down.  We have gotten very fortunate in our servers over the years and they have gone out of their way not only to get us whatever we ask for but also to entertain our kids. No matter who your service team is you should be able to get crayons and coloring paper for each kid at every dinner.

It is worth noting that you do get all you can eat, like your co-cruisers, as long as you order ahead of time.  The service on the ships is second to none and your servers will generally be happy to take any special requests. We always made a point to order a couple of different options in case our kids changed their minds about what they wanted to eat. Another important reminder is that if you are in the early seating (which we highly recommend if you are traveling with little kids), you will generally be eating less than 6 hour after lunch, so if you plan on eating meat for lunch and wait 6 hours between meat and milk you should take that into consideration when making your meal choices for the day.

Disney Service

Servers truly live up to the world famous Disney service name. As an example, on just one cruise our server made our fancy napkins into different hats for the entire family, a napkin mouse for the kids and origami flowers, and even let us take them back to our room.  Clearly you can get away with more on vacation.  Most restaurants would probably not love if we did that ourselves went we go out to eat.

Continue to part 3 here

Review part 1 here

[1] While you cannot get fresh kosher BBQ on Castaway Cay, you can order BBQ related meals (e.g. hamburgers , hot dogs, and a double wrapped corn on the cob ) so you don’t feel left out.  Additionally, they provide a large variety of fresh fruit for the guests, including more exotic options than what is usually available on the ship.  Similar to the ship, they have the soda dispenser and soft serve ice cream stations (more on these later).