Breakfast in the MDR - Sharing a large table

When it's just me having breakfast, I like to go to the MDR and share a large table. If you do it regularly you can pick up tips and have some amusing experiences. Last cruise I did I learned about toast. The P&O toast comes round and is pretty unappealing however a couple one morning ordered "Thick Toast - White" did not think much of it until it turned up. Lovely evenly cooked half inch or thicker slice, just the one each on a plate. This is a top item.

A guy on a table one morning was droning on about being lucky he didn't end up with the guy who wears a blue shirt and monopolises the conversation. Got him two days running apparently and kept on about how this guy talks and talks and you cant get a word in. As he kept on about this he is cutting up his banana onto a couple of Weetabix. Once completed he places the skin in front of the plate and starts pouring the milk. Now he just keeps on talking himself loudly and starts on about whether there is enough milk in the jug and arguing it out to himself until finally there is only a tiny bit left in the jug. He finally asks "Is there enough in the jug?" tips the jug sideways to look into it and says "No" and pours the final bit out onto the Weetabix. Then he puts the jug back on the table and says "Can you pass the other jug?" which he takes and pours out three quarters of that. Meanwhile everybody seems to still have black teas and coffees. I found it very difficult not to laugh sitting next to this elderly gentleman.

Anyone else discovered the delights of the shared breakfast experience. You cannot beat it in my opinion.

Regards John

We always ask for a table for 2 at breakfast as I am too grumpy in the morning to talk so I won't impose my grumpiness on other people but having read your post maybe I will try a big table one morning for the entertainment. ;);)

We have only shared a few times at breakfast. Generally we've found people are not overly communicative. One table we sat with two couples and a single man. He was wearing a "yachting" polo shirt. When I asked him about it he told me he had a yacht but he arranged for disabled people to crew it to give them an experience. He was a really interesting guy, clearly very well off but not at all pretentious. The other two couples never entered into the conversation nor did they even say cheerio after their breakfast. Strange.

I actually prefer the buffet as long as the weather is OK, we sit outside. I dont want to share a table in the MDR for breakfast!.

I use the buffet for breakfast, very early and usually cereal with fruit. then 2 or 3 mugs of tea. This allows me to remember which planet I am on and what day it is. After a few days I cease to care about the day. No problems with sharing a table as there are more staff than customers.

There's plusses and minuses to sharing just like in the evening. Although the upside to breakfast is that if you don't click with someone for breakfast, at least you know it'll probably be someone different the next morning. Unlike for the evening.

In the main, I have to say it's usually plesant, you do get conversations - usually for the previous port or the next one, if you get someone who's been before, they can give you pointers for example.

And, yes I too learnt about the thick toast one morning. I thought that the guest was being a little pretenious asking for it, but when it showed up, it all made sense. Even more so as I tried to break a chunk off of the industrial-strength and always cold standard toast.

As for your Weetabix guy, I know where you're coming from OP. Only on a couple of occasions has it been disappointing.

I had one who wanted to nitpick at everything he thought was wrong, and that he knew how to cook the items better. I should add that, as he'd said something in ear shot of a waiter, they asked him everything was ok "fine fine" he dismissed. The waiter returned later with another item as a replacement. "I didn't want another one" he bemoaned after the waiter had this time left earshot. Pfffft.

And on another separate occasions, one lady who was rather loud and had to command the conversation for the entire table. And her choice of conversation left a lot to be desired - especialy over breakfast. I do not want to know about your loo seat missues... I'm trying to eat me full English here!

Both harmless enough things really, and as they say, ain't nowt as funny as folk.

Thank you for the tips re the thick white toast - will try that next time. Apart from not liking the inevitably cold and often hard thin toast in the rack, it does frustrate me just how much toast is brought to the table every morning and how much is left and goes to waste. I would be interested to know just how much toast is wasted every morning. Surely someone behind the scenes notices and wonders too? I am normally a very sociable person, but I don't find it easy sharing a table in the morning unless I am really properly awake and ready to face the day - but having read all these antics, I think I may try it out next cruise ha ha.

Thank you for the tips re the thick white toast - will try that next time. Apart from not liking the inevitably cold and often hard thin toast in the rack, it does frustrate me just how much toast is brought to the table every morning and how much is left and goes to waste. I would be interested to know just how much toast is wasted every morning. Surely someone behind the scenes notices and wonders too? I am normally a very sociable person, but I don't find it easy sharing a table in the morning unless I am really properly awake and ready to face the day - but having read all these antics, I think I may try it out next cruise ha ha.

My husband was told about the thick toast by a waiter on Ventura in March. It takes a little while for the thick toast to be delivered and the thickness is variable because apparently it is hand cut because the slicing machine is set to a standard thickness. OH said that it was far better than the razor bread that he has always had previously.

I'm not a morning person so never share a table at breakfast. We found "square toast" a couple of cruises ago. It means the rock hard crusts are cut off and the bread is toasted too order. Some of the thick toast is too much door-step thick for me

On a recent Ventura cruise I always had breakfast in the MDR and asked to share in a big table. Most of the time there would be fellow passengers who were interesting to talk to. As I normally ask for a window table I could always look out to sea if conversation was non existent!

