Skip main dining for buffet for dinner?

[icecone]

Has anyone skipped the main dining for dinner on the Lido deck? We have never done this, but are considering it for the week to keep this trip casual. If you have eaten dinner in the buffet, how are the food choices? Anything similar to what would be served in the dining room? I really appreciate your feedback! Thank you!

[Dare2Believe]

Has anyone skipped the main dining for dinner on the Lido deck? We have never done this, but are considering it for the week to keep this trip casual. If you have eaten dinner in the buffet, how are the food choices? Anything similar to what would be served in the dining room? I really appreciate your feedback! Thank you!

 

From what I can recall, the food choices at the lido buffet at dinner time are pretty similar to what's offered at lunch. Good, basic food but nothing to the same level of the main dining room, IMHO.

[KandCsailing]

Lots of friends have done just the buffet on our cruises. From what I've seen the buffet usually has quite a few items being served in the dining room that night.

 

If you do choose to skip the dining room, please let the maitre'd know so he can reuse your seats to make changes. It sucks waiting to guess if anyone else is going to show up in empty seats.

 

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[BubMunkeyBles]

I did on my first Carnival cruise because of my Grandma. I hated it. But everyone is different. I just can't eat that much buffet food. Maybe if it was one of the newer ships with 2.0 options.

[John Reid]

I guess it is different from ship to ship. The first time we sailed on Pride, we tried the Lido one night to eat a bit later. Now, we have done Lido dinner on RCI, HAL, and Princess, so it's not like we are dining room snobs. Lido dinner on Pride was terrible. Not many stations were open, and the lines were longer than at lunch. Camp Carnival ate dinner there and it was noisy. We never went back for dinner on that cruise and also ate in the dining room 7 nights on our Pride cruise a year later. And this isn't a Carnival food criticism; the dining room dinners were great.

 

As far as keeping casual, on non-formal nights I wore decent shorts and a collared golf-type shirt or Hawaiian shirt. On formal night, chinos, a dress shirt, and a tie were fine.

 

Lido was fine for breakfast and lunch but a letdown for dinner.

[joybaby]

It was fine on the Dream but we ate about 7:30, it was not busy. We had ATD and had to wait with beeper. No more of that for me that is why we did it. I prefer the dining room for the most part.

You can go casual to the main dining room. As a female I take black pants and switch my tops and jewelry. Sandals for shoes, no heels.

[golfadj]

I guess it is different from ship to ship. The first time we sailed on Pride, we tried the Lido one night to eat a bit later. Now, we have done Lido dinner on RCI, HAL, and Princess, so it's not like we are dining room snobs. Lido dinner on Pride was terrible. Not many stations were open, and the lines were longer than at lunch. Camp Carnival ate dinner there and it was noisy. We never went back for dinner on that cruise and also ate in the dining room 7 nights on our Pride cruise a year later. And this isn't a Carnival food criticism; the dining room dinners were great.

 

As far as keeping casual, on non-formal nights I wore decent shorts and a collared golf-type shirt or Hawaiian shirt. On formal night, chinos, a dress shirt, and a tie were fine.

 

Lido was fine for breakfast and lunch but a letdown for dinner.

 

I cannot see skipping DR for dinner to have casual dinner on lido unless something in ethe way of entertainment gave us a reason to do so.

[golfadj]

From what I can recall, the food choices at the lido buffet at dinner time are pretty similar to what's offered at lunch. Good, basic food but nothing to the same level of the main dining room, IMHO.

 

Not correct. Dinner choices on lido closely mirror what they are serving in DR for dinner.

[vegastwenty]

I agree it's a letdown for dinner. Some people do it, but do not recommend it. Few choices and it seemed really dark up there. Just got back last week and tried it one night and did not enjoy it. As others have mentioned dress is pretty casual other than formal night. Great for lunch and breakfast.

[RubyGold]

The good thing with Carnival is, that you can give it a try. Do one night night MDR then the next in lido or one of the other options if you're on a 2.0.

 

Then just chose whichever you prefer.

 

Personally, I found on a ship without 2.0 upgrades the choice could be lacking at dinner times, or it would be too similar to what was there for lunch.

[dwayneb236]

We always do. Just don't care for the sit down, semi formal scene. We have no problem with it really but we just don't mess with it. Works for us. We've done the MDR in the past and it was enjoyable but seems to take so long at times. We are always on the move.

[bills blasters]

We just did a b2b on the Liberty last month. On the first cruise, we ate at the MDR for 6 of the 7 nights. On the second cruise, we only ate at the Mdr one night, the lobster night. We enjoyed just relaxing and eating different things. We found we really liked the pizza, and ate there 2 nights. We also liked the buffet, but can't say there is a big selection in the evening. They always had baked potatoes and some kind of meat at the carving station. Usually steak also.

For us, one week of eating the big meals was enough. By week 2, we were ready to cut back and try to eat a little more normal for us.

