Appropriate expectations for dinner buffet

[Virga]

It has been seven long years since we sailed Carnival - I'm reading threads about the buffet, trying to separate hyperbole from unreasonable expectations from actual service, quality, and variety reductions over time and due to current conditions.  I'm specifically worried about the dinner buffet, because I love my alternative lunch options, but lunch buffet discussion is of course welcomed and appreciated.

 

I seem to recall a pretty complete salad and meat/cheese island, a couple of the mains and sides from the dining room, several permanent/rotating/just-once mains and sides, an international station with a few more options...  Usually a carving/serving station or a made/assembled to order station?  Plus desserts, of course.

 

As with most buffets, quality varied, but as not terribly picky eaters we could always find several options that sounded appetizing, and usually found one or more winners.  We never minded grabbing a pizza or a late meal in the dining room on a stinker of a day.

 

We are sailing soon on the Sunrise, and then the Mardi Gras.  I am walking in with expectations of reduced variety thanks to reduced passenger load, but should I be prepared for more drastic changes because a lot changed with the emphasis on alternative dining venues long before the plague?

Edited September 15, 2021 by Virga
Words and such

[80sGal]

On the Horizon in August we found the buffet to be much smaller than on past cruises.  There was a carving station, and several vegetable sides to choose from along with a small number of other entree options such as chicken,   fish or pasta.  I don't know if they were also on the MDR menu.  The dessert bar had plenty of selections and the salad bar had cold salads (pasta, potato, etc.) along with a few basic salad items.  I suggest the MDR for better dining selections, and service, as your description of prior sailings seems more expansive than what we saw.  That being said, we never went hungry and are generally easy to please.  Overall,, the buffet is on par with an Applebee's or Friday's, and maybe more like Mall Food Court quality if you are a very picky eater.   If you're looking for higher quality  choose the Steakhouse, other paid venue or the MDR.  

[tallnthensome]

Look, when I sailed the Panorama two weeks ago the Lido buffet was terrible. The buffet has four rectangular stations in the center for food. One day three of the four had no food. The one station had a few poor selections. That is not a cruise buffet, that is a school cafeteria. Some agreed with me, some carnival cheerleaders scolded me for complaining. Salad bar was OK. Sure, there are other venues for lunch but my review was on the Lido buffet itself. Carnival has the worst Lido buffet. 

[mondello]

@Virga I'd have to say you will probably enjoy your cruise on Mardi Gras more, just because of the variety of choices you'll have. 

[Jasonsterling]

On the Breeze I'd say the buffet was "lighter" than on a fully booked ship which is to be expected. We were sailing at only 45-50 percent and I can't imagine the waste if they tried to provide the full experience of a max capacity ship. As well, I think the wide variety of other places to eat is cutting into the buffet quality and necessity. I haven't used the buffet for true dining in years, I might grab some dessert there but even though an upcharge there's several other places to try in the evening and I still enjoy the MDR at night. I'd say that there was as varied a selection and option at the buffet as the MDR though despite not feeling as extensive as before COVID. 

[ZoeyVictoria]

Last week on the Mardi Gras, we tried the buffet for dinner one night and were quite disappointed in the very limited choices.  We ate only salads, intending to get pizza afterwards, but got distracted and ended up eating the pizza quite a bit later than we are used to.  I was okay, but my SO was up most of the night because he couldn’t find the Pepto Bismal and didn’t want to wake me up to ask.  No more Carnival buffet dinners for us!

[jimbo5544]

11 minutes ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

Last week on the Mardi Gras, we tried the buffet for dinner one night and were quite disappointed in the very limited choices.  We ate only salads, intending to get pizza afterwards, but got distracted and ended up eating the pizza quite a bit later than we are used to.  I was okay, but my SO was up most of the night because he couldn’t find the Pepto Bismal and didn’t want to wake me up to ask.  No more Carnival buffet dinners for us!

If there is one ship where I totally understand understating lido, then it is on the MG.  There are WAY to many food choices for us to even think of going to lido for dinner.  That said, to each their own.

Edited September 15, 2021 by jimbo5544

[ZoeyVictoria]

7 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

If there is one ship where I totally understand understating lido, then it is on the MG.  There are WAY to many food choices for us to even think of going to lido for dinner.  That said, to each their own.

We did the MDR for both formal nights,  Cucina twice, ChiBang, and the Pig and Anchor.  There were a lot of things on the schedule that we wanted to do that night, we had eaten a heavy lunch, and casual just sounded like a good thing at the time.  It wasn’t!

[Anung Un Rama]

The buffet has never been great, not even sure it's been good.  We have found ourselves going to the MDR less just because we had other things we wanted to do other than spend 1-2 hours sitting down for diner.  The Deli has really stepped up the last few years with some solid sandwiches and daily specials. I also usually once a cruise grab a Guy's burger right before they close and take it to the room for a later diner.

