Daily buffet "specials"

[We_like_to_cruise]

I recall reading in the past about "specials" or "themes" on different days in the buffet.  Different days would have special food choices related to that day's theme. 

 

How do you find out what specials are offered each day?  I don't recall ever seeing that info posted in the buffet.

 

But we do remember going into the buffet at lunchtime once and they had a huge amount of (garlic?) shrimp.  And big ones, not those scrawny little things!

 

Apparently it was related to that day's theme.

 

A search didn't help me.  And I know this may not even be relevant as cruising is just getting back to "normal" - kinda.

 

(Honestly, it may even be something I read on a HAL thread - sorry !  😌)

[coo359a2]

Spent 30 days on Emerald Princess and no theme specials that I saw in the buffet.  Ate there every night except for 6 Crown Grill nights.  There was a section that had a few selections of Mexican dishes each night.  They had a couple of nights with mini Filet Mignon which were pretty tender.  I was satisfied with some form of chicken tenders/nuggets/fingers almost every night.

 

On the Enchanted in Dec, they had a couple of nights of Mongolian Barbeque but it wasn't listed in the patter.

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

but it wasn't listed in the patter.

I think that's the concern - you never know unless / until you go there about a theme.

 

Hopefully someone else will answer how they found out about any "special nights"

[HappyCruiserettu]

In the past, there have sometimes been an Italian Night, Mexican Night, etc. with special items appropriate to the theme. I don't recall it ever being listed in the Patter. Now, with the menus available on the stateroom tv, I would search for menu under the Buffet listing.

 

[brisalta]

I think it depends on the ship and the executive chef.

The Grand Princess used to have themes in the buffet when Joel Directo was the executive chef.

[justafem]

I saw no menus for the buffet in Feb.  And several times the MDR menu was incorrect.  

 

I do remember years ago (BC:  Before CoViD), there'd be themed dinners printed in the patter and there was a menu at the entrance, no more.  

 

The patter is also 1/3 of the size, a single double sided paper with the day's activities.  Crafts didn't even tell you what craft was being done, I guess you just showed up to see if you wanted to do that days craft. Wait, there was a single "craft" one day... napkin folding, not joking.  

[coo359a2]

24 minutes ago, HappyCruiserettu said:

In the past, there have sometimes been an Italian Night, Mexican Night, etc. with special items appropriate to the theme. I don't recall it ever being listed in the Patter. Now, with the menus available on the stateroom tv, I would search for menu under the Buffet listing.

 

Back before the pause, theme nights (if any) for the buffet was listed on the back page of the patter underneath the buffet’s evening dining hours. Never checked menus on the TV. Will give that a try when we are back on the Emerald Princess in 2 weeks

[SinbadThePorter]

41 minutes ago, HappyCruiserettu said:

In the past, there have sometimes been an Italian Night

 

The staff used to wear those Where's Wally striped shirts.

[wowzz]

On our last cruise (November) each theme night in the buffet was listed in the platter. 

Made it easy for us to avoid the Mexican night !

[Loucat]

We are just off Regal. The Horizon Court (buffet) menu was not listed even once on the stateroom TV. Agree with others that Patter does not feature anything but their hours.

We did have one night where they hung oriental red paper lanterns and that reflected Mongolian barbecue and other oriental dishes. We did sample the stir fry (pick your own contents) and it was quite tasty. You would have to go to the area to see nightly features-Princess could make an improvement here for sure.

[brisalta]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

On our last cruise (November) each theme night in the buffet was listed in the platter. 

Made it easy for us to avoid the Mexican night !

 

You avoided the best buffet night!!!

[brisalta]

3 minutes ago, Loucat said:

We are just off Regal. The Horizon Court (buffet) menu was not listed even once on the stateroom TV. Agree with others that Patter does not feature anything but their hours.

We did have one night where they hung oriental red paper lanterns and that reflected Mongolian barbecue and other oriental dishes. We did sample the stir fry (pick your own contents) and it was quite tasty. You would have to go to the area to see nightly features-Princess could make an improvement here for sure.

 

My understanding is Mongolian bbq is a western invention.

[CruisinFinsUp]

We used to always ask our Head Waiter what night was Bavarian night on the buffet.  Our daughter has food allergies so we talked to our HW each night.  
 

