The "Buffet" and the Future of Cruising

[FreesiaE]

Do we have to have a buffet? Could the area not be turned into a quick casual sort of venue? You order from a posted at a counter and it is brought out by wait staff?  

[Fouremco]

5 minutes ago, FreesiaE said:

Do we have to have a buffet? Could the area not be turned into a quick casual sort of venue? You order from a posted at a counter and it is brought out by wait staff?  

I like your idea of looking at options to the buffet, but I suspect wait staff delivery to your table is a non-starter for a couple of reasons. First, they would need to double or triple the staff operating the buffet, which is highly unlikely as they'll be looking for ways to reduce staff in the foreseeable future, not to increase it. Secondly, it would slow things down significantly, rather defeating the purpose of grabbing a quick meal at the buffet. Other than relaxed dress, I think that the main reason people select the buffet is the ease and speed. 

[Pinboy]

4 hours ago, Pinboy said:

" If the learner hasn't learned, the teacher hasn't taught " , or something like that.

Come to think of it--

LOL----I got off to a pretty rough start posting on CC and am still " scared like hell ???? " to meet a few of the " Regulars " on CC in person.  

I had very good Teachers, however, not so sure I absorbed everything.

Anybody remember my first post ??? 

 

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

 

3 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I like your idea of looking at options to the buffet, but I suspect wait staff delivery to your table is a non-starter for a couple of reasons. First, they would need to double or triple the staff operating the buffet, which is highly unlikely as they'll be looking for ways to reduce staff in the foreseeable future, not to increase it. Secondly, it would slow things down significantly, rather defeating the purpose of grabbing a quick meal at the buffet. Other than relaxed dress, I think that the main reason people select the buffet is the ease and speed. 

 

I pretty much agree with this, I will add another benefit to the buffet is you can have a huge amount of selection.  Usually most people's plates are overflowing with a half dozen or more food items.

[drakes2]

28 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I like your idea of looking at options to the buffet, but I suspect wait staff delivery to your table is a non-starter for a couple of reasons. First, they would need to double or triple the staff operating the buffet, which is highly unlikely as they'll be looking for ways to reduce staff in the foreseeable future, not to increase it. Secondly, it would slow things down significantly, rather defeating the purpose of grabbing a quick meal at the buffet. Other than relaxed dress, I think that the main reason people select the buffet is the ease and speed. 

Don't do buffets. I like their bread and nice selection of cheeses and only go to bring to cabin for afternoon wine and cheese.  

[Fouremco]

2 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

Don't do buffets. I like their bread and nice selection of cheeses and only go to bring to cabin for afternoon wine and cheese.  

We do do buffets. Sometimes. But wine & cheese on the balcony (or in the cabin) is one of our favourites too!

[sanger727]

14 hours ago, FreesiaE said:

Do we have to have a buffet? Could the area not be turned into a quick casual sort of venue? You order from a posted at a counter and it is brought out by wait staff?  

I’m not sure that having wait staff bring the food to you is necessary but they could certainly turn it into a food court with minimal effort. Just extend the sneeze guards down so that you can’t touch the food at all. Have a staff member at each station. So instead of reaching in and making your own salad it would be like chipotle and you could just tell them what you want on your salad and then the could hand the plate to you.

[hcat]

That's  similar to how it was previously. Cafeteria style with trays and staff behind each area.

 

Now it is more freestyle..sometimes chaotic.  We mostly avoid it..

[hrhdhd]

22 hours ago, yorky said:

Sadly with Covid 19 age is not immunity, we have had very young individuals in the UK with no underlying conditions die.

 

Yes. But the point that young people believe themselves to be invincible stands. Brains aren't fully developed until 25.

Edited April 5, 2020 by hrhdhd

[Chrisclaire]

On 4/2/2020 at 5:46 PM, yorky said:

I would love to see a change to the buffet, it’s been a long time coming. I’ve had Norovirus on a cruise ship 10 years ago and it was horrible. I put that down to the buffet with the terrible cross contamination and nothing has changed. Many people still  chose to totally ignore the had gel on offer for some baffling reason then go on to handle everything on offer. 

In my opinion, guest's should be refused entry into the buffet restaurant until hand sanitizer is used.

This has got to be the first change put in place going forward!

[OuiOnboard]

16 minutes ago, Chrisclaire said:

In my opinion, guest's should be refused entry into the buffet restaurant until hand sanitizer is used.

This has got to be the first change put in place going forward!

Rebels entering the buffet might be less likely to ignore a crew member dressed in white with epaulets insisting on compliance with hand hygiene procedures.

[drakes2]

On 4/2/2020 at 12:35 PM, ECCruise said:

If your sooner is around a year, I would agree.  Less than that?  Not a chance, especially with the disclaimer "normal."

Certainly not this year and doubt it will be back to normal. Be prepared for many changes cruising will never be the same. 

[ECCruise]

25 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

Certainly not this year and doubt it will be back to normal. Be prepared for many changes cruising will never be the same. 

We agree.  Don't think anything for a year or so and the new "normal" will be very different from what we have experienced in the past.

[yorky]

4 hours ago, Chrisclaire said:

In my opinion, guest's should be refused entry into the buffet restaurant until hand sanitizer is used.

This has got to be the first change put in place going forward!

I would be more than happy with that, would the cruise lines be brave enough to implement ? Not so sure.

