The Galley is an awesome concept that no one understands. I wonder if they will ditch the servers.

[Jezo]

Fresh off The Scarlet Lady a couple of hours ago and thinking about the time we spent in The Galley.  I love how you can order anything from the spots and the staff was awesome and attentive. Being able to sit and have the food brought to you was easy and quick and a far cry from all the buffets I have been to on the dozen cruises before this one.

 

The problem is no one got it.  Everyone was standing around the stations in groups or lines.  Everyone was trying to order directly from each station and causing crowding and such.  It wasn't a problem for me because I just sat down and raised the flag.  So many other people seemed confused and had to deal with the long lines and standing around waiting for food.

 

Back to how much we liked it though, even today, which was disembarkation day, I just found a seat amidst the chaos, raised the flag, and the food was brought right to me.  The servers were attentive and friendly, always checked up on us, and would get anything we wanted from a glass of water to a bowl of ramen.

 

If no one understands how it works I wonder if they will eventually just ditch the whole idea and make it fully self service dining hall kind of thing.  

[ldbeav]

Is this the same on Valiant Lady?

[_tacocat_]

It was initially intended to be a food hall concept, then Covid happened and they didn’t want people crowding around stations, so it became tables service.  The flags are a VERY new convention in the galley (like a few months ago), but before that, service could be absolutely hit or miss.  You could be waiting for a server for upwards of 20 minutes, while crew sat around and chatted with each other, or on the other end of that, be constantly bombarded with “need anything else”s throughout your meal.

 

The other issue I’ve had with the served vs self serve concept is “invisible” queues.  When you order from a server, you have no clue how long things can take from each station, so you frequently had tables where everyone except for one person had received all their food, and that one sad person happened to order tacos or whatever that had a zillion-ticket queue that they had no way to tell would be so long.

 

I’ll take the food hall self serve concept all day long.  On the last voyage I was on, it was always quicker and easier to do that vs the old seated & served concept.

[_tacocat_]

Just now, ldbeav said:

Is this the same on Valiant Lady?

Yeah it’s across all the ships.  You can either order from a server or order from individual stations. If you have a longer lead time item, they’ll give you a buzzer to bring your your seat, and you go get your food when the buzzer goes off.

[Wildcatllamas]

When I was on, back in 2021, even then the concept of sit at a table and order seemed foreign to so many of the folks. 

On our first visit to the Galley one of the servers came by and told us to go have a seat and she would be right over. We were like wow!!! We became friends with her over the 9 days. She said that servers were trying to tell folks that they could sit and order from the menu with a server or look around and if they saw something then just let their server know. Some folks jumped on it and others looked at them like they were crazy and still stood in line. She even knew that when we set down for breakfast she would put in an order for two mochas and a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon. My friend would always switch around breakfast but I am a creature of habit. We loved the idea and it is why on my last two cruises, when I did Princess, going to the buffet was just not something I could do. And the one time I did, it was after lunch, and food looked dried up and unappealing.

[cantgetin]

Just off Valiant.  Like Scarlet, you can choose to sit and be served or go to the stations yourself.  People CAN be educated.  No one "understood" Scarlet Night either at the beginning.  I think the ability to go to the stations yourself is a nice addition.  We never saw lines or people waiting standing around the stations.  When it got busy, they'd bring out a crew member who would do nothing but take orders for that station; at more quiet times, the regular number of crew would be there taking orders and preparing food

I would hope that they will continue with both options.  There are people who can't carry their food or can't handle more than about one item at a time.  The table service gives them a nice option.  We did it both ways depending on time, preference, etc,

[CruisingWalter]

Here on Valiant this week seems most folks are opting to sit when it's busy and be served. Queues when it's slower and you can just walk up. We had a great breakfast this morning in less than 10 minutes being served. Doesn't seem to be a problem on this sailing that I can see. I'm not sure why anyone wants to stand next to a food station when they can simply sit and order. We're onboard with a group of about 30 folks, most of whom have never been on VV and that's one of their favorite compliments so far coming from other cruise lines. 'We don't have to stand and work our way through the lines.'

