Enchanted garden embarkation day lunch

[PrincessShmoo]

We got off the Fantasy today. EG was not open for breakfast or lunch at all during our cruise. When we inquired on embarkation day about EG, we were told that they were "elevating their level of service and you may notice some changes on the ship." Cabanas and Royal Court were open for breakfast & lunch everyday. The first 3 days of cruise the food was served to us at Cabanas. This is why EG was closed... extra staff were needed to serve us at the buffet and serve us at the drink stations. Deck eleven drink stations were not open 24 hours. Also extra staff to hand out sanitizing wipes. On day 4 they started allowing us to serve ourselves, but wanted us to not only sanitize our hands when entering Cabanas, but also before using the beverage station, and they wanted us to sanitize between food stations (difficult to do when holding at least 1 plate of food). I was hopeful that they would open EG later in the cruise, but they did not. Hopefully it is open going forward. I have to admit, it was nice to have someone serve me at Palo brunch, then carry my plates to the table (DH's plate did not get carried to the table for him ). The staff serving the Palo brunch even suggested items on the buffet that DH and I would not have otherwise tried (I'm not a big fan of sticky buns...but I ate it & went back for a second one).

Hmmm.... Holland America has had no self serve for the first 3 days onboard for quite a while now. And it's cut down on the Noro transmissions and other easily transmittable diseases on their cruises. I'm wondering if there was a Noro scare on a recent cruise (not enough to make the minimum number for reporting, but worth noting for DCL), and they're doing this now, also.

Maybe it's coincidentally at the same time that Ebola concerns are in the forefront.

When had Palo brunch before all these new measures, there were people serving up the food from the buffet areas as we indicated to them what we wanted, so that's not new.

 

[Zeppelin]

We got off the Fantasy today. EG was not open for breakfast or lunch at all during our cruise. When we inquired on embarkation day about EG, we were told that they were "elevating their level of service and you may notice some changes on the ship." Cabanas and Royal Court were open for breakfast & lunch everyday. The first 3 days of cruise the food was served to us at Cabanas. This is why EG was closed... extra staff were needed to serve us at the buffet and serve us at the drink stations. Deck eleven drink stations were not open 24 hours. Also extra staff to hand out sanitizing wipes. On day 4 they started allowing us to serve ourselves, but wanted us to not only sanitize our hands when entering Cabanas, but also before using the beverage station, and they wanted us to sanitize between food stations (difficult to do when holding at least 1 plate of food). I was hopeful that they would open EG later in the cruise, but they did not. Hopefully it is open going forward. I have to admit, it was nice to have someone serve me at Palo brunch, then carry my plates to the table (DH's plate did not get carried to the table for him ). The staff serving the Palo brunch even suggested items on the buffet that DH and I would not have otherwise tried (I'm not a big fan of sticky buns...but I ate it & went back for a second one).

considering all that's going on i totally understand this...

 

[tinkmom2]

We had been to the buffet on the Wonder once and to the sit down at Parrot Cay but when we got on the Dream we went right to EG. There was plenty of seating but the buffet line was really long. On the Dream we were the #6 getting on the ship and that's the first place we headed. The servers were dishing out the food. Really there is no rush. They make plenty of food. After that we took a self guided tour of the ship before they opened up the rooms. The advantage of going to Cabanas or Beach Blanket buffet is you can sit on deck outside and eat. I think that part is pretty cool.

 

[Uncleromulus]

We got off the Fantasy today. EG was not open for breakfast or lunch at all during our cruise. When we inquired on embarkation day about EG, we were told that they were "elevating their level of service and you may notice some changes on the ship." Cabanas and Royal Court were open for breakfast & lunch everyday. The first 3 days of cruise the food was served to us at Cabanas. This is why EG was closed... extra staff were needed to serve us at the buffet and serve us at the drink stations. Deck eleven drink stations were not open 24 hours. Also extra staff to hand out sanitizing wipes. On day 4 they started allowing us to serve ourselves, but wanted us to not only sanitize our hands when entering Cabanas, but also before using the beverage station, and they wanted us to sanitize between food stations (difficult to do when holding at least 1 plate of food). I was hopeful that they would open EG later in the cruise, but they did not. Hopefully it is open going forward. I have to admit, it was nice to have someone serve me at Palo brunch, then carry my plates to the table (DH's plate did not get carried to the table for him ). The staff serving the Palo brunch even suggested items on the buffet that DH and I would not have otherwise tried (I'm not a big fan of sticky buns...but I ate it & went back for a second one).

We leave this Saturday on the Fantasy so we'll see how much of this is still in place. Other than lunch that first day we don't do any buffets, so that won't be a concern. I know you and Sean do Concierge and I believe he said that they serve the food and coffee there now???

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

We leave this Saturday on the Fantasy so we'll see how much of this is still in place. Other than lunch that first day we don't do any buffets, so that won't be a concern. I know you and Sean do Concierge and I believe he said that they serve the food and coffee there now???

In the Concierge lounge they served us the first 2 to 3 days. After that it was self-serve but the 2 servers were still there. We decided to skip lunch on embarkation day because we had enough to eat. You may find this works for you also. Flo's was also open on embarkation day.

Less than 1 week... you must be excited. We're excited for you!!

 

[Uncleromulus]

In the Concierge lounge they served us the first 2 to 3 days. After that it was self-serve but the 2 servers were still there. We decided to skip lunch on embarkation day because we had enough to eat. You may find this works for you also. Flo's was also open on embarkation day.

Less than 1 week... you must be excited. We're excited for you!!

WE ARE excited!

Glad to see buffets actually returned to being buffets--would have been somewhat of a pain for everyone if there were no actual "buffets" the entire time.

Will see what next week brings with all of this!!!

 

[Donna M]

We're one of the first on-board and head right to Cabanas, last time it hadn't even opened yet. I enjoy seating outside, and this next cruise I'll be the one with just lamb chops and shrimp on my plate! Two cruises ago I found out that the lamb chops were only served on the first day.

 

[Dug720]

Hmmm.... Holland America has had no self serve for the first 3 days onboard for quite a while now. And it's cut down on the Noro transmissions and other easily transmittable diseases on their cruises. I'm wondering if there was a Noro scare on a recent cruise (not enough to make the minimum number for reporting, but worth noting for DCL), and they're doing this now, also.

Maybe it's coincidentally at the same time that Ebola concerns are in the forefront.

When had Palo brunch before all these new measures, there were people serving up the food from the buffet areas as we indicated to them what we wanted, so that's not new.

The ONLY "self-serve" thing I ever found on HAL this summer was the ridiculously put together "taco bar" (seriously...the order things were in made NO sense at all - chips/shells/etc. were in the MIDDLE). Other than that, even in their "buffet" you had to ask for whatever you wanted at all times. And there was no letter or any other thing indicating that there was a reason for it. I refused to call the Lido restaurant a buffet. It was a cafeteria.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The ONLY "self-serve" thing I ever found on HAL this summer was the ridiculously put together "taco bar" (seriously...the order things were in made NO sense at all - chips/shells/etc. were in the MIDDLE). Other than that, even in their "buffet" you had to ask for whatever you wanted at all times. And there was no letter or any other thing indicating that there was a reason for it. I refused to call the Lido restaurant a buffet. It was a cafeteria.

What ship? We've been on the Zaandam, Veendam, and Zuiderdam. The buffet was self serve (after the first 3 days). You can see the bottom of the sneeze guard glass here that you can reach through to serve yourself in these pictures:

And the fruit platters were completely open (no sneeze guard):

and the drink station (coffee, tea, lemonade, hot chocolate, water):