Buffet Silverware

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Does anyone else find it odd that silverware is placed in a container on the tables in the buffet?   I read lots of posts about people watching and wondering if people have washed their hands prior to entering the buffet but no one ever mentions the fact that people are reaching in and grabbing their napkin wrapped silverware from a container on the table.  So... someone’s clean or not so clean hands may have touched or handled the napkins that we use...   Can viruses spread that way?  Just wondering.

[Steelers36]

49 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Does anyone else find it odd that silverware is placed in a container on the tables in the buffet?   I read lots of posts about people watching and wondering if people have washed their hands prior to entering the buffet but no one ever mentions the fact that people are reaching in and grabbing their napkin wrapped silverware from a container on the table.  So... someone’s clean or not so clean hands may have touched or handled the napkins that we use...   Can viruses spread that way?  Just wondering.

Since when are they doing it that way?  And, on what ship?

 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

32 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

Since when are they doing it that way?  And, on what ship?

 

 I don’t remember when I first saw this but it’s been this way the last few times that I’ve cruised on the Ruby Princess. 

[tere247]

I saw this on our January RP and on our March CB cruises. 

[Doug R.]

6 hours ago, steelers36 said:

Since when are they doing it that way?  And, on what ship?

 

On the Regal.

[JF - retired RRT]

Most of the ships seem to be putting the napkin wrapped silverware on the table. It's more convenient for them and easier for those without pockets when picking out food in the serving line.

As for germs...never thought of that. However, unless someone digs through to get to the roll of silverware on the bottom of the container, it should be OK...I think. 

[happy cruzer]

Don't put your fingers in your mouth or nose.  Don't touch your food, for example don't eat fries with your fingers.  You probably will touch the back of the chair, table top, salt, etc.  If you don't trust the napkins on the table then don't trust them ever - just don't put your hands on your face.  That is what is under your control.

Edited May 21, 2019 by happy cruzer

[LAS!!1414]

We first saw this on the Caribbean Princess in April , 2017. Thought this was a great idea -- before silverware and napkins were placed on the table by the crew -- if you were waiting for a table to be cleaned, you would have to wait until the crew placed new silverware --  hopefully the had clean hands !! 

Anyway,  silverware is wrapped by the crew somewhere on the ship -- clean hands ??   

[Jersey42]

They did it this way on the Caribbean at least as far back as October 2017.  I believe I saw it done this way on the Royal before that. Prior to putting the silverware in a rolled up napkin on the table, they used to do it the same way, but place it in the buffet area near the plates.  I don't see how one way is better at preventing viruses than the other.  But, as @JF - retired RRT said, it is a lot more convenient.

 

 

[bemis12]

7 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Does anyone else find it odd that silverware is placed in a container on the tables in the buffet?   I read lots of posts about people watching and wondering if people have washed their hands prior to entering the buffet but no one ever mentions the fact that people are reaching in and grabbing their napkin wrapped silverware from a container on the table.  So... someone’s clean or not so clean hands may have touched or handled the napkins that we use...   Can viruses spread that way?  Just wondering.

 

You are going to touch 800,000 things that other people have touched during your cruise.  The napkin is not a big worry comparatively.

[JF - retired RRT]

5 minutes ago, LAS!!1414 said:

Anyway,  silverware is wrapped by the crew somewhere on the ship -- clean hands ??   

I've watched them wrap, they wear gloves.

[SargassoPirate]

44 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

I've watched them wrap, they wear gloves.

Ahhh, the magic gloves.  For the most part, all those gloves do it keep the wearer's hands clean.  I've seen food service workers wear the magic gloves for several tasks without changing them - clear soiled dishes off the table, reset the table, scratch their head, pick up trash, mop the floor, and more.  

 

We can only hope the crew that make the silverware burritos don't touch anything else while handling the silverware.

 

Cross-contamination is a big factor in food- bourne illness and the spread of other diseases.  The next time you see someone wearing the magic gloves, take a few moments and see what all they touch while wearing the same pair of gloves.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Doug R. said:

On the Regal.

 

1 hour ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Most of the ships seem to be putting the napkin wrapped silverware on the table. It's more convenient for them and easier for those without pockets when picking out food in the serving line.

As for germs...never thought of that. However, unless someone digs through to get to the roll of silverware on the bottom of the container, it should be OK...I think. 

We will be on REGAL on June 1 for ourselves the new way if still doing it in the Baltic.  Our experience on every cruise to date has been the second post I quoted.  (Last cruise was in FEB).

 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

1 hour ago, bemis12 said:

 

You are going to touch 800,000 things that other people have touched during your cruise.  The napkin is not a big worry comparatively.

Yes, but we don’t wipe that railing on our mouths.  

