Is Joy the only ship with the buffet in the front of the ship?

[fstuff1]

All other ncl ships I've been on have the buffet in the rear.

 

Or is Buffett in the front standard for all mega ships that can travel through the Panama canal?

 

 

[BirdTravels]

8 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

All other ncl ships I've been on have the buffet in the rear.

 

Or is Buffett in the front standard for all mega ships that can travel through the Panama canal?

Joy. Bliss. Encore.  All have forward facing buffers which share the big windows with the observation lounge. 
 

The Epic has a forward facing buffet also. 

 

[DarkJedi]

Epic buffet is in the front. Which is really annoying when you like aft balconies....

[elwood_98034]

Why would it matter?

[hallux]

7 hours ago, elwood_98034 said:

Why would it matter?

Some people like aft cabins but don't want to walk 1,000 feet to get to the buffet.

[BirdTravels]

34 minutes ago, hallux said:

Some people like aft cabins but don't want to walk 1,000 feet to get to the buffet.

Have your butler get buffet food for you and serve it on a white table cloth. 

Edited February 17, 2020 by BirdTravels

[hallux]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Have your butler get buffet food for you and serve it on a white table cloth. 

Did I say I was one of those people?  I was just commenting as i had read a post in another thread where someone was complaining that they had an aft room but they didn't expect the buffet to be at the front of the ship and they were disappointed they were not right there.

 

Affording a room that gets butler service would be one of those once in a lifetime trips for me.  Shoot - unless they run the free/reduced airfare again and I have to fly to the port I don't think a BALCONY is in the cards for me very often...

[SeaShark]

On 2/15/2020 at 6:20 PM, fstuff1 said:

All other ncl ships I've been on have the buffet in the rear.

 

Or is Buffett in the front standard for all mega ships that can travel through the Panama canal?

 

 

 

Don't you think NCL should put deck plans for their ships online so that someone could easily determine both the deck number and location of the buffet (or any other feature) on any of their ships?

 

That would be so convenient!

[JamieLogical]

For me, the main downside of having the buffet on the front of the ship is that it puts too many of the popular public places at the front of the ship, causing overcrowding of the forward elevators. The first time I sailed on the Bliss, my room was near the aft elevators, which was great, because they were almost never busy. But when I sailed on the Bliss in December, I was near the forward elevators and realized how PACKED they are all the time. You have the Atrium, Theater, Observation Lounge, Garden Cafe, Cavern Club, several specialty restaurants, District Brew House.... it's a lot to share one elevator bank. The aft elevators really only have to accommodate the MDRs and the Spa, so not nearly as much traffic.

[Ztras]

I'm used to the rear buffet's outdoor area being a fairly quiet area overlooking the ocean - great place to relax with a snack.  On the Epic, at least, it is mid-ships loud, and opening to the pool.

[fstuff1]

On 2/16/2020 at 11:27 PM, elwood_98034 said:

Why would it matter?

curiosity.

joy was designed for the Asian market.

just thought that market prefers the buffet up front.

 

and when they moved it to the American market, they didnt/couldnt move it to aft with the refurb.

 

like i said, all the ncl ships i've been on had it in the rear.

but i've never been on a megaship capable of sailing Panama.

 

[laurabegorrah]

On 2/15/2020 at 10:04 PM, DarkJedi said:

Epic buffet is in the front. Which is really annoying when you like aft balconies....

 

It's the opposite for me - I love aft, but most ships, trying to find a room that is not directly below the buffet or directly above the theatre can sometimes be challenging.  With food in front, many more room opportunities open up for me!

[timf2001]

5 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

curiosity.

joy was designed for the Asian market.

just thought that market prefers the buffet up front.

 

and when they moved it to the American market, they didnt/couldnt move it to aft with the refurb.

 

like i said, all the ncl ships i've been on had it in the rear.

but i've never been on a megaship capable of sailing Panama.

 

 

I don't think it has anything to do with cultural preferences, because Bliss was designed to match the buffet layout of Joy before there was even a thought of bringing Joy to the U.S.  The layout switch is primarily to accommodate the Observation Lounge, including common kitchen facilities to service both the Observation Lounge buffet and Garden Cafe.

[DarkJedi]

9 hours ago, laurabegorrah said:

 

It's the opposite for me - I love aft, but most ships, trying to find a room that is not directly below the buffet or directly above the theatre can sometimes be challenging.  With food in front, many more room opportunities open up for me!

True, you do get a less noisy aft that way. But I never really found it an issue with noise. The only ship that I disliked aft balconies on was the Jewel, and that was because for some reason the ash from the stacks tends to get blown back on to the balcony.