Buffet for supper?

[swmrgrl]

This will be our first Celebrity cruise and have questions about the eveining meals. We are used to freeestyle dining and choosing the time we want to eat. I only found out yesterday when I picked up our tickets that we weren't previously informed on how the dining options work. We we originally told that there was buffet service - now we find out it closes around 5 or 5:30. All the menu options for supper involve menu's unless you want to eat hamburgers and pizza at another location.

 

Can anyone tell me how we can avoid sitting at a meal for 1 - 2 hours every evening waiting for all the courses to be served? Are there any other options besides ordering room service (which I don't want to do).

[dkjretired]

There are still a lot of options and the buffet usually closes earlier, around 2:00P.M. or so depending on ship. There is sushi, grill,pizza, casual dining in the buffet area which is from a menu and you can get the same menu as is served in the dining room from room service.

[CaliforniaDreamin]

 

Can anyone tell me how we can avoid sitting at a meal for 1 - 2 hours every evening waiting for all the courses to be served? Are there any other options besides ordering room service (which I don't want to do).

In addition to the venues listed by Don above there is a made to order Pasta and Salad station that is open from around 6 pm to 1 am. Also the Aqua Spa Cafe, which serves healthy-choice meals is open until around 8 pm I believe.

 

The casual dining served in an aft area of the buffet is only three courses. If I remember correctly you also choose and serve your own salad from a salad bar. Your waiter brings the entree and dessert. There is a $2 pp charge for tip.

 

With these choices, along with the Sushi Bar, Pizza station, and Hamburger/Hot dog grill, you may be able to avoid the main dining room for dinner every night if that is what you want to do.

[Boo's Mom]

This will be our first Celebrity cruise and have questions about the eveining meals. We are used to freeestyle dining and choosing the time we want to eat. I only found out yesterday when I picked up our tickets that we weren't previously informed on how the dining options work. We we originally told that there was buffet service - now we find out it closes around 5 or 5:30. All the menu options for supper involve menu's unless you want to eat hamburgers and pizza at another location.

 

Can anyone tell me how we can avoid sitting at a meal for 1 - 2 hours every evening waiting for all the courses to be served? Are there any other options besides ordering room service (which I don't want to do).

 

I would say that your best bet will be ordering from the dining room menu....from Room Service.

 

And, this can be done during the hours that the dining room is serving.

[MomC]

I don't mean to sound impertinent, but have you ever considered that dining for 1-2 hours is an interesting way to meet people and learn about others? In today's fast food society, I find meeting table mates and sharing experiences one of the highlights of the cruise. Unless you have a medical condition, I would urge you to take the time to enjoy the food, the excellent service and the fascinating people you meet.

 

They did a study one time on cruises and found that many people who meet at their tables from all over the country become good friends and cruise together again--or at least stay in touch. And there's a reason, you are seated by your desire for late or early dining, by age and the fact that you like to cruise means that you often have much in common. Only once in over 20 cruises have we found table mates who were uppity or boring. Usually we enjoy their company and the time flies at the table.

 

Relax and enjoy the opportunity to eat great food, be waited on hand and food, and meet interesting people. You will enjoy it--unless you are type A+ people or those who don't want to be bothered learning about others. I hope you aren't.

 

Mom C

[mtnmom4]

Hi Swmrgrl: Just to add my thoughts.. We did a NCL Freestyle cruise in Hawaii last year and hated it....will never cruise with them again because of it. The highlights of all of our previous cruises has been our dining experiences....not just a place to eat but as Mom said, a place to meet and interact with some wonderful people. Our freestyle dinners often took over 3 hours with waits of 30 to 40 minutes between courses....and this with only 1/2 the room full of people.....it was a total disaster as far as we were concerned. Please be open to the wonderful world of Celebrity food and service in the dining room ....I think you'll be pleasently surprised!

Mtnmom4

[swmrgrl]

Thanks everyone for the info on dining choices. Do you need a reservation for the casual dining?

[TravelerThom]

Thanks everyone for the info on dining choices. Do you need a reservation for the casual dining?

Yes, for the "formal casual" dining [with table cloths and waiters, but with relaxed dress code - coat&tie never required there (I have never actually done this dinner, but I think that they have a "country club casual" dress code {ie no blue jeans or shorts})]. No reservations required for the evening pasta bar, sushi, pizza, etc.

