Buffets

[Pebbs48]

Are the buffets open for US based cruise to the Caribbean departing December 2021?  What are the Protocols?  Thanks!

[hallux]

Check the recent "live" threads from Alaska cruises on Encore, I can't imagine they'd be different...

[Turtles06]

I don’t think anyone knows what December will bring, but on the Breakaway to Bermuda this week the buffet was operating as it had pre-pandemic, with guests serving themselves at most stations. Guests were first directed to the hand washing stations at the entrances. 

[hallux]

5 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

Guests were first directed to the hand washing stations at the entrances. 

I've seen how well THAT has worked in the past.  Hopefully they have someone there actually forcing people to wash their hands.  I've seen people directed there that just passed through without stopping...

[Pebbs48]

1 minute ago, hallux said:

I've seen how well THAT has worked in the past.  Hopefully they have someone there actually forcing people to wash their hands.  I've seen people directed there that just passed through without stopping...

Exactly.  I was hoping to hear crew serving rather than self-serve.  Obviously no telling what December will bring.

[ziggyuk]

27 minutes ago, hallux said:

I've seen how well THAT has worked in the past.  Hopefully they have someone there actually forcing people to wash their hands.  I've seen people directed there that just passed through without stopping...

 

Exactly what was still happening last week on the Encore.

[Turtles06]

58 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 Guests were first directed to the hand washing stations at the entrances. 

 

51 minutes ago, hallux said:

I've seen how well THAT has worked in the past.  Hopefully they have someone there actually forcing people to wash their hands.  I've seen people directed there that just passed through without stopping...

 

Obviously, I could only observe what was happening when I entered the buffet, but folks were washing up.  (My wife agrees.) The crew were pretty insistent on this, but I think we had a ship of really compliant folks who wanted to be as safe as possible.  

[Pebbs48]

I’m assuming they still have the “Happy Happy Washy Washy” crew squirting hands…

[ChiefMateJRK]

8 minutes ago, Pebbs48 said:

I’m assuming they still have the “Happy Happy Washy Washy” crew squirting hands…

I think the mantra on the Encore last week was "Washy Washy Healthy Healthy."  I was just "Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy...." to be on the ship.  😎

 

Are you other folks worried that the failure of a guest or two to wash their hands is going to give you Covid?  Let's say they go all *** and 100% enforce the Washy Washy.  What happens when one of those folks coughs in their hand or wipes their face after the checkpoint....  COVID!!  😬 (jk)  I think that those who have serious concerns about this should just wait a year or two before cruising.  Personally, I'm planning to cruise a minimum of two times next year and more in the years after that.  Life is too darned short to let Washy Washy spoil my fun.

[Turtles06]

19 minutes ago, Pebbs48 said:

I’m assuming they still have the “Happy Happy Washy Washy” crew squirting hands…

 

No, they are not squirting hands.  They want you to use the sinks and to wash up.  There are Purell stands all over the ship.  (Speaking only of the Breakaway this past week.)

[Pebbs48]

46 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I think the mantra on the Encore last week was "Washy Washy Healthy Healthy."  I was just "Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy...." to be on the ship.  😎

 

Are you other folks worried that the failure of a guest or two to wash their hands is going to give you Covid?  Let's say they go all *** and 100% enforce the Washy Washy.  What happens when one of those folks coughs in their hand or wipes their face after the checkpoint....  COVID!!  😬 (jk)  I think that those who have serious concerns about this should just wait a year or two before cruising.  Personally, I'm planning to cruise a minimum of two times next year and more in the years after that.  Life is too darned short to let Washy Washy spoil my fun.

Nah, I was a germophobe long before COVID.  I, like you, will just be Happy Happy to be back on a ship.  I appreciate the input!  

[Cruising Lynne]

38 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I think the mantra on the Encore last week was "Washy Washy Healthy Healthy."  I was just "Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy...." to be on the ship.  😎

 

Are you other folks worried that the failure of a guest or two to wash their hands is going to give you Covid?  Let's say they go all *** and 100% enforce the Washy Washy.  What happens when one of those folks coughs in their hand or wipes their face after the checkpoint....  COVID!!  😬 (jk)  I think that those who have serious concerns about this should just wait a year or two before cruising.  Personally, I'm planning to cruise a minimum of two times next year and more in the years after that.  Life is too darned short to let Washy Washy spoil my fun.

 That is why we sanitize again after we get our food, before we start eating. I may bring some cheap disposable plastic gloves, so I can wear one on the hand that I use to touch the serving utensils, and just take it off  before I eat. Either way, I will try not to think about how gross some people can be. I don't understand why some people walk right by the sinks. It isn't that hard to wash up. Washy, washy is better than spreading germs everywhere. 

 

I can't wait for the end of March for my first trip back on the Getaway. We have three cruises coming up in 2022. One on the brand new Prima. I can't wait. 

