Why you should be writing “keep the staff serving the buffet food” in the survey (hint: OCD)

[NutsAboutGolf]

Background: Was on the Edge on July,  the Equinox in Oct-Nov and am on the Carnival Glory currently where it’s self serve buffet.  I do enjoy things about carnival in that it’s more lively/active and at the moment, due to the child care club being closed there isn’t many kids.

 

On this sailing, I witness the usual bad buffet behaviors but noticed a new one.  At the Carnival buffet, a woman in front of me seemingly had OCD.  She was getting grits but would slowly scoop a quarter full ladle of grits I'd guess six-eight times; once her grits bowl was full she decided to spend a few seconds positioning her grits bowl on the plate.  She then received bacon (that’s the only thing carnival staff serves at the buffet) and again she uses her fingers to position the bacon strips on her plate.  Now with her greasy fingers she grabs the potato tongs and grabs a potato wedge one by one attempting to position them on the plate to her likening.

[grandgeezer]

Little to no chance of that happening. There is an extra cost to them, in added personnel, that I don’t think they will absorb due to their current financial condition.

They could add the cost to the base price of the cruise but that might open up a whole new can of worms.

[vms]

This was standard practice on Holland America before the pandemic- to have the staff serve in the buffet rather than allow guests to serve themselves.

 

It seems that it is do-able if the cruise line is interested in doing so.

[Denny01]

All the X reports and reviews up to now say the Staff is serving in the Oceanview with no self-service, just as we experienced 2 weeks ago. I’ll disagree there is little/no chance that will not continue. But my opinion is based on just a guess that Celebrity will continue with it’s safety programs. 

 

Good to know about Carnival. 

 

Den

[DirtyDawg]

Wouldn't a simpler solution to the OP's concerns be to just not sail on Carnival?🤔

[NutsAboutGolf]

16 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

Little to no chance of that happening. There is an extra cost to them, in added personnel, that I don’t think they will absorb due to their current financial condition.

They could add the cost to the base price of the cruise but that might open up a whole new can of worms.

 

Unless there was a recent announcement, RCL/X hasn't stated that this a permanent change.  Others who have been on Norovirus cruise have stated they appear to be in the same protocols which is staff served food, self serve everything else (drinks and condiments).

 

Writing this on the survey will simply help increase the odds the buffet never goes back to self serve.

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

Wouldn't a simpler solution to the OP's concerns be to just not sail on Carnival?🤔

 

Lol, thanks for the laugh.  The buffet is pretty awful all three meals yet an omelette is omelette which is staff served and when you have a 7am port may be your only option if you're wanting food before the port visit.  I will say Guy's burgers (usually available noon-6pm) are some of the best burgers at sea and Guy's BBQ place (lunch only on my ship, sometimes available for dinner on the newer ships) is better than it should be.  MDR meals are better on X and if you're a buffet lover the X buffet absolutely blows Carnival away with both taste and options, although in all fairness I'm on a nearly 20 year old ship.

[Turtles06]

We’re on the Silhouette now, only 45% occupancy. The buffet is not self-serve, but there aren’t enough staff to pull it off well, even for this relatively small group of pax. It’s beyond frustrating to stand in long lines (no social distancing) as a crew member has to count out individual anchovies for someone’s Caesar salad. The only way Celebrity could pull this off permanently is with far more (and better trained) staff. 

[BigAl94]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

We’re on the Silhouette now, only 45% occupancy. The buffet is not self-serve, but there aren’t enough staff to pull it off well, even for this relatively small group of pax. It’s beyond frustrating to stand in long lines (no social distancing) as a crew member has to count out individual anchovies for someone’s Caesar salad. The only way Celebrity could pull this off permanently is with far more (and better trained) staff. 

Sounds like it has descended to a cheap low class experience

[sakigemcam]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Background: Was on the Edge on July,  the Equinox in Oct-Nov and am on the Carnival Glory currently where it’s self serve buffet.  I do enjoy things about carnival in that it’s more lively/active and at the moment, due to the child care club being closed there isn’t many kids.

 

On this sailing, I witness the usual bad buffet behaviors but noticed a new one.  At the Carnival buffet, a woman in front of me seemingly had OCD.  She was getting grits but would slowly scoop a quarter full ladle of grits I'd guess six-eight times; once her grits bowl was full she decided to spend a few seconds positioning her grits bowl on the plate.  She then received bacon (that’s the only thing carnival staff serves at the buffet) and again she uses her fingers to position the bacon strips on her plate.  Now with her greasy fingers she grabs the potato tongs and grabs a potato wedge one by one attempting to position them on the plate to her likening.

