It is often understood by many that lunch on embarkation day of your cruise will be at the buffet. However, this savvy sailor was tipped off by the online gurus to seek out whichever sit down restaurant was also serving lunch on embarkation day. Once on board the Disney Wish, I followed the routine protocol: gawk at the main atrium, wave to a few Disney princesses, and then skedaddle.
Realizing I had a roughly 33.333% chance of guessing which restaurant was open for lunch, I chose to find a crew member to direct me to whichever one was open. They told me Arendelle was open for lunch. Great! Um, where is it? It’s my first time on the ship, so I have no idea where anything is!
Found it!
For dinner, Arendelle is a Frozen-themed restaurant with characters and a show and musical numbers. It’s a fun time. For embarkation lunch, however, it’s just a boring dining room with a very nice theme.
Arendelle is located on deck 5 aft on the Disney Wish. The entrance is on the port side of the ship, down a long hallway from the aft elevators. On one side of the hallway are windows looking out over the ocean, and on the opposite side the walls are adorned with various Frozen themed artwork.
Disney! Too soon! I know Frozen came out in 2013, so it’s 10 years old now, but seeing this painting of Anna and Elsa when their parents were alive is still too soon! Now that I’m depressed, let’s go eat.
Free bread!
I do love a bread service. I’m also a fan of butter balls. Nothing unique or special about this bread. The unique bread is served for dinner.
Appetizers, plural.
I don’t have empanadas often, so when I saw Beef Empanada listed on the menu, I had to order it. Crispy on the outside, warm and delectable on the inside.
I’m a soup fiend, so of course I also had to try one of the soups offered. This in particular is their seafood and chicken gumbo with cornbread that you can kind of see on the plate. It was nice, even if I couldn’t order a bowl of it.
The main dish
Since I’m eating at a long table surrounded by other people, I didn’t want to scare anyone away by order more than one main dish, so I only ordered the Pennette Pasta. It’s served with a tomato-basil sauce, goat cheese, and spinach-pesto. Again, it was nice. Not hearty or filling (by my standards), but it was nice.
Of course dessert!
Then of course, carrot cake for dessert. I don’t think it had raisins in it, so my mom would have enjoyed it as well. Next time I should ask for a slice in a to go container. Do they do to go containers on a cruise ship? Would a slice of carrot cake, in my room, survive untouched for four days? Highly unlikely.
Be sure to look around and take in all of the decorations just outside of Arendelle. The busts of Anna and Elsa are especially striking! And also very firmly attached and cannot be picked up. Not that I tried.
And that was embarkation day lunch at Arendelle! And now that you’ve finished reading this article, you too have the inside scoop to seek out whichever restaurant is serving lunch on embarkation day instead of fighting the crowds at the buffet in Marceline Market.
From what I remember, while the dining room wasn’t completely dead for lunch, it wasn’t overly packed either. So when you do arrive for lunch, expect some crowds but not a zoo. Also if you’re a social butterfly, being seated near other cruise passengers is a fun way to make new friends on the first day of your cruise! The lovely couple who I was seated close to for lunch happened to recognize me on the beach at Castaway Cay two days later.
Disney Rover 