Late night food

[erinmarie424]

On 5/14/2022 at 10:09 AM, ScratchTheRat said:

Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I've never understood the need or desire to eat that late. Nor have I ever been hungry on a cruise. I can barely eat at each meal time, there's so much food!

 

I don't think I've ever eaten after 9pm on a cruise.

The few times I have, I regretted it. I’d rather have a nice breakfast. Hard to do when your stomach is full of your midnight or 2 am snack. 

[Cruise, J.D.]

If you offer late night drinking venues, you should offer some easy late night food options.

[Itried4498]

There are plenty of people who like to stay up late and get up after breakfast had been served.  Some people are nocturnal by nature, especially when they’re younger.  Others develop the habit due to work - whether they work an overnight shift in a factory, as a nurse, etc.

 

[Itried4498]

On 5/14/2022 at 7:19 AM, 1025cruise said:

No, its staffing issues. The US government is being slow in issuing the visas needed for the crew to return to work. Once the ships are fully staffed up again, these thing are expected to return.

Carnival may be blaming it on staffing issues, but I find it difficult to believe.  They have tons of employees standing around at night cleaning up Lido, but they can’t find one to re-heat food or shove a pizza in an oven?

 

24-hour meal service was a hallmark of better all-inclusive resorts, but most began dropping it well before COVID; even as occupancy and room rates swelled record highs.  It’s simply a service that appeals to few people, so it’s an easy one to cut.  Carnival probably saves several million from doing so, and only a few people are unhappy.

[SNJCruisers]

OP.   Cruise on the Bliss and enjoy the 24 hour pub.  If it's that important for you to have late night food, the newer ships in the NCL fleet blow away any options that are available in the entire Carnival fleet.  And I've cruised NCL four times and Carnival twenty.

[SNJCruisers]

On 5/14/2022 at 10:09 AM, ScratchTheRat said:

 

I don't think I've ever eaten after 9pm on a cruise.

Back in the day, second seating MDR dinner ended about 945.  

[Purvis1231]

3 hours ago, Indiansbaseball said:

Learning is good, it’s why I come here. We are in bed early as well.  Try as hard as we can, we just can’t stay up late. Hubby starts work at 4 AM and we go to bed early and can’t seem to get out of that routine even on vacation ! 
Happy Cruising, just off the Magic and our next is the October ! 

I too am early riser and sometimes are waiting for breakfast to open on the ship.

[icft]

Count me as one who misses the late night food. Once I retired I found that my natural pattern is to wake up at 10 a.m. and go to bed at 2 a.m. I always knew I hated getting up to go to work and was a night owl, but didn't realize it was that extreme.

 

I don't eat my main meals later than about 9 p.m. but being up that late and having a few drinks I sure would like something to munch on.

 

I have always though Carnival was a bit misleading with its "Fun Ship" image. They gear everything to the crack of dawn people. Try sleeping past 9 a.m. - you can't for all the announcements by the CD. Try doing anything but drink or gamble past midnight. They are geared to early birds, not party animals (or just plain night owls) - nursing home hours.

 

The lack of food late is not a big deal, just one more nice thing they have eliminated.

[TerReuv]

We're cruising Horizon in October, so I have been reading a lot of reviews.  From what I have ready of reviews from this year, there has been a late night snack at one of the buffet areas from 11:30 pm to 1am.  They even posted screenshots of the menu.  So, it sounds like there is a late night food on the Horizon.

[pc_load_letter]

9 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said:

My point with the cultural comment was that I've seen a lot of people talking about this lately and it seems to be from only US cruisers. Is it more common in the US to eat later? I'd say here in the UK, the only time anyone eats after say 8pm is if they've been out drinking at the clubs lol

 

That's generally why I want late night eats.

 

But some people eat small during the day, or perhaps have an early dinner. I am a fairly athletic guy with fast metabolism so if I eat at 5-6pm, I am hungry by 9pm, or earlier. If I am up late, I get hungry.

 

Personally, I love NCL for their O'Sheehans pub food. It's great after a night of drinking.

[slavigne5577]

1 hour ago, icft said:

Count me as one who misses the late night food. Once I retired I found that my natural pattern is to wake up at 10 a.m. and go to bed at 2 a.m. I always knew I hated getting up to go to work and was a night owl, but didn't realize it was that extreme.

 

I don't eat my main meals later than about 9 p.m. but being up that late and having a few drinks I sure would like something to munch on.

 

 

This so me. I am not retired, but have always been night owl. When I started working from home, I was finally able to live free to on my schedule. 