 

What we really are noticing is that there are a LOT of people on this cruise from other cruise lines. So they've been 'trained' on one specific way to do things in a 'buffet' or 'food hall.' It takes a while to break that muscle memory. 

[CanadianCruiser21]

I did the flag once but I guess I accidentally ordered the wrong thing. I prefer to order at the station so I can see exactly what I’m getting and can ask questions and get custom portion sizes. 

[CruisingWalter]

And this morning on Valiant looks like people are reverting to the 'ways they've been trained on other cruise lines.'  More lines this morning which is silly to be honest. I much prefer to sit and relax vs. standing in lines. 🙂 

[cantgetin]

If I was going alone for a single item at lunch, I'd often go to the walk up station.  When we were together, we'd usually do a "divide and conquer."  I'd tell my cruise partner what I wanted to eat.  She'd sit and put up the flag to order while I went to get our drinks.  Yes, I know we could order the drinks from the server, but getting them on the way in was easy and then we'd have them for the few minutes while we waited for food.  It worked well for us,

[conandrob240]

I HATE the server concept and I’m glad it’s gone. We greatly prefer going up to the various counters, seeing what’s there and placing any customizations right with that window. Walking around, having to remember where you wanted a little of this as a little of that, then telling it to a server was a pain. Glad it changed!!!

[_tacocat_]

41 minutes ago, conandrob240 said:

Walking around, having to remember where you wanted a little of this as a little of that, then telling it to a server was a pain

especially when they did this for the salad bar for a *very* brief period of time... why yes, let me think off the top of my head of every tiny vegetable and protein i'd like on my salad this afternoon that may or may not actually exist on the line... 🙄

[cantgetin]

So now we each have a choice....walk up or order with server, whichever is better for you!

[conandrob240]

43 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

especially when they did this for the salad bar for a *very* brief period of time... why yes, let me think off the top of my head of every tiny vegetable and protein i'd like on my salad this afternoon that may or may not actually exist on the line... 🙄

Exactly this!

[CastleCritic]

Last month on resilient I did both I would walk in every morning and go over and look at what was on the bakery display, ask for anything I wanted. Go next door and get pancakes/French toast. Get some oj on the way to my table then flip up the flag and order an omelet. A few days later all I had to do was put my hand on the flag and the same waitress would walk up and take my order. 

[conandrob240]

If you know exactly what you want and you aren’t a “customization” person, it’s fine. The example of the salad bar is perfect though- I’m not going to memorize all the ingredients I want/don’t want, repeat that to a server and then hope it’s the way I want it. 

Edited November 21, 2023 by conandrob240

[cantgetin]

On the other hand, if your order is a chicken caesar without croutons, that's easy to do with a server or by standing in the line.  And the salad bar is typically one of the longest lines.

[conandrob240]

Yes, ha! I can assure you, anything I order (especially a salad bar salad) has WAY more modifications than that. High maintenance eater.

[dx052]

I am on the Valiant Lady as we speak as well and communication from the food hall staff in the Galley to the guests have been none existent regarding the way they are serving the food, surely they could advise passengers when they enter the Galley to take a seat and someone will be along to take your order as they would in a restuarant, from what have seen I am not sure they are organized enough to run efficiently. Takes them 20 minutes just to clear a table, they are slow and seem like they lack motivation. Somethings not right but I can't put my finger on it yet & it's not only myself that have been left disappointed other people have said the same thing. 

[jon81uk]

1 hour ago, dx052 said:

I am on the Valiant Lady as we speak as well and communication from the food hall staff in the Galley to the guests have been none existent regarding the way they are serving the food, surely they could advise passengers when they enter the Galley to take a seat and someone will be along to take your order as they would in a restuarant, from what have seen I am not sure they are organized enough to run efficiently. Takes them 20 minutes just to clear a table, they are slow and seem like they lack motivation. Somethings not right but I can't put my finger on it yet & it's not only myself that have been left disappointed other people have said the same thing. 

