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Windjammer back to self serve?


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4 hours ago, Ashland said:

Hmmm...tables cleaned (wiped) with the same dirty rag...I wish they would offer paper placemats.

In the past I have taken two sets of silverware that are wrapped in napkins. One of the napkins becomes my placemat.

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Oh please let's not go back to self serve.  The germ factor alone should be a deterrent to all, and I am NOT a "germaphobe."  But being realistic, the more people that handle utensils the better the chance of passing some kind of bacteria or virus on. I'm not as concerned about Covid as I would be about Norovirus.  

 

On the Harmony TA a couple weeks ago we went to the buffet only a couple of times and never experienced any of the large servings mentioned here.  It would be a spoonful of whatever and then a look or question from the server "do you want more?"   We were pleasantly surprised about how it was all handled which is at least partially why we went a few times, normally we avoid the buffet as much as possible.

 

 

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11 hours ago, coffeebean said:

Unpopular opinion here but I wish to help myself on the buffet. Only I can serve myself the tiny portions of foods that I prefer. Also, I do not like my food placed on top of other food that is already on my plate which is what the serving crew does.......every single time. The crew are in a rush so they do not take the time to be careful when placing food on the plate. I understand but I still do not have to like it. Let me serve myself. Supply those oversized disposable gloves at every buffet station and ENFORCE the use of the gloves like buffets on land have resorted to.

I agree. If it’s permanent it will have more to do with $$$ than anything else. I prefer to do it myself, and I promise I won’t put my hands in the mashed potatoes😜. In the four cruises since restart, I think it’s a much slower process. 
 

With a full ship it will be even worse. 
 

mac_tlc
 

 

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6 hours ago, Ashland said:

Love the wash hand stations just outside the WJ..."Washy Washy" :classic_biggrin:

See post 12. Those same people walk right past the hand wash stations and unless they have a crew member stationed right there requesting them to use them I can’t see that changing. It completely incenses me so yes, maybe I am a germaphobe. 

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1 hour ago, mac_tlc said:

I agree. If it’s permanent it will have more to do with $$$ than anything else. I prefer to do it myself, and I promise I won’t put my hands in the mashed potatoes😜. In the four cruises since restart, I think it’s a much slower process. 
 

With a full ship it will be even worse. 
 

mac_tlc
 

 

 

Once they get to full capacity, that's a lot of extra bodies allocated as servers. Labor and ancillary crew costs (cabin space) probably exceed food costs

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13 hours ago, coffeebean said:

Unpopular opinion here but I wish to help myself on the buffet. Only I can serve myself the tiny portions of foods that I prefer. Also, I do not like my food placed on top of other food that is already on my plate which is what the serving crew does.......every single time. The crew are in a rush so they do not take the time to be careful when placing food on the plate. I understand but I still do not have to like it. Let me serve myself. Supply those oversized disposable gloves at every buffet station and ENFORCE the use of the gloves like buffets on land have resorted to.

I agree with your comment.   These servers must have been trained by watching the old army movies where the chow line servers dump all the food into one big pile on the soldier's tray.

 

I don't want to see the buffet go back to self-serve is every ship I've been on, pre-covid, there's always someone using the same serving utensil on all the food items at a serving station.  They seem to think it's their personal serving device.  That makes it very dangerous for those with food allergies. 

 

Then there's always the slob who reaches in with their hand, picks out food and sometimes even licks their fingers between picking different items.  

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13 hours ago, coffeebean said:

Unpopular opinion here but I wish to help myself on the buffet. Only I can serve myself the tiny portions of foods that I prefer. Also, I do not like my food placed on top of other food that is already on my plate which is what the serving crew does.......every single time. The crew are in a rush so they do not take the time to be careful when placing food on the plate. I understand but I still do not have to like it. Let me serve myself. Supply those oversized disposable gloves at every buffet station and ENFORCE the use of the gloves like buffets on land have resorted to.

 

Another vote NOT to return to self-serve at the buffet. So many great reasons not to do that are already presented here. I dont like my food on top of other items either. I can quickly fix that when at my seat or kindly ask them where to put it when I'm being served. Not a big deal. Oversized disposable gloves for thousands of people all day long on a cruise ship at sea? I'm thinking that's probably not a good idea for several reasons. Happy cruising! 

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11 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I do tend to prefer serving myself but I will give it up to avoid the disgusting finger lickers who are so hungry that they can't wait until returning to their table to start sampling their food. Then there was the time this kid picked up a dessert, stuck it to his nose to smell it, then promptly put it back where he found it....🙄

I encourage ANYONE who sees this happen to remove the food (or utensil) item, and go sanitize their hands.  We are a huge village, and we need to take care of each other.

