Windjammer Self-serve? yea/nay?

[Rene Desmarais]

When our family goes cruising again...    Nay!  I like being served!

[Matt]

3 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

I have to disagree with you, I don't think it will take that much longer than when people served themselves and the benefits clearly out way any minor inconvenience.

I agre with @CruiseGus. I find lines move faster when crew serve. Less awkwardness, spills, and general hesistation.

[smokeybandit]

But when the ship is full, will there be enough crew (and space) to serve passengers without them constantly running into each other?

I fear every line turns into the omelet station.

 

 

[USCG Teacher]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

But when the ship is full, will there be enough crew (and space) to serve passengers without them constantly running into each other?

I fear every line turns into the omelet station.

 

 

Just need to establish a standard of efficiency with both guests and crew.

[MuttMutt]

3 hours ago, USCG Teacher said:

Just need to establish a standard of efficiency with both guests and crew.

 

So true, also need some way of keeping track of the number of people/parties allowed into the area.  It was a pain to get something then have to hunt for a table, I hated doing it but we resorted to dropping an item on a table or sitting down to hold it while one of us got something to eat.

[Ampurp85]

22 minutes ago, MuttMutt said:

 

So true, also need some way of keeping track of the number of people/parties allowed into the area.  It was a pain to get something then have to hunt for a table, I hated doing it but we resorted to dropping an item on a table or sitting down to hold it while one of us got something to eat.

I wonder if this why they scan you in and out of the Windjammer? This did this every time on my Allure sailing.

[smokeybandit]

I could see scanning in and out being a permanent thing, not for covid, but just for their metrics.

[JeffB]

What would be telling is to see RCL's actual infectious disease cases where guests sought treatment in medical (sx to include diarrhea, cough, runny nose, sore throat etc) since the restart with Health and Safety Panel Recommendations in place. I'd say only about 20-30% of guests suffering with such sx actually go to medical so take the number that do and increase it by 70%. My guess is that cases of infectious disease on board, not including COVID, is astonishingly low compared to pre-pandemic times.

Peoples mostly informed gut feelings seen here by the number of "nays" are expressing that the benefits of hand washing/sanitizing, reducing touching surfaces in eating venues as well as toilets, theaters, etc. far exceed any draw backs or inconveniences to guest and/or crew produced by these protocols. There are very likely objective data to support continuing them.

One thing the pandemic has done is increased our sensitivity to the potential of spreading infectious diseases. Before SARS2 being germ sensitive and practicing good hygiene measures wasn't a part of too many cruisers and travelers daily routines while aboard ship; maybe after they got Norovirus or a terrible chest cold they did. But it most certainly is now, or at least the numbers of those practicing good hygiene measures has increased.

I can't argue persuasively that 90% of the protocols in place to prevent the spread of SARS2 shouldn't be retained. Guests may not like the inconveniences of following good hygiene and infection control protocols. But to have corporate back-off of them in the face of the remarkable improvement they have probably achieved in shipboard infection control, including preventing outbreaks of COVID aboard ships, would be monumentally stupid. 

  

  

[MuttMutt]

2 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I wonder if this why they scan you in and out of the Windjammer? This did this every time on my Allure sailing.

I think it has more to do with covid and tracking. But if they kept it around it could be useful for tables and such as well. 

[JasonOasis]

On 11/16/2021 at 6:12 AM, smokeybandit said:

The downside is once we get back close to normal capacity, there simply aren't enough crew members to efficiently serve the buffet lines.

I disagree, I think a lot of the lines people have experienced getting into Windjammers have more to do with social distancing and not having all the tables available for use.  As the recover continues and capacity increases social distancing will naturally fall away and all the tables will be open for use, I think once that happens things will move more smoothly. On my cruise once I got into Windjammers there were no lines at all at any of the buffet stations.

I get the all you can eat buffet is as much a part of cruising as anything else. Windjammers is still an all you can eat venue.  People can go back to the buffet as many times as they like, but now it is a much more cleaner/sanitized venue than it was pre-pandemic. I think there may be some who are concerned that this could be the first step in doing away with buffets on cruise ships I don't see that happening at all, but I do like the idea of an all you can eat buffet where the crew member serve the passengers instead of letting everyone touch everything.  

[JeffB]

Something else relevant to the OP's Yay or Nay question on infection control measures in the Windjammer and elsewhere aboard cruise ships is this. If the SARS2 pandemic has taught us anything it is the omnipresence of viral pathogens that can both kill humans or make them seriously ill requiring hospitalization and post hospital rehab. The world's capacity to defeat these threats with vaccines, medical management and pharmaceuticals is more than amazing. But these pathogens are out there and new ones for which humans have no immunity, as was the case with SARS2, and capable of brining human activity to a halt, will arise and spread causing the same kind of social and economic disaster that SARS2 did to a world that was completely nonchalant about the dangers of these viruses. 

It should be a wake-up call for everyone to take infection control and the kinds of good hygiene that help achieve adequate levels of control seriously. One poster recounted that she was in favor of keeping guests from touching utensils or food in buffet settings and leaving that to wait and serving staff. Why? Because she was witness to  too many guests being careless or ignoring health measures, e.g., vigorous and correct hand washing, before entering congregate settings where food is being served. I though it great she admitted to not doing the 20 second hand washing thing like she should at times. I'm guilty of that too. But also, I've cruised 6 times in 5 months since the restart, have scrupulously followed good infection control procedures of my own and that of the ships I've sailed on and not once gotten a hint of a URI or intestinal disorder.

It can be done. Do it. 

[JimnKathy]

I like the crew-serve option to eliminate touching utensil handles.

This combined with good handwashing protocols makes norovirus transmission a non-issue.