Bad manners and wasting food on a cruise ship, what do you think?

[wwcruisers]

For some reason, I've never given much thought to how much food anyone else puts on his/her plate. It just doesn't affect me or my cruise, so I don't pay any attention to it. Maybe it's because I don't spend too much time in the Windjammer -- generally prefer the other eating venues.

Now, on embarkation day -- if the person in line in front of me piled their plate up with the very last of the honey-stung chicken (and there was no more) -- THAT would be a different matter! ;) :eek:

[Verfai]

I was about to say the same thing. If it's not thrown away off of the plate, it's going to be thrown away at the end of that meal directly from the serving dish. They make way more than anyone will ever eat and they sure can't save it until the next meal.

 

But...it still bothers me to see people pile their plates that high. And what's worse than not eating it all....is watching them eat it all and go back for more and do it again. :eek: Sorry, but eating like this is not normal or healthy. I'm the one who better be prepared for the flames now.

 

Gina

 

I have to disagree here.

My dad was, before his retirement, chef catering of Royal Jordanian, and even began his carrier as chef de commis on HAL Amsterdam and Stantendam….so I know a bit of how a large kitchen works…Don’t get me wrong, doesn’t mean I know everything on kitchens and no flame intended :D :D :D

 

If you watch the chefs for a few minutes in the windjammer for example, you can see how Royal Caribbean keeps the serving dishes stocked in the buffets.

 

Every time something is near empty, they call to the kitchen or tell somebody to get the next one, takes usually about 3-5 minutes to get a new serving dish on the buffet…So this says that there is at least one (prob 2) dish standing by in the kitchen pass ready to go to the buffet at all times.

My best guess is once the backup dish is ordered to go the buffet they start to make a new batch of the dish in the kitchen (or have at least two batches ready)…

It looks highly unlikely in these days of “turning every penny”, that they make a overstock that they have to throw away…This wassent even done 15 years ago, most kitchens work with basic products that are prepared before the serving, these can be transformed to the finished products within 10 to 15 minutes.

 

These basic products are indeed made in mass, boiled potatoes, peeled and cleaned vegetables etc, but these go into soups and extractions for the next serving.

 

An yet again the story of the kids with the wasted food was in Sorrento’s, there the pizza’s are made on the fly….So if nobody ordered a slice they don’t make new pizza’s.

 

For me it was the principal of the thing, everything they don’t have to toss makes for a cleaner world, doesn’t matter if it is on a ship, at your home or at work…Everybody needs to start to make a difference (rather sooner than later). Could be that it is me because I work in a company that lives to make a better world ;).

[island lady]

agree...myself am not a glutton..but i do order 2 entrees in the MDR :D

 

As long as you eat them and enjoy them.....it is not a waste at all!! :)

 

Myself, I will order an extra portion of "snails" when I can!! :D

 

My lament is the "eat till you choke" over stuffed buffet plates you see walking around in the WJ, and the full plates left behind on the tables for the bussers. :eek: :(

[MOSusan]

For some reason, I've never given much thought to how much food anyone else puts on his/her plate. It just doesn't affect me or my cruise, so I don't pay any attention to it. Maybe it's because I don't spend too much time in the Windjammer -- generally prefer the other eating venues.

Now, on embarkation day -- if the person in line in front of me piled their plate up with the very last of the honey-stung chicken (and there was no more) -- THAT would be a different matter! ;) :eek:

 

I will gladly give you my portion of Honey-Stung Chicken. I stand firmly in the "What's so special about this?" camp. You can have my seconds too! :D

[peteukmcr]

Well at least you're prepared for the flaming...

 

As one of the "responsible" parents, I can tell you that my kids (now age 8 & 15) are very well mannered. There isn't a person on this earth who hasn't misbehaved - myself included - but in cases when kids run rampant, behave wastefully and have problems keeping their hands to themselves, look to the adults in their party for the reason why.

 

My kids learned very early that if they were not behaving appropriately for the situation, they got taken OUT of that situation. We left a restaurant once before our meals came to the table to prove our point. We NEVER had to give more than one "manners check reminder" since.

 

It is frustrating to me that parents take a break from parenting when they're traveling away from home. If you don't want to parent on vacation, don't bring your children.

