Late night snack menu?

[zhuangcorp]

Is the late night snack menu listed anywhere? or is it just the same menu as the Lido dinner menu? How have you found these late night snacks?

[Seasick Sailor]

If Lido is closed late night, Room service is open 24-7. 

[canadarocks]

Crew News has the BEST site for info:

 

https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/7-Day-Late-Buffet.pdf

[Crew News]

The Late Buffet menus are available on the Navigator app each day.  This limited buffet is for the crew but passengers are welcome.  The entrees are different from the MDR but some desserts from the MDR are still available.

 

[iflyrc5]

The late Lido buffet is from 1030pm to 1130pm and varies every night.  Fewer items and normally different than the Lido dinner offerings.

 

[zhuangcorp]

54 minutes ago, Crew News said:

The Late Buffet menus are available on the Navigator app each day.  This limited buffet is for the crew but passengers are welcome.  The entrees are different from the MDR but some desserts from the MDR are still available.

 

On that note, where actually do the crew eat throughout the day? Do they just come into the lido market and eat whenever they have an off time?

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, zhuangcorp said:

On that note, where actually do the crew eat throughout the day? Do they just come into the lido market and eat whenever they have an off time?

Depends on their job. Some staff are allowed to eat at the Lido for all meals...officers, entertainers, spa and gym staff, for example. Other crew can only eat the staff food locations. All crew get breaks for eating during their shifts.

 

The crew mess (eating area) serves a lot of food related to the nationalities and favorite foods of those nationalities, so many crew are happy to eat in their mess. I heard once that the crew mess goes through 10x the rice the passengers do on a daily basis.

[zhuangcorp]

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

Depends on their job. Some staff are allowed to eat at the Lido for all meals...officers, entertainers, spa and gym staff, for example. Other crew can only eat the staff food locations. All crew get breaks for eating during their shifts.

Wow, there is a hidden staff food location?

 

I'm surprised there haven't been cases of guests sneaking into the staff food locations and eating with the staff. 

[CruiserBruce]

5 minutes ago, zhuangcorp said:

Wow, there is a hidden staff food location?

 

I'm surprised there haven't been cases of guests sneaking into the staff food locations and eating with the staff. 

The average passenger would stand out like a sore thumb in the crew mess, which is below the passenger areas. On the average HAL ship, passengers only go on the numbered decks (1-14), with the exception of the medical center on A deck, and occasionally embarking/disembarking on B Deck. But, below Deck 1 are Decks A to E, which is all off limits to passengers. This is where most of the crew live.

 

Indonesian food is quite popular with passengers, so you will see some Indonesian dishes made available to the pax.

[SilvertoGold]

Crew mess are very nice, colourful, decorated to some degree and comfortable looking. The food looks great and seems to be very well received.  Lots of Indonesian and Asian offerings but also American-style specialties.  

[zhuangcorp]

13 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

The average passenger would stand out like a sore thumb in the crew mess, which is below the passenger areas. On the average HAL ship, passengers only go on the numbered decks (1-14), with the exception of the medical center on A deck, and occasionally embarking/disembarking on B Deck. But, below Deck 1 are Decks A to E, which is all off limits to passengers. This is where most of the crew live.

 

Indonesian food is quite popular with passengers, so you will see some Indonesian dishes made available to the pax.

Yes I love Indonesian food. But where can  you get it on the ship?

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, zhuangcorp said:

On that note, where actually do the crew eat throughout the day? Do they just come into the lido market and eat whenever they have an off time?

LOL, that is not how it works.    For eating purposes, you can divide the crew into two groups which are the senior crew (generally officers) and staff that have access to both the passenger dining venues (primarily the Lido) and the majority of the crew that can only eat in the crew mess or crew bar (assuming they have some snacks).   The Officers and staff that are permitted to eat in the Lido will generally grab a bite when they are off-duty so it is not unusual to see a few of the bridge officers having breakfast/lunch in the Lido.  The remainder of the crew have their own eating venues (not open to the passengers).   

 

This brings up one of my favorite things about Seabourn.  That luxury line (part of the HAL Group) routinely has "Hosted Tables" in their MDR.  All the senior officers (and some junior officers) are encouraged to host tables at least twice a week as are many of the entertainers, cruise director staff, etc.  For those that volunteer to dine at hosted tables (which includes me) you get to meet many of the senior officers/staff and the entertainers.  For DW and me, these tables are a lot of fun and we always meet many interesting folks.  To give you an idea how it works, on a 14 day Seabourn Odyssey cruise last October we dined with the Captain, Staff Captain, Chief Engineer, Assistant Cruise Director, Environmental Officer, Lead Dancer/Singer, and two Guest Entertainers.  It turned out that both the Captain and Staff Captain used to work for HAL.   The hosted tables are by invitation (easy to get if you volunteer) and they use place cards to separate couples and further stimulate socialization/conversation.  One of the senior officers, who used to work on HAL ships, told us that Seabourn supported the idea of Officers/Staff interacting with the passengers.  When he worked on HAL he rarely had time to socialize or dine with passengers and the practice was not encouraged by the company. 

