Port Days - Lunch in MDR

[4x4bob]

WOW, the MDR closed on Port Days. So, along with case of water and wine I will also have to bring Meals Ready to Eat (MRE's) on board with me.:D

 

 

Bob

[Putterdude]

This will be a huge inconvenience for DW who stays aboard in some ports....being in a wheelchair or having a walker makes it very difficult for her in the HC....this is cheap, cheap, cheap.

[Loonbeam]

Actually, with industrial equipment, small batch cooking is quite difficult. I used to have to prepare food for 500 on a regular basis and cooking food for 30 well on the same equipment was quite hard, to the point where we ended up installing a separate facility for smaller meals. It's also very energy inefficient.

 

That said, as noted on the other thread, a smaller menu might be a reasonable option, or using a different venue, and I know several people have suggested that to Princess. But even then, with reports of some itineraries serving <100 meals in the MDR for some lunches, I can see Princess' side of the equation as well.

 

If spoilage is that high, then it is the fault of the kitchen and not the patrons. You do not need to prepare obscenely more than is needed just to keep up with the demand for lunch.

 

I've seen many instances where passengers were lined up in front of the doors for lunch on port days. At the very least, they could do something similar to the pub lunch that they sometimes hold in the Crown Grill. The menu is significantly smaller than the regular lunch menu, only has two courses, and would require less work to prepare and deliver while still being nicer than a buffet.

[gsmiles4u]

I have a food allergy and have always been told to avoid the buffet, because they can't control the possibility of cross-contamination. It will be interesting to see how they suggest I handle this situation. Obviously, I'm not only disappointed, but also quite concerned about the change.

[Sandpiper13]

We too are very disappointed. On our Alaskan cruise a few weeks back we were looking forward to quiet lunches in the MDR when to our surprise it was closed on port days. This was our fourth cruise to Alaska and we took it to lay back, read books and get lots of R & R (and good food) not to fight the crowds at the HC.

 

I sure hope Princess reconsiders as this impacts our cruising experience.

[2 to cruise]

This decision to close the dining room on port days disappoints me. My dh and I often cruise in the Caribbean and tend to stay on board on port days. We enjoy being on the ship when it is quiet and relaxing. A nice part of our day is to always eat a lunch in the dining room. There are always plenty of passengers in the dining room so I don't understand why the decision makers at Princess have made this change. Hopefully Princess will reconsider this decision and keep the dining room open for those who choose to stay onboard and enjoy a leisurely day. Princess.....I hope you are listening to all of the passengers on this thread.

 

We couldn't agree with you more! When we are on board on port days we so enjoy the dining room, it's very relaxing!

[LA_FadeAway]

Wow, this is a bummer. There have been pleanty of times we finish a port excursion in the morning and come back to the ship hungry and ready to sit down to a nice meal in the MDR. It seems like there were always a lot of people in there too. :(

[tynes1der]

+1. feeding from the buffet trough.

 

We have taken one Princess Cruise and actually preferred the buffet which had not only the same selection as the dining room but more choice in addition. We could put our own selection on our plates too.

We never had a problem with large queus and met just as agreeable people in Horizon Court as the dining room. AND we did not need to dress up - after all we were on holiday. WE chose to eat in Horizon Court on port days anyway because it was always open whenever we came and went from the ship.

[mandymay]

We were on the Grand in August & were refused entry to the Restaurant for lunch on embarkation,which was a disappointment for us,however open the rest of the cruise.

I will not sail on another Princess cruise should there policy change with the Restaurant closed on Port days.

[BigTimeCruiser]

Princess should reconsider this decision. They should also remember who the customer is......

[umieesa]

I'm new to cruising, so maybe I'm missing something, but when I read the dining times for the Ruby it says the MDR is open from 12-130 on port and on sea-days. Did it used to stay open longer? Or does this mean the Ruby is still open for lunch on sea days? :confused:

 

Thanks!

[saintgeorge]

I'm new to cruising, so maybe I'm missing something, but when I read the dining times for the Ruby it says the MDR is open from 12-130 on port and on sea-days. Did it used to stay open longer? Or does this mean the Ruby is still open for lunch on sea days? :confused:

 

Thanks!

 

If you go to this link http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/dining/dining_options/ruby.html

 

it will show that the MDR is only open for lunch on sea and turnaround days.

