The Great Buffet Debate.

[PROCRUISE]

I have always loved the buffet set up, with multiple stations,  on Celebrity. Was on the Reflection 4/2 - 4/9/22 and greatly appreciated the staff serving the passengers in the buffet. HAL has always done it this way and they have it down  perfect. HAL, on my February cruise, also no longer gave out trays to save some 40% on the amount of food they previously had to throw away due to passengers loading up trays and then leaving half of it. However, HAL also had staff that immediately was there to help anyone needing help getting their food to tables.

RCCL has now gone back to self service in their buffets. How  well I remember on my many previous cruises, prior to COVID, people taking food and putting it back, licking their fingers before using ladles etc. I am hoping X sticks with buffet food being served by staff but, I have my doubts. I'll be back on HAL this December and know the buffet food will be served. Back on X in February and will hope that it's still staff served food at the great buffet area. All just an opinion but,  of course influenced by 30yrs of ER nursing and knowing all about how illnesses quickly spread, especially norovirus!

[Arizona Wildcat]

56 minutes ago, PROCRUISE said:

I have always loved the buffet set up, with multiple stations,  on Celebrity. Was on the Reflection 4/2 - 4/9/22 and greatly appreciated the staff serving the passengers in the buffet. HAL has always done it this way and they have it down  perfect. HAL, on my February cruise, also no longer gave out trays to save some 40% on the amount of food they previously had to throw away due to passengers loading up trays and then leaving half of it. However, HAL also had staff that immediately was there to help anyone needing help getting their food to tables.

RCCL has now gone back to self service in their buffets. How  well I remember on my many previous cruises, prior to COVID, people taking food and putting it back, licking their fingers before using ladles etc. I am hoping X sticks with buffet food being served by staff but, I have my doubts. I'll be back on HAL this December and know the buffet food will be served. Back on X in February and will hope that it's still staff served food at the great buffet area. All just an opinion but,  of course influenced by 30yrs of ER nursing and knowing all about how illnesses quickly spread, especially norovirus!

X does not have trays.  There are usually people to assist.  Agree with you on staff serving.  The problem is some people do not care.   For example water dispensers say please do not fill water bottles here.  People do not follow those rules.  Sad .

[Ozzmund]

We avoid the buffet as that area is only as sanitary as the least sanitary patron.

 

With that said, if Celebrity is having staff serve at the buffet for our September Reflection cruises, we may give it a try.

[Luvcrusn]

I agree and share OPs hope that the buffet will continue to serve food. On our last two cruises this was done and it moved smoothly and was much more sanitary. Fingers crossed.

[ScottC4746]

12 hours ago, Ozzmund said:

We avoid the buffet as that area is only as sanitary as the least sanitary patron.

 

With that said, if Celebrity is having staff serve at the buffet for our September Reflection cruises, we may give it a try.

Buffets anywhere are as disgusting as the patrons.  Several years ago, before Covid was even in our vocabulary, I went to the Mirage buffet in Las Vegas on peal and eat shrimp.  One patron decided not to use the tongs but bare handed grabbed the shrimp.  EWWWW!!!!

[DirtyDawg]

Isn't 'Great Buffet ' an oxymoron?

 

You know, like 'Awfully good', or 'Jumbo shrimp' or 'Carnival Cruise Line'. 🤐

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by DirtyDawg

[kenb]

Another great thing about having staff serve you is the food is replenished more because someone is serving.

[lv2cruisgrl]

I talked with a sever on Apex and asked him if they would keep the servers. He said it was up to Miami. We loved having them serve us as we felt it was safer.

[Cruising89143]

Over the last thirty-six years or so I have witnessed some nasty stuff in buffets on cruise ships. Last month we cruised on the Navigator OTS. We decided to head to the Windjammer for breakfast one morning due to the staff serving the food. That was probably our first buffet visit in eight years. 
 

I wish the crew would continue serving ALL food and beverages but I don’t see that happening so that means we will skip this area. 

[roupa]

Oh!, how I hope the staff will serve at any buffet!  Done several cruises.  Before COVID, our first Celebrity cruise out of Venice, was also our first with buffet service and sealed our Celebrity loyalty!  Food was “under glass”, so we simply pointed or requested verbally.  Too many unpleasant observations at buffets to even start to list. 🤮

[helen haywood]

I guess it’s a trade off between how much extra staffing costs to have the Buffett staff served versus savings due to less food waste.

[bartnath]

I've personally seen someone in a buffet take the serving spoon, sample the food directly at the station by using the serving spoon, then put the spoon back in the food...

 

To their credit, the food was replaced quickly by the staff, but I was done with the buffet on that cruise after that. I was absolutely thrilled to have the buffet served by the staff on our December cruise on the Reflection. Fingers crossed it stays that way!

[hooskydo]

On the April 9-15 Apex buffet was served by staff.

 

[AZ Ocean Lover]

Just off the Constellation and was happy to have the buffet served by staff.  The one exception was the bread station.  It was a bumped out oval with tongs on a plate to serve yourself.  I really hesitated to use the tongs and it was the first time I sanitized my hands after I got my food but before I ate.

[PaperSniper4]

1 hour ago, AZ Ocean Lover said:

........... and it was the first time I sanitized my hands after I got my food but before I ate.

