How is the dinner buffet?

[Illbcruzn4life]

I was reading here a few months back where the dinner buffet was reduced to basically one or 2 stations so not much assortment.

 

has anything changed since then?

[keesar]

1 hour ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

I was reading here a few months back where the dinner buffet was reduced to basically one or 2 stations so not much assortment.

 

has anything changed since then?

At one time, there were major supply issues. I thought the choices on our cruise was similar to the past.  I also was apprehensive but was very pleased with all of the choices.  

[Honolulu Blue]

4 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

I was reading here a few months back where the dinner buffet was reduced to basically one or 2 stations so not much assortment.

 

has anything changed since then?

My dinner buffets on the Summit in February were fine - good in both variety and quality. The fact it was a charter may or may not have helped.

 

I've heard far fewer buffet disaster stories here since March, so I assume things are good fleetwide. But I don't actually know.

[NutsAboutGolf]

They seemed to greatly scale back at the start of the year and due to the complaints, opened more stations.  It still varies by ship

[Illbcruzn4life]

4 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

They seemed to greatly scale back at the start of the year and due to the complaints, opened more stations.  It still varies by ship

Ok thank you. The boards were going crazy last time I popped in here.

was looking at the Reflection

[NutsAboutGolf]

8 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Ok thank you. The boards were going crazy last time I popped in here.

was looking at the Reflection

 

Start this at 15:20: 

 

[Illbcruzn4life]

5 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Start this at 15:20: 

 

Thank you very much. Much better than the last videos I saw.

 

much appreciated 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

On the Reflection TA , the buffet look out , 

they had the grill , stir fry  pasta station open , and carving station open and ship was about 60% filled 

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

On the Reflection TA , the buffet look out , 

they had the grill , stir fry  pasta station open , and carving station open and ship was about 60% filled 

 

When was the TA?

 

I witnessed the bare bones dinner buffet on the solstice in Jan, they had the salad bar, pasta station, dessert station, pizza station and only four rotating dishes.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

6 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

When was the TA?

 

I witnessed the bare bones dinner buffet on the solstice in Jan, they had the salad bar, pasta station, dessert station, pizza station and only four rotating dishes.

The TA finished 2 weeks ago,  May 6 in Barcelona 

 

[RTShaker]

I just spent three weeks on the Millennium. The variety varied greatly day to day. On embarkation day and day two the variety was far superior to the balance of the cruise. Food quality was definitely far below pre-pandemic levels. If you like Indian/Asian food you will be in your glory. The selection at the grill to order was limited to one protein daily. Soups seemed to have no substance, no matter which was available.

Unfortunately on the M class the grill area is at the back, so when you arrive at the Oceanview it looks like an abandoned food court.

[NMTraveller]

2 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

On the Reflection TA , the buffet look out , 

they had the grill , stir fry  pasta station open , and carving station open and ship was about 60% filled 

Were all of the buffet stations filled?

Edited May 20, 2023 by NMTraveller

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, RTShaker said:

I just spent three weeks on the Millennium. The variety varied greatly day to day. On embarkation day and day two the variety was far superior to the balance of the cruise. Food quality was definitely far below pre-pandemic levels. If you like Indian/Asian food you will be in your glory. The selection at the grill to order was limited to one protein daily. Soups seemed to have no substance, no matter which was available.

Unfortunately on the M class the grill area is at the back, so when you arrive at the Oceanview it looks like an abandoned food court.

Hmmm.  Not something that you would expect from a line that advertises Relaxed Luxury...

[Ex-Airbalancer]

30 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Were all of the buffet stations filled?

No, but still the ship was over 40% empty , why would very station be open

The station that were open , you could get a nice meal 

[NMTraveller]

5 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

No, but still the ship was over 40% empty , why would very station be open

The station that were open , you could get a nice meal 

Perhaps that was part of the reason it was 40% empty?  The food choices..  

Yet people claim the ships are sailing full?  And why should Celebrity change when the ships are sailing full?

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by NMTraveller

[cruiserchuck]

On Solstice last month, the ship was full, as were all the buffet stations at lunch and dinner.  The dishes we tried were generally good.

[NMTraveller]

It sounds like it varies by ship...

[C4HCG]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

Perhaps that was part of the reason it was 40% empty?  The food choices..  

Yet people claim the ships are sailing full?  And why should Celebrity change when the ships are sailing full?

 

Would you clarify your point and correct me my understanding if i am wrong in my interpretation.

 

1 - the ship was 40% empty you are suggesting due to food choices in the OVC?
2 - “people” whoever they are claim the ships are full when they’re not.

