Let’s talk about silverware… yes, silverware

[Typhoon1]

I'm sure what you saw was some type of anomaly,

 

All silverware is thoroughly washed before the table is set.

[debjo]

I just finished reading Cruise Confidential and in it the author stated that the dining rooms never have enough plates/glasses/silverware. According to his experience in the dining rooms of at least three different ships, the waiters are constantly taking what they need from the other stations. Evidently broken items are not replaced quickly and there is a lot of pilfering of silverware (mainly by passengers). Maybe the waiters think "unused" silverware will help them get the amount needed for each meal since they will not get that back from the washed cutlery.

 

I would like to add a positive comment here, regarding "broken" dining table items. On our Nov. 2011 cruise (on a different cruise line...see my signature below), we had late fixed dining, which we prefer. Having a total of three couples in our traveling group, we totally enjoyed our long meal time, as we didn't have to vacate the dining room quickly to allow for another seating. Our conversations usually lingered, and we often were the last people to leave the dining room. Consequently, we got to see and got to know the staff there, quite well, over the course of our cruise week. The Head Waiter, in our section, quickly became one of our favorite staff members on that trip. Early during the cruise, we noticed, once the dining room had been cleared of most passengers, that the wait-staff pulled all of the cups/saucers, plates, glasses, etc. from their wait-station at the end of the evening. The Head Waiter then came to each "station" and inspected each and every one of the dishes & glasses...for cleanliness and chips/cracks. If he found any "flaws", he summoned the wait-staff responsible for that station, and the situation was rectified. We asked the Head Waiter about this "practice"...was it a "spot-check" or was it something that was regularly done? His response was that it was done after EACH meal in the dining room. We were thoroughly impressed! Yes, it did involve the handling of all those dishes by the staff...and one wants to assume they had clean hands when doing it. Even the table linens were inspected for tears/stains.

 

There is much that goes on "behind the scenes" on a cruise ship...things many passengers don't even think of, or just take for granted. We've participated in many "Behind The Scenes" tours, when they've been offered on our cruises. Sure, things are probably "tidied-up" for those tours...but I have to say, I've always found the cruise ship kitchens to be visually more clean than any kitchen I've seen in land-based restaurants (when that door is open and you get a sneak peak)!

 

We are about to embark on our second HAL cruise and I have to say, I'm greatly disturbed to be reading this message board now. Yet, it is something we've not been aware of on any of our previous cruises...now, we'll have to keep watch!

 

I know many "incidents" that C.C.'ers witness are isolated ones...and the threat of a Norovirus outbreak (or any other contaigen) is a great cause of concern, not only to passengers, but to the ship's staff and crew. So, it is very important for everyone to be vigilent...and for the passengers to "report" any condition that is questionable. Thanks for alerting us to the potential of situations such as this...I hope that our upcoming cruise with be without incident...and that we all can continue to enjoy our vacations at sea!

 

Debjo

[garydm]

Reminds me of the woman in the Lido salad bar line who was sticking her finger in each of the salad dressings, licking it, then going on to the next and doing the same. And, no there was no staff person or supervisor around to report it. Maybe they'll have to resort to dispensers like for soap in a bathroom and wall mount them.

[cruz chic]

I'm sure what you saw was some type of anomaly,

 

All silverware is thoroughly washed before the table is set.

Could you kindly explain how you know that?

[doublebzz]

I would like to add a positive comment here, regarding "broken" dining table items. On our Nov. 2011 cruise (on a different cruise line...see my signature below), we had late fixed dining, which we prefer. Having a total of three couples in our traveling group, we totally enjoyed our long meal time, as we didn't have to vacate the dining room quickly to allow for another seating. Our conversations usually lingered, and we often were the last people to leave the dining room. Consequently, we got to see and got to know the staff there, quite well, over the course of our cruise week. The Head Waiter, in our section, quickly became one of our favorite staff members on that trip. Early during the cruise, we noticed, once the dining room had been cleared of most passengers, that the wait-staff pulled all of the cups/saucers, plates, glasses, etc. from their wait-station at the end of the evening. The Head Waiter then came to each "station" and inspected each and every one of the dishes & glasses...for cleanliness and chips/cracks. If he found any "flaws", he summoned the wait-staff responsible for that station, and the situation was rectified. We asked the Head Waiter about this "practice"...was it a "spot-check" or was it something that was regularly done? His response was that it was done after EACH meal in the dining room. We were thoroughly impressed! Yes, it did involve the handling of all those dishes by the staff...and one wants to assume they had clean hands when doing it. Even the table linens were inspected for tears/stains.

