From Mr Bayley - NO buffet

[OnTheJourney]

11 hours ago, mpaff said:

 

Is that a pun?

 

LOL ....good one  😆

[OnTheJourney]

On 5/13/2020 at 2:17 PM, danv3 said:

Hmm...  "More akin to a restaurant" is pretty different from what most of us were imagining.  

 

Of course the real problem is the guests packed in the WJ (and MDR) at peak times, not the manner in which the food is served.

 

Bummer. There are already restaurants on the ships. The buffets are one of the things I've always really enjoyed about cruising. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, A&L_Ont said:

That’s why I worded it tactfully. 😉

Tact?  What’s that? 😇

[Iamcruzin]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Late boarding after lunchtime will resolve those issues. The new Virgin Voyages has late boarding times from 2-5pm, sailaway at 7pm. This will also allow more time on disembarkation day to spread people out and then allow employees time for through cleansing of the whole ship. IMO this is a win-win for everyone involved. For naysayers a brand new cruise line is going to do this, so I can't imagine why the other mainstream lines wouldn't take this approach. It would solve a multitude of issues. 

When I first cruised on Carnival in 1986 they only had the midnight buffets in the MDR. I don't even remember any embarkation day lunch since all meals were scheduled in the MDR.  They did have a late breakfast and lunch offerings in a cafeteria setting with very limited choices, just the basics. 

 

[Iamcruzin]

2 hours ago, Paulette3028 said:

I have been in plenty of specialty restaurants onboard and they have NEVER been close to 50% capacity when DH and I were there for dinner.

 

We were the only one in Jamie's the night we ate there. The only reason we went was because they offered us a 30% discount that day. 

[ONECRUISER]

7 hours ago, Hoppy2cruise said:

I understand and agree, but we know there will be changes once cruising begins again.  Having a set time for Windjammer could be a solution for crowd control.  

As I said previous when started Cruising Royal the WJ always had Servers all day and Dinners had Waiters, Menus and Table Cloths. As sad in article this space will still be used for meals. See limiting amount passengers on a Cruise. Dont see too many changes besides these, some social distancing, and all Temporary. Soon as Vaccine or CV is rare everything go back to normal over crowding. Humans have short memories, History always repeats itself

[Coralc]

58 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

 History always repeats itself

 

Kind of like 1918-20?

Edited May 15, 2020 by Coralc

[A&L_Ont]

 

8 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Tact?  What’s that? 😇

You ride a Bike and folks see you coming. I pull up to a stop light in my stock Jeep Grand Cherokee and no one knows it has 707 horsepower, until I put my foot in it. 😉

Edited May 15, 2020 by A&L_Ont

[Milwaukee Eight]

20 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

You ride a Bike and folks see you coming. I pull up to a stop light in my stock Jeep Grand Cherokee and no one knows it has 707 horsepower, until I put my foot in it. 😉

I wish I could say others see me coming. 

[Newleno]

Mr. McBeevee?, was that his name, well although he is a man who walks in the treetops, wears a silver hat, has twelve extra hands, blows smoke from his ears, and jingles when he walks as if he had rings on his fingers and bells on his toes.  Well even though he has all those attributes, well right now the cruiselines are just trying to figure it all out, no one knows.  For me if I cant get quick and easy food, well then I will have to think long and hard about taking a cruise (along with the potential of catching the plague).  If you dont like buffets dont go to them, I am not a drinker but I aint going crazy about there being alcohol on board, to each their own. 

[A&L_Ont]

14 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I wish I could say others see me coming. 

I get it. My father in-law always said, you ride your bike like the drivers are out to kill you. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by A&L_Ont

[time4u2go]

7 minutes ago, Newleno said:

Mr. McBeevee?, was that his name, well although he is a man who walks in the treetops, wears a silver hat, has twelve extra hands, blows smoke from his ears, and jingles when he walks as if he had rings on his fingers and bells on his toes.  Well even though he has all those attributes, well right now the cruiselines are just trying to figure it all out, no one knows.  For me if I cant get quick and easy food, well then I will have to think long and hard about taking a cruise (along with the potential of catching the plague).  If you dont like buffets dont go to them, I am not a drinker but I aint going crazy about there being alcohol on board, to each their own. 

What?

[OnTheJourney]

8 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

When I first cruised on Carnival in 1986 they only had the midnight buffets in the MDR. I don't even remember any embarkation day lunch since all meals were scheduled in the MDR.  They did have a late breakfast and lunch offerings in a cafeteria setting with very limited choices, just the basics. 

 

 

Midnight buffet LOL  Now that was something. Remember those days where you could come in and only take pictures of it before it opened at 12:00?  Not sure about Carnival, but HAL used to do that. There were chocolate buffets also. Remember fancy ice carvings?  That seems to have gone the way of the dodo also. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[Ocean Boy]

6 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

Midnight buffet LOL  Now that was something. Remember those days where you could come in and only take pictures of it before it opened at 12:00?  Not sure about Carnival, but HAL used to do that. There were chocolate buffets also. Remember fancy ice carvings?  That seems to have gone the way of the dodo also. 

Just as the midnight buffets evolved, so did we. At first we would go through the photo op and then eat. Eventually we would do the photo op then call it a night. Then we gave up on the entire process. Then it went away.

[OnTheJourney]

Ocean Boy....lol    Good memories though. Some of that stuff is what made cruising special and unique. I have to agree - wound up taking the pics and maybe getting a small plateful of items (probably to take back to my room), but...really? Who wants to gorge themselves that late? I'm sure some did. As it is, I tend to snack too late in the evenings anyway 😋

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

Midnight buffet LOL  Now that was something. Remember those days where you could come in and only take pictures of it before it opened at 12:00?  Not sure about Carnival, but HAL used to do that. There were chocolate buffets also. Remember fancy ice carvings?  That seems to have gone the way of the dodo also. 

