Get rid of the buffets already!...

[jperry2011]

Why does it matter how much food is wasted anyways?? I pay for unlimited food so I expect they have tons onboard the ship.

[clo]

44 minutes ago, jperry2011 said:

I pay for unlimited food

Hmm. Interesting perspective.

[ed01106]

I agree with getting rid of self-service buffets and replacing them with staff served buffets that others have mentioned.  I don’t know if that is a yes vote or a no vote.

[sverigecruiser]

13 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

I agree with getting rid of self-service buffets and replacing them with staff served buffets that others have mentioned.  I don’t know if that is a yes vote or a no vote.

 

I understand that for health reasons but the point with buffets for me is to be able to take the food myself. Staff served buffets is not at all interesting for me.

Edited February 16, 2020 by sverigecruiser

[clo]

10 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I understand that for health reasons but the point with buffets for me is to be able to take the food myself. Staff served buffets is not at all interesting for me.

What difference does it make? I've said "oh, a little more of that please" or "could I get some of X on my salad" etc. If both methods give you what you want, then why not go a little more safely?

[ed01106]

2 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I understand that for health reasons but the point with buffets for me is to be able to take the food myself. Staff served buffets is not at all interesting for me.

 

I am not trying to be argumentative or impose my values on other.  I don’t get the downside.  The only advantage I see to self service over staff served is the labor cost savings of not needing that many employees.

 

Staff served buffets are faster than self served. I have never had an issue with getting the exact quantity I want (give me half as much as the last guy or can I have a second one). The price of having a self service buffet is much lower than a full service one.  Actually the difference between full service and self service is more than full service and sit down.  So I assumed labor cost was the only reason for not having them.

[sverigecruiser]

10 hours ago, clo said:

What difference does it make? I've said "oh, a little more of that please" or "could I get some of X on my salad" etc. If both methods give you what you want, then why not go a little more safely?

 

A huge difference. I prefer not to have to tell anyone exactly what I want and how much I want.

 

As I said I understand it for health reasons but I'm still not interested in a buffet where staff serve everything. We rarely eat any meals at the buffet, only between the meals meals, but should eat there even less if staff was serving everything. 

[clo]

1 minute ago, sverigecruiser said:

A huge difference. I prefer not to have to tell anyone exactly what I want and how much I want.

 

Where do you get that? When you're at home, don't you ever ask for a little more of this or that? Is it that you really want to have an insane amount of food and that you don't want to be judged by that????

[sverigecruiser]

10 hours ago, ed01106 said:

 

I am not trying to be argumentative or impose my values on other.  I don’t get the downside.  The only advantage I see to self service over staff served is the labor cost savings of not needing that many employees.

 

Staff served buffets are faster than self served. I have never had an issue with getting the exact quantity I want (give me half as much as the last guy or can I have a second one). The price of having a self service buffet is much lower than a full service one.  Actually the difference between full service and self service is more than full service and sit down.  So I assumed labor cost was the only reason for not having them.

 

Isn't the extra cost a downside?

 

It's almost impossible to tell anyone exactly how much you want, I think, and even harder to tell exactly what you want, I think. 

[sverigecruiser]

2 minutes ago, clo said:

Where do you get that? When you're at home, don't you ever ask for a little more of this or that? Is it that you really want to have an insane amount of food and that you don't want to be judged by that????

 

Most of the times they serve too much food so that's defenitely not the reason. I have seen how much food some people put on their plates and that make me sick. I don't judge them but the amount of food can still make me sick.  

 

At home I don't have to ask for more because I take the food myself.

[clo]

3 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Isn't the extra cost a downside?

 

It's almost impossible to tell anyone exactly how much you want, I think, and even harder to tell exactly what you want, I think. 

So you're saying that you don't know exactly what you want. We get smaller portions and go back for more of favorite things. Waste is a bad thing. IMneverHO.

[clo]

3 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

Most of the times they serve too much food so that's defenitely not the reason.

So what is your issue? Don't you just ask for less of what you want? I sincerely don't understand where you're coming from.

[sverigecruiser]

1 minute ago, clo said:

So you're saying that you don't know exactly what you want. We get smaller portions and go back for more of favorite things. Waste is a bad thing. IMneverHO.

 

The opposite. I know exactly how much I want so I prefer to take it myself. I don't throw away any food I have served myself, no way.   

