NCL Chocolate Buffet

[snorkelinggirl]

What happened to the NCL Chocolate Buffet?

[DMH15]

What happened to the NCL Chocolate Buffet?

 

 

No more chocolate buffet. However, a special chocolate dessert or two is offered in each restaurant on a particular night that's called something like chocolate extravaganza night or something like that.

[Demonyte]

However, a special chocolate dessert or two is offered in each restaurant on a particular night ...

 

 

All (or, since I didn't take a picture last week, at least a vast majority) of the desserts on that night were some kind of chocolate.

[Linda the Book Lover]

What happened to the NCL Chocolate Buffet?

 

My DH just spoke about chocolate night and how much he missed it. :)

[Sand and Seas]

Just like the old midnight buffets, now chocolate buffets are gone too. I did have some great chocolate covered bananas at the last one I went to. However, I really can't miss them much....just can't stay up that late and eat that much anymore:(

[bangzoom6877]

I'm fine with no more chocolate buffet. It was a novelty, yes, and my kids thought it was just a lot of fun when we had it on our cruise on the Jewel in 2011, but there are things I won't miss about it. The two that come to mind right away are the crazy crowds and also how some passengers eat while they're still looking at the buffet. Of course this happens at the regular everyday buffet too. Huge pet peeve of mine. Please wait until you're at your table to start eating...oh and be sure NOT to lick your fingers while you're at a buffet and them touch serving spoons that others will have to touch. And yes, I know not to judge a cruise based on a few customers with bad behavior...we enjoyed that cruise very much and all of us still talk about it.

[spanishguy1970]

I was in a few chocolate buffet but i was not impressed with the chocolate taste itself it was still a nice thing to see. Is a shame they got rid of it.

 

I hope one day NCL will do a Baked Alaska presentation. I read somewhere that some cruise lines ( i think is HOLLAND AMERICA) in their Alaska itinerary the chefs walk around the main dining room with baked alaskas lit and then the diners have a piece. I have never had baked Alaska so would be nice to see that :-):D:) maybe they don't do it for safety reasons.

Edited April 12, 2015 by qtaromar1970

[bangzoom6877]

I was in a few chocolate buffet but i was not impressed with the chocolate taste itself it was still a nice thing to see. Is a shame they got rid of it.

 

I hope one day NCL will do a Baked Alaska presentation. I read somewhere that some cruise lines ( i think is HOLLAND AMERICA) in their Alaska itinerary the chefs walk around the main dining room with baked alaskas lit and then the diners have a piece. I have never had baked Alaska so would be nice to see that :-):D:) maybe they don't do it for safety reasons.

 

They used to do the Baked Alaska presentation on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, but I'm going back 20+ years!

 

I agree about the chocolate buffet. It was a beautiful presentation with chocolate sculptures and also the way the whole thing was set up, but I didn't find the chocolate taste to be that wonderful. The best tasting thing I remember on it from our last cruise was the chocolate fountain with fresh fruit! Thank goodness they had a crew member spooning the chocolate for all the passengers, and it had a glass shield in front of it. I'd hate to see what some people would do if there was free flowing chocolate in front of them!

[missdixie]

The chocolate buffet was nice to see while it lasted. But I didn't want to eat so much sweet stuff that late. I don't miss it.

[spanishguy1970]

The chocolate buffet was nice to see while it lasted. But I didn't want to eat so much sweet stuff that late. I don't miss it.

 

totally agree. We tried it once ate a few items, but sweets keep me up at night so i never ate anything again. I will miss the display but not the chocolate itself.

[spanishguy1970]

They used to do the Baked Alaska presentation on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, but I'm going back 20+ years!

 

I agree about the chocolate buffet. It was a beautiful presentation with chocolate sculptures and also the way the whole thing was set up, but I didn't find the chocolate taste to be that wonderful. The best tasting thing I remember on it from our last cruise was the chocolate fountain with fresh fruit! Thank goodness they had a crew member spooning the chocolate for all the passengers, and it had a glass shield in front of it. I'd hate to see what some people would do if there was free flowing chocolate in front of them!

