In-room Dining: What do you do with your dishes??

[Cirlonde]

I feel a little silly asking this question, but it's been nagging at me and I figured if you can't ask a silly question on the Disboards then where can you ask it!

We're taking our first ever cruise in a couple of weeks, and I'm wondering what you do with your dishes after dining in your room:

1. If you order room service?
2. If you bring a tray back from Cabanas?
3. If you have your main dining meal served in your room? (We're sailing concierge and have the dining table, so we are considering requesting our meal served in our room on our Castaway Day.)

The answer is probably the same for all three situations, but I want to make sure I'm not putting an undue burden on our room host if we do something "wrong". Thank you in advance!!

 

[Peanato1]

We've never had a problem just placing our trays outside our doors when we're finished. This works for situations 1& 2, not sure about 3 as we've never gone concierge.

 

[Lilsia]

Many people either leave the tray in their room and the stateroom host takes care of it, or they put it outside the room along the wall. You can always call back down to room service and ask them what they want done with the tray. I am sure they could send someone up to get it.

 

[undertheradar]

I feel a little silly asking this question, but it's been nagging at me and I figured if you can't ask a silly question on the Disboards then where can you ask it!

We're taking our first ever cruise in a couple of weeks, and I'm wondering what you do with your dishes after dining in your room:

1. If you order room service?
2. If you bring a tray back from Cabanas?
3. If you have your main dining meal served in your room? (We're sailing concierge and have the dining table, so we are considering requesting our meal served in our room on our Castaway Day.)

The answer is probably the same for all three situations, but I want to make sure I'm not putting an undue burden on our room host if we do something "wrong". Thank you in advance!!

You keep the dishes on the table and call room service. They will send someone to clear the dishes and remove the table linens.

 

[dcassetta]

I think it would depend on how many dishes I had. I never put trays or dishes on the floor outside the door.

If it is plates from Cabanas, I would return them to the pool deck or leave them on the table in the room for the stateroom host to collect.

Sometimes the trays from room service have a card that asks you to call when you are finished and they will come and remove the tray. Even when they do not, I call and tell room service the tray can be removed.

I have not traveled in concierge, but I would guess they anticipate when the meal is complete and return for the dishes.

The halls are so narrow that putting trays on the floor outside the door can create a hazard.

 

[Cirlonde]

The halls are so narrow that putting trays on the floor outside the door can create a hazard.

This was my main concern and what prompted me to worry about it. My only experience with room service has been in hotels, where it's common to leave the dishes in the hallway. But all the pictures/video I've seen of the ships, the hallways looked very narrow so I wasn't sure it would be okay to leave anything out there. I also didn't want to detract from other guests' experiences...if they have to walk past my dirty dishes!

It sounds like calling room service will probably be our best option. Since we will have plenty of room, I certainly don't have a problem with leaving the dishes in our room and out of everyone else's way.

Thank you all so much for your replies!!

 

[Flowerem]

I think it would depend on how many dishes I had. I never put trays or dishes on the floor outside the door.

If it is plates from Cabanas, I would return them to the pool deck or leave them on the table in the room for the stateroom host to collect.

Sometimes the trays from room service have a card that asks you to call when you are finished and they will come and remove the tray. Even when they do not, I call and tell room service the tray can be removed.

I have not traveled in concierge, but I would guess they anticipate when the meal is complete and return for the dishes.

The halls are so narrow that putting trays on the floor outside the door can create a hazard.

I thought the hallways were too narrow to put the trays there as well. So I called room service and asked them to come and get them and they told me to put them in the hall. I said that it might create a hazard for wheelchairs or strollers and they said that’s the only way they pick them up. I was surprised but did what I was told and they came to get them pretty quickly.

 

[DCLCrazy64622]

If we order room service in the middle of the day then we leave them in our room. We know the steward will be by to turn the bed down so it will be taken sooner. But if it’s at midnight then we leave it in the hallway bc I’m too tired to wait for them to come back and if we leave them in the room they end up stinking after 8 hours of sitting there.

 

[lklgoodman]

We've never order a full meal from room service, just cookies. I often see plates left in the halls, not a problem if the food is gone, however there have been times when we've seen food scattered all over the hallway. If I bring food to my cabin from Cabanas, I either take the plate back up there when done, or leave it on the table in the cabin. Nothing worse than trying to walk to your cabin and there's food spilled all along the hallway.

 

[ludari]

When I order room service I usually just leave the tray in my stateroom and let the cabin steward take it away. I've noticed that some people will place their trays/dishes in the hallway which I only do if I had brought a small plate of a desert or cookies to my stateroom.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

We usually order room service only for breakfast on port days or in the afternoon. With both times, the stateroom host is coming in shortly after so we just leave the tray and plates in the room and they are gone by the time we return.

 

[Pooh2]

I thought the hallways were too narrow to put the trays there as well. So I called room service and asked them to come and get them and they told me to put them in the hall. I said that it might create a hazard for wheelchairs or strollers and they said that’s the only way they pick them up. I was surprised but did what I was told and they came to get them pretty quickly.

We were told the same. The dishes were usually picked up pretty promptly after we called, a couple of times though they were there for several hours.

 

[kid-at-heart]

On our first cruise we were told to leave our trays in the room and the stateroom hosts will pick them up. Four cruises now and our trays have always disappeared from our rooms in a timely manner. Please do not leave your trays in the hallways. It creates obstacles for wheelchairs and folks using walkers.

On a side note, I remember seeing a tray once that that had been knocked over and food trailed down the hallway. Twas not a pleasant sight.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I usually order the All Hands on Deck cheese plate a couple of times each cruise, to enjoy on tha verandah during the afternoon. I move any leftover cheese to the small refrigerator to enjoy later (we pack ziplocks for this purpose) and place the tray, napkin, utensils, and plate on top of the chest of drawers next to the closet (on the Magic and Wonder). It has always been taken by our stateroom host the next time the room is serviced.