 

I'm not going to pretend I'm the perfect parent, or that my kids are the perfect children, but I work hard at doing a good job and receive compliments frequently on their behavior. I pass the compliments along to them and I let them know when they need to shape up.

 

Kids will live up to - or down to - our expectations.

Please don't get me wrong, I wasn't implying that all children are badly behaved, far from it, but as in everything, it's minority that get noticed and usually spoil the experience for others and so the generalisation is that all children behave badly.

 

Unfortuately you do see unruly children on vacation, but they've only learned from others, conversely, there are a higher number of kids who are well behaved, I like the larger ships as they have the adults only solarium so you don't see a lot of it. As for the food, I've been known on occasion to come away from the buffet with enough to feed and army but i always live with the motto "take all you want, but eat all you take" I always like to try new things and if something does not appeal to my palate I will try a sample so its not a huge amount left, and lesson learned. now then, where did I put that Halo ;)

As I mentioned above, I agree there are many more children that are well behaved, but it is the minority that end up giving a bad name to them all.

 

I have to disagree here.

My dad was, before his retirement, chef catering of Royal Jordanian, and even began his carrier as chef de commis on HAL Amsterdam and Stantendam….so I know a bit of how a large kitchen works…Don’t get me wrong, doesn’t mean I know everything on kitchens and no flame intended :D :D :D

 

If you watch the chefs for a few minutes in the windjammer for example, you can see how Royal Caribbean keeps the serving dishes stocked in the buffets.

 

Every time something is near empty, they call to the kitchen or tell somebody to get the next one, takes usually about 3-5 minutes to get a new serving dish on the buffet…So this says that there is at least one (prob 2) dish standing by in the kitchen pass ready to go to the buffet at all times.

My best guess is once the backup dish is ordered to go the buffet they start to make a new batch of the dish in the kitchen (or have at least two batches ready)…

It looks highly unlikely in these days of “turning every penny”, that they make a overstock that they have to throw away…This wassent even done 15 years ago, most kitchens work with basic products that are prepared before the serving, these can be transformed to the finished products within 10 to 15 minutes.

 

These basic products are indeed made in mass, boiled potatoes, peeled and cleaned vegetables etc, but these go into soups and extractions for the next serving.

 

An yet again the story of the kids with the wasted food was in Sorrento’s, there the pizza’s are made on the fly….So if nobody ordered a slice they don’t make new pizza’s.

 

For me it was the principal of the thing, everything they don’t have to toss makes for a cleaner world, doesn’t matter if it is on a ship, at your home or at work…Everybody needs to start to make a difference (rather sooner than later). Could be that it is me because I work in a company that lives to make a better world ;).

Thank you for putting this so well, this is what I was trying to say that by reducing waste, should reduce cost.

[golfer1966]

Having discussed with someone who has recently sailed on Liberty of the Seas as we did in May, I thought I’d check out other people’s views on a couple of incidents I have noticed on all cruises.

 

1) is the amount of food that is being thrown away;

And

2) the behaviour and bad manners of some children (and adults).

 

On so many occasions I have seen children ordering food and then just playing with it and letting it go to waste. Sometimes, and this is even worse, the parents are present and they are doing exactly the same thing.

 

One example was in Sorrento’s; three kids came along, aged somewhere between 9 and 12, with no parents in sight. All three of them ordered 2 slices of pizza and some extra side orders, plus drinks. Once seated they used the side orders as food to throw at each other, took a few sips of their drinks, and two of them ate one bite of the pizza, then just left!

Everybody there just looked at each other in utter disbelief, there was a full table of food just lying there, and the floor was dirty. The staff even asked if people thought they would come back.

 

Another example, in Olive or Twist there was a family with small children (aged around 5 or 6), and it would appear a nanny was present. The oldest boy in the family had a disagreement with the parents. The nanny made a remark to the boy and he just started hitting her with his hands and kicking her with his feet! Nobody said anything until he started shouting and the entire bar was looking at them, and then and only then did the father take action.

 

Now this is one thing I detest and I am seeing more of this every single day, whether on a cruise ship or not and it all relates to the manners shown by adults and the behaviour of children. It would appear to me that in a lot of cases (not all cases, before you flame me) that parental control is somewhat non-existent especially when they are on holiday. It would appear that because the parents are on holiday they think they don't have to do anything as it would spoil their fun (both the parents and child).

