Guess what? People are eating less!

[Whitemarsh]

When reading the latest blog from Peter Shanks, I was surprised to read this:

 

"We continue to learn and adapt to the changing nature of Lido dining on board our ships. You know as people become more conscious of health and wellbeing, the amount of food being consumed in the Lido is declining and I personally think will decline further in years to come."

 

http://wearecunard.com/2011/10/happy-birthday-queen-elizabeth-2/

 

This is a positive development (health-wise) but an unexpected one. When I think about buffets, I think 'all you can eat', and then some.

[Cruachan]

When reading the latest blog from Peter Shanks, I was surprised to read this:

 

"We continue to learn and adapt to the changing nature of Lido dining on board our ships. You know as people become more conscious of health and wellbeing, the amount of food being consumed in the Lido is declining and I personally think will decline further in years to come."

 

http://wearecunard.com/2011/10/happy-birthday-queen-elizabeth-2/

 

This is a positive development (health-wise) but an unexpected one. When I think about buffets, I think 'all you can eat', and then some.

 

I is also wildly at odds with my personal observation in the Lido on QE back in May. I'm an Olympic class athlete with the old yaffling spanners, but even I blanched at the sight of the truck loads of groceries that were being shovelled into sundry gobs in there morning noon and night. Perhaps Mr Shanks subscribes to the maxim "less is more"!

 

J

[BigMac1953]

Well they might be consuming less, but they still pile it high on the plates.

 

You could feed half of the third world on the leftovers.

 

Perhaps smaller plates would encourage people whose eyes are bigger than their stomachs, to waste less.

[southwestie]

I really think he needs to vist the Chocolate buffet in the winter garden one evening, the place was heaving, people filly plates and some of even watched as people took food off the plates of people, as they filled there plate, so food was was being taken, amazing.

 

This buffet took place at midnight, we took photos and retreated:eek:

 

If he did vist, he would bother to go again, also like all buffets, people line up and take far too much and waste it, the MDR or room service is much nicer

[Sauer-kraut]

Maybe the quality of the food in the buffet isn't as appealing as it has been in the past. Therefore, the reduction of consumption isn't due to a healtiness and wellbeing attitude. ;)

[bobby1119]

While I do not go on ships for food but for my love of the sea, I, too, am amazed by the vast amounts of food consumed during meals and even between main meals.

 

I always return home the same weight as when I departed, if not less, including nearly 4 months on a QE2 world cruise.

 

I do feel that Mr. Shanks' observations, I am sorry to say, are a disingenuous prelude to more cost-cutting and revenue producing antics to come.

[Salacia]

PARTIAL QUOTE

... a disingenuous prelude to more cost-cutting and revenue producing antics to come.

 

Yup, with 10 CCL ships on order, and reduced fares to fill the current ships, I think you are right: there are more antics to follow. -S

[The Real PM]

Well they might be consuming less, but they still pile it high on the plates.

 

You could feed half of the third world on the leftovers.

 

Perhaps smaller plates would encourage people whose eyes are bigger than their stomachs, to waste less.

Smaller plates may help, you are right, but from what I have seen, in many cases, their eyes are not bigger than their stomachs--they match pretty darn well.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Smaller plates may help, you are right, but from what I have seen, in many cases, their eyes are not bigger than their stomachs--they match pretty darn well.

 

Are you commenting on the emptiness of the plates when they're finished, or the sizes of their stomachs? Either way, you're probably right.

 

Some cruisers have this notion of "getting my money's worth" that tends to be expressed at the buffet. For years, I would look at people with plates piled high at the midnight buffet (on various lines) and wonder how on earth people could eat so much after having had dinner. I usually go for a bedtime snack of the dessert varitey, not a full meal. Then one night I got to the midnight buffet late and noticed the how many tables had abandoned plates, still piled high. The waste was appalling.

[Cruachan]

Are you commenting on the emptiness of the plates when they're finished, or the sizes of their stomachs? Either way, you're probably right.

