Fruits and vegetable options on transoceanic cruises

I am curious, what does a luxury cruise line like SB, which prides itself on providing salad bars with fresh fruits and vegetables, do on transoceanic cruises, when there are so many sequential days with no ports? Is there lettuce and other greenery and citrus, and if so how do they preserve it for such long trips, especially if going to ports without good reprovisioning options at the beginning or end? Or do they only have hearty veggies like carrots, and long-lived fruits like apples, or serve marinated salads from jars and cans and bottled lemon juice?

I have not sailed transoceanic ships since my youth, when the many trips I did were more basic transportation than vacation, and fruits and veggies other than apples and pickles were few and far between, but have been considering doing a TA with SB.

I am curious, what does a luxury cruise line like SB, which prides itself on providing salad bars with fresh fruits and vegetables, do on transoceanic cruises, when there are so many sequential days with no ports? Is there lettuce and other greenery and citrus, and if so how do they preserve it for such long trips, especially if going to ports without good reprovisioning options at the beginning or end? Or do they only have hearty veggies like carrots, and long-lived fruits like apples, or serve marinated salads from jars and cans and bottled lemon juice?

 

I have not sailed transoceanic ships since my youth, when the many trips I did were more basic transportation than vacation, and fruits and veggies other than apples and pickles were few and far between, but have been considering doing a TA with SB.

If you see the berries, eat the berries those are the first thing theyll run out of.

I'm not really a big salad person, but towards the end of the crossing the leaves for mixed green and Caesar were definitely looking closer to stock or compost material than something that should have been served. Fruits I don't know about as I always try to get the bar to fresh squeeze lime juice for mixed drinks and get told they don't have enough for such a use.

Wife and I are both salad fans. On a Spirit TA a few years ago we were amazed at the quality and consistency of the salad offerings. I thought they must have some hydroponic system for growing salad leaves. But, no, according to a crew member it is all down to the refrigeration systems and keeping salad stuff at the precise optimum preservation temperature.

On Quest's recent Voyage of the Vikings crossing, the berries were indeed gone after week one, and after week two, lots of the fresh fruit had disappeared, except for apple, melon and pineapple. I guess they last longer. Ironically the bigger ships must be better equipped to keep fruit and vegetables somewhat fresh longer as I never experienced this problem on for example Celebrity.

Wife and I are both salad fans. On a Spirit TA a few years ago we were amazed at the quality and consistency of the salad offerings. I thought they must have some hydroponic system for growing salad leaves. But, no, according to a crew member it is all down to the refrigeration systems and keeping salad stuff at the precise optimum preservation temperature.

Hydroponics - what a smart ( neat) simple solution for providing fresh salad. After all it's not " rocket science". Or maybe it is- I see that the ISS astronauts grow thei own garnish in space.

I wonder if any cruise lines use the hydroponic process.

I wonder if any cruise lines use the hydroponic process.

If they don't, they should - especially given Thomad Keller's propensity towards "straight from my garden" cuisine. (Alas, I doubt that would be reasonable sincd corporate can't really draw up menu/plating cards for the kitchen based on that non-absolute).

I'm glad someone asks this question as I was curious as well. Is the ship able to restock well at the Madeira/Funchal stop? I'll plan my strategy appropriately to indulge in lots of salad and berries early in the sailing.

After all it's not " rocket science"....

Perhaps 'rocket and radicchio science'....?

Actually - it could be rocket science as the ubiquitous Seabourn Arugula is in fact Garden Rocket.

Is the ship able to restock well at the Madeira/Funchal stop? I'll plan my strategy appropriately to indulge in lots of salad and berries early in the sailing.

There is a wonderful market in Funchal with fabulous offerings of fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers (among many other things), so even if corporate does not allow local restocking, you can get your own supplies to keep you going.

You just beat me to it, Flamin June. I am sure the ships stock up well with the wonderful veg., fruit, flowers and fish available in Funchal.

Once on a TA Crossing the galley ran out of garlic~~the "NO garlic" issue became a big joke so when the ship docked in Funchal many of the passengers took off for the downtown market ~~we all fetched bags of garlic for the Ex. Chef!

I've found the fruits & vegetables on a TA to be fresh and abundant ~plentiful.

Just back from Odyssey's transatlantic. We didn't notice any shortages of any fresh produce and there was always plenty of salad and fixings, fruit, etc. I saw a lot of it being loaded onto the ship in Funchal although being a Sunday the markets would have been closed. Slightly disappointed in the somewhat uninspiring vegetable choices but I think that's more to do with the chef rather than availability

I don't know if it is still offered, but it used to be that you could take a galley tour that included the area where the fruit and vegetables were stored. It's fascinating to see how they manage to refrigerate and store items to maximize how long they will stay fresh.

Menus are usually planned around what they have onboard and how long it lasts so, for example, at the end of your cruise, you might have a "wilted" salad offered. Sometimes, when the order is delivered to the ship, there are items that are refused because they are not in the condition required. We were told that every box is checked to ensure the quality of the goods.

Items that do not store well are served early in the cruise. If you want to request a special dish on a trans-Atlantic, it is always best to do it early on the crossing. That being said, I have never had any issues with fresh fruit or vegetables on any of the crossings we have taken.

Your domestic retail outlets for fruit and vegetables would sell in many instances veggies that are 2/3 weeks old as they are not grown in the area (kept under refrigeration). Fruit is available now all year round with refrigeration and gases to slow the ripening process. From what I understand ships provide for ample produce for all but do not provide for those who overfill their plate with several servings, in particular berries.

