Disney needs rethink their buffet

[foolish-mortal]

This is my biggest complaint about DCL. For this price point they need more options for dinner. Other cruise lines blow them away with evening food options. I've emailed them twice about it and I hope others are speaking up too. We LOVED Cabanas for dinner. We always did it at least once every cruise. We liked the idea of not getting "ready" for dinner and having something quick and casual. We love the MDRs but sometimes we're not in the mood for it after a long day.

 

[hmsTigger]

Agree sometimes you don't feel like a 2 hour sit down dinner
Bring back Cabanas for dinner
We did try Flo's 1 night and enjoyed being away from the tight tables of the MDR's.

 

[AquaDame]

Until they can guarantee a private table I'm in agreement... I do not want to have forced socializing with strangers just to have a decent dinner when we pay so much. We've been mostly lucky so far in getting our own, but its such a stressful thing that it really sours me everytime we book a cruise. I don't really relax and enjoy myself until that is off my plate.

 

[ljhayes]

Gratuities have been automatically applied to your account since our first cruise in 2000.

They did not automatically charge them until 2012. Prior to that you had to go to guest services and have them apply them to your account and print out the tags for you to give the staff members.

 

[Heatherdbby]

As most other cruiselines have buffet options for dinner, I am sure there is a calculation to make an estimated guess how many people are eating at each restaurant, and determine how much food is needed where.

And besides, how much food is wasted in the MDR because people order all the dishes to try and only eat half ;-)

im absolutely guilty of doing that. But medically I can only eat about half a cup of food per sitting. But I will order 2 or 3 things and have a couple bites of everything. I make my husband and son try my stuff too lol.

But if they are ordering something I want to try, I will just steal some of theirs.

 

[brentm77]

im absolutely guilty of doing that. But medically I can only eat about half a cup of food per sitting. But I will order 2 or 3 things and have a couple bites of everything. I make my husband and son try my stuff too lol.

But if they are ordering something I want to try, I will just steal some of theirs.

This is how I end up eating too much dessert most nights! My wife loves to try the different desserts, but has a much smaller appetite than me. I end up eating what she can't finish, because I can't help myself.

 

[tvguy]

I think most of us on the DIS know how carefully Disney researches things and while there is a very vocal portion of customers who liked the buffet, I think it just isn't a large enough group to justify a return. As I recall from posts from when it was open for dinner people liked that it wasn't crowded. And that may be the very reason it went away, It was an under utilized dining option.

 

[Karin1984]

Well, it really depends on how Disney marketed it. Basically the dinner option in Cabanas was a sit down meal not that different from the MDR. Only with the flexibility to walk in? If it is the same, why not go to the MDR (which they do promote).

People are like cattle if the majority of the group goes right (because the farmer told them to), people will follow the herd. If someone at check in tells you: "you will eat here on night 1, here on night 2 and here on night 3, you do not have to make reservations and you will experience all restaurants," the majority will just do that, because that's what they are told.

I don't think Disney ever had a buffet option for dinner. Did they ever explore this option in practice? If you look at how WDW has multiple buffet options for dinner, you would think they would use that knowledge to other parts of their company.

Of course a park going guest is not necessarily a cruise guest, but still. I really can't imagine that their research shows that families with young kids want a lengthy sit down meal every night. Especially on cruises longer than 3 or 4 nights.

I am more inclined to believe it is a cost cutting method.

 

[Sykes]

I think most of us on the DIS know how carefully Disney researches things and while there is a very vocal portion of customers who liked the buffet, I think it just isn't a large enough group to justify a return.

I don't think that there's a lot of evidence that Disney is investing the same kind of money into customer analytics on DCL as they are at the rest of their parks and resorts. My suspicion is that they are chronically under-staffed and under-investing in the shore-side of DCL--except for the launch of new ships, refreshes of a few onboard areas, and COVID-related cuts, the customer experience (including the MDR menus!) has been largely unchanged for more than a decade. For the on-board experience, IMO, they're currently operating on the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" model, and what research they are doing is mostly going into the new ships and new itineraries. I'm not saying that this is the wrong strategy (after all, we're here because on balance we like what they offer), but I am saying that I won't be surprised if the onboard experience for the 4 legacy ships looks mostly the same a decade from now, regardless of how guest preferences change.

 

[tvguy]

I don't think that there's a lot of evidence that Disney is investing the same kind of money into customer analytics on DCL as they are at the rest of their parks and resorts. My suspicion is that they are chronically under-staffed and under-investing in the shore-side of DCL--except for the launch of new ships, refreshes of a few onboard areas, and COVID-related cuts, the customer experience (including the MDR menus!) has been largely unchanged for more than a decade. For the on-board experience, IMO, they're currently operating on the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" model, and what research they are doing is mostly going into the new ships and new itineraries. I'm not saying that this is the wrong strategy (after all, we're here because we like what they offer), but I am saying that I won't be surprised if the onboard experience for the 4 legacy ships looks mostly the same a decade from now, regardless of how guest preferences change.

