Horizon Buffet

We love sailing on Princess and for the most part the fool in the MDR is very good. Of course menu and service in either specialty restaurant never disappoints. There has only been one food disappointment and that is what is served in the Horizon Court. Our next cruise is on the Regal and I have heard that Princess has enlarged the area and have made it easier to use. BUT THE BIG QUESTION is have they changed their variety of food choices? Food Stations, Please let me know what you found in the Horizon Court. that improves what we have experienced on the Grand Class and PanaMax ships.

OMG! The Royal/Regal Horizon Court and Horizon Bistro bear no resemblance to the buffet on any other ship. Massive with wide aisles, each aisle/section has a variety of food with little duplication. Probably 2-3x as big as on the Grand-class ships. It's not like the others where you can go to either the starboard or port side which duplicate each other. On the Regal/Royal, you have to walk around the entire buffet, both sides, all aisles and cross-aisle to see everything. It's overwhelming at first. Each "station" or section has a chef behind it, refreshing constantly. No chefs running through the buffet to refill a bowl. And that's just the Horizon Court. The Bistro offers more choices and at lunch, made-to-order sandwiches plus a "make your own chef's salad" in addition to the two salad bars in the main Horizon Court. Pastries and desserts are in a separate section.

IMHO, the Royal/Regal is the best buffet at sea.

Here are some photos.

This is just one cross-aisle:

Part of the make-your-own chef's salad:

One of several corners:

The Horizon Court and the Bistro on the Regal were extraordinary. And, as Pam said, big areas with lots of choices. Suggest walking around to see what is available before starting to put food on a plate. Otherwise you will spend so much time looking to see what is there that everything on your plate will be cold before you sit down to eat. :cool:

Sounds very promising!

Can anyone elaborate more on what "prepared-to-order" type stations they have? For example...an omelet or fried eggs, a pasta, a waffle, etc...

I know most ships have these already made and kept in warming pans, but it is always much better, when they are prepared to order....and how about toast...can you toast your own bagel's, or do you have to have them done for you?

And how is the coffee? Do they still use syrup to make the coffee, or do they use coffee grinds?

And do they have any other comp. cold drinks other than iced tea for lunch...such as lemonade or fruit punch?

What about ice cream? Do they offer hard scooped, or soft-serve, or both?

Yes to made-to-order omelets (all Princess ships offer this) and fried eggs. Never had waffles on a cruise so don't know about that but I think so. You can toast your own bagels.

On the Royal/Regal, coffee is "real," not from concentrate.

All Princess ships offer lemonade at lunch.

There is free soft-serve by the pool, delicious regular ice cream and sorbets in the dining room. There is also sugar-free ice cream in the dining room.

Sorry, I love Princess and I love the MDR, the International Cafe, room service, Alfredo's and tapas at Vines, but do not like Horizons. We haven't done Regal, but have done Rayal. While it is bigger, haven't found the boos to be better. We usually only go there for breakfast or maybe an occasional late lunch.

Yes to made-to-order omelets (all Princess ships offer this) and fried eggs. Never had waffles on a cruise so don't know about that but I think so. You can toast your own bagels.

 

The waffles are pre-made.

And it has been a while since I have been able to toast my own bagel. They are now toasted by the staff and, if you are lucky, still warm when you get one.

And it has been a while since I have been able to toast my own bagel. They are now toasted by the staff and, if you are lucky, still warm when you get one.

For the past couple of years the toaster has been attended.

I usually just ask if they can toast a bagel for me, and I will wait

-- as I like it as hot as possible.

The waffles are pre-made.

 

If you ask they will make a few up fresh for you. We do that. The ones in the pan are pre-made, but are not 'old'. They are made right there at the counter.

In general, the Royal's (have not been on the Regal) buffet area gets an "A".

Bagels. Would be great if Princess would boil & bake the real ones.

The buffet area on the Regal Princess has the best layout we have seen. Plenty of variety of food and ample seating. Always able to get a table to sit down at no matter what time of day when we cruised on her last year.

The pictures that Pam posted shows the space you have to move around the buffet area. Not cramped like on other ships. Of course with food being subjective, we found the quality/taste of food at the buffet and dining room to be excellent.

