Is it time for you to set sail on a Disney Cruise? We’re BIG fans of the Disney Cruise Line, so if you’re asking us, our answer is YES!

We recently sailed on the Disney Magic cruise ship, and since we love a nice, filling meal onboard a Disney cruise, we wanted to bring you our review of Lumiere’s. Let’s dive right in!

One of the best parts of a Disney cruise is the food (amirite?). Also, you’ll notice that on each of Disney’s cruise ships, there are three main dining rooms. That means that while you’re on board, you’ll get to enjoy “rotational dining.” What that means is that for each night of your cruise, you and your serving team will rotate restaurants. It’s definitely a unique way to have different dining experiences on your cruise, and it’s a lot of fun!

Let’s set the scene: We hopped on a cruise aboard the Disney Magic recently. Now, its three dining rooms are Animator’s Palate (on deck four aft), Lumiere’s (in the lobby atrium on deck three), and Rapunzel’s Royal Table (on deck three aft). They’re all uniquely themed and have menus that match the individual vibes to the T. For this post, we’re focusing on our time at Lumiere’s.

Atmosphere

First up, Lumiere’s is the Disney Magic’s “fancy” restaurant. Can you guess what the theme is? It’s themed after Beauty and the Beast. There are plenty of references to the film all throughout the restaurant such as a mural of Belle and the Beast. Side note: this restaurant’s menu can also be found at Royal Palace on the Disney Dream, Royal Court on the Disney Fantasy, and Triton’s on the Disney Wonder.

Now, let’s dive into the full course of offerings we tried there — the Warm French Country Bread with an Olive Spread, Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp, Breaded and Deep-Fried Brie, Gaston’s Escargot Gratinée, French Onion Soup, Potato and Leek Soup, Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak, Oven-Baked Salmon Royale, Conchiglie Pasta, Crispy Roasted Duck Breast, Wild Mushroom-Stuffed Pasta, Grand Marnier Souffle, Signature Dessert, the Classic Opera Gâteau, and the Apple Tart Tatin. 

Eats

First up, our dinner started with a bread service which means we got to partake in Warm French Country Bread with an Olive Spread (this has to be our least favorite bread service on a Disney cruise). This bread was a bit too crusty on the outside, but confusingly it wasn’t very crunchy, which wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences.

Moving on from there, we tried the Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp. Wow, this was a great dish! Even though it is only a chilled, tiny piece of lobster, it has a punch of flavor. The creamy and buttery tang of the pink sauce perfectly paired with the lobster.

Also, it’s a decently large shrimp that was perfectly cooked. It might have been a bit heavy on the dill, but we still enjoyed it. If you’re looking for a light portion, this is your app!

For our next appetizer, we tried the Breaded and Deep-Fried Brie. It had a nice and crispy breading, and the brie was subtle and creamy.

Overall, the dish was a bit greasy. The dipping sauce had a great combo of tartness and sweetness that wasn’t overpowering. Again, it was a nice and light way to start our dining experience!

Next, let’s talk about Gaston’s Escargot Gratinée. It is lightly salty and mushroomy. Hands down, it is one of the best appetizers aboard Disney Cruise Line (and that’s saying a lot since we normally don’t go for a dish with this type of flavor). Everyone raves over its chewiness and juiciness. You’ll be served bread with it to help soak up all the butter. Our bread was a bit tough, though.

Moving on from the appetizers to the soups and salads, the first thing we tried was the French Onion Soup, and we’re so happy we did! It was quite a tasty dish! The broth packed a lot of flavor, and the cheese pull was textbook amazing. In our opinion, we could have done with a bit more onion to balance out the bread and broth. Overall, it was a solid soup.

Our next soup was the Potato and Leek Soup. If you’re looking for those “comfort” vibes, this warm and savory soup has your name all over it. It’s got everything you need when it comes to a typical potato soup. It’s quite delicious, albeit a bit heavy, for a summer vacation. It could also be considered an app because of how light it is.

