Dinner on the Lido

[mkcurran]

Does anyone have pictures of lido menus? Will I be missing anything from the main dining room? Are the apps on the lido as well?

 

For those who like to be specific, we are sailing on the Panorama in April. We are kinda over the crowds and drawn out dinners in the dinning room.

Thanks!

[shof515]

its usually the same as the dinning room

 

the only thing different is there no appetizers at the lido like the shrimp cocktails

[LaRue1975]

The buffet may have a few items that were left over from dining room the night before. We were on the Panorama in October, the dinner buffet was very limited and not very good. My hubby doesn’t enjoy the drawn our meals in dining room either but thought the buffet was bad and he is not that hard to please, lol! We went twice to the dinner buffet and a few times to the breakfast buffet which was quite good but the exact same offerings every day. Blue Iguana, Guys Burgers and the pizza were excellent and we enjoyed dinners at Guys Brewhouse, Jijis and loved the Bonsai Teppanyaki. There are plenty of options besides the MDR on the Panorama, it’s a great ship! 

Edited January 4, 2023 by LaRue1975

[CajunOyster]

53 minutes ago, LaRue1975 said:

The buffet may have a few items that were left over from dining room the night before. We were on the Panorama in October, the dinner buffet was very limited and not very good. My hubby doesn’t enjoy the drawn our meals in dining room either but thought the buffet was bad and he is not that hard to please, lol! We went twice to the dinner buffet and a few times to the breakfast buffet which was quite good but the exact same offerings every day. Blue Iguana, Guys Burgers and the pizza were excellent and we enjoyed dinners at Guys Brewhouse, Jijis and loved the Bonsai Teppanyaki. There are plenty of options besides the MDR on the Panorama, it’s a great ship! 

Interesting.  I don't think I've ever seen "leftovers" on the buffet.

[DallasGuy75219]

5 hours ago, shof515 said:

its usually the same as the dinning room

 

the only thing different is there no appetizers at the lido like the shrimp cocktails

Not the full menu from the MDR though, just selected items (and usually the cheaper ones at that).

 

5 hours ago, mkcurran said:

Does anyone have pictures of lido menus? Will I be missing anything from the main dining room? Are the apps on the lido as well?

 

For those who like to be specific, we are sailing on the Panorama in April.

No one can give you an accurate answer this far in advance.  Even if you have the correct MDR menus now, there's no guaranteeing what will be on the dinner buffet on any given cruise.

[BoozinCroozin]

I have been on 1 CCL cruise and 1 NCL cruise. In both cases, seated dinners are a waste of time for us. Dinner for me is not a 2 hour event. Get me my drink, take my order, have food out in 15-20 minutes, eat, and be done in 45 minutes.

 

CCL was faster, but still too long. I like to do things at my pace. NCL was even worse. Insanely slow to get seated for opening time reservation, slow to get orders, slow to deliver food, slow to get the paper to sign and room card back. We wound up missing the show that night because of it. Due to technical issues, the show was canceled the rest of the cruise. We wound up eating primarily the buffet and O'sheehan's with nowhere else even a consideration. 

 

We will be on Celebration in June. We will not go to the MDR most likely. If we do, it would only be 1 night. Based on what I am hearing and reading, service is extremely slow. Not my kind of thing.

[sparks1093]

We were going to eat at the lido once on our last cruise and they did have some of the entrees available. We ended up going to the MDR instead (the entrees that are always on the menu weren't available on lido, as I recall).

[jimbo5544]

7 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

The buffet may have a few items that were left over from dining room the night before. We were on the Panorama in October, the dinner buffet was very limited and not very good. My hubby doesn’t enjoy the drawn our meals in dining room either but thought the buffet was bad and he is not that hard to please, lol! We went twice to the dinner buffet and a few times to the breakfast buffet which was quite good but the exact same offerings every day. Blue Iguana, Guys Burgers and the pizza were excellent and we enjoyed dinners at Guys Brewhouse, Jijis and loved the Bonsai Teppanyaki. There are plenty of options besides the MDR on the Panorama, it’s a great ship! 

I have done 49 cruises on Carnival and never seen leftovers on lido

[jimbo5544]

36 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

We were going to eat at the lido once on our last cruise and they did have some of the entrees available. We ended up going to the MDR instead (the entrees that are always on the menu weren't available on lido, as I recall).

Believe you re correct

[sanmarcosman]

2 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Not the full menu from the MDR though, just selected items (and usually the cheaper ones at that).

 

No one can give you an accurate answer this far in advance.  Even if you have the correct MDR menus now, there's no guaranteeing what will be on the dinner buffet on any given cruise.

Thursday night on Panorama is carved whole roasted turkey night at the Lido buffet. This hasn't varied over our 9 sailings in 13 months aboard Panorama. But yes, there are no published buffet dinner menus online that I have seen. 

 

 

[pe4all]

We usually eat in the buffet for dinner just to save time.  Yes, there are some  appetizers, entrees and veggies that are the same as that evening's dining room menu.  We enjoy making our own salads, which the buffet always has, and will sometimes just add whatever carved meat they have that night.  Quick and easy for us, and we take our plates outside and watch the ocean rush by.

[crewsweeper]

I have seen lots of families especially reunion groups and those with younger children eating on the Lido nightly.  Easier for them than the MDR. Yes ,you're not going to get the steakhouse selections or maybe one of the mains from the MDR, but there are salads, vegetables, protein, and desserts.  Foodies aren't going to like it, but it's there and if you're back late from an excursion or worried about missing a show, easy place to hit.

