Formal Dining or Buffet?

On Jul 28, 8:28 am, epals4e...@ (chatty cathy) wrote:
> which do you prefer..?
>      when i went on my first cruise i did the formal dinning which was a
> new experience for us.. i enjoyed the dress up but not the service..wow
> we all had to wait for our whole table to finish their meals before we
> got our next entree..then it took forever to be served coffee..
>      conversation with the group was good but didnt enjoy the 3 hour
> dinner..hahaha
> but i would not trade the experience ever..i can now say i did it..haha
>       the rest of the cruise we did the buffets or on deck..it was
> fantastic and the food was good so no complaints..even hubby got up in
> the mornings for the breakfast that was his favorite..he hates breakfast
> but no on the cruise he didnt..haha
>             what do you prefer?
>                 chatty cathy

It's difficult to give a simple answer. I went on my first cruise (HA
to Alaska) this July and I think the answer to your question depends
on many factors. What do you have planned for that day? Are you
going to come back from an excursion and have to dress up for
example? If it's an excursion day, maybe the buffet is preferable.
If it's one of those of "at sea" days. I'd go for the formal dining
room. Do you have assigned seating? If you do, maybe it's nice to try
the buffet just to see some different faces.
We dined in the dining roomed every night except one night when we had
room service and one night when we ate at the buffet. We did not have
assigned seating and were very lucky to sit with some very interesting
people. I'd say the food is better at the dining room (although I
found it good at the buffet also), but the buffet is more convenient.
I noticed that some people have been complaining about food on
cruises, but my experience on the HA Westerdam has been very good. The
food was good and the service was great.
gfc

"chatty cathy" <epals4ever@> wrote in message
news:28684-488F6F52-1623@storefull-3271.bay....
> oh ok thanks for letting me in on this i had no idea..i will ignore his
> posts from now on.thanks..sorry
> chatty cathy
>Also ignore Sue Mullens and Ray , they're actually the same
>person

James

James wrote:
> "chatty cathy" <epals4ever@> wrote in message
> news:28684-488F6F52-1623@storefull-3271.bay....
>> oh ok thanks for letting me in on this i had no idea..i will ignore his
>> posts from now on.thanks..sorry
>> chatty cathy
>> Also ignore Sue Mullens and Ray , they're actually the same
>> person

You'll find that George Leppla, Ermalee, Nonny, Tobie, Jean, Crissy, Cal
and Rosalie B are also the same person. In reality, only 2-3 people
post here and the rest are just sock puppets of those 2-3.

--
Nonny

Nonnymus
I'm not who you think I am. I'm not who
I think I am. I am what I think you think I am.

"chatty cathy" <epals4ever@> wrote in message
news:28684-488DE585-1289@storefull-3271.bay....
> which do you prefer..?
> when i went on my first cruise i did the formal dinning which was a
> new experience for us.. i enjoyed the dress up but not the service..wow
> we all had to wait for our whole table to finish their meals before we
> got our next entree..then it took forever to be served coffee..
> conversation with the group was good but didnt enjoy the 3 hour
> dinner..hahaha
> but i would not trade the experience ever..i can now say i did it..haha
> the rest of the cruise we did the buffets or on deck..it was
> fantastic and the food was good so no complaints..even hubby got up in
> the mornings for the breakfast that was his favorite..he hates breakfast
> but no on the cruise he didnt..haha
> what do you prefer?
> chatty cathy

In terms of the style of dining, we prefer the buffet for breakfast. For
lunch, it depends on what we have planned for the day; we probably do 40%
dining room and 60% buffet. And our evening meals always assigned seating &
time in the dining room.
Having said that, when we cruise in September we are going to try freestyle
(open seating). And we are seriously considering skipping the dining room
on formal nights and using the buffet instead. This is because of the
ridiculous airline luggage restrictions.

Nonnymus wrote:
> James wrote:
>> "chatty cathy" <epals4ever@> wrote in message
>> news:28684-488F6F52-1623@storefull-3271.bay....
>>> oh ok thanks for letting me in on this i had no idea..i will ignore his
>>> posts from now on.thanks..sorry
>>> chatty cathy
>>> Also ignore Sue Mullens and Ray , they're actually the same
>>> person
>
> You'll find that George Leppla, Ermalee, Nonny, Tobie, Jean, Crissy, Cal
> and Rosalie B are also the same person. In reality, only 2-3 people
> post here and the rest are just sock puppets of those 2-3.

Nonny, thanks for clearing this up for us. All these years of meeting
these people in person and they just kept changing their appearances so
I would think they are different people(VBH).

sue - D & R

AND NONNY :-) Actually,, if you read this group for awhile, you will know
who is real, who is kidding, and who is just plain "BONKERS."

Tobie>>>>on an Island in the Pacific (one of the "Bonkers crowd) ;-)

FYP
your bubby

....................

One thing I like about RCI (or at least the ships I have been on lately)
is that they have an "express" breakfast buffet in the main dining room.
It is a "mini" buffet but has a good selection of fruit, cereal, eggs,
cheese/cold cuts, etc. So most mornings we go to the MDR where it is
open seating (you can have a table for 2 or 4 if you ask)and either
order off the menu, go to the buffet, or do a little of both. I like to
go to the buffet to get my crisp bacon which I can pick out rather than
order it and hope it is still not going "oink." So while they are
getting my pancake/french toast/eggs benedict order together, I go to
the buffet and get bacon, fruit, etc.

Tucker in Texas