Room Service what and why

[cunardqueen]

What all have you ordered on room service, and why?

I must admit to be a BLT fan with fries of course, and l hate to admit its usually in the wee small hours that l get the urge, well breakfast is  so far away, the latest l ordered was 5am, they were  always delivered in around 10 mins, with a welcoming pot of tea, glass of milk and of course l pressed something into the night stewards hands.... I only realised l was overdoing things when l made the call, and l was asked "Your usual sir"
A number of years ago l dared to try afternoon tea on room service, Oh my what a plateful was delivered and of course l just had to eat the lot, that in itself was greed and l felt so guilty, but then l was dragged along to afternoon tea in the Queen Room with shipboard friends, and they were quite surprised when l only had a fruit tart, they never did find out my lack of appetitie that day...
 On the recent Farewell voyages l like to think l helped the kitchen staff by doing my own washing up, and l wasnt alone in that way of thinking

[Andy F]

I admit to taking a leisurely in-Stateroom breakfast each morning and it became quite a game trying to predict what would be missing each day; would it be the milk, or a spoon perhaps, tea instead of coffee, toast without butter?  Ah, no scrambled egg.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow...

Afternoon tea eh?  Haven't done that one but I've often thought about starting off in the Queen's Room and stopping off in the Lido afterwards.  I should point out that I haven't actually done this and were I to do so then I would inevitably pay the price in the trouser department (which would be one for the Embarassing thread lol) but I do admit to having had such thoughts!

[Stowaway2k]

On one crossing I had a wonderful German stewardess.
The first night, late before going to bed, I called for some hot chocolate.   She told me that she made a good hot chocolate from scratch, no instant powder.

I don't know what she did, but she was right, it was awesome.
Every night on the crossing she would know when I came in, and she would bring me some hot chocolate. 

On one long cruise around the Caribbean, I would be exhausted after a long day of swimming, sailing, kayaking, snorkeling, or whatever I did ashore that day.  So a few nights I had dinner in my cabin, not having the energy to dress and go to the dining room.   Really good service from that stewardess also.
I would always call the maitre d' and let him know, so that my tablemates would be kept waiting and wondering.   
One evening, when I went up to join my table for desert after having an in cabin dinner, I was chastised by another passenger for not wearing a jacket in the dining room, even though it was a "casual" night.  Only on QE2.

A few times, after boarding, I would have a sandwich delivered while I unpacked.

Always good food with quick service by the great QE2 crew.

[Chris]

One of my favourite memories of room service was nearly a year ago now. We had just been ashore for the morning and upon returning to QE2 we had a meeting with a Deck Cadet to be taken through the One Deck Crew Only area to QE2’s mighty bow – we were there to photograph her for the book.

Anyway, the tour turned into a trip through the Crew Areas including the mess, the three nightclubs and some of the service corridors etc. We had a blast! After we got back to our cabin we realised that it was 3pm and we hadn’t eaten a bite since before 8am! So we ordered cheeseburgers (yes… I know) – they were superb! What a fun day

[cunardqueen]

Going through some old posts...Any more tales of  room service, what didnt you like or what did you just have to have.

 If you ordered Dinner etc was it frowned upon by the crew as in being extra work? did they keep all the courses hot in their pantry or was every course fresh from the kitchen? Enquiring minds and all that

[Cruise_Princess]

A more recent memory must have been around 2005/6 cruises....My Mum wasn't very well on board...not the norovirus but something else just as horrid with a hacking cough and feeling so bad...she had got antibiotics from the on board doc and had to stay in bed a couple of days...I was just going to take room service in the cabin as well...but being a typical Mum she asked me to go up to the restaurant for dinner.....as we were at the Captains table she felt it looked bad if both of us were missing....so I made sure she was ok...she really just wanted to sleep as she was so very tired...but we looked thru the room service menu and tho she wasn't at all hungry ordered a small sandwich and pot of tea....it hadn't arrived by the time I was leaving but the steward knew just to bring it in so I went up to dinner.  Immediately afterwards I went back to see how she was doing....she was fast asleep and the tray was lying and some of the sandwich had been eaten I put it outside the cabin for the steward to take away......In the morning when she woke up ( feeling very much better I 'm glad to say!)./her laughing woke me up....all about the room service tray.....the steward kindly brought it in leaving it on the dressing table and when she surfaced to have a little bite there was NO cup to drink the tea out of it and to be honest she said thats really all she wanted...a wee cup of tea...she was feeling so woozy she wondered how on earth can I get the steward to bring me a cup?  Eventually she managed with a struggle to get room service....after hunting for her glasses etc....and TRYING to get them to understand what the problem was...all she wanted was a CUP!! It took ages apparantly...but eventually they came with it...and guess what.....THE TEA WAS STONE COLD.......

