Best All You Can Eat Cruise Buffets

MSN just listed the 8 best all you can eat buffets on cruise ships, with Celebrity first, followed by Azama, Oceania and NCL listed 4th. Royal Caribbean is next and then Carnival #6.

I was only on RCCL once, but I found the soups in their buffet to be varied and great, almost like a certain Seinfeld episode. Would be interested in opinions concerning the listing and particularly what makes Celebrity #1..

MSN just listed the 8 best all you can eat buffets on cruise ships, with Celebrity first, followed by Azama, Oceania and NCL listed 4th. Royal Caribbean is next and then Carnival #6.

I was only on RCCL once, but I found the soups in their buffet to be varied and great, almost like a certain Seinfeld episode. Would be interested in opinions concerning the listing and particularly what makes Celebrity #1..

Have not been on the first 3 lines, but I agree NCL's buffet is better then the royal or carnival IMHO. If only their MDR would catch up to the others.

6&8

Celebrity's is very good, I especially love their pasta station.

We haven't been on Celebrity for quite a few years, but I remember a few outstanding things about their buffet: 1-the omelets were the best I have ever had and almost 2 much for 1 person: the lunch salad bar was outstanding with even good blue cheese dressing and the waffles were to die for (not literally to die for) Other than that I think NCL does have a great buffet. the very worst buffets are Princess.

Aren't cruise ship buffets almost by definition "all you can eat"? Has anyone ever seen portion police or serving supervisors'

Aren't cruise ship buffets almost by definition "all you can eat"? Has anyone ever seen portion police or serving supervisors'

I've heard of bacon police on Carnival.:D

I've heard of bacon police on Carnival.:D

You can always ask for more.

This past week the bacon was unattended on the Miracle. Wanted two slices, ended up with ten BC they were stuck together.

HAL has good buffet particularly on the Vista and Signature Class ships.

Aren't cruise ship buffets almost by definition "all you can eat"? Has anyone ever seen portion police or serving supervisors'

Of course, you are correct. It is redundant to say 'all you can eat' about a cruise ship buffet. :D

So how did this list get compiled? What was the criteria? I would definitely take any such survey with a grain of salt, especially about something that is so subjective.

In the end the only opinion that counts is your very own.

But surveys are always fun to read.

Keith

I have to say that while Celebrity's good, it was pretty redundant for breakfast. The fresh eggs benedict was good other than that pretty much bangers, bacon, scrambled eggs, etc.

Loved the Ceasar Salad on NCL's buffet. Huge bowl of anchovies, that I have never seen anywhere else.

Carnival is decent, sometimes not enough varieties and everything can taste the same, depends on the ship.

Princess was my favorite though. Huge variety, great tasting food.

I saw a different list and Oceania was number one.

In the end the only opinion that counts is your very own.

 

But surveys are always fun to read.

 

Keith

And often controversial.

In the end the only opinion that counts is your very own.

 

But surveys are always fun to read.

Very true. In this case, I agree with 2 things. Overall, I agree with Celebrity having the best buffet for a whole cruise line. I think Celebrity has the best prepared and best tasting buffet food. Second, I totally agree with HAL not even making honorable mention (their selection and hours suck).

However, narrowing it down to individual ships, by far the best buffet I have ever seen was on the Regal Princess.

MSN just listed the 8 best all you can eat buffets on cruise ships, with Celebrity first, followed by Azama, Oceania and NCL listed 4th. Royal Caribbean is next and then Carnival #6.

I was only on RCCL once, but I found the soups in their buffet to be varied and great, almost like a certain Seinfeld episode. Would be interested in opinions concerning the listing and particularly what makes Celebrity #1..

Royal at lunch is always the same old same old sub par generic cafeteria food with maybe ONE 'different' item for variety. Dinners were never much better

I don't do soup in the warm/humid Caribbean unless it is a chilled soup which I usually only find in the MDR at dinner

I have only sailed Royal celebrity Disney and Carnival.

