Another OV report thread. Here's one for a Millennium-class ship. I cruise solo a lot, so end up there most nights for dinner. I'm not going to go hungry but I'm sad for these cuts.
Here's what they've had the first two nights:
Salad bar
Self service caesar salad station (no chicken)
Meat and cheese station (nice selection of cheeses...and sliced turkey, lol, and bologna last night)
Stir fry station
Pizza
Indian cuisine
German theme hot dishes with schnitzel (night 2, don't remember night 1, sorry)
Pasta station
Desserts
Things I'm used to seeing every night on every cruise I've ever been on in my entire life:
Some kind of baked chicken
Some kind of baked fish
Carving station
A least one hot green veggie
A baked pasta dish of some kind
They'll still grill some meats for you but on this sailing on this ship, at least, you need to ask your server what meats they have and then they place the order and get them for you. I've found these grilled meats to be brown-greasy, like ordering a pork chop at the Waffle House. I still eat them, haha.
Reduced staff in OV. No drink waiters that I saw. Of course the bar is right out back.
I've been on all three classes over the past 3 weeks and it's gotten a little grimmer each time. I think they're still working through the stores on some of this.
I spoke with the guy in the big chef hat who was speaking to (possibly) his boss. They acknowledged the deliberate cuts, said "the world is changing," and suggested I go to the MDR.
An employee was clicking people in on her hand-counter.
Like I said, I'm sad to see these changes. Some cruise lines do super bare-bones dinner buffets and it looks like Celebrity is heading there. It's a highlight of my solo cruise day and it's just kinda blah now.
FWIW if I was choosing cruises just for the dinner buffet (I'm not) it would be Holland America.
Standard disclaimer, times changes, cruise lines change, don't sail if you don't like it, cruising is still so cheap, etc. Maybe if I say it for you it will save some time. 😀