Britannia Grab & Go

[kalos]

If you want to see sandwiches being picked up and then put back , just go to any

supermarket or motorway service station that does pre packed , you do not need 

a ships buffet to see this . These can be colour coded /clearly marked out what 

they are . It still happens !

 

[zap99]

8 minutes ago, kalos said:

If you want to see sandwiches being picked up and then put back , just go to any

supermarket or motorway service station that does pre packed , you do not need 

a ships buffet to see this . These can be colour coded /clearly marked out what 

they are . It still happens !

 

In Morrisons the ' No Mayo ' sandwich has a little blue dot, but how do you know the little blue dot means ' no mayo ' unless you pick it up. Cheese and pickle should be ok....nope look at the ingredients. Got mayo as well. Unfortunately if stuff isn't labelled clearly, folk will pick the packet up. Didn't some store tell customers to smell things to see if something was still ok. So you have Covid, pick something up to smell it....hang on you have lost your sense of smell....is it fresh?. Is it contaminated?. Flippin Eck, I'll just have a bag of crisps.🤣

[davecttr]

With the larger ships they should have a servery that makes light dishes up for you then and there. I like the Quays on Iona as you get your food served to you and don't get to sneeze or cough over it. I will use the buffet for breakfast but I will be there at 6.30 when it opens, several mugs of tea later it is a turn around the prom deck, Two and a quarter times round is about 1 mile. I tried timing it but stopping several times for conversions spoilt that 😉

[Bazrat]

2 hours ago, davecttr said:

Compare it to rolls in the buffet, unless you are there when it opens you can be sure that those rolls will have been picked up, looked at closely and squeezed until the one that is just right has been selected.

To be honest never seen anyone use there hands rather than the supplied equipment.

[purplesea]

3 hours ago, zap99 said:

In Morrisons the ' No Mayo ' sandwich has a little blue dot, but how do you know the little blue dot means ' no mayo ' unless you pick it up. Cheese and pickle should be ok....nope look at the ingredients. Got mayo as well. Unfortunately if stuff isn't labelled clearly, folk will pick the packet up. Didn't some store tell customers to smell things to see if something was still ok. So you have Covid, pick something up to smell it....hang on you have lost your sense of smell....is it fresh?. Is it contaminated?. Flippin Eck, I'll just have a bag of crisps.🤣

Never a truer word spoken in yest!!

Having spent many years working on the counters in Tescos, the number of people we saw pick up cheese from the grab and go section, pick up it up, examine it, squeeze it, sniff it, put it back and then do the same with the next piece was unbelievable! We would only ever buy cheese of the counter if it had been cut for us.

[majortom10]

One reason we never go to the buffet for afternoon tea seen many times people picking up sandwiches and open them up to see what is inside and then put them back if they didnt want them. Funnily enough on every row of sandwiches there were labels telling you what is inside the sandwiches but people still ignored them and handled them. Firm believer that majority of Noro Virus cases onboard cruise ships start in the buffet due to peoples unhygienic practices.

 

[davecttr]

28 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

One reason we never go to the buffet for afternoon tea seen many times people picking up sandwiches and open them up to see what is inside and then put them back if they didnt want them. Funnily enough on every row of sandwiches there were labels telling you what is inside the sandwiches but people still ignored them and handled them. Firm believer that majority of Noro Virus cases onboard cruise ships start in the buffet due to peoples unhygienic practices.

 

Ye, first the buffet then the casino, lift buttons etc.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Ye, first the buffet then the casino, lift buttons etc.

I am sure if I worried about all those things as much as some posters seem to, I would end up just staying at home. 

A few germs are good for super charging your immune system, or at least I hope so. if I am correct then I should be safe in most holiday establishments.

[Fionboard]

Agree. However I swerve the buffet and eat at a table with company in a dining room. Much more relaxed. Each to their own.

[Britboys]

I use the buffet on a number of occasions on every cruise for either breakfast or lunch. Twenty-odd cruises down the line I've not had any illness on board...🤞🏻 Touch wood...😀

[Fionboard]

48 P&O cruises. No illness. Avoided buffet!

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

48 P&O cruises. No illness. Avoided buffet!

That sort of statistical analysis does not prove the buffet is good or bad, but does suggest the MDR is quite safe, as long as everyone chooses the same dishes as you!  😁

[Fionboard]

11 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

That sort of statistical analysis does not prove the buffet is good or bad, but does suggest the MDR is quite safe, as long as everyone chooses the same dishes as you!  😁

Why the same dishes?🤔

[Camberley]

I don’t mind the buffet when I fancy something a bit basic or to make up my own bespoke Afternoon Tea to take back to the cabin to avoid the attempt made at Afternoon Tea in the MDR - kind of a guilty pleasure!
 

But I do try to be alert to other people’s habits at the buffet when I am having a look what to get - although of course I’d be none the wiser if a child had licked a sandwich or dribbled on a cake an hour earlier before pitting it back. Or if that lovely couple from Derby had prodded a scone with dirty fingers before decided they were not going to take it. 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Camberley

[Bazrat]

All the evils can be attributed to the buffet, now I know why we like to go there

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Why the same dishes?🤔

Maybe I was being too fussy.🤔

[zap99]

29 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

All the evils can be attributed to the buffet, now I know why we like to go there

Elvis has left the buffet . Apparently he is working in a Grimsby chippie.🤔

[kalos]

43 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

All the evils can be attributed to the buffet, now I know why we like to go there

 

Woe is thee who dares to enter the buffet that sails upon the waters,

for what could happen is of unspeakable things .

 

If you have ever had a burger/ hot dog from one of those curbside vans .

Or stayed for a cooked breakfast in a Premier Inn or even ate fruit before washing .

Then please ignore the warning above .

[zap99]

23 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Woe is thee who dares to enter the buffet that sails upon the waters,

for what could happen is of unspeakable things .

 

If you have ever had a burger/ hot dog from one of those curbside vans .

Or stayed for a cooked breakfast in a Premier Inn or even ate fruit before washing .

Then please ignore the warning above .

I never eat fruit before washing. I have a wash and then consume the prunes. Having just survived 2 premier Inn cooked breakfasts I can tell you that there was nothing toxic. In fact there wasn't much at all. 2 breakfasts for 2 people £38. That is money that was not well spent. I'll follow Graham's example next time. A breakfast wrap in McD.

[kalos]

I had a breakfast wrap in Mc D's once ,quite nice they had the music playing low.

If I remember it was Britney Spears Toxic, never thought owt of it at the time .

[Amyracecar]

I have found the comments on social media about buffets quite entertaining. American cruisers seemed to be horrified at the thought of self service returning, wheras the British tended to be 'Get in! We can get as many sausages as we want again!' 😄

 

I've never really bothered about the thought of buffet hygiene, the food gets turned around pretty quickly with the numbers of people on board, so it tends to be the utensils that are the biggest hygiene concern, so washing your hands before eating can combat that. There's always a chance someone might have touched something (same as any other surface you also touch), but you can't worry about every eventuality, you'd never sleep! 

[Ardennais]

23 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I never eat fruit before washing. I have a wash and then consume the prunes. Having just survived 2 premier Inn cooked breakfasts I can tell you that there was nothing toxic. In fact there wasn't much at all. 2 breakfasts for 2 people £38. That is money that was not well spent. I'll follow Graham's example next time. A breakfast wrap in McD.

Depends on the PI in my experience. Premier Inn Holyhead last year had a fantastic breakfast. Llantrisant a few weeks ago - again brilliant and well worth the price. Rhyl a fortnight ago - limited, cold and a bit disappointing. Anything’s better than a McD brekkie in my husband’s opinion anyway!