[MarkWiltonM]

HAL was ahead of the curve with their buffets in the new Pinnacle class ships. There are almost no self-serve options except desserts, which are put out on individual plates so people only touch the plate they pick up (hopefully).  We were on Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam in 2018/2019 (a break from Celebrity before we sailed on Silhouette in Feb/March this year) and were very impressed with the buffets on HAL.  (Great food!) On the Silhouette in Feb/March it felt icky sharing the serving utensils with everyone.  It's like shaking hands with ALL of your fellow passengers.  And we actually love eating in the buffets.  But to be safe, you would have to wash your hands before entering the buffet and then wash your hands again after you sit down and before you use your silverware.  Of course by then your food would be cold...   BTW, I have heard that while hand sanitizer is effective against COVID-19 and some other viruses, it is not effective against norovirus, so washing hands is a must. 

[Chrisclaire]

To be honest, what we are all experiencing at the moment, it's a small price.  I am sure the majority would embrace it, but yes, it's like all rules, there is always some idiot who doesn't want to conform. 

Perhaps after these tragic times we might all end up better people!

[G&T Cruisers]

Never been on Celebrity mostly Princess & Hal and  it always blows my mind when I see people licking there fingers and eating off there plates as they go through the buffet and touching the food with bare hands and then putting it back.

I like the idea of full service buffet like on Hal ships or a food court idea but some thing has to change because you can put in hand washing stations and hand sanitizer stations and people will still find an excuse not to use them.

[OuiOnboard]

Cruiselines haven't pushed harder for compliance with improved buffet hygiene because heretofore too few pax have pushed them hard enough to see such as sufficiently beneficial to them. 

[HS2BS]

Cruise lines do not have to deal with US compliance as they are foreign flagged! Anyone who has done a transatlantic to the states knows the first to greet the ship is health inspection. No one boards until that is done. Not done every other docking, and inspected at irregular times months apart!

 

Hal

 

[Brad1185]

There should not be any self serve buffet. People have zero common sense when common sanitary practices.  I have been shocked at what people do while serving themselves.  They are Clueless. 

[NMTraveller]

I am not a fan of the buffet,  but there are certain times/port days when only the buffet is open.  A vast upgrade would be to have servers.  While you cannot pile your plate sky high (not my thing) you can go back for seconds.  I also like the buffet as I am a salad snob...  A salad during lunch is my thing.

 

Self serve anything is gross.  Add Covid and it is just silly...

[oneputt18]

There should not be any self serve buffet. People have zero common sense when common sanitary practices.  I have been shocked at what people do while serving themselves.  They are Clueless. 

Problem is that is more staff and the cruise lines do not want to spend more money.
But I think it should be changed, I would pay a little more to be served.

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[LMaxwell]

On 4/4/2020 at 5:02 PM, Fouremco said:

they would need to double or triple the staff operating the buffet, which is highly unlikely as they'll be looking for ways to reduce staff in the foreseeable future, not to increase it. Secondly, it would slow things down significantly, rather defeating the purpose of grabbing a quick meal at the buffet. 

 

The idea sounds like the Food Hall concept on the new Virgin Ship and on a P&O Ship. 

 

As to the idea of reduced staffing; as long as bookings are up, adding staffing is probably a relatively low overhead cost and good service is an enhanced benefit to paying guests.  If if takes a little bit longer for fresh food and small plated portions (saving cruise line money) for a cleaner, nicer experience I think that is OK. 

 

A lot of people are acting like having more serving staff is simply impossible.  I think given the size of new ships and the relative lack of additional common space compared to old ships, that increasing service staff is the only way to reduce crowding. 

[DENIE]

On 4/2/2020 at 5:53 AM, wilsonsmw said:

In my opinion the buffet is a fun aspect of cruising, the variety, and options provided have always kept me happy.  I don't want to go away... With that, I flash back remembering guests pushing over each other, coughing the grabbing the serving spoons, taking food for 5.. etc.etc...... Oh and what really pisses me off is the arrogant guest who fills their personal water bottle up at the drink station, clearly when looking at the big sign "Don't use personal water bottles".  Thanks...  I hope the cruise lines truly reconsider how they keep guest safe in the future with these minor details, and I know they are working a lot of options, and I believe they will.  

 

Does the cruise lines limit how many guest at one time for the buffet, for example deck 5 at this time, deck 6 after?

 

Should crew be the only ones with the serving spoons in their hands/

 

I am sure, there are many more examples, but this was on my mind.  Hope everyone is staying safe, and being smart not leaving the house....

 

 

Quite a few years ago, on an MSC cruise, the captain automatically had the crew doing the serving in the buffet for 3 days.  If at that time, there were no noroviruses, he would shift to self-serve.  There were no instances of norovirus, so as he said, the remainder of the cruise was self-serve at the buffet. 

 

That said...I did not find it an inconvenience to be served by the staff.  If you wanted more of something than they put on your plate, you could just ask for more.  We saw the crew observing good hygiene.  If it came down to this permanently, it would not upset me too much.

[miched]

We avid the buffet.  
 

I think it would be cost effective if all meals were served and would avoid contamination.

 

Passengers are idiots.   We just got off of a cruise that was cut short in March.   At a Island there was a store with free samples of spirits.   I seem a woman take a sample and tried it and than put it back on the tray saying it was terrible.   I yelled 
 at her don't put it back throw it out,  don’t  you have any sense?  
 

That is why I don’t try samples that are on a tray.  

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