Whatever happened to those grand and elaborate chocolate and winged-ice-carving-oriented midnight feasts on cruises?
RIP.
“The midnight buffet is a relic,” Stewart Chiron told the Detroit Free Press. The cruise industry expert who has been on 123 cruises added: “It’s almost nonexistent.”
One reason is a change in eating behaviors. There’s a stronger taste now for healthy foods.
“Cruise passengers still stuff themselves. But not quite so much. And not at midnight,” says the newspaper.
There are a few exceptions. Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2, for example, still has one.
Carnival has a Grand Gala Buffet. Celebrity has them on a few vessels.
But the QE2 is retiring in 2008, and so will its midnight buffet.
“Since our company began, we’ve never had midnight buffets as a dining option on our ships. Just breakfast and lunch buffets,” says Brad Ball, Silversea spokesman.
As of now, Carnival has no plans to get rid of its midnight buffet, a beloved tradition with passengers, spokeswoman Aly Bello said.
Report by David Wilkening
