I HATE Buffets

[Marillian]

Cruising on the Spirit to Alaska in August. First time cruiser. Can you get breakast and lunch in the main dining room as opposed to buffets? Do they have servers at the buffets or are they self serve?

[firefly333]

You can eat in the dining room for breakfast (all days) and lunch on sea days. On port days the MDR will be closed.

[tamirpr]

You could order room service.

[1frayfan]

They are self serve..except for in the mornings...someone serves the bacon!

 

There is a deli on most ships where you can order a sandwich however you want it.

 

Not sure on the main dining room...seems like it is open on sea days for lunch.

[kyrisong1]

I love eating in the MDR for breakfast and lunch.

If you're an eggs bendict fan order the sauce on the side, otherwise it can sit under the heat lamp for awhile and be rubbery. It's fresh if you order it on the side.

The room service is available on port days and it's good.

I also hate the buffett and avoid it.

Cheers, Carole

[poohbear]

I love eating in the MDR for breakfast and lunch.

If you're an eggs bendict fan order the sauce on the side, otherwise it can sit under the heat lamp for awhile and be rubbery. It's fresh if you order it on the side.

The room service is available on port days and it's good.

I also hate the buffett and avoid it.

Cheers, Carole

 

Room service is 24/7, We have ordered room service on sea days! Sometimes just don't feel like dealing with all the people at the buffet.

[legion3]

Us too, we don't do buffets. Only if no other option. Departure lunch or a quick bite for the kids or a pizza or salad. Otherwise no way. Just can't get why someone always eats in the buffet.

[SueG]

I do not do buffets either. I usually order room service when the MDR is closed.

[Moobaby214]

I'm curious, why do you hate buffets?

 

For me the buffet raises all of my phobias of germs... I will still eat up there, but I'm very watchful and I use lots of hand gel.

 

 

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[marshhawk]

I hate buffets because I really will eat too much! Breakfast in the MDR, lunch on sea days in the MDR. There is room service. :)

[askimdog]

Every one's different. More and more we eat in the buffet...

 

The Reasons:

 

Our Likes:

Find the food choice often very similar (medicocre quality)

Alway's have option of Deli/Pizza etc..

Salad the way you want it.

If one place is busy, go to salad, if that's busy get a soup, if that is busy go to Deli. This past January, the most people in front of me at a buffet was 3 folks from the first food.

Eat when we want, for us Breakfast at 7 dinner at 5

 

Dislikes with MDR:

Dancing waiters

Meals taking 2+ hours

Waiting for a table

Long wait for mediocre food

Unhappy grumpy waiters which we always seem to get.

Waiting and waiting to attract a waiter, telling him you want tabasco or ____ and waiting and waiting for it, if it even comes.

 

Last cruise, 2 breakfasts, 2 dinners at MDR. 4 times, 3 times we had problems. Both breakfasts I asked for tabasco for my eggs, one morning asked twice. NEVER got it once. One dinner we asked for a new entree as my daughters was delivered cold...we finished ours and asked waiter again for a new entree for her. Finally arrived and it was hot ( Yes...not even warm!!!)

 

So, that's why we now do Buffet almost exclusively.

[AngAndBoys]

I am honestly perplexed over this buffet hating thing. I LOVE buffets. For me it's an opportunity to try lots of stuff. I bate picking ONE thing off a menu even more. Seriously, I'm always looking at what everyone else has, wondering if I made the right choice. I do not understand what's not to like about getting a few bites of everything that looks good on a buffet. I do not get a whole portion of anything, just a couple bites. Please tell why you bate it. Germs? Cause I'm betting what goes on in the kitchen ain't pretty. Mobility impaired? Just too difficult to reach and frustrating? I'd so help a person like that! So what is it?

[SNJCruisers]

Cruising on the Spirit to Alaska in August. First time cruiser. Can you get breakast and lunch in the main dining room as opposed to buffets? Do they have servers at the buffets or are they self serve?

As others have mentioned, the only time you're stuck with buffets is for lunch on port days. Besides room service, there is the pizza station, which also makes cooked to order calzones and also caesar salad with grilled chicken. The deli is another choice where you can get many different sandwiches made to order, including a grilled turkey reuben.

 

With regards to servers at the buffet, they are located in areas where grilled items are available, like hot dogs, hamburgers and grilled chicken, as well as the carving area on the buffet. Otherwise, it's self serve.

 

The Spirit does not have the other cooked to order stations that some ships have like the Mongolian Wok or the Burrito Bar, or any of the 2.0 upgrades like the Blue Iguana Cantina, Guy's Burgers, Jimmy's C-side grill, or the Cucina del Capitano.

[Linsuesue]

After 2 cruises to Alaska on the Spirit, the buffet was our least favorite part of the cruise. The way the buffet is set up is not very flow friendly for traffic-especially when people in wheel chairs are trying to get around. Lines at the 4 corners for the stations snake around tables and really impede flow of people traversing from one end of the dining area to the other. Cruisers to Alaska seem to spend a ton of time at any of the tables that have any view at all, so finding a table isn't always easy. Each line takes a different amount of time, and if there are only 2 of you, one is usually left keeping your table while the other person gets food. Couples hardly get any time to eat together unless you both get in the same line and sit down at the same time. We don't want to have to adjust our eating times to account for longer lines, traffic flow, table availability...We also like to eat different things and didn't want to have change that to make seating easier. On land, I like buffets and trying a little bit of everything. We really enjoyed our breakfasts and lunches in the MDR.