[BirdTravels]

8 hours ago, Pebbs48 said:

Are the buffets open for US based cruise to the Caribbean departing December 2021?  What are the Protocols?  Thanks!

Regular, self serve buffet with a regular compliment of foods. 
 

Peek at post #68

 

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, Pebbs48 said:

Nah, I was a germophobe long before COVID.

I was the opposite.  I grew up on a farm with livestock.  There was literally 💩everywhere.  That'll strengthen the old immune system. 😎 

[MsTabbyKats]

16 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I was the opposite.  I grew up on a farm with livestock.  There was literally 💩everywhere.  That'll strengthen the old immune system. 😎 

I was never a germaphobe....and never got sick.  That's how you build up immunity.

 

Anyway, on MSC back in Oct 2019 we had to wash our hands before entering the buffet.  It was enforced.   I found it so annoying as I generally went to the bathroom right before...and already washed my hands.  Maybe those who appear to ignore the request are also fresh out of the bathroom.

[Red-Sol]

5 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

I was never a germaphobe....and never got sick.  That's how you build up immunity.

 

Anyway, on MSC back in Oct 2019 we had to wash our hands before entering the buffet.  It was enforced.   I found it so annoying as I generally went to the bathroom right before...and already washed my hands.  Maybe those who appear to ignore the request are also fresh out of the bathroom.

Sadly not everyone who is fresh out of the bathroom has also just washed their hands...as disgusting as it is far too many people don't.

[favoritevacation]

We are just back from the celebrity edge …..at the buffet, they have the crew serving you. They hand you your plate and silverware. You go from station to station and simply ask for what you want, a little less or a little more. They are very accommodating. 

[Matman1215]

17 minutes ago, favoritevacation said:

We are just back from the celebrity edge …..at the buffet, they have the crew serving you. They hand you your plate and silverware. You go from station to station and simply ask for what you want, a little less or a little more. They are very accommodating. 

Also sailed on Celebrity twice this year and loved the way the buffet was. I wish it was always like that. People are gross, Covid or not. 

 

Sailing on NCL next Sunday and disappointed it’s serve yourself. I guess I just expected the staff to be serving guests still, regardless of cruise line. 

[Old & Retired]

I am weird I guess.  I wash my hands with soap and hot water in my cabin before I go to a restaurant to eat a meal.  As a grown adult, I don't require anyone forcing me to wash my hands.

[Old & Retired]

4 minutes ago, Matman1215 said:

 

Sailing on NCL next Sunday and disappointed it’s serve yourself. I guess I just expected the staff to be serving guests still, regardless of cruise line. 

I am sure you can ask a crewmember to walk you around and plop the food onto your plate.  Just make sure they wash their hands before assisting you.

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, favoritevacation said:

We are just back from the celebrity edge …..at the buffet, they have the crew serving you. They hand you your plate and silverware. You go from station to station and simply ask for what you want, a little less or a little more. They are very accommodating. 

 

Oceania is the same.  One can ask for "that piece of <whatever> on the left" or whatever you would have selected yourself if at home, etc.  (Um, if you had a display like that at home!). Or "more of <whatever> please", etc.

 

I had read that more "buffets" were changing to the "served" format due to Covid, and it's a great way to minimize the chance of Noro as well, etc.  Too bad if it isn't staying that way.  (I think Noro is probably a greater risk from shared utensils than Covid, but for "all of the above reasons", shared utensils aren't something we want anymore, to the extent we can avoid it.

 

We might just bring some of the medical gloves along with our masks, and use them IF we find a need to avoid "too much sharing".  Before Covid, that may have looked a bit nuts. Now?  Not so much, and we don't care if some others think it is over the top.  (We are older with risk factors, and we'd rather be laughed at than terribly sick... or worse.  No question about it!)

 

GC

[MoCruiseFan]

7 hours ago, hallux said:

I've seen how well THAT has worked in the past.  Hopefully they have someone there actually forcing people to wash their hands.  I've seen people directed there that just passed through without stopping...

 

I'd be one of those people.  That so called sanitizer is all but useless and not even close to what proper handwashing with soap and hot water will do.Do not assume that because you did not see me wash my hands does not mean that i didn't and I am not going to put that slimy, irritating, nasty goo all over my hands so someone else will feel better.

[BirdTravels]

While they ask you to wash your hands when entering the Buffet, you still see the slobs walking around the buffet line, eating from their plate, and licking their fingers.... then using their freshly licked fingers to handle service utensils. Eating in a service line was not acceptable pre-pandemic and is less so now. 

 

The buffet staff change out serving utensils every 30 minutes. Stay behind the staff changing utensils to minimize exposure to other people's finger licks. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The buffet staff change out serving utensils every 30 minutes. Stay behind the staff changing utensils to minimize exposure to other people's finger licks. 

Do you actually do this??

[LaCal]

I’ll be passing on the buffet totally my next cruise and having breakfast either in the Local or the main dining room 

 

Lunch will be in the MDR and dinners in the specialty restaurants