Your domestic retail outlets for fruit and vegetables would sell in many instances veggies that are 2/3 weeks old as they are not grown in the area (kept under refrigeration). Fruit is available now all year round with refrigeration and gases to slow the ripening process. From what I understand ships provide for ample produce for all but do not provide for those who overfill their plate with several servings, in particular berries.

Sad to say I am one of those who eat more than my share of berries. On our last Crystal we nearly made it 21 days with fresh raspberries and blueberries every morning in my room service breakfast delivery. I think they may have run out of raspberries the last couple of days, but I was amazed.

On all the trans-Atlantic cruises I have sailed the Executive Chef shopped in the gigantic Funchal market (an entire separate hall for fresh-caught seafood alone). The chef usually conducted a "Shopping with the Chef" tour.

If you are interested in the tour, be sure to sign up as early as you can, as it is the most popular tour (and it is free!) You can also buy what you wish (fresh fish not advised) to take back to your own suite.

If you are interested in the tour, be sure to sign up as early as you can, as it is the most popular tour (and it is free!) You can also buy what you wish (fresh fish not advised) to take back to your own suite.

I still need to learn the secret for being allowed to sign up early. I ask on every cruise on embarkation day and I am consistently told there are no early signups but to watch for a notice in the daily and call down to ask.

I am wondering what the "insider" secret is... probably much like getting Restaurant 2 reservations.

Jenidallas,

Actually they changed the signup procedure. It used to be you could sign up when you board -- now you are supposed to wait until it is announced two days in advance in the Herald. of course the problem here is if you have made advance plans for that day you are out of luck. On my last couple of cruises I was able to get the inside scoop from the hotel manager so I knew which day and where. .

Not actually about transatlantics, but for those who love berries generally, on all our recent cruises there have been smallish glasses with individual servings of various berries in, and also lately on Sojourn a big dish of strawberries on the main fruit section at breakfast. I think the small glass dishes does help to keep down the numbers who take huge amounts of berries at a time! Also, again not really on topic, last time on Sojourn there was a big bowl of Greek yogurt, with a big bowl of Greek honey to pour on it, from one of the little wooden jobs used in Greece - don't know the proper name. Very popular with me and many others.

I still need to learn the secret for being allowed to sign up early. I ask on every cruise on embarkation day and I am consistently told there are no early signups but to watch for a notice in the daily and call down to ask.

 

I am wondering what the "insider" secret is... probably much like getting Restaurant 2 reservations.

I don't understand R2 reservations. Sometimes they're nigh impossible to get and other times it seems they're begging you to use the venue.

This is not something I'd recommend but something I saw happen to one of the chefs. There were about 15 of us signed up for the tour. When we got to the meeting point there were about 30. As it was a purely walking tour he didn't shoo the extras away (they claimed they didn't feel they needed to sign up). This proved to be problematic in the confined spaces in the market and because a lot of the people insisted in talking over the chef or proprietor.

Not actually about transatlantics, but for those who love berries generally, on all our recent cruises there have been smallish glasses with individual servings of various berries in, and also lately on Sojourn a big dish of strawberries on the main fruit section at breakfast. I think the small glass dishes does help to keep down the numbers who take huge amounts of berries at a time! Also, again not really on topic, last time on Sojourn there was a big bowl of Greek yogurt, with a big bowl of Greek honey to pour on it, from one of the little wooden jobs used in Greece - don't know the proper name. Very popular with me and many others.

The Odyssey also had the yogurt and honey every morning. As for berries, a few years ago there was a couple in the suite next to us who ordered room service and 2 big bowls of raspberries every morning. I'd see on many mornings when I'd be on my verandah half eaten breakfasts and 2 almost full bowls of berries simply wasted.

I'd see on many mornings when I'd be on my verandah half eaten breakfasts and 2 almost full bowls of berries simply wasted.

I'm waiting for someone to chime in and inform us that luxury means getting to be wasteful whenever and wherever one chooses.

I'm waiting for someone to chime in and inform us that luxury means getting to be wasteful whenever and wherever one chooses.

Our limited experience has been that we see less waste of food on luxury lines than mainstream. I was pleased that on our first luxury cruise the portions were significantly smaller, just much higher quality. And I don't recall seeing many full plates being cleared from our tables. There must be huge amounts of wasted food on any cruise just as there is on land. I think I read that Americans waste 40% of their food. I'm certain we lead the world.

When we crossed the Pacific on the Sojourn, we ran out of various fruits and vegetables, something I cannot fault Seabourn since we were often quite a few days out of port. At new ports the re-stockings were sometimes the fresh fruits and vegetables available in port, something I support, certainly over the frozen variety. This created some tension among PAX who wanted produce just like they get it at home. At one port in Asia the chef reject the produce to be loaded because it was not of adequate quality, and thus the ship ran out of all lettuce. There was almost a revolt! Mutiny on the Sojourn! Where are you Marlin Brando when we need you? Eventually all calmed down and we survived. Interesting issue, though, when one travels long distances to strange places. One cannot expect to find the comforts of home, even on a luxury cruise line.

We just returned from 20 days on the Quest in South America and I was surprised that very little vegetables were served in the dining room. At one point the ship ran out of lemons and bananas. Hard to believe we could run out of bananas in South America!