What about the buffets

[KruzPrincess]

I eat salad from the salad bar every day of my cruise, sometimes for lunch and dinner, and I like to make it myself. On the Royal class ships, Princess has a nice, mostly well kept, uncrowded salad bar. I went on the HAL Eurodam a couple years ago for 15 nights. Often times I would have to wait for 15/20 minutes or more to have someone make my salad. This was even when there were only a couple people ahead of me. There wasn’t room for social distancing. The salad bar had several choices, but you couldn’t really see what was in each container.  A child or a couple children would be ordering their salad and it would take a LONG time as each one asked what every item was. Many adults did this, too. The server would use tongs to fill your salad bowl and use the same ones between all containers. They would pour in the amount of salad dressing they thought was appropriate, often a lot, and proceed to mix it all up. Then, they would take the tongs and dunk them into a container of water with other tongs. For the next person they would pull tongs out of the same container of dirty water and serve again. I never saw them change that container. They clearly were cross contaminating between foods, salad dressing and dirty water. Just because they serve you doesn’t mean it’s that much safer. Princess changes their serving utensils every 15 minutes. That’s the plan, anyway. They change them if they see anyone do anything unsanitary. Sometimes I ask them to change it and they comply. 

[cruzsnooze]

On 4/8/2021 at 9:03 PM, trbarton said:

Curious....What about the International Cafe?  For people that don’t use the buffet what do you think about that venue?

 

Tom😀

The problem I forsee with the IC is seating. It's scarce now so with social distancing it will be worse. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

We love Horizon Court, and for my husband, it’s a huge selling point for cruises. We appreciate the efficiency of getting in, getting our food, eating, and getting out at our own pace. We like to choose exactly how much we want of each item. We usually

prefer the variety of foods to the dining room menu. We are meticulous about hand washing and sanitizing at the buffet.
 

There was one breakfast buffet open in Hawaii when we went, so we had to go. Our server brought our drinks and omelettes, which is common anyway for breakfast buffets. We wore masks to go to the buffet. Plexiglass barriers protected the food. A server wearing a mask and gloves dished the food for us and handed us a new plate each time we went. We didn’t get the exact quantities of what we wanted, but we at least got the variety. It worked. 
 

A compromise would be to keep the buffet during the pandemic but have crew serve. It is really not ideal, but at least it would preserve the buffet. 

[rbtan]

1 hour ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

We love Horizon Court, and for my husband, it’s a huge selling point for cruises. We appreciate the efficiency of getting in, getting our food, eating, and getting out at our own pace. We like to choose exactly how much we want of each item. We usually

prefer the variety of foods to the dining room menu. We are meticulous about hand washing and sanitizing at the buffet.
 

There was one breakfast buffet open in Hawaii when we went, so we had to go. Our server brought our drinks and omelettes, which is common anyway for breakfast buffets. We wore masks to go to the buffet. Plexiglass barriers protected the food. A server wearing a mask and gloves dished the food for us and handed us a new plate each time we went. We didn’t get the exact quantities of what we wanted, but we at least got the variety. It worked. 
 

A compromise would be to keep the buffet during the pandemic but have crew serve. It is really not ideal, but at least it would preserve the buffet. 

On Oceania, the buffet is totally behind glass. You point to the food you want & indicate the portions. The staff member would put it on a plate & then hand it to you(or bring to your table)once outside the glass enclosure. On the Star last year(Jan. 2020) It was very easy to touch the food & infect everyone around you. The glass enclosure is the best way to go.

[oskidunker]

Rarely use the buffet. Early breakfast before tours or if on the ship while in port and dining room closed. Love sitting in the dining room for lunch. Mostly do room service for breakfast. Like Captain Picard, Croissant and coffee. And some strawberries if they have them. 

[NSWP]

On 4/10/2021 at 11:41 PM, cruzsnooze said:

The problem I forsee with the IC is seating. It's scarce now so with social distancing it will be worse. 

Pax just sit there all day reading books etc, staff should tip them out to make room for those actually purchasing coffees etc.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

Pax just sit there all day reading books etc, staff should tip them out to make room for those actually purchasing coffees etc.

No think of all of us you sit in crooners reading 

[NSWP]

On 4/27/2021 at 12:13 PM, memoak said:

No think of all of us you sit in crooners reading 

I do not understand your reply, sorry.

[memoak]

4 hours ago, NSWP said:

I do not understand your reply, sorry.

Crooners is always full of people reading and not purchasing drinks. How is the IC different ?

[cruisequeen4ever]

On 4/26/2021 at 2:16 PM, rbtan said:

On Oceania, the buffet is totally behind glass. You point to the food you want & indicate the portions. The staff member would put it on a plate & then hand it to you(or bring to your table)once outside the glass enclosure. On the Star last year(Jan. 2020) It was very easy to touch the food & infect everyone around you. The glass enclosure is the best way to go.