I think we may be OCD, but we always use just Purell before eating anything, anywhere except at home. It has become a habit for us. We use it before going through the buffet lines also. Like I said, we are somewhat paranoid. This started years ago before COVID.

 

Doug

[LB_NJ]

Was on Oceania Insignia pre-COVID and the staff served most of the food in the buffet.

[ciera123]

2 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

I think we may be OCD, but we always use just Purell before eating anything, anywhere except at home. It has become a habit for us. We use it before going through the buffet lines also. Like I said, we are somewhat paranoid. This started years ago before COVID.

 

Doug

Same! 🙂

[mayleeman]

I am always surprised at the number of comments by people who apparently think tongs are hand grenades. Just pick up a paper napkin before you use each one, and throw it away before touching your dishes.

[Denny01]

 Not really sure where the ‘Great Debate’ is. All who have posted like being served and the very few I’ve seen in the past who post complaining about it was because they either got too much or too little, which in most cases is solved by communications with the server. 

 

And if your specific wishes, either way, aren’t met, you can actually ask for another spoonful, or just leave what you wouldn’t eat…..and yes that wasted 1/2 spoonful will cause a Major Issue - Not. 

 

My limited and biased view is the service is quicker and more efficient and effective, and we will All somehow overcome a bit more/less of an item. 

 

we all have stories about others’ unhealthy habits. In ‘reverse’, I remember a thread about no self-laundry on X and a woman said how she’d not want her clothes washed with someone else’s, because she didn’t even want to think about what they did in those clothes. I explained to her she really shouldn’t cruise at all since her towels she dried with, and the sheets she slept between were all washed in common loads and she’d Never want to know what people did between the sheets!! Also said she’d have to only use a RV for vacationing since she’d not want to go to any hotel either.

 

My response was Not appreciated. 

 

Den

[zitsky]

Not trying to be a snob but I hate buffets.  Poor sanitation and not sure how good the food is.  I like Blu.  I can feel special but not pay the price of a suite.

[Lastdance]

7 hours ago, zitsky said:

Not trying to be a snob but I hate buffets.  Poor sanitation and not sure how good the food is.  I like Blu.  I can feel special but not pay the price of a suite.

I guess we all pay the "price" for the buffet; however, it is one's choice to eat ther or not.  I love the early mornings when the OVC just opens...the almond croissants are just fresh out of the oven and I can can get my veggie scramble made to order.  I do this even when in a suite because I am an early riser...things to do and places to go. The nice thing is that we all have a variety of venues for breakfast.  Sometimes, I also choose to eat in Blu when space is available and I want to eat somewhere else on long cruises.

 

No one is a snob for their personal choices.  We all have our preferences!

 

[helen haywood]

8 hours ago, zitsky said:

Not trying to be a snob but I hate buffets.  Poor sanitation and not sure how good the food is.  I like Blu.  I can feel special but not pay the price of a suite.

Where do you eat lunch on port days?  As Blu doesn’t serve lunch.

[zitsky]

20 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

Where do you eat lunch on port days?  As Blu doesn’t serve lunch.

On port days I eat off the ship.  Did you mean sea days?  Maybe spa cafe.  I don’t remember what’s open.  I remember Sushi on 5 but that might have been dinner.

 

I will eat at buffet if I have to.  Would have been nicer when crew was serving.  I just don’t like the crowds lol.

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by zitsky

[mayleeman]

Maybe the Great Debate is between people who hate seeing people do stupid things that ruin everyone's sense of food safety, and the people who do those stupid things.

 

I think the second group has yet to find a spokesperson to voice their right to be gross. C'mon, we know someone reading this thread is a culprit--speak up!

[Denny01]

32 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

Maybe the Great Debate is between people who hate seeing people do stupid things that ruin everyone's sense of food safety, and the people who do those stupid things.

 

I think the second group has yet to find a spokesperson to voice their right to be gross. C'mon, we know someone reading this thread is a culprit--speak up!

OK, I’ll fess up! During a cruise prior to the Pandemic, I walked up to the soup section, picked up the large spoon in the first soup terrine, dipped it in and tasted the soup. I didn’t like it, so I went to the next soup. I took the soup spoon I’d already used (didn’t drop it back into the original soup contaminating it!) and used the spoon I’d sipped with and dipped it in to taste the new soup. The lady behind me went crazy. So I explained to her that I’d Not put the spoon back into the orignal soup and left it in it, so I’d not contaminate it, and I’d only dipped the spoon into the 2nd soup very quickly and I’d read On The Internet - you know,  where we’ve all got such great info on how useless masking and vaccines are - that it takes 5 sec for germs to transfer over. So since I’d only dipped the used spoon into the 2nd soup for 1 sec or so, there was no issue!!

 

For some reason, the lady just wouldn’t accept that scientific fact, nor would the security officer who came up, or the head of security, or the medical officer, or, can you believe it, the ship’s Capt!! 

 

I got to enjoy the next port a bit longer than I’d planned and longer than the ship was there. 

 

Oh well. I chanced me name so I could book again after being banned, so don’t tell anyone.

 

den (ooops). Ben, thats right Ben.