Future of Windjammer cafe?

[Saab4444]

What about buffets at hotels? At least buffets for breakfast are the standard all overvthe world. I trust this will not change back to old style served breakfast on land and at sea for a long time just because of the current crisis. This fears will go away sometimes.

[sergeant655]

I can see older ships getting the hand washing stations installed like newer ships.  The crew will serve the food so they would need to find a way to keep queues to a minimum the island setup  they have would help .  Coke freestyle machines would be eliminated or moved to a crew manned drink station and a new glass would be provided each time..  condiments would be those single serve packets.  ( relish needs 2 or 3 packs to get enough). The frozen dessert on the pool deck may move in to

the windjammer dessert station or a food venue on the pool deck if the ship has one. which would possibly mean you could get it at dinner

[Charles4515]

Been on RCI airings that had norovirus on the previous sailing and they had staff dish out the food at the buffet. Also been on cruise lines like Oceania where the staff always plates the food at the buffet. That is what I hope they will do.


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[MADflyer]

15 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

What about buffets at hotels? At least buffets for breakfast are the standard all overvthe world. 

 

Half of Spain has been allowed to open hotels this week and all buffets have been ordered be closed. Tourism is still not allowed though, which has caused some confusion. 

 

A Miami Beach luxury hotel has confirmed to me that they will no longer offer any buffet food options. 

 

A large chain of restaurants, Souplantation that also operates Sweet Tomatoes in the United States decided to cease operations this week after having a buffet concept for 42 years. 

 

NCL CEO stated that they would return without buffets in USA today this week. 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, LXA350 said:

 

The Buffet restaurants such as the Windjammer are probably the venues of most concern by far. Starting already that the venue is often crowded, hence social distancing not possible and all the tongs and people caughing etc where the virus easily can spread into. Even before, no matter if it's Noro, Influenza etc, Windjammer is a breeding place for outbreaks.

 

Since the buffet seems to be a very important factor of a cruise for americans especially where it's all about quantity and not quality you can be sure that RCL and other cruiselines will not stop the buffet to avoid the cruiselines being sued by passengers that claimed they were not fed enough.

 

However with COIVD-19 RCL like other cruislines will be forced to use this situation to rethink the buffet concept and think of ways to make it safer. They will need to reduce the maximum amount of people to be in Windjammer at one time in order to avoid congestion of people especially in the buffet area. Hence the capacity of Windjammer will need to be reduced and one option to compensate is to offer a buffet setup with the same items on one of the MDR floors during peak times at breakfast and lunch as alternative or that timeslots need to be reserved for Windjammer but this would cause a revolt, so I guess this option would not work.

Enough employees will need to monitor the handwashing / sanitizing proces that the probability of someone to enter the venue without having sanitized their hands is close to 0. Since the handwashing station is not the most hygienic it's important that everyone also needs to sanitize their hands after. In general the venue will need to be sanitized more often, each table after guests leave and ideally food only to be served by e,ployees going forward.

 

You might have some valid thoughts, but as usual, I stop reading the moment your American stereotypes kick in. 

 

It never fails.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by John&LaLa

[Saab4444]

17 minutes ago, MADflyer said:

 

Half of Spain has been allowed to open hotels this week and all buffets have been ordered be closed. Tourism is still not allowed though, which has caused some confusion. 

 

A Miami Beach luxury hotel has confirmed to me that they will no longer offer any buffet food options. 

 

A large chain of restaurants, Souplantation that also operates Sweet Tomatoes in the United States decided to cease operations this week after having a buffet concept for 42 years. 

 

NCL CEO stated that they would return without buffets in USA today this week. 

I understand this for some months but not as a permanent change. They are simply not able to feed all the people on the big ships or in large hotels without a buffet option long term. As soon as they allow swimming in people soup in small pools again they can also permit buffets by adding some more control measures. People will always get sick on cruises and while on vacation but sometimes there will be a better easy treatment also for this virus. 

[martinpj]

Self serve buffets are gone.  With the set up of most ships, they will end up putting up a glass where we previously grabbed the serving utensil to slap food on our plate.  Instead they will have a crew worker behind stationing it, and we point to what we want, and they slap our food on our plate or worse yet, we have a tray full of little plates and bowls of the food that we want so that they don't have to hand plates back and forth.

 

So the Windjammer will be more like Cafe Promenade just on a grander scale. 

[karena1]

5 hours ago, Locobill49 said:

Once cruising starts back up, do you think the Windjammer buffets will continue? Will you be eating there?

On last cruises, I have seen people handle food that I’m not sure I would be comfortable with now. Thoughts?

