Jewel buffet??

[2Oregonians]

I'm studying the Jewel's deck plans. I see an "outdoor buffet", and a place called Blue Lagoon. I see the 2 main dining rooms and the pay restaurants. I don't see an indoor buffet. The "outdoor" one looks more like a burger bar to me. I saw no "buffet" of food. I'm confused. :confused:

[Cruisin&Relaxin]

I'm studying the Jewel's deck plans. I see an "outdoor buffet", and a place called Blue Lagoon. I see the 2 main dining rooms and the pay restaurants. I don't see an indoor buffet. The "outdoor" one looks more like a burger bar to me. I saw no "buffet" of food. I'm confused. :confused:

 

The Garden Cafe is located on Deck 12.

[mitchella51]

I'm studying the Jewel's deck plans. I see an "outdoor buffet", and a place called Blue Lagoon. I see the 2 main dining rooms and the pay restaurants. I don't see an indoor buffet. The "outdoor" one looks more like a burger bar to me. I saw no "buffet" of food. I'm confused. :confused:

 

The buffet is on deck 12, the Garden Cafe and Great Outdoors are the buffet areas.:)

[2Oregonians]

Oh ok. Being called cafe, I wasn't sure. And the picture didn't show a buffet, it showed chairs. lol. Thanks!

 

How is their buffet? Same as all the rest of the cruise lines I imagaine?? Princess' was just fine for me. I certainly didn't expect outstanding food. My husband says he wasn't impressed and hopes NCL's will be better.

[jaja]

Oh ok. Being called cafe, I wasn't sure. And the picture didn't show a buffet, it showed chairs. lol. Thanks!

 

How is their buffet? Same as all the rest of the cruise lines I imagaine?? Princess' was just fine for me. I certainly didn't expect outstanding food. My husband says he wasn't impressed and hopes NCL's will be better.

 

I found the Jewel buffet to be quite good....I enjoyed the carving station, soups and salads and the Indian and Asian station...!!! oh-the breakfast made to order omletes are great !!!

[Highboy90]

The Jewel's buffet is good. Plenty of choices. You won't like everything but sure you won't go Hungary. Deserts looked better than they tasted IMO.

[ch27088]

Where can I find the deck plans for the Jewel, on NCL.com? Would love to see where things are since we sailing on 11/3/13.

[Junebug27]

Deck plans should be under learn about our cruises>ships>jewel>deck plans, if I remember correctly!

 

The buffet is pretty good, large selection, most of the choices are pretty good but not great. The stations are usually outstanding though and they always seem to have one! Omelettes, crepes, meats, pasta, and stir fry stations on our last cruise.

[2Oregonians]

So what, then, is the "outdoor buffet" in the deck plans?

[roger001]

So what, then, is the "outdoor buffet" in the deck plans?

 

Beyond the Garden Café (main buffet) on deck 12, out back is the Great Outdoors. It is an open deck mini buffet and grill serving different limited selections depending on the time of day. It is a great place for breakfast or for snacks or smaller meals during the hours the main buffet is closed.

[sdmike]

We used it as overflow seating for the Garden Cafe too

[2Oregonians]

Beyond the Garden Café (main buffet) on deck 12, out back is the Great Outdoors. It is an open deck mini buffet and grill serving different limited selections depending on the time of day. It is a great place for breakfast or for snacks or smaller meals during the hours the main buffet is closed.

 

We used it as overflow seating for the Garden Cafe too

 

Ok thanks. It sound like a great place.

 

Wow, the Jewel has lots of dining locations. Way more than Princess.

[sdmike]

Ok thanks. It sound like a great place.

 

Wow, the Jewel has lots of dining locations. Way more than Princess.

 

Ha. Then the Epic would totally stun you. I think there are 20 ways to get food on that ship

[roger001]

Ok thanks. It sound like a great place.

 

Wow, the Jewel has lots of dining locations. Way more than Princess.