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7 hours ago, Ashland said:

Love the wash hand stations just outside the WJ..."Washy Washy" :classic_biggrin:

Nothing new there. They always ask you to wash and sanitize your hands. 

 

And in the days of COVID, there are still a lot of "I am too good to waste my time washing my hands" who refuse to wash their hands or sanitize. 

Edited by BirdTravels
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19 hours ago, davekathy said:

Hopefully the WJ never goes back to self serve. 

 

19 hours ago, Retired LEO said:

The staff needs to serve permanently.  

 

What an awful thought. I want a portion that I choose. Not to much. Not too little. 

 

Right now, there is increased amounts of waste as scoops of food are piled on plates. And there is a tremendous waste of labor, which will eventually drive up cruise and daily service charge prices. 

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6 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

 

 

What an awful thought. I want a portion that I choose. Not to much. Not too little. 

 

Right now, there is increased amounts of waste as scoops of food are piled on plates. And there is a tremendous waste of labor, which will eventually drive up cruise and daily service charge prices. 

 

Are we allowed to ask for a smaller serving when staff are serving us?  I eat smaller servings 

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I would pay a little extra to have servers in the buffet .

I never eat anything there with my bare hands . 

I even use a knife and fork to eat a muffin.

I dont use a napkin as a place mat though , as the plate provides enough of  a buffer between the food and the table for me.

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1 hour ago, blueslily said:

 

Are we allowed to ask for a smaller serving when staff are serving us?  I eat smaller servings 


I asked for three plaintains, received eight.  And that was a specific number, not up to the interpretation of what is “small” or “large” by the server.  Choice was overeating or wasting.  

Edited by ZoeyVictoria
Missed one plaintain 😂
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9 hours ago, Ashland said:

Hmmm...tables cleaned (wiped) with the same dirty rag...I wish they would offer paper placemats.

Agree. The few times we use to eat in the WJ (occasional lunch) we would both take extra utensils wrapped in cloth napkins and us the extra napkin for a placemat. 

 

Just read that @Ocean Boy and @Tagsalongdoes (did) the same. 👍

Edited by davekathy
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Saw "sticky buns" at breakfast in the Windjammer yesterday...I asked for one...he gave me 3...I politely said it was too much...but too late, it was already on my plate.

I sat down and ended up eating all of it...absolutely the best sticky buns/cinnabons I have had in a long time...buttery moist inside, slightly crispy outside, covered with caramel/maple syrup.

I am on my way up the Windjammer now and I'll ask for just one..wink, wink.:classic_smile:

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18 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Agree. The few times we use to eat in the WJ (occasional lunch) we would both take extra utensils wrapped in cloth napkins and us the extra napkin for a placemat. 

 

Just read that @Ocean Boy and @Tagsalongdoes (did) the same. 👍

I dont understand what it is that you put on the table other than the plate , I put my knife and fork on the plate, and napkin on my lap . 

What am i missing here ?

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21 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

I would be ok with it being permanent.  It really didn't slow things down at all on our recent Serenade cruise and it was so much cleaner.  I did wish there was more than one drink station.  It was a long walk for a coffee refill. 

The waiters will bring you coffee.

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1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

 

 

What an awful thought. I want a portion that I choose. Not to much. Not too little. 

 

Right now, there is increased amounts of waste as scoops of food are piled on plates. And there is a tremendous waste of labor, which will eventually drive up cruise and daily service charge prices. 

So what happens to all the food that isn't served when the WJ closes? I believe there was also large amounts of wasted food when the WJ was self serve. 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, loman said:

I dont understand what it is that you put on the table other than the plate , I put my knife and fork on the plate, and napkin on my lap . 

What am i missing here ?

Reread the post. You missed the extra napkin comment. We use the extra napkin as a place mat instead of sitting our plate and utensils that we aren't using on the table top. The other napkin we use as we normally would. 

Edited by davekathy
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I was on Anthem last week. The service by the crew was very well done. They give you what you ask for. Condiments like mustard and ketchup were put in small bowels separate from your food. If you tell them how much what you want that is what you get. If you just put your plate forward for them to serve you probably get more than you want. I thought it was very well done and hope they keep it that way permanently. As a matter of fact in the Captain's Corner the Hotel Manager, in answer to a question from a passenger, stated that they have significantly less waste and they are in discussion now regarding making this permanent.

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