Ship Eats - anyone have experience to share?

[happy cruzer]

Hi,

 

We don't often do room service so maybe those who do will share how it works on Virgin?

 

For breakfast do you order the night before?  How is the food delivered with plates and silverware?  Beverages in papercups?

 

Have you ordered Ship Eats to be delivered other spots on the ship?

 

Generally how long does it take to arrive?

 

How was the food?

 

And the hot question - What about tipping?

 

Any other pointers appreciated.  Thanks.

[neverendingcruising]

You can order breakfast in advance but we found slots fill up quickly so book early. 
 

The delivery method is unique as everything comes in a large pouch. Silverware, condiments, etc all included.

 

As far as our experience you can only have ship eats delivered to your cabin. 
 

 Breakfast is scheduled in advance, other wise we verbally go out food in about 30 minutes. 
 

We felt the good quality was very good considering it’s delivered.  
 

There is no tipping on the ship, all included in the voyage fare. 

[cantgetin]

There is a $7 delivery fee which is waived if you order anything that has a charge--order a $4 coffee, hot chocolate or $5 tea or any alcohol and you will not pay the delivery charge.  Like everything else on the ship, gratuities are included in your cruise fare, no additional tip is expected.  It all comes packed on a nifty delivery set up including real plates, silverware, napkins, condiments, etc.  Delivery times for other than breakfast depend on how busy they are--20-30 minutes is common.  We've been told 30 and had things arrive sooner.  Be sure to turn off the "Do not disturb" light on your door!

There is a pretty wide assortment of available items even including steak.  The onlu bad experience I've had is that the hot water for tea or broth for soup comes in a thermos type container.  They don't understand that once such a container has been used for coffee, it will forever retain the coffee odor and taste.  I sent the soup broth down the toilet.  I save the tea and get hot water from The Galley either then or later.  THe liquid in the thermos is foul.

Breakfast can be pre-ordered on the app except on the last day.  

Beverages come in whatever container depending on what they are--soft drinks are in cans with appropriate glassware.  No paper cups.  Beers are in cans or bottles, etc.

Note--you cannot "double dip."  If you have a $10 per day Grounds Club credit and order a specialty coffee, it will NOT be applied to your credit because it didn't come from Grounds Club.  Ditto for specialty coffee ordered in a restaurant.  Your Grounds Club credit applies to beverages purchased at Grounds Club only. 

[CruisingWalter]

Ship Eats is some of the best room service at sea that we've experienced. It all comes packaged up brilliantly so cold stuff stays cold and hot stuff stays hot. I have found the coffee to be much better from room service than what is served in The Galley. Instead of paying the delivery fee I'll order a specialty coffee to get that waived.

 

Food is basically the same quality as you would expect from The Galley. We've used it multiple times in the past and loved it. About to embark on an 8 day Valiant Lady cruise and we'll probably use it a few more times. I do wish they could deliver anywhere on the ship like Princess, that's actually really cool.

 

No tipping required anywhere on the ship. 

[raphael360]

I tried the Ship Eats option on my last 2 cruises and found the order option on the app only worked occasionally.  Most of the time it came back with the error message, unavailable, try later (or something like that). I had to call Sailor Services to process my order. 

 

Any advice?  

[jon81uk]

If you order speciality coffee like a latte, americano or cappuccino then it comes in a paper cup. Filter coffee is in small flasks with plastic cups. Soft drinks will be in their can and same for alcohol generally.

The food is in nice plastic dishes with a lid, but you can remove stuff onto the lid to use it as a plate. Metal silverware and cloth napkins are provided and sugar etc will be in small metal containers.

[happy cruzer]

Thanks for all the details.  Good to know that even though delivered in a pouch that you get pretty good utensils vs. all plastic.

 

Is the full menu available 24 hours?  i.e. could you have steak or a sandwich for breakfast?

 

Thanks for the info about delivery outside of the room.  When I searched this site, someone reported that because you wear the band they can deliver to you anywhere.  Maybe for the future?

[jon81uk]

22 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

Thanks for all the details.  Good to know that even though delivered in a pouch that you get pretty good utensils vs. all plastic.

 

Is the full menu available 24 hours?  i.e. could you have steak or a sandwich for breakfast?

