?(No) Trays in Lido

[cruzincurt]

Although it is much easier to balance a tray on the walker, I don't really miss them. I'm not in a hurry to grab everything in sight at one time. What's the rush?:rolleyes:

[Koshlong]

We go to a couple of "nice" buffet restaurants with food stations rather than buffet lines. You are right. They don't have trays. We manage just fine. HOWEVER, tables are assigned, drinks are served and we are able-bodied and without children. We don't comfortably go there when we are with someone who needs assistance....small children, needing a cane, elderly, etc. This seems to be sort of a discriminatory practice, really.

[rimau]

We liked the Princess thing with food stations and no trays but there are two of us. Here is what happened. I get my nice big plate, get my food, get my soup, find a table, set the stuff down, run back to DH who is struggling to carry his plate and soup bowl, grab his soup, go back to the table, set it down, show DH where the table is, go to get two drinks, back to the table about the time DH makes it there. Lots of work for me but no long lines. I think a tray would have been nice, but it would be a hassle with the separate stations. Without me, I'm not sure how DH would have managed.

[RevNeal]

It is the opinion of some posters here, some very respected posters I might add, that this step presents a continuous trip hazzard.

 

Only because it was both experienced and observed to be such by a continuous flow of passengers, mostly carrying trays, who approached the area for the first time not realizing a step was there -- rather than a ramp -- and, being distracted by looking for some place to sit, and with a tray to block the view down at the last instant, many people were observed to trip on the dang thing.

 

RuthC was the first to take the trip on it, followed a few minutes later by yours truly, and quickly followed by Adele, Mary Ellen, and at least a half-dozen others that same day. I watched several more passengers trip on it over subsequent days, as well as a number of crew members (officers and even some of the ship's cast), and one lady who picked up a massive bruise from stumbling over the step and smashing her face hard against the corner of a table. That was just what a few of us CCers observed during the course of, maybe, a dozen lunches and/or breakfasts seated in that area. I've heard stories of others, but I didn't witness them so I cannot attest to their experiences.

 

And, for the record, I do NOT think that the tray issue is in response to this.

[GeriatricNurse]

We didn't find it such a big deal and who can't use the exercise with all the wonderful food to eat. I also agree that it probably reduces the amount of waste.

 

 

And, of course, there would be far less (food) waste if one were to return multiple times to the Lido line to obtain more food that they were unable to take on one ?"huge oval platter" (like Princess), without the use of a tray!

[pipedreams62]

[jtl513]

I left NCL primarily due to no trays--

My DD/DSiL just came off the Pearl last Sun and they had trays. Maybe NCL has learned, and they are switching back?? :confused:

[Philip217]

It may help to know where this no-tray idea came from.

 

The Las Vegas Hotels are famous for many things - including their buffets. They have the money to stay on the leading edge of most everything related to hospitality.

 

When they studied their buffets, they learned many things:

 

-When people have trays, they automatically line up like they did at the high school cafeteria. This lining up takes far longer for them to pick up their food choices.

-Since the lining up takes far longer, people pile more courses on the trays so they don't have to return to get into another line.

-Piling more courses onto a tray allows people to easily take far more food than they can eat, resulting in a great deal of waste.

-Wasted food means higher operating costs. Higher operating costs translate to lower profit - or the need to raise prices.

-Trays allow people to pick up hot and cold food items in one trip. But standing in a buffet line with hot food getting cold, and cold food getting warm results in diners complaining far more often about food quality.

-Many people seem to be challenged to walk and carry a tray at the same time. Buffets that offer trays have far more injury accidents that buffets that do not offer trays.

- Health Departments (USPH especially) believe that buffet trays are responsible for a major portion of food-borne ilness (especially NLV). They are difficult to properly sanitize, and their general poor quality causes them to fall apart quickly with heavy use, resulting in even more unsanitary conditions.

 

There are very few Las Vegas Buffets that offer trays today. Several cruise lines have stopped their use already. The others will follow shortly.

[sail7seas]

But you didn't add that the Las Vegas buffets about which you speak, have dedicated wait staff with every table having an assigned server. Lido stewards are magnificent and do a great job but each table does not have a steward assigned to it and drinks, refills, assistance at tables is not always available.

 

That is when folks have to leave their table to get drinks, another napkin etc and return to find their food removed and someone else seated there. It has happened to me and I travel and (almost always eat with DH.) We both left for him to go one way (napkins) and me another....coffee on the other side of Lido as the machine on our side was broken.

 

[Mary Ellen]

Quite frankly we don't give a rodent's fanny about what famous Las Vegas buffets - or any other buffets are doing - we DON"T GO to buffets because it is too difficult for DH. We used to enjoy buffets, but not any more. Last night I told him about the no trays. The look on his face said it all. Then he sadly said that we should look for another cruise line. I explained that a number of other lines are also doing away with trays. We realized we may stop cruising. :(

 

We'd like to still go to Antarctica as planned with a number of CC'ers, but right now we suspect that could be our last cruise.

[Copper10-8]

It may help to know where this no-tray idea came from.

