Just to give you an idea of possible scenarios regarding cakes and delivery/taste options I am going to give you our experiences with 3 cakes in the last few months.
June: Husbands 50th birthday I had to get the one on board that was what I call chocolate overload cake. Chocolate was the only option available and I snagged it. I requested it be delivered to the table on his actual birthday which was June 1st on our 4 night Dream cruise that disembarked on June 3rd. I figured this gave us 2 days to take it back to the cabin and eat it. Well, hubby decided to head back to the cabin after dinner and did not share this with me and the kids. So the serving team is all set with the cake, ready to sing Happy Birthday and no husband. YIKES! So the very next night,they delivered the cake to dinner right after we finished. We, unfortunately, could not finish the cake as it was late seating and we could not take it off the ship the next morning. But the servers did a great job of remembering and presenting.
September 16th: My 50th birthday cruise (delayed by a few weeks) My husband ordered me a cake in enough time for it to be personalized with the white chocolate scroll, flavor etc. It was a vanilla cake with fruit, chocolate shavings etc. Total surprise for me and evidently the servers who he had to remind to bring it to the table.
. Thankfully, we had table mates to share with AND he had it brought out the first night of the 3 night cruise so plenty of time to eat it.
September 24th on the Fantasy: Daughters 15th birthday celebration happened on the 28th. I ordered it ahead of time (yes, I learned my lesson there) and got a marble cake with vanilla buttercream icing, fruit etc. It was delivered promptly as I requested by our awesome servers with a song and fireworks (long story but our Head Server Harry was amazing at sound effects) The cake was awesome and we were able to share it with some friends on that sailing so again, it did not get wasted.
So, there you go. Learn from my mistake and order it at least 7 days prior to sailing to pick the flavors and get what you want. The order form has space for all the information on how you want it presented and when. Remind your servers at the earliest opportunity to confirm it with them.
Then sit back and enjoy. It is truly good cake.