School me on the ways of Terrace and Waves

[kibutzer]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

As one poster pointed out, but should be stressed. The one thing that will make you stand out as a newbie is trying to serve yourself. Oddly enough the salad station at Waves grill is self serve. 
 

Usually the two sections on each side of the grill will be repeats, with the extreme ends being different. Think carving station on one end, pasta on the other. Or maybe sushi on one etc. 

 

Here’s one for my Razorback neighbors to the south. 

The salad station is never self serve even if there are utensils in bowls. Sadly many make this assumption.

[ORV]

1 hour ago, kibutzer said:

The salad station is never self serve even if there are utensils in bowls. Sadly many make this assumption.

No one was manning it when we were there. This is Waves, not The Terrace. I’ll go check at lunch today and get back with. 

[ORV]

3 hours ago, kibutzer said:

The salad station is never self serve even if there are utensils in bowls. Sadly many make this assumption.

Just checked. According to those that are working there. On this cruise, on this ship, the Nautica, the Waves Grill salad bar is self serve. This is my recollection on all the Oceania Cruises I’ve been on, Apparently your experiences differ. 

 

 

 

 

[Harters]

45 minutes ago, ORV said:

the Nautica, the Waves Grill salad bar is self serve

As was Nautica's Waves breakfast buffet last year.

[clo]

5 hours ago, Harters said:

It isn't.  

 

But I had no thoughts that it would be. This is a ship catering to North American tastes and food expectations. Rightly so - North Americans have formed the overwhelming majority of passengers on our three cruises (one of which was a UK to UK one). 

I don't travel for'American' food 🙂 EVen on a cruise ship.

[Harters]

18 minutes ago, clo said:

I don't travel for'American' food 🙂 EVen on a cruise ship

But it's what you get  with O. And, as I wrote, rightly so. 

 

If I wanted cruise food geared more towards British expectations and tastes, I'd travel with P & O, Saga or Fred Olsen. I don't. 

Edited September 1 by Harters

[LSuzQ]

You’ve all shared great info on both strategy and etiquette. Thank you! BTW, we’ll sail first on Insignia, but hopefully other O ships will follow.

[AMHuntFerry]

19 hours ago, Kay S said:

I assume it's possible to get a full English at breakfast.  My favorite (minus the sausage) passed down to me from my Leicestershire grandpa. 🙂

While the full English is not available, they do have things like cooked tomatoes and mushrooms at breakfast in Terrace and GDR. I checked with my spouse to make sure my memory isn't glitching, and we swear there were English-style beans in Terrace sometimes, but not always and not in the GDR. There is also Canadian bacon which in my mind differs from English bacon, but I love it since it's less fatty. You'll have to bring your own black pudding though.

[FetaCheese]

@LSuzQ

I was a newbie in 2016.  I have learned much from O veterans who post on CC -- this board and others -- and from fellow pax while onboard.  A very friendly crowd, so ask your questions here and onboard.  #6 upcoming!

[IDL]

8 hours ago, kibutzer said:

Hi, 

First off do not serve yourself, wait for staff to serve things to you, even individually played items like appetizers and desserts. 

Second the Terrace always has a grill, go ordered you grilled items, they will give you a number and you can come back to pick up hot items. 

Please use hand sanitizer machines. 

If they have Aquamar cafe you can order and have it delivered to Cafe, they will give you a number and find you when it is done. 

Always check out grilled fish selection normally really good. 

 

Can also have a made to order dinner time pizza from Waves delivered to the Cafe if some at your table are ordering from the two venues. 

[Woofa]

Adding my two cents.

Don't forget that you can, to a degree, mix and match to complete your dinners.  A quick stop by Terrace for some pre dinner sushi, then perhaps a drink at the bar.  Main course at a specialty, if reserved, and if the flavor suits your fancy, finish with a daily souflee in the MDR.  Of course, your on vacation, two desserts are even better.

[clo]

18 hours ago, clo said:

The TC grill is SO good. My husband's fave.

 

Didn't mention, that was lobster tail, shrimp and a lamb chop all grilled to order. And a tiny bit of salad 🙂

[pilgrimage]

4 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

... I checked with my spouse to make sure my memory isn't glitching, and we swear there were English-style beans in Terrace sometimes...

 

I see beans on the breakfast buffet at 0:18 in the first video - this was on Vista last Dec.

 

One treat in Terrace was an evening where the chef from Toscana was making fresh pasta at the grill/pasta station.  Outstanding!

 

Regarding the salad buffet on Waves - from my video (at least on Vista), it appears that it was not self serve.

