What can P&O do better going forward ?

[yorkshirephil]

42 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Yes but even before that they used to do a lavish chocolate buffet in the MDR and you helped yourself from many chocolate cakes, deserts and hand made chocolates but was stopped a few years ago and replaced with a chocolate themed afternoon tea in the buffet which is nowhere near as lavish and enjoyable as before.

In the days when midnight buffet was just that and they had a chocaholic night the buffets were amazing, you could go in 1/2 an hour early just to take pictures, the ice sculptures and fruit carvings were on show. However there was a shocking amount of waste, people would fill their plates with wonderful creations and leave most of it on their plate. Over the years the novelty wore off for some seasoned cruisers, slowly they disappeared or dwindled away. 

[majortom10]

35 minutes ago, Angel57 said:

The lavish chocolate buffet in the MDR was beautiful and a real treat. However the greed of a few passengers carrying out plate loads of cakes never failed to amaze me…….

That is the same on any cruise when you see people returning to their tables at lunch or afternoon tea in buffet. Beggars believe how they eat it all but more likely most ends up in the bin.

[majortom10]

35 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

In the days when midnight buffet was just that and they had a chocaholic night the buffets were amazing, you could go in 1/2 an hour early just to take pictures, the ice sculptures and fruit carvings were on show. However there was a shocking amount of waste, people would fill their plates with wonderful creations and leave most of it on their plate. Over the years the novelty wore off for some seasoned cruisers, slowly they disappeared or dwindled away. 

When we started cruising in 1997 the midnight buffet was an extremely lavish affair.

[Son of Anarchy]

When we used to go to Leningrad on the old Soviet ships Mum used to drag me to the midnight buffet.

Used to have black caviar sandwiches.  The Commies had to show the Capitalist west that they could party just as well.

[Host Sharon]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

When we started cruising in 1997 the midnight buffet was an extremely lavish affair.

Fred Olsen maintain the tradition, or did fairly recently.

 

[Dermotsgirl]

On our last CMV cruise on Columbus in 2019 they had a midnight buffet. I couldn't actually eat anything as I wasn't hungry but it was good to look at

 

[Windsurfboy]

For the sake of passenger's health,  getting rid of midnight buffet seems a step forward.

[wowzz]

Did anyone actually eat all this stuff in the middle of the night?

[Britboys]

On 7/5/2021 at 6:15 AM, batholiver said:

... but Saga seem to have no shortage of customers, and it's one of the main reasons why people choose it.

But the Saga fleet total capacity is just under 2000, whereas the one smallest ship of P&O's six-ship fleet takes almost that...

[Camberley]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

For the sake of passenger's health,  getting rid of midnight buffet seems a step forward.

They could always fill the buffet areas just with their canapés to gradually scare people off….

 

Mind you, we did enjoy a few guilty toasted crab brioche things in the early hours, munching from our balcony watching the mountains go by in Norway.

[Denarius]

18 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Did anyone actually eat all this stuff in the middle of the night?

From memory, on P&O the "midnight buffet" was actually available from 11:30 and was served in the MDR! The MDR was the only option for dinner and those on early sitting tended to become peckish later in the evening. That was in the days before freedom dining and all day (and night) eating in the buffet. Once more flexible dining arrangements were introduced the midnight buffet became an anachronism and was discontinued.

[majortom10]

11 minutes ago, Denarius said:

From memory, on P&O the "midnight buffet" was actually available from 11:30 and was served in the MDR! The MDR was the only option for dinner and those on early sitting tended to become peckish later in the evening. That was in the days before freedom dining and all day (and night) eating in the buffet. Once more flexible dining arrangements were introduced the midnight buffet became an anachronism and was discontinued.

I think the Midnight Buffet as I referred to in early 2000s was discontinued in quality or reduced to midnight snack long before Freedom dining was introduced I think it was more of an action of cost cutting exercise after Carnival took over.

 

[Snow Hill]

22 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

As a Saga and P&O passenger, another reason for the appeal of Saga is they have much more interesting and unusual itineraries. For frequent cruisers there are only so many times you can visit Lisbon, Cadiz, etc.

I would liked to have gone to Lisbon, but on both cruises where it has been a port of call, bad weather prevented us going there.