Holland America cruise line has all but put an end to the self-serve buffet.

Darren Cartwright of Yahoo News writes the Holland America Line has literally taken a hands-on, or make that hands-off, approach and heavily restricted self-service in the general dining areas of its ships.

The move could be just what’s needed to restore Australia’s faith in the industry following four gastro outbreaks on Holland America’s sister line Princess Cruises over the past 15 months.

The most recent was in January when some 200 passengers went down with the norovirus aboard the Sea Princess during a tour of New Zealand.

Both Holland America and Princess are subsidiaries of the Carnival Corporation, which has a number of cruise lines including P&O Australia and Cunard.

I take a tour around Asia on Holland America’s Volendam, which can cater for up to 1450 guests. I quickly notice that the grab’n’go treats are behind glass in the Lido Market dining room, where there’s an abundance of big-smiling waiting staff ready to serve me.

Only pre-plated desserts and pre-made and wrapped sandwiches can be retrieved from the general buffet area. All other meals are carried out to guests.

There are only a few areas where passengers can treat themselves, including the poolside taco servery, while in the bars, nuts are delivered in mini-carafes and have to be poured out to be consumed.

The Volendam’s hotel director Craig Oates says the reduction in self-service has been gradual and is purely to enhance the guest experience and not related to concerns over passenger hygiene.

“I joined 14 years ago and a lot of it was self-service but it’s slowly transitioned. It has not been an overnight decision to restrict self-service,” Mr Oates told AAP.

“The reason we have people making salads is, rather than people helping themselves and getting mixed up with the dressings, we wanted to add something to the guest experience.”