 

There is much that goes on "behind the scenes" on a cruise ship...things many passengers don't even think of, or just take for granted. We've participated in many "Behind The Scenes" tours, when they've been offered on our cruises. Sure, things are probably "tidied-up" for those tours...but I have to say, I've always found the cruise ship kitchens to be visually more clean than any kitchen I've seen in land-based restaurants (when that door is open and you get a sneak peak)!

 

We are about to embark on our second HAL cruise and I have to say, I'm greatly disturbed to be reading this message board now. Yet, it is something we've not been aware of on any of our previous cruises...now, we'll have to keep watch!

 

 

 

Debjo

 

I couldn't agree more with your comments.

 

We all have horror stories to tell about sanitation. By and large, food preparation and service aboard cruise ships are closely supervised by various levels of the hotel staff and certainly more stringent than most land based restaurants. To be sure, we ought to try to correct deficiencies when we observe them, but lets not lose perspective here.

[Scrapnana]

Reminds me of the woman in the Lido salad bar line who was sticking her finger in each of the salad dressings, licking it, then going on to the next and doing the same. And, no there was no staff person or supervisor around to report it. Maybe they'll have to resort to dispensers like for soap in a bathroom and wall mount them.

 

Ewww!:eek: That may be more gross than the silverware!

[CJcruzer]

Had quite an experience on Oceania...for all their "premium" cruiseline personna, I was flabbergasted.

 

Muster drill, wear your life jacket, report to dining room.....(this is quite a few yrs ago)....sit at tables..... and The tables are all SET, linens, goblets, plates, silverware.....and of course, while waiting for the room to fill, and for the spiel on emergency procedures to begin...people are fiddling with the knives, coughing, wiping hands on tablecloth, etc!!!! I'm thinking....Say What! what a turnoff....needless to say, that first night, we ate at a specialty restaurant, I was so disgusted.

[serendipity1499]

For serendipity 1499-

Most cough syrup bottles come packaged with plastic measuring cups. I save several of them for use with other medications. They can be marked with a Sharpie with the required dosage and reused many times. And they don't spill or drip like a spoon does!

 

Oh I'm aware of that but we hardly ever use cough syrup..And those little measuring cups are in ounces &/or grams..I only need to take one tablespoon each evening with a pill, therefore I use a round soup spoon..

Thanks..Betty

[lvz2cruz]

I did not read all three pages but I have noticed when you decline wine for dinner they take the glasses right then and I have always suspected they store them for reuse. Otherwise, why would they take them?

[lindaler]

On our last cruise I asked our guy what he did with the silverware. I said that how did he know it was clean and he showed me where they put it when they collected our silverware. It was the same place for dirty and clean. I said good cause he could never know if we had licked the spoons or not. He laughed and said, he never put silverware back on the table. Coffee cups were another thing altogether. Our table mates found lipstick on her coffee cup and I found green stuff on the outside of mine. It was not uncommon to have at least one silverware that had crusted on food at each meal so their dishwasher must not have been working as good as it should.

[JudeeJim]

My brother joined us on his first cruise last March. Knowing his personality I was afraid he would make some kind of remark about all the Prell everywhere. We are a family who are not germ phobic. Kudos to Al. While in the line in the Lido he saw a man reach for a roll with his bare hand and knocked the tongs to the floor. This man picked up the tongs and placed them back with the rolls. Al immediately pointed it out to a server and the whole tray and removed it telling my brother they would have to throw all of the, away. Way to go little brother.

 

Judee

[Linda&Vern]

A couple of years ago next to our table in the MDR were two young children and two women. The youngest (under 5?) started playing with the salt and pepper shakers and kept putting them in her mouth:eek: and banging them on the table. We did not report it but next time I see something like that I will (and we all know how clean tiny tots hands are):rolleyes:

My absolute horror :eek: in any restaurant is watching parents let their younger children play with the containers that hold the packets of sugar/sugar sub. (Those pink and blue and yellow and white pkgs.) The kids put them in their mouth, rub their hands all over them, run them all around the table top. And when ready to leave the parents gather the packs up, put them all back in the tray/bowl and leave. I have been know to call a waiter over and ask them to throw away any sugar pkgs on certain tables when the group leaves.

[erewhon]

During our last cruise, I observed a fellow passenger using her fingers, pick up a slice of pineapple from a bowl of prepared fruit under the dome in the Neptune Lounge, she then placed it back in the bowl and picked up pieces of fruit from a different bowl (fingers again) which she ate.

When the concierge returned to the lounge I reported what I had seen, she was quite horrified and removed the bowls.

Also saw passengers picking up cookies and chocolates with their fingers.

[LindaandJeff]

I always take any utensils that "appear to be clean" and purposely run it through sauce or butter or something hopefully so that they don't reuse it. I also place any utensils on the plate when I am through using them. Did you ever notice how someone always seems to be polishing the utensils...hopefully they are just polishing off waters stains from the dishwasher...and not polishing off lasagna remnants!

