fred olsen and casual dining

[warie]

Hello,

 

Can anyone clarify this for me please:

I read that f.i. ob Fred Olsens Balmoral there is an alternative diner in the Palms Cafe.

Alternativ dining : does this mean that there is at alltimes (daily) an alternativ for dining with fixed seatings, such as from a buffet or casual dining, like with Celebrity Cruises.

Not that one would want that every night, but the occasion could occur.

Is there such a possibility (buffet or casual dining) on any of the Fred Olsen ships.

 

Warie

[MrsTW]

Balmoral has Palms Cafe. It's not open 24 hours although self service teas and coffees are available there at all times.

 

Breakfast is served there from 7am-9.30 am. Lunch 12.30pm-2.30pm. Afternoon tea 3.30pm-4.30pm. Evening dinner 6.30pm-9pm and there's a Supper Club from 11.30pm-12.30am. All of these are open seating and buffet style.

 

The other restaurants have a mixture of fixed and open seating A la carte and buffet for breakfast and lunch with 2 set fixed seatings for evening dinner.

 

Hope that helps! ;)

[Norfolk Brit]

Yes, the Palms Cafe is a buffet, and can be used for dining in the evening. However, unlike many ships, 24 hour a day food is not available - there are set times at breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner.

 

For a ship's buffet, it's pretty good.

 

Mary:)

[Kez100]

Some evenings in the Palms the buffet is a theme buffet. We had one Indian night and one Thai. We went to the Thai night and thought the food was very good.

[warie]

Thanks very much, you're answers are more clarifiying than the ambivalent txt in the Fred Olsen brochure or website.

It's nice to know there is an escape when one doesn''t want to have to.

Is this "dining" buffet only possible on the Balmoral or is it presently also available on the other Fred Olsen ships?

[Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines]

In response to your recent post the following more casual dinning options are available. Palms Café on Balmoral and Braemar, The Secret Garden Café on Boudicca and The Garden Café on Black Watch. They all have specific times that they are open (please check once onboard) but they offer a more relaxed option for dinner with open seating and allow less formal wear for dinning.

Regards

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, Head Office, Ipswich

[warie]

Thanks a lot for your answer! One last question: Can you tell me more about the quality of the food with casuel dining: what kind of food can I expect, for example, is it cold food (only buffet style) and/ or can I order from a varity of hot food? Is the quality and choice about the same as in the main restaurants?

Thank you in advance.

Warie

[Gelbel]

There will be a whole range - for breakfast just think of a top hotel's full buffet breakfast. You won't get such a massive range of fruit juice though.

 

For lunch, hot & cold starters, hot mains (plain meat & fish and meat or fish in sauce type of things) and salad mains, loads of different veg and salad sides, hot pud of the day and lots of naughty and heathy pudding options too.

 

Dinner will be very similar options based on the theme of the day.

 

I have not done Fred before (but will be in October for the Eastern Seaboard). We have done P&O - buffets are all very similar (just the quality might vary - we shall see!).

 

Just going to add my pennyworth re sitting - late for me. I eat early at home but I like to eat late on holiday so I can relax after my day before getting all dressed up and then have a nice little drink before dinner. I do go to bed early at home but manage to last til 23:00-24:00 on cruises - late dinner, show and a quick night cap.

[Kez100]

Things we loved within our casual dining experience : the theme night buffets (Thai and Indian), the cold roast beef, green lipped mussels, daily personal hot meal made fresh for you (especially the stir fry!) . Salads I loved, but there could have been more choice. Afternoon tea had lovely sandwiches and little cakes.

 

Slightly disappointed by puddings (except ice cream) but others were upset ice cream of the day (lovely though it was) was only available in the main restaurants and not in casual dining venue. The mousses looked nice but all tasted similar to me.

 

Some people were disappointed that the breakfast had a cut off time - about 10 o'clock I think. We only ate casual venue or continental in cabin for breakfast.

[sagalout1954]

Thanks a lot for your answer! One last question: Can you tell me more about the quality of the food with casuel dining: what kind of food can I expect, for example, is it cold food (only buffet style) and/ or can I order from a varity of hot food? Is the quality and choice about the same as in the main restaurants?

Thank you in advance.

Warie

 

Warie - Can only comment on the casual dining on board Braemar, it's in the Palms Cafe. To be clear, you aren't 'ordering' anything there except drinks. It is a hot and cold buffet and you'll get up and choose whatever you want yourself from whatever is on offer that day (there's always hot AND cold), with open seating though the waiters do get you seated, filling up tables so you won't be roaming about trying to find somewhere vacant to sit!

 

We ate there on 2 'themed' buffet evenings and on those nights you must BOOK a table with reception, you can't just turn up as you usually would on any other night. I assume that on themed nights those guests who usually like the informality of the buffet style eating must either book as well or eat in their assigned restaurant instead. Personally, we didn't enjoy it there, on Chinese night the restaurant was full to bursting and boiling hot.

 

For breakfast it's also open seating in the 2 main restaurants (Thistle and Grampian) and they offer a combination of both buffet AND menu options so, for example, you might like to order kippers or fried egg or porridge from the menu then combine it with something from the buffet choices they have (usual fried brekky stuff plus platters of fresh fruit, yogurts, danish pastries). It's a combination of waiter service ordering and buffet style - one or the other or both if you liked.

 

For lunch both those restaurants also offered a buffet style lunch, hot and cold or you could order something different from a short menu and it would be cooked to order. Again, you could mix it up with the buffet food if you wanted to. Basically, whatever you want to do you are perfectly free to do it!

 

I think Fred Olsen cruises cater reasonably well with food choices, there should be pretty much SOMETHING that you want at all mealtimes in any/all of the restaurants. Their problem is getting ANY of it hotter than LUKEWARM. Though this didn't bother me particularly at first, it did start to get on my nerves a bit towards the end of the cruise. Buffet food was usually coldest IMO and the staff struggled a bit keeping it all 'topped up' to cope with demand. Even soup was a couple of degrees cooler than it should have been and I once watched a waiter adding cold milk from the carton to the buffet scrambled eggs because they were a bit on the solid side.......surely better solid and warm than loose and cold!

 

'Afternoon tea' was rubbish, curly sarnie's and boring cakes with not much choice, dry chocolate sponge with a bit of icing on top or similar and a few tarts. Thomsons do a FAR superior afternoon tea - and they don't run out either!!!*** FO work on the theory, "when it's gone, it's gone", no matter if some guests didn't get anything because they didn't adopt the 'push and shove, elbows at the ready' attitude of some passengers.

 

Perhaps it would be easier to respond if you specify which ship you are interested in, then someone who's sailed in it can give you a more definitive answer.