Ordering in the galley

[Jamesv281117]

Hi

We've been on the repositioning cruise from Cape town the last couple of weeks and have found that you now go up to each station in the galley to order. Personally I have found this to get really busy at peak times and a bit chaotic and thought the previous way of table ordering was better.

 

Interested to know is this something that has changed across the other ships too?

[cantgetin]

I am currently on Valiant.  We have the option of going to the stations or taking a seat and flipping up the flag.  Service with the flag is very prompt.

[Jamesv281117]

Interesting thanks, we've been struggling a bit with getting anyone to take an order using the flag method on Resilient which has been strange. Is the busiest I've ever seen the galley though on any virgin voyage so far..

[jon81uk]

We are on Scarlet right now and ordering by raising the flag for a server and by going up to counters has worked very well. Generally we ordered with a server at breakfast (to get pancakes) but went to counters at lunch to find the specials.

 

Only Galley issue we had was at 2.30am after Scarlet night when they ran out of hash browns, then served them still frozen and the ordering went to complete chaos.

[Jamesv281117]

4 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

We are on Scarlet right now and ordering by raising the flag for a server and by going up to counters has worked very well. Generally we ordered with a server at breakfast (to get pancakes) but went to counters at lunch to find the specials.

 

Only Galley issue we had was at 2.30am after Scarlet night when they ran out of hash browns, then served them still frozen and the ordering went to complete chaos.

That's interesting as well thank you I'm sailing Caribbean with virgin soon so will be interested to compare, could be down to this particular crowd and timings. On the current voyage there's been a lot of chaos moments with ordering, was a special at the burger place yesterday everyone seemed to want and it was mayhem with management getting involved to deal with orders!

[jon81uk]

2 hours ago, Jamesv281117 said:

That's interesting as well thank you I'm sailing Caribbean with virgin soon so will be interested to compare, could be down to this particular crowd and timings. On the current voyage there's been a lot of chaos moments with ordering, was a special at the burger place yesterday everyone seemed to want and it was mayhem with management getting involved to deal with orders!

We are currently on the transatlantic so maybe some people are more chilled as there is so much sea day time. We did order the special burger from a server once and they chased it up for us as it took ~15 minutes but I think that was mainly a wait for fries.

 

One night the dinner special was a baked potato bar and I think there was a long line as everyone wants very specific toppings. I grabbed the sweet and sour chicken with egg fried rice instead and it was great.

[Tralfaz1138]

5 hours ago, Jamesv281117 said:

That's interesting as well thank you I'm sailing Caribbean with virgin soon so will be interested to compare, could be down to this particular crowd and timings. On the current voyage there's been a lot of chaos moments with ordering, was a special at the burger place yesterday everyone seemed to want and it was mayhem with management getting involved to deal with orders!

We were on RL last year for the repositioning into Sydney.  During peak times the Galley could get busy, but we never really encountered an issue with it taking very long to at least order and get the buzzer puck from anyplace.  That said, the Burger Bar was generally the busiest of the places (perhaps a line of 5-10 people) and took the longest for your food to be prepared when we did order there for lunch.

 

We generally didn't use table service since we liked to browse the options and once we found what we wanted, the wait wasn't long enough at any place to justify not just ordering at the counter when we found what we wanted.

[cantgetin]

Yeah, the "potato bar" was difficult as the servers didn't know what some of the toppings were, and as always, they needed to put the topping on or beside the potato (not like a bar where you get the potato and fix it yourself.  It was slow, especially at the beginning and there was really no good way to order that item with a server as the servers didn't know what the options were.  The only smart thing I did was to get what I wanted and what my cabin mate wanted at the same time  rather than each of us getting in the line.  My burger today took maybe 3 minutes....not bad at all.

 

[Cloud9 Bob]

3 hours ago, cantgetin said:

My burger today took maybe 3 minutes....not bad at all.

Ever partake in the French Toast Hamburger?

