Get rid of the buffets already!...

[ed01106]

28 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

But there is always that pesky law of supply and demand. Make the price too high and demand for the product at that price goes down.

If cruise ships are only sailing half full then supply is half.  One reason Disney doesn’t feel the need to lower prices even though they are taking away some attractions/services and tourism demand has dropped is they are also lowering supply.  

[CanobieFan]

On 5/30/2020 at 9:13 AM, Hlitner said:

Their system is based on the idea that passengers should not share serving utensils.  They achieve this by having crew do the serving (where necessary) and pre-plating or packaging other items.

This, and it wouldn't even be a big deal.

A few years ago I did a RCCL cruise where they thought there might have been a few people with Norovirus (cabin even had a paper about it on check in) and the buffet just had platers for you. Wasn't a big deal and kept me happy since I'm not about the main dining room.

[ldubs]

16 minutes ago, CanobieFan said:

This, and it wouldn't even be a big deal.

A few years ago I did a RCCL cruise where they thought there might have been a few people with Norovirus (cabin even had a paper about it on check in) and the buffet just had platers for you. Wasn't a big deal and kept me happy since I'm not about the main dining room.

 

Yep, this seems like a no brainer to me.  The buffet still exists, it just isn't self serve. 

 

Instead of saying should buffets go away, the poll should be should self serve buffets go away.  

Edited May 31, 2020 by ldubs

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Of course, they could couple that with a hefty price increase.

That would be one way of limiting capacity.

IMHO, the first few cruses will have limited capacity, social distancing, and face masks.  If there are limited infections, then those measures will be relaxed/removed in a six to eight weeks.  We will not cruise as long as those measures are in place.

[ldubs]

On 5/30/2020 at 6:13 AM, Hlitner said:

 I do suspect that ships will adopt a new rule that prohibits folks from sitting in the Lido unless they are actually eating.  

 

Hank

 

I hope that doesn't happen.   What is someone is just having coffee?  What if someone is eating too slow?  What is the time limit?  

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, AF-1 said:

there will be some sort of markings on the floor;  how far?  Anybodys guess.  Have a nice day

Perhaps but I do not think those measures will be in place by November.  Too difficult to enforce.  I mean they can't even keep the chair hogs in check, you think they can police the rest of the ship?

[cruisemom42]

1 minute ago, RocketMan275 said:

Perhaps but I do not think those measures will be in place by November.  Too difficult to enforce.  I mean they can't even keep the chair hogs in check, you think they can police the rest of the ship?

 

Oh, I think they can, if they have the collective will to do so. All too often in the past there has been an atmosphere of passenger entitlement and staff unwilling to step in to enforce rules. However, if it is a question of the ships not sailing without such enforcement (and I imagine there will be checks), then I am pretty sure it will change...

[RocketMan275]

13 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Oh, I think they can, if they have the collective will to do so. All too often in the past there has been an atmosphere of passenger entitlement and staff unwilling to step in to enforce rules. However, if it is a question of the ships not sailing without such enforcement (and I imagine there will be checks), then I am pretty sure it will change...

JMPO, but I think most are about fed up with those rules.  For example, shoppers are already ignoring those one way signs walmart has on the floors.  

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I'm guessing at least half of the rabid cruisers on these boards who can't wait to go back will be willing to pony up...

 

That may very well be true, but there are also many experienced cruisers on here who have stated they will not go back until there is a vaccine. That would cut down on the potential demand. And there are many more who are waiting to see how those first few cruises go to see what restrictions there are and how successful they are.

[ontheweb]

2 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

JMPO, but I think most are about fed up with those rules.  For example, shoppers are already ignoring those one way signs walmart has on the floors.  

And even when those rules are followed by customers at Walmart, there seem to be Walmart employees who are going the opposite way from those one way signs.

[Hlitner]

30 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

I hope that doesn't happen.   What is someone is just having coffee?  What if someone is eating too slow?  What is the time limit?  

