Ruby Princess - Seafood Buffet??

[FrenchPeach]

Hello - Can anyone tell me if on embarkation day, they serve the seafood buffet? We sailed the Ruby on a 10 day excursion and it was served but on a 7 day voyage, I am not sure.

Any hint that DH and I love and always look forward to all that shrimp, lobster and crab legs....:D

[BruceMuzz]

Princess originally instituted the Seafood Buffet to pull the early birds out of the long lines to the dining rooms. It didn't really work very well. People lined up for the buffet, then lined up again for the dining rooms a bit later, and ate again.

 

That buffet costs them an additional $25,000 every time they put it out.

 

Princess has been gradually phasing out the Seafood Buffet and has instead introduced a modified program for Anytime/Traditional Dining that is much more effective in reducing the lines - and it doesn't cost them $25,000 every time they do it.

 

If you do see any seafood buffet, it will be dramatically reduced from the former version.

[Cruzman]

Princess originally instituted the Seafood Buffet to pull the early birds out of the long lines to the dining rooms. It didn't really work very well. People lined up for the buffet, then lined up again for the dining rooms a bit later, and ate again.

 

That buffet costs them an additional $25,000 every time they put it out.

 

Princess has been gradually phasing out the Seafood Buffet and has instead introduced a modified program for Anytime/Traditional Dining that is much more effective in reducing the lines - and it doesn't cost them $25,000 every time they do it.

 

If you do see any seafood buffet, it will be dramatically reduced from the former version.

 

I'm confused here. Are you saying that people would go to the seafood buffet, stuff themselves, and then go to the main dining room an hour or 2 later and do so again? That is a scene that is hard to picture.

[Toto2Kansas]

I'm confused here. Are you saying that people would go to the seafood buffet, stuff themselves, and then go to the main dining room an hour or 2 later and do so again? That is a scene that is hard to picture.

 

If you search here on CC, you will see where many have posted in the past that the seafood buffet was their appetizer BEFORE they went to dinner. Yes, they were having dinner at both places. Not quite sure where they put all that food, but it seems they found a place.

[BruceMuzz]

I'm confused here. Are you saying that people would go to the seafood buffet, stuff themselves, and then go to the main dining room an hour or 2 later and do so again? That is a scene that is hard to picture.

 

If you are confused by this, then you haven't cruised very much lately. A rather high percentage of mass market cruisers are determined to eat their money's worth on their cruise - even if it endangers their health.

 

On my ship every week, the dining room staff has a contest to make things more interesting. They choose the 20 or so top tables that are ordering multiple dishes for every course.

Then the waiters put a bit of money into a pool to choose the table ordering the highest number of dishes per person for the cruise.

The winning table usually is in the 12-15 dishes per person per night range.

 

But my favorites are the people who go to the early seating, stuff themselves, go back to their cabins and change clothes, then go back to the dining room for a later seating and stuff themselves again. They of course are hoping that they will not be recognized the second time as they have changed their clothing and/or appearance.

 

The dining room staff loves to watch for these people and make a special point to welcome them back again.

The responses, denials, excuses, etc from these passengers are priceless.

"That wasn't me; it was my brother."

"You must have me confused with someone else."

"That couldn't have been me earlier; I'm on a diet."

"The portions are so small; I'm still hungry."

[1 HappyCruiser]

It must have been true that people did only go to the buffet for the lobster, shrimp and crab legs and then proceeded to the dining room for the regular meal. Seeing that they've probably the most expensive items I can understand why they put an end to the program. Oh well, it's back to the dining room as usual and add to the congestion.