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Has anyone become jaded about the midnight buffet?


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We always have late seating so we never eat anyway . . . they really are lovely, but I don't really enjoy crowds and long lines, so now that I've photographed two or three, I'm not sure if I'll be going back anytime soon.



 

It's probably a good thing, though -- let the new cruisers go and marvel, while us old fogies stay away and give them some room to breathe. :)

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Having started cruising in 1982...I about fainted when they started doing the buffets only 1 or 2 nights...Now...the thought of standing in one of those lines for lunch meat,and chocolate covered strawberries...No way..

 

 

However....when we sailed on NCl in the 80's...The buffets were very extravagant...Not unusual to find shrinp,prime rib,BBQ ribs,lamb...etc on those babies..

And only about 900-1000 pax to fight with:)

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We went to the midnight buffet on our first 3 cruises and have passed them us since. The lines! Also, we eat late dinner so we are anywhere ready to eat again.

 

Not an Essex Girl: The midnight buffets are a spread of food that is overwhelming! There are lots of ice, watermelon and vegetable sculptures, plus a lot of food. They first let the passengers pass through to take pictures, and after that they will let you through for a second time to get food.

 

There should be 1 on your 7 night cruise.

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The last couple of cruises we have had late seating, so we did not attend the midnite buffet. In February, we will be on Adventure with some first time cruisers and have early seating, so we will make sure they have the opportunity to attend, at least for pictures!

 

Last time we went, we just chose some light snacks and fruit and brought it back to our cabin to munch on.

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We were so very excited about it on our first cruise. It was a disappointment when we got there and saw the huge lines, I guess everyone else was excited about it too! So, we went on our way and didn't attend.

 

Next cruise, I got my feet stomped on by an elderly woman fighting her way to the front of the line. That was for the chocolate buffet. We loaded up paper plates (yes, they had paper for those of us who didn't want to battle for a table) took it back to our cabin and took a photo of it before we dug in. Other than the chocolate covered strawberries, it was rather blah and we regretted the time spent waiting for it. My toes were sore for days.

 

We don't bother any longer. Sure, it's pretty, but it's not the be-all and end-all of our cruise experience. If we're hungry late at night (not usual, we take late seating) we'll order from room service.

 

Kind of like the song-and-dance shows, after a while, they get repetitive and we skip those as well. It's nice that there are so many choices onboard a ship. We'll leave the space and the seats for those folks who truly enjoy this stuff on a cruise ship :) .

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I went to the first 2, now don't bother. The gluttony of people who just ate a few hours ago and couldn't possibly be hungry just turned me off. :rolleyes: People were grabbing, pushing and shoving like they hadn't had anything to eat for days. :( Just not my cup of tea!

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I won't go again either. I "forced" myself to stay up on Freedom to see it, and the lines were bad and people were just out and out rude trying to jump in front of you.

 

I couldn't get a decent picture hardly, as people just don't care. After the picture taking time, I went and got my hubby and we "tried" to get some food, but quite honestly, it was so tore up by people , that we said heck with it and ordered room service !

 

Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful....just not easy to get to it.

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On a 9 night sailing, how many midnight buffet's are their?

on the 9-night Explorer in June, there was a late night buffet out on deck by the swimming pool, I'm pretty sure it was the night we were in St Thomas - that would've been Monday night - and then later in the cruise there was one in the dining room, with the "viewing hour". We weren't going to bother with it but we were headed back to the room and there were no lines at that point (it was just before it opened for eating), so we took a quick look at it - as we left, we saw the line to come in and decided it wasn't worth the bother and went to bed.

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For a 9 night we had one called dancing under the stars on the pool deck with the calypso band. Was a layed back one , they had fruit , light sandwhiches , a taco bar , carving station and deserts. It was nice but i wasn't that hungry but it was nice to be on the pool deck at night. The midnight buffet was on the last formal night I believe . It was your typical fancy butter statues and alot of deserts. We went to the viewing but tried to go back for some shrimp but the line was quite long. We figured that what ever was left would be picked over. So we headed to the promenade cafe and had some sandwhiches and pizza.

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We used to really look forward to the midnight buffet as it was sort of a time where my family would reconnect before some would head to bed and others head to where ever. When it was cut back to one per cruise initially we were disappointed but we soon found other ways to make our late night connection. Now on our last cruise aboard Serenade we actually forgot all about it on the night that it was held. I didn't even go get any pictures.

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While we were on the first three cruises, I intended to go to the Midnight Buffet, but never could stay up that late....

 

We still have never been, since we have heard how crowded, pushy, rude and not worth the effort the buffet is.

 

And we are never lacking for food on the ship.........

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I mean how many times can you look at yet another ice sculpture or watermellon carving? After seeing three of them, we are sort of over them. We never eat any of the food anyway.

 

The fancy one, that you tour first, then go back, yup, I'm definitely over it, been there done that, got the picture. But on our cruise their was a midnight buffet up on the pool deck, and the food there was wonderful and people were having a great time. I'll go earlier for that one next time and avoid the crowds in the dining room.

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Have only been on one cruise and didn't eat anything at the midnight buffets...late dinner..crowds...but the Chocolate buffet surprised me the most...people behaved as if they hadn't eaten for days...and hadn't seen chocolate in weeks...it was like "night of the living dead" ...I hurried back to our cabin to have DH turn on the tv and watch the royal promenade where they had the chocolate displays and people were ....insane! someone came out in kitchen whites carrying a tray of chocolate...he entered from the bottom of our tv screen...then was instantly surrounded by people in formal wear....fighting each other for the chocolate...moments later he was alone again w/an empty tray...a little bit worse for the wear. Seriously...like a horror movie! :eek:

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