First American Table experience, Breeze, 2/21 sailing. The verdict...

[linga]

Ok group, heading back to Carnival 5/22 after a long absence. Someone please explain AT. I read the previous notes, reg food and no cloths. SO, is this something you choose up front or nightly or??

 

Also, just an FYI, according to Carnival, the American Table menu is about 70% the same as the old menu. I really liked the old menu and I like the new American Table menus. :)

[Sparky2]

American table is not something you choose. It is Carnival name for their new menu and dining policies and is present in all the dining rooms. They changed the menu from the foods they previously offered and instead of a standard formal setting that they used to place on a table that had a nice clean white tablecloth on it they now have one fork, one knife, a napkin, a bread plate, a water glass, a wine glass, a communal pitcher of water for all to use , a basket of bread without any kind of bread tongs so everyone touches it for the entire table to use , a bottle of wine that is not for drinking but is just for decoration and takes up space on the tiny table , and that's it on a bare table with no table cloth.

 

We were at a 2-top, and the waiter would remove the wine bottle for us, to make more room. We did a B2B and our asst. waiter would get us thin-sliced bread every night. It was not rye bread like we loved in the past, but they had olive bread & cheese bread. He brought enuf every night & we'd put it on our plate so he could remove the bread basket.

 

We had the AT menu on Liberty in 2014 and regular menu on Conquest in 2015. Back to American Table on our recent B2B on Glory. They did add a few things back that had not been on AT in 2014 so I was happy about that.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Sparky2

[firemanbobswife]

Also, just an FYI, according to Carnival, the American Table menu is about 70% the same as the old menu. I really liked the old menu and I like the new American Table menus. :)

 

Agree 100%.

 

Also I love the bread box on the table as we love lots of bread. It's so nice not having to flag down a waiter to bring more. They are busy enough and sometimes we want more than 1 or 2 pieces at a time. The bread is laid out in such as way as you do not need to touch any piece besides the one that you want in order to see what kinds there are. I would much rather do it that way than with tongs that other people touch and me not having hand sanitizer right there. Ewwww. I don't use the buffet much either for that reason. But if I do, I go to the sanitizer station before eating. Or if I can I will go wash my hands.

 

I was at an 8 top, had 2 baskets, and NOT ONCE did anyone go rummaging through or touching any piece besides the one they took. And trust me, I paid very careful attention after all the uproar on here. Some people are just crazy and look for any little thing to complain about. FYI - Celebrity has had a communal bread basket ever since we started cruising with them in 2008! Get over it.

Edited March 4, 2016 by firemanbobswife

[keywest1]

We were also on the Breeze 2/21. It was our first AT experience, and we loved it. We had YTD. We generally went early and never had a wait. Service was wonderful. The entire cruise was great--no complaints whatsoever except for being forced off on the last day :p

[tigresslea]

We were also on the Breeze 2/21. It was our first AT experience, and we loved it. We had YTD. We generally went early and never had a wait. Service was wonderful. The entire cruise was great--no complaints whatsoever except for being forced off on the last day :p

Love it, that's usually my only complaint too!

[LaFrimaire]

I am looking forward to trying my first AT on the Liberty in 2 weeks. I am keeping an open mind. I think Carnival will reverse course and bring back the table cloths. John Heald commented today on the AT and the negative comments regarding the table cloths was 10-1 it seemed.

It seems that people really hate the table setting and it affects the experience. I'm not attached to the old vs. new menu since I'm fairly new to Carnival but the lack of table cloths at dinner looks cheap and causes problems with noise and dishes sliding around. Wonder how corporate justifies it if customers hate it so much. Why not keep table bare for bkfast/lunch/brunch, and put it back for dinner.

[Stitchman]

What's an "American table"

 

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[Stitchman]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Sounds like the drinks need a coaster like the water carafe.

Or beer mats :)

 

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[dave_k58]

I loved the American Table on the Magic - and couldn't care less about the lack of table cloths.

[BB Huey]

The table cloths were on for Elegant night. Our travel agent and documents said only one Elegant Night so wife put away one dress. There were two, kind of awkward that night.