 

I truly enjoy the interactions with my tablemates and the same waiter who comes to know you and your preferences at dining room dinners, so do consider that, but it is YOUR vacation so certainly do what YOU desire to do.

[Muushka]

We also will not be dining in the main dining room next time we cruise. We truly enjoyed our Century cruise last month and we had wonderful tablemates, but.......

 

1. We both did not like donating 2+ hours to dinner

 

2. While our waiters were nice, neither (esp the assist waiter) ever learned our preferences. Well maybe on the last night, but every other night I had to ask for my iced tea with no sugar and with lemon. Got really old and did not make me feel special in the least.

 

3. We are also not fans of dressing up so it will be casual and verandah dining for us!

 

We tried the casual dining for 1 night on our last cruise and we really enjoyed it.

[motherchic]

At the spa cafe there is a small chalkboard with made to order specials. Be sure to check them out. On our last cruise we had fabulous jumbo prawns and scallop -ka-bobs.

Also, just my opinion, (Celebrity is my favorite cruise line) there is not an extensive amount of evening entertainment so dining for several hours never made us feel as though we were missing something. We still took in the eve.show, donated to the casino and enjoyed some music before bedtime.

Nadine

[Kathie44]

We like the dining room for the food, service and making friends. On our first cruise we had an international table with a couple from Canada, a couple from the UK and two other Americans. I have kept in touch with the Canadians and the Brits for almost 5 years now.

Last June when we were in London prior to our Jewel cruise, the British friends met us at our hotel, had lunch with us and then took us and our friends on a personalized walking tour of the area surrounding the hotel--Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament/Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and everything in between. It was wonderful to see them again and so nice of them to take the 1 hr trip by train from their home in Essex.

We haven't remained close to everyone we have eaten with, but it is nice to know where you will be and we've ALWAYS had superior service on every ship. Dinner is one of the highlights of our cruising experience. It takes about 1 1/2 hrs, about what it would be in a nice restaurant on land. There is plenty to do after dinner (we eat at main seating) and we don't like to eat and run.

As you can see from the list below, we stick to RCI and Celebrity. We feel comfortable with them and have no plans to switch. On our Mex. Riv. cruise later this month we are going to book Mercury to Aust/NZ for next year.

Happy New Year and Happy Cruising to everyone! :D

 

1/02 Explorer E. Carib.

1/03 Explorer W. Carib.

8/03 Summit Alaska cruise/tour

2/04 Adventure S. Carib.

2/05 Galaxy Panama Canal

6/06 Jewel Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords + 3 days in London

1/07 Mercury Mexican Riviera

[dkjretired]

This will be our first Celebrity cruise and have questions about the eveining meals. We are used to freeestyle dining and choosing the time we want to eat. I only found out yesterday when I picked up our tickets that we weren't previously informed on how the dining options work. We we originally told that there was buffet service - now we find out it closes around 5 or 5:30. All the menu options for supper involve menu's unless you want to eat hamburgers and pizza at another location.

 

Can anyone tell me how we can avoid sitting at a meal for 1 - 2 hours every evening waiting for all the courses to be served? Are there any other options besides ordering room service (which I don't want to do).

 

One other thing about getting food from room service. If you are in a regular room they will serve everything at once, if in a suite, it will be delivered by course.

[Piepkorn]

During our July Med. trip on Millenium, there were only 2 nights of the 12 when everyone was at our table. Some of that was related to late departure times from ports, others were going to the alternative dining venue. We had late dining (9pm), but we had several stops where departure was 11pm or later, and overnights in Venice and Barcelona so we ate in local venues. It was over 100 degrees the whole trip, and on many nights, we would have liked to have a full buffet instead of the 9pm dinner (as we wanted to eat early and go to bed.).

 

The 'casual dining' were actually the nicest dinners of the cruise (onboard) for us. One night we were cruising through the 'channel' near Sicily at sunset, and it was very quiet and peaceful. From what I was told, the wait staff in the 'casual dining' venue are 'still in training', but we found their service much better than what we received from our regular wait staff. I will say straight out that we really didn't like the layout of the ship, and the casual dining area was one of the few places that wasn't crowded and noisy. The food was excellent.