 

Sorry, my opinion and this is only my opinion is that you are raising the children, and so it is your responsibility to care for them and control them, not someone else. Even if you are paying someone to look after them and you are on holiday, so are we. Nobody should be subject to abuse from a child. And others around them should not be subjected to their appalling bad manners.

 

If I had behaved like this in private, never mind in public, I would have been severely punished, but I was taught that this behaviour was unacceptable.

 

As for food waste, I cannot abide it, but to be fair, the children will have learnt from their parents. On a cruise the food is 'free' so it would appear that people see no harm in wasting it. I see it all the time in the Windjammer and it offends me, and it is the adult population who are the main culprits and so their children learn from them.

 

I cannot understand why people have to load a plate with so much food that they will not eat, only to have it thrown away. Is it greed? Do they not realise that if there was less food waste for the cruise line to deal with, then cruise prices may be lower or food quality improved?

 

This is down to the 'fast food' culture and the ‘Me, Me, Me’ syndrome IMHO.

 

And yes, if I could I would holiday on an adult only cruise ship, but there aren’t many about, but why should I change just because of the few children who misbehave?

 

For land based holidays, a resort that is adults only is always at the top of my list, but then again the behaviour of some adults is shameful.

 

OK off to put the fire proof coat on. :D

 

I know we are all on vacation and its time to have fun, but if I see kids really acting stupid, I speak up or go get someone from RCI. I dont want to be a jerk, but if they are acting really stupid, I speak up. As far as wasting food, I dont like to see it to be honest. I know there are millions of hungry people in the world and to see them waste so much food is terrible. I think sometimes people's eyes are bigger than their stomaches. The food all looks so good that they keep piling it on and after half the food is gone they are full, BUT they will go back for dessert. I just dont get it. :( I think the ships use to grind up the food and send it out the bottom and the fish and stuff would eat it, but due to environmental laws, i dont know if they still do that or not. The garbage still goes in to Port. What they SHOULD do is ( in my opinion ) is that when they get to certain ports of call, they should take the leftover food or whatever they feel is ok to eat to the poor people of the port. We all know there are poor and hungry people everywhere, so why throw it away..!! :o

[peteukmcr]

RCI spends $12 per person a day for food (less actually since that includes crew food), having some portion of it wasted is not going to change cruise prices much.

I appreciate that RCI only spends $12 per passenger per day.

 

However, my view differs here, because if there was a saving of only 50c per passenger per day due to less waste, (assuming only 2,000 passengers on ship, and some have many more than that) that could equate to a daily saving of around $1,000 per ship, multiply that by the number of ships RCI have in the fleet (22) and again multiply that by say only 350 sailing days per year (many will sail more than that too), and that equates to $7,700,000. I don't think any company would turn their noses up at savings of nearly $8 million. Do you? Or have I got my maths wrong?

 

How much waste do you see at the speciality restaurants that passengers pay extra for? Not as much as when it's 'free' I bet.

 

And I know before anyone says it, yes, we've all paid for our holiday and so we'll do what we want. But look at the savings a company could make. More profits, more dividends for you RCI shareholders, more money to invest in ships, better quality food, chocolates back on your pillows. Just a thought.

[peteukmcr]

I must say thank you to all of you who have spent the time providing your thoughts.

 

This thread was not meant to be inflammatory to anyone, nor to imply that all parents are bad parents, nor that everyone on holiday displays bad manners, but just to highlight that a few 'bad apples' can affect many more people.

 

I salute all you 'Mean Moms' (I like that title I'll have to use it here in the UK if I may) and I presume there are the Dads equivalent (can't think of something to rhyme with Dad!).

 

Also less waste, or more consideration of others, could improve things for many more people than on a cruise ship. JMHO.

[mommabean]

I have to disagree here.

My dad was, before his retirement, chef catering of Royal Jordanian, and even began his carrier as chef de commis on HAL Amsterdam and Stantendam….so I know a bit of how a large kitchen works…Don’t get me wrong, doesn’t mean I know everything on kitchens and no flame intended :D :D :D

 

If you watch the chefs for a few minutes in the windjammer for example, you can see how Royal Caribbean keeps the serving dishes stocked in the buffets.

