buffet for every meal? have you?

[Jules215]

First 2 cruises, we ate every evening meal in the DR...My cruising partner isn't exactly a "foodie", and was probably just indulging me...But, we had a table for 2, and our waiters seemed to pick up that we wanted things to move along a pretty quick clip.

 

Not so, on cruise #3...2hr. meal, ( which I know some enjoy), but not my guy...He's more about the casino, drinking, music, and just getting on with the night in general.

 

Anyhoo's after the first night, it was buffet all the way...And it wasn't bad at all...More relaxed in a way, and at our own time/pace.

 

I think if we can get anytime dining the next time, I may be able to convince him to go to the dining room at least once...But, who knows!!

[Wennfred]

im just wondering, has anyone ever gone on a cruise and "not" eat in the dining room perfering to eat at the buffet every time? whats the least amount of times you have eatin in the dining room on a cruise?

 

We had buffet the first day onboard on Lido, a few hotdogs and Cheeseburger with fries. Other then that day, we stayed down in the dining room for all 3 meals.

 

 

Fred

[Cruiser23490578]

Because of a rude staff member on the Valor my bff and I opted for the buffet every night. This was a first for me because on all previous cruises I had supper in the main dining room. When I returned from the Valor trip my husband was not thrilled when I recommended we try the buffet each night on our upcoming Glory cruise. He commented that he was not going on a cruise to eat at Ponderosa but I explained to him that it's the same food that's served in the dining room, and the great part is that you can take as little or as much of anything as you want. We'll see if he converts.

[brown_eyedgal]

The buffet would get old after a while. Have to diversify a little. The dining room is fantastic, why would anyone want to miss it?

 

Exactly my thoughts.

[deepnite10]

we ll rarely have lunch or breakfast in main dining..prefering room service

or the buffet..

 

if the dinner menu does nt interest us we ll head up to the buffet as

well..

[Ken076]

Why would you??? ken

[acetray]

we like to eat in the buffet around 4:30, then eat dinner in the dinning room for late dinning at 8:00 or 8:30. Cant get to much good food.:)

[T. Advisor King]

Wow, what a great question! I actually wanted to find out whether the cruise line will give you a discount rate if you waive your right to a table in the dining room (i.e., have no table assigned to you). By some estimates I’ve seen, the portion of my family’s fare from our March cruise that relates directly to dining room costs was around $700.

I just don’t get the dining room concept – and the “formal nights” even more so. We would rarely, if ever, go to such an expensive, fancy restaurant on a regular vacation, so I don’t understand why it’s the “rule” on cruises. Our problem is that if we know we’ve already paid the check for dinner (i.e., with the cruise fare), it’s pretty hard to go eat at the buffet. We had dinner in the dining room all seven nights in March. We only tried it on the first day for breakfast, but stuck with the buffet after that.

The dining room might be fun one night of a cruise. But I’d much prefer the speed, informality and flexibility of the buffet or one of the take-out places, as long as I'm paying a correspondingly fair fee. The food quality of the buffet (at least the lunch food I had) was far above my expectations.

[Skywench]

I've been on cruises where I've never stepped foot in the dining room and ate at the buffet all the time. Other times I've eaten in the dining room 2 or 3 nights of the cruise. The dining room is great and so is the food and service in there. Personally, I only eat in there because the other people I am on the cruise with want to. I'd be more than happy doing my own thing in the buffet and not have to worry about dinner schedules while I'm on vacation.

[SheriNtexas]

im just wondering, has anyone ever gone on a cruise and "not" eat in the dining room perfering to eat at the buffet every time? whats the least amount of times you have eatin in the dining room on a cruise?

 

I cruised solo one time on Splendour of the Seas, and I never went in the dining room. Also, when I cruised last May with my then nearly 4 year old grandson, I opted to spare our tablemates his antics and so we just ate in the buffet! :D

[jerseytomato]

For me, part of the fun of cruising is eating in the dining room. I'm generally a jeans/t-shirt/flip flops kind of girl, but I love putting on a cute dress and looking nice for dinner. Plus being waited on is nice. I do the Lido for breakfast and lunch most of the time, but I try to squeeze in a few times in the DR. I get that some people just want to eat quickly and go back to whatever fun activity they were doing, but for me, the DR is a fun activity. :-)

[David148]

My first cruise i ate in dinning room the 1st night , the rest of the evenings i ate at the buffet, i enjoyed going to eat whenever i wanted, and thought the food on the buffet was good.

 

2nd cruise, was on NCL so we ate in diff restaurants every night, including buffet 1 night

 

3rd cruise on liberty ate in the dinning room for dinner every night EXPECT the formal night. I am not a formal type of dinning person . Just not my cup of tea. But i did enjoy the dinners in the dinning room and i plan on it from now on expect for formal evenings.

 

So on a 7 nights cruise i will eat in the dinning room about 5 nights and in the buffet/lido area about 2 nights and it works out good!

 

Never have tried breakfast or lunch in the dinning room though. They have always been at the buffet and i do enjoy them. :)

[colette5479]

Isn't it great that CCL gives you the choice of buffet or dining room? Some nights if I'm tired or with my kids, the buffet is so much easier. The atmospere is calm and casual and the staff seems not so rushed.

[nychelle02]

Wife and I do just this.

Sit down and be served for both bkfast and dinner!

thus avoiding the mad melee and long lines standing on your feet. Fun!

