Silver Service – Good or Bad ?

One of the comments that keeps rearing its head is that standards of food and service on board cruise ships is dropping. The culprits are usually P&O and Cunard, as opposed to the more relaxed American lines such as Celebrity and Princess.

Having done the New Year cruise on Oceana and found the food to be very good, the service was also excellent I am a bit confused as to why. The biggest gripe is the disappearance of Silver Service in the main dining rooms and this is definitely seen as a lowering of standards, and a cost cutting exercise, but why ?

I`ve been thinking about this, why should ” Silver Service” be seen as better than food served all on one plate?

 Near to where I live we have a lovely restaurant called the Butchers Arms. Its a lovely old building owned by a Portuguese family and is very popular and always busy.  It is also a very traditional restaurant that  still has silver service waiters who are excellent, and make a huge fuss of all their clients. However if you read the reviews of this restaurant on Trip Advisor you will see plenty that say its is stuffy, old fashioned and needs to be updated! Why – because it still has silver service, and that is seen as not acceptable in todays market of Celebrity Chef restaurants.

The trend today is for modern food, served in modern, and quite often minimalistic surroundings with plates of food to match.

If you ever watched Masterchef you will see how the food is plated in the kitchen with huge attention to detail, not one lettuce leaf dare be out of place! No silver service in evidence here.

The more I think about it I can honestly say I really don`t know anywhere that does offer traditional service anymore, at least not where I have been for a long time. We ate in Marco Pierre White`s Café Jardin on Oceana, the food and service were excellent but modern in style.

The trend is definitely towards more modern cuisine on board ships with lots of well known names such as Jamie Oliver and James Marin being lined up for Anthem of the Seas and Britannia. Maybe the days of silver service on board are numbered but I don`t think that means a drop in standards – its just different.

I`m  off to a great restaurant tomorrow Raymond Blanc`s Manoir Aux Quatre Saisons near