 

Every time something is near empty, they call to the kitchen or tell somebody to get the next one, takes usually about 3-5 minutes to get a new serving dish on the buffet…So this says that there is at least one (prob 2) dish standing by in the kitchen pass ready to go to the buffet at all times.

My best guess is once the backup dish is ordered to go the buffet they start to make a new batch of the dish in the kitchen (or have at least two batches ready)…

It looks highly unlikely in these days of “turning every penny”, that they make a overstock that they have to throw away…This wassent even done 15 years ago, most kitchens work with basic products that are prepared before the serving, these can be transformed to the finished products within 10 to 15 minutes.

 

These basic products are indeed made in mass, boiled potatoes, peeled and cleaned vegetables etc, but these go into soups and extractions for the next serving.

 

An yet again the story of the kids with the wasted food was in Sorrento’s, there the pizza’s are made on the fly….So if nobody ordered a slice they don’t make new pizza’s.

 

For me it was the principal of the thing, everything they don’t have to toss makes for a cleaner world, doesn’t matter if it is on a ship, at your home or at work…Everybody needs to start to make a difference (rather sooner than later). Could be that it is me because I work in a company that lives to make a better world ;).

 

I think you are correct. Just that last serving pan/dish is the one that gets tossed out.

 

As the other poster said, if people take less, they make less, and order less next time. They seem to be pretty good at knowing how much to order although I have seen them run out of bananas on the entire ship before a cruise is over.

 

I WILL not eat my honey stung chicken if I grab one thinking it's white meat and it turns out to be a rubbery dark one. I'm usually a pretty good judge of it before jabbing it but I have made a mistake. :o

 

I rarely go to the WJ after that first embarkation lunch. What I see there makes me, well, disgusted. And what I'm talking about is something totally different.

 

Why do people have to eat food off their plate as they pile it up and then LICK THEIR FINGERS before moving on to the next serving utensil? If not looking around to see what others do makes some people (not you) happy, they are missing a disgusting act that no amount of hand sanitizer on the way in will fix. This is a wide spread bad germy habit that I see out of adults, not children.

 

Gina

[mommabean]

I must say thank you to all of you who have spent the time providing your thoughts.

 

This thread was not meant to be inflammatory to anyone, nor to imply that all parents are bad parents, nor that everyone on holiday displays bad manners, but just to highlight that a few 'bad apples' can affect many more people.

 

I salute all you 'Mean Moms' (I like that title I'll have to use it here in the UK if I may) and I presume there are the Dads equivalent (can't think of something to rhyme with Dad!).

 

Also less waste, or more consideration of others, could improve things for many more people than on a cruise ship. JMHO.

 

I think it was a good topic to bring up and I, for one, didn't see the other thread where apparently the subject was brought up. It was interesting...thanks.

 

Fortunately I don't see too many kids on cruises. :) And maybe that's because I don't spend much time in the windjammer.

 

Gina

[BillOh]

No actually the other thread is about a cruise review and this is only one of the topcs being discussed by 2 people (me and another person) on that thread. Are you confused or annoyed that I have opened it up to get more feedback?

 

We have a lot of self appointed moderators here. You can start this in multiple places and it won't hurt my feelings.

 

Back to the subject, there is no single answer, and I've made it part of people watching. I maybe a thoughtless rude obnoxious person 51 weeks a year, but I go on a cruise to relax so most people don't bother me. I'm also a successful weight loss surgery patient so cruises are so much less about food that they use to be, so I don't waste much.

 

Some rudeness is just thoughtlessness. I actually enjoy making an effort to be courteous on a cruise while others seem to be taking a vacation from courtesy.

 

I try to cruise when there will be the least amount of kids cruising. Yes, I know your the one responsible parent and your kids are the almost perfect ones. (Not directed at the OP) But I've watched kids and when they make new friends they dare each other do to things and as long as security doesn't bring the kids back to them the parents are letting them have their freedom. Thats why I love the solariums.

[Mark_K]

I appreciate that RCI only spends $12 per passenger per day.

