The economics of buffets

[Boomhauer]

I do enjoy breakfast buffets more than normal buffers. 

On the Carnival cruise ships they have the formal dining room for dinner and brunch, the big buffet area that does breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and individual restaurants (usually at least a steakhouse)  and “stands” (like burgers, pizza, bbq, burritos, etc). Outside of breakfast I tend not to eat at the buffet because the stands offer better food and we go to the formal dinner 5-6 nights out of 7.

[MechAg94]

Breakfast buffets can be good if the food decently fresh.  It varies and likely depends on the people running it and how quick the food is turned over.

[zxcvbob]

I do enjoy breakfast buffets more than normal buffers. 

On the Carnival cruise ships they have the formal dining room for dinner and brunch, the big buffet area that does breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and individual restaurants (usually at least a steakhouse)  and “stands” (like burgers, pizza, bbq, burritos, etc). Outside of breakfast I tend not to eat at the buffet because the stands offer better food and we go to the formal dinner 5-6 nights out of 7.

I've only been on a cruise once.  Might do it again someday; wife really enjoyed it.  The food was amazing.  I also didn't gain any weight because we were walking so much (about 20000 steps a day when I had my fitbit with me; I forgot it the day I hiked up to Diamond Head)  Anyway, we never did the formal dining room thing.  You have to dress up for that?  Or just don't dress down?  If it's not too formal I guess we should try it if we ever take another cruise. 

[MillCreek]

We have now done three cruises (two Princess and one Regent) and the food was absolutely amazing.  All the smoked salmon, capers and pickled herring I could eat for breakfast.

[Boomhauer]

I've only been on a cruise once.  Might do it again someday; wife really enjoyed it.  The food was amazing.  I also didn't gain any weight because we were walking so much (about 20000 steps a day when I had my fitbit with me; I forgot it the day I hiked up to Diamond Head)  Anyway, we never did the formal dining room thing.  You have to dress up for that?  Or just don't dress down?  If it's not too formal I guess we should try it if we ever take another cruise.

On Carnival you have Cruise Elegant nights where you are supposed to dress nicely and Cruise Casual nights where you don’t have to. I tend to wear a nice pair of slacks or jeans and either a button down shirt or a polo shirt to the Elegant nights and just a pair of jeans or a nice pair of shorts and a tshirt to the cruise casual nights.

I’ve heard that other lines are stricter on the dining room attire. Carnival is more of a casual and family line.


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[zxcvbob]

On Carnival you have Cruise Elegant nights where you are supposed to dress nicely and Cruise Casual nights where you don’t have to. I tend to wear a nice pair of slacks or jeans and either a button down shirt or a polo shirt to the Elegant nights and just a pair of jeans or a nice pair of shorts and a tshirt to the cruise casual nights.

I’ve heard that other lines are stricter on the dining room attire. Carnival is more of a casual and family line.

Thanks.  I assumed they were dressier than that.  Don't remember if the cruise we went on was Carnival or Viking.  We fly into Honolulu, got on the ship the next day and went island hopping for a week. 

The Homeland Security stuff was not as obnoxious as at the airport, but close.  I wasn't expecting that but I guess it makes sense -- however they also were checking for people trying to take liquor onto the boat and that's not their job .

[AJ Dual]

Total thread drift from buffets to cruise ships here... Friends of ours booked a cruise with a mandatory attendance dinner that was tuxedo-dress code.

So they got a late 70's powder blue ruffle shirt tux with velvet bow tie for him, and a dusty rose 1980's prom dress with Bo-Peep ball shoulders for her from resale shops and went dressed like that.

Everybody was staring at them like: 

The table party they were seated with quickly figured out they were sane, and it was a gag, and thought it was awesome.

[MillCreek]

On our Regent cruise, there was a formal dress event and we skipped it.  We watched it and saw that most of the women were wearing ball gown type dresses and most of the men wore a tuxedo.  For the other dress up events, my wife wore a blazer/blouse/slacks outfit, and I wore a blazer/dress shirt/bowtie/slacks outfit, and we were overdressed in comparison to most of the other guests.

I have sometimes pondered buying a tuxedo, but I rarely have events that would warrant wearing one.  And when I do, I use my dress Blackwatch kilt and Bonnie Prince Charlie jacket and vest with a black bow tie, and that looks pretty formal.