[jimbo5544]

14 hours ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

We did the MDR for both formal nights,  Cucina twice, ChiBang, and the Pig and Anchor.  There were a lot of things on the schedule that we wanted to do that night, we had eaten a heavy lunch, and casual just sounded like a good thing at the time.  It wasn’t!

Options are a good thing.

[jimbo5544]

13 hours ago, Anung Un Rama said:

The buffet has never been great, not even sure it's been good.  We have found ourselves going to the MDR less just because we had other things we wanted to do other than spend 1-2 hours sitting down for diner.  The Deli has really stepped up the last few years with some solid sandwiches and daily specials. I also usually once a cruise grab a Guy's burger right before they close and take it to the room for a later diner.

It always shocked me how many people eat dinner in the buffet.  That said, it IS their choice.

[KmomChicago]

Hi @Virga. I can't speak to Sunrise but for MG, the buffet is nothing life altering but they certainly do have food available for dinner. How's that for a neutral comment? The thing is, it's the least compelling supper option, or at least it was for us, which came as a surprise.

 

In the past on both Carnival and RCI my family has had the majority of our meals in the Lido or Windjammer buffet, respectively, but on MG there are so many better choices we just never even made it there as our primary dinner plan. Chibang, Cucina and Pig and Anchor are all currently no upcharge. If you don't want to wait, Piazza Panini has really great sammiches.  Upcharge options like Rudi's, Emeril's Bonsai Sushi and Teppanyaki, and of course the steakhouse beckon as well.

 

The vast majority of reviewers on board Mardi Gras so far have not said much about the Lido because with so many more interesting choices, most of us couldn't fit it into our sailings even if we wanted to. That doesn't mean it's terrible in everyone's opinion, but back to @tallnthensome's point, I wouldn't go into any Carnival cruises with these low passenger capacities expecting a full spread with seemingly endless islands of multiple themes.  We did walk through a couple of evenings and didn't feel we were missing anything, but also would not have starved had that been our only choice. 

[EngIceDave]

On 9/14/2021 at 11:42 PM, 80sGal said:

On the Horizon in August we found the buffet to be much smaller than on past cruises.  There was a carving station, and several vegetable sides to choose from along with a small number of other entree options such as chicken,   fish or pasta.  I don't know if they were also on the MDR menu.  The dessert bar had plenty of selections and the salad bar had cold salads (pasta, potato, etc.) along with a few basic salad items.  I suggest the MDR for better dining selections, and service, as your description of prior sailings seems more expansive than what we saw.  That being said, we never went hungry and are generally easy to please.  Overall,, the buffet is on par with an Applebee's or Friday's, and maybe more like Mall Food Court quality if you are a very picky eater.   If you're looking for higher quality  choose the Steakhouse, other paid venue or the MDR

Just off the Horizon and I agree with this.

 

I am also keeping in mind that Covid has caused supply issues as well as portion/size issues, worldwide.

[EngIceDave]

8 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

It always shocked me how many people eat dinner in the buffet.  That said, it IS their choice.

Done it after a long hot port day.

[BoozinCroozin]

If it is better than Colon Corral, the buffet will be fine when we do choose to eat there. 

[jimbo5544]

On 9/14/2021 at 10:10 PM, Virga said:

It has been seven long years since we sailed Carnival - I'm reading threads about the buffet, trying to separate hyperbole from unreasonable expectations from actual service, quality, and variety reductions over time and due to current conditions.  I'm specifically worried about the dinner buffet, because I love my alternative lunch options, but lunch buffet discussion is of course welcomed and appreciated.

 

I seem to recall a pretty complete salad and meat/cheese island, a couple of the mains and sides from the dining room, several permanent/rotating/just-once mains and sides, an international station with a few more options...  Usually a carving/serving station or a made/assembled to order station?  Plus desserts, of course.

 

As with most buffets, quality varied, but as not terribly picky eaters we could always find several options that sounded appetizing, and usually found one or more winners.  We never minded grabbing a pizza or a late meal in the dining room on a stinker of a day.

 

We are sailing soon on the Sunrise, and then the Mardi Gras.  I am walking in with expectations of reduced variety thanks to reduced passenger load, but should I be prepared for more drastic changes because a lot changed with the emphasis on alternative dining venues long before the plague?

The Sunrise is a smaller ship, and the remake of doing it made the Lido a little tighter.  They tried to “rearrrange” as best they could.  The MG is the EXACT opposite.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, BoozinCroozin said:

If it is better than Colon Corral, the buffet will be fine when we do choose to eat there. 

Colon Corral is a name for a change that is quite appetizing….. 

[crewsweeper]

11 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

It always shocked me how many people eat dinner in the buffet.  That said, it IS their choice.

I've seen lots of families eating there.  Especially with children.  Or several families traveling together. Also groups who may have just come from excursions and didn't want to change clothing for MDR.  There are those for whom pay options are not affordable as well.

