Sea Day Grand Brunch Buffet Cancelled ?

[poolwife]

Hi Cliff:

 

Did you get my e-mail?

 

Sherry

[jgnova]

The MDR waiters used to announce it at dinner the night before. But on our Century B2B in Feb/March the only mention was a line in the daily. So I guess if you don't promote it, fewer people show up, and then it's not worthwhile to run it any more.

 

j

[Seapoint]

It has never really been promoted in the Daily as an important event, yet the very fact so many people turn up is surely proof of its popularity :roll eyes:

 

This is nothing more than yet another cut by Miami…they first cut the Midnight Buffet, then the Gourmet Bites, and now the Grand Buffet! Wonder what will be next? What is left of "Modern Luxury" except DJs and blaring music! So sad to see the demise of a great line :(

[redjetz]

The only thing I'll miss is the gravlox.....which for some unexplainable reason only appeared out of the blue for the grand buffet.

 

I will not miss watching folks take the shrimp, the desserts, the sushi with their fingers.....

 

I am so with you on that. I don't do buffets because too many of our fellow guests have appalling manners that present a risk to the health of others. I am not a germaphobe, but I do exercise some caution. Too bad it is necessary.

 

I think Celebrity made the right call on this one. Better to spend the money on the MDR food. We were on the Silhouette last week and the MDR was quite good, and consistently so, which we really appreciated.

[hcat]

We went twice on diff ships but decided it was too noisy, chaotic and crowded.....hope they bring back a dessert and choc buffet at evening event...

 

forgot which Celeb ship it was on....it started early with games and face painting and balloons for the kiddies....then went more adult with great music, everyone up to dance....and ended with the dessert buffet aroundn ten p.m....... it was a fun event for young and old...

 

something like that involves less staff time, food waste etc....and was creative...

[maxsales]

Pretty soon the Celebrity cruise will be a like airplane travel, just a bus ride.

 

Looks like my DW and I may be looking at a higher end cruise line in the next year or so.

 

We are on the Silhouette in May, so we shall see if we book on board for a future cruise.

 

Have sailed regent and Azamara no brunch gala there so I guess you need to look higher then that.

[Christine Frances]

We don't normally go but sometimes we do attend with friends. The only thing I will miss is the Chocolate Fountains:D They need to put that in the Buffet!

[amberben]

To be honest I will not miss it but I expect my husband will. Why though I really do not know as the food, as others have said. was the same that we could have anyday. Also eating 2nd in the evening the midnight buffet was also a waste. But I loved to see the veg and fruit creations. And also loveeeed the chocolate items. Again a waste at that time of night for me. I would loved to have had the chocolate items as afternoon tea. Just the right time of day for me.! lol

But if they keep on dropping things then people are going to try another cruise line I fear. Like chocolate on the pillow each night has stopped and is now only on Formal Nights. The same as the towel animals..we only had one the whole cruise last year.!

[TLCOhio]

the Food and Beverage Manager said that it has been discontinued (at least on the Silhouette) due to the time and energy it takes to produce the buffet, in comparison to the enthusiasm for the event. He also mentioned waste and that it is tough to regulate the health and safety issues of the food and its prep.

 

As noted in the live/blog connected below, we just got off of the Solstice last month. BUT, there was no big, Grand Buffet during our recent 14-day cruise with four sea days. Didn't ask why or why not as things were busy, busy on our cruise. Nobody was going hungry. On our one other Solstice sailing in June 2011, in the Med, the buffet produced lots of nice visual and dining treats. Liked it very, very much!! But, as noted above, it is lots of hard work for the staff and there are some added "risks" with that many people serving themselves, being so close to the open food areas, etc.

 

Below are a couple of my visual treats from when we previously did this buffet on the Solstice. Check out these below postings for more info/background on this nice ship, its entertainment, food options, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Just back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now over 47,380 views for this fun posting.

 

 

From the June 2011 Solstice Brunch Buffet, here are some of those unique flower carving creations. Second is a view for passengers checking out the cheese items at this grand buffet on the main floor of the large main dining area.:

 

 

 

[Christine Frances]

To be honest I will not miss it but I expect my husband will. Why though I really do not know as the food, as others have said. was the same that we could have anyday. Also eating 2nd in the evening the midnight buffet was also a waste. But I loved to see the veg and fruit creations. And also loveeeed the chocolate items. Again a waste at that time of night for me. I would loved to have had the chocolate items as afternoon tea. Just the right time of day for me.! lol

But if they keep on dropping things then people are going to try another cruise line I fear. Like chocolate on the pillow each night has stopped and is now only on Formal Nights. The same as the towel animals..we only had one the whole cruise last year.!

 

Chocolates on the pillow has not stopped:confused: We had one everynight on our 28nt B2B last month. Celebrity normally doesn't do towel animals - I think they are great if there are kids in the cabin though.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Chocolates on the pillow has not stopped:confused: We had one everynight on our 28nt B2B last month. Celebrity normally doesn't do towel animals - I think they are great if there are kids in the cabin though.

 

Oh, I hope the chocolates on the pillows don't stop! I can do without towel animals and the brunch but need those chocolates once I get home. :D

 

Mary Lou

[richstowe]

Has been ended on Connie. Told that it took a great deal of staff time and customers were giving negative feedback about it on comment cards.

 

The Grand Buffet has been or will be cancelled on all ships according to F&B manager on Constellation in March 3rd sailing.

The big brunch was still there on the March 3rd Connie cruise.

I will say it was somewhat "less" then on the Summit one year before.

Even on the Summit the advance billing was better then the actual brunch.

As others have said , nothing is served that isn't otherwise available .