I’m all for permanently implementing the plexiglass walls to avoid passengers breathing on the food. Sneeze guards help, but I’ve seen kids right at head level with the food, grabbing it and putting some back with their hands. I’ve seen a lady ladle some salad dressing, and dip her finger in it to taste it! 🤦‍♀️ 

[rbtan]

5 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

I’m all for permanently implementing the plexiglass walls to avoid passengers breathing on the food. Sneeze guards help, but I’ve seen kids right at head level with the food, grabbing it and putting some back with their hands. I’ve seen a lady ladle some salad dressing, and dip her finger in it to taste it! 🤦‍♀️ 

My spouse very verbally publicly shamed a lout who was doing about the same thing as the woman you mentioned with the dressing. The guy told my spouse to Bleep off. At that point my spouse made sure everyone within ear shot heard everything about this lowlife & what he did. It's amazing how many people shouted at the guy. He quietly skulked away. We're in the food industry. One jerk like that could infect an entire cruise. Personally, I'd like to see the cameras watching people in the buffets & have staff remove any pax who touch food like that. One warning & you're off the ship at the next port.

[pris993]

All you folks who are concerned about the buffet, don't use it... very simple.  I will see how it goes, we do Room Service for breakfast, some times order a late afternoon hamburger from Room Service if on a long cruise like a TA; otherwise we split our time between the Crown Grill and the buffet.  My dh likes to see what he is going to eat, he is a picky eater, so hopefully he will be able to select what he wants visually and someone else will plate it.  We don't spend much time at the buffet, usually go early before they open in the evening, not many folks there, we enjoy the view while we eat.   Suspect those who worry about the buffet use it for breakfast when it is crowded, which we don't.   Very pleasant experience when not crowded.  Maybe they will extend Room Service menu, which would give folks other options.  I am not going to stress over how they manage it, if it is that big a deal then I would not cruise.  We have well over 60 cruises rarely ever got sick, may a cold once in awhile.  So no need to worry about the buffet, covid or not.  Actually we were on the Grand in January-February and  I believe two passengers came down with Covid after they got off the ship... it did not spread beyond their group.  

[NSWP]

14 hours ago, memoak said:

Crooners is always full of people reading and not purchasing drinks. How is the IC different ?

Because pax want to eat and drink in IC,  eject the IC chair hoggers.  Crooners is a lounge, not an eating place. With social distancing, one may to have book a seat/table in the IC and maybe even Crooners.

Edited April 30, 2021 by NSWP

[rbtan]

On 4/10/2021 at 4:34 AM, KruzPrincess said:

I eat salad from the salad bar every day of my cruise, sometimes for lunch and dinner, and I like to make it myself. On the Royal class ships, Princess has a nice, mostly well kept, uncrowded salad bar. I went on the HAL Eurodam a couple years ago for 15 nights. Often times I would have to wait for 15/20 minutes or more to have someone make my salad. This was even when there were only a couple people ahead of me. There wasn’t room for social distancing. The salad bar had several choices, but you couldn’t really see what was in each container.  A child or a couple children would be ordering their salad and it would take a LONG time as each one asked what every item was. Many adults did this, too. The server would use tongs to fill your salad bowl and use the same ones between all containers. They would pour in the amount of salad dressing they thought was appropriate, often a lot, and proceed to mix it all up. Then, they would take the tongs and dunk them into a container of water with other tongs. For the next person they would pull tongs out of the same container of dirty water and serve again. I never saw them change that container. They clearly were cross contaminating between foods, salad dressing and dirty water. Just because they serve you doesn’t mean it’s that much safer. Princess changes their serving utensils every 15 minutes. That’s the plan, anyway. They change them if they see anyone do anything unsanitary. Sometimes I ask them to change it and they comply. 

So it's safer if you serve yourself? Safer for whom?

[memoak]

10 hours ago, NSWP said:

Because pax want to eat and drink in IC,  eject the IC chair hoggers.  Crooners is a lounge, not an eating place. With social distancing, one may to have book a seat/table in the IC and maybe even Crooners.

If everyone on board is vaccinated why do you need to have social distancing  ?

[LACruiser88]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

If everyone on board is vaccinated why do you need to have social distancing  ?

I think with vaccinated passengers, social distancing is not as important.  And, maybe not necessary at all???  I'll let the "experts" educate me...

[neverbeenhere]

Yes, life will return to "normal". Now, I may still want to stand 60'6" away from you, but that's really is anti-social distancing.

 

Hugs will be allowed. (Of course, only if invited)

 

The buffet is the cell cultivation center of the cruise ship petri dish, so they've got to be changed to another model.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

On 4/10/2021 at 6:41 AM, cruzsnooze said:

The problem I forsee with the IC is seating. It's scarce now so with social distancing it will be worse. 

You are 100% correct.  Maybe they could add additional seating in the center of the piazza? Just a thought.

[pris993]

20 hours ago, NSWP said:

Because pax want to eat and drink in IC,  eject the IC chair hoggers.  Crooners is a lounge, not an eating place. With social distancing, one may to have book a seat/table in the IC and maybe even Crooners.