I agree that with drinking late, it's nice to have something to eat before going to bed.

[Itried4498]

8 hours ago, TerReuv said:

We're cruising Horizon in October, so I have been reading a lot of reviews.  From what I have ready of reviews from this year, there has been a late night snack at one of the buffet areas from 11:30 pm to 1am.  They even posted screenshots of the menu.  So, it sounds like there is a late night food on the Horizon.

The late night buffet appears to have been dropped throughout the network within the last few weeks.  In the last two weeks, multiple posters on cruises on different sides of the county have reported the deli has seen its hours cut from 11pm to 10pm, so it’s fluid.  What’s true in May… May not be true in October.

 

Even though many people like to dwell on tiny details, Carnival runs a very consistent product so that 90% of your vacation experience is the same regardless of which sailing you take.  For fun, read some reviews written in the mid-1990s… you’ll recognize many of your favorite carnival activities and menu items.

[Illbcruzn4life]

9 hours ago, TerReuv said:

We're cruising Horizon in October, so I have been reading a lot of reviews.  From what I have ready of reviews from this year, there has been a late night snack at one of the buffet areas from 11:30 pm to 1am.  They even posted screenshots of the menu.  So, it sounds like there is a late night food on the Horizon.

I can tell you from my personal experience on the 4/24 Horizon cruise. Deli closed at 11pm. Then pizza was the only option other than pizza and room service.

 

pizza closed at 3am

Edited May 16, 2022 by Illbcruzn4life

[ray98]

LOL....only on here could you have people judging others because they 'eat too late'.  We get it....you are tucked in bed at 9.....lots of people on the ship aren't.

 

As for this current move by Carnival, it is baffling to me.  We first experienced it on the Mardi Gras in December.  Once it hit 10pm there was nothing offered other than Pizza.  One night the line extended all the way down the corridor to guest services, at least 45 minutes to even get to the counter and that was at 65% capacity.  I get that the old midnight buffet went away, it was impressive but it was certainly full of waste.  The 'late night snacks' on the Lido was always steady on every cruise we were on.

[Earthworm Jim]

On 5/15/2022 at 6:49 AM, ScratchTheRat said:

...the only time anyone eats after say 8pm is if they've been out drinking...

 

I think you just answered your own question.

[mz-s]

17 hours ago, TerReuv said:

We're cruising Horizon in October, so I have been reading a lot of reviews.  From what I have ready of reviews from this year, there has been a late night snack at one of the buffet areas from 11:30 pm to 1am.  They even posted screenshots of the menu.  So, it sounds like there is a late night food on the Horizon.

 

I was just on the Sunshine the last week of April and the late night snacks buffet was not offered. Instead, the pizza place (yeah that's right the place that already has an insane line) offered pastas from 11:30PM-1:30AM.

 

If this change hasn't yet hit the Horizon I'm sure it will soon. Or perhaps Carnival was testing the change to see how well it's received on Sunshine before deploying it fleet-wide.

 

And as has been mentioned, Mardi Gras' deli closes an hour earlier than other ships - and has never offered a late night snacks buffet. So the pizza line on that ship, that accommodates over 6000 guests at full capacity - could easily be an hour plus.

[ray98]

2 hours ago, mz-s said:

And as has been mentioned, Mardi Gras' deli closes an hour earlier than other ships - and has never offered a late night snacks buffet. So the pizza line on that ship, that accommodates over 6000 guests at full capacity - could easily be an hour plus.

 

It is absolutely baffling to me.  We stood in that line one night and I noted how obvious it was this was a poor decision, it should be plainly obvious to Carnival.   You can still hit the pub on NCL and get the full menu 24/7.  To push 6k guest to one night option makes no sense.

[tap_out]

Does anyone know if they are still delivering the pizza via the app? This was super convenient. I didn't mind paying the fee, knowing I was not waiting an hour in line. 

 

Really disappointed to see they did away with the late night area of the buffet. 

[vicky3vicky]

We are a mostly Autistic group and so we really never know where our sensory tolerance levels will be at any time. Because of that, ussually during lunch, we bring up extra food which we wrap in saran wrap. If something should be refrigerated we use the small fridge leaving the cabinet slightly open.

 

That way if someone can't handle leaving the rooms we have food. If no one eats it at dinner it ussually is eaten for late night snacks, and if there is still some left[ we are opposed to wasting food]we will eat it for or before breakfast.Plus, There is always room service. 

[Illbcruzn4life]

21 hours ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

That's generally why I want late night eats.

