Panorama Lido buffet horrible as expected

[sharon&family]

I love the buffets.  I love to see what I am going to eat and love the variety.  I will be dissapointed if there is not much on my Mardi Gras cruise coming up.  I enjoy the sit down experience occasionally but I do not like sitting and taking 2 hours to eat.  My first cruise ever was on the Big Red Boat 20 years ago.  They had the most awesome buffet.  I really wish that were still offered.  I really miss that.  I also enjoyed the midnight buffets they had.  Its a shame all that is gone.

[UPNYGuy]

On 8/31/2021 at 6:28 PM, tallnthensome said:

YMMV and opinions vary but I wonder if having 2500 aboard has something to do with this level of selection . Maybe … who knows. Everything else has been good. La Cucina tonight for us …..

 

considering you made sure to point out that this is cruise CRITIC (your emphasis not mine), i am sure you are aware that you cannot eat at La Cucina on a Carnival ship 🤔.

[ProgRockCruiser]

5 minutes ago, UPNYGuy said:

 

considering you made sure to point out that this is cruise CRITIC (your emphasis not mine), i am sure you are aware that you cannot eat at La Cucina on a Carnival ship 🤔.

Perhaps a minor typo in the name, due to strong similarity with that other line's offering?  Or one could argue, using a language-style grammatical article "La" in front of a short-form of the actual name is a valid reference?

 

https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food/cucina-del-capitano

Edited September 3, 2021 by ProgRockCruiser

[tallnthensome]

5 minutes ago, UPNYGuy said:

 

considering you made sure to point out that this is cruise CRITIC (your emphasis not mine), i am sure you are aware that you cannot eat at La Cucina on a Carnival ship 🤔.

🙄 Cucina Del …. So so sorry. Feel better? 

[klfhngr]

On 9/1/2021 at 12:12 PM, TNcruising02 said:

Funny!  No mashed potatoes for you on Carnival.   As far as buffets, I like Royal's buffet, Carnival comes in 2nd and Norwegian last for dinner.  They are all similar for breakfast and lunch.  Carnival has a very limited selection of items for dinner.  I will sometimes make a salad and go to the deli for a BLT.  Their salad bar is good.  

Breakfast has always been decent with eggs, bacon, french toast, oatmeal and things like that.  We usually eat at other places for lunch.  The lunch desserts have always been good at the buffet.

What?! No mashed potatoes?! WOW!!!! 

[vegasgal47]

On 9/1/2021 at 5:30 AM, fabby50 said:

We were on the second cruise Panorama did after launch.  I can say, in "normal times" the buffet was full of selections.  I too don't care for buffet food, if we went there, I hit the sandwich station and had the caprese sandwich.  Its a go to on all the cruise lines we've been on, always seems to be about the same no matter what line, and really hard to screw up.  Hopefully, they still had the pretzel rolls somewhere!  The absolute worse food I ever had was on Princess - their vegetarian burger on offer on the buffet was a cold patty made out of leftover mashed potatoes and peas.  First thing I ever ate on Princess and started me out with a bad taste in my mouth 🙂

Out of all the cruises I have been on, in my opinion, the MDR food on Princess was the worst. I thought the buffet food was better.  However, on the Sunrise, I thought the dessert options where just about nil.  Just had a few cakes and cookies.  No pastries at all.  The options on the 4 day Imagination had a lot more options than that.  Was very disappointed.  Other than that, the meals were good in both MDR and buffet.  I get a veggie burger from the deli and bring it over to Guys Burger and get all the goodies.  

[TNcruising02]

3 hours ago, klfhngr said:

What?! No mashed potatoes?! WOW!!!! 

Shocking, for sure. LOL.  

[Embem]

The buffet is always my last choice for dining options, but it's never been that bad. I just always felt like it was the least clean place to eat on the ship. 

 

Of course, I don't know why anyone would pick the buffet when guys burger joint, blue iguana, and the main dining room are options. 😉 

[Computer Nerd]

On 8/31/2021 at 4:44 PM, tallnthensome said:

Well, as expected it's horrible and I mean horrible...... I've sailed Carnival before .... and NCL, MSC, Holland, Princess, and Royal. I've thought my Vista experience a few years ago was bad but this buffet is laughable. Imagine having this huge seating area on the Panorama and like 8 nasty dishes to choose from .... like Chili Mac, some rice, some pasta, some slads etc ..... 2 of the four center stations have no food at all, zilch,, and the two that are being used are the exact 8 awful lunch  items. This is the same for breakfast. They do have a carving for station for lunch which is acceptable ...... Just can't figure out why Carnival offers far and wide the worst and most awful Lido food of any cruise line ..... it's like staring at my old high school cafeteria again with that look of "good god, really?". They have a sandwich station which made me a meatball sandwich which equally sucked . MDR, Jijis,  and Pig and Anchor has been good but as an opinionated post and an FYI thr Lido buffet for breakfast and especially lunch had been a monumental disappointment.

Self-fulfilling prophecy. 🙄

[DAllenTCY]

Room service offers most items for free; however, there are others that are at a cost if you choose them.  