3 - why should celebrity change when ships are full you ask when point 1 confirms this one wasn’t and point 2 you suggest that the ships aren’t full.

 

hope you don’t mind me asking,

Edited May 20, 2023 by C4HCG

[NMTraveller]

19 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

Would you clarify your point and correct me my understanding if i am wrong in my interpretation.

 

1 - the ship was 40% empty you are suggesting due to food choices in the OVC?
2 - “people” whoever they are claim the ships are full when they’re not.

3 - why should celebrity change when ships are full you ask when point 1 confirms this one wasn’t and point 2 you suggest that the ships aren’t full.

 

hope you don’t mind me asking,

Given all of the food threads we have had since January,  a common argument for the food cut defenders was that the ships were sailing full and therefore Celebrity does not need to up their game with regards to food choices/quality and anything else.

 

Yet we get post after post where people are on a cruise where the ship is not full.

 

So my point is perhaps if Celebrity were to up their game then we would not have ships sailing 40% empty.  Food or otherwise,  food cuts have been the most visible on Celebrity.

 

For many of us it is time to try another line and see where they stack up...

Food quality and variety seem to vary by a wide margin from ship to ship on Celebrity.  Whereas previously one could just hop on a Celebrity ship and have a high quality meal and not wonder what they would be eating.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

17 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Given all of the food threads we have had since January,  a common argument for the food cut defenders was that the ships were sailing full and therefore Celebrity does not need to up their game with regards to food choices/quality and anything else.

 

Yet we get post after post where people are on a cruise where the ship is not full.

 

So my point is perhaps if Celebrity were to up their game then we would not have ships sailing 40% empty.  Food or otherwise,  food cuts have been the most visible on Celebrity.

 

For many of us it is time to try another line and see where they stack up...

Food quality and variety seem to vary by a wide margin from ship to ship on Celebrity.  Whereas previously one could just hop on a Celebrity ship and have a high quality meal and not wonder what they would be eating.

The sailing was a TA , everyone need to be vaccinated, it is not usually for Spring TAs not to be full 🙄

[RTShaker]

I think the way it is laid out on the M class, diners come up, see nothing and head back to the MDR. The buffet says we have fewer diners so we have to cut back. Diners finally find the very scaled down offerings and don't come back, furthering the downward spiral. "Build it and they will come". The only constant is the 10 daily Indian selections.

There was no difference in the dinner buffet when the ship had 2200 passengers, and the next leg with 1200.

When they had the stirfry station open, it was best to have a snack before heading there as the turn-around time was quite long. 20+ people in line, 1 stirfry chef with 2 pans.

[markeb]

12 hours ago, RTShaker said:

If you like Indian/Asian food you will be in your glory.

 

My favorite part of the buffet. Probably too much Punjabi and not enough Southern Indian, but a great selection. Wish they'd work some of those choices onto the Luminae menu...

[NMTraveller]

11 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

The sailing was a TA , everyone need to be vaccinated, it is not usually for Spring TAs not to be full 🙄

Yet others who are not on a TA report the same buffet issues.  Please tell me why?

 

When will we get the same Celebrity quality OVC that we have become accustomed to?

 

Or do we just move to other cruise lines?

 

Pardon me if I like the old Celebrity who had a consistent food product.

Edited May 21, 2023 by NMTraveller

[C4HCG]

13 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Given all of the food threads we have had since January,  a common argument for the food cut defenders was that the ships were sailing full and therefore Celebrity does not need to up their game with regards to food choices/quality and anything else.

 

Yet we get post after post where people are on a cruise where the ship is not full.

 

So my point is perhaps if Celebrity were to up their game then we would not have ships sailing 40% empty.  Food or otherwise,  food cuts have been the most visible on Celebrity.

 

For many of us it is time to try another line and see where they stack up...

Food quality and variety seem to vary by a wide margin from ship to ship on Celebrity.  Whereas previously one could just hop on a Celebrity ship and have a high quality meal and not wonder what they would be eating.

What is your basis for stating the food cuts are most visible on Celebrity? When you try the other lines be sure to let us know as I will when we sail min September on the Equinox. 

[Jim_Iain]

On the TA the Buffet was incredible but the ship was near full capacity.    I looked one night on the British Isle Cruise with only about 60% capacity and the offerings was still good but much less than on the TA.  

 

On the other side of the equation,  there were only a handful of guest dining up there

 

They had a carving station open, Pasta, Pizza, a number of themed items.  Grill Station with Steak, Fish and Chicken and deserts   Certainly I would not have an issue eating there.

 

Pizza station open LATE (about 1:30 AM)