Semi Live Britannia B210 Blog

[Bazrat]

We found the food to be decent in the MDR buffet and some of the paid extra ones didn't try them all, but as we go by the basic premise that if it is well cooked looks appetising and taste ok we are happy

[Bazrat]

4 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I have to smile, as, generally, people that *never* go in the buffet, *always* see people with plates piled high! 
 

I’ve had most of my cruise lunches in the buffet, and find it perfect for a light snack. I’d typically have a salad or cheese and crackers, or get some rolls and ham to make my own ham rolls. In more recent years, I’d like a baguette from Grab & Go

Alas grab and go was not available in October, we usually take some food back to the cabin and eat it on the balcony watching the world go by.

[wowzz]

14 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I have to smile, as, generally, people that *never* go in the buffet, *always* see people with plates piled high! 
 

I’ve had most of my cruise lunches in the buffet, and find it perfect for a light snack. I’d typically have a salad or cheese and crackers, or get some rolls and ham to make my own ham rolls. In more recent years, I’d like a baguette from Grab & Go

I'd agree with you about the "pile it high" comments. Never seen it !

And you do what we do - visit the salad bar for cold cuts , add some rolls, add a cheeky bowl full  of chips and off we go. Plus, you can easily get tables by the windows for the sea views, which is not so easy in the MDR.   

[Britboys]

13 hours ago, wowzz said:

Given the general price increases in foodstuffs of all types,  I am sure the menus will be tweaked, but not in the direction you are hoping for !

Oh well, maybe for the first time I won't actually put on weight...🤣

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

That last sentence worries me! There’s no way on this earth I’d want to eat lunch or dinner in a P&O buffet.

Certainly agree about dinner. I don't mind lunch in the buffet but never eat there at night.

[Britboys]

16 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I'd agree with you about the "pile it high" comments. Never seen it !

And you do what we do - visit the salad bar for cold cuts , add some rolls, add a cheeky bowl full  of chips and off we go. Plus, you can easily get tables by the windows for the sea views, which is not so easy in the MDR.   

Yes, I'm very disciplined at lunch and go for a few morsels of ham and some mixed leaves.....then I see the apple crumble and custard and discipline goes overboard 🤣🤣🤣

[Denarius]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

But it's still a self-serve, cafeteria, Formica table experience, rather than the rather pleasant, tablecloth, food to the table, chat to other diners round the table, MDR cruise experience, Wowzz. 

 

I think we've used the buffet two or three times in total, and while the food's fine, and the staff are great, I find the sight of plates piled to the top with food, plus blatant gluttony and waste less than appealing.  It's great for a self-service cafeteria, but it's not why we cruise.  OK for an occasional meal, sure, but not as an alternative to the MDR - just a personal view, obviously.

I recently sailed on a ship of a different line which had a buffet restaurant, not a cafeteria. It had a formal reception desk at which you were asked how many there were in your party and if you were willing to share. You were then allocated a table and escorted to it. All very civilised.

[Harry Peterson]

10 minutes ago, Denarius said:

I recently sailed on a ship of a different line which had a buffet restaurant, not a cafeteria. It had a formal reception desk at which you were asked how many there were in your party and if you were willing to share. You were then allocated a table and escorted to it. All very civilised.

That does sound much better - I'd be happy with that. 

 

I've got no problems with buffets per se, or cheap eating (seaside fish and chip restaurants like Papa's on Cleethorpes pier - magic!).  But when there's the MDR as an option, the buffet's not even a runner.

 

Maybe the horrors of our very first visit (lunchtime on embarkation day) did permanent damage!  I'd never seen anything quite like it.

[wowzz]

29 minutes ago, Denarius said:

I recently sailed on a ship of a different line which had a buffet restaurant, not a cafeteria. It had a formal reception desk at which you were asked how many there were in your party and if you were willing to share. You were then allocated a table and escorted to it. All very civilised.

Well, Saga is a more genteel environment! 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Certainly agree about dinner. I don't mind lunch in the buffet but never eat there at night.

We have eaten in the buffet some evenings, mainly Indian, Thai or Chinese, and it is far more civilised than breakfast or lunch. OK it is still self service but the place mats, and dimmed lights do give it a more pleasant ambience.

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Yes, I'm very disciplined at lunch and go for a few morsels of ham and some mixed leaves.....then I see the apple crumble and custard and discipline goes overboard 🤣🤣🤣

My husband is a fan of the pudding with custard. I like those little tarts or similar on those tiny square plates! 

[Dermotsgirl]

13 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

We have eaten in the buffet some evenings, mainly Indian, Thai or Chinese, and it is far more civilised than breakfast or lunch. OK it is still self service but the place mats, and dimmed lights do give it a more pleasant ambience.

I quite like the buffet in in the evening, it tends to be a bit quieter than the dull roar of dining room conversation. In fact, if we had gone on our Arcadia cruise that was due in January 2022, we were going to spend quite a few evenings in the buffet - at 55 nights, it would have been too much to spend all those evenings in the MDR. We would eat less in the buffet 

[Ilovemygarden]

6 hours ago, purplesea said:

I am on Azura from tomorrow so will be interesting to see what their food is like!

I too would be interested to hear how your cruise goes as I am due on Azura in November.   

