Prima Notte at Palo: First Night on Disney Cruise Line

The Disney Cruise Line Palo Prima Notte experience is a great way to start your cruise aboard any of the Disney Cruise ships. Prima Notte means first night in Italian, so, you guessed it, it’s only available on the first night of the cruise. It books up fast (faster than the regular dinners, but not as fast as the brunches), so make sure you seek it out when your booking window opens in order to grab a reservation for this upscale experience.

Palo and Remy (and Palo Steakhouse and Enchante on the newer ships) are adult-only dining venues, so this experience is only for guests that are over 21. Those over 18 can eat at the regular meals. This also means that if you book it and you have children with you, make sure you figure out your childcare plan. We had a kid in Edge (preteen), Oceaneer Club (elementary age), and the nursery (0-20), and we were able to send the kids to each respective place for our Prima Notte experience.

The Prima Notte seating times are 6:45 and 8:30, which oddly don’t line up with the main dining times (which are 5:45 and 8:15). You will get a decent amount of food but not a whole meal, so you’ll have to decide if you plan to eat dinner either on the pool deck or in your scheduled dining room. We chose to eat with our kids in the main dining at 5:45, watch the sail away party on deck, and do Prima Notte at 8:30. We made sure to save room.

Here's everything you need to know about the Prima Notte experience at Palo from our recent experience aboard the Disney Dream. Check out and see if this additional cost is worth it for embarkation day on your next Disney Cruise.

Experience

Rather than a complete meal, Prima Notte is a series of 5 Italian wine pairings with small tastings of delicious and artistically plated Italian food, ending with dessert. There were 5 high-quality wines and 4 food offerings. Or, as Disney describes it "Savor an exquisite medley of fine Italian wines paired with a curated selection of bite-size delicacies from Palo." https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/onboard-activities/overview/

Here are all of the food and wine offerings we experienced.

The whole time we were being served, the sommelier and chef were telling us the Italian region each wine was from, a little history of the families and vineyards, and details about the food being served, including history of the pastas and sauces used. We also learned a lot about the restaurant as Disney’s original adult-only restaurant.

The chef and sommelier explain our meal.

Larger groups were seated at private tables, and smaller groups (like us), were seated at larger tables with 8 guests maximum. The speakers stood in the middle of the tables so that we could hear them talking.

We were given time between each “course” to have conversation and get to know each other. At the end of the meal, we were given collector’s pins as a keepsake (by far the most expensive Disney pin I’ve ever purchased). The gift pin is a pretty cool souvenir.

Wine and Food Pairings

Prima Notte began with a champagne toasting of Bellavista Alma Grand Cuvee Brut. Well, it’s an Italian wine, so I can’t technically call it champagne (not from the Champagne region of France), so we had a “sparkling wine” toasting. It was a great beginning celebration of our Disney Cruise voyage. It's the only wine without a food pairing.

After introductions and finishing our sparkling wine, we moved on to the first course. We were served a yellow fin tuna with biscotti paired with a Vintage Tunina, a white wine blend from northeast Italy. Both the food and wine were light and refreshing.

The yellow fin tuna. Sorry my camera focused on the plate instead of the food.

The white wine that was paired with our tuna.

Then things got slightly heavier. We were served a gnocchi with pine nuts in a basil pesto sauce paired with a Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva from the Classico Tuscan region between Siena and Florence. Gnocchi is always one of my favorite dishes, and the wine paired perfectly. Whenever I go to Palo, I usually end up with gnocchi in some form because it’s always fantastic here. The Banfi was the only wine I’d had before, and it did not disappoint.

The gnocchi. One of my favorite Palo dishes.

The Banfi Chianti Classico.

Next was what could be considered the main entrée. Of course, these are tiny tasting portions, so it didn’t feel heavy. We received a small medium-rare wagyu tenderloin with broccolini paired with a Tenuto Luce (a red blend of Merlot and Sangiovese) also from Tuscany. The strong flavors of the wine went well with the incredible cut of meat. We can't usually afford an upcharge option to wagyu steak (a fancy Japanese cattle), so this was a special treat to have it included.

The wagyu offering was small but amazing.

Finally, we had dessert. It was a blood orange chocolate mousse topped with a dusted chocolate disc and raspberry. They paired it with a dessert wine—Ben Rye Donnafugata from Sicily. The fruity and slight honey taste of the wine worked well with the bolder chocolate flavors.

The dessert was phenomenal and extremely rich.

We managed to get two servings of this wine, thanks to our enterprising table guest.

As a fun anecdote, one of our table guests convinced the waitstaff that we were supposed to get more wine. For some reason, we were obliged and got a second glass of the Ben Rye. He became our friend for the rest of the trip. 

Conclusion and Further Reading

All in all, the Prima Notte experience at Palo on the Disney Dream was a great way to start our trip. Yes it was pricey, but it made us feel like we were truly on vacation—a slight reprieve from our kids and living in luxury without overdoing it on the alcohol or food. As longtime Disney Cruise Line guests, we appreciated this new experience.

If you don't grab this exclusive event early, you might be able to get it at guest services or on the onboard activities guide in the Disney Cruise Line navigator app as part of the adults-only offerings. Make sure you check it out the next time you book a Disney Cruise ship.

For more information on Disney Cruises, check out my article on the packing for a Disney Cruise and Disney Cruise first-timer guide.