What Steps Does Royal Caribbean Take To Keep The Buffet Clean?

[cjdixon4]

Exactly what I was thinking. We really don't know what the servers or cooks may have done right before touching the food or serving utensils. We have no idea what they used to "clean" them. If I eat at a buffet, which is rare, I just try not to think about it. Unless I actually see it. Then I skip over the food that I actually saw contaminated. We can't live in a bubble. Just my two cents.

 

Well put; I couldn't agree more.

[connes1]

NO it's not. It is OK for the person doing the reaching, but not for others. Why is the reaching over any better than the utensil handle touching the food? As is said, 2 wrongs don't make it right.

Who knows what's clinging to your arm/sleeve?

 

If the food is already contaminated and I do not touch the food at all with any part of my body (including my clothes) why is it not ok. The food is already contaminated... I am trying to reach the uncontaminated food. I do not do this at all the food station just where the handles are not touching the food.

 

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[vivianmarie244]

It is much more likely to happen at a buffet where there are hundreds of people going through but....

 

I have to think about family reunions, Christmas dinners, etc. What do you do then? Let's be honest. Do we really know how clean our family member's kitchens are when they cooked? Did they lick their fingers after test tasting and then keep right on cooking?

 

Like I said, not near as bad as what can happen on a cruise ship. But it does make you pause and think twice about those fun little gatherings. ;)

[Sat1]

Isn't this what we do. especially before entering the Windjammer?

[vivianmarie244]

Isn't this what we do. especially before entering the Windjammer?

 

Yes. And just after getting in line, Junior just coughed and wiped his nose with his hand. :eek:

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Having been on 2 different ships' kitchen tours...what we saw was an incredibly clean counters, ovens, glass, stainless steel, and utensils everywhere.

 

We also heard and saw how cleanliness is a key focus for all kitchen and serving staff.

 

Our confidence and impressions of Royal Caribbean food service was actually raised via these "behind the scenes" views.

 

All that said...despite the best precautions in the world...RCI simply cannot control sloppy, selfish, and careless cruisers who treat eating locations like they are their own personal venue.

 

Seeing a few instances of this behavior firsthand was both a sad testimony of people in general, as well as a demonstration of just how diverse the cruise population can be onboard ANY ship. Clearly people from different parts of the world have different takes on what is considered "clean and healthy behavior" around food locations.

 

In 99% of the cases, we have had nothing but great food, great service, and non-eventful eating experiences in all locations of our cruise-ships. It's those other 1% that makes us roll our eyes and open then up to the fact that there are simply some people who could care less about anyone except themselves, including passing on their colds/flu.

 

The cruise-lines appear to be nearly obsessed with the onboard sanitizer stations and getting people to use them - and for that we'er thankful.

 

But yes...there are some pure slobs on cruises. We just avoid them as much as humanly possible, including going to the mirror sides of food lines, etc. just to avoid seeing and dealing with their pathetic behavior.

[WetToes]

Having been on 2 different ships' kitchen tours...what we saw was an incredibly clean counters, ovens, glass, stainless steel, and utensils everywhere.

 

We also heard and saw how cleanliness is a key focus for all kitchen and serving staff.

 

Do you think they'd actually show, or tell you anything different?

[spm422]

Having been on 2 different ships' kitchen tours...what we saw was an incredibly clean counters, ovens, glass, stainless steel, and utensils everywhere.

 

We also heard and saw how cleanliness is a key focus for all kitchen and serving staff.

 

Our confidence and impressions of Royal Caribbean food service was actually raised via these "behind the scenes" views.

 

All that said...despite the best precautions in the world...RCI simply cannot control sloppy, selfish, and careless cruisers who treat eating locations like they are their own personal venue.

 

Seeing a few instances of this behavior firsthand was both a sad testimony of people in general, as well as a demonstration of just how diverse the cruise population can be onboard ANY ship. Clearly people from different parts of the world have different takes on what is considered "clean and healthy behavior" around food locations.

 

In 99% of the cases, we have had nothing but great food, great service, and non-eventful eating experiences in all locations of our cruise-ships. It's those other 1% that makes us roll our eyes and open then up to the fact that there are simply some people who could care less about anyone except themselves, including passing on their colds/flu.

 

The cruise-lines appear to be nearly obsessed with the onboard sanitizer stations and getting people to use them - and for that we'er thankful.

 

But yes...there are some pure slobs on cruises. We just avoid them as much as humanly possible, including going to the mirror sides of food lines, etc. just to avoid seeing and dealing with their pathetic behavior.

 

I could not agree more. I have also toured the galley on 2 different ships (Disney Wonder and RC Independence) -I was so impressed!! Incredibly clean and htey stressed their sanitation procedures. Having 3 kids, I stress to them the importance of washing their hands with soap and water and being mindful of your surroundings ...as well as using good manners regarding selecting food from the buffets - don't touch the food with your hands etc. So far, so good. Really all we can do is use our best hygeine practices and hope for the best. (If not it might make me crazy lol)

[LetsGetWet!]

Do you think they'd actually show, or tell you anything different?

Do you think they'd actually do some sort of "special cleaning" to make the kitchens look different before the tour - given that those tours happen every day, I believe, maybe more than once a day?

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Do you think they'd actually do some sort of "special cleaning" to make the kitchens look different before the tour - given that those tours happen every day, I believe, maybe more than once a day?

