No trays in Lido

[DeckLife]

We just returned from a wonderful Mediterranean cruise on Noordam. I am curious as to whether having no trays in the Lido buffet is the norm for HAL, and has . We found that gathering our meals was very time-consuming. With no trays and small plates, multiple trips to various stations were required to put together a meal. Food got cold. This situation extended people's use of table space and thus tables were always hard to come by. Leaving drinks on a table while we got our food didn't always work to hold the table for us.

We opted for breakfast room service on every excursion day so we wouldn't have to deal with this. Room service use was very high on our cruise.

I don't recall Lido food gathering being such a pain on any of our five other cruises. Disney Wonder had trays, but I don't recall the situation on the other cruises. Maybe the others had big plates and that saved the day.

We are planning to buy some trays to take on our October HAL trip.

HAL really needs to rethink this.

[Wakepatrol]

We just returned from a wonderful Mediterranean cruise on Noordam. I am curious as to whether having no trays in the Lido buffet is the norm for HAL, and has . We found that gathering our meals was very time-consuming. With no trays and small plates, multiple trips to various stations were required to put together a meal. Food got cold. This situation extended people's use of table space and thus tables were always hard to come by. Leaving drinks on a table while we got our food didn't always work to hold the table for us.

We opted for breakfast room service on every excursion day so we wouldn't have to deal with this. Room service use was very high on our cruise.

I don't recall Lido food gathering being such a pain on any of our five other cruises. Disney Wonder had trays, but I don't recall the situation on the other cruises. Maybe the others had big plates and that saved the day.

We are planning to buy some trays to take on our October HAL trip.

HAL really needs to rethink this.

 

Passengers take less food, they eliminate washing trays

 

This saves money, so I doubt they'll be rethinking it.

[jakkojakko]

For years now, all Hal ships have no trays in Lido. So yes this is normal for Hal.

[sapete]

Here are some possible reasons why:

_

1). Just another, let's say, 100-300 pieces that are not properly cleaned and disinfecte and make aperfect transport device for Noro.

 

2). At peak times now begins the hunt for a tray leading with the question--Are you done with that?

 

3). How many trays will go to cabins and not brought back?

 

4). How many work hours would be spent tracking down those trays and taking them back to be cleaned?

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited May 10, 2014 by sapete

[PatriciaF]

No trays on Princess or Celebrity--but the plates are big.

[LocoLoco1]

I've heard from knowledgeable Food People that the Amt. of food $$used$$ drops a LOT if Trays are not avail. Same goes for Buffet restaurants ashore. I believe it. Locomotiveman

[donaldsc]

We just returned from a wonderful Mediterranean cruise on Noordam. I am curious as to whether having no trays in the Lido buffet is the norm for HAL, and has . We found that gathering our meals was very time-consuming. With no trays and small plates, multiple trips to various stations were required to put together a meal. Food got cold. This situation extended people's use of table space and thus tables were always hard to come by. Leaving drinks on a table while we got our food didn't always work to hold the table for us.

We opted for breakfast room service on every excursion day so we wouldn't have to deal with this. Room service use was very high on our cruise.

I don't recall Lido food gathering being such a pain on any of our five other cruises. Disney Wonder had trays, but I don't recall the situation on the other cruises. Maybe the others had big plates and that saved the day.

We are planning to buy some trays to take on our October HAL trip.

HAL really needs to rethink this.

 

Been that way for a long time.

 

DON

[Krazy Kruizers]

The trays disappeared from HAL ships a very long time ago.

Most ships do have larger plates for the food.

Several cruise lines do not have trays. They have found that people will take less food and thus there is less waste.

[Stratheden]

I have seen just so much waste in the Lido.

I don't mind the small plates. You can have a small tasting of more than one thing.

[Boytjie]

No trays on the MSC Divina.

 

I haven't seen trays on a ship in years.

[ellieanne]

My biggest issue is the plates are sometimes too hot to hold.

 

Cooler plates would make trays not nearly as necessary.