I agree that Celebrity had the most variety that wasn't repeated ad nasuem(plus English bacon that was an order of magnitude more edible than the wayyyyy too damn salty 'american' bacon)

Not impressed with HAL's buffet at all. First of all, it's so much more crowded feeling with tables and chairs in what should be walkways, directly across from the buffet area. You could barely walk along the buffet lines because the tables block access to only one person at a time. We also didn't think the food to be all that good or varied at lunch.

HAL's buffet at breakfast was always the best. Pretty much anyone can put out eggs, bacon, sausage, a couple of hot cereals and an assortment of cold - what set them apart is the fresh squeezed orange juice - sure other line let you buy it, but on HAL it is included.

Aren't cruise ship buffets almost by definition "all you can eat"? Has anyone ever seen portion police or serving supervisors'

More like all you can waste judging from the amount of unfinished food being dumped out.

I've heard of bacon police on Carnival.:D

Yes, Bacon Police on Carnival!

Actually, a good thing because the bacon gets so stuck together. You can ask for more than the allotted three pieces. :D

Oceania's Terrace Cafe (as close as the line will get to having a "buffet") generally provides an excellent and varied spread including made-to-order daily specialties beyond the regularly available lobster tails. Particularly noteworthy is that the "buffet" items are not self-served. Of course, you can have as much as you want. But on an O ship, there's far less chance for the contamination assured by thousands of passengers serving themselves on so many other cruise lines (gross!).

Very true. In this case, I agree with 2 things. Overall, I agree with Celebrity having the best buffet for a whole cruise line. I think Celebrity has the best prepared and best tasting buffet food. Second, I totally agree with HAL not even making honorable mention (their selection and hours suck).

 

However, narrowing it down to individual ships, by far the best buffet I have ever seen was on the Regal Princess.

I agree HAL's afternoon and evening hours for Lido are too limited.

HAL's buffet at breakfast was always the best. Pretty much anyone can put out eggs, bacon, sausage, a couple of hot cereals and an assortment of cold - what set them apart is the fresh squeezed orange juice - sure other line let you buy it, but on HAL it is included.

I think HAL excels with their fresh baked bread, rolls, muffins, Danish, sticky rolls etc served at breakfast. Their muffins are good (to my taste.) :)

Here's the list I saw and it's by none other than Cruise Critic.:D

http://www.cruisecritic.com/v-5/articles.cfm?ID=1944&UTM_Source=Social&UTM_Medium=Facebook&UTM_Campaign=Features&UTM_Content=Best&UTM_Term=5+Best+Cruise+Ship+Buffets

I have to agree that the bacon on carnival is excellent! I would be able to understand if it were guarded under lock and key!

I've been on Carnival, Royal, Disney, Crown Dynasty and The Big Red Boat. of those, I'd say that Carnival, Disney and Royal were my favorite buffets in that order!!!

WE got off RCCL's Freedom of the Seas last week. We and our tablemates both thought the breakfast and lunch buffets were the worst we'd ever seen or tasted!! Dinner was fine in the dining room but the buffet could not have been worse! WE are cruise-a-holics- this was our 8th cruise this year- so we know buffets! (We are Diamond on Carnival, Platinum on Princess, Gold on NCL and have been on a total of 12 cruise lines, 5 of which no longer exist.)

I think Princess has the best buffet. The choices at breakfast are overwhelming. The lunch buffet is also excellent. We've had fried shrimp one day and fried scallops another. Their buffets have good choices and good food!

Its been a long time since we've been on Celebrity so I can't comment on them.

We are happy with Carnival because the have a carving station to carve meat and always have chicken not swimming in gravy and they have the Deli where they make your sandwiches to order, and they're open 11am to 11pm. Yes, they try to give you 3 pieces of bacon but I just say I need more and they give me more. If its greasy, I blot the grease off with my napkin or if in our cabin, a washcloth!