So you could say that was 'an experience'...poor wee soul..all she really wanted was a HOT cup of tea...when I was .thinking about it later on all I had to do was go along to the pavilion and bring it back to the cabin!!!  But then room service was available and thought to be the best thing as it was delivered for you!

Thankfully after that Mum was feeling much better though obviously not 100%...it took about a week or so to get back to full power so that she could enjoy the rest of the trip. which I'm glad to say she did..and so did I!

[Kathy M.]

I ordered room service - only because I have never done it and thought it was cool that I could order a cheeseburger and a glass of milk at 3:00 AM - I took a photo of it and my parents that was hysterical (and I still have the photo somewhere!) - the downside was that it didn't come with ketchup (I didn't want to call back and ask for some - I was too shy!)

[Cruise_Princess]

Forgot to add that we had breakfast delivered E~VERY morning to the cabin.....and STILL do on any other ship we sail on....thats what cruising is all about...relaxing and taking your time...its a wonderful start to a day at sea  ...or in port!! I don;t care!!  It's total bliss....

[Twynkle]

..However, if you had gone to the dining room for breakfast on choppy sea days,
you could have about 10 waiters, providing the best possible  service
and no-one else there to share them with!

[Cruise_Princess]

But Twynks....would they want to see me in my jammies??  LOL!!!

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

I could almost say that I never once used room service.

The restaurants were so good... and we wanted to eat together... and the menus were so enjoyable... and the views so lovely... and the waiters so pleasant... I think it just never crossed our minds to ask for room service.

There was one time only... hence the "almost" in the first sentence...

It was that day which I remember with embarrassment... the day when, contrary to all my beliefs about myself, I woke up seasick. For a while, it was so bad that I could hardly stir without feeling violent nausea. I rang the Purser's Office and asked for seasickness medication... they told me they had some, all I need do was to come and fetch it. No way was I even able to think about that... no way... So, they immediately sent someone with a better stomach than mine, and with good steady legs, to deliver the tablets to my cabin. As the messenger arrived, so did the cabin steward, and they both stood around together for a couple of moments and commiserated with me.

The cabin steward then insisted that I must have some food to go with the tablets and to help my insides settle down -- and off he went, coming back very soon with what I had decided might be edible -- a couple of apples, a couple of slices of bread and some tea. I can still remember the caring look in his face.

So, I took the tablet, and took a bite of apple and a drop of tea -- immediately after which, I was sick again. Chances must have been tiny that the tablet ever reached my stomach...   

But from that moment, I felt better, and about half an hour later, I was able to venture out. By lunchtime, I had joined my Mum in the Britannia Grill and enjoyed some carefully selected food which went down extremely well.

But the Purser's messenger, and the Cabin Steward, remain in my happy memories -- they delivered me from the worst nausea I ever had to go through, and were so caring and gentle. Never again! I have almost returned to that full conviction that I never get seasick!

[Lynda Bradford]

I like to order breakfast from Room Service so that we can relax and enjoy breakfast.  I have no particular pattern to when to order room service.  Sometimes it is days at sea and other times it is when we have a tour organised for a day in port and having breakfast delivered by room services gives us time to enjoy breakfast and get ready for the day ahead.  Always we have had good service from Cunard room service staff whether on the QE2, QM2 or QV. 

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Room service...

Most of the contributions so far mention breakfast... although 3 am at night also got a mention! 

Did you ever use room service, were you tempted by it? What time of day would be the ideal time for you?