One of our "tours" was an "unscheduled" walkthrough promoted by the Cruise Director at dinner one evening - showing us how the desserts were made...so there was no "special cleaning" possible in at least that case - and everything looked incredibly clean even when the kitchen was preparing food actively.

Edited March 6, 2014 by CRUISEFAN0001

[WetToes]

Do you think they'd actually do some sort of "special cleaning" to make the kitchens look different before the tour - given that those tours happen every day, I believe, maybe more than once a day?

 

I never said that. I just meant, that I don't believe they'd show you anything 'but' a clean kitchen, nor do I believe that they would tell you anything other than that cleanliness is a priority.

[LetsGetWet!]

I never said that. I just meant, that I don't believe they'd show you anything 'but' a clean kitchen, nor do I believe that they would tell you anything other than that cleanliness is a priority.

Well, you may not have "said that", but when you say "you don't believe they'd show you anything but a clean kitchen" that seems to present two options - either the kitchen IS clean, or they clean it specially so as to "show you a clean kitchen." If you didn't mean the latter, than I guess its the former - and a clean kitchen is what we're after, right? ;)

[lbw]

We do eat at the buffet occasionally. No matter how much we sanitize our hands before entering the buffet, we still end up contaminating them again when we sit down and scoot our chairs in. The bottom of the chair is almost always sticky and if you grab the chair seat to scoot under the table, you just picked up a bunch of germs. Of course, when we can find booth seating, that eliminates one source of germs. We've learned not to stress over it. Just wash and sanitize on entry, try not to follow a finger licker through the buffet line, and then rely on our immune systems to take care of the rest.

 

Linda

[WetToes]

Well, you may not have "said that", but when you say "you don't believe they'd show you anything but a clean kitchen" that seems to present two options - either the kitchen IS clean, or they clean it specially so as to "show you a clean kitchen." If you didn't mean the latter, than I guess its the former - and a clean kitchen is what we're after, right? ;)

 

How about I say it this way - If the kitchen were not clean, they probably wouldn't do a 'behind the scenes ... . ;)

[connes1]

Can I say I really enjoy the main dining room:-)

 

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[LetsGetWet!]

How about I say it this way - If the kitchen were not clean, they probably wouldn't do a 'behind the scenes ... . ;)

Hmm, maybe we're trying to say the same things but talking past each other. Yes, if the kitchen wasn't kept clean, they probably wouldn't do a behind the scenes - but they DO do the "behind the scenes" on a regular basis, thus apparently the kitchen IS kept very clean, and that's a good thing and the thing we're after and the thing they're showing us during the behind the scenes! :)

[seeshore]

has anyone been "behind the scenes" in the Windjammer?

[WetToes]

Okay, we agree that the kitchen must be clean, ... but are the hands of the kitchen workers?

Just kidding. What I don't know, won't ... , oh, but maybe it will. :)

[LetsGetWet!]

has anyone been "behind the scenes" in the Windjammer?

Does Windjammer food come from a different kitchen than MDR food? (I honestly don't know.)

[Clarea]

has anyone been "behind the scenes" in the Windjammer?

Never heard of anyone going into the Windjammer kitchen, but I think it would be interesting.

[LetsGetWet!]

Never heard of anyone going into the Windjammer kitchen, but I think it would be interesting.

 

So it is a completely different kitchen than used for MDR?

 

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[Clarea]

So it is a completely different kitchen than used for MDR?

Yes.

[Margy23]

Do you think they'd actually show, or tell you anything different?

I believe cleanliness is extremely important to RCI, and I think we could go on an impromptu tour and see the same attention to detail we saw on our All Access Tour. Also, some years ago (and I don't remember which RCI ship we were on), passengers were asked to stay away from the pool deck one night after 10 p.m. because they were having a party for the crew to celebrate having gotten the very best score in the cruise industry in their recent inspection. The crew we spoke to displayed a great sense of pride in this accomplishment.........and from a management perspective, this is the best way to have good results - engendering "ownership" of the issue by employees.

 

Sorry for the soap box, but I know I tend to become cynical (and I think some of the posts here promote that), and I want to be sure to give both management and crew credit for a basic interest in cleanliness and safety.

[WetToes]

I don't doubt you. :)

Apparently some aren't getting what I'm saying, which is 'if the kitchen were not clean', I'm sure they would not be taking anyone behind the scenes.

We're all agreeing 'it's clean'.

Still doesn't mean there isn't the occasional worker who wiped his brow, scratched, ... whatever, and didn't change the gloves, or wash the hands.

Edited March 8, 2014 by WetToes

[Paulxyz2004]

So it is a completely different kitchen than used for MDR?

 

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Yes.

 

 

Not quite true. The operation varies from ship to ship, but I´ve yet to be on a ship where the Windjammer was served from it´s own galley totally independent of the main galley.

 

The Windjammer has a designated galley, but it´s mostly a relative small place and the bulk of the food comes up from the main galley.

 

I´ve been on quite a few galley tours and it was always the main galley and it´s been mentioned on all those tours how they preprare most of the WJ stuff down there. Just to mention some details, there´s only one bakery onboard, so all baked goods anywhere come from the main galley. The pastry shop in the main galley prepares all deserts for the entire ship.

 

On one of my last Cruises (Vision otS) the Chef mentioned how all Food for WJ was prepared in the main galley and how long a way it is to bring up the Food, as the WJ is Deck 9 fwd. and the main galley decks 4 and 5 aft. To not bringing it through public Areas they Need to go down to deck 1, bring it all the way fwd and back up to WJ on Deck 9.