When is the optimal time for Palo?

[Turk82]

I am sailing on a 7-night western Caribbean and wondered about scheduling my Palo reservations so I "miss" as little as possible. Any recommendations on which day is optimal to plan it? How about timing (esp. in relation to the evening show)? Is there a show every night on 7-day cruises? Any/all thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!
Lovin' this planning stuff:cloud9:

[Trakar]

I am going to book Palo for an at sea evening that is not Pirate night. There are two shows each evening, so you can go to the 6:15, get the kids some dinner and go to Palo at 8ish.

[TammiMcMan]

Based on a September Navigator for the 7 night Western, you're schedule may look like this:

Saturday - dining cruise casual, All Aboard Show

Sunday, Key West - dining cruise casual, Comedy Show

Monday, day at sea - dining formal attire, Golden Mickeys Show

Tuesday, Grand Cayman - dining cruise casual, Twice Charmed Show

Wednesday, Cozumel - Pirates in the Caribbean dining, Pirate deck party

Thursday, day at sea - dining semi-formal Captains Gala, Disney Dreams Show

Friday, Castaway Cay - dining cruise casual, Remember the Magic Show

As Trakar mentioned, there are 2 show times each night. You're assigned a time based on your regular dining schedule, but there is no reason why you couldn't go to the earlier or later show one night.

Which night is best, is really based on personal opinion. I enjoyed Palo on the first night on one of our cruises. That was mainly because we were with our kids and they were too excited with the kids clubs to even want to have dinner that night. It ended up being a nice way to start the cruise.

[thejens]

What happens if you are late to dinner or miss your time frame? What is the late time for the show? I am worrying now because we have a 6:00 dinner time. Will that curtail our shore time???

[TammiMcMan]

It's okay to be a few minutes late for dinner, but due to the seating times, tables need to be turned over and ready for the late seating. If you are going to be very late, you probably want to select another option for dinner, such as the buffet in Topsiders/Beach Blanket, counter service, room service or stay on shore and have dinner in whatever port you're in.

With the early dinner seating, you'd be assigned to the 2nd show, which starts at 8:30pm.

[DisneyDudet]

What we did was we booked on the Captain's Gala night, during one of the normal dining times. That way, we know we would be "on schedule". You can choose to eat during the late or early seating, if there is a time slot.