 

 

Lunch on Lido

is a matter of walking the whole food deck around

to see where the longest and shortest lines are

before making the right move to commit to this or that queue.

 

is a real possibility ..if only becoz the lines are short, I've found.

 

.

 

 

Thank you for these lovely photos, reminds me why I LOVE Carnival Cruise lines!!!

[LisainFL]

im just wondering, has anyone ever gone on a cruise and "not" eat in the dining room perfering to eat at the buffet every time? whats the least amount of times you have eatin in the dining room on a cruise?

 

 

We are leaving on our 3rd cruise on Sunday, and so far, we haven't eaten in the dining room not even one time. So you can put us in the buffer on the Lide Deck group for every meal so far. My husband likes to dress VERY casual on his cruises...and he smokes, so on the buffet he can get his food and eat in the smoking section of the Lido Deck.

 

Though on our cruise Sunday, I have us booked on the Supper Club one night, and I am putting my foot down that we will eat in the dining room at least once a day.

[nychelle02]

I only ate in the MDR on captains night. I was too busy flying around the ship.

Now I like having dinner in the dining room.

Last cruise my BF and I split at dinner time. I wanted to eat with my co-workers in the MDR and he wanted buffet selection. After a few days I got the hang of it. I would go with him to the buffet and do a little tasting while he ate, then I would report for the fab dinners in the MDR.

Next cruise I don't plan to be in the MDR often, maybe 2 nights out of 8.

This is because of my companions who wish to avoid the MDR. I personally do enjoy being served by the wonderful waitstaff.

[sappygirl]

We usually do Breakfast, lunch and dinner in the DR. I don't particularly care for the buffet. I will hit the deli in between if need be.

[bonnie&clydecruzers]

Our first cruise a 4 nighter we ate every meal in the buffet. It worked out good for us cause we didn't have to bring as much clothes but the main reason was because we were too busy having fun around the ship to stop and go to the MDR at a certain time. We like to do stuff on our own schedule including when to eat. So when we got hungry and we were done with our activities, then we went and ate in the buffet. Our second cruise, a 7 nighter we split the time between the MDR and the buffet which was a perfect fit for us.

[T. Advisor King]

I totally agree with the flexibility and informality of the buffet and other food options. But do you feel like a big chunk of your cabin fee is going to pay for the dinner meals and service that you're not getting because you're eating at the buffet? I sure do. If they had variable pricing options (e.g., no dining room), I'd be far more inclined to take a cruise again sooner. The way they do it now, you sort of have to hold your nose and rationalize it as part of the total cost.

[MilCruiser]

I don't like eating in the dining room. It takes too long and I'm not impressed with food. Not just dining room food, but food in general. I understand that most people like to eat and also like to dine. I enjoy neither. Eating is a necessity and there are some foods that I like. However, there is no meal they can put before me that is worth the time it takes out of my cruise to endure it.

 

I'm not saying anyone should agree with me, it's just the way I feel.

 

Buffet every night! Viva la buffet! Ding dong the buffet is here!:D

[Skywench]

I totally agree with the flexibility and informality of the buffet and other food options. But do you feel like a big chunk of your cabin fee is going to pay for the dinner meals and service that you're not getting because you're eating at the buffet? I sure do. If they had variable pricing options (e.g., no dining room), I'd be far more inclined to take a cruise again sooner. The way they do it now, you sort of have to hold your nose and rationalize it as part of the total cost.

 

Just because I don't eat all my meals in the dining room, I don't feel that somehow I'm not "getting my money's worth", if that's what you mean. When I eat at the buffet, there is plenty to eat, and enough choices to please me. To me, it's all about having options.

[Handsome58]

I eat where ever we feel like eating at that time for dinner.....if it is DR ok....if it is Buffet that is ok to. We just go with the flow that day, I say on a 7-day cruise we eat in DR 3 to 4 times for dinner. That is it. We just love the thought of doing what ever we see fit.

[halos]

I LOVE the buffet:D

 

you do????

[islahopper]

Did not eat in the dining room on our last 2 cruises. The first one we checked where our table was, and it was a 2 top in a very poor location and they could not move us. On our last cruise we did a CCL free style, DW did not want to dress for dinner so it was sushi, buffet, pizza and a sandwich before bed. I loved it, no rushing to get to dinner, I never changed out of my shorts and t-shirt to eat and there was always good food on the buffet, like prime rib, lamb, steak etc. By the way we did remove our tips from the dining room (I know now we made the list in the kitchen) and split the amount between the buffet staff and the cabin steward. I belive the cabin stewards have a list also of who removes or changes tips because the day after changing the tips he thanked us. I have to say it was the best cabin steward service we have ever had. One example, we have all seen dirty dishes sitting in the hall, whenever I had some to set out he would always take them from me.

[DocF]

Obviously, there are people who eat their dinners on the Lido deck and go through the buffet lines. We are not among them. If we are not in the dining room, we are in the premium restaurant. We enjoy the service and the food and the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. We would miss all of this at the buffet.

 

We usually eat breakfast on the Lido deck, but we eat mainly fruit and danish, so we do not do the buffet lines then either.

 

Our lunch usually will be a deli sandwich or a pizza or hamburger. We very rarely do the buffet at lunch..

 

We hardly do the dining room for breakfast or lunch, but this is always a possibility if we see something on the menu that sounds especially appealing.

 

Gee, I just finished breakfast and now you've made me hungry again:p

 

Doc:D