Any hints for Emerald Princess buffet?

[binky3001]

My family is cruising with Princess for the first time in July, on the Emerald Princess Mediterranean Adventurer in July this year.

 

From reading the forums I've noticed that the Horizon Court buffet can get crowded, so I was wondering if anyone had any hints and tips?

 

Are there particular busy times at Horizon Court that we should avoid, eg for breakfast?

 

There will be seven of us cruising, so any advice that can help minimise stress and arguments would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks 😀

 

Andrew

[Potstech]

Best tip I can think of for a group like that is have one or two people find a table for the rest while they are getting their food. Then the remaining two can get what they want to eat. There are really no good times around breakfast to try for a now crowded area unless you want to eat after about 9-9:30 for breakfast. Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

[OCruisers]

Andrew, you might consider having breakfast in the main dining room.

Breakfast hours for the main dining room are normally 7AM-9AM.

Also, it's fine to wear shorts there for breakfast.

Emerald is a great ship! Enjoy your cruise! :)

[binky3001]

Best tip I can think of for a group like that is have one or two people find a table for the rest while they are getting their food. Then the remaining two can get what they want to eat. There are really no good times around breakfast to try for a now crowded area unless you want to eat after about 9-9:30 for breakfast. Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

 

Thanks Potstech, this is only our second cruise. We were on a Disney cruise round the Baltic last year where we got the cruising bug 😁 , and we did something similar to your suggestion!

 

On the Disney Magic there was an outside eating area which was usually less crowded, I assume there's not a similar area on the Emerald Princess?

 

Andrew, you might consider having breakfast in the main dining room.

Breakfast hours for the main dining room are normally 7AM-9AM.

Also, it's fine to wear shorts there for breakfast.

Emerald is a great ship! Enjoy your cruise! :)

 

Hi Ocruisers, thanks for that suggestion, I hadn't even considered going to a main dining room, but that's definitely something I'll consider, especially if I can wear shorts 😀 .

Edited May 11, 2016 by binky3001

[catwoman6226]

Good advice to have someone (or two) scope out a table for you - only issue is finding them after you've been through the buffet - we ran into this often on our last cruise - so be aware they may have moved on to the next dining area.

 

Another good tip is to take a moment to walk around and look at all the offerings before grabbing a plate - it's easy to end up with a plate that is too full for subsequent goodies you may find - although of course you can go back!

[binky3001]

Good advice to have someone (or two) scope out a table for you - only issue is finding them after you've been through the buffet - we ran into this often on our last cruise - so be aware they may have moved on to the next dining area.

 

Another good tip is to take a moment to walk around and look at all the offerings before grabbing a plate - it's easy to end up with a plate that is too full for subsequent goodies you may find - although of course you can go back!

 

Thanks for those hints too, never thought about having to try to find my family while balancing a plate of food.

 

And that's also a good suggestion to have a good look at everything on offer before diving in - thanks 👍, heaven forbid I should have to go back for 2 platefuls of delicious breakfast goodies 😁 😉

Edited May 11, 2016 by binky3001

[JF - retired RRT]

We've almost stopped going to the buffet. Too much food, too many people.

We go to the MDR for breakfast, lunch and dinner unless it isn't open (port days for lunch).

We may wander through the buffet for a snack.:D

[rdcruisin]

I notice the Emerald has a Café Caribe on Lido deck. It's just next to the Horizon, but when I was on the Crown last year, I found that Café Caribe is much less crowded than the Horizon. They have a separate serving section, which does not have as many offerings as the Horizon, but you can get your plate filled in the Horizon serving line and then go back and sit in the Café Caribe section.

[Jasperdo]

One tip that I have. There are identical buffets on both the Port and Starboard side. One side closes earlier than the other to set up for lunch. It opens for lunch at 11:30AM. The other side serves breakfast until 11:30AM, then closes to set up for lunch. It usually re-opens for lunch between 12 and 12:15PM. What my wife and I like to do is go the the closed buffet section a little before noon. Find a good table and wait for it to open. That way we avoid the madhouse. The seating area is always open, even if the serving lines are closed.

[binky3001]

We've almost stopped going to the buffet. Too much food, too many people.

We go to the MDR for breakfast, lunch and dinner unless it isn't open (port days for lunch).

We may wander through the buffet for a snack.:D

 

 

 

Cheers JF, I have to say, I don't know if it's possible to have too much food 😂 , but the MDR does sound like a good alternative.

 

Are there any breakfast menus for the main dining room floating around the web that I could have a look at?

 

 

I notice the Emerald has a Café Caribe on Lido deck. It's just next to the Horizon, but when I was on the Crown last year, I found that Café Caribe is much less crowded than the Horizon. They have a separate serving section, which does not have as many offerings as the Horizon, but you can get your plate filled in the Horizon serving line and then go back and sit in the Café Caribe section.

 

That's very useful, I didn't know about the café Caribe, so I shall definitely make a note to try there when we get on board. Cheers rdcruisin 👍

Edited May 11, 2016 by binky3001

[binky3001]

One tip that I have. There are identical buffets on both the Port and Starboard side. One side closes earlier than the other to set up for lunch. It opens for lunch at 11:30AM. The other side serves breakfast until 11:30AM, then closes to set up for lunch. It usually re-opens for lunch between 12 and 12:15PM. What my wife and I like to do is go the the closed buffet section a little before noon. Find a good table and wait for it to open. That way we avoid the madhouse. The seating area is always open, even if the serving lines are closed.

 

Ooh, that's a clever tactic, I wouldn't have ever thought of trying that!

 

Can you get food from the open side of the buffet and take it to the seating on the closed side, or are the 2 sides completely separate?

[GUT2407]

Also the grill is a great alternative for a burger and fries.

