Buffet at dinner on NCL? Who has done?

[Valen9]

Another note: When I've dropped by the buffet for dinner, often I find that they have many of the same desserts they're serving in the MDR.

 

It's also usually much calmer and quieter there for dinner than it is for breakfast and lunch. Not at all a bad selection.

[wasiii]

We go to the buffet rarely. Not that the food is poor, but because we like being served better.

 

wasiii

 

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[Novastar]

My SO and I love, love, love the buffet. We do eat in the MDR and specialties but are not embarrassed to say that we are dedicated buffet fans and probably eat more dinners there than anywhere else. We like all the choices!

[Siora7777]

The buffet is good with a lot of choices, so many good options in my opinion. Main dining was better. But the buffet was nice when you wanted to sit and relax and be on your own schedule and serve yourself. Buffet is quicker so that was nice. Dining in main is more drawn out but worth it. We did both but on NCL I prefer main dining. On RCL I preferred the buffet since the dinners were pretty much the same.

[Doandroidzdream]

Just off the Jewel yesterday. We ate mostly in the main dining rooms for our meals, with a few specialty restaurants peppered in. However, I cruised through the buffet once during dinner time for an after dinner snack, and was impressed by the dimmed lighting over the diners tables which created a nice dining ambiance.

 

There was one carving station, plenty of bread, cheese and fruit. Your regular hot dogs and hamburgers, an attendant at a stir fry station which was neat, some indian food selections, soups, potato wedges, hot vegetable selections, I think a salad area, and a whole bunch of other food I can't recall as I just darted in for the pretzel rolls and cheese!

 

edit: At first glance selection wise, I thought that the main dining room food is very different from the buffet selection.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Doandroidzdream

[Ms RealBoss]

I went in the Ncl breakaway last August and the garden cafe buffet is a Great choice for dinner. Theres always available seating and They have a variety of foods to choose from. Pizza burgers asian pasta,deli, carvung stations. They also have a multitude if desserts to choose from to accomodate different taste.

 

 

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[irishclover]

I also say give it a try. Maybe go before it gets too busy. I teach severly autistic 1st graders, so I understand the worry , even though I dont know your own personal situation. The buffet when its busy might be sensory overload plus bringing a fidget toy or something to the mdr one night wouldnt be bad. Most nights we were only in there for 45 minutes. The best part...if it doesnt work you can always leave. But it is quieter and not as bright.

[garycarla]

Yep - lots of dinners at the buffet. All the VARIETY and no waits for service. Another reason why I find it amazing how many do the UDP option. No charge for buffet. No reservations.

[Cruzaholic41]

Who here has eaten at the NCL buffet for dinner?

 

I have found myself eating in the buffet for dinner on NCL more than any other cruise line, mainly to avoid the hassle of waiting for a table and not knowing what sort of service I am going to get - things that are associated with their Freestyle concept.

[Barb Nahoumi]

We have gone to the buffet for dinner and enjoyed the wide selections. It is a great idea, if you want to get to a show on time or have small children.

 

Some NCL ships have a children's buffet area with child sized chairs and tables.

[Ms RealBoss]

Buffet for dinner is a great choice so many foods to choose from

 

 

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[NMLady]

Buffet for dinner is a great choice so many foods to choose from

 

 

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You brought back to life a thread that is two YEARS old!!!

[biker@sea]

The Buffet did get a little better in the last 2 years. :D

 

 

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[ray98]

Many times. Sometimes we just don't have the desire to set the time aside for a full service dinner.

[Monstica]

I have a 10 and 12 year old. My 12 year old has celiac disease and is on a gluten free diet. We ate in the buffet twice last year on the Breakaway and options were different than lunch and yummy :) His dinner was made separately from the buffet area. What I am getting at is I am sure if you plan ahead you can have the MDR dinners sent up to the Buffet if you were interested in doing that. It just takes a bit of planning and a heads up. Make sure you flag your special needs child as I did mine with the special needs department before you sail and give everyone a heads up. They completely went out of their way for my family, to ensure we had a great vacation. Have a great time.

