Afternoon tea

[phil1107]

Is the offering for the afternoon tea in the Wintergarden the same every day?

 

Do you recommend going more than once during a voyage?

 

 

[Ranger Mom]

The scones don't change, but the sandwiches/pastries do. I loved afternoon tea and tried to attend a couple times each cruise. Try it early in your voyage in case you love it too!

[phil1107]

Thx Ranger Mom!

So for the pastries and sandwiches, are they different every day or rotated every few days or weeks?

[duquephart]

Nice presentation but a lot of waste.

[Mrs Miggins]

Waste ?

[OneSixtyToOne]

4 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Waste ?

Tea for two is a LOT! 

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

4 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Tea for two is a LOT! 

Holy cow, that's a lot of food.  Can we ask for a half amount or something?

 

[Squawkman]

1 minute ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

Holy cow, that's a lot of food.  Can we ask for a half amount or something?

 

The settings are usually for 4 and they fill up quickly on sea days. But yeah, still a lot of food for 4 people.

[Mrs Miggins]

You can choose to have just the scones, with cream and jam.  Also I do not think it is compulsory to eat everything although DH does manage his half easily.

Sometimes the cream is not the proper 'clotted' cream but this can usually be obtained by request.

 

[Pushka]

13 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Waste ?

I agree. I'm just interested in scones jam and cream. I'm hoping that I can simply have that. Otherwise it's a waste. Which I hate. I'm sure I'll be fine. 

[dd57]

I went by myself once and got half that amount.  I would think for 2 you could ask for a tray for one and an extra tea. 

[Cruisetones]

59 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

The settings are usually for 4 and they fill up quickly on sea days. But yeah, still a lot of food for 4 people.

First time viking cruiser this March; when you say fill up, is it first come first serve or by reservation?

[Pushka]

25 minutes ago, Cruisetones said:

First time viking cruiser this March; when you say fill up, is it first come first serve or by reservation?

First come first served. 

[CCWineLover]

30 minutes ago, Cruisetones said:

First time viking cruiser this March; when you say fill up, is it first come first serve or by reservation?

First Come First served.  On our recent cruise, it seemed people were coming in early to Wintergarden and getting their seats well ahead of time. However, the tea service has become so popular, that Viking has now spread the overflow to the Explorer's Lounge.  We were at the lounge once during Tea time and pretty much all the seating from the Fireplace to the Front on the starboard side were filled with tea and sandwiches people.  And yes, Viking staff would serve there too.   So not to worry!

 

I personally always wondered how people had any room for dinner that night!

[Hobson1754]

I never saw anyone turned away & even if Winter Garden was full I’m sure you could get Afternoon Tea to take outside at poolside/poolside bar.  We once went in just to get some scones to take back to our cabin - scones are scrumptious. One of the waiters got me a printed recipe off the chef - another example of Vikings great customer service👍

[Jim Avery]

9 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

First Come First served.  On our recent cruise, it seemed people were coming in early to Wintergarden and getting their seats well ahead of time. However, the tea service has become so popular, that Viking has now spread the overflow to the Explorer's Lounge.  We were at the lounge once during Tea time and pretty much all the seating from the Fireplace to the Front on the starboard side were filled with tea and sandwiches people.  And yes, Viking staff would serve there too.   So not to worry!

 

I personally always wondered how people had any room for dinner that night!

But somehow we always do make room.....😜

[Squawkman]

46 minutes ago, Cruisetones said:

First time viking cruiser this March; when you say fill up, is it first come first serve or by reservation?

First come, first served as others here noted. The only time it was overcrowded was on our last cruise which had only one sea day. And there were those holding seats, etc. We got there 3:35 and you couldn’t get near the Wintergarden entrances. We’ve done it so many times, we just let that day go.

[Azulann]

the few times I was around for afternoon tea, Iovedeverything they offered. I loved the tea menu, lots of variety. 

 yes it is quite filling but  eat light for dinner or take a walk around the deck after teatime. 

I love this offering  on Viking.  My next cruise has no sea days so don't know if I will be able to fit it in. I do like if Wintergarden is full , they serve in EL. But Wintergreen is such a lovely space on the ship. 

[phil1107]

Can no one answer my question - is everyday a unique selection or is there a finite number of selections, so that they get repeated after a number of days?

[LindaS272]

Everyday is a unique selection as far as I know. There’s no menu for the sandwiches & desserts served, so unless a cruiser were to go everyday on a particular cruise, you’d not know if things get recycled. We go frequently on most cruises and have not seen a repeat of the menu—usually. World Cruisers probably see a fair amount of recycled menus since their cruise is so long.

[LindaS272]

There’s been a report recently from one or two cruises that “corporate” has now mandated port talks during teatime & some lectures at 6:15 in order to lessen attendance at tea and early dinner seatings. They never seemed to have a problem when we cruised several times in 2019-2020 with nearly full ships but maybe they are short staffed now!

[Clay Clayton]

12 minutes ago, phil1107 said:

Can no one answer my question - is everyday a unique selection or is there a finite number of selections, so that they get repeated after a number of days?

 

7 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Everyday is a unique selection as far as I know. There’s no menu for the sandwiches & desserts served, so unless a cruiser were to go everyday on a particular cruise, you’d not know if things get recycled. We go frequently on most cruises and have not seen a repeat of the menu—usually. World Cruisers probably see a fair amount of recycled menus since their cruise is so long.

I unfortunately haven’t been on a world cruise but on our cruises there never seem to be a repeat of the exact same sandwiches and desserts BUT I do recall on our transatlantics that there were some repeats of one sandwich or the other.  I remember liking one of the shrimp sandwiches in particular. 
 

In the before times, the sandwich selection each day was included on the menu that was available on the app.  This allowed us to figure out which days we wanted to take tea since we don’t eat salmon. 

[Jim Avery]

29 minutes ago, phil1107 said:

Can no one answer my question - is everyday a unique selection or is there a finite number of selections, so that they get repeated after a number of days?

Different every day 

[LindaS272]

25 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

 

I unfortunately haven’t been on a world cruise but on our cruises there never seem to be a repeat of the exact same sandwiches and desserts BUT I do recall on our transatlantics that there were some repeats of one sandwich or the other.  I remember liking one of the shrimp sandwiches in particular. 
 

In the before times, the sandwich selection each day was included on the menu that was available on the app.  This allowed us to figure out which days we wanted to take tea since we don’t eat salmon. 

You’re an “alert reader” Clay cuz I never noticed that menu in the app in the before times! Who knew? 🤦‍♀️😂
 

I too occasionally noticed a repeat of certain kinds of sandwiches, but more often from cruise to cruise instead of within a cruise. Our longest cruise so far has been 18 days.

Edited February 15, 2023 by LindaS272

[Clay Clayton]

47 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

You’re an “alert reader” Clay cuz I never noticed that menu in the app in the before times! Who knew? 🤦‍♀️😂
 

I too occasionally noticed a repeat of certain kinds of sandwiches, but more often from cruise to cruise instead of within a cruise. Our longest cruise so far has been 18 days.

Yup they used to have the menu for Tea, World Cafe, Chef’s Table, and The Restaurant listed for the whole cruise upon boarding.  It sometimes changed but allowed us to move our dining around to make sure we didn’t miss any of our favorite meals. They would of course sometimes change them during the cruise but it gave you a good place to start. 
 

 

During the Welcome Back cruise in Iceland in 2021 the app worked terribly and there were no menus available.  Hoping that won’t be the case in July🤞