[Stratheden]

Take a serviette with you to carry your plate. Don't like eating hot food off cold plates. :)

[Stratheden]

We just returned from a wonderful Mediterranean cruise on Noordam. I am curious as to whether having no trays in the Lido buffet is the norm for HAL, and has . We found that gathering our meals was very time-consuming. With no trays and small plates, multiple trips to various stations were required to put together a meal. Food got cold. This situation extended people's use of table space and thus tables were always hard to come by. Leaving drinks on a table while we got our food didn't always work to hold the table for us.

We opted for breakfast room service on every excursion day so we wouldn't have to deal with this. Room service use was very high on our cruise.

I don't recall Lido food gathering being such a pain on any of our five other cruises. Disney Wonder had trays, but I don't recall the situation on the other cruises. Maybe the others had big plates and that saved the day.

We are planning to buy some trays to take on our October HAL trip.

HAL really needs to rethink this.

 

Sorry this is OT. A friend who was on this same cruise commented today that the linen in the dining room and cabin were threadbare. How did you find it?

[cruz chic]

Take a serviette with you to carry your plate. Don't like eating hot food off cold plates. :)

 

The only thing on Hal that I've ever had that was hot tempature wise was in the tamarind. Everything is always lukewarm. I guess you've been lucky or I've been unlucky.

[serendipity1499]

It's been several years since HAL has not had trays.. There have been several other threads about this & on one posters discuss bringing their own..

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1997371&highlight=lido+trays

 

One Poster posted about biodegradable trays which can be disposed of after your cruise.. If I had to get food for both myself & DH this would be a good idea..

 

These are 50 tray packs for less than $10.00.. I probably would put plastic wrap on the bottom to keep it clean to be used several times:

 

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/green-wave-tw-too-041-9x-12-biodegradable-tray-50-pack/999TWTOO041.html

[DMac1983]

Stack all your food on top of the other. Eggs Benefict, some yogurt, a little bit of cheese, and a slice of pizza draped over the top! Though, I'm one of those weird people that don't mind when my food touches on a plate, haha.

[DeckLife]

The linens I was in contact with weren't threadbare. At least not so far as I noticed.

[Lovely other]

Stack all your food on top of the other. Eggs Benefict, some yogurt, a little bit of cheese, and a slice of pizza draped over the top! Though, I'm one of those weird people that don't mind when my food touches on a plate, haha.

 

 

Had to laugh ...that's one of the things that disturbs me somewhat in the Lido. I feel awfully nauseous when I see people with a main meal on the plate and then desert on the same plate. Especially if there is gravy/custard lol. Surely it can't be that hard to get up for desert afterwards ????:confused:

 

I don't personally mind of the plates are small. I like sampling bits of things in buffets, especially if its food we don't come across in the UK (don't get me started on the sampling of grits ....) so the small plates are ideal. Plus getting up between courses burns a few calories ...every bit helps :D

[sail7seas]

My biggest issue is the plates are sometimes too hot to hold.

 

Cooler plates would make trays not nearly as necessary.

 

 

I agree that sometimes the plates are too hot to hold.

It rattles my chain when the buffet server hands the plate to me and says 'hot plate'. Does he think that because he tells me it is hot it is going to easier for me to hold? I understand it is a warning but if it is so hot he has to warn me, he should not be handing it to me without a napkin or something with which to make it more comfortable for me to carry. When they say 'hot plate', I do not reach for it. I ask for a napkin.

 

I once dropped a hot plate full of food when it was handed to me and was humiliated. I don't want to be in that position again.

 

Edited May 10, 2014 by sail7seas

[SeagoingMom]

Good to know this situation -- so those of us who want trays could easily pack them in the bottom of our suitcase and have them available during the cruise.

 

When you say the plates are not large enough, what size are they? Are they the size of a regular dinner plate (10") or just a salad plate (6")? I do recall on my recent Princess cruise that the buffet plates were large ovals, like small serving platters -- maybe 12"-14" long and 8" wide. Perhaps this is the more standard buffet plate size for cruise ships?

[DeckLife]

I do recall Disney Wonder had trays last September. They were small with nipped off top corners and held a round plate, a small side plate or bowl (pastry, oatmeal), a glass of juice and maybe coffee. The breakfast line had everything that makes up an old-fashioned breakfast, and the food was still hot when my husband and I sat down together. There was a separate station for cold cereals; there might have been one for omelets but I didn't have any.