 

However, my view differs here, because if there was a saving of only 50c per passenger per day due to less waste, (assuming only 2,000 passengers on ship, and some have many more than that) that could equate to a daily saving of around $1,000 per ship, multiply that by the number of ships RCI have in the fleet (22) and again multiply that by say only 350 sailing days per year (many will sail more than that too), and that equates to $7,700,000. I don't think any company would turn their noses up at savings of nearly $8 million. Do you? Or have I got my maths wrong?

 

How much waste do you see at the speciality restaurants that passengers pay extra for? Not as much as when it's 'free' I bet.

 

And I know before anyone says it, yes, we've all paid for our holiday and so we'll do what we want. But look at the savings a company could make. More profits, more dividends for you RCI shareholders, more money to invest in ships, better quality food, chocolates back on your pillows. Just a thought.

Actually, according to the 2010 annual report, which is where I got the numbers from, RCI had around 32 million passenger days, so it would save them $16 million/year. And no, I doubt any company would turn away savings like that.

 

However, that wasn't my point. My point in response to island lady's post was that cutting food waste wasn't going to add up to much in cruise price difference. And using your figure of 50 cents a day, it would only be a $3.50 per person for a one week cruise, so I think I was correct.

[dachshunddoglover]

Peter - I agree with you on both points. Sometimes I think people don't understand they can go back and get another plate. They pile it so high I think it might fall off the plate.

And as far as the children - too many parents trying to be friends instead of parents. I'm a flight attendant. I wish I had a quarter for every time a parent says " You make him put on his seat belt because he won't listen to me". I think - God bless you, if you've lost control at age 3. Just wait till they are 16. Most children are well behaved, we are talking about the few that aren't.

I'm a mean momma too. :D Usually all it takes is the look..... you know what look I'm talking about.

E-Beth

[island lady]

RCI spends $12 per person a day for food (less actually since that includes crew food), having some portion of it wasted is not going to change cruise prices much.

 

Since I retired from US Foodservice, I was amazed at what food costs do to bottom lines of restaurants, resorts, and cruise lines.

 

If you don't think it adds up....check the dumpsters.

[island lady]

VERY good points. I like this way of looking at it.

 

Gina

 

Thanks Gina! :)

 

And coming from you, I consider that a very nice compliment. Thanks again for all the advice I have enjoyed from your help on these threads!

[galavant3]

What this world needs is more Mean Moms!

 

 

I am a Mean Mom too! And by "mean" I mean that I expect a certain standard of behavior. I always told my kids that "liking me is a bonus". Now they are adults (youngest is 18) and guess what? It must not have been so bad because now the actually choose to vacation with us :)

 

Regarding the buffet. I never set foot in there. For a variety of reasons. Now with so many options on most ships, it is easy to avoid.

[Mainer59]

Thats why I love the solariums.

 

Unfortunately that doesn't always help. A few years ago on Explorer I contacted security to report two punks (and yes, in this instance the word fits) spitting off the deck above on to people below. Fortunately they had yet to hit anyone. My hope is they were escorted off the ship at the next port, as was discussed on another thread.

 

I'm a parent. I'm a "mean dad" or whatever you choose to call it. And my daughter had grown up to respect other people. I'm quite proud of her.

[Verfai]

To all (and the self appointed moderators ;) ) Here is the other thread and again I don’t mind that Pete borrowed the story: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1433115 .

I added the manners remark on page two, and added the other incident here in this thread on the hot tub subject.

I think most have gotten the point…

When you are confronted by a lot of these incidents in one week, I feel its part of the review, feel free to comment on my review ;)

[Mrs_Tiki]

I salute all you 'Mean Moms' (I like that title I'll have to use it here in the UK if I may) and I presume there are the Dads equivalent (can't think of something to rhyme with Dad!).

 

How about "Demanding Dads"? Doesn't rhyme, but the alliteration works. ;)

 

As the Mean Mom (married to a Demanding Dad) of an 18-year-old who now coaches a swim team comprised of 4-14 year-olds, I have to admit getting much satisfaction (and a smile) out of hearing her say, "Those kids are impossible! Their parents don't provide any discipline and let them do anything, what are they thinking?" Of course, it was very recently that she was saying that we were the "meanest parents" and that she was the "only one" of all of her friends that wasn't allowed to do something. I'm glad we stood our ground!

 

As for the food gluttons/wasters, all I can say is "yuck!"