 

The Las Vegas Hotels are famous for many things - including their buffets. They have the money to stay on the leading edge of most everything related to hospitality.

 

When they studied their buffets, they learned many things:

 

-When people have trays, they automatically line up like they did at the high school cafeteria. This lining up takes far longer for them to pick up their food choices.

-Since the lining up takes far longer, people pile more courses on the trays so they don't have to return to get into another line.

-Piling more courses onto a tray allows people to easily take far more food than they can eat, resulting in a great deal of waste.

-Wasted food means higher operating costs. Higher operating costs translate to lower profit - or the need to raise prices.

-Trays allow people to pick up hot and cold food items in one trip. But standing in a buffet line with hot food getting cold, and cold food getting warm results in diners complaining far more often about food quality.

-Many people seem to be challenged to walk and carry a tray at the same time. Buffets that offer trays have far more injury accidents that buffets that do not offer trays.

- Health Departments (USPH especially) believe that buffet trays are responsible for a major portion of food-borne ilness (especially NLV). They are difficult to properly sanitize, and their general poor quality causes them to fall apart quickly with heavy use, resulting in even more unsanitary conditions.

 

There are very few Las Vegas Buffets that offer trays today. Several cruise lines have stopped their use already. The others will follow shortly.

 

Thanks for at least attempting to offer some background as to where this idea and experiment came from, Philip!

[Copper10-8]

Quite frankly we don't give a rodent's fanny about what famous Las Vegas buffets - or any other buffets are doing - we DON"T GO to buffets because it is too difficult for DH. We used to enjoy buffets, but not any more. Last night I told him about the no trays. The look on his face said it all. Then he sadly said that we should look for another cruise line. I explained that a number of other lines are also doing away with trays. We realized we may stop cruising. :(

 

We'd like to still go to Antarctica as planned with a number of CC'ers, but right now we suspect that could be our last cruise.

 

Mary Ellen, don't give up just yet, please! If this tray experiment sticks around, knowing HAL and their tradition, I would be very surprised if you couldn't find a Lido steward who would help you put together Karl's plate, drinks, etc. and take them to your table.

Happy Thanksgiving to you both!

[Mary Ellen]

John - Right now we're taking a 'wait and see' attitude, but Karl doesn't even want to discuss a possible cruise for a "major" birthday he has on the horizon. Princess has had a circumnavigation of Australia that looked interesting, but the ship didn't appeal to us. Now, HAL has that itinerary, at the right time for that birthday, but he is too disappointed in HAL right now.

 

We're also having to 'wait and see' with India. Our next cruise takes us there. We've planned an independent trip for a few days to Agra and the Taj Mahal. But with the news of the last few days.... :eek:

 

We've been sailing on HAL since I was in my 20s. Now, we're in our 50s and have the time and resources to cruise more and things like the 'tray issue' are making cruising on HAL less desirable for us.

 

We love going to Disney World. Oddly, that is MUCH more doable for Karl than our last HAL cruise was. Now, with the trays, we'll see... We may be doing all vacations in Orlando.

 

 

Oops - forgot to add that we hope you and the lovely Maria are having a wonderful Thanksgiving.

[RevNeal]

-When people have trays, they automatically line up like they did at the high school cafeteria. This lining up takes far longer for them to pick up their food choices.

-Since the lining up takes far longer, people pile more courses on the trays so they don't have to return to get into another line.

-Piling more courses onto a tray allows people to easily take far more food than they can eat, resulting in a great deal of waste.

-Wasted food means higher operating costs. Higher operating costs translate to lower profit - or the need to raise prices.

-Trays allow people to pick up hot and cold food items in one trip. But standing in a buffet line with hot food getting cold, and cold food getting warm results in diners complaining far more often about food quality.

-Many people seem to be challenged to walk and carry a tray at the same time. Buffets that offer trays have far more injury accidents that buffets that do not offer trays.

- Health Departments (USPH especially) believe that buffet trays are responsible for a major portion of food-borne ilness (especially NLV). They are difficult to properly sanitize, and their general poor quality causes them to fall apart quickly with heavy use, resulting in even more unsanitary conditions.

 

Thanks for this list. I find it helpful to understand the reasoning. So long as enough staff is available to help those who have mobility issues that make it difficult to get their food, and so long as enough staff is available to care for all the tables and to ensure beverage service and that people's tables are not taken and not cleared while they're gone getting something else, etc., then I see advantages to doing away with trays for general passenger use. I just hope that provisions are made to help that those who have trouble making it up and down and back and forth to the buffet the multiple times this new system will require.

[RevNeal]

John - Right now we're taking a 'wait and see' attitude, but Karl doesn't even want to discuss a possible cruise for a "major" birthday he has on the horizon. Princess has had a circumnavigation of Australia that looked interesting, but the ship didn't appeal to us. Now, HAL has that itinerary, at the right time for that birthday, but he is too disappointed in HAL right now.

 

Ok ... what's the date of this major birthday, when is the cruise, how long is it?? I wanna go!!!!!! :D

[kryos]

We'd like to still go to Antarctica as planned with a number of CC'ers, but right now we suspect that could be our last cruise.

