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Pre-set Tables in World Cafe Is Creeping Me Out


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10 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

So do you take your own utensils to the buffet to serve yourself?  A slotted spoon for veggies, tongs for sushi, spatula for fish, etc?   I suspect not.  

 

I have several friends who do not eat at buffets due to concerns about germ transfer or due to cross contamination concerns related to their allergies.  I’m lucky I don’t have either concerns  but I’d suggest based on your posts that you might want to consider taking their stance about buffets.  Given the number of people who will be touching a serving spoon I don’t think there is a way for anyone to make a buffet completely safe.  

That is where you are wrong. On Oceania there is no self service in the buffet - everyone is served by the staff and there is no handling of utensils by passengers (hence no need for me to “take your own utensils to the buffet to serve yourself?”). There is no absolute guarantee of no-cross contamination but this is a much better system than what you are describing. Not only is it not a good practice by everyone touching the serving utensils but we know what those food trays look like after everyone picks them over for their favorite items.

Edited by Paulchili
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We carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer and resanitize our hands after handling food ladels, menus, chairs, community condiment containers, etc. and just before we eat.

 

Think about how many things you touch after handwashing up until you pick up that roll and butter it 

 

Overkill?  Perhaps, but 35+ cruises and we've never caught the GIs on board. 

.

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14 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

At the World Cafe, the water glasses are short plastic ribbed plastic. You can see them in the photo below. The glasses for wine and soda are in glass as long as you are sitting inside. If you dine alfresco, then all barware is plastic (but good quality that looks basically the same as the real thing). 

 

Also note in the picture below that the glasses and coffee cups are now set drinking side up so the only potential contamination is the small spoon set directly on the mat above the plate. do I asked a waiter about it and he said it was a recent change in procedure. I thought, “well looks like someone was ready CruiseCritic”.  Unfortunately when I walked through after boarding this afternoon after our daybin Valencia, the glasses were upside down 😢

 

I did like that they also changed coffee procedure, there is now a room size thermos on each table full of hot coffee!

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We have been on five VO cruises and they have always put the carafes of coffee on the tables if you request coffee.  The only time we have seen anyone go to the machines is for a "special" and if requested the servers would bring it to them.

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Washing hands after may be more important than before!  Just washing hands several times during the day (due to handrails, etc.) and avoiding touching mouth/nose is a huge help.  Hand sanitizer is not an equal replacement for old fashioned soap and water, though, in the long run.

And as my MD husband frequently says:  "Eating is not a sterile process!"

Must admit that I'm a little surprised that Viking hasn't popped in on this subject.

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17 hours ago, molymoo said:

We have been on five VO cruises and they have always put the carafes of coffee on the tables if you request coffee.  The only time we have seen anyone go to the machines is for a "special" and if requested the servers would bring it to them.

They were on the table filled before you sat down? That was new for us on Day 11 or 12 of our TA

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On 4/10/2019 at 5:11 PM, Paulchili said:

That is where you are wrong. On Oceania there is no self service in the buffet - everyone is served by the staff and there is no handling of utensils by passengers (hence no need for me to “take your own utensils to the buffet to serve yourself?”). There is no absolute guarantee of no-cross contamination but this is a much better system than what you are describing. Not only is it not a good practice by everyone touching the serving utensils but we know what those food trays look like after everyone picks them over for their favorite items.

I missed that you were discussing Oceania.  Oceania has a cafeteria not a buffet at least in my southern USA upbringing.  

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1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

Oceania has a cafeteria not a buffet at least in my southern USA upbringing.  

No, it’s NOT a cafeteria - there are no trays. In fact, very often wait staff offers to carry your plate to your table if you choose so.

It’s a buffet like on any other cruise line. The only difference is that you are served by a staff member instead of self service. This can be done on any ship that chooses to do so, including VO.

Much more civilized.

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14 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

No, it’s NOT a cafeteria - there are no trays. In fact, very often wait staff offers to carry your plate to your table if you choose so.

It’s a buffet like on any other cruise line. The only difference is that you are served by a staff member instead of self service. This can be done on any ship that chooses to do so, including VO.

Much more civilized.

 

I'm wondering, with your fascination for Oceania, why you are branching out.  Is it your choice or theirs?

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15 minutes ago, Dauntless said:

 

I'm wondering, with your fascination for Oceania, why you are branching out.  Is it your choice or theirs?

I am not sure I understand your question or its relevance to this topic. Do you think we were banned from Oceania?

Do you cruise a single cruise line exclusively? 

We do not. We have 28 Oceania cruises in our past (including a free one after 20) with 3 more booked. That said, we have cruised enough on Princess to be Elite; we have cruised on HAL, Celebrity, NCL, Voyages of Discovery, P&O Australia, Cunard, Seabourn, Regent, Silversea, Crystal (and some others, including 3 Viking river cruises & 2 AMA cruises). 

This will be our first VO because we like the itinerary and want to see how they compare to other cruise lines that we have cruised on - it’s as simple as that.

If we like the product we will cruise with them again - if not, we will cruise with lines we like better.

We are not “fascinated” by Oceania but like their product very much. If I think they do something better than another line - like their buffet - I will point it out (and vice versa).

