Food Etiquette

It really is in bad taste to remove food from a dining venue. In any hospitality setting there are certain areas for certain things. Dining rooms and buffets are for food, hallways are for getting from one to another, pool decks are pool activities, and so on. You would not walk yourself down an inside hallway if you were soaking wet from the pool. Water belongs around the pool or in your shower. The same goes for food. A hallway is not a place to carry food through. The smell is one thing, the possible spillage is another and then there is the safety factor. Rough seas are part of cruising and I am sure that more than a few people have spilled something hot onto themselves or others, not to mention a slippery spill on a tiles surface somewhere. If any food is to be eaten in a stateroom it should be delivered. Proper etiquette in a "real or proper" hospitality setting dictates that food stay where it is eaten.

 

Now have I taken food from the buffet? Yes one time when my wife was sick, I brought her a sandwich. After that time I always order room service, that is what it is there for.

I think you have a misunderstanding of proper dining etiquette on a ship, which is different restaurants.

Except for breakfast, room service is $7.95. Why pay that when food in buffet is free and taking it back to room is allowed by ship.

Perhaps NCL has made a conscious choice that their cruises are not a "high end hospitality" setting? The whole concept of Freestyle Dining differs from the traditional stuffy rules and customs of high end hospitality. Its an intentionally more casual setting. If one wanted to wear formalwear to dinner every night and keep every food its proper place I'd suspect NCL is not the best choice for them.

We haven't brought food back for breakfast, although I do it in (mid range, not formal) hotels all the time. I did occasionally grab a dessert from the buffet at night on our last cruise. I don't eat sugar and the buffet is the one place on the ship that has sugar free desserts, which are a big treat for me. A glass of wine and dessert on the balcony after the kids go to sleep is nice. Given that people bring drinks back to their rooms all the time, I really don't see the difference from what is being asked here.

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Of course room service needs to use the hallway to deliver food I never said otherwise. There job is to deliver food to staterooms in a controlled and proper enviroment under cover and on a cart.

Room service often comes on a tray (no cart). And yes, it is covered.

When I get food from the buffet, it comes to our room covered with a matching plate.. Works just fine. And when we are done, it is all cleaned up and neatly put back on the plate, and is covered awaiting pickup.

It really is in bad taste to remove food from a dining venue. In any hospitality setting there are certain areas for certain things. Dining rooms and buffets are for food, hallways are for getting from one to another, pool decks are pool activities, and so on. You would not walk yourself down an inside hallway if you were soaking wet from the pool. Water belongs around the pool or in your shower. The same goes for food. A hallway is not a place to carry food through. The smell is one thing, the possible spillage is another and then there is the safety factor. Rough seas are part of cruising and I am sure that more than a few people have spilled something hot onto themselves or others, not to mention a slippery spill on a tiles surface somewhere. If any food is to be eaten in a stateroom it should be delivered. Proper etiquette in a "real or proper" hospitality setting dictates that food stay where it is eaten.

 

Now have I taken food from the buffet? Yes one time when my wife was sick, I brought her a sandwich. After that time I always order room service, that is what it is there for.

What cart ??

I think it depends on your cabin steward. On Getaway, our steward told us to leave everything in the room and he would clean it up. On Escape, our steward told us to put everything in the hallway because somebody else would come get it. Sometimes we left a breakfast plate in the cabin and it would sit there all day long, through morning service and evening turndown.

Yes, we noticed that our steward would leave plates outside our room and someone else would eventually get them, so we asked if she just wanted us to do that. She sort of said, "no I can do it," in a way that implied that she would be happy to do it, but that she also wouldn't mind if we did it. So, we did. Much of the time we would bring stuff back upstairs ourselves, but you have to time that right. A couple of times, I would return when the buffet was very full, and you end up sort of standing there with dirty dishes, because you don't want to put them on a table where someone is eating, and the servers are not at the clean up station, and you don't just want to dump everything there. So, you sort of end up handing them to someone clearing other tables, which they usually are fine with, but it's a bit weird.

Hi Guys,

Im posting here because we are set to sail on POA again, but I had a random question.

Is it bad etiquette / frowned upon, to take a plate of food from the buffet, back to your room to eat on your balcony. (specifically breakfast).

Some mornings - I just need a feed and a coffee before I deal with people! :'):'):')

Not at all, but it is bad to pick up food, smell it and put t back down:mad: Can't tell you how many times people have completely grossed me out. I even bring my own trays;)

Please don't leave your trays in the hallways

I wonder of Donna will tell us more??:p

In addition to the butler, Donna always has the concierge in her rollaboard and the Cruise Director stowed away in her steamer trunk....she is a very high maintenance passenger!

Love you Donna- wish I could be like you!

You mean others don't travel with various size Tupperware to bring things back to their cabins?

In seriousness. We have even asked the MDR for a plate to go and taken back to the cabin. Sometimes 'cause my mom wasn't feeling up to walking but sometimes we just wanted a breakfast, or other item that wasn't at the buffet. Never even a raised eyebrow

In addition to the butler, Donna always has the concierge in her rollaboard and the Cruise Director stowed away in her steamer trunk....she is a very high maintenance passenger!

 

Love you Donna- wish I could be like you!

Clay, one of these days we will end up on the same cruise and look out. [emoji849]

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Hi Guys,

Im posting here because we are set to sail on POA again, but I had a random question.

Is it bad etiquette / frowned upon, to take a plate of food from the buffet, back to your room to eat on your balcony. (specifically breakfast).

Some mornings - I just need a feed and a coffee before I deal with people! :'):'):')

We like to watch the news on TV in the morning with breakfast. So we take small boxes of cereal and small

containers of milk along with a bowl back to our cabin. Sometimes we bring back two day's worth to save the

trip up to the buffet. If we do that we wash out the bowl and spoon and put it in a cabinet for the next day.

On the last day we wash it and put it on a table for the room steward. No big deal and we have never been stopped.

Clay, one of these days we will end up on the same cruise and look out. [emoji849]

 

 

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Does Clay get his own suitcase to travel in, or does he have to share.:o

You mean others don't travel with various size Tupperware to bring things back to their cabins?

In seriousness. We have even asked the MDR for a plate to go and taken back to the cabin. Sometimes 'cause my mom wasn't feeling up to walking but sometimes we just wanted a breakfast, or other item that wasn't at the buffet. Never even a raised eyebrow

Uneamie-

I was kidding about the Tupperware but always carry several sizes of ziplock bags- for airline lounge and buffet to go functions.

Uneamie-

 

I was kidding about the Tupperware but always carry several sizes of ziplock bags- for airline lounge and buffet to go functions.

My mother, who lives in Florida (I live in New York) he is addicted to my chicken noodle matzoh ball soup. Last time I flew down, my suitcase had five carefully wrapped quart containers of frozen soup in it. I previously I tried to take it as carry-on, which made the TSA agent crazy.

Knee-it's frozen chicken noodle soup.

Him-it could become a liquid while you're in flight

Me-hopefully not since it's in an insulated bag, but then it would be slightly defrosted chicken soup.

Him-liquids Aren't allowed

Me - it's full of carrots, celery, noodles and cut up chicken. Even defrosted it's not terribly dangerous…

He finally let me through, but now I put it in my checked bags :-)