[cantgetin]

18 minutes ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

Ever partake in the French Toast Hamburger?

Once....good, but way too much food for me.

[Rogueperson]

8 hours ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

Ever partake in the French Toast Hamburger?

 

It was ok.  Not bad for what it is.  Got it earlier this cruise.

 

 

[Cloud9 Bob]

Can you order the hamburger part well done?

[cantgetin]

3 hours ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

Can you order the hamburger part well done?

We have been able to specify "medium", so I don't see why you couldn't ask for "well done."  THey  cook it when you order.

[Rogueperson]

18 hours ago, cantgetin said:

We have been able to specify "medium", so I don't see why you couldn't ask for "well done."  THey  cook it when you order.

Huh, i tried and they said they only do medium.  We’re on the same sailing.  I asked for it rare.

[jon81uk]

30 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

Huh, i tried and they said they only do medium.  We’re on the same sailing.  I asked for it rare.

Very few places will offer rare burgers unless they make their own minced beef.

[Wildcatllamas]

Most land based restaurants will have the disclaimer somewhere on their menu that eating meat, eggs and seafood undercooked can lead to serious illness so they can avoid the repercussions of folks eating raw food.

 

In one of my college classes I toured a meat packing plant. That was a real eye opener on ground beef and all meat cuts and the issues of cross contamination. I will not buy hamburger in those solid package tubes. I will only buy it from stores that actually grind their own meat and now that there is a rancher that is selling direct to the public I get his hamburger.

 

So on board a ship or even in a restaurant that doesn't grind their own meat I will order medium rare even though I definitely prefer it rare.

[cantgetin]

On 5/5/2024 at 12:09 AM, Rogueperson said:

Huh, i tried and they said they only do medium.  We’re on the same sailing.  I asked for it rare.

No explanation.  Each time I asked for medium, they put a fresh burger on the grill rather than using one that was already cooking....and what I got was definitely better than what happened without the specification.  

[CruisingWalter]

On 5/3/2024 at 5:43 PM, Cloud9 Bob said:

Ever partake in the French Toast Hamburger?

Most amazing burger on the ship. I get one each cruise. You can't do more than one. 🙂

[Cloud9 Bob]

2 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Most amazing burger on the ship. I get one each cruise. You can't do more than one. 🙂

You’re where I first heard about it. Can’t believe I sailed SL twice and never

noticed it. I’ll try one next time for sure!

[Tralfaz1138]

54 minutes ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

You’re where I first heard about it. Can’t believe I sailed SL twice and never

noticed it. I’ll try one next time for sure!

Yeah, I was on a cruise for 15 nights and never ran across this burger (and I'm a huge french toast fan).  I will definitely try it on my upcoming cruise.

[Jamesv281117]

Intrigued by this burger also, never saw it on 17 nights on resilient lady just gone but want to try!

[cantgetin]

It is served during breakfast hours.

 

[CruisingWalter]

19 hours ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

Yeah, I was on a cruise for 15 nights and never ran across this burger (and I'm a huge french toast fan).  I will definitely try it on my upcoming cruise.

It's in the Burger Bar each breakfast, you honestly can't miss it if you walk by, SUPER thick toast and yummy burger. The syrup really makes it for me. 🙂

[Tralfaz1138]

4 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

It's in the Burger Bar each breakfast, you honestly can't miss it if you walk by, SUPER thick toast and yummy burger. The syrup really makes it for me. 🙂

Out of curiosity, is it something they can make after breakfast?  I'll still certainly get one, but it seems heavy for me for my normal breakfast.  I guess if they serve it "up till 11am" I could do an early lunch...

[jon81uk]

20 minutes ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

Out of curiosity, is it something they can make after breakfast?  I'll still certainly get one, but it seems heavy for me for my normal breakfast.  I guess if they serve it "up till 11am" I could do an early lunch...

it’s only on the breakfast menu, available until 11.30am. After that they don’t offer French Toast.