What's for dinner in Oceanview buffet?

[vedettes1]

A couple of years ago on Equinox, we missed our dinner time so went to the buffet and found a whole roast young pig! It was absolutely delicious but we only got it by blind luck. Is there any way to know in advance what will be served on any given night in the buffet?

[wallie5446]

Ask the buffett Mgr the morning of, or at lunch.

[Northern Aurora]

vedettes1 has asked about an issue I've occasionally wondered about myself. On the Century and some of the M-class ships the MDR menu is frequently posted at the buffet during lunch. I've wondered why they don't post the the buffet dinner options, in particular what joint of meat they will be carving that night.

[jcrandle]

Very often, some of the same dishes offered in the MDR will be on the buffet. Some items don't lend them selves to steam tables, and some will rarely be available if at all (lobster tails, escargot). In making the MDR/buffet descision, one must consider 1) the time to enjoy a dinner in the MDR is probably double that in eh buffet; 2) The presentation and timing of the dishes is likely to be classier in the MDR, though the ttime between courses is not under your contro' 3) the salad bar in the buffet gives you more control over exactly what is in (or not in) your salad; and 4) quality of food in the buffet may be inferior to that served in the MDR, simply because of the delay between preparation and serving.

 

That said, for parents with young children, the buffet may be the best solution, because of the control you have over your time between courses. Also, for those who do not want to dress up on fromal night, but refuse to pay the luxury tax of the specialty/Blu restaurants the Oceanview might be a best fit.

 

Whatever your choice on any night, I think that Celebrity has lots of good choices, and you will enjoy your cruise.

[CRUZERWANNABE]

On our last cruise my DH and I could not get the anytime dining, just the first seating in the MDR, and we often times found our schedule to hurried to make it on time.That paired with the fact my DH hates to dress while on vacation, made the buffet a perfect solution for us. We ended up eating in the buffet every night of our cruise and enjoyed it very much. The buffet in the evening is never crowded or loud and we found plenty of food. If you are fan of sushi, there is a wonderful array , there is a grill to order station where you can get pork chops, steak, chicken and salmon. A wonderful pasta station with many types of pasta and sauces. A stir-fry station with wonderful fresh ingredients they cook inf front of you. There are of course many more offerings as well. The wonderful part is, the buffet is where the staff eat on most nights and we enjoyed the company of the cruise director on several evenings and the captain, his wife and young son on another. We will be cruising on the Summit in April, and with the exception of finally trying Bistro on 5, we will be eating at the buffet again.

[vedettes1]

I see your list of past cruises does not include Celebrity. Was grill-to-order on Carnival, etc? I have never heard of that on X. If it does exist, it would be a great feature. In terms of the economics of the business, I don't know whether X wants to push people out of the buffet and into MDR or vice versa. But if it is the latter, they need to promote the evening buffet offerings better.

[smtcan]

We found grill to order on our October Infinity Wine Cruise, and enjoyed that option when we were late back to the ship on the overnight port stops. We expected to have the same choice on Eclipse in November, but it wasn't available. The buffet was quite disappointing with only pre made dishes and a carving station.

 

Sheila

[patty1955]

On our first Alaska cruise, they had a whole halibut in the buffet one night. It was delicious! We haven't seen anything like it since then.

[jsf]

We were on Summit 2 times last year and found the buffet lacking, mostly pasta dishes and salads.

J.

[CRUZERWANNABE]

We cruised on the Constellation a few years ago, we are very simple people and it does not take much to make us happy, not having to cook for a week is on that list, so the buffet was fine with us. They did have the grill/cook to order at the end near the doors to the Sunset Bar.

[SnowshoeCat]

I see your list of past cruises does not include Celebrity. Was grill-to-order on Carnival, etc? I have never heard of that on X. If it does exist, it would be a great feature. In terms of the economics of the business, I don't know whether X wants to push people out of the buffet and into MDR or vice versa. But if it is the latter, they need to promote the evening buffet offerings better.

 

I was on the Connie last month and they had grill-to-order every night (I think), way in the back of the buffet.

 

I thought the buffet food was very good to excellent. I was actually pleasantly surprised, considering all I've read on this board. I didn't try everything, loading up my plate with all sorts of things that don't go together. I just decided on a "theme" and created my own little (or not so little) feasts. I probably could have lived on the flat bread pizza, but thought that would be kind of silly, with all the other options around ;)

[Jborosara]

Just off the Summit - it should be noted that the executive chef and several of his assistants are Indian - there is amazing Indian food on the buffet - also excellent made to order stir fry - we had "picnics" on our buffet three nights out of 14 and enjoyed it very much...