Double orders in the MDR?

[mlk58]

I think it's hilarious that anybody who patronizes a mass-market cruise line (*cough* anastasia *cough*) would have the nerve to tsk tsk at ANYBODY about overconsumption.

[critterchick]

[quote name='anastasia1']Obesity and it's costs to society
destruction of worlds resources by the affluent minority

I imagine these affect waiters as well.

I often think that they come from such poor backgrounds and work so hard to support their families and don't see them for such a long time that they must be pretty outraged by some of the waste and excessive consumption they see.[/quote]

That's a little patronizing, don't you think? I've met some crew from poor backgrounds, but have met an equal number from perfectly comfortable backgrounds. I seriously doubt that they care how much food somebody eats. And if you've ever heard the noise from a crew party or have seen your cabin steward with bloodshot eyes and a crooked name badge the morning after, you know that it's not just the passengers that consume excessively.

But I will say that [U]I'm[/U] outraged by some of the waste I see - people piling their plates high in the buffet and then eating only a 1/4 of what they take always bothers me. Take what you like, but eat all you take.

[quote name='huenix']Can I order two appetizers, a salad, a dessert and no entree instead? I can't eat most of the entrees because of the sauces anyway.[/quote]

Yes, you may. I think that you can get your entrees without sauces, too, if you ask. And if your waiter is outraged that you dare to order something different than what's on the menu, then he or she doesn't belong in that line of work.

What was the original question again?

[RetireeWannabee]

[quote name='michael-g-rice']You should only order 1 of each course, maybe then cruise fares would drop[/quote]
ha ha haaa!!! Sure, and people should bring less crap so that the ship uses less fuel, and then cruise fares would drop.

[RetireeWannabee]

[quote name='anastasia1']They prepare it because people eat it. If people ate less they would prepare less. It's supply and demand. If people didn't demand over time the profile would change and less would be cooked.[/quote]
and your source in the cruise industry is ...?

[RetireeWannabee]

[quote name='anastasia1']obesity starts somewhere. At 25 my friend was a 'smaller sized' person. By 33 she was dead from obesity and left a 1 year old orphan. She had the attitude ' well it's free' . It was tragic.

Nothing is free . Everything has a cost. The more we eat the more needs to be produced and the greater the environmental impact. It's a choice we make.[/quote]
I've made it quite past 33 and I'm still slender.

I'd say we're making our choices just fine, thanks, and I'm pretty sure it's not about "free", it's about enjoying good food while on vacation.

Obesity can have causes other than consumption. sorry about your friend. gluttony kills, not cruise ship food.

[RetireeWannabee]

[quote name='anastasia1']I wasn't wanting to tell people. It's a choice that we all make about how we live our lives. Sometimes our choices affect others in wAys we may not have thought about.

I am not saying that one cruise makes a difference. It is more about the culture that underpins that choice which interests me. We see it as our right,as free, as not affecting other people. That isn't always the case. Our choices can affect people we will never even meet and people who will not be born for generations.

It is our choice. I just think it should be a considered and informed choice. Whatever we chose we should know the possible consequences and be comfortable with them ( and the things that we will feel comfortable with will vary based on our very personal value system). Not right or wrong but different.[/quote]
prob'ly you're looking for a different message board for your message.

[Cincy-David]

[quote name='michael-g-rice']You should only order 1 of each course, maybe then cruise fares would drop[/quote]

I think not, I pay full price and if i want two or three of everything (which I always do), I will politely ask for them and enjoy them, this is the joy of cruising.

The wait staff is ready for this request as they get it from many of thier diners each and every meal. The portions on cruise ships are relatively small compared to land based restaurants. There will be nights when you want seconds and should not feel the least bit worried to ask for it.

Happy Cruising
Dave

[disneygoof]

We had a waiter suggest getting 2 main entrees when we couldn't decide. My son and I got an entree each and split a 3rd entree.

[Havingfun2010]

[quote name='michael-g-rice']You should only order 1 of each course, maybe then cruise fares would drop[/quote]

Do you have any idea what the mark-up is on food in restaruants? Or in the grocery store? A double plate in the MDR is going to be eaten, but the amount of waste in a buffet is staggering!. Your cruise rate will not go down, for a few extra plates.

[Havingfun2010]

[quote name='anastasia1']obesity starts somewhere. At 25 my friend was a 'smaller sized' person. By 33 she was dead from obesity and left a 1 year old orphan. She had the attitude ' well it's free' . It was tragic.

Nothing is free . Everything has a cost. The more we eat the more needs to be produced and the greater the environmental impact. It's a choice we make.[/quote]

In High School, I was 185-188 pounds. 25 years later, I'm 192. I eat as much and as often as I want. Sorry about your friend, but obesity is a disease, and it wasn't treated.

Second item, it's not free, since you paid for it. It's included! The small portions, require, seconds for some people. It's not the quantity, but the quality of food.

[ewpsrp]

[quote name='Puffinater']What an interesting turn this thread has taken.[/quote]

Unfortunate isn't it. Started reading the posts and enjoying and then it gets ugly like so many threads on Cruise Critic. After reading some of this stuff I'm ready to say let's all stop living because our lives and choices negatively affect someone in someway. Ready to give up on Cruise Critic too.

[DONNAKG]

hey- we were on the Splendor & the Dream, where each time our wait staff
said,, yes,, order both if you cant decide !!We ask for table for 2
And yes, I bring my own wine or beer to the table sometimes, no problem.

