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How much is too much?


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Let me begin by saying that I really like eating... A LOT!  One of the main draws of cruising for me is the food. 

My question is how tacky is it to order multiple servings of the food on the menu?  How many orders of the cocktail shrimp? The escargot?  How many main entree orders fall in embarrassing territory?  I thinking you’re getting what I’m driving at.  How much is too much?

If you were at the table next to mine, how would you feel if I ordered (and ate) A LOT.

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1 minute ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I would say who cares! Eat to your heart’s content. Before you know it, you’ll be back at home dreaming of cruise food. Life is too short to worry about if others think you are eating or ordering too much. ?

It’s easier when I cruise with a group.  There is a “one up” component to it.  But I usually cruise alone and I like being seated by myself.  That in itself already draws some attention. ?

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10 hours ago, RatedPG said:

My question is how tacky is it to order multiple servings of the food on the menu?  How many orders of the cocktail shrimp? The escargot?  How many main entree orders fall in embarrassing territory?  I thinking you’re getting what I’m driving at.  How much is too much?

I don't see why food quantity should be an issue.  My personal guess is if you stay within the normal 2 hour time-slot, are nice to the staff, order all of your items at the same time, and eat with reasonable manners - all the normal considerate stuff - you should be fine.  I have seen two main entrees many times in the past.  And I have seen groups split multiple entrees.  I don't ever recall anyone ordering three, but I bet if you ask up front and offer to skip the appetizer that they would be happy to make it work and squeeze in that appetizer too.  Again this is just my opinion as I have never seen it done.

The other thing I have seen quite often is if I have trouble making an entree decision between two items, they sometimes just go ahead and bring me both.  But that was a while ago and I think these days you actually have to ask the waiter.

I once ordered two escargot appetizers, two escargot appetizers for my meal, and two escargot appetizers for desert.  The staff laughed, but got the idea that I really like escargot.  They brought me an unlimited supply and did manage to fit in an actual entree which they picked for me.  It was actually pretty fun and my waiter made me feel like a king.  When he brought me the escargot as the entree he announced it as such, and then laughed a bit.  Then he actually brought them out as my desert and again announced them as desert, I think we both laughed.  It was probably the most memorable dinner I have ever had on a ship.  I will never forget it for sure.

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On Empress our waiter would make suggestions each night.  If one of us didn't order it he would bring it for the table to share.  We always had extra food.  Order anything you want.  The only issue you would have is in specialty restaurants where a second entree will cost you $10.  But you can have multiple apps and desserts. 

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8 hours ago, Hoski said:

On Empress our waiter would make suggestions each night.  If one of us didn't order it he would bring it for the table to share.  We always had extra food.  Order anything you want.  The only issue you would have is in specialty restaurants where a second entree will cost you $10.  But you can have multiple apps and desserts. 

If you have the UDP, do they still charge $10 for a second entree?

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Personally, it would not bother me in the slightest if you ordered large amounts of food as long as you actually ate most of it. What really does bother me is when I see people piling their plates as high as they possibly can in the buffet and then leaving most of it. If you enjoy eating then why shouldn't you take the opportunity, especially since you'll get to try dishes you might not get to try at home.

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10 hours ago, RatedPG said:

Let me begin by saying that I really like eating... A LOT!  One of the main draws of cruising for me is the food. 

My question is how tacky is it to order multiple servings of the food on the menu?  How many orders of the cocktail shrimp? The escargot?  How many main entree orders fall in embarrassing territory?  I thinking you’re getting what I’m driving at.  How much is too much?

If you were at the table next to mine, how would you feel if I ordered (and ate) A LOT.

Like the others have stated, your servers will not blink an eye if you order multiple items. One thing you have to remember as far as the MDR is concerned. Although there is a menu, most of the items are prepared in advance and served once they are ordered, more like a banquet. X number of each menu item is prepared based on historical data, specific cruise history, etc so there is usually always extra food left over, so order as much as you would like. I know on some cruises when they have had an abundance of something left over, I believe somebody mentioned a scallops appetizer once, they have walked around the MDR with plates of them, asking anybody if they wanted some. Another poster said on her cruise, one guest ate 12 lobster tails one night!

Eat what you want and as much as you want. If somebody is going to judge you, that says more about them than it says about you!

Happy cruising and don't forget the Tums.

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13 hours ago, RatedPG said:

Let me begin by saying that I really like eating... A LOT!  One of the main draws of cruising for me is the food. 

My question is how tacky is it to order multiple servings of the food on the menu?  How many orders of the cocktail shrimp? The escargot?  How many main entree orders fall in embarrassing territory?  I thinking you’re getting what I’m driving at.  How much is too much?

If you were at the table next to mine, how would you feel if I ordered (and ate) A LOT.

How would I feel about it.  Will LET ME TELL YOU how I would feel.  I would offer an abundance of encouragement.  You have paid a lot of dough for the cruise.  If you wanted to spend 9 hours each day at the pool, then do so.  If you want multiple plates of a certain dish, or a wide variety of different entrees... you should certainly go for it.

A vacation is a time to indulge & overindulge.  I tip my hat to you.  In fact, if your table at the MDR has an extra seat -- may I have it?

General Lee Speaking .. I mean, generally speaking, I will often skip lunch.  So, having more than "usual" makes sense to me at supper time.

Listen, if you use a napkin, you're okay in my book.

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Thanks for all your replies!

I promise to be nice to the wait staff, I always am anyway.  In fact, my waiter on the Majesty will also be on the Ovation when I sail at the end of the month. He promised he’d make arrangements for him to be my waiter again.

Food wastes should not be an issue for me. I belong to the “finish your plate” generation. In the days of my youth, my pastor trained us not to waste food because we need to be good stewards of blessings that come our way.