[Sue from Canada]

And their parents were where?

 

Sitting right beside them oblivious to their little darlings.

[Taxguy77]

This is why I always bring my own chopsticks onboard.

 

Unfortunately, cruise ships NOT in Asian waters usually do not cut the food into bite size. Take a pocket knife to cut the meat Goucho style (Bite some and cut the rest off, missing your nose).

Bon Appetite!

[arewethereyet]

I always take any utensils that "appear to be clean" and purposely run it through sauce or butter or something hopefully so that they don't reuse it. I also place any utensils on the plate when I am through using them. Did you ever notice how someone always seems to be polishing the utensils...hopefully they are just polishing off waters stains from the dishwasher...and not polishing off lasagna remnants!

Just hope the person before you did that too.

[arewethereyet]

I did not read all three pages but I have noticed when you decline wine for dinner they take the glasses right then and I have always suspected they store them for reuse. Otherwise, why would they take them?

That's another thing that can be annoying (my list grows longer). They set up all tables with wine glasses, then remove them if you don't order wine. On a Celebrity cruise last year, I watched the wine steward spend a ridiculous amount of time retrieving glasses, then running off to store them somewhere. The result was that it was almost impossible to get wine unless you were one of the first tables he came to. The inefficiency of that routine is mind boggling. He was busy as h*ll, and working hard. But, he wasn't getting anything done.

 

Just my $.02.

[catl331]

on our recent Prinsendam cruise I noticed the unused silverware went into a towel lined drawer and the used ones were put in a rack that looked like it would fit into the washer. I have faith that HAL does everything possible to keep Norovirus at bay. I have toured the kitchens many times; spotless!

Certainly, cleaner than most restaurants.

 

The employees do not want to suffer from this virus either. I noticed a cleaner and scrubber on our floor everyday wiping down railings, elevator buttons etc. She did two floors bow end daily.

[shrimp56]

I did not read all three pages but I have noticed when you decline wine for dinner they take the glasses right then and I have always suspected they store them for reuse. Otherwise, why would they take them?

 

That's normal in any good restaurant. I always assumed it was to make the table less cluttered for those dining.

[chees]

When a party of two sits at a table in a land-based restaurant set for four, they always remove the two extra settings and reuse them (including the napkins). They don't send everything to the dishwasher (but notice that sometimes they don't remove the extra settings immediately and they often touch them inappropriately). I've seen the 'unused' knives being returned for re-use many times on both cruises and in land-based restaurants. Believe me, if you could see what happens in a restaurant kitchen you would never want to eat out again.

 

However, I'm not a germophobe and think that our excessive use of antibacterial soap is doing everyone a disservice. Not all bacteria is bad, and being exposed to bacteria is how to build up a resistance. I've cruise over 100 days on HAL, plus many other cruises, and have eaten in ports in South America and Asia never gotten sick. I've also been on several Noro-impacted cruises and fortunately not gotten sick (even when one of our party did).

 

I try to check out my silverware to make sure it looks clean, but beyond that I find it best not to obsess over it or I will be miserable. Germs are everywhere (I do unfortunately have to hold the handrail as I go up/down stairs) but I try to minimize exposure without being crazy about it. I also prefer to not eat in the Lido because it is too crowded, I hate to stand in line, I prefer to be waited on, and people are frequently gross and 'touchy' with the food. :-)

 

Tina

[the2ofus]

Actually we do not live in a sterile bubble. Though the issue with the silverware raises concerns have you ever thought about the:

 

1. Handling of salt & pepper dispensers

2. Use of spoons to serve yourself in the buffet lines

3. And on and on and on

 

The items above are handled by many without clean hands :eek:

 

Which is why during HAL's first 48 hours of a cruise there is no self-serve anywhere and there are no condiments on the tables. Protects us from the noro germs, etc. that might be brought on board by embarking pax. After that, wash hands often, use hand wipes often and Purell when entering the dining venues.

[Boytjie]

That's normal in any good restaurant. I always assumed it was to make the table less cluttered for those dining.

 

Then there are restaurants where there are wine glasses on the table - that they remove and replace when you order wine, no matter if you order red or white (or both).

 

Then again, restaurants oftem have for-show plates that are immediately removed and never eaten from. Yes, Pinnacle does it too.

[sail7seas]

I'm shocked any of us survive all the germs and potential illness what with all the horror stories of how dirty the flatware must be. :eek:

 

Really.

 

Beats me how DH and I have survived quite well through all our cruises. Must be sheer luck. :D

 

[brazilgirl]

I'm shocked any of us survive all the germs and potential illness what with all the horror stories of how dirty the flatware must be. :eek:

 

Really.

 

Beats me how DH and I have survived quite well through all our cruises. Must be sheer luck. :D

 

 

Thumbs up !! :)