restaurant versus lido buffets for dinner

[orianagal]

Some CCs might be interested to see how many folks are preferring the night time atmosphere of a lido buffet or prefer the traditional dining room experience for dinner ?

On recent cruises I noticed many more passengers attending the night time dinner Buffet? (especially popular on Princess) and Im wondering if this is becoming the norm (as they say) for a cruise.?

 

thankyou cheers Happy Sailings to all :)

[dustyroad]

i am a converted anytime eater now on the ship and will probably use the lido buffett more than the dinning room. i hate to get dressed several times a day just to set down and eat when i can be in my comfy deck clothes and pick what i want too eat at anytime i feel like it. i am getting more relaxed in my ways as i grow older and am finding that the easy-way is more enjoyable for me on my cruises. so my vote is for the buffett over the dinning room. it will be interesting too see what others think of this. this is a good question for us to discuss. :)

[TrikeRider]

I prefer sit-down meals and hate buffets. I will eat in a buffet if I have to but I like to be served.

[Treven]

On my cruise, this past spring, I ate in the Caribe buffet area 8 nights out of the 10-night cruise. I didn't find the food in the dining room any better than the food served in the buffet. Plus in the buffet I didn't have to dress for dinner as would have been needed in the DR.

[mamasue]

We prefer sit-down meals at all times...

The buffet is something we use when we've missed a meal for some reason...

I don't like the chaos in the buffet!!

[ATL2LAS]

I've talked to alot of my friends that have been on Princess, they all enjoyed the buffet better than the MDR

[phoenix1181]

We love the food, atmosphere, and service in the specialty restaurants. The service in the MDR is usually very good but there's nothing special about either the food or the atmosphere so if we're not going to a specialty restaurant, you'll find us at the buffet.......... They generally have many of the same main courses, there's more choices, we can go when we want, and I don't have to change just because I want to eat!

 

Twenty years ago when I took my first cruise I was in a dress every night, DH was in a suit and formal nights were exquisite....... The men were all so handsome in their tuxes while the women outdid themselves with marvelous dresses and sparkly jewelry and shoes. I loved it!

 

Now, I still love to cruise, but the older I get, the more into comfort and convenience I get. I don't want to dress up, I don't want to be on a schedule and I will be comfortable!

[Leafpeeper]

i am a converted anytime eater now on the ship and will probably use the lido buffett more than the dinning room. i hate to get dressed several times a day just to set down and eat when i can be in my comfy deck clothes and pick what i want too eat at anytime i feel like it. i am getting more relaxed in my ways as i grow older and am finding that the easy-way is more enjoyable for me on my cruises. so my vote is for the buffett over the dinning room. it will be interesting too see what others think of this. this is a good question for us to discuss. :)

 

 

These days I want to pack less and dress in more casual attire.

We do enjoy the anytime dining option on our cruises. Sometimes we like to kick back after a port day and just relax on our balcony before dinner.

 

I do not like buffets, but DH really enjoys the buffet on RCCL Radiance class ships--especially sitting on the back of the ship behind the buffet and eating under the stars. RCCL is the only cruiseline we've sailed that has hot dinners on room service at no charge. They even have the menu on the cabin tv. We enjoy that when we are exhausted from walking alot on a port day.

 

We love dining at all the different restaurants on NCL: Italian, Mexican, French, Steak House, Chinese/Thai, Japanese, and formal dining room of course. Some nights we opt for a more intimate setting with soft lighting at LeBistro and other nights we enjoy the family style Italian restaurant.

[househunter]

Some CCs might be interested to see how many folks are preferring the night time atmosphere of a lido buffet or prefer the traditional dining room experience for dinner ?

On recent cruises I noticed many more passengers attending the night time dinner Buffet? (especially popular on Princess) and Im wondering if this is becoming the norm (as they say) for a cruise.?

 

thankyou cheers Happy Sailings to all :)

 

We hardly ever eat at the buffets and probably won't again, especially with all of the Norwalk and flu that spreads. Do you really want to touch the serving spoons that 100's of other people have already handled. yuk!