[MissP22]

I wonder if all the worrywarts are that concerned about germs when they go out to eat at home....or maybe it just on a cruise ship. 

[Fouremco]

3 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I wonder if all the worrywarts are that concerned about germs when they go out to eat at home....or maybe it just on a cruise ship. 

Only when our local restaurants are known to have had noro outbreaks.  

[Diver2014]

We were on the Crown Princess last November and will be again this Saturday for 12 days.  The containers on the tables with the silverware wrapped in napkins are certainly more sanitary than people grabbing utensils from a circular container on a rack.

I have not seen anyone rifling thru the napkins containing the silverware on the tables.  Certainly not something to worry about.

Have you ever tried to hold onto a napkin, silverware and a plate while trying to add food to your plate while in line at a buffet?  The napkin/silverware on the table is so much more convenient.  If you distrust what's on the table, ask a waiter for a 'fresh' napkin/silverware.  I think the OP is sweating the small stuff.  There are so many more things on a ship that everyone touches than the napkins and silverware on the tables.  

[XBGuy]

A few weeks ago I was having breakfast in the buffet on the Ruby Princess, when I heard one of the floor supervisors (not sure what, exactly, they are called) tell one of the servers, "We need burritos on this table."  A few seconds later, the server was back with the tan napkin wrapped flatware (OK, I guess they do look like skinny burritos.) replenishing the little aluminum holder on that table.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

36 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Only when our local restaurants are known to have had noro outbreaks.  

Or when I see people eating and licking their fingers in the buffet line... Gross.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

27 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

We were on the Crown Princess last November and will be again this Saturday for 12 days.  The containers on the tables with the silverware wrapped in napkins are certainly more sanitary than people grabbing utensils from a circular container on a rack.

I have not seen anyone rifling thru the napkins containing the silverware on the tables.  Certainly not something to worry about.

Have you ever tried to hold onto a napkin, silverware and a plate while trying to add food to your plate while in line at a buffet?  The napkin/silverware on the table is so much more convenient.  If you distrust what's on the table, ask a waiter for a 'fresh' napkin/silverware.  I think the OP is sweating the small stuff.  There are so many more things on a ship that everyone touches than the napkins and silverware on the tables.  

I must have missed the part where I was sweating the small stuff.  Just asking a question 🙄

[Diver2014]

29 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I must have missed the part where I was sweating the small stuff.  Just asking a question 🙄

 

Sorry....I must have misread your question.  You asked if anyone else found it odd that napkins/silverware were placed in a container on the table.  Reply:  No, not odd at all.  And someone else's hands may have touched the napkins we use....can viruses be spread that way?  A slim possibility but not likely.  The utensils and tongs everyone grabs in the buffet to serve themselves would be more cause for concern.  I use a paper napkin or a plastic glove to handle those utensils, just to be safe. The key is to wash your hands before you enter the buffet and then keep them away from your face.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Diver2014

[greenie082756]

Last April on the Royal they had the "burritos" on the table caddy. I liked it.

Its a good procedure change for the buffet IMHO. 

Also I think it helps them stay ahead of the game on silverware.

[DrivesLikeMario]

It was that way on the Royal Princess recently too but not on the Emerald Princess last Nov.  (maybe it's that way by now though). 

As a minor germ-a-phob, it surprisingly doesn't bother me the way they have the utinsils on the tables now.  I guess I figure people grab the ones on top and don't really touch the napkins underneath. 

[Dani24]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

Only when our local restaurants are known to have had noro outbreaks.  

 

Your local restaurants like DO have noro outbreaks. However, people don't get sick while still in the restaurant, where they're all contained with each other, like on a cruise ship. So a bunch of people might get ill eating at Denny's on land, but they're going to suffer privately at home and nobody will be notified or taking reports of it such that it would be classified as an outbreak.

Conversely, on cruise ships they are actually WAY more responsive to these things -- both in terms of higher reporting requirements, and in taking more thorough steps to control the outbreaks.

Norovirus outbreaks are incredibly common at schools, hospitals, retirement homes, restaurants, and other heavily populated places on land. But if you pick up noro from there you likely won't know where it came from (unless you know of a bunch of other people getting it from the same place). Believing that cruises are somehow way worse than any of those other places is not warranted.

[Fouremco]

49 minutes ago, Dani24 said:

 

Your local restaurants like DO have noro outbreaks. However, people don't get sick while still in the restaurant, where they're all contained with each other, like on a cruise ship. So a bunch of people might get ill eating at Denny's on land, but they're going to suffer privately at home and nobody will be notified or taking reports of it such that it would be classified as an outbreak.

 

Quite true, which is why I specifically said "Only when our local restaurants are known to have had noro outbreaks. "