[mz-s]

I love the carved meat station on Lido. A lot of times my wife and I will eat early in the MDR (we always do YTD), then a little later closer to the end of the buffet service we will go up to the buffet to sample the carved meats, fried shrimp, desserts, etc.

[groundloop]

1 hour ago, BoozinCroozin said:

 

 

......We will be on Celebration in June. We will not go to the MDR most likely. If we do, it would only be 1 night. Based on what I am hearing and reading, service is extremely slow. Not my kind of thing.

 

It's been my experience that for some reason dinner is usually slower on the first night, and on the rare occasion when I was unhappy with a meal it was the first night.  I don't really have an explanation, that's just been my experience.

 

Most of the time dinner on Carnival seems to take between about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, occasionally it stretches out to an hour and a half.  My preference is a quicker dinner, but hey, if dinner takes a little bit longer on occasion that's one more thing on my list of things to complain about.  😁

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by groundloop

[Anyislandwilldo]

Have you tried anytime dining?  I went at 5:30 right when they opened up and there were maybe a dozen people eating at that time.  Service was great and I was out of there by 6:00.  I was solo and my server would bring my appetizer and main course at the same time.  I did not object to this.  Most of the time I skipped desert anyway.  It worked for me.

[edspec]

One thing I like about the Panorama dinner buffet is that they have fried oysters the night they're served in the mdr.  I dearly love fried oysters so go to Lido after mdr to for a second, third, fourth...helping. Yes, I know I could get extra in the mdr but I enjoy getting the exact amount I want.  Really, the Lido on Panorama is great.  At lunch in July they had  a mediterranean section w/ flatbreads, hummus, sun dried tomatoes, pesto, fresh cheeses...really yummy. 

 

[ray98]

It is truly a guessing game.  In my experience they will have 2 or 3 entrees from the MDR available on the buffet.  If you happen to like those....great.  If you wouldn't have ordered them in the MDR....not so great.  Also, by skipping the MDR you miss all the appetizers which are one of the highlights of the meal for me.

[sparks1093]

One advantage to the lido I guess is not having to pay extra for a third entrée.

[BoozinCroozin]

With all the included options on Celebration, I don't see any need for the MDR for us. Big Chicken, Pig and Anchor, Cucina, Lido Buffet just to name a few that I know of off the top of my head. And from what I am hearing having to get to any show hours early, MDR would not be good for it.

[mkcurran]

2 hours ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

Have you tried anytime dining?  I went at 5:30 right when they opened up and there were maybe a dozen people eating at that time.  Service was great and I was out of there by 6:00.  I was solo and my server would bring my appetizer and main course at the same time.  I did not object to this.  Most of the time I skipped desert anyway.  It worked for me.

Yes, and service from one night to the next was so inconsistent it was more than a little frustrating. Some nights I could order a drink, other nights it was a fight to get coffee.

 

I've had assigned, first time was great. Second time I couldn't get iced tea, even when asking for it, repeatedly. And that second time actually had me wondering about removing gratuities for the dinning team, as they were truly awful (Don't worry, I didn't). Would have moved tables, but we had a large group over three tables with two different serving teams.

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

With all the included options on Celebration, I don't see any need for the MDR for us. Big Chicken, Pig and Anchor, Cucina, Lido Buffet just to name a few that I know of off the top of my head. And from what I am hearing having to get to any show hours early, MDR would not be good for it.

I agree, there are a ton of options.  Actually had a discussion with the Maitre’d on this topic and asked if the MDR staff was less busy.  He said yes, but it was turning out to be less of an issue than they originally thought.

[cxr133]

15 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

The buffet may have a few items that were left over from dining room the night before. We were on the Panorama in October, the dinner buffet was very limited and not very good. My hubby doesn’t enjoy the drawn our meals in dining room either but thought the buffet was bad and he is not that hard to please, lol! We went twice to the dinner buffet and a few times to the breakfast buffet which was quite good but the exact same offerings every day. Blue Iguana, Guys Burgers and the pizza were excellent and we enjoyed dinners at Guys Brewhouse, Jijis and loved the Bonsai Teppanyaki. There are plenty of options besides the MDR on the Panorama, it’s a great ship! 

KINDA THIS

 

we were on the Panorama on Thanksgiving.

 

for the Lido buffett for dinner it was like the same 4-6 items daily

none of them looked really appetizing.

 

But it was not the same menu as the dining room items.

 

 

[Rudyard]

11 hours ago, edspec said:

One thing I like about the Panorama dinner buffet is that they have fried oysters the night they're served in the mdr.

Same on Vista last month. I remember I didn't want to go to the MDR that night but was happy to find the oysters on the buffet. 

[LaRue1975]

17 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

I have done 49 cruises on Carnival and never seen leftovers on lido

I definitely saw the vegetarian option from the MDR in the buffet the next night. I think it was both nights we ate at the buffet and I am sure on the one night because it was dish that I thought I might like, glad I didn’t order it, lol! We went to the dinner buffet twice on the Panorama and twice on the Vista in April, we hadn’t cruised since 2008. On the Panorama there are so many good options there is no need to go to the buffet if you don’t enjoy it. 

[LaRue1975]

17 hours ago, sanmarcosman said:

Thursday night on Panorama is carved whole roasted turkey night at the Lido buffet. This hasn't varied over our 9 sailings in 13 months aboard Panorama. But yes, there are no published buffet dinner menus online that I have seen. 

 

 

Thanks, this looks great! We will definitely hit the buffet on Thursday next time on the Panorama.