Tea Time in the Sanctuary

[JC13]

Currently on the Royal on a 7day Mexican cruise tendered in Cabo. Yesterday during tea time I was surprised that no scones were served. Today I discovered that scones are served by request only.  Is this a new policy?  My last cruise was on the Royal in March 2019 so this was news to me.

[5:00_Somewhere]

That's very surprising to hear. We were in the Sanctuary in the Sky Princess in December, and the tea cart included tea sandwiches, desserts and definitely scones (plain and currant/raisin) along with cream and jelly, just as we've always experienced during tea time in the Sanctuary for years. It's disappointing to hear that may have changed for you on the Royal.

 

p.s. - may I ask an unrelated question: we are doing the Mex Riv on the Star in March, and our itinerary specifies "overnight" in Cabo, but some people here on CC have suggested that the ship may not, in fact, stay anchored in the harbor all night and may set out to sea. If you have an overnight stay in Cabo, I'd be curious whether you stay anchored overnight and, if so, whether tenders run all night long (presumably with reduced frequency). 

 

Thank you, and I hope you have a very nice cruise, despite "scone-gate".  😉

Edited January 6, 2020 by 5:00_Somewhere

[OzKiwiJJ]

I've found the offerings for afternoon tea vary widely from cruise to cruise, even on the same ship if the cruises are months/years apart. It very much depends on the Food & Beverage Manager at the time.

[jondfk]

Regarding tea time in the sanctuary.  Like so many things on Princess, this varies ship to ship.  I've basically seen two main versions with a couple of scone specific variations.

 

Version 1 (I prefer this one).  Tea time served from the trolley.  In this version, a trolley is stocked with trays of sandwiches, cookies and desserts.  The trolley, or perhaps the individual trays, are taken around to each passenger with the stewards plating exactly what you prefer.  Only sandwiches, just a single cookie, chocolate cake only, a mountain of whatever you like.  Whatever.

 

Version 2 (I very much dislike this one).  Tea time served in a pre plated fashion.  You are offered a plate with a couple of sandwiches, cookies and desserts randomly choose by the 'chef'.  It's a take everything or nothing sort of thing.  This often leads to me passing on tea time since I just can't bring myself to take a plate with one thing I like and five things I don't.  

 

In either version, scones are served separately typically from a foil container meant to keep them warm (they nearly always are). In my experience the scone basket is always there somewhere, it does sometimes get overlooked, anytime I've wanted one one has appeared within seconds.

 

Version 1 seems to happen on busy days when there are lots of folks in the sanctuary.  Version 2 seems to happen on light days (this may seem counter intuitive but I think the logic is why prepare a lot of options (version 1) for a small group of users).

 

It's possible I've given this too much thought . . .

[Colo Cruiser]

Why not ask the attendants?  🤔

[JC13]

14 hours ago, 5:00_Somewhere said:

That's very surprising to hear. We were in the Sanctuary in the Sky Princess in December, and the tea cart included tea sandwiches, desserts and definitely scones (plain and currant/raisin) along with cream and jelly, just as we've always experienced during tea time in the Sanctuary for years. It's disappointing to hear that may have changed for you on the Royal.

 

p.s. - may I ask an unrelated question: we are doing the Mex Riv on the Star in March, and our itinerary specifies "overnight" in Cabo, but some people here on CC have suggested that the ship may not, in fact, stay anchored in the harbor all night and may set out to sea. If you have an overnight stay in Cabo, I'd be curious whether you stay anchored overnight and, if so, whether tenders run all night long (presumably with reduced frequency). 

 

Thank you, and I hope you have a very nice cruise, despite "scone-gate".  😉

Typically the overnight tenders do not run all night long, but you are notified of the cut off time, resuming the next morning based on the ship's departure time.  We have done the overnight several times in the past. 

[Steelers36]

We were offered individual item choices - scones included - on the Crown in November.

[5:00_Somewhere]

3 hours ago, JC13 said:

Typically the overnight tenders do not run all night long, but you are notified of the cut off time, resuming the next morning based on the ship's departure time.  We have done the overnight several times in the past. 

 

Thank you very much. Very helpful.

[JennAngel9]

We had the full "type 1" service on the Sanctuary on the Regal Princess twice last week.

[polmcs]

We had version 2 all week on the Royal over Thanksgiving on our MR cruise. After 2 days of no scones and cream, I did ask the attendant what happened to the scones and he explained that they were a request only option. We made sure to put in our requests for the remainder of the week! 😉