[dadof2boys]

We have been on the spirit 3 times and share your hatred of buffets. For us, if we are on vacation we want to be waited on. I don't want to fight people and stand in line for an omelet. The other huge thing is, by the time we have the kids all situated with their buffet food and the other parent is grabbing our food, the kids are done. With a 2 and 4 year old, when there done, we are all done. Mostly for the sake of the other passengers. With the dining room we all get our food at the same time. We bring iPads and will go walk around with the kids while waiting for dinner during the longer services. All that to say, you will be fine avoiding the buffet on spirit, even without all the new food options. We absolutely love that ship and will miss her dearly. My dw affectionately refers to it as "our timeshare".

[pinkdiamonddolly]

I'm curious, why do you hate buffets?

 

For me the buffet raises all of my phobias of germs... I will still eat up there, but I'm very watchful and I use lots of hand gel.

 

 

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I was wondering that too, people won't eat from a buffet, but will climb into what is basically a bathtub full of strangers, my buddy is a dr and gave me a list of diseases you can get from a hot tub, lets just say never again LOL:eek:

[RuthlessBoss]

I was wondering that too, people won't eat from a buffet, but will climb into what is basically a bathtub full of strangers, my buddy is a dr and gave me a list of diseases you can get from a hot tub, lets just say never again LOL:eek:

I used to enjoy the MDR, not so much now.Not crazy about the wait to be served.

Those germ phobic people kill me, think gel is the answer. What do they do in real life? Do they not touch anything without gelling? Do they go in stores and not touch a shopping basket, look at a label, not touch money nor the credit card scanner and the list goes on.

[FloridaGram]

I'm curious, why do you hate buffets?

 

For me the buffet raises all of my phobias of germs... I will still eat up there, but I'm very watchful and I use lots of hand gel.

 

 

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I would not worry about myself needing hand gel, it is the other people that you have to wonder if they use it. The last time I was at a buffet I saw a kid pick up a piece of toast, then put it back down and get a bagel. Gross...

[golfadj]

I am honestly perplexed over this buffet hating thing. I LOVE buffets. For me it's an opportunity to try lots of stuff. I bate picking ONE thing off a menu even more. Seriously, I'm always looking at what everyone else has, wondering if I made the right choice. I do not understand what's not to like about getting a few bites of everything that looks good on a buffet. I do not get a whole portion of anything, just a couple bites. Please tell why you bate it. Germs? Cause I'm betting what goes on in the kitchen ain't pretty. Mobility impaired? Just too difficult to reach and frustrating? I'd so help a person like that! So what is it?

 

 

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[MrPete]

Cruising on the Spirit to Alaska in August. First time cruiser. Can you get breakast and lunch in the main dining room as opposed to buffets? Do they have servers at the buffets or are they self serve?

 

The MDR is open for breakfast and lunch, but is open seating, yet is full serve.

 

 

However, there are certain port days and certain ships at certain ports where the MDR is closed for lunch.

 

The buffets are self serve.

[pe4all]

I was wondering that too, people won't eat from a buffet, but will climb into what is basically a bathtub full of strangers, my buddy is a dr and gave me a list of diseases you can get from a hot tub, lets just say never again LOL:eek:

LOL- I feel the same exact way! Won't go near the things. I also enjoy the buffet, as I can make salads or omelets the way I want them, or take a taste of things I wouldn't normally eat. I know the dining rooms are pretty good at changing orders to individual's preferences, but I love the omelet station, where I get my egg white omelets hot and fresh, cooked to order with whatever I "taste" that a.m. Then again - I am up at the crack of dawn, and usually "open" the buffet, so I don't fear the germs as much as I probably would at peak eating times!

[legion3]

Way to much wasted food at a buffet (hog trough's really)!

They allow for to much overeating, add a thousand extra layers of germs and health and sanitary issues over any kitchen issues and contributes to the decline of western civilization. :)

 

Those that like to try a little of everything, do you eat everything you take? Do you end up eating more than a" try " of a little of everything? If so then you might be eating more than just a little.

 

But to each their own its your right to eat how you wish but like smoking, gambling and other personal habits:eek: its others right to hate those behaviors. Isn't it :cool:

[H82seaUgo]

Way to much wasted food at a buffet (hog trough's really)!

They allow for to much overeating, add a thousand extra layers of germs and health and sanitary issues over any kitchen issues and contributes to the decline of western civilization. :)

 

Those that like to try a little of everything, do you eat everything you take? Do you end up eating more than a" try " of a little of everything? If so then you might be eating more than just a little.

 

But to each their own its your right to eat how you wish but like smoking, gambling and other personal habits:eek: its others right to hate those behaviors. Isn't it :cool:

 

and that's the reason buffets exist.

[hill6]

We are not buffet fans but Carnival has definitely made huge strides in their buffet over the last few years. We now love it.

[K.T.B.]

I LOVE a good buffet. :) And if you're mindful of the fact that you can over eat at one, just fill your first plate with green salad and eat it slowly. Wait a couple of minutes and then go back at it. I find that if I do that, I won't over eat then.

 

If you're not a huge fan of salad, then make sure half of your first plate is salad and you'll still be reasonable in what you eat.

 

It's all about choices. ;)