Most people who cruise enjoy the “all you can eat” option.
As part of your cruise fare on cruise lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean and MSC, you get access to the main dining room, a buffet, a pizzeria and usually one or two other restaurants.
It's not necessarily about gluttony, but rather an opportunity for someone else to prepare your meals, clean your plates, and make sure you have everything you need at mealtime.
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On the other hand, for many passengers, a cruise is also an opportunity to indulge. You're on vacation, so it's okay, maybe even expected, that you'll eat a little more (or perhaps a lot more) than you usually do.
Some cruisers love Royal Caribbean's Windjammer Buffet and Carnival's Lido Buffet. Both cruise lines serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at their buffets and offer a wide variety of options.
Of course, there are differences.
Royal Caribbean offers made-to-order omelettes on the Windjammer during breakfast. Carnival used to do this, but now its buffet offers pre-made omelettes (although you can order one to order in the main dining room).
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Another notable difference: Carnival serves only what most Americans would consider a basic breakfast (bacon) every other day. That was supposed to be a temporary change, but it has quietly become permanent.
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Carnival Cruise has a bacon problem
Carnival has always had a problem with bacon on its buffets.
Before the Covid pandemic, the cruise line typically had a worker serve the bacon instead of letting passengers pick it up on their own, as they could do with any other buffet item.
He probably did this because passengers couldn't be trusted to serve themselves. After the cruise line shut down due to Covid, Carnival said it was having trouble getting bacon and made a pretty major change.
“Like many businesses in the hospitality industry, we are experiencing some supply chain challenges, and bacon is one of them,” Carnival brand ambassador John Heald said in August 2021. “We have notified our guests that we will be serving bacon on alternating days at our Lido breakfast buffet…and our guests have been very understanding and cooperative.”
The language used at the time implied the change would be temporary, but during his July 11 video Heald confirmed that bacon was still being served at the Lido Buffet every other day.
“Bacon is served every day from Lido,” Heald said. “I'll see what we can do to get it back.”
In this video, he cited “food waste reasons” as the reason why the cruise line has maintained the alternate-day schedule.
“But it is available every day in the dining room,” he added.
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Carnival passengers oppose breakfast
Heald raised the bacon issue in response to a passenger who suggested Carnival's buffet doesn't have enough items to choose from.
She listed the long list of items available, but admitted she had removed biscuits and gravy because guests complained about them.
He said perhaps the cruise line, which now works with celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, would consider bringing that deal back. Many passengers commented on the Lido's breakfast offerings and most were positive.
“Crazy! I'm having breakfast right now and the options are amazing,” Dee Homes wrote.
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However, some passengers questioned the bacon rationing.
“Bring back daily bacon to the buffet! What's the reason?” posted Jody Candella Studt.
Heald, of course, cited food waste as a reason, but that seems hard to believe.
Some passengers were not so pleasant about it.
“Ignore bacon every day. Sausage is disgusting,” said Catherine M. Sardeson.
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