Bye bye buffet! Cruise ships are getting rid of the bain-marie

NAME two words you associate with cruise ships. Could they be ‘bogans’ and ‘buffets’? Well get ready for a brave new world, one of them is on the way out.

WHAT comes to mind when I say the word buffet?

Well, for me, I think of Sizzler and cruise ships. Ah the childhood memories at Sizzler. Piling my plate up with food, struggling to keep everything on while I walked back to the table, and then all the food tasting the same.

As an adult though, I can’t say I was sad to see the back of Sizzler. Some things are good only when you’re a kid.

So when I recently went on a cruise with my mother, I thought “oh god, the dreaded buffet”.

But to my pleasant surprise, when we got on the ship there was not a buffet in sight. No stale salad; no chance of mixing one flavour with the other.

Tracy Vo onboard with her mum.

The only place on the ship that was close to resembling a buffet was a place called The Pantry. I’d describe it as an upmarket food court. For dinner there was Mexican (the pork and pineapple taco topped with extra salsa and jalapeños hit the spot), Indian, Chinese, a roast dinner section, a garden bar that served all your greens, and also a sweets stall with all sorts of cakes and treats. It was all free, and you could eat as much as you wanted.

Some of the Chinese dishes were questionable and there was only one spot that I could see in that area that served a decent coffee, but mum and I were quite satisfied. Bye bye buffet!

Food outlet 'The Pantry'.

But not everyone was impressed. I overheard an older lady asking one of the staff members, “Where’s the buffet?” The poor cruise ship worker, who was just there to carve up the meat and serve some roasted vegetables had to break the sad news, there was no buffet. And the lady didn’t let up, “I did not know this. I come on cruises to have a buffet. I want my food on one plate and that’s the way I like it!”

He apologised again, “I’m sorry madam, we don’t have a buffet on board. But we have plenty of choices here and you can eat as much as you like.” She wasn’t satisfied and walked off in a huff. Talk about having a passion for the bain-marie!

The up-market Waterfront restaurant. Picture: Ian Currie

Cruise ships can get a bad rap. They’ve been judged for being cheesy, outdated and either just for oldies, or just for bogans. So in 2015 it’s no wonder cruise companies are trying to shake that reputation off. On the cruise ship we went on, P&O’s Pacific Eden, the brief, I’m told, is to be more like a boutique hotel at sea, rather than the cliched cruise ship.

And despite my initial hesitation, I have to say it really was. In terms of culinary experience, there are four choices for a sit down restaurant: Luke Mangan’s Salt Grill, an Italian place called Angelo’s (the arancini balls were bellissimo!), the Asian fusion Dragon Lady, and The Waterfront, where mum and I enjoyed a snapper fillet and a good old chicken schnitzel.

Scallop sashimi at Luke Mangan’s Salt Grill.

You can’t beat a classic Schnitzel!

It felt like an upmarket hotel and you could spend hours just sea-gazing (I certainly did, armed with a dirty martini).

But I don’t think you can ever shake off the cheesiness of a cruise ship.

There was a band playing by the pool, performing all the classics — a bit of Van Morrison and Procol Harum, and the ladies were loving it, myself included. The singer danced like Michael Jackson, and they knew how to charm the crowd.

So they can try and take out the cheese out of cruising, but maybe it’s what we want from time to time.

Tracy Vo is a reporter for Channel 9 in Perth and author of the book Small Bamboo. Follow Tracy on Twitter @Tracy_Vo