 

Some cruisers have this notion of "getting my money's worth" that tends to be expressed at the buffet. For years, I would look at people with plates piled high at the midnight buffet (on various lines) and wonder how on earth people could eat so much after having had dinner. I usually go for a bedtime snack of the dessert varitey, not a full meal. Then one night I got to the midnight buffet late and noticed the how many tables had abandoned plates, still piled high. The waste was appalling.

 

It's a bit like the ones who sit down to dinner and order every item on the menu and then don't finish them. I find that, frankly, disgusting.

 

And before anybody starts flaming me about eating three breakfasts - not one crumb is ever wasted :D:D

 

J

[3rdGenCunarder]

It's a bit like the ones who sit down to dinner and order every item on the menu and then don't finish them. I find that, frankly, disgusting.

 

And before anybody starts flaming me about eating three breakfasts - not one crumb is ever wasted :D:D

 

J

 

Good for you for not wasting food! :D

[The Real PM]

Are you commenting on the emptiness of the plates when they're finished, or the sizes of their stomachs? Either way, you're probably right.

 

Some cruisers have this notion of "getting my money's worth" that tends to be expressed at the buffet. For years, I would look at people with plates piled high at the midnight buffet (on various lines) and wonder how on earth people could eat so much after having had dinner. I usually go for a bedtime snack of the dessert varitey, not a full meal. Then one night I got to the midnight buffet late and noticed the how many tables had abandoned plates, still piled high. The waste was appalling.

I meant both I think.

 

On the HAL cruise that I just got off a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that there was quite a large group that hung around the pool all day and most of the night, and always had their Lido plates filled high to the sky. I believe that most of these people never went to the dining room--and how could they have after eating all of that food all day. Anyway, they were just exactly the way you portrayed them, " getting their money's worth". Considering the mark-down of the cruise, they certainly did and more. The other thing is I believe many of them were first time cruisers, deciding to go becasue the price was right, and hell-bent on eating everything in sight.

[Railer]

I have only been on one cruise so far so I don't have alot of experiance yet. I'm not small, 300lbs +, but on my first cruise I ate well, not to extreme. I know what I eat and also think that I don't want to be 400+. On our first cruise I lost 12 lbs by not snacking after dinner and trying to walk alot. Our next cruise to the Med is very port intensive with lots of walking and I hope that I have the same will power that I had the first time around. But I've found out on these boards that one can order more than one main course or desert. Woe is me.

 

Russ

[Salacia]

I have only been on one cruise so far so I don't have alot of experiance yet. I'm not small, 300lbs +, but on my first cruise I ate well, not to extreme. I know what I eat and also think that I don't want to be 400+. On our first cruise I lost 12 lbs by not snacking after dinner and trying to walk alot. Our next cruise to the Med is very port intensive with lots of walking and I hope that I have the same will power that I had the first time around. But I've found out on these boards that one can order more than one main course or desert. Woe is me.

 

Russ

 

Not to worry Russ! Since you will be walking a lot (just getting around the ship involves plenty of walking!) I'm sure you will be just fine with weight control on your next voyage, just as you were on your first voyage. I've been on 9 QM2 cruises and I lost weight on each voyage with very mininal effort. Oh just to mention, I don't like buffets either on land or at sea. But I really do enjoy some of those tasty desserts in the MDR:D Cheers, S.

[bobby1119]

On a recent first-time RCL cruise, the use of trays was discontinued in the buffet to discourage people from overloading plates and trays. How peculiar, I thought.

 

Some of the passengers I observed could qualify for plate juggling acts as they seemed determined, neverthless, to load up and carry off as many plates as possible.

[VirginCruiser II]

I don't think people are eating less if the reincarnated so-called Chocolate Buffet on last month's Baltic cruise on the Queen Elizabeth was anything to go by! Sheer gluttony I would call it.

Hoards of people poured in straight after the second sitting devouring everything in sight like a swarm of locusts knocking others - including some in wheelchairs who, like us, had been patiently queueing -out of the way as they went.

I hope QM2 aren't offering anything like this next week.

[Sauer-kraut]

Some of the passengers I observed could qualify for plate juggling acts as they seemed determined, neverthless, to load up and carry off as many plates as possible.

 

Ah! That waitress training comes in very handy!! :D