 

My approach on the buffet is similar to others - stake out a table and put in your drink order,  hit the grill station first to get an order in for prep (steak/lobster/etc. at dinner, or burger/fish at lunch).  Leave something on the table or take turns if they are busy to avoid table snatching (rare, but it can happen).  I have had to chase down a sommelier on occasion, I just tell them what I want, point out the table and carry on to the buffet.  No problems, then they usually come back to offer refills after that.

 

Edited September 1 by pilgrimage

[Sailnsurf]

On 9/1/2024 at 3:27 AM, AMHuntFerry said:

Menu study: I like to look at the menu before entering (if not earlier) to narrow down options, but my spouse just goes right in to browse with no prior knowledge. I tend to get overwhelmed with too many choices while my spouse does not.

Lunch vs. dinner: The menus are different with lunch being slightly smaller selection-wise (although that may be a mirage due to the way the menus are presented). The lunch dress code is minimal (no swimsuits/coverups or bathrobes), but dinner is ramped up to "nice shorts" (vs. athletic shorts), etc.

I recommend familiarizing yourself with the placement of the stations. If you look at the Terrace sample menus on O's site, they are broken up into the stations. The station menus change daily, but their location stays the same in my experience. For example, on the lunch menu there is a "Cold Buffet" station which is my go-to station and I head there first to load up on composed salads; however, every once in a while there is not much at that station that appeals to me (or there is a different station that has something super yummy) so I'll head to a different station.

Also, you can sit in Terrace or Waves if the seating is limited in one location.

Bring something to leave at your table (e.g., a jacket, a book) so that when you go to get dessert/etc., the staff and other diners know you are returning.

Oh, and there is a menu above the desserts so you can match the name with the item.

And most important...the rotating ice cream/sorbet is different in Terrace and Waves with the previous day's Terrace selections usually being in Waves the next day (unless they are out).

 

[Sailnsurf]

I meant to ask, before posting above, whether anyone knows if any of the ice cream selection is usually gluten free?

[mexicobob]

16 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

@LSuzQ I read your first post and before I responded, I read all the responses.  I think you are looking for a strategy to approach these two dining venues.  Part of that strategy is how to gain a glass of wine with your meal in a normal time frame.  That is that take I have on your question.

 

My wife also drinks wine and likes it prior to the food coming.  Many here has said the wine service whether lunch or dinner is a bit slow at these venues.  That is you clue.  Here is the strategy my group used.  

 

We would go to an open bar, prior to lunch or dinner and get a glass of wine.  We would bring it into the two venues you indicated.  Same concept is for breakfast at the Main Dining Room but for coffee there.  We would go to the Barista, get the specialty coffee and bring it into the Main Dining room for breakfast.  That is what I mean for strategy.

 

As it relates to additional glasses of wine, I would find a server, explain we love wine with lunch and point to my table.  I also got to know the servers and on occasion, would tip them.  By the second day, the issue outlined of slowness was gone when they saw my party.  

 

The key to your question and the responses given by those that have cruised Oceania is strategy.  You handle and issue before it happens so it never happens to you.  Not knowing the issue or that it could be an issue leaves us open to possible disappointment.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

"You handle an issue before it happens so it never happens to you". Great advice for the buffet on a ship.....or life in general.

[Techno123]

My husband and I are diametrically opposed with regards to self serve/served buffets. It's one of the things he isn't keen on with Oceania and prefers the help yourself as offered by Seabourn and Regent. I think it's much more hygienic but some of the staff find the concept of 'one and a small portion' hard to understand 😂. 

[IDL]

9 hours ago, Techno123 said:

My husband and I are diametrically opposed with regards to self serve/served buffets. It's one of the things he isn't keen on with Oceania and prefers the help yourself as offered by Seabourn and Regent. I think it's much more hygienic but some of the staff find the concept of 'one and a small portion' hard to understand 😂. 

Most items lend themselves to be served but certain items that are already plated and individualized such as the desserts make sense that the passenger can grab as the server may be tied up helping someone else and to wait for a server to hand you an already plated dessert 🍨 should be a personal choice IMO. 

[pinotlover]

15 hours ago, pilgrimage said:

.  I have had to chase down a sommelier on occasion, I just tell them what I want, point out the table and carry on to the buffet.  No problems, then they usually come back to offer refills after that.