Carnival did have them. They were so creative that you were afraid to eat them. The culinary art was amazing. Honestly in my mid 20's I would have been happy with a burger and fries or an omelet.  I don't remember eating much and it seemed to be a waste of food. Princess moved to 24 hour buffets and then scaled back to closing at 11:00. The only time I enjoyed a buffet was late night for a snack after a show or being in the casino. The choices now at midnight are limited.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Iamcruzin

[fredflint]

Maybe it will be the food already in a bowl so you just take one, they could have it like they have milk and stuff at the grocery store, only warm or cold.  You take a bowl the next one slides down.  the staff just keeps on filling bowls..

 

They will have to cut the space in half, maybe they will offer room service for all meals so you can dine in your room and add a  regular height table that folds with a couple of chairs, so many people like a 2 top table now you can have your own dining room even on your balcony if you want, (careful of the breeze) ?

[davekathy]

11 minutes ago, fredflint said:

Maybe it will be the food already in a bowl so you just take one, they could have it like they have milk and stuff at the grocery store, only warm or cold.  You take a bowl the next one slides down.  the staff just keeps on filling bowls..

 

They will have to cut the space in half, maybe they will offer room service for all meals so you can dine in your room and add a  regular height table that folds with a couple of chairs, so many people like a 2 top table now you can have your own dining room even on your balcony if you want, (careful of the breeze) ?

Thanks for the morning laugh. 🤣

[Anton]

3 hours ago, time4u2go said:

What?

Mr. McBeevee was a character in The Andy Griffith Show.  https://mayberry.fandom.com/wiki/Mr._McBeevee_(episode)

[rich_cathybrock]

On 5/13/2020 at 2:47 PM, Roger88 said:

Its not gonna work. It never does. How can you distance away people traveling with families? The same goes for dinners and places of mass accumulation of people like swimming pools, clubs and casinos. A few feet away from someone wont really help if there is at least one sick person on board. Moreover, I heard that thing travels in the air, so I doubt that any social distancing measures will help in any way

I am trying to reconcile this future-state dystopian world where we go on vacation to reconnect with friends and family, and dine in tables of 8-12 to meet new people, when we all can't get within 6 feet of each other. 

 

Personally, I am ready to strike "social distancing" from my vocabulary.  It may work short-term whilst we all remain locked up sheltering in place at home, but unless someone has a plan for how we remake the entire planet's usable space to accommodate a 600% expansion, when we all emerge from hibernation, it simply isn't possible to "socially distance" as there just isn't enough usable space.  Vatican museums?  Never.  Times Square on NYE?  Right.  The local bar for your 20th anniversary - sure the other guests will be happy to clear out so you and your party of 12 can have the whole place to yourselves, staff included, without a $150/pp beverage menu. 

 

It's not only impacting cruises, this whole distancing "plan" is untenable, though I daresay the chair hogs will now have to make reservations.  We could have designated 15-minute dip in the pool (gotta distance - guess they can rope off -foot segments, what fun???).  And dating, along with the requisite procreation/perpetuation of the human species ought to grind to a quick halt, since "that" ain't likely with 6 foot of distance! 

 

I live in NY, and waiting for an empty subway car is NEVER going to be an acceptable reason for tardiness at work.  Oh, and Macys will have no problem keeping its remaining stores open to "no more than 10 concurrent shoppers", right?

 

When you stop to think about what it would really mean to stay this far apart for the foreseeable future, this whole concept is a disaster.  

[time4u2go]

9 minutes ago, Anton said:

Mr. McBeevee was a character in The Andy Griffith Show.  https://mayberry.fandom.com/wiki/Mr._McBeevee_(episode)

I know that.  I was just trying to understand the point of the post.

[Newleno]

39 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

I know that.  I was just trying to understand the point of the post.

the point of the post was a little bit of humor (mr bayley - mr McBeevee)  along with opinion about buffet dining.  Frame of reference/culture/upbringing plays a part in humor (if one gets it or not, trust me the post was very funny/witty/clever)

Edited May 15, 2020 by Newleno

[pcur]

On 5/13/2020 at 2:13 PM, BND said:

I can see using it as a restaurant with wait staff in order to spread out people more.  Probably with a more varied menu than the MDR has.  I also think we'll know when they announce what the plans are.

 

I also wonder, why are people who are so sure the cruise lines are just money grubbing, cruisers at all?  I get tired of reading how they're only out for money, well, yeah, it's a business. If it's such a problem, don't cruise.

 

I agree with you.  After 4.5 decades with RCCL,  I have seen, heard, and read about them being very customer-centric.  Of course, they need to keep their business alive, but they are VERY sensitive to bad media coverage.  

 

It's all about perspective.  Many people complain about them grabbing for money with drink packages, specialty restaurants, photos.  But, the passengers WANT these products.  Inflation plays a lot into this.

 

If RCCL has to temporarily change the congregate areas of the ship, then so be it.  We are ALL trying to find our footing in the "new normal" of our lives for the next 2 years.  Yes, years.  

 

People need to breathe, wash their hands, wear a mask, keep 6 feet away from strangers, and hug their housemates/families.  😷 

[Ocean Boy]

New normal is such a farce. We need to call it what it is.... a prolonged abnormal. That just doesn't sound so politically nice.

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, time4u2go said:

What?

I think it was a 60's flashback.