There is a sign on the table advising sailors to raise the flag and someone will come over to take the order.

Or now you can treat it like a food court and go up to a counter.

[raphael360]

I'm an only 'meat' person due to food allergies (no bun, no onion, no lettuce, no seasonings, no fries).  I have a severe onion allergy so they can't simply remove it from the burger.  Just touching the burger or bun has put me into anaphylaxis in the past.

 

I prefer ordering from the station so I can give my special food instructions directly to the person preparing the food.  Then I can watch that person prepare my order and make a course correction should it be prepared incorrectly.  

 

In the past, I ordered a burger from table service only to have it show up 'fully dressed' and smothered in fries. I told my server I wanted only the meat - no bun, no onion, no lettuce, no seasonings, no fries.  He took it away and it almost instantly returned with ‘only meat’ (but still covered in fries).  When I started eating it I discovered the awful onion oil taste lingering on the burger so someone simply removed the toppings and bun instead of preparing a new burger. I immediately proceeded to my cabin to fetch my Epipen just in case. (Epipens cost $400 these days).

[cantgetin]

4 hours ago, raphael360 said:

I'm an only 'meat' person due to food allergies (no bun, no onion, no lettuce, no seasonings, no fries).  I have a severe onion allergy so they can't simply remove it from the burger.  Just touching the burger or bun has put me into anaphylaxis in the past.

 

I prefer ordering from the station so I can give my special food instructions directly to the person preparing the food.  Then I can watch that person prepare my order and make a course correction should it be prepared incorrectly.  

 

In the past, I ordered a burger from table service only to have it show up 'fully dressed' and smothered in fries. I told my server I wanted only the meat - no bun, no onion, no lettuce, no seasonings, no fries.  He took it away and it almost instantly returned with ‘only meat’ (but still covered in fries).  When I started eating it I discovered the awful onion oil taste lingering on the burger so someone simply removed the toppings and bun instead of preparing a new burger. I immediately proceeded to my cabin to fetch my Epipen just in case. (Epipens cost $400 these days).

Did your server not ask about allergies?  Ours always have, whether in the sit down restaurants or in The Galley.
I totally understand you wanting to watch the final stages of the preparation.  Too bad you can't see the total prep in any of the restaurants!

[raphael360]

50 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

Did your server not ask about allergies? 

In this particular case, I did not spell out my exact allergies.  Instead, I was very clear to mention: "I wanted a hamburger - meat only - no onion, no lettuce, no bun, no seasonings, no fries.  I just want a piece of plain meat on a plate...."  If the server looks confused about my request, as they sometimes do, I show them a picture of a plain, cooked, naked hamburger from my phone.  This is not limited to VV.  This happens in restaurants all across the US.  It is what it is and I just have to be on guard all of the time.

 

I do discuss my special allergies with the manager of each restaurant before ordering my first meal of the trip.  It's proven very helpful because some of the meats are brined and they include onion power in the brine.

[cantgetin]

2 hours ago, raphael360 said:

In this particular case, I did not spell out my exact allergies.  Instead, I was very clear to mention: "I wanted a hamburger - meat only - no onion, no lettuce, no bun, no seasonings, no fries.  I just want a piece of plain meat on a plate...."  If the server looks confused about my request, as they sometimes do, I show them a picture of a plain, cooked, naked hamburger from my phone.  This is not limited to VV.  This happens in restaurants all across the US.  It is what it is and I just have to be on guard all of the time.

 

I do discuss my special allergies with the manager of each restaurant before ordering my first meal of the trip.  It's proven very helpful because some of the meats are brined and they include onion power in the brine.

Glad you were ultimately OK.  Our experience is that they are MUCH more careful about allergies than about "requests."  It shouldn't be that way, but again, just my experience.

[raphael360]

1 hour ago, cantgetin said:

Glad you were ultimately OK.  Our experience is that they are MUCH more careful about allergies than about "requests."  It shouldn't be that way, but again, just my experience.

Excellent idea. I will definitely try that. Thank you.