POLL: Served or Self-Served

[BillHoo]

Do you prefer to be served on the Windjammer buffet?

[ReneeFLL]

I definitely want to be served by the staff. You can always tell them more or less and it has worked so far for us.

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[Billy Baltic]

Own up. Who goes on a cruise to eat your meals in your room? 🤔😳

[gmerick]

Last two cruises (Dec 21, Feb 22).  I shuddered at what was allowed for food service protocol in all of the staff served buffets, so I mostly stayed away.  I did frequent Sorentino's, 270 cafe, and Solarium cafe when they were not crowded.  Breakfast was either MDR or room service (hey, it was free!).  Lunch on sea days was MDR or show up late for buffet.  In port I was usually under water at lunch time, and the sushi offerings were a bit too fresh for my taste.

 

Even before COVID, I was uncomfortable with Windjammer, so nothing really changed.

[PhillyFan33579]

23 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

Own up. Who goes on a cruise to eat your meals in your room? 🤔😳

Apparently at least one person who responded to this poll. 

[taglovestocruise]

I read a Royal blog this morning stating Most Oasis class ships have gone back to full self serve starting this week. Whole fleet will be back to full self serve as capacity reaches 80+ percent.

[MississippiMom]

1 hour ago, Billy Baltic said:

Own up. Who goes on a cruise to eat your meals in your room? 🤔😳

I do not go on a cruise to eat my meals in the cabin.  However, room service breakfast out on the balcony sounds very lovely to me.

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, Billy Baltic said:

Own up. Who goes on a cruise to eat your meals in your room? 🤔😳

Travel SOLO and eat my Lunches in there everyday. Dinner, when in WJ always first in Door and to touch anything. Even pre-CV dont take Elevators, touch doors, railings or Chairs..

Edited March 23, 2022 by ONECRUISER

[SummerXU]

I haven't sailed on RC yet (or been on any cruise since the re-start), but I prefer self-serve. At least at the all-inclusives I've been to during Covid, they don't have enough staff working the buffet...so you stand around and wait and wait and wait for an employee to come over to your section just to get one item. Hopefully Royal has a more functional process in place.

[bigque]

55 minutes ago, MississippiMom said:

I do not go on a cruise to eat my meals in the cabin.  However, room service breakfast out on the balcony sounds very lovely to me.

I do balcony breakfast once or twice each cruise. I love watching as we get closer to the islands while enjoying breakfast or on sea days. 

[cruisegirl1]

Currently on Harmony. Just finished lunch in WJ. . Staff  does most serving but there are some areas that are self serve. Seems like it should be one way or the other.  
m
 

 

[firefly333]

I'm on liberty and only drinks are self serve but we have salt and pepper shaker back finally I stead of them handing out packets. 

 

Even diamond lounge 5 p m snacks, they serve you still. No touching. 

 

I'll be glad ro pick out what I want again some day. I've got a whole glass of waldorf salad, I only wanted a spoonful or two. Lots goes to waste. 

[BillHoo]

33 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I'm on liberty and only drinks are self serve but we have salt and pepper shaker back finally I stead of them handing out packets. 

 

Even diamond lounge 5 p m snacks, they serve you still. No touching. 

 

I'll be glad ro pick out what I want again some day. I've got a whole glass of waldorf salad, I only wanted a spoonful or two. Lots goes to waste. 

Just lean over to the table next to you and ask the other patrons "Anyone want some of this Waldorf Salad?  I didn't touch it.  I just want a spoonful or two..."
 

Break the ice and make friends!  😄

 

[lv2cruisgrl]

3 hours ago, BillHoo said:

Do you prefer to be served on the Windjammer buffet?

Heck yes!  Keeps the buffet cleaner as they don't spill like guests do, I don't have to touch utensils that a coughing guest In front of me just did! I hope they never go back to self serve. 

[smeck]

I heard Royal experimented with self serve on a few ships, the backlash was so bad they went back to the crew serving. 

[Stealthdog]

Staff served please, and this has nothing to do with COVID.  I have seen too many passengers across mutiple cruiselines touch the food with their hands and leave it, take food with their hands and eat it in line, and then take some more, etc.  Its really disgusting.

[D4]

I just posted this on another thread:

 

Big change on Oasis today 3/23/2022!

 

I reported earlier in this thread that our Oasis sailing which started Sunday 3/20/2022 was self serve in the Windjammer.

 

I am happy to report that starting with breakfast this morning 3/23/2022, the crew is serving the food in WJ.  