 

Even so , I think it is a loss. Hopefully they will have some loud techno to replace it. (I kill myself :))

[TLCOhio]

Oh, I hope the chocolates on the pillows don't stop! I can do without towel animals and the brunch but need those chocolates once I get home. :D Mary Lou

 

From the Solstice last month, YES, they had the chocolates on the pillows every night. I'm not a big chocolate guy, never opened any of them during the fourteen evenings, but they kept coming night after night.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Just back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now over 47,100 views for this fun posting.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

From the Solstice last month, YES, they had the chocolates on the pillows every night. I'm not a big chocolate guy, never opened any of them during the fourteen evenings, but they kept coming night after night.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Just back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now over 47,100 views for this fun posting.

 

Good, we had them every night on Equinox over New Years. Always save them until we are home. Helps to get past the long winter.

[awhfy]

We had the Grand Brunch on our Feb22-3Mar Equinox sailing. We look forward to that, hope it's demise is a nasty rumor! We also had chocolates each night & several towel animals.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Jokare]

We will miss it, as to us the brunch made Celebrity something different then the rest of the ships-and yes they did have different items then the regular buffet. I never felt crowded as we always went an hour or so after opening and it was no worse then the regular buffet. My guess, giving all the free booze away requires something else to go away to save money. A shame and we probably will think twice of Celebrity booking in the future.

[Hapytocruise]

The only thing good about the MDR "grand" buffet is that the Oceanview Café is less crowded:).

[Tangocherie]

What a shame. This made Celebrity so much "better" than all other lines. Oh well...

[SoBe2010]

It has never really been promoted in the Daily as an important event, yet the very fact so many people turn up is surely proof of its popularity :roll eyes:

 

This is nothing more than yet another cut by Miami…they first cut the Midnight Buffet, then the Gourmet Bites, and now the Grand Buffet! Wonder what will be next? What is left of "Modern Luxury" except DJs and blaring music! So sad to see the demise of a great line :(

 

Well said!

[d4m]

Sorry but I don't think that Celebrity doing away with yet one more thing for their profits benefits customers whatsoever. There were many new customers on our last TA who loved the Grand Buffet and raved about it. We have never had a horrible experience at that event and I actually watched people get their food and not once did I see the same old story about fingers. My concern is in looking at what has disappeared in the last year. Nobody can dispute staff cuts and nobody can dispute cuts such as discontinuance of special offerings in aqua spa grill area and lack of staff in select dining. Things continue to be taken away and I personally don't believe anyone in authority was overly concerned about staff but rather another cost savings when they decided on this cut. For those who have said there isnt anything different than what is in regular buffet that hasn't been what we have experienced

[AmberTeka]

We enjoyed the brunch the first few times we attended, but on our last two cruises in the fall, Infinity and Eclipse, it was too crowded so we left. There is no pleasure in queuing at each station then being directed to carry your food upstairs because there are no tables left on the main level.

 

Sheila

 

We are sailing on the Infinity in the fall. This is a return to Celebrity for us. We cruised on the old Zenith and loved it. But then we cruised Carnival.(3 ports close to our home) a lot, Princess, Hall and NCL.

 

This is what may seem to be a totally silly question, but I remember a lot of Trivia and mind type games on the Zenith. that is one reason I booked on Celebrity. That and the ports it will visit. My husband is a dedicated Trivia player. Very good natured. Just likes to play a lot. We never miss Jeopardy. I have actually eaten in the kitchen of restaurants to see it until we learned how to tape shows.

Thanks for any information.

I do remember the cookies in the Cova Coffe Café ( is that right) being the best cookies I have ever eaten. And I have eaten some cookies in my lifetime.

[Chazteach1]

I agree with another poster. I like the ice carvings, fruit and veggie designs the chocolate fountain and other things.

 

Cut backs are inevitable, but it does damper things a bit. Hopefully we will enjoy the buffet on our Equinox b2b in June / July.

[c-legs]

Has been ended on Connie. Told that it took a great deal of staff time and customers were giving negative feedback about it on comment cards.

A logical approach on ships that do the 4/5/days ''shorties''. The short lenght of the voyages does indeed mean certain ''traditions'' cannot be done right, specially if they are time consuming to start with ( and the gala brunch takes up a LOT OF TIME all in all.

Cheers.

[cruiseerf]

I remember the days of the Midnight buffet and ships that didn't have buffet restaurants as a boy. I am in my 40's now and find the buffet restaurant on Celebrity quite adequate. This Grande Buffet was basically the same thing re-packaged.....lots of extra work for the staff. Lines of thousands of people and just what we needed.....more food? Ridiculous.

 

I would rather they deploy their resource$ somewhere else and improve the quality of meats or fish or something along that line.

 

I know this is strange coming from someone who goes on both small and mega ships buuuut.....We don't like anywhere where we have to "hurry up and wait with the masses".....and the Grande buffet was indeed one of these events.

 

We like quiet corners and not too many people...and on ships we are usually able to find these..The Grande Buffet was a horror to us.

 

Safe travels to all!

[curtdesilets]

Pretty soon the Celebrity cruise will be a like airplane travel, just a bus ride.

 

Looks like my DW and I may be looking at a higher end cruise line in the next year or so.

 

We are on the Silhouette in May, so we shall see if we book on board for a future cruise.

 

It may have the best food of any line, even better than Crystal. On our 7 day Alaska cruise last year, the brunch was insanely good. There was a CAVIAR station with little Bellinis. I went to that station 3 times. :D

 

Their HIGH Tea is quite impressive as well.

 

Celebrity obviously is not what it used to be.