Special food of the day in the Buffet or in the Local

[detroitlions]

NCL always has had a prime rib day or a BBQ or Seafood day in the buffet or the local. Do they still do this some of the dailies I have been seeing on here do not show this. I always do at least 4 specialty dinning nights but hoping they still have the prime rib day that is one of my favs. 

[bkrickles1]

4 minutes ago, detroitlions said:

NCL always has had a prime rib day or a BBQ or Seafood day in the buffet or the local. Do they still do this some of the dailies I have been seeing on here do not show this. I always do at least 4 specialty dinning nights but hoping they still have the prime rib day that is one of my favs. 

They definitely had the prime rib night on Joy in July.

It was at the buffet and may have been at the Local too on the same night.

These nights were posted in the dailies and I've since seen them in dailies for a recent Getaway sailing too.

[cruiseny4life]

I've seen these nights posted in the Dailies. We had different themes on Pr1ma back in November. We also had them on Joy in March. 2022 cruises had them also. I'm sure it is dependent on the sailing, but it seems prime rib night is typically offered the first night of the cruise, so definitely be on the lookout as soon as you board for what the evening's specialty is if prime rib is a favorite. 

 

Others I've seen include:

 

Oriental - why does NCL still use this word?

Italian

Country & Western

Steak and Shrimp

Mexican

 

There may be others, but that's all I remember.

[seemoreroyals]

The last time we experienced prime rim night was on the Bliss a little over a year ago in the MDR.  Even though we got there fairly early, 5:30ish if I recall correctly, it seems everyone was ordering prime rib.  I think they were caught off guard a bit as it took forever to get our meal.

 

They must have not put the prime rib in the oven in time as there were quite a few of us looking around waiting on our prime rib.  It was good when it finally arrived. 

 

It is almost impossible to plan your SD's around these type of events in the complimentary eating areas.  Sometimes you need to get lucky to participate in one of these.

[Liljo22]

It was Prime Rib night in the buffet on night 1 of my Prima cruise 2 weeks ago.  When you walk into the buffet area during the day, they have signs at the entrance that tell you the theme of night.  

[detroitlions]

So it looks like good news for my March sailing on the Joy. The last 5 cruises I went on they had prime rib on the first day. I usually do not do the special dinners on the first night and the last night.

After reading a few live reviews 2 of them did not have anything listed on the dailies .

[tomk3212]

If memory serves they also served the prime rib in O'Sheehans.  At least that was the case on our last cruise on Escape in November.

Edited January 5 by tomk3212

[Sailing12Away]

If anyone has a daily handy and can give a blind person a clue on where to find Waldo it would be appreciated. I know they always have the themes, but I must be blind as a bat as I've never seen it advertised. Only find out when I stumble nearby and see the signs outside of O'Sheehans or on the table placards in the buffet. 

 

We always say "why don't they advertise these things better in the dailies so we know ahead of time if it's something that catches our bellies?". Apparently this whole time they have and we're just blind.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

We always say "why don't they advertise these things better in the dailies so we know ahead of time if it's something that catches our bellies?". Apparently this whole time they have and we're just blind.

Leading the 🐀pack to the cheese. Here ya go, from @HBCcruiser's live post - under dinner, look at Garden Cafe Buffet, then just before the location you'll see "Pork Loin." That's where the special for the evening is always posted.

 

[BirdTravels]

On 1/4/2024 at 9:34 AM, detroitlions said:

So it looks like good news for my March sailing on the Joy. The last 5 cruises I went on they had prime rib on the first day. I usually do not do the special dinners on the first night and the last night.

After reading a few live reviews 2 of them did not have anything listed on the dailies .

This was the Joy a couple of months ago

[Sailing12Away]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Leading the 🐀pack to the cheese. Here ya go, from @HBCcruiser's live post - under dinner, look at Garden Cafe Buffet, then just before the location you'll see "Pork Loin." That's where the special for the evening is always posted.