You don't have to eat at IC, we don't... we pick up something to go and go somewhere else less crowded.  Works for us.   Figure out what works for you which is not dependent on someone else making changes to what they are doing.    It is a lot easier to have the experience you want that way.  

[KruzPrincess]

On 4/30/2021 at 4:34 AM, rbtan said:

So it's safer if you serve yourself? Safer for whom?

Did I say it was safer? I think it’s just as safe. Covid is transferred through the air. You’re far more likely to catch it standing in long lines of people talking and yelling out their orders to workers than you are making a fast trip to grab your own food and leave. Standing in multiple lines to get different things increases the odds. There isn’t enough room in the buffet for people to socially distance and wait to be served. While I think it’s highly desirable for everyone to have clean hands, there’s very little chance of catching Covid from surfaces. So far, there’s no proof that Covid is carried in food. 95% of cruisers are going to be vaccinated. The switch from self serve buffets isn’t going to stop transmission of Covid. It’s likely it will be easier to catch it in the elevator or standing in line. The experience I shared was to say staff served food isn’t perfect. And, maybe it is safer to have self service. Safer for me. 

Edited May 3, 2021 by KruzPrincess

[caribill]

1 hour ago, KruzPrincess said:

Did I say it was safer? I think it’s just as safe. Covid is transferred through the air. You’re far more likely to catch it standing in long lines of people talking and yelling out their orders to workers than you are making a fast trip to grab your own food and leave. Standing in multiple lines to get different things increases the odds. There isn’t enough room in the buffet for people to socially distance and wait to be served. While I think it’s highly desirable for everyone to have clean hands, there’s very little chance of catching Covid from surfaces. So far, there’s no proof that Covid is carried in food. 95% of cruisers are going to be vaccinated. The switch from self serve buffets isn’t going to stop transmission of Covid. It’s likely it will be easier to catch it in the elevator or standing in line. The experience I shared was to say staff served food isn’t perfect. And, maybe it is safer to have self service. Safer for me. 

 

I think we are past the point on applying common sense to the buffet issue.

 

When Covid-19 initially became an issue, buffets all over the world were shut down because it was feared that self-service at buffets could be an easy source of spreading the disease.

 

As you point out, it is now known that it is mainly spread through particles in the air we breath with minimal chance that it can spread via touching surfaces, not just in the buffet, but anywhere around a ship that passengers touch something, from banisters on stairways to elevator buttons to seats in the Princess Theater.

 

But the train has left the station about buffets, and too many people consider them a possible source of the virus to have them remain self-service as they have been in the past on Princess.

 

However, buffets can be a source of norovirus spreading, so eliminating self-service should also basically eliminate the buffet from being a factor in norovirus outbreaks.

[Redwing55]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

I think we are past the point on applying common sense to the buffet issue.

 

When Covid-19 initially became an issue, buffets all over the world were shut down because it was feared that self-service at buffets could be an easy source of spreading the disease.

 

As you point out, it is now known that it is mainly spread through particles in the air we breath with minimal chance that it can spread via touching surfaces, not just in the buffet, but anywhere around a ship that passengers touch something, from banisters on stairways to elevator buttons to seats in the Princess Theater.

 

But the train has left the station about buffets, and too many people consider them a possible source of the virus to have them remain self-service as they have been in the past on Princess.

 

However, buffets can be a source of norovirus spreading, so eliminating self-service should also basically eliminate the buffet from being a factor in norovirus outbreaks.

I can't agree.  This is a sad issue.  False narratives become fact and then result in actions or restrictions that are unnecessary.  As for the Noro issue, true a buffet MAY be a point of spread, but it's not the only, nor the primary one.  Not only that, good personal hygiene will likely significantly limit ones risk for coming down with it.  Leave the buffets open.  For those that have concerns, other venues are available.  And although I don't have a link, I've read multiple times that the rate of Noro contagiousness is LESS than what it is on many land locations.  So in truth, being on a cruise ship has a lower risk of contacting Noro than say, going to school, or even a grocery store.  Think about it.

[caribill]

49 minutes ago, Redwing55 said:

  And although I don't have a link, I've read multiple times that the rate of Noro contagiousness is LESS than what it is on many land locations.  So in truth, being on a cruise ship has a lower risk of contacting Noro than say, going to school, or even a grocery store.  Think about it.

 

Same is going to be true with Covid-19. Safer on a cruise ship than in your hometown.

 

Still to be determined is safety after contact with port populations along the way.

[Ride-The-Waves]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

Same is going to be true with Covid-19. Safer on a cruise ship than in your hometown.

 

Still to be determined is safety after contact with port populations along the way.

Empirical date and testing has shown this is exactly the opposite.  

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Empirical date and testing has shown this is exactly the opposite.  

 

As of late April, Royal Caribbean has had 125,000 passengers on cruises this spring in Europe and Asia with only 21 COVID-19 cases.

 

RCL said "That's a positivity rate of 0.01% and as we've emphasized all of this has been experience without having the availability of vaccines."

 

source: RCL stock analysts conference call on April 29.