[orianagal]

We hardly ever eat at the buffets and probably won't again, especially with all of the Norwalk and flu that spreads. Do you really want to touch the serving spoons that 100's of other people have already handled. yuk!

 

thats a good point ! and funnily I never thought about it then again I wonder if the serving area staff change the serving spoons here and there?

 

:p

[orianagal]

We love the food, atmosphere, and service in the specialty restaurants. The service in the MDR is usually very good but there's nothing special about either the food or the atmosphere so if we're not going to a specialty restaurant, you'll find us at the buffet.......... They generally have many of the same main courses, there's more choices, we can go when we want, and I don't have to change just because I want to eat!

 

Twenty years ago when I took my first cruise I was in a dress every night, DH was in a suit and formal nights were exquisite....... The men were all so handsome in their tuxes while the women outdid themselves with marvelous dresses and sparkly jewelry and shoes. I loved it!

 

Now, I still love to cruise, but the older I get, the more into comfort and convenience I get. I don't want to dress up, I don't want to be on a schedule and I will be comfortable!

 

yes some of those specialty restaurants are very good, I found NCL have some excellent choices (especially the Italian restaurant for a small surcharge) we didnt try on Princess yet though I heard they are good.

Yes gone are the glamourous days of dressing up, though I will always try to and still enjoy some formals !:)

cheers thanks

[DonnaK]

We prefer early traditional dining in the MDR. It's not a burden to slip on a pair of capri pants with my daytime casual tops. Likewise, my husband doesn't mind changing his shorts for Dockers in the evening.

[nocheckedbags]

On our first cruise, it was 10 days. We never ate in the MDR. Second cruise 14 days, we ate in there twice. We really do not like to eat that much food late in the day. We eat a bigger breakfast and lunch and a light dinner, so the buffet works for us. Also dinner takes too long in the MDR. In the buffet you can get what you want, when you want to eat and you can leave when you want.

[hajekfam]

I love Celebrity as they do not have a dinner buffet - but rather alternative casual dining which has limited menus different from the dining room and waiters on all ships except the new Solstice class (info on the Solstice class was frome reports from those that have sailed this class). Service here is excellent as this is where Celebrity trains their waiters for the main dining room and the wait staff go out of their way so that they can get promoted.

I hate buffets - reminds me of school cafeterias. When I cruise, I want service - not do it myself.

[TrentS]

I rarely bother with the MDR anymore. I hate dressing up, hate sitting with people I don't know, and don't like spending so much time eating. I much prefer to just grab a quick bite at the buffet and go on about my business.

[mapsmith]

Well, seems that I (and mapwife) are in the Minority. We prefer the Main Dining room over the buffet at all times. For dinner (we have become enamored with late dining on ship) we enjoy the camaraderie of a larger table. We love talking to others about their experiences and lives. You really do not get that at the Buffet.

 

And besides, at a buffet you usually eat more than you really want. "Just because it is there" and that cannot be good late in the evening.

 

Keep tradition Dining alive.

[grandmato4]

Before our last cruise my response would have been entirely different than what I'm going to say. We'd always done traditional dining preferring early seating and never ate in the buffet for dinner and always enjoyed the traditional dining experience. DH had no interest in ever trying Anytime Dining. For the first time on our last cruise we had not so great tablemates in the MDR. Not becasue of our tablemates, although the thought of not having dinner with them one night was appealing;) but because we had a long excursion one day and knew that it often returned to the ship late we planned ahead and told our waiter and tablemates we wouldn't be in the DH the following night. When we retuned from our excursion we took our time and relaxed on our balcony with a drink and than wandered up to Lido to eat dinner at the buffet without changing our clothes for dinner nor looking at the clock to see what time it actually was. We were suprised by the selections and thought it was actually good and it felt good to eat a very relaxed dinner sitting at a table by ourselves watching us pull out of port. When returning to the buffet to get desert we ran into some other cc members from our rollcall that were getting their desert too and so we sat down and enjoyed our deserts together and compared notes on our days excursions. We really enjoyed it.

