One of the biggest complaints Royal Caribbean passengers have is that the cruise line offers a limited number of late-night dining options.
Once the Windjammer buffet closes at 9:30 or 10 p.m. depending upon the ship, passengers in most cases have pizza at Sorrento's and snacks at the Promenade Cafe as free options. Some Oasis-Class ships also offer basic hot dogs at Boardwalk Doghouse, but on most ships it's pizza or snacks.
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If you want to pay money, ships with the Playmakers sports bar offer wings, burgers and bar food until 11 p.m. while room service is always available for a set fee. The problem with room service, of course, is that you have to be in your room.
Some cruise lines, including Carnival, have delivery services, which can bring you food wherever you might be. Royal Caribbean does not offer anything like that. And unless you are on Icon of the Seas, which keeps the free Aquadome Marketplace and its five food kiosks open late, you have very limited choice.
The cruise line has quietly been testing a solution to that on two of its newest ships.
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Royal Caribbean borrows a casino concept
Casinos want to keep players at the tables and slot machines. A person who has to leave to walk a long distance to go get something to eat or drink may not come back.
That's why casinos on land and at sea have servers working the floor to make sure people have drinks. If they could bring privacy screens and portable toilets to keep people from leaving the table when nature calls, they would probably do that.
Casinos on land also make food readily available. It's usually not directly on the casino floor, but there are restaurants, snack shops and coffee kiosks around the edges of the floor.
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Casino operators want people never to leave the tables and slot machines if that's at all possible. Keeping them both hydrated, and perhaps a little inebriated, is good for the bottom line.
Having food nearby also makes players less likely to walk away to have something to eat and decide not to come back. On a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, pizza and snacks are usually one floor above the casino.
That's not far but it does remove them from the sights and sounds of the casino. Letting people leave that bubble could lead to them calling it a night, or opting for live music in the pub or at the Schooner bar, or choosing karaoke, dancing or any other late-night activity.
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Royal Caribbean tries a casino minibuffet
Wonder of the Seas, at one time the world's largest cruise ship, made its debut sailing in March 2022. The ship was originally set to sail in China, so it had some design features that made it unlike other Oasis-Class ships.
That included a room on the fourth deck, the same deck as the main casino, called the Golden Room. That space was meant to be a high-roller casino, but when Wonder was moved to U.S. and European sailings, that space, which housed Jazz on 4 on earlier Oasis-Class ships, was used as a secondary nonsmoking casino.
The Golden Room, because it was meant for high-rollers, also had a small buffet area with warming trays. Royal Caribbean has selectively used that food service area for a late-night buffet on some Wonder of the Seas sailings.
It's a selection of hot and cold snacks similar to the Happy Hour offering for Diamond and higher Crown & Anchor members in the Crown Lounge.
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"Think hors d'oeuvres, finger foods, cheese and crackers, etc. I've seen breaded shrimp, mini egg rolls, mini quiche, little chicken/beef skewers, pigs in a blanket, mozzarella sticks, stuff like that," OCSC Mike shared on the Royal Caribbean Blog message board. "There are also mini desserts in the CL like chocolate-covered strawberries and random little squares of various things."
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Utopia of the Seas, the newest Oasis-Class ship, also has a mini-buffet setup in its casino, except it's in the main room, not in the secondary nonsmoking space.
Both Wonder and Utopia have been offering late-night casino food on select sailings. It's still a test, but the decision to include the space on Utopia of the Seas suggests that the cruise line has some faith in the idea and it's not just a legacy concept because of Wonder's unique origin in being designed to sail from China.
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