[Desert Cruizers]

Peter I toatally agree with, now DH & I have only been on soon to be our 5th cruise so our experiences with poor maners is quite limited so far, however we as young children, were taught by our parents, the meaning of good manners, & respect for other people. A spanking now & then didn't hurt us and we knew immediately our parents meant what they said, unfortuantely, many young people today, use anger as the first response to a situation. Fortunately, the majority of people are polite and respectful toward others.

 

E-Beth that look you refer to actually reminds me of our kitty who gives me a look when he wants domething to eat. I understand that look perfectly.:)

[JudeeJim]

Sorry to say that this is not just happening on a vacation. It is even worse when you see this at a school. Kids are misbehaving and parents are not doing a thing to help out the teachers. I'm sorry but I have to use that phrase...when I was a kid my parents would not let me off the hook. Some people just needs parenting classes and kids are reflecting the lack of...:eek: scary what our world will turn into.

Speaking of school behavior. While doing cafeteria duty in a middle school, two children from another country qualified for "free and reduced" lunches. They came through the line, got their food and them immediatly went to the trash can and dumped their tray. Then they opened their lunch boxes and ate food more familiar to them. Kneedless to say I confronted them and told them this was unexceptable. I wasn't sure if they understood because of their lack of English, but I didn't see this happen again. In some situations it is important to speak up.

[reallyitsmema]

To all (and the self appointed moderators ;) ) Here is the other thread and again I don’t mind that Pete borrowed the story: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1433115 .

I added the manners remark on page two, and added the other incident here in this thread on the hot tub subject.

I think most have gotten the point…

When you are confronted by a lot of these incidents in one week, I feel its part of the review, feel free to comment on my review ;)

I asked a simple question, nothing more, nothing less. Read into it what you want, but I chose not to respond after the initial reply to my question because of the tone of the response.

[spammie]

Peter, Good thread and I agree with you. I am not a fan of the "Foodjammer" as I refer to it. The people who pile their plates overflowing with food literally make me nauseous. I rarely eat there for that reason. I have oftern commented to my husband that people act like it's their last meal on earth. I guess this explains why the obesity rate is so high in our country. :)

 

The only out of hand behavior we have seen from children was when we cruised during the summer on our first 7-night cruise and didn't know any better. Our children are now grown so we cruise while the ships aren't being overrun with kids.

 

I work part-time as a server in a restaurant. I find the overwhelming theme with parents who come into the restaurant I work at is "anything to not upset the children". This includes emptying the sugar packets all over the table and dumping the salt and pepper out to play with, then leaving the mess for us to clean up. Parents let their children run all over the restaurant while we dodge them carrying trays and I love when they let them stand on the seats, jump up and down and bother the other customers.

 

Raising children is not easy but if you don't set boundaries when they are little and teach them how to behave in public, no one will want to be around them.

 

I also don't think it's "cute" when children sit at the bar and order a Shirley Temple. There are to many family places and I don't think children should be sitting at a bar. On our cruise last year on Liberty three nights in a row my husband and I went to the Champagne Bar for a before dinner drink and couldn't sit at the bar because there was a family with children sitting at the bar. I said something to the bartender about it and he said he told the parents that the children shouldn't be sitting at the bar and they refused to move.

[babyher]

How about "Demanding Dads"? Doesn't rhyme, but the alliteration works. ;)

 

As the Mean Mom (married to a Demanding Dad) of an 18-year-old who now coaches a swim team comprised of 4-14 year-olds, I have to admit getting much satisfaction (and a smile) out of hearing her say, "Those kids are impossible! Their parents don't provide any discipline and let them do anything, what are they thinking?" Of course, it was very recently that she was saying that we were the "meanest parents" and that she was the "only one" of all of her friends that wasn't allowed to do something. I'm glad we stood our ground!

 

As for the food gluttons/wasters, all I can say is "yuck!"

 

Isn't it great when your kids finally get old enough to finally get what you have been saying all these years and they actually agree with it.

 

Makes it feel all worthwhile :)

[pltag]

was amazed at the size of the plates of food taken at the buffet.....

Why do you think they no longer have TRAYS at the Windjammer??

 

The "Free" food light goes on and people just lose their minds!! :D :D