would they call us pigs?
 

sailing on carnival inspiration in about a week!! would we be able to order two entrees if we cant decide? how does the waitstaff and chefs look at this? are they offended? is it common to order more than one entree?

Actually this is done all the time. Order as many dishes on the menu as you want. They do not combine them all on one plate and they do not serve them all at the same time so if you order two entrees then you will be sitting there a bit longer but its totally worth it. :wink: Have a great cruise.

My husband used to be the pickiest eater I had ever met. Then, I got him hooked on cruising. Now, he ALWAYS orders at least 2 entrees, one that he knows he will like and one that he isn't sure about. Meanwhile, I order lots of appetizers, since that is my favorite part of the meal and 2 desserts. I am very picky about sweets, and I'm lucky if there is one that I like enough to eat.
SO.....order as many as you want. It is normal on cruise ships!
(SLURP)
Marty

If I see more than one thing on the menu that catches my eye, I'll ask the wait staff for a portion of each and than share with other table mates that may want to try the extra dish. The cruise line wants you to have a good time and experience everything you can. They hope for return customers. Do expect to gain a few pounds while on your cruise.....

Why would you care what the wait staff thinks? Order all you want and don't worry about anyone else....

i dont want spit in my food.. if this is frowned upon i wouldnt do it, but it seems its ok

Don't worry about it. Basically the waiter just walks in and takes a plate. The chef has no idea for what plate. And the waiter is paid (tipped) to serve you. Enjoy all you want and don't worry about it.

Only thing you should know is that dishes are basically preplated. So you will get a full plate, even if all you want is the main part of the course. It's much easier for them to do it this way considering the thousands of meals that they serve.

Entree's on the ship are much smaller than what you normally receive in a standard restuarant, which is to say they are the size we should all be eating instead of the platters of food we are usually served. Therefore, ordering two entree's is almost like ordering Surf-N-Turf in a regular restaurant. You might also notice that some of the entree's will be noted "also available as a starter" so you can get a smaller portion of one along with a standard entree.

If I see several things that sound appealing I will order an appetizer, soup and salad along with my entree. DH and I might also split a second entree. If you are not real big into sweets, try the cheese tray instead of dessert. It is scrumptious.

Eat, Drink , be fat and drunk . That's my moto LOL

Sometimes there are so many good appetizers that I order 3-4 of them. Of course the apatizers aren't very big. Eat 3 appetizers 3 entree's and 3 deserts if you like....thats what makes cruising unique and fun.

According to Google:

The average Frenchman weighs 40% less than the average American.

and

The average French portion of food is 40% smaller than the average American portion.

Do you think there is any correlation????

By the way, on my last ship, the dining room waiters had a great way to earn extra money and have fun doing it.

They would identify the tables that frequently order multiple main courses. Then all the waiters would form a pool, betting money on the highest number of main courses per person ordered on one of these special tables.

The numbers were quite surprising. The winning table usually was in the 6 or 7 main courses per person range.

It was all great fun. The staff really enjoyed it.

I was also under the impression that you could ask for 2 lobster tails but when I did I was told if there was any left after they served everyone else then they would see if we could have another one. It made me feel like a heal for us asking in the first place. What is everyones take on that.

Feeling like a heal is not so bad. The Medical Team might appreciate your assistance.

Feeling like a heel is far worse.

Yep your right

Bottomless Pit
 

My SIL is a bottomless pit..at home and on a cruise. He's not overweight, works out every single day, even on the cruise, and can eat you out of house and home. He orders plate after plate. We had to explain that when he was saying, "just the meat" that he would get the whole plate. He orders multiple entrees, I order multiple appetizers and all of us delicate ladies order multiple desserts. It's one of the things we love about cruising. My Grandson is taking a friend (they are 17) on our upcoming cruise. He's already told his friend that you can order different things and if you don't like it, they'll bring you something else. He now loves escargot, eggplant, the vidalia onion tart and many other things we couldn't have paid him to eat at home. He orders multiple entrees and he's a skinny thing but has the same bottomless pit syndrome as his Dad.

Only in America eh??

My BDW always orders at least 2

This explains a lot...on Eclipse if we said we enjoyed something the waiter would often say "would you like another"!!

It has almost become the norm on most ships. We usually order 2 or 3 appitizers? and share them. Entrees are the same way. Desserts same way.

Just re-visiting this...on a UK cruise you would be considered most uncouth & greedy, quite possible that some would not want to sit with you, BUT on a US cruise you would be considered normal, & even perhaps odd not ordering more than one. On Eclipse the staff would say did you enjoy your xxxx you would say yes & they would offer to get another!! We were horrified. Having said all this though we did learn something on a recent cruise ..this was if you don't fancy any of the starters/appetisers you can order a starter sized portion from say a fish course, (P&O).

Well, if you want to be coy about it ... you just say, "oh, I can't decide between the chicken and the fish, they both sound so tempting .... " and the waiter will say, "dont worry, I will bring you both!".

easy peasy.

I bet they wouldn't on P&O, they would say ''I'll come back when you have decided''... & then forget altogether!

so is the moral of this story "Dont sail with P & O?" :D

When I was on the Costa Atlantica in 2009, I kept expecting our headwaiter to come out with a huge 8x11 note book to take our tables order. That being my first cruise, I didn't know initially you could do this, so I ordered one of each course. Then my friend ordered almost everything. The next night I got adventurous, as did most of my table (All cruise sales agents or family/friends of). So yeah, our table would have "won" that wait-staff pool by the end of the cruise.

CCL Imagination last year in November it was pretty similar on the 3 of 4 nights that we dined in the MDR.

One thing I did notice on the Atlantica, some entrées were combined onto the same plate. Don't know who was doing this, but it did make it easier at the table.

You know the expression "A nation divided by a common language"? well I think you could add ''& eating habits too''!! I get this vision of Homer Simpson keep coming into my mind.....

Now that I have a kid (two actually, but one will be staying with Grandma until she is older) I take him to dinner at the buffet at around 5 or 6, then drop him off at the kids area and we go to dinner. With appetizer and dessert there is no thought of ordering a second entree for me because I have already eaten first dinner at the buffet with my son. RCCL now has improved the buffet even on the cheap 3 nighters with food that seems to have come from the crew. Spicy curries and and other asian and indian delights, sometimes the buffet is better actually. I pig out, just be nice to your staff and tip them accordingly, that's all they care about.