 

The buffet on our trip shut down around 3pm, although the hamburgers and sushi were to die for (sushi after 5:30). So were the waffles in the morning. We did not use room service (other than morning coffee).

 

On our trip, there was a Greek buffet poolside that was excellent. This is something that could have been easily missed....you have to read your daily cruise sheet very carefully.

 

Dave

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Thanks everyone for the info on dining choices. Do you need a reservation for the casual dining?

 

It is requested that you make reservations by a certain time (2 pm?) during the day. That said, many times you can just walk in and be seated for dinner without a reservation.

[masterbaker]

We enjoyed the casual dining in the buffet area many times on our Infinity Alaska cruise. On the 12 night cruise we only ate in the dining room twice for dinner. Our first dining room night we found we were the only english speaking people at our large table, so we switched. The second night we had a new table with all english speakers that were very impressed with themselves. :rolleyes: That's when we decided to try the casual alternative and we were so glad we did. Our waiters were great, the food was served fresh and hot (or cold if it was a cold course), the views were to die for since we were sailing Alaska, and we were able to go to dinner at what ever time we decided to day to day. Reservations are recommended but we did see empty tables every day, and saw some walk-ins seated without reservations. All four courses were served by waiters ( appetizer, salad, entree, desert). There is a $2pp gratituity.

[Charles4515]

We also will not be dining in the main dining room next time we cruise. We truly enjoyed our Century cruise last month and we had wonderful tablemates, but.......

 

1. We both did not like donating 2+ hours to dinner

 

2. While our waiters were nice, neither (esp the assist waiter) ever learned our preferences. Well maybe on the last night, but every other night I had to ask for my iced tea with no sugar and with lemon. Got really old and did not make me feel special in the least.

 

3. We are also not fans of dressing up so it will be casual and verandah dining for us!

 

We tried the casual dining for 1 night on our last cruise and we really enjoyed it.

 

I wonder though why one would choose to cruise on Celebrity then? To me one of the main features and strong points of Celebrity is the traditional dining in a grand style dining room. And the food in the main dining room is a lot better than buffet food or the food in the casual dining option. I did the casual dining twice on Celebrity because we could not make our seating and it was not that good. With the other choices, NCL and Princess which are geared to non traditional dining, I think you and swmrgrl are booking the wrong cruises. Celebrity is about grand dining, the presentation of the food, long dinners, and I love the intermezzo on formal nights, and that they bring out all the dessets on a plate to select from, and Celebrity is about dressing well and being out in the evening, not hiding out on a verandah.

 

What you desire sounds like NCL. It tried it two years ago. All casual, they rushed through dinner, etc. I think that would be a better fit for you.

[Muushka]

I wonder though why one would choose to cruise on Celebrity then? To me one of the main features and strong points of Celebrity is the traditional dining in a grand style dining room. And the food in the main dining room is a lot better than buffet food or the food in the casual dining option. I did the casual dining twice on Celebrity because we could not make our seating and it was not that good. With the other choices, NCL and Princess which are geared to non traditional dining, I think you and swmrgrl are booking the wrong cruises. Celebrity is about grand dining, the presentation of the food, long dinners, and I love the intermezzo on formal nights, and that they bring out all the dessets on a plate to select from, and Celebrity is about dressing well and being out in the evening, not hiding out on a verandah.

 

What you desire sounds like NCL. It tried it two years ago. All casual, they rushed through dinner, etc. I think that would be a better fit for you.

 

Sorry, we are already booked on the Millennium for Dec :D .

 

Anyway, we are just trying different cruise lines. I have heard that NCL is not all that great. And on DCL (our previous 2 cruises) if you choose not to dine in the main dining area, you have to order off of room service menu which is not that swift, or go to a buffet. So, OK if we do a Celebrity cruise to try out what we want??:D

[Muushka]

Oops, double post. What is it with these boards??

[swmrgrl]

While we do prefer alternative dining choices and the freestyle type of experience, we chose Celebrity for our Panama trip based on the itinerary. We sailed on Holland America to South America last March and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on that itinerary as well. They had a casual buffet until 8 pm at night and te waiters brought the main course you selected to your table. You chose the salads, soup, yourself. The food was great and the staff got to know us and our preferences after 2 days. We almost never ate at the same time each day due to our schedule and ate in the formal dining room once during our 15 day cruise. We also are trying Princess later this year - again based on the itinerary and the time we want to travel.