I asked a head waiter in WJ this afternoon about the change.  He said the self serve was an experiment.  It only lasted 3 days.  And yes, the reason they abandoned the experiment is because too many guests do unsanitary things serving themselves.

 

He doesn’t know if or when it will change again, but said he hopes it stays like this with the crew serving the food.

 

I’m B2B on Oasis sailing, so I’ll see what happens next week.

[PTC DAWG]

5 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Travel SOLO and eat my Lunches in there everyday. Dinner, when in WJ always first in Door and to touch anything. Even pre-CV dont take Elevators, touch doors, railings or Chairs..

Wow…

[Travelling2Some]

Prefer to serve myself because I like to try a TINY amount of various things first to make sure I like something.  I also might want only the veggies and sauce or only a small piece of the meat plus the sauce and none of the veggies in the dish.  The crew would have to be mind readers to know what to put on my plate.  I hate to waste food and I'm picky and won't eat things I don't like so it's better for me to serve myself.

[PTC DAWG]

4 hours ago, bigque said:

I do balcony breakfast once or twice each cruise. I love watching as we get closer to the islands while enjoying breakfast or on sea days. 

It’s wonderful…agreed

[ONECRUISER]

12 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Wow…

I know, a wonder that I'm Single... But actually enjoy the exercise, havent been on a Royal Elevator in 20yrs. Walking the whole Ship twice a day, every deck.

[flamingos]

32 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

Prefer to serve myself because I like to try a TINY amount of various things first to make sure I like something.  I also might want only the veggies and sauce or only a small piece of the meat plus the sauce and none of the veggies in the dish.  The crew would have to be mind readers to know what to put on my plate.  I hate to waste food and I'm picky and won't eat things I don't like so it's better for me to serve myself.

I've had no difficulty describing what I want, and getting it.  I do the same thing, sample many choices.

[patrioticgirl]

As someone who most often cruises solo, I am big  proponent of late seating set time dining because I really enjoy developing comradery with tablemates, especially when Royal has made an effort to seat solo passengers together They are not always great at doing this, though... and with the restrictions of Covid in effect, I was not sure how things would be set up so I decided to try something totally different when I was on JOS in December. 

I skipped the dining room all together and ate nearly every meal in the Windjammer, with a couple of specialty restaurant exceptions.  I absolutely loved that staff members were on duty in the Windjammer to do the serving because it meant less hands and germs touching the utensils. 

I quickly discovered there were additional advantages that I didn't anticipate. Knowing that someone was going to be serving me made me think more deliberately about what I requested be put on my plate, so I made more effort to eat a well balance variety from the food groups, which is something I don't always do a real good job of at home. I ate more of the good for you stuff and steered clear of bread and pasta, which this Italian girl loves. 😁  Servers were very accommodating in giving me as much or as little as I wanted when I specified. I usually asked for a little of something because this allowed me to taste a little of everything that seemed appealing. If I found something especially to my liking and wanted more, I would make a round 2 sweep of the buffet line to grab that extra bit 😋. Truth be told, I can't recall denying myself a second helping of anything I wanted from the main course offerings, salads, or sides. By the time I had finished that 2nd round plate, I was usually too full for dessert... but  I would sometimes grab a favorite coconut cookie or two to take back to the cabin for a midnight snack. 🙂 

The biggest surprise for me was that upon returning home after 7 days of travel/eating 3 meals a day : I did not gain ONE pound of the FIVE that usually show up on the scales post cruise. Hey, if having servers on the buffet line keeps me from gaining weight, I hope that the Windjammer never reverts back to self service.😃🙃😊😍

Edited March 23, 2022 by patrioticgirl

[Old Fart Cruisers]

2 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

Prefer to serve myself because I like to try a TINY amount of various things first to make sure I like something.  I also might want only the veggies and sauce or only a small piece of the meat plus the sauce and none of the veggies in the dish.  The crew would have to be mind readers to know what to put on my plate.  I hate to waste food and I'm picky and won't eat things I don't like so it's better for me to serve myself.

 

It's always great to be in line behind someone trying to pick the veggies out of one sauce then picking the meat out of the beef stew🤪🤔

[CanadaRob]

5 hours ago, BillHoo said:

Just lean over to the table next to you and ask the other patrons "Anyone want some of this Waldorf Salad?  I didn't touch it.  I just want a spoonful or two..."
 

Break the ice and make friends!  😄

 

I am definitely using this next time, I’ll report back…..