Breakfast Buffet

[Roz]

I had an amazing breakfast buffet at the Radisson Blu in Bucharest.  Their clientele is international, so the offerings reflected that.  The selection of sliced sausages and cold cuts, along with cheeses, was amazing.  They also had Eastern European dishes I had never seen, including a delicious eggplant salad similar to baba ganoush.  And fish, lots of fish.  The Scandanavians and Asians were eating it up.  

 

But for the most part, buffets, breakfast or otherwise, are meh.

 

Roz

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, iancal said:

NO.

 

The only thing that is amazing is if you can get to your table before the eggs are stone cold!

You should learn to walk just a little faster — unless you are the sort who gets his eggs before finding a table, in which case we cannot help you.

[iancal]

MDR for me!

 

Not a buffet fan.  Only the salad bar at lunch thanks.

Edited April 20, 2019 by iancal

[A2Mich]

On 4/19/2019 at 5:08 PM, ldubs said:

 

Corned beef hash, steamed rice, fried eggs -- best breakfast.   

 

Add bacon and some fresh fruit and lose the rice, and I’m with you,  I like rice, just not for breakfast, though.  

[A2Mich]

On 4/18/2019 at 5:07 PM, RocketMan275 said:

You left off the biscuits and gravy.  And, the grits too.

 

Live had no problem finding biscuits and “a” gravy.  It was not peppered sausage or sausage gravy.  It tended to be brown gravy made from a powder mix.  If they had offered even just a peppered, white gravy, I could have improvised with some sausage links

[A2Mich]

9 hours ago, Velvetwater said:

 

Buffet food is buffet food but Celebrity impressed me with their Breakfast buffet (overall though their food was the best of the lines we tried)

 

My reason why will not be popular with most cruisers though.

 

Celebrity (Equinox round the Med) had a large range of breakfast dishes but in the middle of the morning offering was a curry station with puri bread and rice and various homestyle veggie dishes. Curry for breakfast is really good and also quite healthy and as my husband and I discovered....goes well with bacon. It goes without saying that due to nationality of many kitchen workers on ships that curry is often a good choice of food anyway.

 

I never have found out if Celebrity have this regularly as many fellow cruisers I meet don't have the curry love I do. 🙂

 

 

And, I would be one of those that doesn’t share the love for curry....

[K32682]

3 hours ago, iancal said:

MDR for me!

 

Not a buffet fan.  Only the salad bar at lunch thanks.

 

Buffet works on a port day when you want to eat quickly and get off the boat.  MDR is best on a sea day when you've got lots of time and can enjoy a leisurely breakfast, brought to your table, without having to elbow past the hordes to get your meal.  

[Heidi13]

10 hours ago, Velvetwater said:

My reason why will not be popular with most cruisers though.

 

Celebrity (Equinox round the Med) had a large range of breakfast dishes but in the middle of the morning offering was a curry station with puri bread and rice and various homestyle veggie dishes. Curry for breakfast is really good and also quite healthy and as my husband and I discovered....goes well with bacon. It goes without saying that due to nationality of many kitchen workers on ships that curry is often a good choice of food anyway.

 

I never have found out if Celebrity have this regularly as many fellow cruisers I meet don't have the curry love I do. 🙂

Curry for breakfast - don't see any problem with that.

 

Been on many ships that had a curry pot simmering 24/7. Curry for breakfast, washed down with a few pints of dark beer was a staple.🙂

[mongo59r]

3 hours ago, A2Mich said:

 

Live had no problem finding biscuits and “a” gravy.  It was not peppered sausage or sausage gravy.  It tended to be brown gravy made from a powder mix.  If they had offered even just a peppered, white gravy, I could have improvised with some sausage links

 

I have yet to find a ship that has a passable Sausage/cream gravy.......@$%%$!!!  the american is coming out again! ;-))

[Jimnbigd]

4 hours ago, K32682 said:

 

Buffet works on a port day when you want to eat quickly and get off the boat.  MDR is best on a sea day when you've got lots of time and can enjoy a leisurely breakfast, brought to your table, without having to elbow past the hordes to get your meal.  

Cafe Promenade (on ships that have them) is also a good choice for a quick continental breakfast.

On debarkation day, the MDR is a highlight, and can be quicker than the crowded buffet.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

22 hours ago, iancal said:

NO.

 

The only thing that is amazing is if you can get to your table before the eggs are stone cold!

definitely a miracle if you are a mother getting food for your kids as well. Then, when you finally get to your table with your own food - mommy, I forgot the syrup, or mommy, I want bacon, or mommy, I don't want this, I want that... 

I don't think I have ever eaten hot food during breakfast buffet on a cruise.... But I am omnivorous and such is my fate. :) 

[A2Mich]

7 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

definitely a miracle if you are a mother getting food for your kids as well. Then, when you finally get to your table with your own food - mommy, I forgot the syrup, or mommy, I want bacon, or mommy, I don't want this, I want that... 