 

 

I think you'll love the Jewel. She is a great ship. And I think her buffet arrangement is the best in the NCL fleet, although the Pearl is great also. I noticed you will be on her for the Alaska cruise. Because of the cooler and possibly rain type weather, the pool deck and all of its outdoor seating/sitting area will just not be used very much. And all those otherwise outdoor persons will instead hang out indoors. Unfortunately, the Garden Café (main buffet) is where a lot of them hang out. It will be frequently very crowded for seating. As Mike said, don't let that discourage you. You can wander over to the Italian restaurant area when it's not serving or the Great Outdoors for overflow seating. Or just avoid the prime buffet dining hours (or ask if you can share tables with others). With it being a cooler weather type cruise, I just didn't want you to be discouraged and think its a bad design or such. Just the nature of this cruise agenda.

[2Oregonians]

I think you'll love the Jewel. She is a great ship. And I think her buffet arrangement is the best in the NCL fleet, although the Pearl is great also. I noticed you will be on her for the Alaska cruise. Because of the cooler and possibly rain type weather, the pool deck and all of its outdoor seating/sitting area will just not be used very much. And all those otherwise outdoor persons will instead hang out indoors. Unfortunately, the Garden Café (main buffet) is where a lot of them hang out. It will be frequently very crowded for seating. As Mike said, don't let that discourage you. You can wander over to the Italian restaurant area when it's not serving or the Great Outdoors for overflow seating. Or just avoid the prime buffet dining hours (or ask if you can share tables with others). With it being a cooler weather type cruise, I just didn't want you to be discouraged and think its a bad design or such. Just the nature of this cruise agenda.

 

Thanks for the heads up. We actually took an Alaska cruise a few years back, and I remember how bleeping cold it was! However, Golden Princess has the covered pool area, which was nice.

 

This time around, we're going as a party of 17. I think we'll just be sitting wherever we can find a spot!!

[2Oregonians]

Ha. Then the Epic would totally stun you. I think there are 20 ways to get food on that ship

We don't NEED any more places to eat, believe me!!! One day, I'd actually like to go on a "diet cruise". Wish that existed!

[buckirj1]

The Jewel's buffet, Garden Cafe, has several "action stations" instead of one long buffet. For example, there's a station for hot food and vegetables, an Asian station, a pasta station, a cold station with rolls and cold cuts for sandwiches, etc. The lines move much faster with this type of buffet. There are inside tables, but you can also take your food out the back door to the Great Outdoors seating area or out the front door to the tables surrounding the pool if there's room. LaCucina is sometimes open for seating when it's crowded, though the restaurant itself isn't open for ordering food.

[caribsun]

We found the Garden Cafe Buffet to be very crowded and chaotic with some passengers pushing their way through the lines.

After two mornings of this we ate the rest of our breakfasts in Czars Palace or the Blue lagoon.

[jasbo49]

How is their buffet? Same as all the rest of the cruise lines I imagaine?? Princess' was just fine for me. I certainly didn't expect outstanding food. My husband says he wasn't impressed and hopes NCL's will be better.

I can't say I remember that much about our one Princess cruise, but I thought the Jewel had the best buffet we've seen. Since it's broken up into islands, or stations, there isn't a long line to go through anywhere. Buffets are chaotic by nature, but I found this an acceptable level of chaos. It's cool to get spaghetti or stir-fry made before your eyes rather than scooped out of a warming pan.

 

The problem we had was seating. We were on an Alaskan cruise in late-May and early June and it was never pleasant outside. So the Garden Cafe tables were nearly always full. We usually ended up using the Italian restaurant as overflow seating during morning and midday. This is encouraged, by the way, not just some renegade thing to do. They have staff in there and everything, even water and coffee. We found it to be a peaceful place to eat. Since you're sailing at what should be the warmest time of the year, maybe you'll luck out and have the Great Outdoors open. That'll ease the crunch everywhere.

 

Keep in mind too that the Czar's Palace (during normal breakfast and lunch hours) and Blue Lagoon (almost around the clock) are other free options. I'd especially suggest going to the Czar's for lunch on embarkation day. It's so much more relaxing than the buffet for your first meal on the cruise.

 

Don't know what part of Oregon you're from, but the time you're going would be the perfect time to get out of our part of the state. I'd rather deal with 60s in Alaska than 100 here.

 

Jim