Pearl: Why is the buffet so popular???

[newmexicoNita]

Bad Food? We ate in the buffet and thought the food was very good.

We also ate in La Cucina and Cagney's and the other pay restaurants.

We were often with a group of 12. Even with a big group the service was great or maybe we didn't care how long it took because we were having fun. I didn't hear any complaints about the food. I agree about the back of the ship....we ate there every morning after our walk.

 

Nick

this shows how subjective food is, but I think the entire cruising experience is subjective. That is why there are so many lines and so many catagories for cruising. What one of us thinks is wonderful, someone else will say is the worst.

 

Nita

[kamfan]

We just finished the same cruise as the original poster and must say that we did not have a bad meal the entire cruise. I am not one that likes buffets and the last cruise we were on in 2006 on the Norwegian Wind, did not visit at all. On this cruise we did because of a couple of factors. Mainly though it was in the last week or two and the dining room had got a little repetative and the buffet really held a lot of different food and of a very good quality. We found with the different stations, it was not like a feed trough and enjoyed it much better than most buffets we have seen. We also ate at the outside area and found it limited but good. We preferred sitting out there because of the fresh air and sunshine. This is, afterall one of the reasons we went on this cruise. But we did enjoy our dining room experiences in Summer Palace, Indigo and the specialty restaurants as well. We ate in everyone, with Cagney's being our favorite and eating there 3 times.

 

People do talk about how slow the dining rooms are, but they do that on purpose. Talking to some of the senior waiters, it is done to enhance the feeling of being in a fine dining establishment. A couple of times, we mentioned that we wanted to be out to catch a show and had no problem getting served quickly.

 

We only had one truly slow experience out of our control, and that was one night at Indigo right after the early show where we got seated almost right away, but did have to wait to be served because the got slammed right afterwards. But perfectly understandable given the circumstances. I do understand some comments about the meals being mass produced, but the reality is that they are feeding a lot of people in a short period of time, and given that, I still enjoyed every single meal onboard and would happily do it again.

[nderoche]

this shows how subjective food is, but I think the entire cruising experience is subjective. That is why there are so many lines and so many catagories for cruising. What one of us thinks is wonderful, someone else will say is the worst.

Nita

 

Food is very subjective but we will try anything and I have seen many people look at something and say yuk...without tasting it. If you don't try it how will you know?

Anyway we are off on the Sky for the first time and it will be good to try another ship. Like restaurants all ships are different.

 

Nick

[Checkmate1955]

We did the same Panama Canal on the Pearl last year and we loved the buffet... Yes we ate in most of the other dining rooms and all meals were very good...

 

The buffet is our favorite.. My wife and I do not cruise with a group.. We enjoy being together when she is not working... I am retired.. she is still working... We do not like long drawn out dinners as would be normal in the main dining rooms except for a couple of nights... We like to eat when we want, were we want and as quick as we want... so that makes a buffet good for us...

 

The buffet on the Pearl is the best that we have ever seen on a cruise ship... but it is crowded in the inside seating area... Princess Star also has a very nice layout but the Pearl is the best... come and go as you please... eat a little and come back later or eat a lot and come back when you are ready to eat again.. Eat on your schedule.. not someone elses.. It is relaxing, fun and good food and service...We even try to book a balcony as close to the stairs to the buffet and just one deck down from the buffet... I will go up early in the morning and get a small breakfast and bring it back to the room for my wife who likes to enjoy her breakfast on the balcony...

[newmexicoNita]

Food is very subjective but we will try anything and I have seen many people look at something and say yuk...without tasting it. If you don't try it how will you know?

Anyway we are off on the Sky for the first time and it will be good to try another ship. Like restaurants all ships are different.

 

Nick

those who say "yuk" remind of a bunch of kids, but not my kids. they were taught, very early, you try whatever, if you don't like it you don't have to eat it but if you say Yuk or something like that, you can leave the table and not eat dinner. Once and only once our older daughter (about 7 at the time) pushed just to see if I meant what I said. She is now 49 and I bet she has never said "yuk" to any food...since. LOL

[mtwingcpa]

The reason why most people had their meals in the Garden Cafe was due to slow service in the restaurant and the bad food.

 

I agree that service in the dining rooms was occasionally too slow. But I wouldn't say the food was "bad" except to the extent that some nights the choices just didn't appeal to me.

[CanadianTwosome]

Buffets are always busy. Considering the number of passengers actually on the ship, though, a very small percentage may have actually been in the buffet when you were there. Perhaps you just had an eating schedule more like the majority of people who like the buffet and less like the majority of people that like the dining rooms...

 

I really can't comment on why anyone would or wouldn't eat in the buffet, but I do hope that on our Pearl cruise in January they offer the 2-for-1 deals in the specialties!! :)

[jjb415]

My experience on NCL, particularly the Gem & Sun recently is that the buffet dining area is smaller than the ships of RCI, Celebrity, and Holland America and that situation makes the buffet dining area seem more crowded. The buffet area of the Gem & Sun is one side of deck with the other half being specialty restaurants/bar, where the other 2 lines use both side of the deck for dining. Of course, on NCL, you can get your food in the buffet area and take it to the specialty restauant to eat during breakfast and lunch hours, but, that many times isn't common knowledge until several days into the sailing.

[RULuckyLady2]

I was on this same cruise and I agree that there was not enough seating space in the buffet, breakfest, lunch, or dinner. I didn't really think the service was good either.