Thank you! I honestly never looked in that section because I never felt the need to know the times. Didn't realize they snuck a peek at the specials in that area. Only took 10 NCL cruises.... at least now next month for #11 I'll be a few steps ahead of the game. Hence the 'learning my way as we go....'.

[kjquilts]

15 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

Thank you! I honestly never looked in that section because I never felt the need to know the times. Didn't realize they snuck a peek at the specials in that area. Only took 10 NCL cruises.... at least now next month for #11 I'll be a few steps ahead of the game. Hence the 'learning my way as we go....'.

 

Same for me except NCL cruise #25 is coming up in April 🙂

[The Traveling Man]

37 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

Thank you! I honestly never looked in that section because I never felt the need to know the times. Didn't realize they snuck a peek at the specials in that area. Only took 10 NCL cruises.... at least now next month for #11 I'll be a few steps ahead of the game. Hence the 'learning my way as we go....'.

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger.  I've been on more than three dozen NCL cruises and I can't recall that notice in fine print ever catching my eyeballs, either.

[luv2kroooz]

On 1/4/2024 at 9:34 AM, detroitlions said:

 

After reading a few live reviews 2 of them did not have anything listed on the dailies .

Some ships have them, some don't. Breakaway didn't when we were onboard. I guess it is up to the Chef. Sounds like you are on Joy and should be ok! Have a good cruise!

[detroitlions]

On 1/5/2024 at 1:21 PM, The Traveling Man said:

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger.  I've been on more than three dozen NCL cruises and I can't recall that notice in fine print ever catching my eyeballs, either.

I too like it posted on the bottom highlighted. My last cruise I was annoyed with my self because I ate a lame Rueben in the local on the first day and I walked by the buffet later and seen the after math of the prime rib night  I missed out 

[julig22]

Whether or not they post the buffet menu in the daily seems to be hit or miss. Seems like on my last cruise it was posted most days, in the dining option section - but not always. Other times, I've seen it on the bottom of the front page. But sometimes they post the O'Sheehans/Local special in that space, and put flyers in the elevators - othertimes, nada.

 

But it seems like it's always been prime rib on day 1 as far back as I can remember.

 

[chefchick]

I have a 12 day itinerary coming up….i don’t always book a speciality restaurant on the first night but did this time….do you think they might offer Prime Rib on night 8 as well?

[cruiser2015]

1 hour ago, chefchick said:

I have a 12 day itinerary coming up….i don’t always book a speciality restaurant on the first night but did this time….do you think they might offer Prime Rib on night 8 as well?

The typical rotation has prime rib on night # 7

[julig22]

1 hour ago, chefchick said:

I have a 12 day itinerary coming up….i don’t always book a speciality restaurant on the first night but did this time….do you think they might offer Prime Rib on night 8 as well?

I've been on cruises with a 2nd PR nite, don't recall if it was day 8. 

I've done a few behind the scenes tours and have gotten conflicting info about menu selection. Some say they rotate, others say it's a 7 day repeat so I'm not sure if it's up to the chef or if corporate decides.

[cruiser2015]

16 hours ago, julig22 said:

I've been on cruises with a 2nd PR nite, don't recall if it was day 8. 

I've done a few behind the scenes tours and have gotten conflicting info about menu selection. Some say they rotate, others say it's a 7 day repeat so I'm not sure if it's up to the chef or if corporate decides.

I have learned much form this board over the last few months.

There is a 21 day day menu sequence.

Typically, they run through the first 7 on a 7 day cruise. And so on down the list.

While there does not seem to be an absolute on that sequence (looks like the chef's choice) there could be a switch or skip now and then.

This sequence has been verified by several posts form CC cruisers and other menu sources. I've seen pretty much zero variance from that routine on cruises up to 15 days.

 

[julig22]

2 hours ago, cruiser2015 said:

I have learned much form this board over the last few months.

There is a 21 day day menu sequence.

Typically, they run through the first 7 on a 7 day cruise. And so on down the list.

While there does not seem to be an absolute on that sequence (looks like the chef's choice) there could be a switch or skip now and then.