Which is why I've worn gloves at the buffet for years....ew.

[ch175]

I guess you’ll also need an employee to get your apples at the grocery store for you, and push the cart around the store, and so on.

[upwarduk]

2 hours ago, BigAl94 said:

Sounds like it has descended to a cheap low class experience

Very different from the service we had in the summer on Silhouette, on the round Britain Staycations!

[the penguins]

30 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

Very different from the service we had in the summer on Silhouette, on the round Britain Staycations!

Couldn't agree more. Service in the buffet was superb on both our Silhouette cruises. Service was also excellent at the Elite breakfast where the staff were happy to tailor any of the "set/recommended" options to meet our exact requirements.

[LGW59]

2 hours ago, ch175 said:

I guess you’ll also need an employee to get your apples at the grocery store for you, and push the cart around the store, and so on.

That’s what Instacart is for.

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, ch175 said:

I guess you’ll also need an employee to get your apples at the grocery store for you, and push the cart around the store, and so on.

 

I take it you're the kind of person who continues to eat their food if a bug lands on it or after you find a hair...If so, I envy you as all of that plus people touching my food grosses me out...

[cruzer0007]

6 hours ago, BigAl94 said:

Sounds like it has descended to a cheap low class experience

I am just off the Apex (this morning) where the staff serves everything from the cookies to the main dishes to passengers, and I wouldn't describe it as a cheap low class experience. For myself, I do very much recognize and appreciate the health benefits of these additional constraints, yet at the same time I wish it was self serve for my convenience. I know my habits are in the interest of cleanliness but not all sailing passengers view it the same, so if we go back to self serve, there will certainly be new risks (including noro-virus).  I also agree that even with the ship at half capacity, the crew struggles to keep up.  The #1 issue I see is that passengers approach an individual (island) food station from 8-10 different positions, and the crew has to hop around like whack-a-mole to try and satisfy all, and they struggle to keep up. For what its worth, I thought the crew were doing the best they could, and they were genuine in trying to handle all the requests, but its hard to keep up.  It will only be worse (much worse) when the ships get closer and closer to full capacity.   I'm not complaining, and I dont have any suggestions  ... just offering what I observed.

Edited December 12, 2021 by cruzer0007

[DaKahuna]

The only ‘line’ we have encountered on Reflection has been at the salad station.  
 

Making salads one at a time with customers picking their toppings is a slow process so when a lot of people show up, a line forms. 
 

when I encountered this I just decided to eat my main course first and come back for salad once the line died down. 
 

[Turtles06]

8 hours ago, BigAl94 said:

Sounds like it has descended to a cheap low class experience

No, it hasn’t and it’s certainly wasn’t what I said. Just not enough staff to pull it off well. Also, the design of the food stations, many of which are triangular, means that the single server in the middle facing one side can’t see the people on the other sides. There’s no single line, so people often don’t get served in order.

[WonderMan3]

10 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

Little to no chance of that happening. There is an extra cost to them, in added personnel, that I don’t think they will absorb due to their current financial condition.

They could add the cost to the base price of the cruise but that might open up a whole new can of worms.

I wonder though. They most likely are having a cost savings in food though as people tend to take less food from a buffet when it’s served to them (in part for not wanting to seem like gluttons and in part because they just don’t want to wait in a line sometimes). I wonder how that all balances out? The other big factor to remember is noro virus. The buffet is probably one of the top transmission areas for that virus on a cruise ship. Outbreaks of noro I’m sure cost cruise lines a fortune not only in cleaning expenses and likely inspection fees but they also can lose money from negative press that keeps potential cruisers from booking. Being able to diminish the number of noro outbreaks onboard could be worth that added employee expense.

[grandgeezer]

22 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

I wonder though. They most likely are having a cost savings in food though as people tend to take less food from a buffet when it’s served to them (in part for not wanting to seem like gluttons and in part because they just don’t want to wait in a line sometimes). I wonder how that all balances out? The other big factor to remember is noro virus. The buffet is probably one of the top transmission areas for that virus on a cruise ship. Outbreaks of noro I’m sure cost cruise lines a fortune not only in cleaning expenses and likely inspection fees but they also can lose money from negative press that keeps potential cruisers from booking. Being able to diminish the number of noro outbreaks onboard could be worth that added employee expense.