Perhaps folks can agree on being reasonable.  Sitting in the Lido for 5 hours while others cannot find a place to sit is not helpful.  And if ships want to increase social distancing in the Lido it will become vital for folks to vacate their seats when they have finished eating.  If it is just a matter of sitting with coffee or tea, there are plenty of other places to sit on a ship.  Princess actually makes this attractive with their International Cafe (open 24/7 with decent small batch coffee and good tea) and also having another place on the pool deck where one can get a decent cup of espresso.  Giving folks an attractive place to go for coffee and tea may actually help free-up needed space in the Lido.  But it does seem that social distancing might be the major long term change to come out of this pandemic.  Reality is that distancing helps for many diseases including influenza, common cold and most URIs.

 

Hank

[ldubs]

3 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Perhaps folks can agree on being reasonable.  Sitting in the Lido for 5 hours while others cannot find a place to sit is not helpful.  And if ships want to increase social distancing in the Lido it will become vital for folks to vacate their seats when they have finished eating.  If it is just a matter of sitting with coffee or tea, there are plenty of other places to sit on a ship.  Princess actually makes this attractive with their International Cafe (open 24/7 with decent small batch coffee and good tea) and also having another place on the pool deck where one can get a decent cup of espresso.  Giving folks an attractive place to go for coffee and tea may actually help free-up needed space in the Lido.  But it does seem that social distancing might be the major long term change to come out of this pandemic.  Reality is that distancing helps for many diseases including influenza, common cold and most URIs.

 

Hank

 

I get what you are saying but the social distancing will need to be applied everywhere, not just the Lido.  Anyway, I still don't like rules like this.   Some are said to take too much time only because someone else is inconvenienced.  I eat a meal and want to have a cup of coffee.  But now must go elsewhere, except the elsewhere also has limited seating.  And at some point someone must make a determination that one activity such as drinking coffee takes precedence over someone else's preferred activity like reading or knitting.   I don't agree with that kind of rule and hope it doesn't happen.    

[cruisemom42]

4 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

I get what you are saying but the social distancing will need to be applied everywhere, not just the Lido.  Anyway, I still don't like rules like this.   Some are said to take too much time only because someone else is inconvenienced.  I eat a meal and want to have a cup of coffee.  But now must go elsewhere, except the elsewhere also has limited seating.  And at some point someone must make a determination that one activity such as drinking coffee takes precedence over someone else's preferred activity like reading or knitting.   I don't agree with that kind of rule and hope it doesn't happen.    

 

If the ships are going to feed everyone and not have people scheduled to eat lunch at 4pm in the afternoon, they are going to have to say that -- for everyone's good -- the Lido area is for eating (or possibly eating and drinking), at least between prime meal hours.

 

If there are only half as many tables available due to social distancing, and people come back from shore excursions for lunch only to find they have nowhere to sit because the available seating is all taken by those crafting, reading, knitting, playing mah jong or whatever....that's not fair either.

 

We all have to give a little if we are to get along in this very different time. People seem to have forgotten how to cooperate and to have consideration for others.

[cruisemom42]

35 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

That may very well be true, but there are also many experienced cruisers on here who have stated they will not go back until there is a vaccine. That would cut down on the potential demand. And there are many more who are waiting to see how those first few cruises go to see what restrictions there are and how successful they are.

 

But doesn't that exactly fit what we are saying?  If ships can only sail half full, then you only need half as many willing customers.

[ldubs]

1 minute ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

If the ships are going to feed everyone and not have people scheduled to eat lunch at 4pm in the afternoon, they are going to have to say that -- for everyone's good -- the Lido area is for eating (or possibly eating and drinking), at least between prime meal hours.

 

If there are only half as many tables available due to social distancing, and people come back from shore excursions for lunch only to find they have nowhere to sit because the available seating is all taken by those crafting, reading, knitting, playing mah jong or whatever....that's not fair either.

 

We all have to give a little if we are to get along in this very different time. People seem to have forgotten how to cooperate and to have consideration for others.

 

On the cruises I have frequented all over the world,  the available seating is never taking up by those crafting, reading, knitting, playing mahjong or whatever.  In reality an insignificant number of tables are used for those kinds of activities.   I don't think your conclusion is anything more than speculation, but I do understand your points.   Well, except for the last sentence which I think is uncalled for.    

 

 

 

[RocketMan275]

4 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

But doesn't that exactly fit what we are saying?  If ships can only sail half full, then you only need half as many willing customers.