David

[rlindholm]

On my last Carnival cruise I didn't eat at the buffet once.  Not because it sucked (maybe it did, I don't know) but because there were just so many other options and only a couple of sea days where I was on the boat at lunchtime anyway.  In fact, I was surprised at the end of the cruise when I realized I hadn't hit up the buffet.   

[DAllenTCY]

I had breakfast 3 days (of 7) and lunch 4 days in the buffet.  It is what it is....the sandwiches at the Deli are very good, and the cake station (if you can find it) is excellent.

 

Bacon was every other day, but they gave you enough for 2.  What was the point of that?

 

David

[DenaInWyo]

We just got back from the Miracle to Alaska last week and the buffet was indeed, horrible.  I tried a few things once, and from then on at at other places.  The deli, pizza, Guys etc were all fine, just the buffet itself.  It's never been all that stunning, but it definitely has reached new lows.  On the other hand, the MDR was the best it's been for us in years, in both food and service.  Along with that, the buffet is the only complaint I had about the whole cruise.

 

But yeah, the buffet has gone downhill.

[silvercrikhix]

This buffet downgrade happened before COVID-19. 
Honestly, it was disgraceful. We’ll see next month what is offered on the Dream. 🤞
It truly would be really nice if they at least let Blue Iguana and Guys Burgers stay open past 6. 
Even 7:00 would help. We’d pick them over the buffet many times. 

[CruisefunSAN]

My take on this: buffet is just one of the options, there are other choices. And seems the street eats on Mardi Gras is a success and Carnival probably will go that direction in the future. That is probably good thing to reduce the food waste in the long run.

[Illbcruzn4life]

9 hours ago, Embem said:

The buffet is always my last choice for dining options, but it's never been that bad. I just always felt like it was the least clean place to eat on the ship. 

 

Of course, I don't know why anyone would pick the buffet when guys burger joint, blue iguana, and the main dining room are options. 😉 

 

Don't they close around 6? If so what if you don't want to eat until around 7:30pm?

[Colorado Beach Bum]

Been on Mardi Gras and Panorama the last couple of weeks.  Buffets seem very similar to pre Covid days.  When you add in the cold stations with salads, meats/cheeses, etc it is decent especially when you can enjoy all the other options like guys burgers, Italian, jiji’s, deli, pig and anchor, pizza and more.  So many more options than years ago when you just had buffet, lido grill and deli. 

[travelplus]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm planning to.skip the buffet and go for the MDR and Sea Day Brunch, Guys, Blue Iguana,Deli ,Pizza and Cuchina Del Capitano.Lunch and Room Servic.

Now I know why I associate Buffet with Bathroom😁 .

Edited September 14, 2021 by travelplus

[travelplus]

On 8/31/2021 at 5:12 PM, snowballs mom said:

I am another one that does not care for the Lido buffet food - if I do eat there I will have a salad and spend the rest of the calories on ice cream. I really enjoy the other available options, so it doesn't much matter to me what they offer at the buffet. My favorite lunch, the Tandoor grill, no longer exists, but I am looking forward to trying the Indian entree in the MDR.

I'll go to the Serenity Salad Bar!

[travelplus]

9 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

I had breakfast 3 days (of 7) and lunch 4 days in the buffet.  It is what it is....the sandwiches at the Deli are very good, and the cake station (if you can find it) is excellent.

 

Bacon was every other day, but they gave you enough for 2.  What was the point of that?

 

David

Good to know about the cakes. How about the Gelato station where is it? It's included right? I'll have gelato for lunch  or dinner over the buffet anyday! Especially after eating lunch in port.

[mondello]

On 9/2/2021 at 5:50 PM, sharon&family said:

  I also enjoyed the midnight buffets they had.  Its a shame all that is gone.

Book one of the Carnival Sailabration cruises next year celebrating 50 years. They are bringing back the Midnight Gala buffet and other things, including ship meet-ups at sea.

Edited September 14, 2021 by mondello
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[tallnthensome]

1 hour ago, travelplus said:

Good to know about the cakes. How about the Gelato station where is it? It's included right? I'll have gelato for lunch  or dinner over the buffet anyday! Especially after eating lunch in port.

I don’t remember seeing a Gelato station on board. 

[mondello]

1 hour ago, travelplus said:

Good to know about the cakes. How about the Gelato station where is it? It's included right? I'll have gelato for lunch  or dinner over the buffet anyday! Especially after eating lunch in port.

@BlerkOne posted about the gelato. I believe it is a buffet station but not available on all ships yet. Pretty sure it is included, no upcharge that I know of.

He was on Horizon, hope they have it on my ship.

Edited September 14, 2021 by mondello
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[Embem]

9 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

 

Don't they close around 6? If so what if you don't want to eat until around 7:30pm?

Main Dining Room (if you can get "your time" dining) is open until around 9.

 

Plus there's always pizza 😉 

[klfhngr]

Besides buffet, was is open on embarkation day? On Panorama?