 

I would never expect the buffet to be an excellent example of high quality cuisine. But there's always something available that's decent.  We have found sushi in the buffet when no other sushi is available as part of complimentary dining. And can understand that evening buffets would be offering less under reduced capacity sailings.  

[HxFx]

4 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

The vast majority of reviewers on board Mardi Gras so far have not said much about the Lido because with so many more interesting choices, most of us couldn't fit it into our sailings even if we wanted to.

I didn't eat there once, only got a coffee. My husband did have breakfast there one time while I got a breakfast burrito at Blue Iguana. There really were so many choices. Of course, I'm not really a buffet person but I did want to try the SeaDogs or the shawarma for lunch. I kept getting side tracked by the Pig & Anchor pork butt, Guy's Burgers, Emeril's ceviche, and Blue Iguana tacos. We mostly do the MDR for dinner but did do Cucina one night. Next time! 

Edited September 16, 2021 by HxFx

[Buckimion]

16 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

It always shocked me how many people eat dinner in the buffet.  That said, it IS their choice.

My wife absolutely hates dressing up for dinner. We've skipped elegant night for two cruises in a row, even though last cruise I packed the suit and let her know that I was having dinner in the main dining room, alone if need be. She talked me into having 'just a bite' with her in the buffet and I never did get around to getting to the dining room. 

 

That said, my dad used to say that if you go hungry it's your own fault. There are some things that I wouldn't touch in the buffet, but I've always found something that I could eat and I am not a fan of Guys or Blue Iguana.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Buckimion

[jimbo5544]

40 minutes ago, Buckimion said:

My wife absolutely hates dressing up for dinner. We've skipped elegant night for two cruises in a row, even though last cruise I packed the suit and let her know that I was having dinner in the main dining room, alone if need be. She talked me into having 'just a bite' with her in the buffet and I never did get around to getting to the dining room. 

 

That said, my dad used to say that if you go hungry it's your own fault. There are some things that I wouldn't touch in the buffet, but I've always found something that I could eat and I am not a fan of Guys or Blue Iguana.

Blaspheme Guys????  Perish the thought.🤔  Cruising is many things to many people.  For Carnival, the formalness faded away years ago.  They want their cruisers to do what is FUN for them.

[tallnthensome]

43 minutes ago, Buckimion said:

My wife absolutely hates dressing up for dinner. We've skipped elegant night for two cruises in a row, even though last cruise I packed the suit and let her know that I was having dinner in the main dining room, alone if need be. She talked me into having 'just a bite' with her in the buffet and I never did get around to getting to the dining room. 

 

That said, my dad used to say that if you go hungry it's your own fault. There are some things that I wouldn't touch in the buffet, but I've always found something that I could eat and I am not a fan of Guys or Blue Iguana.

You don't even need anything to the extent of a suit for formal night now. I wore a button down polo and khakis two weeks ago. They were seating people in basketball shorts and țennis shoes on formal night. Don't skip it next time. 

[Gregoryfo]

There is SOOOO much to eat on the MG.  We did the buffet a couple of times for breakfast and it was good.  My teens stopped by a couple of times in the evening, since you know one dinner was not enough for them.  They seemed to like the offerings, one is a picky eater and the other will eat anything so ymmv.  When we were on the MG a couple of weeks ago the fusion place and pig and anchor were free for dinner so between them and the MDR the wife and I did not have much interest in the buffet.

 

As others have pointed out do not worry about dressing up for formal night in the MDR.  The first formal night I wore a shirt and tie.  The evening before the second one I mentioned to the waiter that I might skip it and have pizza, he said just wear what you are wearing tonight and you will be fine (I had on long running pants, a t shirt, and tennis shoes).  I had no problems being seated in similar clothes the next night.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Gregoryfo
typo

[rj59]

19 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

It always shocked me how many people eat dinner in the buffet.  That said, it IS their choice.

My approach to the buffet was to hit it right at dinner opening, to try things that I knew would be on the MDR menu, especially prime rib, since it was fresher and I could ask for it to be cooked longer, and didn't waste tummy space with a baked potato. That allowed me to dine later in the MDR, with no lines and quicker service, and to choose a different entree then. At least it's open..Royal isn't even opening their buffet at all for dinner now. I think fewer buffet options reflect lower capacity, trying to increase profits by less buffet food and pushing people to specialty restaurants, and supply shortages, which a lot of restaurants are experiencing, reducing their menu options as well. 

[RoperDK]

We've cruised on Carnival for 22 years.  Obviously, a lot has changed.  Back in the day, we dressed and ate in the MDR every night.  As time went on, we would try the buffet for dinner a time or two.  We loved the flexibility and the options were great.  Wonderful salad and dessert bar.  Many fresh options at the different stations.  Over time, those options faded and what was left was a mediocre at best option.  I assume Carnival did the math and found the least expensive route for the buffet.  We love the deli and pizza options and carving station for dinner at the buffet, but miss the old days.  Know that the Mardi Gras will fill the void and will cruise on her for now.