 

you may be right! this was a friend who was on Holland America the Alaska itinerary 8 years ago and she was the one who told me about the baked Alaska presentation. I remembered :-)

Edited April 13, 2015 by qtaromar1970

[spanishguy1970]

They used to do the Baked Alaska presentation on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, but I'm going back 20+ years!

 

I agree about the chocolate buffet. It was a beautiful presentation with chocolate sculptures and also the way the whole thing was set up, but I didn't find the chocolate taste to be that wonderful. The best tasting thing I remember on it from our last cruise was the chocolate fountain with fresh fruit! Thank goodness they had a crew member spooning the chocolate for all the passengers, and it had a glass shield in front of it. I'd hate to see what some people would do if there was free flowing chocolate in front of them!

 

yes i can't imagine it either :eek::eek:

[xriva]

My wife and I went once, and we were in the group invited to go in early (I don't remember why - Latitudes rank, maybe?)

 

My wife was hoping to take photos.

 

The people that got there ahead of us descended on the display like starving dogs. We saw one man pick up EVERY chocolate from one of the trays (replacing most back on the tray).

 

I was so skeeved out, I had to leave. I didn't sample anything.

 

And these were VIPs. I can only imagine what it was like when the masses arrived.

 

I don't miss it. It was an excellent way to breed disease.

[mking8288]

On the BA last month, the MDR dessert menu had chocolate on it nightly, sometimes 2 out of 4 or 5. Aside from creme brulee in LeBistro, chocolate fondue for 2 is what we would get. As others said, the chocoholic buffet in the Dawn days (10 years ago) was nice & fancy, great for photo ops but eating them, not so much - can't really say we missed them - can't remember the last time we had it on our sailing.

Went upstairs to the buffet once @ breakfast looking for the chocolate mini-croissant and couldn't find any/see them, realized there're part of history too - oh, well.

[existential monkey]

The people that got there ahead of us descended on the display like starving dogs. We saw one man pick up EVERY chocolate from one of the trays (replacing most back on the tray).

 

Reading this actually made me laugh out loud.

[bangzoom6877]

On the BA last month, the MDR dessert menu had chocolate on it nightly, sometimes 2 out of 4 or 5. Aside from creme brulee in LeBistro, chocolate fondue for 2 is what we would get. As others said, the chocoholic buffet in the Dawn days (10 years ago) was nice & fancy, great for photo ops but eating them, not so much - can't really say we missed them - can't remember the last time we had it on our sailing.

Went upstairs to the buffet once @ breakfast looking for the chocolate mini-croissant and couldn't find any/see them, realized there're part of history too - oh, well.

 

Really? No more chocolate croissants? I'll miss them, I used to love those. :(

[3XX1XY]

I always found the chocolate buffet hugely disappointing, so I won't miss it. There was always a huge line of greedy people, people cutting in line, lots of people taking huge piles of things and taking one bite and not finishing it, and thereby depleting things so that others might miss out on some of the offerings. Perhaps the most disappointing though was that none of it was very good. It was all pretty much trash imo. Honestly I've had better desserts at the local greasy spoon. It's all mass produced rubbish that tastes mass produced. Half of it was the same really bad mousse in various configurations. I guess I'm the type who would rather have one really good dessert than try 10 different flavors of twinkie.

 

I feel about the chocolate buffet same as I felt about lobster night, if it's not done right, best to not do it at all. The "lobster" I had on "lobster night" on NCL was roughly crawfish sized and cooked to the consistency of a rubber tire. Not a loss.

 

 

For those mentioning baked alaska, I had it on an Royal Caribbean cruise last year. I did not realize it was unusual. I believe it was done more or less correctly, but I think I'm not a fan of the baked alaska.

[bangzoom6877]

I always found the chocolate buffet hugely disappointing, so I won't miss it. There was always a huge line of greedy people, people cutting in line, lots of people taking huge piles of things and taking one bite and not finishing it, and thereby depleting things so that others might miss out on some of the offerings. Perhaps the most disappointing though was that none of it was very good. It was all pretty much trash imo. Honestly I've had better desserts at the local greasy spoon. It's all mass produced rubbish that tastes mass produced. Half of it was the same really bad mousse in various configurations. I guess I'm the type who would rather have one really good dessert than try 10 different flavors of twinkie.