Yet, the ships appear to be selling out and mostly with repeat customers. And Disney cruisers don't take well to change. Lord knows the outrage that was the result of a cutback in availability of Mickey Bars and Mickey Waffles on the ships prompted a quick change back to the old ways by DCL.

 

[Dug720]

If it is the same, why not go to the MDR (which they do promote).

As was mentioned before, that was one way to ensure you had your own table. That is why I was going to try it before I saw the menu (everything gross from the MDR menus) - I'd been put at what I not so affectionately call the solo dump table. The 2 guys got along famously and had everything in common. I had absolutely nothing other than being on the same ship in common with them and I was not comfortable there at all. (It's the one time I didn't go to check and see if my request for a private table was honored.) After seeing the menu at Cabanas and realizing it was a big nope for me, I went to the dining room I was assigned to that night during first seating (but while everyone was eating so the manager/a head server was available) to ask if there was any way I could be moved to a private table. The manager was super nice and said to check with her when I came back for second seating. Thankfully there was one - the section I was put in was one super long table (basically the equivalent of 3 tables put together) and mine, they just wanted to check with the service team to ensure they were ok with a solo table. In that case, had it not been possible, I was just going to see how many nights I could get into Palo and resign myself to room service or something early from the pool deck.

BUT it didn't bother me because I chose to go on a cruise line without an evening buffet. There are plenty of other cruise lines out there that have such a thing you can choose from. I like that Disney is different in that respect. Choose which you want - Disney without an evening buffet or not Disney bur an evening buffet.

 

[soniam]

I would even take better pool-side food as a dinner option (the Wish, excluded from what I hear). We have reached the place where we want an alternative to the MDR some nights, but the pool side food is pretty bad on most cruises. If they upgraded it to better options, with efficient service, that would be enough for us, although we would prefer a buffet like other lines. I get it though, it raises big food waste issues not knowing where people will show up for dinner.

Someone above mentioned the rotating servers. I have always liked that DCL does this, but I am curious to experience new servers each night on other lines. The rotating servers can be great if you get the right ones, but not so great if you are stuck with sub-par team for a week. It can also be a little tiring if you get super social servers, depending on whether you are in the mood for it, or if you have had a long day and just want to chat with the family and eat. The really good ones have been good at gauging the right times to be social. It such a hard job- serving, entertaining, and reading the needs of multiple groups of customers twice a night.

When we did the Retreat on Celebrity in July, we always ate at Luminae for dinner, unless it was a specialty restaurant. We had a couple of different servers for lunch and dinner and then decided which server/section we like the most and asked for that for the next few evenings. They quit asking and just took us there at some point. So, I think it can be done, but you might have to request it. I noticed most of the people in our section sat in the same area every night, so I think it just becomes standard after a couple of nights.

 

[Dug720]

When we did the Retreat on Celebrity in July, we always ate at Luminae for dinner, unless it was a specialty restaurant. We had a couple of different servers for lunch and dinner and then decided which server/section we like the most and asked for that for the next few evenings. They quit asking and just took us there at some point. So, I think it can be done, but you might have to request it. I noticed most of the people in our section sat in the same area every night, so I think it just becomes standard after a couple of nights.

Yeah - it's definitely harder if you go at different times, but if you go about the same time, they are able to put you with the same servers if not the same table quite often. I have had it done with Blu on Celebrity when I did Aqua Class on the Summit which was Select Dining and no reservations accepted; and on RCCL Brilliance of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas - both of which were MyTime Dining where I did make a reservation for the same time each night (between the 2 fixed seatings, so it worked nicely for me). It would be impossible on the Edge-Class ship MDRs unless you went to the same one at the same time each night because while those have 4 MDRs, the servers don't rotate around in them - the servers in Tuscan are the servers in Tuscan, etc.

 

[foolish-mortal]

Well, it really depends on how Disney marketed it. Basically the dinner option in Cabanas was a sit down meal not that different from the MDR. Only with the flexibility to walk in? If it is the same, why not go to the MDR (which they do promote).

No it was definitely different from the MDR. It was quieter, quicker, more casual. You could get in and out without all of the fanfare. No characters, shows, jokes, Crush, etc. Sometimes we want to just get in and out and have a more relaxing meal. Overall we love the MDRs but Cabanas was a great option. On our last cruise there was no Cabanas and one night we just didn't want to do the MDR. Our serving team was a little over the top with asking us every 5 minutes if every single part of the meal met our absolute highest expectations and was excellent in every way. They were sweet but after a few nights it was exhausting. So we ordered room service. A very limited menu and eating on our bed was definitely not the same as having Cabanas as an option.