whats the deal? no more seafood buffet?

[teegee16]

I only did one other princess cruise, the infamous caribbean princess post drydock 2 years ago. despite this poor experience i am willing to give princess a second chance and booking hawaii on golden in january. on that cruise we had a great seafood buffet the first night as well as a midnight buffet. are these things all in the past.

[Toto2Kansas]

If you are asking if they still have the seafood extravaganza (as used to be severed on the ships that offered the Cafe Caribe), no, they are no more. They do offer a much smaller scaled down version with not as many choices. But on the Golden which does not have the Cafe Caribe, the huge seafood buffet was never offered if I am not mistaken.

[LARGIN]

There is no seafood buffet on the Golden Hawaii...

There are no special midnight buffets on any Princess ship as the Horizon Court is open 24/7

[Toto2Kansas]

It's been a lot of years since I have seen a midnight buffet on Princess. As Largin says, with a 24 hour buffet, there is no need for one anymore. ;)

[teegee16]

wasn't there a chocolate buffet or something?

[Toto2Kansas]

wasn't there a chocolate buffet or something?

 

I think HAL or RCI had one of those when we sailed with them, but I haven't seen one on Princess (at least not in the last 5-10 years). ;)

 

Princess normally does have an island night with a dessert buffet or other offerings set up out on deck, on most warmer sailings. That might be what you are thinking of?

[teegee16]

humm must be mistaken. oh well, i'm sure there will be no shortage of food on the cruise!!!

[Loonbeam]

The only midnight buffet I have heard of anymore was apparently on some of the Alaskan cruises in midsummer where the sun is up until well, sunup, sometimes the ship will put a small setup in the pool area for overnight sunbathing and snacking...

 

But that is apparently rare, since as mentioned Horizon court is open.

[teegee16]

too bad that the fancy midnight buffet is going away. i am happy i got the opportunity to see some of the artwork done by the chefs during those special midnight buffets.

[RickEk]

too bad that the fancy midnight buffet is going away. i am happy i got the opportunity to see some of the artwork done by the chefs during those special midnight buffets.

 

Oh, the food artwork is still there... just at different times and events.

[Loonbeam]

Yeah. like in AK they had the insane dessert buffet on the last sea day, with some amazing art. Also had some nice work at the Reindeer Chili buffet.

 

Oh, the food artwork is still there... just at different times and events.

[lovevacadays]

There was a chocolate buffet on the Sapphire to Mexico back in December 2008. It was held, I believe, on the last sea day and in part of the Horizon Court dining area (not buffet line) It was really, really good but I haven't seen one since.

 

OP, just curious what was the infamous post drydock CB experience?

[Jon65retired]

There was a nice buffet with large bowls of good sized shrimp (cold) and lots of lobster claws (hot with butter) on the third formal night on Grand Princess sailing of 10/11/10. Had a nice appetizer of claws early and then lobster tails for dinner in the dining room. The claws were very good. And, the tails were the best and most tender we ever had on a cruise ship.

[geoherb]

We had a couple of lunch buffets by the pool on our Alaskan cruise. One of them was called a "Fish Barbecue" and featured lots of seafood dishes. We did not have any special buffets at night.

[teegee16]

OP, just curious what was the infamous post drydock CB experience?

 

we were the first cruise post drydock of cb back then and there were tons of issues on the cruise. it started with boarding in san juan. boarding didn't commence until after 5 pm and all the passengers were made to wait in a line at the pier for hours. im talking about thousands of people waiting in line to board. tensions were running so high that several fights broke out in the line, which snaked around and around the pier parking area. Once we got on board the ship they offered the passengers only a free glass of wine that evening for their inconvenience. that started the complaining about how cheap princess is, blah blah. during the cruise there were several areas of the ship that were not completed on time for the cruise and were closed off to the passengers including the casino. i cant remember but i think we missed a port or something, too. princess gave everyone a 50 dollar credit off their next cruise because of the inconveniences. lots of complaints by passengers to be sure. this board had an ongoing complaint thread at the time, with tons of gripes by passengers long after the cruise was over. many felt that the credit should have been for more money. it was our first princess cruise so we got sort of a bad impression, to be sure, but the worst part was the other passengers bitching non-stop on the cruise which made for sort of a negative atmosphere. we never used the credit and it expired early this year, but i'm tempted to call princess and see if they will honor the credit now. hey, 50 bucks is 50 bucks!

[1 HappyCruiser]

It's been hit or miss for the seafood buffet lately but it's does seem to be making a comeback on certain ships. Although not what it was when first introduced, they did have lobster & crab claws along with hot & cold shrimp on the Emerald last week (even at 3 AM there were some crab claws in the tray). I was informed that they don't change over to a limited breakfast until 3:30 AM.