Navigator of the Seas-- July 18th western med! coming up..:D

happy cruising- donnakg

[BrettG]

I've only been on 1 cruise before, but I can definitely say they don't mind if you order more. LIke someone else said, they may care if you start ordering apps and entres way into dessert when those aren't being made anymore.

On formal night on my first cruise our table got an extra 2-3 lobsters just because they had extra. No one had even requested any other food but we surely weren't going to turn away a delicasy we could rarely afford elsewhere. :)

[mtchg]

[quote name='anastasia1']Obesity and it's costs to society
destruction of worlds resources by the affluent minority

I imagine these affect waiters as well.

I often think that they come from such poor backgrounds and work so hard to support their families and don't see them for such a long time that they must be pretty outraged by some of the waste and excessive consumption they see.[/QUOTE]

The only thing that may outrage them is supplying professional attentive service to a passenger and then being stiffed for a gratuity; but this is not a tipping thread so I digress..YES...ORDERING MULTIPLE ITEMS OF ONE COURSE IS PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE..
and is what separates cruise dining from land based restaurants.

I also agree with an earlier post. It is best to order the entrees, multiple or not at the time they take the initial order; to ask for a starter once they have already delivered entrees does challenge their system.


Mitch

[bionicman97]

[quote name='Havingfun2010']Do you have any idea what the mark-up is on food in restaruants? Or in the grocery store? A double plate in the MDR is going to be eaten, but the amount of waste in a buffet is staggering!. Your cruise rate will not go down, for a few extra plates.[/quote]

That is a great point.

[mtchg]

[quote name='anastasia1']And that is your value system. I am not knocking that. We all have our own. What I would say is that the staff are usually from poorer countries and are economic migrants. They work on ships to earn a decent wage to support their families. A wAge they couldn't get in their own country as the worlds resources are not equitably spread. I am sure that from choice they would rather live and work in the country of their birth whilst still being able to have a decent standard of living.

But the world isn't like that and it's some of the choices of the richer countries that make it even harder for poorer countries. Some overconsume their share if the worlds resources in many ways. For some people that's ok and for others it isn't- we all have different values and need to respect each others.[/QUOTE]

Good to see Socialists enjoy a cruise now and then........OMG....

Mitch

[sml3]

[quote name='mtchg']Good to see Socialists enjoy a cruise now and then........OMG....

Mitch[/quote]

LOL-good one

[BrettG]

Need to stop with the politics in a thread about ordering meals in the MDR in a forum about cruise ships. No one wants to read "he's a socalist" or "you are ruining the world's food source" or any other crap.

Now, back to the topic. To reiterate: the staff won't mind at all if you order multiple courses. They will often bring or offer you additional food even if you didn't ask for it. I doubt anyone wants to just throw the food away and would rather report it being eaten or at least picked at by the guests. At the very least, ordering a ton of food or being given it that you didn't finish would make the guests feel like they were extremely valued and were on a high-class establisment.

[mtchg]

....it is in reaction to those who gave an explanation of WHY they feel ordering too much food is a bad thing.

I grow weary of a loud minority on these boards who subscribe to a pseudo-socialist world view based on a flawed premise. 'If a person (or a country) enjoys the fruits of a high standard of living; that person (or country) is taking away from those who have not achieved that'...the world economy is not static, like a piece of pie, where if I take more , you get less. It has the potential to GROW when not stifled by good intentioned but misguided efforts to "even things out" through legislated means. Such attempts usually have the opposite effect of the intention; and just make EVERYONE miserable. SO endeth the lesson (and the crap, I promise....now pass me that growing pie...)

Mitch

[bigasufan]

This is ridiculous.
If you were so worried about poor people in America or in other countries, you would sell that big house and buy a smaller one. You could then give the rest to charities. You could sell the Escalade, buy a Taurus like I drive and give the rest to charities. But you won't! Give me a break.

Eat whatever you want. Nobody, and I mean nobody, becomes obese because of a cruise!

[tip]

On Independence of the Seas, we asked the waitstaff not bring the bread basket and butter and to skip the starches (rice, potato, etc.). On the other hand, we did ask for extra steamed veggies and a couple of nights I asked for an extra steak as those that were served were a little on the small side. For dessert, he ancticipated that I would ask for the sherbert. The wait staff always accomodated.

[dancing bear]

I ordered three lobsters on Mariner earlier this year, thinking they would just bring the 3 on one plate with the vegetables. But it resulted in my great waiter Christian having to go back and forth two extra trips to bring me three complete dinners. After reading "Cruise Confidential" and seeing how much extra work this caused the wait staff, I figure from now on I will make do with just a single order.

[Submariner]

All this talk about ordering extra portions (Hey! I do it too) reminds me of those passengers of the future on board the space cruiseliner AXIOM from the film WALL-E ... :D

[sandian]

On our last cruise I did not finish most of my Entree this caused my Waiter and Head Waiter upset and I had to insist that I did not want another Entree.

On our next Cruise I have made the decision to have 2 Appetisers and no Entree as my appetite cannot cope with so much food.

Everybody is different.

[RetireeWannabee]

[quote name='bigasufan']Eat whatever you want. Nobody, and I mean nobody, becomes obese because of a cruise![/quote]
apparently the 25 year old friend did. ate until she died because it was free.