Will eat there the same amount as we normally do.  I think it will be different in that they will serve you, but we have no issues with eating there the way we normally do on a cruise

 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

5 hours ago, SkierRobUMN said:

I think they just need mandatory hand washing before you can enter. Just have a line and hand washing stations that they shuffle people through and that would be good enough. 
 

People are so paranoid about touching things when the COVID-19 risk is so low from surface contact. It’s transmitted through respiratory droplets. 

 

What about those who lick their fingers, rub their nose, sneeze or cough while in line and then touch the utensils? 

[taglovestocruise]

5 hours ago, ToroAzul said:

If you are worried about WindJammer then you aren't ready to board a ship.

👍

[atanac]

I believe buffets anywhere are going to be a thing of the past for years to come. Sweet Tomatos has permanently closed all their restaurants. Don't be surprised if the space used for buffets on cruise ships go through a refurbishment and come out as sit down dining rooms.

[zekekelso]

1 hour ago, MADflyer said:

 

. A large chain of restaurants, Souplantation that also operates Sweet Tomatoes in the United States decided to cease operations this week after having a buffet concept for 42 years.

 

 

I hadn’t heard that. Bummer. 

[taglovestocruise]

28 minutes ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

What about those who lick their fingers, rub their nose, sneeze or cough while in line and then touch the utensils? 

Gives you a far better chance of obtaining herd immunity.  Be sure to give that person a thumbs up.  There is one exception, bacon must be eaten while in line to make room for more bacon on the plate. 

[time4u2go]

4 hours ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

 

Then why are we constantly reminded to wash our hands and not touch our face? If it's on your hands and your hands go up to your mouth...?

Because of Norovirus.

[ilovetotravel1977]

1 minute ago, time4u2go said:

Because of Norovirus.

Another reason for you to NOT touch the tongs...I don't want THAT virus either.

[time4u2go]

Just now, ilovetotravel1977 said:

Another reason for you to NOT touch the tongs...I don't want THAT virus either.

There are many things that we touch on a cruise ship (elevator buttons, stair railings, chairs, armrests, sail and sign cards, pens, door handles, etc.).  Why is the buffet any different?

[ilovetotravel1977]

Just now, time4u2go said:

There are many things that we touch on a cruise ship (elevator buttons, stair railings, chairs, armrests, sail and sign cards, pens, door handles, etc.).  Why is the buffet any different?

Because I am eating there!

Why is this so difficult to understand?

[time4u2go]

1 minute ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

Because I am eating there!

Why is this so difficult to understand?

Why does eating there make a difference? You can't catch Covid-19 by eating something contaminated.  

[Herb L.]

Think about this when you enter the windjamer they hand you a pair of thin gloves that you use and can throw away when you are done

[ilovetotravel1977]

Just now, time4u2go said:

Why does eating there make a difference? You can't catch Covid-19 by eating something contaminated.  

 

OMG, I think you might be right! You win!

[time4u2go]

Just now, Herb L. said:

Think about this when you enter the windjamer they hand you a pair of thin gloves that you use and can throw away when you are done

How would that help?

[time4u2go]

Just now, ilovetotravel1977 said:

 

OMG, I think you might be right! You win!

Thank you.

[pcur]

7 hours ago, lovemylab said:

 

Mandatory hand washing doesn't help with many of the issues I've seen at the buffet.  People licking thier fingers or coughing into their hands and then touching serving utensils and other food is a big one.

 

Many items at the buffet require people to eat with their hands (ex: bread, sandwiches, pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos, fajitas, nashos, cookies, cupcakes).   After eating these items, people are then going back to grab other food items which results in them touching utensils after they've had their fingers near and in their mouths.

 

Not if all the food is served by staff.  This is the way it's done on HAL and I like it much better.  It's close to a no-touch environment.  I'm going to assume that HAL will go one step further, and even the drinks, appetizers, and desserts will be served by the staff.

[Seville2Cabo]

MDR is worse than the Windjammer.  The issue of Corona is exposure time and volume and touching the tongs is not the issue.  The issue is sitting 10 feet away from an affected person for 2 hours breathing what they are exhaling.  Not a big risk picking up the tongs, more of a risk in theater and MDR.  

[pcur]

6 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

MDR is worse than the Windjammer.  The issue of Corona is exposure time and volume and touching the tongs is not the issue.  The issue is sitting 10 feet away from an affected person for 2 hours breathing what they are exhaling.  Not a big risk picking up the tongs, more of a risk in theater and MDR.  

 

 

I have also been reading that RCCL will be social distancing their eating venues, and doing crowd control.  I'm guessing the pager system will be used, or the RCCL app.  

 

Don't forget that most, if not all, cruise lines will most likely be requiring masks for a time, also, while we are moving around getting our food and drinks.

Edited May 9, 2020 by pcur