[GUT2407]

We've almost stopped going to the buffet. Too much food, too many people.

We go to the MDR for breakfast, lunch and dinner unless it isn't open (port days for lunch).

We may wander through the buffet for a snack.:D

 

MDR is fantastic for breakfast and lunch (when open).

[Jasperdo]

Can you get food from the open side of the buffet and take it to the seating on the closed side, or are the 2 sides completely separate?

Yes, you can do that. But they don't start servicing the tables until they open the buffet line. So you might have to grab your own drinks and silverware.

[floridalover5623]

MDR is fantastic for breakfast and lunch (when open).

 

Yea, we stopped going to the DR. We could never get enough to eat. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

[idahospud]

On the Disney Magic there was an outside eating area which was usually less crowded, I assume there's not a similar area on the Emerald Princess?

There are outside eating areas on the Emerald.

[lax19]

It's much like voting:

Go early, go often!

[OCruisers]

Best tip I can think of for a group like that is have one or two people find a table for the rest while they are getting their food. Then the remaining two can get what they want to eat. There are really no good times around breakfast to try for a now crowded area unless you want to eat after about 9-9:30 for breakfast. Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

 

Per above ... Absolutely!

If you decide on the buffet, for sure just find a table large enough for everyone and everyone knows where it is and have one or two from the group save it until some returns with their food. :)

[bigchid]

On our recent cruise we had 12 family members. To avoid stress we agreed that everyone do their own thing. We had contact thru Princess Messenger and just let others know where we were headed.

We had breakfast almost every day at Horizon, we found the big tables often available even if it was crowded. It really wasn't much of a problem (we were seldom all there at once).

Edited May 12, 2016 by bigchid

[binky3001]

Also the grill is a great alternative for a burger and fries.

 

Thanks 👍 I hadn't even heard of that place 😂

 

 

 

 

 

MDR is fantastic for breakfast and lunch (when open).

 

 

Yes, I think we'll definitely be trying the main dining room at least a few times!

 

 

 

 

Yes, you can do that. But they don't start servicing the tables until they open the buffet line. So you might have to grab your own drinks and silverware.

 

 

That's good to know, thanks 😀 As there's 7 of us, there's plenty of us to do fetching and carrying.

 

 

 

 

There are outside eating areas on the Emerald.

 

 

Great. There was an outside seating on our Disney cruise last year, but as the cruise was round the Baltic, it was too chilly to sit out there very often, hopefully the Mediterranean will be warmer 🌅 😀

 

 

 

 

It's much like voting:

Go early, go often!

 

 

Wise words my friend, thank you 😀

 

 

 

 

Per above ... Absolutely!

If you decide on the buffet, for sure just find a table large enough for everyone and everyone knows where it is and have one or two from the group save it until some returns with their food. :)

 

 

Yes we will do that, Mum uses a wheelchair most of the time, so she's usually in charge of guarding tables if we're getting food!

 

 

 

 

On our recent cruise we had 12 family members. To avoid stress we agreed that everyone do their own thing. We had contact thru Princess Messenger and just let others know where we were headed.

We had breakfast almost every day at Horizon, we found the big tables often available even if it was crowded. It really wasn't much of a problem (we were seldom all there at once).

 

Thanks bigchid, Most of us will have smart phones of some description so I'll make sure we all have the messenger on it.

 

Good to know that people tend to avoid the large tables too.

[berlingo]

My vote is for a Room Service breakfast. I love being woken to that tap on the door in the mornings. It is the best alarm clock ever!

 

Although I love them dearly, I am afraid I cannot always face my friend and family group first thing. This way I get to have a stress free start to my day.

[thinfool]

We routinely travel with 10-20 people and never, ever try to eat breakfast together.

 

This doesn't mean that we don't do it, but coordinating a bunch of people who are slow or fast and punctual or not to meet for breakfast would be, IMO, like herding cats. No need for the whole group to be held up waiting for someone to finish their eye shadow.;)

 

We routinely eat (buffet) with others in our group, those who happen to be eating when we are. We have a seating area that we frequent. Some may not even want any breakfast.

 

THEN, after all of that morning stuff, everyone in the group who is going on the same excursion or adventure, meets, off the ship on the dock, at the same predetermined time.

 

In short, mustering time for our group for a port day is, off the ship, on the dock, rather than at a morning meal time.

Edited May 12, 2016 by thinfool

[binky3001]

My vote is for a Room Service breakfast. I love being woken to that tap on the door in the mornings. It is the best alarm clock ever!

 

Although I love them dearly, I am afraid I cannot always face my friend and family group first thing. This way I get to have a stress free start to my day.

 

I hadn't thought of room service, as it's not something you have in the "real world" 😁 . Another advantage of room service over a buffet would mean I'm not just eating for the sake of it ☺

 

 

We routinely travel with 10-20 people and never, ever try to eat breakfast together.

 

This doesn't mean that we don't do it, but coordinating a bunch of people who are slow or fast and punctual or not to meet for breakfast would be, IMO, like herding cats. No need for the whole group to be held up waiting for someone to finish their eye shadow.;)

 

We routinely eat (buffet) with others in our group, those who happen to be eating when we are. We have a seating area that we frequent. Some may not even want any breakfast.

 

THEN, after all of that morning stuff, everyone in the group who is going on the same excursion or adventure, meets, off the ship on the dock, at the same predetermined time.

 

In short, mustering time for our group for a port day is, off the ship, on the dock, rather than at a morning meal time.

 

That's a good idea - To be honest, we usually eat together at breakfast on holiday, but I'm not sure why, I think it's just habit 😀 , it is nice to all eat together, but it's silly to try and get everyone together just because it's what we normally do.

Edited May 12, 2016 by binky3001