[Lido_Deck]

There's a related thread in the RCI subsection, but our next cruise is NCL, so I thought I'd ask here.

 

Who here has eaten at the NCL buffet for dinner? How much, if at all, does it differ from the selections at lunch? Do they put out some of the dinner selections available in the MDR?

 

As we're sailing on the Jewel, we'll be more interested in answers from those of you who have done this on Jewel class ships. However, I'm sure others will benefit from hearing about dinner-time buffets on NCL's other class ships as well.

 

Also, I know that the new menus and dining options are being rolled out across the fleet, so some of the information will be old. It would be nice to see responses from those who have sailed recently, but feel free to offer your opinion regardless. :)

 

We're asking because we have two very active kids, one of whom is special needs and won't sit at an MDR table for an hour and a half regardless, so we are making sure we understand our options.

 

Thank you!

 

I have cruised on all the jewelry ships multiple times and the Garden Cafe serves the same things the MDRs serve. It's just not plated and served to you at the table. Not to mention all the other menu items that are offered on the buffet from veggies to deserts.

[Lido_Deck]

As long as your son doesn't mind the 40-something 2 tables over with a beer in one hand, devouring chicken drumsticks with the other (and likely making a mess of the table in the process). Sounds like we'd get along just fine! Enjoy your cruise.

 

That sounds like you're describing the MDR to me!

[Lido_Deck]

We just came off the Jewel today (*sad*) and even though we didn't eat an evening meal in the buffet,

 

~snip~

 

My biggest gripe with the buffet is that it is always hard to find a table. The second biggest gripe is people who do not watch where they are going and criss-cross every which direction, or who are walking in front of you and then stop suddenly, causing you to nearly rear-end them with your plate of food, or cup of coffee or your ice cream cone, etc.

 

It's obvious you really didn't spend much time in the Garden Cafe in the evening because you could shoot a 12 gauge shotgun in the dining area and not hit anyone because of all the empty tables. In fact, when I want to enjoy a quiet dinner, I eat in the Garden Cafe.

[Turtles06]

On our most recent NCL cruise, last Feb., a 10-nighter aboard the Gem, we ate dinner in the buffet several times. It was pretty quiet, they dimmed the lights around 7pm, and the food wasn't bad (except the desserts, which NCL can't seem to do well except in a few specialty venues). We very much enjoyed things like the curries, pasta, etc. It was nice to be out of the hustle of the MDRs every now and then (and when we weren't eating in a specialty restaurant).

 

We'll be on the Jewel for 16 nights this coming Jan./Feb., and I'm hoping the buffet is as good for dinner there as it was on the Gem.

 

We definitely thought it was an upgrade from our prior NCL cruises.

[Barb Nahoumi]

We have eaten in the buffet for dinner on the Gem and Dawn. The selections are varied, with more choices than in the MDR.

[santanna]

We were on a Panama Canal cruise on the Pearl over Canadian Thanksgiving.

They offered a full Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings in the buffet and it was delicious! I made a joking comment to one of my traveling companions after seeing the long line that they probably only had one turkey. That played down the line (I didn't think anyone else heard me). Imagine my dismay when by the time I got to my turn all that was left was bones. I almost cried but the server bent down and pulled up a gloriously golden huge roasted turkey. Several of us cheered. We took our plates and went out to the Great Outdoors to enjoy our lovely dinner in the balmy evening air.

Because it was October they also had an Octoberfest day served in the Great Outdoors. It was really well done.

 

A nice alternative if you don't want to eat in either the main dining room or the buffet, is always the Magenta dining room. It's smaller and more intimate and they serve the same food there as they do in the main dining room. We ate there almost every night of our 19-day cruise and our food always came to the table fresh and hot. (we also had the best look server on the entire ship. Turns out he had a twin brother in the buffet)

Edited October 21, 2016 by santanna