Breakfast Buffet
Our first Cabanas experience was breakfast. The food was fantastic but the atmosphere was lacking. Not at the fault of Cabanas, but it was so busy and hectic in there and people were everywhere! Unfortunately I only got 1 photo from breakfast for the entire trip. We ate there a number of times because it really is the best option for breakfast, the food is hot and delicious!
Dinner Table Service - A Hidden Gem!!!!
Our new friend, fellow cruiser Fran Cassano, told us that our assigned dining rotation is optional and there are other places to eat dinner such as Cabanas! They provide a table service dinner that does not cost extra like Remy and Palo. We decided to check it out on day 2 of our voyage. I cannot thank Fran enough for this tip, it ended up being one of our favorite experiences!
We wandered around Cabanas for a minute looking for any sign of dinner. We didn't see any and were beginning to wonder when we saw a hostess and a few waiters and maybe 3 other tables with patrons. I actually asked if they were open for dinner. It was so empty I thought maybe it was only open for Castmembers!
The staff were super friendly, even for Disney standards I would rate them as outstanding. We were immediately seated by the window overlooking the beautiful Atlantis Resort in Nassau. I couldn't get a clear picture of our view because it was so dark. The resort was off in the distance and the light was reflecting off of the water. With the moon up above, it was like a painting!
We had no idea what types of food to expect and we certainly weren't expecting anything this fancy!
For my appetizer, I had the mushroom risotto. As Chef Ramsay says, "very good, that risotto!"
Jason had the baked potato and cheddar cheese soup. Funny, I thought it was a baked potato with cheddar cheese soup, not baked potato in cheddar cheese soup!
We both ordered the same entree, we are so alike! I think we both had steak every single day of this trip! I have come to love my steak medium rare because that is generally what a chef would recommend. These steaks were cooked perfectly!
For dessert, I had the chocolate torte. I was skeptical about this because I don't generally like chocolate and fruit but this was delicious! The apricot really added a new level of flavor that I was not expecting!
Our dinner experience at Cabanas was much better than we ever expected. Our waiter was fantastic and he really took the time to get to know us and to make sure we were enjoying ourselves. The quiet, private atmosphere of Cabanas was much more suited for us than the hustle and bustle of the assigned dinner rotation. Although we enjoyed eating dinner with our fellow cruisers, we had enough events other than dinner planned so we got to see everyone from the group pretty regularly. To top it off, Cabanas table service offers the same foods as the assigned dinner rotation. It was a great experience all around!
Lunch Buffet
Fast forward a few days to lunch time while we were in port at Castaway Cay. Jason and I are not beach people, so we toured the island for a bit, hung out at the adults only beach, shopped, and headed back to the ship early. The good thing was that because everyone was hanging out on the island, the ship was a ghost town! I was able to get a video of the entire buffet, something sadly I was never able to do for breakfast. Enjoy - I added some whimsical music for you to listen to while drooling over the food. Hint: veggie veggie fruit fruit!
And if you weren't drooling enough already, I took close up photos of the items we selected!
Okay my plate may look a bit weird to you - I like to separate all foods so that they aren't touching which is pretty hard to do at a buffet. So, I end up going back a few times :)
I am not even kidding you, this was the view from our table. Absolutely spectacular!! It feels like a dream, a wonderful dream come true...
I had to go back to get a selection to taste for dessert!
I was stuffed but I packed in a few more bites for these goodies!
I had to get a photo of the awesome sand castles they had in the pillars around the restaurant. Each section had a different Disney Parks castle on it from around the world - very cool!
The best part of the buffet by far was the seafood. Being from Baltimore, we are seafood lovers. The snow crab legs were fantastic!!
I would say that Cabanas is the premiere dining spot on the Disney Dream. There are other options but Cabanas is the top choice for both breakfast and lunch. For either buffet, I would suggest getting there either right when they open or about 15 minutes before they close. Anything other than that will be a circus. Contrasting that is the ghost town of Cabanas dinner, a highly recommended dining experience. No matter what time of day, you can rest assured that the food at Cabanas will be hot, fresh, and delicious!
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Photo by Wendy Pugh-Hummel
Photo by Wendy Pugh-Hummel