Onto the main course, people! For our first entree, we had the Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak. Our first thought is that this was, overall, a pretty nice dish. We really had no complaints with the steak as it was salty, well-cooked, moist, and flavorful.

The light and tangy Bearnaise sauce elevated the steak. The well-seasoned green beans could have been a bit less firm, though,  in our opinion. Overall, this dish was straight to the point — a simple meal that fills you up.

Next, we should talk about the Oven-Baked Salmon Royale. You’ll be pleased to know that the salmon was salty and fresh with a buttery hint to it. The panko crust was a nice addition because it provided the needed texture and crunch.

If you’re not a fan of horseradish, you’ll want to steer clear of this one (even though it wasn’t overpowering). The white wine blanc is a nice addition to the dish as well. What we enjoyed about this one is that it’s a tasty meal that isn’t going to weigh you down. (It looks like our theme for the night was “nice and light.”)

Next, we tried the Conchiglie Pasta. Interestingly, this one came with a warning from our server. Apparently, many people don’t enjoy it all that much. He offered to bring us another entree if we didn’t enjoy this, and we asked for a backup just in case.

This pasta comes right out of the gate with quite a strange flavor, not one we enjoyed. Perhaps it was the Brandy flavor that came off almost starchy in a way. This isn’t a dish that we can recommend. The amount of lobster in the pasta was lacking, and the sauce wrecked the flavor. Let’s just say we’d skip this one every single time.

Next, we had a go at the Crispy Roasted Duck Breast. What a tender and juicy piece of meat! It also had such a lovely crispy skin on top of it. The honey parsnip puree was delicious and wonderfully smooth. Overall, it was slightly sweet and quite hearty.

For our last entree, we ordered from the vegetarian side of the menu. We wanted to give the Wild Mushroom-Stuffed Pasta a try. While this one had a lot of mushrooms, it really lacked any overall flavor or other interesting qualities. If only this one had been creamy instead of brothy it would have rated much higher in our books.

Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for — dessert! We kicked things off with the Grand Marnier Souffle, and we’re so happy we did. Speaking of souffles, they’re quite a challenge for most to make at home and it doesn’t appear on many restaurant menus, which is why we prioritize getting a souffle on a cruise when possible because of its uniqueness. Now, this one wasn’t the greatest ever (a bit eggy), but overall, we’re still happy with this pick. The creme anglaise and the citrusy Grand Marnier flavors were definite favorites of ours.

Next, we had a go at the Classic Opera Gâteau (the Signature Dessert here). What a rich and decadent dessert! If you LOVE chocolate, you’ll love this. It’s heavy, spongey, most, and the chocolate ganache is something else! We like chocolate and all, but we might have enjoyed a classic Tiramisu a bit more since it’s got a similar flavor profile and not quite as heavy.

Last but certainly not least, we had the Apple Tart Tatin. This one is almost exactly what you’d expect — a caramelized baked apple with vanilla ice cream. We loved it!

The apples weren’t too soggy or overbaked and were spiced perfectly with cinnamon. Also, can we take a moment to appreciate how lovely a nice dollop of ice cream is for cooling a dish down and offering a balance to the caramelized apple? Overall, 10 out of 10.

The apples were spiced with cinnamon and perfectly tender without being too soggy or overbaked. The ice cream was a nice addition to cool things down and balance out the richness of the caramelized apple.

Nosh or not…

Check out Lumiere’s if…

• You’re a little adventurous and don’t mind skipping out on tenders and fries.
• You love dining that’s themed to Beauty and the Beast particularly.
• You’re a duck connoisseur because it was a solid entree.

Skip out on Lumiere’s if…

• You’re not a fan of themed dining experiences.
• You’re looking for a steak entree that just wows you when it comes to flavor.
• You’re looking for nothing but the most basic of options.

Overall

Overall, we enjoyed these meals and we think you would too. There are some misses, but there are also some solid options.

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Have you eaten at Lumiere’s? Tell us all about it in the comments!