I don't think I have ever eaten hot food during breakfast buffet on a cruise.... But I am omnivorous and such is my fate. 🙂

 

We’re finally getting to the point where we only have to deal with getting food for one of them.  The other two are at the age where they can get their own and do so properly.

[A2Mich]

15 hours ago, Jimnbigd said:

Cafe Promenade (on ships that have them) is also a good choice for a quick continental breakfast.

On debarkation day, the MDR is a highlight, and can be quicker than the crowded buffet.

 

That”s a good idea....not sure if RCI has their MDR open on debarked day.  May vary from one cruise line to another?

[Jimnbigd]

8 hours ago, A2Mich said:

 

....not sure if RCI has their MDR open on debarked day.  May vary from one cruise line to another?

The MDR has been open for all my RCI cruises on debarkation day. Carnival too.

[Judyrem]

On 4/5/2019 at 7:00 PM, Bizmark'sMom said:

You get the same things in the buffet as you do in the dining room. The difference in the dining room is that you have to wait for coffee. (I NEED my coffee!)  Breakfast is pretty good - eggs, fresh if you want them, bacon or ham, fruit, pastries, a bloody mary if it's a sea day or you need a little hair of the dog...

I NEED my coffee too!

[A2Mich]

15 hours ago, Jimnbigd said:

The MDR has been open for all my RCI cruises on debarkation day. Carnival too.

 

Thanks.  We always just hit the buffet for breakfast on debarkation day, so never really paid much attention to the MDR schedule for the final morning.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Totally depends on the ship you are on. most breakfast buffets are a normal offering of the basics. Usually very good and several offerings. however on some cruise ships they may bee 3 or 4 different flavored waffles, pancakes of different flavors, several different sausages, eggs made several different ways. Bagels, English muffins, white toast, wheat toast and more. Lots of deserts and other offerings. But breakfast on any ship is not just blah. So I do not know what you want, but at most breakfast buffets you will probably find it.

[Rala]

On 4/5/2019 at 2:46 PM, cb at sea said:

You can get the same food in the dining room, for the most part, and it's served to you!  The problem with buffets is waiting behind folks who can't make up their minds, or trying to find the syrup or butter or jelly, while the rest of your plate is getting cold...in the DR, it's all on your table, waiting on YOU!

It is NOT ALL waiting for you.  The butter and jelly, maybe.  You have to wait for coffee, tea, juice, pastries and other things like hot sauce, ketchup which some like on their eggs.  All of these things are waiting for you in the buffet.  If you can't find something,  ASK.  Any crew member will help you.  This wait time (in the MDR) may be as little as a few minutes or it could be longer.  You like the MDR for breakfast, so do I, but you make many misleading statements about the experience of breakfast in the MDR vs. the buffet.  There are pros and cons to both.  Sigh!!!

[ldubs]

On 4/20/2019 at 4:43 PM, A2Mich said:

 

Add bacon and some fresh fruit and lose the rice, and I’m with you,  I like rice, just not for breakfast, though.  

 

Customs really do dictate.  I grew up on eggs & hash browns.  Now, most of my family is from a part of the world where rice is more common than hash browns for breakfast.  I'm so used to it now that I really miss having rice along with my fried eggs.  Corned beef should have some onions added too!  😁

[navybankerteacher]

6 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Customs really do dictate.  I grew up on eggs & hash browns.  Now, most of my family is from a part of the world where rice is more common than hash browns for breakfast.  I'm so used to it now that I really miss having rice along with my fried eggs.  Corned beef should have some onions added too!  😁

The white starch with fried eggs should be grits.

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

The white starch with fried eggs should be grits.

Couldn't agree more.

You can add some sausage gravy to the grits too.

[Mike981]

On 4/20/2019 at 7:28 PM, Heidi13 said:

Curry for breakfast - don't see any problem with that.

 

Been on many ships that had a curry pot simmering 24/7. Curry for breakfast, washed down with a few pints of dark beer was a staple.🙂

^^^This^^^

[Mike981]

Food discussions are always interesting. It's such a personal opinion.

And. This is big. Your palate is based on what you eat most of the time at home.

As for breakfast anywhere in public, it is normally just 'blah' to me. I love to cook and I've been told I do okay. Most breakfast food by its very nature is not meant to sit on a warmer. I agree, made to order is the way to go if you are willing to wait.

[Velvetwater]

 

Rice for breakfast is certainly better than grits.

 

But let us not forget the truly great baked beans on toast for brekkie.

[cabin4three]

I remember a cruise breakfast buffet from many many years ago, our first Caribbean cruise.  The fresh fruit was amazing, perfect ripeness, papaya, mango, water melon, pineapple, peaches...  so many different fruits all at perfect ripeness and juicy and sweet.

We do get these fruits in UK but getting them at perfect ripeness is hit and miss, they are usually under or over ripe.  I ate a lot of fruit for breakfast