My bugbear with toast is that I like it warm, could never understand why it was always delivered along with cereal and juice. I then tried saying I did not want toast only then to order some after the main course, it still never came out warm.

I think they should provide you with your own toaster on the table !!

My husband's bugbear too, Malcolm!! It's the same in all the hotels :(

We usually share a table and, as we are always eRly, found we often ended up sharing with the same people. To be honest we never had a problem. Thanks for the tip about toast. Can you get thick brown toast?

Brown is available in the thick format too. It arrives as a single slice on it's own plate. Additionally because it is handled as a "special" brown or white it turns up hot!

Regards John

Brilliant re brown toast, John!!!! Can't wait to try it out. See what you started, John!

Mrs Selbourne doesn't know about this forum, nor the fact that I post on it, so I can say this with impunity. When our daughters aren't with us, she will often say "I don't mind sharing" then, when we sit down, does the usual British thing of not starting a conversation. I find it really awkward to sit with others in silence so quickly feel the need to say something banal just to break the ice. Sometimes it works and an interesting conversation ensues. Other times it's like pulling teeth and you wonder why some folk didn't ask for a table on their own (perhaps they don't know that you can, or they think it's too much of an imposition to ask for one). As for breakfast, we have been spoilt on our last few cruises with the Epicurean on Britannia, but we have a few cruises booked on Aurora where we are not in a suite. As we detest the buffet, it will be the MDR for breakfast and as tables for two are often pointless (as they are so close to others you might as well be sharing with them, or you virtually have to sit in your neighbours meal to get in or out between the 1ft gap between the tables) we will be sharing more than ever. I shall try the thick toast trick but suspect that Mrs Selbourne will stamp on my foot and tell me afterwards that I sounded pompous, so I suspect I will be back to the cold cardboard from the 2nd morning.

Selbourne, where are you going to on your future cruise on Arcadia?

We did sit down MDR breakfast one time on Ventura - purely because it was steak and eggs day. MISTAKE! When the "steak" is completely hidden by the tiny P&O fried egg we just had to laugh. Went to the buffet afterwards for a bacon sandwich.

Azamara's Steak and Eggs for room service breakfast are in a whole different league...

Selbourne, where are you going to on your future cruise on Arcadia?

We aren't on Arcadia until summer 18. It will be our first cruise on her and it's to the Fjords. We have booked an aft corner wrap Suite and an adjacent aft balcony cabin for our daughter. The itinerary includes both Flaam and Olden. We hope it won't change. We were due to do both on Britannia and both were cancelled! We still loved the cruise (the Fjords became our 2nd favourite destination after the Baltic) but didn't see the best of the Fjords, so it's a good excuse to go again!

Brown is available in the thick format too. It arrives as a single slice on it's own plate. Additionally because it is handled as a "special" brown or white it turns up hot!

 

Regards John

Thanks, John.

Look forward to hot toast.

Flora

Do they still serve scrambled eggs on those toast coasters? They're nearly as bad as the normal toast.

Do they still serve scrambled eggs on those toast coasters? They're nearly as bad as the normal toast.

Indeed they do. They also serve poached eggs in the same way. In the latter case, I order fried bread and switch the poached eggs onto the replacement fried bread slices. The problem as I see it is that the oval toast coasters absorb all the water from the poached eggs. You could try supplementary really thick toast as a side order and rebuild your ensemble!

Regards John

Do they still serve scrambled eggs on those toast coasters? They're nearly as bad as the normal toast.

Most of the cruise lines these days, including P&O UK, use the commercially produced egg premix from a 1 litre carton to make the scrambled eggs and omelettes, probably one reason why the scrambled eggs are not great.:loudcry: I have seen them use the egg mix, and coeliacs/gluten intolerant people beware, the egg mix can contain wheat flour as a thickener. I found that out to my coeliac discomfort. I asked the omelette cook in the buffet if I could read the egg mix ingredients on the said carton.

As for sharing a large table at breakfast, no problem.;)

Do they still serve scrambled eggs on those toast coasters? They're nearly as bad as the normal toast.

Yes - at least they did on Oceana - we've just returned. It really is dire and almost impossible to cut through. The toast is barely any better.

Our one and only experience of using the MDR for breakfast was on Aurora, our first time back with P&O and was not a happy one. We were seated at a table for eight with two other, older couples who were together. They refused to respond to a polite good morning and spent the whole of breakfast alternately glaring at our scrubbed, smartly dressed and well-mannered children and moaning about everything - the staff, the food, the itinerary (one wonders why they booked the cruise?), other passengers, etc. etc. etc. I accept that some people are not good in the mornings, but surely they could manage to say "hello" or "good morning"? The final straw was DH's scrambled eggs and smoked salmon consisting of a single round of French bread, with maybe a dessertspoon of egg on top. I don't think he ever found the salmon! Since then it's been the buffet for us!

We always like a table for 2 for breakfast and I prefer the MDR,,i need to ease into the day..

I didn't realise about the big toast,,,will definatly try this in June.