yes, meals & non-alcoholic beverages are included with your cruise fare. This is how it works:
Each night dinner will be at an assigned restaurant at an assigned time. On the dream the main dining rooms are: Royal palace, enchanted garden, and animators palette. When you book your cruise you will have either "main dining" which is currently seating at 5:45 p.m. Or "second seating" or "late seating" which seats at 8:30 p.m. (i think, not sure). You will rotate to a new dining room each night at your assigned time. You'll know ahead of time each day which dining room is yours for the evening. Each dining room is themed differently with different menu options, etc. Your wait staff that takes care of you in the main dining rooms will rotate with you so you'll have the same people taking care of you at dinner each night. The food in the main dining rooms at dinner is all included. You can order multiple appetizers, entrees, deserts, etc. It's included. Non-alcoholic beverages are included. There is an additional charge for alcoholic beverages and some other specialty drinks at your main dinners. Otherwise, no additional charge. All 3 of the main dining rooms on the dream are absolutely fabulous. These are sit-down, table service meals. The service will totally blow you away. In my opinion, it's waaaay better than your average table-service type service.
For breakfasts and lunches they will open one or more of the table service restaurants for different meal times. Again, it's table-service meals and are included in your cruise fare as noted above. Also, same as before, alcoholic & some specialty drinks will be an additional charge. Your regular wait staff won't necessarily be taking care of you although you may see them working in the restaurant in a different area. Just as with dinner, the service is acceptional! Order what you want from the menu, multiple dishes if you wish. It's all included! Information on which of the main dining rooms will be open and what the hours are will be in your daily information sheet (the navigator) that you will be given for each day. When in doubt, look at the navigator!
Then, on top of all those lovely sit-down meals in the main dining rooms that are available to you, all 3 meals are served in the buffet-style restaurant. On the dream it's called 'cabanas' and is located on deck 11, aft. This place has a huuuuge selection and is all you can eat. Just like before, the food and non-aloholic beverages are all included in your cruise fare. Look at your navigator to see what the hours are for all 3 meals in cabanas. They do close in between meals.
Also, there's flo's v8 cafe and i scream for ice cream, and a few other take-away type places for counter-service food and snacks. If it's non-alcoholic, it's no additional charge. Generally if there is a charge somewhere you'll know ahead of time.
On deck 11 there's a beverage station similar to the beverage stations found at each of the wdw resorts. Unlimited non-alcoholic beverages are included. The beverages you will pay additional for are alcoholic ones from the bars, smoothies where those are available, and specialty coffees from the cove (deck 11). The beverage stations never close to my knowledge. Other places will have set hours that you can find listed in the navigator.
Room service! There's a room service menu in your stateroom. You can order food and snacks from in-room dining 24 hours (i think). I know i ordered mickey's premium bars from in-room dining at like 1 a.m. With no problems. Unless otherwise noted on the in-room dining menu the food itself is included in your cruise fare. You should, however, tip whoever brings the food to your stateroom for their service. I brought an envelope with 50 one-dollar-bills for just this purpose.
What others mentioned, palo & remy, are special dining rooms that you have to make special reservations for and pay a per person price to dine at. These will be multi-course dining experiences that are more of signature-type. If you book one of these you would skip your regular dining room and go there instead at your reserved time. On longer cruises i believe there's a brunch that is done at palo, too, that is an additional charge and must be reserved ahead of time like the dinners.
There are bottled water and in-room beverage packages that you can order before your cruise and from in-room dining during your cruise that are an additional charge. Also, prepackaged snacks from in-room dining and snacks outside the theaters are an additional charge.
You'll have more than you ever dreamed you want to eat on your disney cruise!
Oh! And just in case you like to enjoy some adult beverages but don't like the cost of bar drinks, disney cruise line is the only cruise line that allows you to carry on bottled water, sodas, beer, and/or liquor. You cannot check any drinks and you shouldn't put them in your checked luggage. If you want to bring beverages aboard you'll need to carry them on.
Hope that helps clarify for ya! It's a looooot to take in, i know. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask! :wave:
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