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19 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

I am not sure I understand your question or its relevance to this topic. Do you think we were banned from Oceania?

Do you cruise a single cruise line exclusively? 

We do not. We have 28 Oceania cruises in our past (including a free one after 20) with 3 more booked. That said, we have cruised enough on Princess to be Elite; we have cruised on HAL, Celebrity, NCL, Voyages of Discovery, P&O Australia, Cunard, Seabourn, Regent, Silversea, Crystal (and some others, including 3 Viking river cruises & 2 AMA cruises). 

This will be our first VO because we like the itinerary and want to see how they compare to other cruise lines that we have cruised on - it’s as simple as that.

If we like the product we will cruise with them again - if not, we will cruise with lines we like better.

We are not “fascinated” by Oceania but like their product very much. If I think they do something better than another line - like their buffet - I will point it out (and vice versa).

 

20 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

I am not sure I understand your question or its relevance to this topic. Do you think we were banned from Oceania?

Do you cruise a single cruise line exclusively? 

We do not. We have 28 Oceania cruises in our past (including a free one after 20) with 3 more booked. That said, we have cruised enough on Princess to be Elite; we have cruised on HAL, Celebrity, NCL, Voyages of Discovery, P&O Australia, Cunard, Seabourn, Regent, Silversea, Crystal (and some others, including 3 Viking river cruises & 2 AMA cruises). 

This will be our first VO because we like the itinerary and want to see how they compare to other cruise lines that we have cruised on - it’s as simple as that.

If we like the product we will cruise with them again - if not, we will cruise with lines we like better.

We are not “fascinated” by Oceania but like their product very much. If I think they do something better than another line - like their buffet - I will point it out (and vice versa).

 

No, I didn't say you were "banned' nor am I picking a fight.  I certainly have not read all of your posts and you certainly have much more experience at the than I do. My experience with cruising is small and it has not really been anything I was interested in, until recently.  From what I have read of your posts, all I saw was Oceania so I was just wondering.  No we all can post our opinions and the last two paragraphs of your response does give me a better insight to your remarks.  I'm just trying to put everything in perspective.

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4 minutes ago, Dauntless said:

No we all can post our opinions and the last two paragraphs of your response does give me a better insight to your remarks.  I'm just trying to put everything in perspective.

I am glad that we are “on the same page”

Now I understand your question better as you also understand my answer better.

Happy cruising.

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Viking wasn’t sailing ocean when we first started cruising. We quite like Celebrity but not when there are hordes of kids in school holidays. Haven’t tried the super premium cruiselines at all. I think Viking will be a good fit. 

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I just saw a photo on the Regent board from a Mr. Rumor who has been doing a wonderful blog on his cruise. I have to say that the water glasses are sitting face down on the woven mats. Coffee cups are face down too but on a saucer.  Just an FYI...it happens elsewhere too and Regent is a Luxury line.

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A nicely designed paper place mat would better than a multi-use without cleaning woven mat.  Better still would be a tablecloth changed at each turn of the table.

 

One of many reasons we avoid buffets...

 

Just spent the week up at the California Central Coast wine tasting (and massively buying...).  We broke our no-buffet rule the last day, for time-saving purposes, and went to the included self-serve breakfast buffet.   A bit less than 24 hours later I came down with a bad cold....  Lesson learned (again).

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I got Noro twice once on Royal Caribbeanand they didn’t pre-set buffet tables at that time (don’t know what they do now), and the second time was from a clearly sick person on the Metro in DC. Very crowded car and he was in the middle. 

 

I don’t stress over germs. I wash my hands and use sanitizer and I figure if the germs are gonna get me, they will get me. Just seems to me that people worry overly much about it. My opinion and I’m sticking to it 😁

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20 hours ago, TrulyBlonde said:

I just saw a photo on the Regent board from a Mr. Rumor who has been doing a wonderful blog on his cruise. I have to say that the water glasses are sitting face down on the woven mats. Coffee cups are face down too but on a saucer.  Just an FYI...it happens elsewhere too and Regent is a Luxury line.

As an FYI it is common that when you preplace things for breakfast, you put the coffee cup face down on the saucer.  If the diner wants coffee they turn it face up, the server then knows to serve coffee.

 

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14 minutes ago, gatour said:

As an FYI it is common that when you preplace things for breakfast, you put the coffee cup face down on the saucer.  If the diner wants coffee they turn it face up, the server then knows to serve coffee.

 

Yes, that was the point I was making. The coffee cup was on a clean saucer and the water glass was on the placemat upside down. 

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1 hour ago, Ragnar Danneskjold said:

A nicely designed paper place mat would better than a multi-use without cleaning woven mat.  Better still would be a tablecloth changed at each turn of the table.

 

One of many reasons we avoid buffets...

 

Just spent the week up at the California Central Coast wine tasting (and massively buying...).  We broke our no-buffet rule the last day, for time-saving purposes, and went to the included self-serve breakfast buffet.   A bit less than 24 hours later I came down with a bad cold....  Lesson learned (again).

I hope the wine will help rid you of that bad cold 😉

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