[clo]

Just now, sverigecruiser said:

 

The opposite. I know exactly how much I want so I prefer to take it myself. I don't throw away any food I have served myself, no way.   

But as I've said I'll just say "can I have a tad less scrambled eggs?" Or "could I have no cucumbers on my salad?" (I HATE cucumbers.)

[sverigecruiser]

3 minutes ago, clo said:

So what is your issue? Don't you just ask for less of what you want? I sincerely don't understand where you're coming from.

 

Maybe it's too complicated for me to explain in English but I will try.

 

For example I may want a piece of meat with more, or less, fat or sallad with more, or less, of an ingridient which I may not know what it's called etc. Much easier to take the food myself.

 

 

[clo]

2 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Maybe it's too complicated for me to explain in English but I will try.

 

For example I may want a piece of meat with more, or less, fat or sallad with more, or less, of an ingridient which I may not know what it's called etc. Much easier to take the food myself.

 

 

Thanks. I hadn't seen that you live in Sweden so I can understand that it would certainly be easier to DIY.

[ed01106]

7 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Maybe it's too complicated for me to explain in English but I will try.

 

For example I may want a piece of meat with more, or less, fat or sallad with more, or less, of an ingridient which I may not know what it's called etc. Much easier to take the food myself.

 

 

I can understand if there is a language barrier how self service is easier than asking.  

 

However, your mention of salad ingredients reminded me of one of one of the major problems of self-serve.  I remember one time being behind a woman who picked out every tomato from a large bowl of mixed salad.  She selfishly got her bowl of tomatoes, but it held up the line and nobody else got tomatoes.  Another time I saw a girl reach to the back to get the pudding cup with the most whipped cream and in the process touched about a dozen other cups.  No doubt the “pickers” are the ones who most like self-serve.  But they ruin the buffet for all that come behind.

[sverigecruiser]

39 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

 

However, your mention of salad ingredients reminded me of one of one of the major problems of self-serve.  I remember one time being behind a woman who picked out every tomato from a large bowl of mixed salad.  She selfishly got her bowl of tomatoes, but it held up the line and nobody else got tomatoes.  Another time I saw a girl reach to the back to get the pudding cup with the most whipped cream and in the process touched about a dozen other cups.  No doubt the “pickers” are the ones who most like self-serve.  But they ruin the buffet for all that come behind.

 

I agree with you that this is a problem and I should never really pick what I want but I may choose to take a spoon from where it looks most attractive for me.

 

If someone only wants tomatoes the rest may be wasted if they aren't allowed to take the food themself but I understand the problem with helding the line.

[Zach1213]

On 2/14/2020 at 4:13 PM, klfhngr said:

smaller portions=saved money by the cruise lines

 

What advantage is this unless you own stock? I can give you the George Foreman guarantee that they won't pass any of that savings on to customers. 

[That sinking feeling]

4 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

What advantage is this unless you own stock? I can give you the George Foreman guarantee that they won't pass any of that savings on to customers. 

Go to agree here. Why would any customer actively contribute to the profit margin of huge corporations by making their own position slightly worse?

 

Seems a bit nuts to me.

[happy cruzer]

First time cruisers tend to really be impressed with the buffets.  Mass market cruise lines need to appeal to the masses.

 

Love all the options.  Many of the mass market lines do offer smaller included options for lunch, outdoor grills, bistros, burger joints, etc. Something for everyone, just like the different cabin category options.  They probably know what they are doing. 🙂

[ed01106]

9 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

They probably know what they are doing. 🙂

I would be interested in seeing if anyone did a study to determine if there is a correlation between self service buffet use on ships and norovirus outbreaks.

[sverigecruiser]

5 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

What advantage is this unless you own stock? I can give you the George Foreman guarantee that they won't pass any of that savings on to customers. 

 

Why not buy some stocks from your favorite cruiseline, if you can.

[AlyssaJames]

I prefer buffets for time issues. I don't like two hour meals. 

I know that some people love two hour meals. I know that in some countries and cultures, two hour meals are normal. That is all fine. But I, personally, don't like two hour meals. 

[hapster85]

I like the buffet for the variety. Usually have at least one meal per day there. I do think having staff serving the food might be a better idea than self serve. It would mean having more staff, of course. But only implementing that procedure after an outbreak of some sort, is fixing the barn door after the cows come home.