 

When we started cruising on HAL (back in the 80s) it was pretty common to see many of the senior officers dining with passengers in the MDR.  This has changed although you may sometimes see the captain and some other very senior officers/staff hosting some passengers in the Pinnacle.  When we used to cruise on the Prinsendam (a small very friendly HAL vessel) we (and others) would actually invite officers to dine with us in the MDR.  I still recall one delightful evening when we invited the ship's Communications Officer and his wife to join our table for dinner.  There was a formalized procedure to invite officers (which made it easy for them to decline if not interested) and it was a fairly common practice on that one ship.  

 

Hank

 

[CruiserBruce]

9 minutes ago, zhuangcorp said:

Yes I love Indonesian food. But where can  you get it on the ship?

You may see it on menus from time to time, particularly on longer cruises. You may see it occasionally in the Lido buffet. On longer cruises, there may be special events where an Indonesian dish or two are offered.

[SilvertoGold]

Concerning Hank's info about Officer dining habits, I note that on the Koningsdam (and other Pinnacle class ships?) the officers (and maybe a few staff) take their Lido plates up to Tamarind and have a nice, private area to eat lunch.  

On the Zuiderdam we noticed the oval central seating area aft of the drink station in the Lido is now roped off and a "private" sign is in place.  Looked as if this area was open to all staff and Officers.

[crystalspin]

35 minutes ago, zhuangcorp said:

Yes I love Indonesian food. But where can  you get it on the ship?

At least as late as 2019, there was an International station in the Lido "Market", which would feature a different region daily. Indonesian and Polynesian were particularly well done!

 

Apologize, do not know if that is Lunch, Dinner, or both!

[Crew News]

19 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

....On the Zuiderdam we noticed the oval central seating area aft of the drink station in the Lido is now roped off and a "private" sign is in place.  Looked as if this area was open to all staff and Officers.

In addition, as the lunch period nears the end, one of the buffet lines is closed to all but crew members.

 

At least one lunch day on most cruise weeks is devoted to Indonesian food at the Distant Lands station.

[sandiego1]

46 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

Concerning Hank's info about Officer dining habits, I note that on the Koningsdam (and other Pinnacle class ships?) the officers (and maybe a few staff) take their Lido plates up to Tamarind and have a nice, private area to eat lunch.  

On the Zuiderdam we noticed the oval central seating area aft of the drink station in the Lido is now roped off and a "private" sign is in place.  Looked as if this area was open to all staff and Officers.

Is it roped off every day? There was no roped area when we were on the Zuiderdam in April. Are only officers and other staff there?

 

Pre-Covid, there were plenty of groups on board various cruises and they would have private gatherings periodically (with roped off areas in various venues).

 

[SilvertoGold]

Zuiderdam in June: it was roped off every day at lunchtime. No idea about at dinner time.

[Crew News]

47 minutes ago, sandiego1 said:

Is it roped off every day? There was no roped area when we were on the Zuiderdam in April. Are only officers and other staff there?

 

Pre-Covid, there were plenty of groups on board various cruises and they would have private gatherings periodically (with roped off areas in various venues).

 

Roped-off only near the conclusion of lunch every day from April 22 - May 4 while I was onboard the Zuiderdam.  Crew and authorized staff were picking up lunch and heading to "Crew Only" area at the forward end of the Lido Market. First time I had seen this on any of my previous cruises.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Crew News

[sandiego1]

I wonder if this is there way of trying to reduce the risk of the crew getting COVID while they are eating and have their masks off??

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

At least as late as 2019, there was an International station in the Lido "Market", which would feature a different region daily. Indonesian and Polynesian were particularly well done!

 

Apologize, do not know if that is Lunch, Dinner, or both!

I’m fairly certain I’ve seen Indonesian food somewhat recently in the Asian food area at lunch.  Not every day but on a rotating basis.  I’ve had the opportunity to talk to many of the crew over the years.  I love to hear stories about life on a ship.  I’ve asked multiple times about the food.  I always seem to hear the same thing.  It’s ok but pretty much the same daily.  It would have to be.  It’s been a long standing tradition for some of the crew to get off the ship in mazatlan and go to a restaurant and cook a meal.  Just a taste of home and a little something different.  I’m glad they get this little break and some joy in what must be very hard work. I think anything that anyone would get at the Asian station would likely be more tasty and flavourful then what the crew would get.

[dawei]

One of the food stations in the Lido Market (if memory serves it 's called Foreign Lands on Pinnacle class ships) features Asian dishes. Most every day, there is sushi. In addition,  they may have Filipino, Chinese, Indian or Indonesian dishes on different days.

Indian dishes are usually quite good if there's an Indian chef onboard. I've found that an Indonesian dish prepared by a Filipino chef, rather than an Indonesian one, isn't what I'd call the real deal, but they try.

Getting to know some crew members, I've learned that on some HAL ships, the crew's dining room features Nasi Goreng every Sunday. I've often wanted to join them, but no invites to date.

 

David

[Wakepatrol]

4 hours ago, zhuangcorp said:

Wow, there is a hidden staff food location?

 

I'm surprised there haven't been cases of guests sneaking into the staff food locations and eating with the staff. 

Yes I know what you mean

[Seasick Sailor]

On our many HAL cruises, our staff tells us they crave Kentucky fried chicken. This January we brought a bucket back for our Lido Pool guys and Ing Ing in Tamarind. 

[KroozNut]

5 hours ago, zhuangcorp said:

Yes I love Indonesian food. But where can  you get it on the ship?

 

Sometimes you'll see it in the 'Distant Lands' section of the Lido buffet.