Claudia

[cwestbrook]

See the thread about the difference in desserts between the Lido buffet and MDR. No comparison. I think it's the same with the food, IMO.

 

How about doing a little of both?

[TexasCruiser52]

Has anyone skipped the main dining for dinner on the Lido deck? We have never done this, but are considering it for the week to keep this trip casual. If you have eaten dinner in the buffet, how are the food choices? Anything similar to what would be served in the dining room? I really appreciate your feedback! Thank you!

 

 

We like the dining room experience but find as time passes we do Lido dinner a couple of nights. I think the choices are fine.

[Rena921]

That would be a personal choice. I would not give up a sit down dinner for a buffet anytime. But I do not like buffets at all. They may have the some of the same menu choices but sitting out like it does kind of grosses me out.:p

[matfel]

On our last cruise we did eat at the buffet one meal, really missed he service and food of the MDR, we are booking again for August and all 9 of us said the same thing we are eating in the MDR each night and we are casual people but really enjoy the choices of the MDR,

[Sauer-kraut]

I had a wonderful dinner in the buffet -- I wished I'd eaten there the entire cruise instead of just the last night. There weren't a lot of people there, I think I went there during the middle of the first restaurant seating. (This was on the Destiny).

 

I had a window seat!! The sunset that night was fantastic, the food was delicious and excellently prepared. The crew was nice and everyone was friendly and "I" got to pace my meal the way I wanted.

 

Give it a shot, OP, you can always go back down to the dining room if you're not happy with the buffet offerings.

[Elustriah]

we do it for several nights when we are feeling like being more casual or when we want to eat at a different time other than dining room seating time.

 

They have things from the MDR menu on the buffet and I personally LOVE the salad bar as I like to get a salad with my dinner.

[Oak Hill Cruisers]

We usually call one of our table mates or tell them the night before if we intend to skip out for the buffet.

 

According to Weight Watchers (we're not on the program now), there is an internal 'clock' in most of us that goes off about 20 minutes after you start eating. So if it takes like 45 minutes to more than and hour to get all the courses down, you're 'full' just after the appetizer!

 

No problem with the buffet getting full before that clock rings.

[beachbum53]

On our last cruise, we chose Anytime Dining for the MDR. We also opted not to take formal clothing for the formal nights in the MDR. So, for the two formal nights, we ate at the buffet. From what we were told, we didn't miss much on the night that lobster was served. Apparently, the tails were small and overcooked. We're not food snobs, so eating at the buffet was fine for us. It was very relaxing, and there was plenty to pick from. I was also surprised at how many other people had chosen to skip formal night in the MDR. Keep in mind, even if you're on a ship that has the 2.0 upgrades, Guy's Burgers and the burrito bar are not open at dinner time. They close up around 5:00 p.m. However, aside from the buffet, there's also the pizza station, the deli, and room service (although the menu is limited).

[SadieN]

Several cruises we have eaten in the buffet every night or the vast majority of night in the buffet. When we travel in a group we eat in the MDR, just by ourselves we find we gravitate to the buffet more often than not.

 

The hot line has a fish, meat and vegetarian option as well as a carved item. I prefer the carved lamb on the lido the the lamb served in the MDR. The Lido chef has a choice in what s/he wants to prepare.

Best cinnamon/yam/cheddar pot pie was served on the buffet one cruise.

 

Of course the pizza and deli are open as well.

 

Last cruise we went to the MDR (ATD) and ate the duck appetizer and took out the cheese plate. Went to the buffet for the carved lamb.

We have also been known to order the fajita wrap and chocolate cake from room service and schlep it up to the buffet. (Unfortunately Room Service won't deliver to the buffet, lol.) We get a salad for our first course and we don't have to figure out what to do with our tray in the cabin.

[Sailor_Sally]

Not correct. Dinner choices on lido closely mirror what they are serving in DR for dinner.

It is interesting that you state you never eat there but you know the menu choices ??????

[kona_wahine]

I misread the fun times last cruise for elegant night, so didn't dress up and didn't want to have to go change so went to buffet that night. There were maybe 10 people there. Food was ok, not great. What I like is to serve myself and not have to wait. We leave in just over two weeks, not sure if we will do it again. It will probably depend on how the new dining feature is going. We will be week 2 on the liberty.

[elliair]

Has anyone skipped the main dining for dinner on the Lido deck? We have never done this, but are considering it for the week to keep this trip casual. If you have eaten dinner in the buffet, how are the food choices? Anything similar to what would be served in the dining room? I really appreciate your feedback! Thank you!

 

We eat 90% of our dinner meals in the buffet. There's more choices in the buffet. Also, many of the dishes served in the MDR are also served in the buffet. Serve yourself, it's easier and faster.

Edited January 2, 2014 by elliair

[vols_159]

We normally check out the menu see if there's anything we want if not go find something else room service buffet or a specialty resturant My wife dislikes the mdr says it takes to long