You'd give up cruising over a matter of trays in the Lido? My God, don't cheat yourself like that. If the lack of trays is a problem, just explain to the dining room manager when you enter the Lido that you and your DH will require a bit of help and I'm sure he'll immediately assign to you a steward. But, don't stop cruising just because the Lido is eliminating trays. That would be a crying shame.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[RevNeal]

You'd give up cruising over a matter of trays in the Lido? My God, don't cheat yourself like that. If the lack of trays is a problem, just explain to the dining room manager when you enter the Lido that you and your DH will require a bit of help and I'm sure he'll immediately assign to you a steward. But, don't stop cruising just because the Lido is eliminating trays. That would be a crying shame.

 

Rita, I don't think that their disappointment and frustration is just with the tray issue. Rather, based upon what she's said here plus what I've talked about and experienced with them aboard ships, I believe that it's the accumulation of multiple factors that has led to this attitude on their part. It's the piling up of all the changes to the product they've long loved; it's the disappointments that they've experienced due to the collapse of service quality and the downgrading of the overall environment along with the ever-increasing size of the ships ... all of this has added together to demoralize them. I understand their disappointments, and while I share some of them my attitude has long been that I will adapt and enjoy my cruises no matter what. And I will. And, I would imagine, they will too. Things aren't as bad, fleet wide, as they were at their worst on the Eurodam, but that is their most recent memory of HAL and I suppose, as with Adele and several others, that left a bad taste in their mouths.

[udance2]

We have just returned from a 30 day cruise on Princess and they do not have trays either. It is a pain when you have your salad in one bowl and are trying to put food on the plate. Although it is a little thing, it makes life so much easier to have a tray.

 

We will be on the Noordam Dec. 17th and I am looking forward to having a tray again so I can get some of that delicious bread pudding at the same time as I get the rest of my lunch.

[hammybee]

 

I had a feeling that USPH was a factor in this.

[kryos]

Things aren't as bad, fleet wide, as they were at their worst on the Eurodam, but that is their most recent memory of HAL and I suppose, as with Adele and several others, that left a bad taste in their mouths.

It's a shame then that the Eurodam has soured people toward HAL. I'm not saying it isn't justified, based upon some of the reviews I've read on these boards, but it is still a "dam" shame.

 

Sadly, I think anytime, on any cruise line, when you have a larger sized ship, you're not gonna get the kind of service that we HAL cruisers have become accustomed to. Too many people, not enough staff ... little chance for what staff there are to get to know passengers, and the passengers likewise. That's why I always say ... when the day comes that HAL no longer has the "R" and the "S" class vessels, I guess I'll be moving to another cruise line myself. I just can't deal with a large ship and the resulting large passenger population. I just wouldn't enjoy that sort of cruise.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[jtl513]

Sadly, I think anytime, on any cruise line, when you have a larger sized ship, you're not gonna get the kind of service that we HAL cruisers have become accustomed to. Too many people, not enough staff ...

I disagree. We didn't find the service on the three Vista ships that we have been on to be inferior to that found on the two S-class and one R-class ships that we have tried.

 

However, I do believe that the Eurodam was a bit understaffed on our short cruise in October. That is something that can be remedied, and may have already been remedied.

[sapper1]

Thanks!

Make sure you put English on one side, though ... to keep one's fellow passengers from stealing your seat!!!!! :D

I was going to post that thought but you beat me to it!!!

[sapper1]

As far as "hoarding" a tray in one's cabin is concerned, maybe the room steward, if requested to do so, would put one in the cabin. Early in this thread I said that I liked to go up to the Lido when it first opens in the AM and pick up some cereal and fruit for my husband and myself to have in our cabin.

Having the same tray for the whole cruise would eliminate any health issues there may be with using a possibly contaminated tray.

On days we decide to go "out" for breakfast we would probably go to the dining room instead of the Lido if the trays were to be eliminated. I am wondering if this new approach will result in a lot more main dining room traffic in the morning.

[cruznon]

It will be interesting to see how things go in the Lido without trays. The one things I disliked on Princess was the lack of trays and the balancing act that followed.

I do see how it would be much more efficient of the crew---fewer dishes/no trays to wash. It will be move inconvenient for passengers--more trips in the morning---plate with hot items, then trip to pick up pastry, juice, coffee, small dish of fruit, etc.

I can see that this might cut down on food waste.

I also think the result of this new policy may be more passengers having breakfast in the dining room.

[Terpnut]

It will be move inconvenient for passengers--more trips in the morning---plate with hot items, then trip to pick up pastry, juice, coffee, small dish of fruit, etc.

I really don't understand the need for multiple trips. At least on RCI ships, all that food fits nicely on one single large plate, and one only needs to make a second trip for beverages which are at a completely different station near your seating areas anyway. So two trips max per person. And if you have two or more in your party, one person can go get multiple drinks for the rest.

 

Perhaps my own lack of understanding and confusion on this issue is because: (1) HAL uses small plates?, and/or (2) HAL doesn't have conveniently located food and drink "stations" in the Lido? If HAL does use small plates, I would hope that, if they get rid of trays, that they'd use the RCI-sized plates.