Not exactly.  Some of us are saying that it won't be economical for lines to operate at 50% capacity.  That's the short road to bankruptcy.  They will have to find a different solution than social distancing and wearing masks.   We will not cruise while those silly procedures are in place.

[cruisemom42]

1 minute ago, ldubs said:

 

On the cruises I have frequented all over the world,  the available seating is never taking up by those crafting, reading, knitting, playing mahjong or whatever.  In reality an insignificant number of tables are used for those kinds of activities.   I don't think your conclusion is anything more than speculation, but I do understand your points.   

 

 

 

 

Curious, do you sail on HAL?  It can be a real problem on that line. 

 

Not sure about other mass market lines. On recent cruises I have found the Princess buffet so unpleasant that I simply avoid it.

 

[jsn55]

22 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

I get what you are saying but the social distancing will need to be applied everywhere, not just the Lido.  Anyway, I still don't like rules like this.   Some are said to take too much time only because someone else is inconvenienced.  I eat a meal and want to have a cup of coffee.  But now must go elsewhere, except the elsewhere also has limited seating.  And at some point someone must make a determination that one activity such as drinking coffee takes precedence over someone else's preferred activity like reading or knitting.   I don't agree with that kind of rule and hope it doesn't happen.    

Nobody is saying that you can't have a leisurely meal and a nice cup of coffee or two.  People in the Lido should be there to dine.  If there aren't other places to knit, chat, read, meet up or whatever, the ship needs to create them.  An information memo on boarding would help ... but a pax who would approach another pax eating lunch, insisting that the table was for her knitting group would need some additional counselling.  As far as the buffets, people are making mountains out of molehills.  It's the same buffet, but you don't put the food on your plate, a crew member does.  End of conversation.

[cruisemom42]

1 minute ago, RocketMan275 said:

Not exactly.  Some of us are saying that it won't be economical for lines to operate at 50% capacity.  That's the short road to bankruptcy.  They will have to find a different solution than social distancing and wearing masks.   We will not cruise while those silly procedures are in place.

 

They have half as many passengers. They charge twice as much.

 

Even then it could be a draw as to whether much profit it made. Although I've seen comments from a few CEOs recently that suggest those kinds of statements we've heard about how profits are made may be a little misleading, at best.

 

[RocketMan275]

47 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

And even when those rules are followed by customers at Walmart, there seem to be Walmart employees who are going the opposite way from those one way signs.

People will ignore rules they see as unnecessary.

[ldubs]

Just now, cruisemom42 said:

 

Curious, do you sail on HAL?  It can be a real problem on that line. 

 

Not sure about other mass market lines. On recent cruises I have found the Princess buffet so unpleasant that I simply avoid it.

 

 

Never been on HAL.  Been on Princess, RCI, Celebrity, and a couple of times on Carnival.   We probably have not been on Princess for at least 7 years, so it follows mostly RCI & Celebrity.   

 

We have encountered a few times when it was difficult to find a seat in the Lido restnt, but we always managed.  Sometimes sharing with others.   

[RocketMan275]

3 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

They have half as many passengers. They charge twice as much.

 

Even then it could be a draw as to whether much profit it made. Although I've seen comments from a few CEOs recently that suggest those kinds of statements we've heard about how profits are made may be a little misleading, at best.

 

I would be very leery of those CEO statements which may be only for public/financial consumption.  Carnival won't make it charging Seabourn prices.

[cruisemom42]

1 minute ago, ldubs said:

 

We have encountered a few times when it was difficult to find a seat in the Lido restnt, but we always managed.  Sometimes sharing with others.   

 

In this scenario, sharing with others won't be an option, however. 

[lenquixote66]

1 minute ago, ldubs said:

 

Never been on HAL.  Been on Princess, RCI, Celebrity, and a couple of times on Carnival.   We probably have not been on Princess for at least 7 years, so it follows mostly RCI & Celebrity.   

 

We have encountered a few times when it was difficult to find a seat in the Lido restnt, but we always managed.  Sometimes sharing with others.   

 We loved cruising on HAL  till we discovered Celebrity and RCI.

[ldubs]

5 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

.. but a pax who would approach another pax eating lunch, insisting that the table was for her knitting group would need some additional counselling.  

 

I agree completely and don't understand what this has to do with my previous comment.   I am simply not for rules on who can be seated at the Lido restnt.