The HW on each ship had a piece of paper that listed the themes for every restaurant on the ship for the length of the cruise.   He's bring it out and be able to tell us what night was which theme.  
 

Some ships listed the buffet theme on the patter, others didn't.  I think it depended on who wrote the patter.  

[CruisinFinsUp]

25 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

My understanding is Mongolian bbq is a western invention.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_barbecue

 

Actually not.  

[Paula_MacFan]

I have many old Patters with the buffet theme nights listed (I keep them all from prior cruises just *because*) 🙂 

I think it varies from ship to ship and season to season.  We've typically seen 'Welcome Night Dinner Buffet', "Italian Trattoria Buffet', 'Gala Dinner Buffet',  'Mexican Fiesta', and 'Bierfest Bavarian' German night (a big favorite).  

We also usually stop by the MDR during the day to see the daily posted menus and have lost track of how many times we've seen many of the same items offered in the buffet on the same evening.  

[Thrak]

While we have never actually seen it listed in the Patter I believe that, when is is listed, it's only listed under the listing of dining venues - not as a "regular" entry in the Patter. That would make it easy to miss.

[brisalta]

4 hours ago, CruisinFinsUp said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_barbecue

 

Actually not.  

 

Still not Mongolian.

[caribill]

11 hours ago, voljeep said:

I think that's the concern - you never know unless / until you go there about a theme.

 

Hopefully someone else will answer how they found out about any "special nights"

 

Just go to the buffet and ask a supervisor.

[Sillyjilly]

13 hours ago, We_like_to_cruise said:

I recall reading in the past about "specials" or "themes" on different days in the buffet.  Different days would have special food choices related to that day's theme. 

 

How do you find out what specials are offered each day?  I don't recall ever seeing that info posted in the buffet.

 

But we do remember going into the buffet at lunchtime once and they had a huge amount of (garlic?) shrimp.  And big ones, not those scrawny little things!

 

Apparently it was related to that day's theme.

 

A search didn't help me.  And I know this may not even be relevant as cruising is just getting back to "normal" - kinda.

 

(Honestly, it may even be something I read on a HAL thread - sorry !  😌)

Haven't seen this is years. I think it is a thing of the past.

[We_like_to_cruise]

10 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I have many old Patters with the buffet theme nights listed (I keep them all from prior cruises just *because*) 🙂 

I think it varies from ship to ship and season to season.  We've typically seen 'Welcome Night Dinner Buffet', "Italian Trattoria Buffet', 'Gala Dinner Buffet',  'Mexican Fiesta', and 'Bierfest Bavarian' German night (a big favorite).  

We also usually stop by the MDR during the day to see the daily posted menus and have lost track of how many times we've seen many of the same items offered in the buffet on the same evening.  

 

Yes, this is what I was referring to.  And, I probably was mistaken in my original post.  I am guessing we took advantage of the "shrimp fiesta" during a dinner service in the buffet, not lunch.  We seldom eat dinner there, so my assumption was that it was a lunchtime special.  BTW, we had to wait on a line to get those shrimp!

[Senga]

The Mongolian BBQ was our favourite on Regal, along with the grilled shrimp.  We’re going on Grand Princess to Alaska.  We’ll miss the elaborate Regal buffet for sure.  😢

[Mississippian]

On 3/1/2022 at 7:02 PM, Paula_MacFan said:

I have many old Patters with the buffet theme nights listed (I keep them all from prior cruises just *because*) 🙂 

I think it varies from ship to ship and season to season.  We've typically seen 'Welcome Night Dinner Buffet', "Italian Trattoria Buffet', 'Gala Dinner Buffet',  'Mexican Fiesta', and 'Bierfest Bavarian' German night (a big favorite).  

We also usually stop by the MDR during the day to see the daily posted menus and have lost track of how many times we've seen many of the same items offered in the buffet on the same evening.  

The German night wasn't my favorite the time or two I ran up on it, but for some reason I want to give sausages another go.

[DV8]

Caribbean P has themed lunches in the buffet currently, see slightly blurry attachment.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, DV8 said:

Caribbean P has themed lunches in the buffet currently, see slightly blurry attachment.

 

 

For those who could not read the blur, it said "Fisherman's Buffet."

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

 

For those who could not read the blur, it said "Fisherman's Buffet."

How exactly do you eat a Fisherman ?