 

I feel about the chocolate buffet same as I felt about lobster night, if it's not done right, best to not do it at all. The "lobster" I had on "lobster night" on NCL was roughly crawfish sized and cooked to the consistency of a rubber tire. Not a loss.

 

 

For those mentioning baked alaska, I had it on an Royal Caribbean cruise last year. I did not realize it was unusual. I believe it was done more or less correctly, but I think I'm not a fan of the baked alaska.

 

Yes yes yes! The same "mousse" that was a tasteless oil slick basically! The chocolate buffet was definitely about quantity and not quality. And I did find that people behaved terribly at that buffet, even when you compare it to the everyday buffet. There were just so many more people acting like animals at the chocolate buffet, in my experience, and letting their kids roam freely and do whatever they wanted.

 

And yes about lobster. They were the size of jumbo shrimp which I wouldn't mind if they were cooked well, but they were very rubbery. I used to order the steak on lobster night, along with a lobster tail, and always a disappointment.

[Barb Nahoumi]

I don't miss it either. The displays were beautiful, but the taste wasn't great.

[Sizzlechest]

Thank goodness it's gone. I experienced it on the Star years ago. 2/3 of the buffet was shut down for it, which made dinner a disaster for everyone except people fortunate enough to reserve specialty dining that night. The MDRs were overflowing with people displaced by the buffet shutdown. The chocolate desserts were sub-par to boot.

[CruisinMaterial]

I enjoyed the chocoholic buffet for the novelty of it and the presentation with the ice sculptures and stuff. I never ate a lot of the actual food and took the fresh fruit but didn’t dunk it in the fondue. Lots of people would take a LOT of food which would eventually go to waste.

 

Besides filling up the ship with fuel, the second largest cost is provisioning the ship with food. Cruise lines are looking to cost cut as they continuously build more and more ships and some with expensive technologies which are not needed at sea (the robot crap on RCCL comes to mind). I can understand the logic behind cutting the chocoholic buffet as it is a good way to stop waste from happening.

 

I think room service is going the same way as well. People used to order everything on the menu and not eat it all so you’d see food waste in the hallway. The solution to not paying the fee is going to O’Sheehans. Will more people starting going in their robes there? Anyone’s guess! LOL!

[NLH Arizona]

I think room service is going the same way as well. People used to order everything on the menu and not eat it all so you’d see food waste in the hallway. The solution to not paying the fee is going to O’Sheehans. Will more people starting going in their robes there? Anyone’s guess! LOL!

I think it is so interesting, that when something is free, people become gluttons, but if they have to pay, it is a totally different thing. Like lobster, people complain that it is not available in the MDR, but when asked why they don't get it back home if they love it so much, they say they wouldn't pay for it.

[CruisinMaterial]

I think it is so interesting, that when something is free, people become gluttons, but if they have to pay, it is a totally different thing. Like lobster, people complain that it is not available in the MDR, but when asked why they don't get it back home if they love it so much, they say they wouldn't pay for it.

 

Valid point! It is sad that a few cruisers on each cruise, maybe with increasing numbers as more people are cruising, are choosing to waste resources such as food. When some do it and not everyone else, eventually everyone else pays for it with policy changes and what not. The amount of food waste I would see the morning after the chocoholic buffet in the hallways was pretty bad. It’s easy for everyone to point the finger saying cutbacks but where’s the accountability of the food wasters by other cruisers?

 

Like the chair hog police that run around here, maybe people could be food hog police and call out cruisers on the ships by locking them in their rooms for 24 hours if they leave excess food in the hallway outside their cabin? LOL! :eek::D:D

[spanishguy1970]

Yes, i see so many people loading up their plates like they have not eaten in days. We tend to avoid the buffet does not mean we don't go there for a hamburger every now and then but we prefer the MDR to order what we need maybe even do some calorie control. We try to watch what we eat as much as we can but not does not mean we wont splurge every now and then maybe an extra dessert we liked:D

[searoses]

Just as much work to make desserts from poor quality ingredients as fine quality...the only edible thing to me were the choc covered strawberries...but even in the "good old days" many of the desserts were not up to par..... not true now on princess regal...best desserts ever on a ship and in the buffet....a separate pastry shop...highly recommend.