 

With any vacation, you have to be flexible. From the informtion provided there are other choices if we prefer to eat outside the main dining room. I'm still looking forward to crusing on this ship.

[Tinwoman]

While we do prefer alternative dining choices and the freestyle type of experience, we chose Celebrity for our Panama trip based on the itinerary. We sailed on Holland America to South America last March and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on that itinerary as well. They had a casual buffet until 8 pm at night and te waiters brought the main course you selected to your table. You chose the salads, soup, yourself. The food was great and the staff got to know us and our preferences after 2 days. We almost never ate at the same time each day due to our schedule and ate in the formal dining room once during our 15 day cruise. We also are trying Princess later this year - again based on the itinerary and the time we want to travel.

 

With any vacation, you have to be flexible. From the informtion provided there are other choices if we prefer to eat outside the main dining room. I'm still looking forward to crusing on this ship.

 

I was on a Galaxy 11 night cruise to the Med. last Dec.. We also chose to not dine in the dining room. I often have to dress for occasions due to my job and dressing for formal night was not interesting to me or my traveling companion.

In my opinion formal nights were awesome due to the fact that quite a few do go the the dining room and you have the ship basicly to yourself. We chose to dine in our room or the casual dinning. (Trust me you won't go hungry!:D ) We just asked our stateroom attendant when he wasn't busy what our options were and he gave us all the low down.

It was really fun to dine on different area's on the ship or on our balcony.

Don't be put off by those who said "why would you chose Celebrity if you don't want dress up".

For me it is a great cruise line for us because our kids are grown and no grandchildren yet, and there just is not a lot of children, so it is a relaxing and wonderful time to reflect and recharge. The age group of cruisers are good for us too.

Enjoy your cruise!

[Muushka]

Don't be put off by those who said "why would you chose Celebrity if you don't want dress up".

 

Don't worry, I won't!

 

Sounds like you have already experienced what we are looking for. Thanks for posting! :)

[hajekfam]

Please let the maitre'd know when you board that you will not be using the dining room for the entire cruise so that your seats can be given to someone else. It would free up seats at possibly a full dining time so that someone who is waitlisted can get their desired time.

We were on a cruise once where one couple did not come to dinner any night. We were at a large table so it really didn't matter. However, the couple at the table next to us had wanted to be at a large table but instead were dining alone. Most nights they waited to see if the missing couple at our table didn't show and joined us. If the missing couple at our table would have let the maitre'd know that they were not going to be using the dining room, the other couple who were alone could have been permanently assigned to our table.

If you do decide to dine elsewhere for just an evening or two, it is always nice to let the maitre'd or your waiter know so that your table is not waiting for you.

[Muushka]

We had planned on visiting the main dining room when we board to say that we would not be dining there. We have only done 3 cruises, but 2 of the 3 we had diners that did not show up and we had to wait, for no one. Not fun.

[nlvc12]

One other idea, to speed up the process, is to request a Table for 2. This way, you can have the meal at your own pace, and not be delayed by slow eaters or boring talkers. I would suggest just skipping the formal nights, if you don't want to bother dressing up.

[mygirlscats]

Swmrgrl, thanks for raising the topic!

 

We are sailing X in two weeks' time for the itinerary, although its reputation for food and service played a part in choosing X over other cruise lines. Clearly, some folks see the dining room, dressing up and socializing as the main attraction, but I think it would be selling X short to say that is the only reason to choose this line.

 

In our jobs, my sweetie and I both interact with a multitude of people every day and have to make a lot of small talk. We don't want to feel that we have to do that every single evening when we're on vacation. We want time for just our little family.

 

Traditional dining is like attending a dinner party. I like dinner parties, but going to one every night for two weeks would dull the shine quickly.

 

We will be doing a mix of dining room, casual restaurant and room service (oh, how I love room service!!). And I will remember to let the maitre d' know beforehand on the nights we skip the dining room, so our tablemates aren't left waiting for us.

 

...wonder whether CC class does room service course by course, as dkjretired says will be provided for pax in suites...? Probably not...who cares, I still love room service!!