[umieesa]

Oh...I see now. Missed that...:(

 

Thanks!

[JimmyVWine]

Actually, with industrial equipment, small batch cooking is quite difficult. I used to have to prepare food for 500 on a regular basis and cooking food for 30 well on the same equipment was quite hard, to the point where we ended up installing a separate facility for smaller meals. It's also very energy inefficient.

 

I understand your point, but we aren't talking about a drop-off from 1,000 to 30. There are plenty of posters here who report that the MDR is fairly well-attended on port days. That may not mean 500 people. But is surely doesn't mean 30. If historical patterns show that an average of 300 people show up for lunch, then make lunch in the MDR a single seating at a set time and prepare food for the 300. If the problem is people drifting in at their leisure in small numbers, then address that issue instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

[JimmyVWine]

We have taken one Princess Cruise and actually preferred the buffet which had not only the same selection as the dining room but more choice in addition. We could put our own selection on our plates too.

We never had a problem with large queus and met just as agreeable people in Horizon Court as the dining room. AND we did not need to dress up - after all we were on holiday. WE chose to eat in Horizon Court on port days anyway because it was always open whenever we came and went from the ship.

 

So just because you are content with the buffet, everyone else should be as well?

[montgomeryfamily]

We are also very disappointed with this policy change.:( Because one of our family members uses a wheelchair, we also primarily use the MDR for lunch. We have always found that the dining room is always well-used with a lot of passengers on port days, with often a line to enter when it first opens. We also enjoy meeting and eating with other passengers.

 

I was shocked when I saw this posted on Cruise Critic, as we have received no notice from Princess about this policy change and thought that it surely applied only to certain itineraries. So I went to the Princess Facebook page to see if there was any information. Approximately two days ago someone posted a query about whether the dining rooms were really closing on port days. Princess responded that this was a change made fleetwide three weeks ago.

 

Because Facebook reaches a larger audience than Cruise Critic and is another avenue for apprising Princess of our feelings on this, I suggest that if you are upset about this change, to go to Facebook and post. In order to facilitate that (since the original Facebook query will continue to be pushed lower and lower), I created a topic in the discussion section. If Princess sees how many people use the MDR and are upset by change, perhaps they will change the policy back to reopening the MDR on port days.

[Loonbeam]

Even at 300, running a full menu is prohibitive (as I noted, a smaller bistro style menu would be quite doable and should be suggested to Princess repeatedly and often). You still have to prepare extra of each dish to ensure variety. I am sure Princess does better calculations based on history, but the rule of thumb was something along the lines of divide number of expected diners by number of entrees and make 30% extra.

 

 

 

The overall cost saving dynamics are being well hashed out on another thread, but the long and short of it is that this is a cost-cutting decision that affects a relatively small number of people on a given ship. Now, if you happen to be one of those people, it stinks for you, but Princess does seem to be making a conscious effort to minimize impact. Their only other option is to raise prices, and we already know what the reaction is when they do that, so they are between a rock and a hard place.

 

I understand your point, but we aren't talking about a drop-off from 1,000 to 30. There are plenty of posters here who report that the MDR is fairly well-attended on port days. That may not mean 500 people. But is surely doesn't mean 30. If historical patterns show that an average of 300 people show up for lunch, then make lunch in the MDR a single seating at a set time and prepare food for the 300. If the problem is people drifting in at their leisure in small numbers, then address that issue instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Wish they would think about, as someone else suggested, doing sit down lunch in Sabatinis or steakhouse on port days. Doesn't have to be elaborate...a few choices of each course. Think I will email them and suggest!

[JimmyVWine]

Even at 300, running a full menu is prohibitive (as I noted, a smaller bistro style menu would be quite doable and should be suggested to Princess repeatedly and often).

 

Exactly. We are on the same page with this. Let's not forget that if you move 300 people out of the MDR and over to the buffet, the kitchen will then have to increase the food prepared for the buffet and factor in some overage there as well. I would imagine that buffets have to have waste calculations because you can't prepare buffet food and "hit your mark" right on the nose. No one likes to see a buffet where a dish is down to the final scrapings. Constant replenishment is going to result in a certain amount of waste Won't be the same as a sit-down restaurant, but it will exist. So the extra cost there has to be factored in to the overall savings. Seems to me that a pared down casual menu in the MDR would come out pretty close, cost-wise, to a buffet. And wouldn't you think that wine and cocktail sales would be higher at the MDR? That would have to help offset whatever "loss" Princess thinks it is suffering by having the MDR open for lunch.