 

But some people eat small during the day, or perhaps have an early dinner. I am a fairly athletic guy with fast metabolism so if I eat at 5-6pm, I am hungry by 9pm, or earlier. If I am up late, I get hungry.

 

Personally, I love NCL for their O'Sheehans pub food. It's great after a night of drinking.

 

I'm always looking fpr something to eat late nights. I work nights when not cruising and I eat breakfast at 1pm,lunch at 6pm, and dinner at 1am. I usually go to bed around 5am.

 

Unless doing an excursion I never eat breakfast on a cruise. My first meal is lunch on the ship as I don't get up that early. 

[mz-s]

57 minutes ago, ray98 said:

 

It is absolutely baffling to me.  We stood in that line one night and I noted how obvious it was this was a poor decision, it should be plainly obvious to Carnival.   You can still hit the pub on NCL and get the full menu 24/7.  To push 6k guest to one night option makes no sense.

 

I think it's a built-in cost cutting measure. People check the Fun Times, see pizza is all that's open. Walk down and see the line, realize "I'm not that hungry" and go to bed. It's a very poor guest experience though.

 

We're not asking for the midnight gala buffet to come back but something would be welcome.

[pc_load_letter]

1 hour ago, ray98 said:

 

It is absolutely baffling to me.  We stood in that line one night and I noted how obvious it was this was a poor decision, it should be plainly obvious to Carnival.   You can still hit the pub on NCL and get the full menu 24/7.  To push 6k guest to one night option makes no sense.

 

It's a slow Monday at work so i thought I'd fire off a post on John H's FB page and see if he'd reply.

 

My question...Carnival's late night food options are atrocious. Pizza after 10pm is always an hour or more wait. Why can't Carnival get their late night food options worked out? NCL does it right with O'Sheehans. And stop blaming staffing.

 

Well, got a response from JH in a matter of minutes...

 

"First of all I hope to see you very soon having fun with us again and thank you so very much for writing to me. I’ve never ever in all of my time heard it called “atrocious” I think you’ll find the entire cruise industry suffering from a staff shortage thanks to the lack of these is being issued by the United States government. We hope that that will change. I hope we see you very soon and the pizza and all the fun and affordability of a wonderful cruise with us will be waiting for you. Thank you MICHAEL, sending you and your family my very best wishes and hopes again to see you soon. Cheers mate"

 

So I followed up with...

 

Blaming everything on staffing is getting old. If staffing is an issue, why the rush to start the ENTIRE fleet back up?

 

"I don’t want you to think that, I want you to think that we appreciate your comments so very much. But it is an actual fact, that we have hundreds and hundreds of crew members waiting to return to work and they cannot do so until the US state department issues of Visa. We’re working on this as you will see in a video coming very very very soon. Cheers mate at my best wishes to you and your family and hope to see you soon"

 

*Another lady, evidently a TA, agreed with my comment about staffing and starting up the entire fleet, to which he replied to her with...

 

"And the sensible answer is that we have reduced capacity on some of the shorter Cruises and move the stuff to the bigger shapes that have longer Cruises. If you would like to send me the name of your travel agency Pamela I will ask Adolfo to personally speak with you about the situation. Thank you so much and let me know and I will be here to help you"

 

...Anyways, I know I was being snarky but I think Carnival can do better. I love Carnival, we're booked on Radiance next month. I just think that it's pretty evident that it's a larger problem that JH thinks. 

 

Meh, maybe I'm making a mountain out of mole hill, but again, slow Monday.

 

Topic looks still active with JH making another comment...

 

John Heald - Posts | Facebook

[ray98]

6 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

I think it's a built-in cost cutting measure. People check the Fun Times, see pizza is all that's open. Walk down and see the line, realize "I'm not that hungry" and go to bed. It's a very poor guest experience though.

 

We're not asking for the midnight gala buffet to come back but something would be welcome.

 

.....or order paid room service.

[Cruise, J.D.]

9 minutes ago, mz-s said:

We're not asking for the midnight gala buffet to come back but something would be welcome.

Yes. I thought the late night Lido snacks were a good option and I am disappointed they are disappearing. It was very basic food, but welcome after staying out too late drinking and spending $. If Carnival wants me to be ready to get back out there spending $ the next day, I need some easy grub before bed. 😄

[pc_load_letter]

5 minutes ago, ray98 said:

 

.....or order paid room service.

 

Sure, I totally get that pov, but...I am on a cruise, it's vacation. People are up, messing around, playing board games, having drinks, maybe just chit chatting with family. Why should I have to go get room service if I am hungry past midnight.