This sequence has been verified by several posts form CC cruisers and other menu sources. I've seen pretty much zero variance from that routine on cruises up to 15 days.

 

Yes, to the 21 (22?) day menu from corporate. I often go to the behind-the-scenes tour, dinner with officers.

Chef on my latest 7-day cruise said he only does a 7-day rotation, starts over with day 1 on a longer cruise. Which would account for having Prime Rib on day 8, which has happened.  When I commented that would mean that menu 21 would basically never be served, he just gave me a funny look, never answered. Chef on a previous cruise said he chooses his menus and would go through day 11 on an 11 day cruise for example, although he didn't say whether he chose menus in order. Provisions officer told me that the chef chooses the menus 6 months in advance so they can order what they need when the head chef comes onboard. Other than fresh fruit or perishables (and salmon in Alaska) they rarely re-provision during a cruise, it's primarily done at the port of embarkation.

[cruiser2015]

3 hours ago, julig22 said:

Yes, to the 21 (22?) day menu from corporate. I often go to the behind-the-scenes tour, dinner with officers.

Chef on my latest 7-day cruise said he only does a 7-day rotation, starts over with day 1 on a longer cruise. Which would account for having Prime Rib on day 8, which has happened.  When I commented that would mean that menu 21 would basically never be served, he just gave me a funny look, never answered. Chef on a previous cruise said he chooses his menus and would go through day 11 on an 11 day cruise for example, although he didn't say whether he chose menus in order. Provisions officer told me that the chef chooses the menus 6 months in advance so they can order what they need when the head chef comes onboard. Other than fresh fruit or perishables (and salmon in Alaska) they rarely re-provision during a cruise, it's primarily done at the port of embarkation.

Then it appears not to be universal.

Using #'s 1-7, press repeat, over and over for a 7 day cruise fits the pattern I described.

There is a discrepancy from your history though.

Day 1 of the standard menus is not prime rib, but beef medallions, among others.

Day 7 is prime rib, not 8.

Seems you have encountered "rogue" chefs who like to switch up the sequence. 

Again, I have seen the unchanged standard list used on 7, 10, and 15 day cruises.

I assume that they went to21 days total to accommodate the vast majority of all cruises to have no completely repeated menus on the same sailing.

[julig22]

6 hours ago, cruiser2015 said:

Then it appears not to be universal.

Using #'s 1-7, press repeat, over and over for a 7 day cruise fits the pattern I described.

There is a discrepancy from your history though.

Day 1 of the standard menus is not prime rib, but beef medallions, among others.

Day 7 is prime rib, not 8.

Seems you have encountered "rogue" chefs who like to switch up the sequence. 

Again, I have seen the unchanged standard list used on 7, 10, and 15 day cruises.

I assume that they went to21 days total to accommodate the vast majority of all cruises to have no completely repeated menus on the same sailing.

Not sure how you got "rogue" chefs from what I posted, based on info from various head chefs.  Repeating a 7-day sequence doesn't mean NCL meals #1-7.  It means choosing 7 from the available 21. And the chefs all said they choose the sequence.

I took a look at the menus from my last dozen cruises - 10 of 12 had prime rib on day 1, not beef medallions.  The other 2 were listed as All American.

[cruiser2015]

11 hours ago, julig22 said:

Not sure how you got "rogue" chefs from what I posted, based on info from various head chefs.  Repeating a 7-day sequence doesn't mean NCL meals #1-7.  It means choosing 7 from the available 21. And the chefs all said they choose the sequence.

I took a look at the menus from my last dozen cruises - 10 of 12 had prime rib on day 1, not beef medallions.  The other 2 were listed as All American.

Rogue was used in a cutesy manner.

While every recent reference I encountered was consistent with the "standard" 21 day sequence, clearly you have found alternative structures of the menus used.

[chefchick]

Here is another question for “the experts” …I became platinum not too long ago… my husband who doesn’t always cruise with me is not.  Can both of us sign up for the behind the scenes tour or is that for platinums only?