If norovirus was such a big problem, why didn’t they take steps to eradicate it before? They were sailing at around 106% capacity before the pandemic and taking in record profits so they more than offset many of the costs.

They didn’t have problems cutting the head count, adding bodies will be harder.

[WonderMan3]

1 minute ago, grandgeezer said:

If norovirus was such a big problem, why didn’t they take steps to eradicate it before? They were sailing at around 106% capacity before the pandemic and taking in record profits so they more than offset many of the costs.

They didn’t have problems cutting the head count, adding bodies will be harder.

I have asked that question for years now. I was on a voyage of Equinox back in 2013 that had a Noro outbreak where the buffet became non-self-serve and it was efficient and fine. After seeing that I wondered why they didn’t just do that all the time. Always seemed like a big miss to me. I know there would be complaining from guests but to me it be worth it for the health benefits. Maybe now with Covid as an excuse they will just keep it this way going forward now that people are getting used to it. I’m sure they can find a way to manage it in the most profitable way possible.

[BennyBrun]

I do appreciate that the staff is serving passengers at the buffet.  I have personally witnessed people picking up cookies/cheese/salami with their hand and in one occasion put the cookie back.  I also think that there is less food waste when the staff is serving.

[jg51]

.

We have been eating in buffet restaurants (on land, in the U.S.) -- with SELF-SERVICE -- for eight or nine months now.  We have never feared getting sick, have never gotten sick, and have never heard (from employees) about anyone on the staff (or among customers) getting sick.

 

We have now been on three Celebrity cruises in 2021, and we have eaten many meals in Oceanview Cafe -- none with self-service.  Although the crew have been very friendly and willing to do whatever we requested, we absolutely HATED being unable to serve ourselves. 

 

Only a diner can take the right amount (not more nor less than desired).  It is too difficult to communicate to crew (especially those with limited English) how much one wants.  We would often say we wanted "one" or "two" or "a little" of something -- but would get double or triple the amount desired ... at which point the food could not be removed from the plate.  [We hate wasting food by leaving it on a plate that is picked up by a busser.]

 

Needless to say, we do not fear getting diseases in the buffet restaurant.  We would encourage everyone who -- having been super-influenced by the media and quasi-experts -- has fallen into the trap of being so full of fear and loathing to learn from our experience that it is safe to go back to the old way of doing things: SELF-SERVICE!  We would encourage everyone thusly, but we know that it would be a waste of time to do so.  People are already set in their ways -- and probably have been since early life, when they were mistakenly taught about non-existent dangers involved in sharing utensils, etc..

 

We don't expect to gain any "converts" through this post ... but we are posting for two reasons:

(1) to show that intelligent people can differ about this subject -- i.e., that there is not unanimity; and ...

(2) to let people -- who, like us, used to love buffet self-service -- that it is perfectly safe to return to the old way.

 

When (not if) Celebrity returns to self-service, it will probably be optional, allowing those who are fearful to ask for service by crew members.

 

PS:  One reason we are sure that "X" will return to self-service is that, with only crew-service, the buffet will become an absolute "madhouse" when the number of people aboard is back up to full capacity.  Right now, the waits (if any) are tolerably short -- but they would cease to be, in the future.

.

Edited December 12, 2021 by jg51

[DirtyDawg]

12 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I take it you're the kind of person who continues to eat their food if a bug lands on it or after you find a hair...If so, I envy you as all of that plus people touching my food grosses me out...

Our neighbour when I was growing up was a doctor. One day while we were talking over the back fence, an insect landed in his coffee. To my amazement he simply continued to drink his coffee insect and all. I guess my facial expression was one of shock because he said to me; "Hey it's just extra protein." Even though he was a very smart medical professional I never could subscribe to his particular culinary philosophy.  

 

If X got rid of the buffet all together I'd be a very happy cruiser. But if they have to keep it, your suggestion would be one option. My preferred option however,  would be for X to treat any infraction of food safety by cruisers in the buffet the same way the Captain of the Summit treated those You Tube hooligans a few weeks ago. Toss them right off the ship! 😉

 

Edited December 12, 2021 by DirtyDawg

[deliver42]

I couldn't agree more . If the people are that inconsiderate, and stupid, they shouldn't be there.