[ONT-CA]

As disappointing as the decision to close the MDR on port days is to us, we wonder if an alternative might fill the gap. Princess is always looking for ways to cut costs and improve the bottom line. Why not open the Specialty restaurants (with their premium charge) as an alternative?

 

If the Buffet is not to our liking, then we can go ashore and purchase lunch at Chez Ptomaine at our own expense... or... stay aboard and sample the specialty restaurants at no greater an expenditure. These venues only offer service when the MDR is in full operation and so many will not sample them. Having them open for lunch on port days might be a win-win-win situation.

[pablo222]

We never had a problem with large queus and met just as agreeable people in Horizon Court as the dining room.

 

When ever there is code-red, the lido lines become extreemly long.

And, code-red on embarcation day makes the lido virtually unuseable.

 

And, I have found it somewhat difficult to find seating in the horizon

court during prime times. This will be made worse by the people

who used to be in the dining room competing for the same HC seats.

[1 HappyCruiser]

When ever there is code-red, the lido lines become extreemly long.

And, code-red on embarcation day makes the lido virtually unuseable.

 

Only because they have to serve each person individually.

And, I have found it somewhat difficult to find seating in the horizon

court during prime times. This will be made worse by the people

who used to be in the dining room competing for the same HC seats.

 

The only big tie ups occur at peak times or when groups of people return from a tour at the same time. The additional people who won't be eating in the DR won't cause any more backup on port days as most people are off the ship anyway.

[geoherb]

I still wonder if the port we don't get to until 1 p.m. will be considered a port day or a sea day. I guess I'm glad we booked a balcony, because I will probably order us lunch from room service. I love the lasagne.

[COMBOY]

I'm wondering if closing the MDR for lunch is more a situation of more and more people going to the buffet when the ship is in port. I know for me I like to pick and chose from a variety of items at lunch and don't always like the formal sit down for a quick lunch. I'm sure there are people that do like to stay on board the ship and prefer a sit down lunch, but at some point it might become more expensive and there are issues with food waste. If they prefer food for 200, but only 150 show up then there is waste for 50 people. Maybe too they are save on staffing and/or it give wait staff more time in port, etc. or it's strictly a cost cutting measure. I'd really like to know the real reason from Princess' management. I guess they decided too close the MDR and just send everyone to the buffet or call room service. Food is restocked as needed. During sea day people are much more incline to go the MDR. If people are unhappy with Princess decision then they should let them know. If enough people complain then they might reconsider.

[Loonbeam]

This was covered in the other thread. Several people contacted Princess and the general consensus of answers was this was primarily a cost cutting move. Closing the MDR allows them to reallocate staff, reduce kitchen staff a little, carry less food and spoil less food (remember, spoiled food needs to be processed via the ships disposal system too). In addition, there are less dishes to wash, etc...

 

It's very important to note that on itineraries where historical trends indicate the MDRs are used more heavily on port days (most usually in the Caribbean) they will be open - decisions will be made ship by ship and trip by trip, maybe even port by port (of course, Princess has very few ships in that area these days).

 

Princess ships are fanatical about tracking food usage, spoilage, etc. Taking a pound of butter out of a fridge without logging it is grounds for immediate contract term (this was told to us on the UST by the exec chef as several staff nodded sagely). They know exactly how many meals are served and what is wasted.

 

 

 

I'm wondering if closing the MDR for lunch is more a situation of more and more people going to the buffet when the ship is in port. I know for me I like to pick and chose from a variety of items at lunch and don't always like the formal sit down for a quick lunch. I'm sure there are people that do like to stay on board the ship and prefer a sit down lunch, but at some point it might become more expensive and there are issues with food waste. If they prefer food for 200, but only 150 show up then there is waste for 50 people. Maybe too they are save on staffing and/or it give wait staff more time in port, etc. or it's strictly a cost cutting measure. I'd really like to know the real reason from Princess' management. I guess they decided too close the MDR and just send everyone to the buffet or call room service. Food is restocked as needed. During sea day people are much more incline to go the MDR. If people are unhappy with Princess decision then they should let them know. If enough people complain then they might reconsider.