Trays at the Buffet

[nho9504]

[Princess should also pre-set the napkin/silverware.....it's not that hard to do!!!! (Just a suggestion!)

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On our Apr 14 Emerald Transatlantic cruise, the buffet tables were preset, at breakfast, lunch and dinner - at dinner they also put the placemats on.

 

There were also carts positioned strategically thru out the sitting area where either the waitstaff or you the passenger, can quickly grab the rolled up napkin/silverware set w/o going back to the buffet area should your table were missing the set. The waitstaff also came by to ask what drinks you want, when they spotted you first sit down, as well as refilling the water / iced tea, etc.

 

Frankly, I prefer to pick the foods myself instead of being served by the staff behind the counter. One of the reasons I go to buffet is, I can pick and choose what I want, even in the same dish. I may only want a few pieces of some particular veggies that were in a meat dish but not the meat, or a particular piece of meat / fish - I like to pick that on my own instead of asking the staff to specifically pick such for me.

 

As for the "wet" foods, I compromise by using the soup cups - I put them in individual soup cups and then lay the cups on the platter which can hold 3 cups, btw. :D

[Pam in CA]

HAL doesn't ask you to pick-up your napkin-wrapped silverware. It's already at each table. It makes for more room on the tray! Princess should also pre-set the napkin/silverware.....it's not that hard to do!!!! (Just a suggestion!)

That only works if the table has been cleared and reset. I'd MUCH rather pick up my napkin/silverware. I often took it outside the dining room and ate at one of the outside tables. In the evenings, Princess pre-sets the tables with placemats and napkins/silverware, and it was always a huge hassle to get napkins/silverware if we wanted to sit outside. I'm not a big fan of having pre-set tables. FYI, I hated the HAL buffet because I hated having to wait in very long lines while someone hemmed and hawed about how much they wanted of this or that. The "stations" weren't manned throughout my cruise -- you had to wait in the line. I wound up going outside to the grill to get something and was often at least half-way through my meal before people who got on the line when I got there finally got their food. I also hated having to carry it up and down small flights of stairs to get from one side of the HAL buffet to the other. Talk about juggling!