 

I recognize that washing, stacking, collecting and otherwise managing trays take energy and manpower. However, I'm sure that whatever savings was realized has been eaten up by the handling of numerous plates one must have to do a meal. The load on room service has surely increased. I'd bet that extra manhours are spent by crew gathering multiple sets of utensils and napkins from the same passenger as that passenger eats and goes to get the other parts of the meal.

 

Since no trays is the norm, more thought needs to be given to how the food is arranged. When I ate in Lido for breakfast, I would get fried eggs and bacon and then go fetch the fruit and any bread I wanted. The eggs would cool off, but I got the eggs first so that I could have the big plate. The plate was usually hot to handle. Why couldn't I have the big plate available at the start of the station, get fruit etc. and then have the eggs and bacon plopped on it?

 

I liked the round waffles but that station didn't have a posted start and end. The crew member manning it was nearly always in back when I'd go there and by the time he came out other passengers would pretend they'd been there first. Yes, that was rude, but it would happen far less if there were start and finish signs the way there were at other stations. And again the little plates made it hard for me to have my breakfast hot with other food at the same time.

 

Since the tray platforms all around are cleaned continuously, I doubt there are any more issues from private tray germs than there are from people's hands, arms, and other stuff that goes on those platforms. I wonder if there are sanitary issues with people carrying napkin-wrapped utensil sets around in their pockets. (Utensil sets were on tables but if Lido was busy, which it usually was, we'd often grab a table that had just been vacated, scoot the dirties off to the side and then dig in using the utensil sets we had picked up.)

 

I feel sure that improvements can be made that achieve both economic and passenger satisfaction goals. (More frequent passes by the water/tea/coffee person would be welcome. Lighter dishes would be nice, too.) In the meantime, I plan to bring a tray or charger plate and sanitize it with Germ-X or Purell between uses.

[CRUZBUDS]

We carry a light cloth bag at the breakfast buffet. It works great to carry utensils, milk cartons, cereal boxes, yogurt and items like that. It frees up your hands for bowls and other things. :)

[POA1]

When you say the plates are not large enough, what size are they? Are they the size of a regular dinner plate (10") or just a salad plate (6")? I do recall on my recent Princess cruise that the buffet plates were large ovals, like small serving platters -- maybe 12"-14" long and 8" wide. Perhaps this is the more standard buffet plate size for cruise ships?

 

I didn't measure, but there were smaller round plates (think salad or dessert), larger round dinner plates, larger oval plates, and round bowls.

 

We actually prefer to get up and grab our food course by course, but not everyone does.

 

I think Sail7seas had a good suggestion for getting trays from a local market and taking them with her. I want to say it was Whole Foods, but I can't locate the post.

 

Maybe she'll see this and remind us where she gets them.

[sail7seas]

She..... POA is correct. I was at Whole Foods and saw they had the perfect size tray at their salad buffet. I asked the Manager if I could buy one and he said No but he'd be happy to give me one. :) It's light, packs easily, and is perfect for use at HAL buffet.

 

For the most part, DH and I got used to the trayless buffet but for the hot plates I described above. It was never as convenient as with a tray PARTICULARLY for people who have to help someone else get their food in addition to their own. Our last cruise I was happy to provide the help my DH needed but it definitely made for one of us eating cold food if I didn't use a tray.

[sail7seas]

On all the ships we have sailed since elimination of trays in Lido, HAL has provided oval platter size dishes the are approiximately 11 - 12" and for the most part they are fine for an omeltte, toast, maybe a slice of breakfast him and a mug of coffee.

 

Those ships are Maasdam, Oosterdam, Westerdam, Noordam, Veendam, Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam. That leads me to believe all the ships are by now using those oval size platters.

 

Someone will pop in here to say there are stewards to help you carry but that is very hit or miss and truthfully, I like to roam around looking for a table where I prefer sitting. If I had a steward walking with me, I'd feel obliged to sit in the first available seats. I prefer to not do that.

Edited May 10, 2014 by sail7seas