The daily "made to order" omelets are one of my favorite things when I cruise. On my recent Pacific Princess cruise one of the features daily at 3-4pm was waffles. I was usually first in line to get them fresh out of the cooker but they would make them fresh if you asked. I've been on several other ships that had this also

I generally don't eat at the buffets while cruising, I prefer being served on vacation, but sometimes schedules don't work out and they are the better choice. The greatest thing about the Regal/Royal buffets are their layout. Easier to navigate and much better seating make them way better than other Princess buffets.

I will take exception to the specialty restaurants service never dissapoints. Our service at the Crown Grill on Emerald last November was simply terrible.

Thanks to all who answered my question about the Regal's buffet. I am a waffle fan and have had them make me a HOT one too. I was hoping that they would have added an Eggs Benedict choice to the egg station. Celebrity has one and it was my go-to when not in the mood for a waffle.

Scott, I should have phrased my statement about the specialty restaurants that we have yet to have been disappointed there. Hope that remains true on our next sailing in October.

We haven't been on the Royal or Regal, but my hubby would always to to the Horizon for his made-to-order omelet for cruise breakfasts. My daughter is a major fan of the waffles, and sometimes we would luck out and fresh ones were being made while we were there.

Hopefully the indecisive passengers don't hold up the lines at the food stations as they tend to on the other ships. That's why I usually request on the post-cruise survey that a sign be posted with the choices there at the entrance.

My wife says she'd rather have lunch or dinner at Horizon Court on Regal than go to the main dining room. She does not like Chops. She would prefer Sabatini's to the MDR.

We love sailing on Princess and for the most part the fool in the MDR is very good. .

That fool never disappoints :)

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We find the arrangement a little TOO much. We used it 4 times on our 12 day cruise. You really have to spend time roaming all the areas. Then go back and try to find what you thought looked good.;) Dh and I actually ate less because there was just too many areas and choices. Things got cold while looking for something else. I guess if you ate a lot of meals up there you would get acclimated faster.. There were few choices that super impressed us. Quantity doesn't make up for average quality.

But..compared to other Princess ships' buffet design, this is an improvement. Tons of seating.

That's why a "sit down and be served" thing suits us best....I hate roaming around while my food gets cold.

That's why a "sit down and be served" thing suits us best....I hate roaming around while my food gets cold.

That is why we see what is available & then get what we want. We also do the dining room and enjoy the service we get there too. Best of both worlds to us anyway. All depends on what we want to do at the time.

Thanks to all who answered my question about the Regal's buffet. I am a waffle fan and have had them make me a HOT one too. I was hoping that they would have added an Eggs Benedict choice to the egg station. Celebrity has one and it was my go-to when not in the mood for a waffle.

 

Scott, I should have phrased my statement about the specialty restaurants that we have yet to have been disappointed there. Hope that remains true on our next sailing in October.

I agree that the HC on the Royal/Regal are so much better/different. The choices are amazing.

We enjoy light lunches and find the salads at the international cafe tasty. Alfredos is nice for a lighter dinner on long port days. Between these and the mdr, we are pretty satisfied.;)

Hi,

You could get freshly made waffles, cream and jam etc at the dance floor section of the Horizon Court on the Dawn Princess at a certain time of the day. The Dawn Princess has just recently had a refit of the Horizon Court so I am not sure where the waffles will be served from now but they were really good, really good for the waste line.

You could also get freshly cooked eggs ie eggs benedict.

One thing I will say for Princess is that if you require special foods they will go out of their way to make it for you.

My husband got a severe attack of gout whilst on our first cruise on the Sun Princess (down under) they supplied freshly sliced celery every day for him which is a good remedy for gout, tomatoes are very bad for gout sufferers, it took quite a while by trial and error to find out what caused his gout and as there is tomato in most dishes these days he had to lay of anything with tomatoes. The South African doctor on board was also very helpful, much better than his own who told him to lay off the booze, a bit hard when he doesn't drink in the first place.:):)

We were on the Regal last year and enjoyed the HC so much that we hardly ever ate in the DR which was a major change for us.

I would stop at the omelette station fist and then get some breakfast meat and potatoes. When we sat duwn, the waiter would take my order slip and bring me my fresh omelette right away. The few time I had a waffle, I waited for them to make a fresh one for me. There was a fruit sauce, whipped cream, chocolate and caramel sauces for you to dress up your waffle.

For lunch and often dinner I would make a large salad. I did need to often go to 3 or more stations to get all of the toppings I wanted.

The difference is tremendous between the 2.