Midnight Buffet - Memories

[jetfan0330]

Justy thinking about my upcoming cruise on the Crown and remembering back to those Carnival Cruises I went on as a kid and the great attraction of the midnight buffet. I know those are long gone, but to me they bring back some of the best cruise memories. Not just for the food, but really for the event itself. Grand ice carvings, lines around the ship, having another thing to do during the day at midnight. With all of the other things they do these days on shipd I am not sure why they don't bring this great event back.

[Toto2Kansas]

Justy thinking about my upcoming cruise on the Crown and remembering back to those Carnival Cruises I went on as a kid and the great attraction of the midnight buffet. I know those are long gone, but to me they bring back some of the best cruise memories. Not just for the food, but really for the event itself. Grand ice carvings, lines around the ship, having another thing to do during the day at midnight. With all of the other things they do these days on shipd I am not sure why they don't bring this great event back.

 

With 24 hour dining, think of the added expense involved in a gala midnight buffet? I think that is part of the reason it is a memory from the past. ;) There would be lots of looky loos, but very few that actually ate, so it is a horrible waste.

[willycruise]

My very first cruise was on the Carnival Holiday, which we thought was such a HUGE ship....had a midnight buffet every night. My wife and I would set our alarm clock to get up and go eat, like we needed more food. I particularly remember the dessert night, all that chocolate at midnight......never got back to sleep!!!!! There was alot of wasted food and effort by the staff, so I can see why most lines have scaled these way back...I do miss them though, sort of :)

 

BK

[rcacace]

I can remember line of people waiting to look at the food & not eating much of anything, especially at the Grand buffet. I prefer it the way it is today without the lines & without the waste. Who do you think was paying for all the food they threw away. :rolleyes:

[paul929207]

I have always vted to spend the midnoght hour with my pillow instead of the buffet.

[caribill]

Many of the cruises have an "Island night" which includes a great fruit and dessert buffet on the Lido deck.

 

The food is available by 11 PM, so it may not be midnight, but it is still a special event.

[chasetf]

We remember the midnight buffets. It was always just a photo op to us. I am sure most of that food was wasted..... maybe the leftovers fed the crew.

 

But it took a lot of labor and also closed off a major portion of the ship to set it up and take it down. We have also seen the transition to the on deck Luau night with a much less dramatic setup and seem to be just as popular.

[KevintheIrishDJ]

On Italian Line there was 2AM pizza in the disco. Those were the days!

[VegasGreen]

yep... remember those days... mostly it was that they'd open 30 mins early or so just for photos. Long lines wrapped around the buffet, flashbulbs popping... definitely an event.

 

Then, I recall feeling a little bit guilty eating any of it! Seriously, though, it was never much about the eating part. In fact, I seem to recall that from an actual dining perspective it was clearly one of the weakest buffets of the trip... style over substance for sure.

 

In addition to all the waste, as was said earlier, now we have 24 hr. dining that wasn't even a pipe dream then... the trade off is more than worth it to me.

 

I'll agree though, it was quite an "event"... kept the ship lively and vibrant late into the night, and was a can't miss for sure.

[jagsfan]

Our first cruise, April 1984 had a Gala Midnight Buffet.......ice sculptures, butter

sculptures......yes, opened 30 minutes early for photos and we were so impressed.

We took our cameras back to the stateroom, came back and got in line to eat.

When we looked closely at the food, it was recycled leftovers. We recognized

everything on the buffet, just tweaked to look new and different.

We ate it anyway, of course......everything about that first cruise was an

awesome experience. I can only remember that first stateroom number 40

some odd cruises later, M22. It was an inside cabin, so small we had to put the

chair in the bathroom to get to our upper and lower bunks...yes, they looked

like bunk beds. What a glorious start to the perfect way to vacation!

[Woodmnky]

They had a midnight buffet on Emerald for New Years Eve. DH & I saw the funniest thing ever, people saving places in line for others that had gone to get them pizza because the line was about 5 minutes and people just could not wait for food.

I have a feeling that this experience is much less grand than those that have experiences the bygone era of cruising.

[EdSails]

I remember the buffets but I don't miss them. When young, they were an excuse to pig out. Later, I went for the photos only. On my last cruise, the Lido Deck buffet was basically people pigging out. I saw lots of wasted food. I'd rather they put the money into better food at the main dining times.