 

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If I saw you doing that, I might be more brave to order that 2nd entree that I really wanted to try but felt too self-conscious about ordering. You do you! You paid for a vacation that food is a big part of - and don't worry about what anybody else "thinks". Shoot! I'd probably want to pull a chair and chat with you! 

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I typically order 2 appetizers, a salad, maybe soup, an entrée, possibly a second entrée, then usually 2 deserts. To my knowledge no one has ever looked at me funny, but I'm usually not paying attention to them either.

As @FionaMG says, what I don't like is when people order or get a lot of food from the buffet and then don't eat it, to get it and waste it is not fine. 

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6 years ago, my mom took the whole family on a cruise -- celebrating her 80th, my & DH's 25th anniversary, a couple of the grandkids going into senior year of high school -- so we were a table of 11 every night.  My younger nephew -- 14 at the time -- ordered at least 2 -- shrimp cocktail & Caesar salad -- and sometimes 3 appetizers, usually got seconds on his entree (or 2 entrees) & 1 or 2 desserts.  Our waiters just kept bringing it out, without batting an eye.  Of course, our whole table had the advantage of seeing the menu the night before, as my younger DD has celiac, & they would bring it out to let her choose her meal for the next day, so that probably helped.

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23 hours ago, DRLPP said:

My feelings: Order as much as you want, try new things, multiples of any item you really like,  just try to keep waste to a minimum. 

Agreed.  But right or wrong, I like to try new food items on a cruise that I wouldn't elsewhere.  I pretty much eat anything, but sometimes I'll come across something I just can't eat.  It's unfortunate but at least it doesn't happen often - almost never these days.

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3 hours ago, YOLO said:

Agreed.  But right or wrong, I like to try new food items on a cruise that I wouldn't elsewhere.  I pretty much eat anything, but sometimes I'll come across something I just can't eat.  It's unfortunate but at least it doesn't happen often - almost never these days.

This I get, I've done this also, what I'm talking about is the tremendous amount of waste in the WJ.

If it's something new and you don't know if you like it, get a little and if you like it go get more. I've seen people go get 3 or 4 deserts and then only eat 2, the ship can't put those back just because they weren't eaten.

Ok, off my soap box now.

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19 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

This I get, I've done this also, what I'm talking about is the tremendous amount of waste in the WJ.

If it's something new and you don't know if you like it, get a little and if you like it go get more. I've seen people go get 3 or 4 deserts and then only eat 2, the ship can't put those back just because they weren't eaten.

Ok, off my soap box now.

Yes, as you probably figured I wasn't thinking WJ.  But a very good point by you.  Not trying to get you back up on your preaching box, but inconsiderate people exist.  There is enough garbage and waste in the world today, if we would all do our part...

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2 minutes ago, YOLO said:

Yes, as you probably figured I wasn't thinking WJ.  But a very good point by you.  Not trying to get you back up on your preaching box, but inconsiderate people exist.  There is enough garbage and waste in the world today, if we would all do our part...

Yes, I figured as much, if it weren't for cruising my palette would still probably be pretty plain, escargot, lamp, duck, sushi, certain vegetables and parings. 

The first taste I always told the waiter, if I don't like this you are going to bring me X, and they always did, but the first taste usually got me.

I can only think of a couple of different fishes that I really didn't care for.

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53 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

This I get, I've done this also, what I'm talking about is the tremendous amount of waste in the WJ.

If it's something new and you don't know if you like it, get a little and if you like it go get more. I've seen people go get 3 or 4 deserts and then only eat 2, the ship can't put those back just because they weren't eaten.

Ok, off my soap box now.

Yup. Case in point. Navigator last November, the two people at the table next to ours took about 3 bites before abandoning the rest. ?

 

 

20181130_192347.jpg

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YUMMMMMM cookies for later!  Just a thought, but think about bringing a few small ziplocks with you so if you do bring cookies back to your room you can keep them in the ziplocks.  They'll stay fresher and avoid tempting any critters (ants) from invading:)  Not that I've ever seen a bug on any of my cruises, but why tempt fate.

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2 hours ago, GWENSEL said:

Is it okay to take away snacks or food back to your room for later. Which restaurants allow it?

Yes, it is totally allowed. As far as I know, pretty much every restaurant will plate up and cover food for you to take away with you or, in the case of the WJ, you can just get it yourself.  I have heard  various people say they especially do this with dessert at dinner because they're too full to eat it at the time but want to enjoy it later, as a late night snack.

One thing to bear in mind is that the "fridges" in the rooms are not really fridges, more like coolers, so you shouldn't store anything perishable in them for any more than a couple of hours at the most. 

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19 hours ago, FionaMG said:

One thing to bear in mind is that the "fridges" in the rooms are not really fridges, more like coolers, so you shouldn't store anything perishable in them for any more than a couple of hours at the most. 

And they're not too big either.

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On 8/5/2019 at 3:27 PM, YOLO said:

We would never leave cookies behind!  We take them back to the room for later.  ?

Midnight snack, the coconut Ranger cookies are my favorite.

Funny story, Anthem GC, we went to the WJ for a snack, wife wanted some of the Ranger cookies, there weren't any, one of the Officers in the WJ saw the concern on my wife's face, ask her what was wrong and she told him. He had one of the servers go down to the kitchen and grab her some, they were still warm from the oven.

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On 8/5/2019 at 3:22 PM, FionaMG said:

Yup. Case in point. Navigator last November, the two people at the table next to ours took about 3 bites before abandoning the rest. ?

 

 

20181130_192347.jpg

That is an example of WASTE, not an example of trying a new dish or item and not really liking it.

I am Ok with trying new items and sometime we don't particularly like them, so then we know not to order them again, this is part of the great thing about cruising.  I have been able to introduce my DW to new entree she used to turn her nose up at.

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