Buffet Hygine

[Britboys]

The behaviour of a number of people at my brother-in-law's wake last Wednesday left me aghast. There was a buffet equipped with tongs, spoons and forks but so many people just shoved their hands in to pick up food...

[Britboys]

On 6/30/2023 at 3:42 PM, davecttr said:

Plated items served from behind glass screens is the best solution but as it involves more staff the cheap cruise lines won't do it...

I'm sure you make a good point there but on the Ambassador Ambience, which could be described as "cheap", the buffet is set out 'food court' style with the vast majority of food being dispensed by staff behind the counters. Not sure if their second ship is of the same style.

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

I'm sure you make a good point there but on the Ambassador Ambience, which could be described as "cheap", the buffet is set out 'food court' style with the vast majority of food being dispensed by staff behind the counters. Not sure if their second ship is of the same style.

I just noticed that Marella's latest ship Voyager has a buffet set out as a food court with the food behind glass and served plated. This should be encouraged and maybe it would be possible to configure buffets during refits.

[Castle25]

Just off ventura - why oh why is the HOT breakfast items put out before 7am with no utensils?  If they dont want people to have the full breakfast before 7 then dont put the food out. 

Saw lots of people using fingers to pick up bacon/sausages/potato.

Also the food is cold - on 3 different mornings the fried eggs were stone cold at 7am

The buffet food area is just not big enough in terms of 'personal space' & not enough tables for 2

[Presto2]

Have to admit, on Britannia in May the food was hot but it was a 'serve yourself' system. We took hand sanitizer with us and used this after we'd served ourselves and before we ate just to be careful. No one was standing at the entrance to remind people to wash hands or anything and far less careful than pre Covid. To be fair, we think the cruise was pretty Covid or Norovirus safe. 

[kalos]

As a early morning user of the buffet on Ventura we would be there 6.30 when it was 

continental until 7am onwards then the hot stuff.

The hot area was corded off whilst they put things out and so the last thing to be put out 

was the serving utensils .

As for the eggs even in the MDR breakfast ,they could be hit and miss. Some come out

too hot hence a solid yolk which Mrs K hates .

The worst thing in the buffet for us was the toast, unless you caught them putting fresh out

it was like eating a roof tile (not that I have ever tried) that just shattered it was that dry . 

 

[Presto2]

5 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

The worst thing in the buffet for us was the toast, unless you caught them putting fresh out

it was like eating a roof tile (not that I have ever tried) that just shattered it was that dry . 

 

That made me laugh ---- love the description, but roof tile does sum it up !

[Castle25]

Fried bread is even worse - just breaks up to nothing

[FamilyCruiserUK]

59 minutes ago, Castle25 said:

Fried bread is even worse - just breaks up to nothing

Cover it in baked beans mmmmm soooo good

[9265359]

Walking through Britannia’s Horizon this morning towards the rear outside area (there is no other route other than up and down stairs) I saw someone filling a water bottle from the drinks dispenser. 
 

This wasn’t a wide mouthed bottle held well below where the nozzle was, this was a disposable narrow necked bottle with the dispenser shoved right inside. 
 

These days I never approach the miscreant directly but point it out to a member of staff, which I did to the one standing nearby. 
 

“What is wrong with what I am doing” was the outburst from the person. Followed by “Well where do I get water from” - they didn’t take well the suggestion to ask for a glass from any bar or buy a bottle in onshore, responding with insults. 
 

Now this wasn’t some low life individual, but a smartly dressed, well educated, older person. 
 

If people like that don’t give a damn about everyone else’s health on board then god help everyone eating and drinking there. 

 

[AndyMichelle]

27 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

Walking through Britannia’s Horizon this morning towards the rear outside area (there is no other route other than up and down stairs) I saw someone filling a water bottle from the drinks dispenser. 
 

This wasn’t a wide mouthed bottle held well below where the nozzle was, this was a disposable narrow necked bottle with the dispenser shoved right inside. 
 

These days I never approach the miscreant directly but point it out to a member of staff, which I did to the one standing nearby. 
 

“What is wrong with what I am doing” was the outburst from the person. Followed by “Well where do I get water from” - they didn’t take well the suggestion to ask for a glass from any bar or buy a bottle in onshore, responding with insults. 
 

Now this wasn’t some low life individual, but a smartly dressed, well educated, older person. 
 

If people like that don’t give a damn about everyone else’s health on board then god help everyone eating and drinking there. 

 

We didn't use the buffet much, for this reason and people's inability to wash their hands... 

Andy 

[Cruising Nomads]

What amazes me is that these people do not realise that the person who as done this before them might not be as hygienic as themselves.

[Gnoelj]

On 6/29/2023 at 7:15 PM, Fionboard said:

Sanitiser does not kill virus. Hand washing does!

During the pandemic, I looked up a lot on what kills virus, and not. I was surprised at the findings.

 

It's not entirely true that Sanitizers does not kill virus. Actually, from what I learnt, it KILLS CORONAVIRUS. However, it does not kill Norovirus.

The best way to get rid of both Coronavirus and Norovirus is to wash your hands properly, about 20-30 seconds.

 

While I was on the Arvia a couple of months, the majority of people did not wash their hands nor use the sanitizer. Not only that, they were coughing loudly and with "full force", some even coughed in my direction while I was carrying food to the table. I had to get rid of the food and start plating all over again.

 

Do other  passengers on other cruise lines do that? I guess some did. I was on Azamara before the P&O cruise and some passengers did that too unfortunately (coughing without covering themselves etc and not using santizers nor washing hands, etc) .

 

Still on food hygiene, I noticed in the buffet on Arvia, some of the "cleaned" plates and bowls were not always that cleaned. Some had traces of old food still stuck to them.