[davecttr]

Another cruise line had lunchtime dining options that suited me. On two ships they had a light buffet with one hot dish in the Glass House. Plated for you and displayed behind glass so no mauling the food or coughing over it. Another ship had a panini bar with made to order, again behind glass. 

 

It is others handling the serving implements that worries me so I take paper hankies or use my cutlery. I use the buffet for breakfast but will be in there by 6.30 am.

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

We have eaten in the buffet some evenings, mainly Indian, Thai or Chinese, and it is far more civilised than breakfast or lunch. OK it is still self service but the place mats, and dimmed lights do give it a more pleasant ambience.

Yes, I can appreciate that. I don't really eat Indian or Thai though so not particularly attractive to me.

[Britboys]

18 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Another cruise line had lunchtime dining options that suited me. On two ships they had a light buffet with one hot dish in the Glass House. Plated for you and displayed behind glass so no mauling the food or coughing over it. Another ship had a panini bar with made to order, again behind glass. 

 

It is others handling the serving implements that worries me so I take paper hankies or use my cutlery. I use the buffet for breakfast but will be in there by 6.30 am.

Apparently the 'buffet' area on the Ambassador ship is more a food court, where things are served to you from behind the counter. They also have single balcony cabins Dave.

[emam]

3 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

  Maybe we were unlucky on the occasions we tried it, but the arrogant and unpleasant behaviour of some of the 'guests' towards the hard working staff was so appalling we felt we had to apologise for it.  

 

I have seen this in the mdr.

 

 

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

Maybe the horrors of our very first visit (lunchtime on embarkation day) did permanent damage!  I'd never seen anything quite like it.

 

The trick is to not go when it first opens at lunch or dinner time. We usually go around 8.30 pm for dinner and can find a table in an area with not other people.

[Harry Peterson]

4 minutes ago, emam said:

 

I have seen this in the mdr.

 

 

 

The trick is to not go when it first opens at lunch or dinner time. We usually go around 8.30 pm for dinner and can find a table in an area with not other people.

 

That may be the answer.  

 

One of the other things that really bothered me about the buffet though was that so many people were bypassing the sanitiser stations (this was pre-Covid but in the times when Norovirus was the big concern) and so many were handling the serving spoons etc, then allowing them (and the handle) to drop into the food.  The hygiene aspects didn't look good, and I admit that that also put us off.  The final straw was watching a woman in front of us pick something off her plate that she didn't like the look of, and then put it back into the serving tray.  Just one incident like that is enough to spread a virus, particularly as someone who's prepared to do that might well adopt a similar attitude to personal hygiene generally.

 

I appreciate that all sorts of things go on in restaurant/hotel kitchens that they'd rather not see witnessed (I worked for some time in a large restaurant as a waiter when I was a student) but by and large it's a lot more controlled than having the public dipping their hands in the food from time to time!

 

But I'm probably out of date - aren't the buffets all staff-served now?

[wowzz]

8 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

But I'm probably out of date - aren't the buffets all staff-served now?

Not on P&O  !

[rbates51]

18 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

 

But I'm probably out of date - aren't the buffets all staff-served now?

They were a fortnight ago, yes. Only downside is unpredictable portion sizes - "just a little bit please" means different things to different people!

[wowzz]

5 minutes ago, rbates51 said:

They were a fortnight ago, yes. Only downside is unpredictable portion sizes - "just a little bit please" means different things to different people!

Not on Arcadia - help yourself! 

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Apparently the 'buffet' area on the Ambassador ship is more a food court, where things are served to you from behind the counter. They also have single balcony cabins Dave.

Just checked ambassador out. They have availability of single balconies, departures from Tilbury which is easy to get to and even a casino. Must give it serious thought. They have Norway 7 nighter this year which does two different fjords than Iona. Maybe cancel the September Iona.

[Selbourne]

We tend to avoid the buffet nowadays for a number of reasons. Primarily, we prefer a sit down served meal in a restaurant. As my wife is in a wheelchair, I have to get her food as well, so I’m up and down like a blue arsed fly in a buffet, which is hardly relaxing. Also, I have witnessed too many hygiene issues in the buffet. I’ve seen people use the loo, not wash their hands and walk straight into the buffet bypassing the gel. The communal tongs are a Norovirus delight, especially when people get food spills on their hand, lick the food off their finger(s) and then pick the up the tongs - something that I have seen several times. 
 

However my purpose of commenting is that I can never understand why people feel the need to observe or comment on how much food other people select. It’s nothing to do with anyone else what somebody chooses or how much they eat. They have paid for their cruise and a P&O buffet is all you can eat, whether that concept appeals or revolts people. I never find a holiday a good time for a diet, especially a cruise. The only time that I object to what someone eats is when someone on a nearby table has kippers for breakfast. The smell can travel to around a dozen surrounding tables and is too much for me when I’ve not long woken up 🤢

[P&O SUE]

Another one here saddened by the lack of the ‘always available’ option, they didn’t have chicken when we were on Britannia recently which is the meat I eat most. Surely it’s the easy choice to have. I’ll eat steak but I don’t want it every night!

[P&O SUE]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Not on P&O  !

They were on Britannia at Easter. We had breakfast every day and one lunch in the buffet and the staff served everyone.