How's the buffet for dinner on Jewel of the seas?

[doxiegal]

Hi all, We are a group of four traveling on the Jewel of the Seas 1-2-2010 sailing. We were just wondering how many of you have dined in the Windjammer buffet in the evening. We plan on having My Time dining, but would also like to dine a couple nights in the buffet. How was the quality of food and service in there, in the evening? Normally, we only eat in the dining rooms, but last month on our Princess cruise we ate in the buffet at night a couple times and found the food and service to be excellent. So we would like to keep that option open. Also, for those who have dined in the buffet on formal night, do they serve lobster in the buffet? or must I dine in the dining room to have that? Thanks in advance.

[amapola]

Bumping up since I'm interested in hearing opinions too :). I've used the buffet for dinner on Princess and on AOS and had a good experience, but would love to hear what recent Jewel cruisers have found.

[cb at sea]

While it's a bit nicer in the WJ for dinner, than earlier in the day, it's still "buffet" food, and it's still "serve yourself"....

[Broch]

Hi all, We are a group of four traveling on the Jewel of the Seas 1-2-2010 sailing. We were just wondering how many of you have dined in the Windjammer buffet in the evening. We plan on having My Time dining, but would also like to dine a couple nights in the buffet. How was the quality of food and service in there, in the evening? Normally, we only eat in the dining rooms, but last month on our Princess cruise we ate in the buffet at night a couple times and found the food and service to be excellent. So we would like to keep that option open. Also, for those who have dined in the buffet on formal night, do they serve lobster in the buffet? or must I dine in the dining room to have that? Thanks in advance.

 

We found the dining at the windjammer to be very good but we only ate there the once when we were overnight in St. Petersburg. The reason we did not use the Buffet more often was because of the service in the Mtd section of the Dining room. Very satisfactory more so because the girl allocating the tables had to be very efficient especially if a lot of diners wanted tables at the same time. To ease things we would tell her the night before what time we were to dine the following night and she would have our table ready for us, but some people would just turn up and expect to be seated right away. No restaurant can work like that and she appreciated our cooperation. The waiters were perhaps the best we have had. We really did look forward to dining there every night. Enjoy your cruise and I hope you enjoy the Jewel as much as we did. Brilliant.

[amapola]

Thanks for the replies!

 

On the AOS I found it to be quite acceptable, they had linens on the tables, and some nights they even had live music -- a guitar or string quartet or something like that, my memory fails me ;). It's nice to have the option when you're tired from an excursion or just want a quick bite to eat. I'm looking forward to MTD, but with a 9 day cruise (I'm on the same sailing as the OP) I know some days we'll want to try this out. Thanks again!

[doxiegal]

I am looking forward to this cruise, and to trying out the buffet for dinner some evenings. Sometimes I get tired of the length of time spent in the dining room for dinner. If you are having slow service, sometimes it can be close to 3 hours. Yikes..... I like having the option of a decent buffet once in a while. I am a waitress for a living, and can tell you that often times because I serve people day in and day out, I don't even want to deal with a formal dinner in a dining room setting. Alot of times the buffet is A OK with me....

[Ashland]

We enjoy eating dinner most nights during our cruises in the WJ..The food is great and the service we have always received is excellent..We usually have a favorite area we like to sit in and get to know the waitstaff very well...It's surprising how many cruisers we have noticed that actually dine this way nightly instead of the MDR...We also enjoy using the specialty restaurants too.... Enjoy your cruise and dining wherever you want, after all it's your vacation...

[Happy ks]

We finally tried eating in the Windjammer (Radiance, not Jewel) and will not be returning there. We were a bit lazy and didn't feel like dressing for dinner and had read here on CC the food was the same as the dining room.

 

It wasn't at all the same. Yes, the atmosphere was fine, but the food was just buffet food. We avoid the buffet for breakfast and lunch as well whenever possible. We will definitely make the effort to dress for dinner and go to the dining room every night from now on.

[vickiw0318]

My family spent five nights on the Jewel last September. We ate in the Windjammer 4 of the 5 and loved it. First of all, we don't get a chance to see each other often. We were able to eat on our own schedule and on a more casual basis. It was quieter than the main dining room and we got our "courses" when we felt like it and didn't have time constraints on our time together around the table. We got to know the Windjammer Manager and the head Windjammer chef. The food selection was very good. There was also a made to order option or two each night. There was a grill where you could pick your own meat and have it cooked for you. (I added freshly grilled chicken to my Caesar salad.) One night, there was a made-to-order stir fry. On another, there was a made to order pasta. (You select the ingrediants and they cook it up for you.)

 

I've been blessed to have been on five different RCI ships this year and the Jewel Windjammer was one of the two best.

[boba]

:cool: Traveling with 2 toddlers last year, we tried WJ for dinner and loved it. No long waits for the kids, and better selection than MDR. It was a nice atmosphere at night, also. We had no kids on this years repo so we sat with CC members and had a great time, but may do WJ some nights next year. :cool: