Breakfast in the MDR vs. Buffet

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

@IndyKid. similar to your situation, Mrs. XBGuy is a late sleeper, and I get up and go to breakfast.  I tend to switch between the buffet and the dining room.  I enjoy meeting people in both, and, then, we all move on with our lives.

 

I like the dining room because I like the table service.  What I do not particularly enjoy is the production mode of operation.  When everybody is seated at the table, the waiter is on the spot taking orders.  Yes, I would like cup of coffee, runners come by offering sweet rolls and orange juice.  On one occasion I asked for an omelet, and the waiter tried to discourage me saying that it would take 20 minutes for me to get an omelet, but if I was to order the daily special, it would be much faster.  I stuck with my omelet request.  Then the guy next to me also ordered and omelet.  Our omelets came out at the same time as everybody else's orders.  I can usually get my coffee refilled once, but after that, the runners with the coffee seem to disappear.  So, getting another refill is unlikely.

 

As you can see from some of the above posts, the dining room is open for a relatively short time for breakfast.  They want you in and out.  For many passengers this is fine.  They have plans and also want to get out,  However, for those who do not have plans, chatting over a few cups of coffee is difficult.

 

People have commented on the crowd in the buffet.  I have to agree that there have been times when I have found the buffet crowded.  However, I have never been unable to find a seat.  My strategy is to find a large 6- or 8-top size table that has only two or three people sitting at it,  I then ask if I cab join them.  In 20-something Princess cruises I have been turned down only once,  These people were waiting for family members.  No problem.  I was able to join a table just a few steps away.  (Hilariously, I was able to watch this couple eat alone at this big table and leave without waiting for their family.)  Once seated at the buffet a runner with coffee and juice usually comes by pretty quickly.  The runner generally learns pretty quickly that when my cup is empty, I would like a refill--multiple times.  I, of course, engage the people I have joined and we usually chat about the cruise.  Since I joined while they were already into their breakfast, they generally finish their meal and excuse themselves.  So, for a while I am alone at this big table.  However, busboys generally clear the table pretty quickly, and, invariably, new people will ask if they can join me.  So, now I restart and engage these new people.  All along the coffee runner is stopping by to refill my cup.  More often than not, this second group of people have plans, and leave me alone at the table again.  Reboot.  Busboys clear the table, I am alone until another group comes along.

 

Somebody mentioned the smoked salmon.  Once my bladder tells me that I have had enough coffee, I make my way back to the cabin.  However, I do take a nosh back to my wife.  She loves it when I bring smoked salmon with some onion and bagel with cream cheese.  For some strange reason, she does not like capers.  Go figure.

Our experiences in the past were very similar to yours. They initially take you order quickly but be sure to give them a complete order or you'll be out of luck. Refills seem to be the last thing they care about.

[rasthravas]

As has been said the drawbacks to the MDR are:

1. Limited hours, you need to be up early

2. Relatively relaxed (meaning slow) service. A complete breakfast is an hour commitment at least

3. My experience of the food itself is that most is the same “quality” as the buffet.

Advantages are:

1. You are being served.

2. You can somewhat customize your requests

3. They come around with breads/pastries and serve them to you

4. The coffee seems better than buffet coffee. Same as after dinner coffee

5. You can more readily get an Irish Coffee etal for breakfast 🙂

 

Drawbacks to buffet Breakfast

1. At peak time it can be challenging to find a table (especially for 4)

2. The “regular” coffee tastes like syrup coffee which is not to everyone’s liking

3. If you are by yourself you need something to “preserve” your seat if you get up to get anything like a glass of water or whatever

Advantages

1. You can get made to order eggs and omelets delivered to your table

2. People come by and offer you juices and coffee and tea

3. You can be quite quick

4. Great place for variety including fresh fruit of your choice, bagels and lox, and as much bacon as you want…….

 

We usually try the MDR breakfast maybe once on a cruise and when we are sitting there after almost an hour still waiting for our main dish, we kinda wish we hadn't. It is much more leisurely and in my experience slower than lunch or dinner.  We don't usually order room service breakfast because… who wants to be woken up if we happen to be sleeping.. But that's us.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, rasthravas said:

As has been said the drawbacks to the MDR are:

1. Limited hours, you need to be up early

2. Relatively relaxed (meaning slow) service. A complete breakfast is an hour commitment at least

3. My experience of the food itself is that most is the same “quality” as the buffet.

Advantages are:

1. You are being served.

2. You can somewhat customize your requests

3. They come around with breads/pastries and serve them to you

4. The coffee seems better than buffet coffee. Same as after dinner coffee

5. You can more readily get an Irish Coffee etal for breakfast 🙂

 

Drawbacks to buffet Breakfast

1. At peak time it can be challenging to find a table (especially for 4)

2. The “regular” coffee tastes like syrup coffee which is not to everyone’s liking

3. If you are by yourself you need something to “preserve” your seat if you get up to get anything like a glass of water or whatever

Advantages

1. You can get made to order eggs and omelets delivered to your table

2. People come by and offer you juices and coffee and tea

3. You can be quite quick

4. Great place for variety including fresh fruit of your choice, bagels and lox, and as much bacon as you want…….

 

We usually try the MDR breakfast maybe once on a cruise and when we are sitting there after almost an hour still waiting for our main dish, we kinda wish we hadn't. It is much more leisurely and in my experience slower than lunch or dinner.  We don't usually order room service breakfast because… who wants to be woken up if we happen to be sleeping.. But that's us.

Thank you, your comparison is quite valid.  My biggest objection to the buffet, at any meal, is the noise and the large number of people using the same serving utensils over and over.   Also, when there is a lot of people coming and going, the waitstaff don’t always have time to thoroughly clean the tables between the old and the new set of people.  It is not their fault by any means.

 

I guess because of my profession, I’m accustomed to a very clean environment and very limited cross contamination of germs.  When I’m in a buffet I see so much of what I would never have tolerated.  If people enjoy it and have no qualms eating there, then more power to them.  Best part of cruising is the choices we all have.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Lady Arwen

[BamaVol]

1 hour ago, rasthravas said:

As has been said the drawbacks to the MDR are:

1. Limited hours, you need to be up early

2. Relatively relaxed (meaning slow) service. A complete breakfast is an hour commitment at least

3. My experience of the food itself is that most is the same “quality” as the buffet.

Advantages are:

1. You are being served.

2. You can somewhat customize your requests

3. They come around with breads/pastries and serve them to you

4. The coffee seems better than buffet coffee. Same as after dinner coffee

5. You can more readily get an Irish Coffee etal for breakfast 🙂

 

Drawbacks to buffet Breakfast

1. At peak time it can be challenging to find a table (especially for 4)

2. The “regular” coffee tastes like syrup coffee which is not to everyone’s liking

3. If you are by yourself you need something to “preserve” your seat if you get up to get anything like a glass of water or whatever

Advantages

1. You can get made to order eggs and omelets delivered to your table

2. People come by and offer you juices and coffee and tea

3. You can be quite quick

4. Great place for variety including fresh fruit of your choice, bagels and lox, and as much bacon as you want…….

 

We usually try the MDR breakfast maybe once on a cruise and when we are sitting there after almost an hour still waiting for our main dish, we kinda wish we hadn't. It is much more leisurely and in my experience slower than lunch or dinner.  We don't usually order room service breakfast because… who wants to be woken up if we happen to be sleeping.. But that's us.

We tried the omelet station at the buffet once and waited as long as we would have in the MDR, if not longer.  Part of that wait is due to someone walking around the seating area looking for you while your food cools on the plate.  I wonder why they don’t use the medallion to locate you.
 

Plus the noise.  Lord, the noise.

 

If I can get there before the MDR closes, it’s no contest.

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

There is another option that hasn't been mentioned yet and that is the  special breakfast for suite guests. On Sky it is in Sabatini's but on other ships it may be somewhere else.

 

When in a suite we always use it. We can get almost anything we want there and it is always quiet.The crew get to know you there too and that is a nice touch.

[CTGirl74]

27 minutes ago, Snaxmuppet said:

There is another option that hasn't been mentioned yet and that is the  special breakfast for suite guests. On Sky it is in Sabatini's but on other ships it may be somewhere else.

 

When in a suite we always use it. We can get almost anything we want there and it is always quiet.The crew get to know you there too and that is a nice touch.

 

Does the breakfast for suite guests include mini suites, or only full suites? I'll be cruising Princess for the first time in January with four other women and we booked two mini suites side by side. We'll be on the Caribbean Princess if that matters.

[reedprincess]

1 hour ago, CTGirl74 said:

 

Does the breakfast for suite guests include mini suites, or only full suites? I'll be cruising Princess for the first time in January with four other women and we booked two mini suites side by side. We'll be on the Caribbean Princess if that matters.

S category full suites only.. 

[MauiLvrs]

It takes a LONG to eat breakfast in the MDR.

Buffet is usually fast but can be difficult to get a seat.

We usually gram code and something from the International Cafe and grab a seat in GS to take it to the balcony 

[MissP22]

10 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

There is another option that hasn't been mentioned yet and that is the  special breakfast for suite guests. On Sky it is in Sabatini's but on other ships it may be somewhere else.

 

When in a suite we always use it. We can get almost anything we want there and it is always quiet. The crew get to know you there too and that is a nice touch.

True but that's not a fair comparison, even to the main DR. 

Sabatini's breakfast is prepared especially for each individual guest one at a time and the pastries are different (upgraded) then those served elsewhere.

[New2cruise2022]

In my limited experience cruising, it seems that timing is a paramount consideration, as is expectation and attitude.

 

If full breakfast is up and going in the buffet at 6 am, an early riser can enjoy a breakfast in the buffet without lots of crowds. A table should be easy to find and there should be more opportunities to have better service because staff have less guests to accommodate. The window of opportunity will vary by sailing (what ages/types of people are cruising) and by day (sea day/port day). On a port day that starts early, crowds may snuff out the 6:30 to 7:30 window. On sea days, you may be able to go as late as 8 or 8:30 and still enjoy a calm before the storm.

NOTE/IDEA/QUESTION: With all of the real-time data being collected with the Medallion, why doesn’t Princess provide real-time indicators of how busy venues are, much like some amusement parks do for rides? If you could compare venues on a Green, Yellow, Red basis you could make decisions without walking to buffet and seeing if it seems desolate and peaceful or if it has devolved to a scene from an apocalypse. 
 

For the MDR, the hours are so limited for breakfast, it will probably always feature that slower, relaxed service. If you want the quiet and the service, pay with your expectation that it will be slower. But like any other restaurant on land, what and how you order can impact experience. If you have a thousand questions and can’t make up your mind — you experience will be slower. If you know what you want when you sit down and you let your server know that you would like to eat quickly, it MIGHT marginally increase the pace of your service. 
 

In either case, manage your own expectations. Remember that there are probably 3000+ other people that eating. Remember that there really isn’t anywhere else you need to be. And if there is somewhere to be (early port day) there are probably 3000+ other people that need to be there too. 

[New2cruise2022]

Also, are there many OceanNow breakfast options available? If so, I think a reasonable hack to enjoy some peace and still be somewhat served, would be to find a quite spot (ex Take Five, not being used in the morning), sit down with a coffee you picked up at IC, and wait for your food to be delivered?

 

May not be remotely possible, just a thought. 

[capriccio]

I am not a breakfast person except when on a ship (DH needs breakfast) and I don't like the crowded chaos of the buffet so we usually went to the MDR for breakfast.  On a 28 day cruise last April we started going to the International Cafe for a smaller breakfast (usually yogurt and maybe a muffin, egg burrito, avocado toast, etc.)  DH would get his fancy coffee and I would get a choice of tea.  It was much faster and we weren't tempted by all the choices in the MDR and the buffet.

[donswife]

4 hours ago, capriccio said:

I am not a breakfast person except when on a ship (DH needs breakfast) and I don't like the crowded chaos of the buffet so we usually went to the MDR for breakfast.  On a 28 day cruise last April we started going to the International Cafe for a smaller breakfast (usually yogurt and maybe a muffin, egg burrito, avocado toast, etc.)  DH would get his fancy coffee and I would get a choice of tea.  It was much faster and we weren't tempted by all the choices in the MDR and the buffet.

I really like the new breakfast choices in the IC the past year or 2.  The muesli bars (pucks!) are a great pre or post workout snack 😋

[cheezenip]

On 10/27/2023 at 5:38 AM, mtnesterz said:

Also to @IndyKid. Last couple of cruises, it's the crowds from the table hogs not eating or drinking, buy playing table games; cards and dominoes. That is throughout the day. The crew does nothing. If sitting next to a card playing table, I've thought about calling out cards in their hand, to get them to move, but didn't do it.

What a great idea for my next cruise!! People need to start doing this as there are other venues where you can play cards as tables can be scarce for eating during prime hours.

[1965]

4 minutes ago, cheezenip said:

What a great idea for my next cruise!! People need to start doing this as there are other venues where you can play cards as tables can be scarce for eating during prime hours.

The crew need to ask the card & game players to find another place to play when the busy times are approaching. At none busy times, no problem. Play away. But during peak hours it's just rude. 

[Cruisintimer]

7 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Also, are there many OceanNow breakfast options available? If so, I think a reasonable hack to enjoy some peace and still be somewhat served, would be to find a quite spot (ex Take Five, not being used in the morning), sit down with a coffee you picked up at IC, and wait for your food to be delivered?

 

May not be remotely possible, just a thought. 

I don't remember seeing any last month on the app.  Of course there is breakfast room service using the card in your room.

  

[rj59]

I go to the buffet, because it's open fairly early. There's actually a better, third option, the International Cafe. I go there if I'm up at 5 or so, get a latte, fruit cup, pastry, and egg muffin sandwich, and sit by a window watching the sea and sunrise. Then I go back a few hours later to the buffet, or to the dining room, if they have a good daily special. Another thing to realize is that the MDR lunch also has breakfast items, like French toast and eggs benedict, so that's another breakfast option. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by rj59
adding information

[fsufancc]

There are pros and cons to both.  My grown daughter goes strictly to the MDR for breakfast. Her rational is that I serve people all the time at home and while I am on a cruise I want to be served.  But as others have stated, the MDR can be a long-drawn-out experience.  But it is easy to get a Bloody Mary or Mimosa in the MDR by just asking the server. Coffee, Bloody Mary, eggs benedict, a side of smoked salmon (in the quiet of the MDR) is a pretty good combo.

 

On the flip side, I am a very early riser and up an hour or more before Mrs Fan.  I can head up to the buffet area, get my coffee, maybe grab some eggs/bacon and catch up on some news on my phone or laptop.  I then usually bring back some hot water for Mrs Fan to make her morning tea (coffee gives her heartburn).  The crowds are light when it is early.

[Potstech]

On 10/28/2023 at 9:46 AM, New2cruise2022 said:

Also, are there many OceanNow breakfast options available? If so, I think a reasonable hack to enjoy some peace and still be somewhat served, would be to find a quite spot (ex Take Five, not being used in the morning), sit down with a coffee you picked up at IC, and wait for your food to be delivered?

 

May not be remotely possible, just a thought. 

And be prepared to wait a long time to get served.  There is no expectation of speedy service using Ocean Now for delivery.

[SargassoPirate]

MDR at peak times = civilized service.

 

Buffet at peak times = zombie apocalypse.

 

I enjoy the buffet for breakfast when it first opens, but more often than not choose the MDR.

 

Lunch is mostly MDR.

 

Dinner is nibbles at the P&E lounge. 

 

Fortunately, there are choices and ways to avoid the crowds.

[memoak]

18 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

MDR at peak times = civilized service.

 

Buffet at peak times = zombie apocalypse.

 

I enjoy the buffet for breakfast when it first opens, but more often than not choose the MDR.

 

Lunch is mostly MDR.

 

Dinner is nibbles at the P&E lounge. 

 

Fortunately, there are choices and ways to avoid the crowds.

Of course MDR lunch is only available on sea days if you have a port heavy cruise you will have to resort to other venues or eat on shore. On the Crown last month they actually put the P&E lounge details in the patter no one checked medallions at the door so it was a mass of humanity impossible to get drinks or food without a long wait.