 

 

I never chase down a wine steward. If I was so compelled to do so I would rate it as exceedingly bad/poor service. I check out the menu, decide what I want to eat, and which wine I want with it. I then sit and wait for the wine steward to make their rounds. The overall level of service reported is directly related to the amount of time I have to wait. 1-5 minutes = very good; 10-15 minutes = mediocre to poor; 20 minutes or longer = horrible. This sometimes upsets the regular waitstaff in the Terrace, watching me sit there and not getting food, however I’m never hungry while aboard, and choose to allow the issue play out on its own merits. There has been times, in the Terrace that’s been 1-2 minutes; and times exceeding 30. I wait. Sometimes a manager may even appear.

[Harters]

20 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

I wait.

That seems to me to be inflicting punishment on yourself. I simply would not sit there for 30 minutes, waiting to order a drink, without doing something to hurry it up. 

[pinotlover]

3 minutes ago, Harters said:

That seems to me to be inflicting punishment on yourself. I simply would not sit there for 30 minutes, waiting to order a drink, without doing something to hurry it up. 

I understand your position. I just prefer to allow the standard of service play itself out and be self demonstrating.

[Sthrngary]

1 minute ago, pinotlover said:

I understand your position. I just prefer to allow the standard of service play itself out and be self demonstrating.

@pinotlover I fully understand your position on this.  For me, when I am on a cruise, my focus is completely different then if I go to a local restaurant.  On a cruise, I am in no rush for anything.  It is the only time I can allow myself simply to chill out and relax. If the server in a local restaurant did not immediately ask my party what drinks the wanted, I would be disappointed. On a cruise, I give more time for service.

 

That said, part of my job on a cruise vacation is to be a travel agent of sorts for my wife and guests.  I am NOT a travel agent, I just want everyone in my party to have the time of their lives.  My wife wants wine, right away.  Our best friends wife wants a vodka, cranberry, and soda right away.  So, I make sure I make our needs know without taking staff away from other guests.  My needs should never effect other guests needs so I attempt always to be sensitive to that.  

 

Cruising is doing it your way and this is not an OLD McDonalds commercial.  How a guest approaches any aspect of a cruise is up to them.  Just have a plan, work your plan and enjoy this very rare time we all have to be treated like Rock Stars for 7-10 days a year.  Rare in deed. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, IDL said:

Most items lend themselves to be served but certain items that are already plated and individualized such as the desserts make sense that the passenger can grab as the server may be tied up helping someone else and to wait for a server to hand you an already plated dessert 🍨 should be a personal choice IMO. 

 

I was noticing the same in one of the videos.... I believe there is a breakfast station with boxed Cereal and Individual Yogurts.    Are these type items self service or do you wait to be served? 

[edgee]

9 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I was noticing the same in one of the videos.... I believe there is a breakfast station with boxed Cereal and Individual Yogurts.    Are these type items self service or do you wait to be served? 

Wait to be served for boxed cereal. Can grab yogurts yourself if you wish IME.

Edited September 2 by edgee
clarity

[pinotlover]

1 hour ago, Sthrngary said:

@pinotlover I fully understand your position on this.  For me, when I am on a cruise, my focus is completely different then if I go to a local restaurant.  On a cruise, I am in no rush for anything.  It is the only time I can allow myself simply to chill out and relax. If the server in a local restaurant did not immediately ask my party what drinks the wanted, I would be disappointed. On a cruise, I give more time for service.

 

That said, part of my job on a cruise vacation is to be a travel agent of sorts for my wife and guests.  I am NOT a travel agent, I just want everyone in my party to have the time of their lives.  My wife wants wine, right away.  Our best friends wife wants a vodka, cranberry, and soda right away.  So, I make sure I make our needs know without taking staff away from other guests.  My needs should never effect other guests needs so I attempt always to be sensitive to that.  

 

Cruising is doing it your way and this is not an OLD McDonalds commercial.  How a guest approaches any aspect of a cruise is up to them.  Just have a plan, work your plan and enjoy this very rare time we all have to be treated like Rock Stars for 7-10 days a year.  Rare in deed. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

Gary;

 

I understand totally. For me, it’s like rating wines. I evaluate what’s actually in the glass, not what I hope or expect to be in the glass. If I have to get up and go get a wine steward to place an order, don’t expect an outstanding rating for service from me.

 

I do try to be fair and comprehensive. With wine, I may say that the wine had very pretty aromas with nice fruitiness of cherries and strawberries on the fore palate, but a very weak disappearing finish. For those mostly enjoying upfront fruit, that’s fine. While I may compliment the wait staff, I might say wine service was horrible. Those never drinking alcohol would be totally unaffected and be happy to hear about the remaining wait staff. Details matter.