 

Thanks for the info about delivery outside of the room.  When I searched this site, someone reported that because you wear the band they can deliver to you anywhere.  Maybe for the future?

No there is separate breakfast 5am to 11am and lunch/dinner menu for 11am to 5am.

 

They were planning to use Bluetooth on the app to track you for delivery everywhere but I think it’s only used for shake for champagne now.

 

There are no single use plastics anywhere on the ship, metal silverware and cloth napkins are standard. Only time you’ll get disposable stuff is ice cream cups and spoons and takeaway coffee cups.

Edited November 4, 2023 by jon81uk

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, raphael360 said:

I tried the Ship Eats option on my last 2 cruises and found the order option on the app only worked occasionally.  Most of the time it came back with the error message, unavailable, try later (or something like that). I had to call Sailor Services to process my order. 

 

Any advice?  

Ordering on the tablet in the room is generally better than on the app.  Then you wait for the phone call about what they don't have available and would you like to substitute something.

As above, I don't thing Ship Eats serves anywhere except your cabin, and if you try that tab on the app it always gives an error message.

[TheDarkestBlue]

Here's a video unpacking breakfast from their first Ship Eats order - though it seems there is a zipper on the side to help unpack?

 

 

[cantgetin]

Yes there is a zipper on the side of the bag which greatly helps with the unpacking.

 

[Fogcityca13]

We use ship eats every day except for the last day. I setup the next day’s order while we are getting ready for dinner. The food and options are really good. The only problems we had was getting our specialty coffee. I order regular coffee and two specialty coffees so I think that’s where the problem is. I just order a Red Bull or beer and put it in the refrigerator. If you’re a soda drinker they’ll deliver cans that you can put in your refrigerator, no charge on those.

[neverendingcruising]

12 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Note--you cannot "double dip."  If you have a $10 per day Grounds Club credit and order a specialty coffee, it will NOT be applied to your credit because it didn't come from Grounds Club.  Ditto for specialty coffee ordered in a restaurant.  Your Grounds Club credit applies to beverages purchased at Grounds Club only. 

I read elsewhere that you can now use the coffee credit at restaurants/bars but still not ship eats. We’ll be on Valiant in early December and will test it out for science! 

[cantgetin]

I'm on Valiant now.  It doesn't matter to me at this point as I have a large bar tab which covered my tea in one of the restaurants.  YMMV....

Today a delivery person knocked on my door with a Ship Eats container as well as a bottle in an ice bucket......unfortunately, I pointed out that we were not the cabin on the delivery form (the person insisted we were the correct room, and showed me the ticket, at which point I redirected the delivery.  Maybe I should have kept the wine. 🙂

 

[happy cruzer]

On 11/4/2023 at 7:59 AM, cantgetin said:

Ordering on the tablet in the room is generally better than on the app.  Then you wait for the phone call about what they don't have available and would you like to substitute something.

As above, I don't thing Ship Eats serves anywhere except your cabin, and if you try that tab on the app it always gives an error message.

Just saw in the app the reference to the band and delivery anywhere.  Very annoying.  Thank you for pointing out to use the tablet for room service (doesn’t seem to be sea eats at this time)

[neverendingcruising]

Is ordering from the tablet in the cabin new? I hadn’t noticed that before. 

[cantgetin]

2 hours ago, neverendingcruising said:

Is ordering from the tablet in the cabin new? I hadn’t noticed that before. 

Was the easiest way to do it a year ago.

[raphael360]

On 11/4/2023 at 4:49 PM, cantgetin said:

'm on Valiant now

Can you confirm if you are able to order via the in room device? It didn’t work for me in May when I was having issues ordering from the app. 

Edited November 5, 2023 by raphael360

[periodic itinerant]

On 11/4/2023 at 6:59 AM, TheDarkestBlue said:

Here's a video unpacking breakfast from their first Ship Eats order - though it seems there is a zipper on the side to help unpack?

 

Yeah, the first time I ordered I didn't notice the zipper and really struggled to get the drink holder out and was probably swearing under my breath. In my defense, I hadn't had my coffee yet and my cabin lights were dimmed! I felt pretty stupid when I turned the bag around.

[conandrob240]

On 11/5/2023 at 5:47 PM, raphael360 said:

Can you confirm if you are able to order via the in room device? It didn’t work for me in May when I was having issues ordering from the app. 

Both worked for us last week