 

Right now we're booked for early traditional dinning for our next cruise but we are seriously considering changing to Anytime Dining, something I never thought I'd hear my DH wish to do, so we can try it and have already looked at our itinerary and planned at least one night that we will go to the buffet for dinner and maybe more than once depending upon our mood. We don't have a problem with dressing a little nicer for dinner but sometimes its just nice not to have to.:)

[orianagal]

Cheers everyone,

Theres a lovely cross sections of Answers.

We are lucky to have the options arent we Buffet MDR Specialty

Pasta Bar.. Pizza bars !! Ice Cream Bars !! it cant get much better I guess all we hope for is a nice selection and good quality of foods which there normally are plenty to suit everyone.

 

Hands up Who enjoys watching the food carvings ?? by the chefs

its really alot of fun:D:p

[dandro]

Prefer eating in the dining room. But really LOVED room service for breakfast.

 

Try to avoid buffet, especially at the busy times, looked like other passengers thought there would be no more food the rest of the cruise and they had to "stock up". We used the buffet in a pinch, for a snack or grab something quickly on our way to some activity, but never ate a full meal there.

 

And pizza bars, pasta bars, ice cream bars, etc. are just glorified buffets.

[uppitycats]

So long as I'm not tied to traditional dining, where I have to sit with the same strangers every night for dinner, I much prefer eating in the main dining room, or perhaps one of the specialty restaurants, and skip the buffet. It seems always too crowded, chaotic, balancing plates of food and drink have never been my favorite thing to do. It's fine for a quick snack if I'm heading off the ship for some excursion, but if I'm going to eat a full meal, I'm going to be served.

[happy cruzer]

Well, seems that I (and mapwife) are in the Minority. We prefer the Main Dining room over the buffet at all times. For dinner (we have become enamored with late dining on ship) we enjoy the camaraderie of a larger table. We love talking to others about their experiences and lives. You really do not get that at the Buffet.

 

And besides, at a buffet you usually eat more than you really want. "Just because it is there" and that cannot be good late in the evening.

 

Keep tradition Dining alive.

 

Many folks hate buffets. I have a friend who will never eat at a buffet on land or sea if anything else is available.

 

We go to the dining room whenever possible.

[paul929207]

We just got back from 36 nights on the Tahitian Princess. We had TD (ship has one DR so no AD). We ate in the dining room every night except the two we went to the steak house. The dining room was prett full every night.

[jocap]

I'm just not good at sitting still for long times, having conversations with the same people because you're waiting to be served. This means that discovering NCL was wonderful!

Now, P&O Ventura has brought in freedom dining, so I'm happy to return to them, although there's still a dress code, but we'll certainly be eating as many evenings in the buffet as MD, because there's so much to do on the ship.

We will dress up for our Anniversary dinner at Marco Pierre Whites.- jocap.

[Skywench]

The only reason I've had dinner in the MDR in the past is because the people I've cruised with want to go. The food is very nice, but personally, I prefer the buffet. I don't want to eat at a table with a bunch of strangers, I don't like the time it takes for the entire meal and I don't like being on schedule when I'm on vacation. I deal with schedules at work. Don't like it for vacation. If I could do anytime dining and only sit with the person/people that I am cruising with, then I might enjoy the dining room more.

[chipmaster]

Some CCs might be interested to see how many folks are preferring the night time atmosphere of a lido buffet or prefer the traditional dining room experience for dinner ?

On recent cruises I noticed many more passengers attending the night time dinner Buffet? (especially popular on Princess) and Im wondering if this is becoming the norm (as they say) for a cruise.?

 

thankyou cheers Happy Sailings to all :)

 

Everyone has different preferences, for us the sitdown is one of the treats of cruising. If we can we try and make all three sitdowns. I really like Princess anytime versus set dinner which allows us to do dinner like that. I still have nightmares of the late seating on our Carnival Caribbean cruise where people were stacked like sardines waiting for the doors to open for late seating, then the long wait for foods as all the orders came at the sametime. Hmmm maybe if I had to choose between that and buffet I'd take the buffet.