? Dinner buffet

[Momperson3]

This probably was answered before— but has Princess cut back on their dinner buffet?

I know other lines have.  We have a friend that doesn’t like to do a long sit down dinner 🤷🏻‍♀️.  
I was looking at Hawaii cruises for the fall—We (and another couple) had one scheduled back 11/21 and it was canceled.    I think it is a big deal for him not to be able to go to a dinner buffet 

thank you!

[cruisequeen4ever]

We love eating at Horizon court for dinner on Princess. We get to choose exactly how much we want, what we want, and eat at our own pace. Though there aren’t quite as many options as pre-pandemic, it’s nothing like what has been reported on Celebrity with cutbacks at dinner. There is still tons from which to choose. I do hope that they go back to their full selection like pre-pandemic, but for now, your friends will not suffer if they eat there at night. 

[coo359a2]

I have never gone hungry at breakfast, lunch or dinner eating at the buffet. Like the selections and choosing what/how much to take. 

[VibeGuy]

Depends on the ship as well - I am *not* a dinner-in-the-WFM/HC person, and I was shocked by how many times in a month we did just that on Discovery.  We’d just been on Diamond for three weeks - maybe once.  But Discovery was the best buffet dining I’ve experienced on any ship of any North American line. 

[startedwithamouse]

Not at all. The buffet has so many options, and we've always tried new things. Indian and Indonesian foods are perfection. Many many deli style salads available.  

[Momperson3]

When we were o a celebrity cruise this year—11 days (1/23- 2/3/23) on Jan 1st the cruise line scaled back the dinner buffet to about 1/3 of what they used to have.  Heard some other cruise lines were doing the same.  I understand because of waste etc, but there wasn’t a ton of choices.   We like eating in the regular restaurants— however sometimes after being in port all day you don’t want to get dress up & have a long meal

The breakfast & lunch buffet was awesome.   
I would like to know if anyone has been on a Princess cruise after January 1st of this year & if there were cutbacks at dinner

 

[MissP22]

I've notices some cutbacks in selections and in the quality of items they've prepared. Many of the meats are of a lower grade and it's quite evident compared to previous cruises last year. It becomes a hit or miss as what to expect when selecting what to take. There were things missing from past years that I knew they used to have.

Still, there were sufficient items that you'll not go hungry.

If something isn't OK, then just don't eat it.

[coo359a2]

I'm on the Regal Princess now and all lines of buffet are not open like pre Covid.    There's two lines of hot foods and 2 lines of salads, etc plus dessert line so far.  Breakfast and lunch are pretty good.  Some dinners have had more choices for me  and one night has been so so (I'm picky).  At least the Regal has Alfredos for pizza.

[MissP22]

7 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

I'm on the Regal Princess now and all lines of buffet are not open like pre Covid.   

You say there open but not similar.

Is it the selections you're referring to and 

can people server themselves or not?

[coo359a2]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

You say there open but not similar.

Is it the selections you're referring to and 

can people server themselves or not?

 

Buffet has regular food set up just like in the past but some lines (that's what I call them) just have not opened up.  I think you are on the Enchanted so buffet  would be set up the same as on the Regal..    When we were on the Enchanted in Oct 2021, they didn't have all their lines open due to the low numbers of passengers.  I am satisfied with the selections offer. We have been serving ourselves on this cruise.   It's been a while since we have been on a cruise and had crew serve our plates.

[MissP22]

6 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

 

Buffet has regular food set up just like in the past but some lines (that's what I call them) just have not opened up.  I think you are on the Enchanted so buffet  would be set up the same as on the Regal..    When we were on the Enchanted in Oct 2021, they didn't have all their lines open due to the low numbers of passengers.  I am satisfied with the selections offer. We have been serving ourselves on this cruise.   It's been a while since we have been on a cruise and had crew serve our plates.

It sounds identical to the Enchanted although on our recent trip we were sailing at full capacity- 3,600+ people. We really likes the Regal but prefer 10 day sailings, so the Enchanted was our choice for a B2B trip.

 

[SargassoPirate]

I avoid the MDR for the evening meal.  Too loud and too long.  I was on the Caribbean Princess in January and ate every evening meal in the HC.  I would load up my plate, grab another plate as a cover, get a drink, and go out to one of the tables at the Outrigger bar and dine while watching the ship's wake and sometimes the sunset. The crew back there was very attentive and refill my glass, etc.

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

17 hours ago, Momperson3 said:

When we were o a celebrity cruise this year—11 days (1/23- 2/3/23) on Jan 1st the cruise line scaled back the dinner buffet to about 1/3 of what they used to have.  

To provide a counterpoint, I was on the Celebrity Summit for 5 days in February and March and their dinner buffet was more or less as it always had been - full selection, no closed stations, good and tasty food (I'm the wrong person to ask about quality).  The fact that it was a charter may have had something to do with it.  Or perhaps all the protests to their President's office finally wore them down and they did the right thing in response.

[stevenr597]

My wife and I were  on the Discovery Princess this past July and found both the dining room (we were Club Class) and the buffet to be excellent.  

We were on Celebrity (Reflection) this past December and were disappointed both in the "Blu" Restaurant and with  the buffet with variety.  Also in "Blu" they did cut back on size of portions.

 

[Mingus]

On 3/16/2023 at 1:06 PM, Momperson3 said:

 I would like to know if anyone has been on a Princess cruise after January 1st of this year & if there were cutbacks at dinner

 

We were on the Jan.17, 2023 sailing of the Emerald Princess and had great dinners every night.

There were changes to some "available every day" menu items, e.g. lasagna instead for fettuccini alfredo. Unlike some other cruise lines, there is no extra charge for additional entrees (yet).

On lobster night, our friend asked for 3 lobster tails.....but the waiter brought him 4 instead!!!

[VibeGuy]

All four of my aforementioned Discovery sailings were since January 6, with the most buffet variety and best quality I’ve had in the 44 years I’ve been sailing Princess. 

[Kellyansapansa]

We were on the Island in early February and the buffet was exceptional. The biggest change we noticed was more options provided in single serves, which we really liked. There was plenty of choice and the quality was excellent. 😊