"Box lunches"

[Bruin Steve]

We are taking Insignia April 23 to the mid east. I am not too thrilled about eating in some ports such as Egypt. (Other posters said they picked up ecoli in Egypt.) Although I agree that the local food is part of enjoying the culture of another country, I don't want to take a chance in unsanitary conditions.

 

I am sure 90% of the countries will be fine. But I would rather keep my options open with a box lunch or snack from the ship.

 

What I'd learned long ago was that, when travelling in many third world countries, to be on the safe side, stick with the "tourist restaurants"--you know...the ones that seem to cater strictly to foreigners rather than locals...restaurants whose existence depends on recommendations from hotel concierges, professional tour guides and cruise ship concierges...They will keep up their standards so as not to lose these recommendations...

In Mexico, for example, these "tourist restaurants" will use a water filtration system for all their water needs--serving, cooking, dishwashing and ice making...I eat in such places and, no matter how tempting, avoid the "local" places and the street vendors...and never have a problem...

 

The locals do just fine eating there, but their systems are adjusted to the local bacteria and so on...

 

That said, when we were in Egypt last summer, we had one of the most memorable meals of our cruise on our tour of the Pyramids, Sphinx, etc. Our guide took us to a restaurant called "Felfala"...This was obviously one of those "tourist" places--clean and spacious...and looked like any similar restaurant you'd find here in the US...This one was directly across from the Pyramids...Each of us was brought a plate of meat to our order and the rest of the food--Pita bread, assorted humus and eggplant and other items were brought to our table family style...and our little tour group of six enjoyed quite a feast...

 

I would SO MUCH have missed this if I were eating some box lunch from the ship!!!

[LHT28]

What I'd learned long ago was that, when travelling in many third world countries, to be on the safe side, stick with the "tourist restaurants"--you know...the ones that seem to cater strictly to foreigners rather than locals...restaurants whose existence depends on recommendations from hotel concierges, professional tour guides and cruise ship concierges...They will keep up their standards so as not to lose these recommendations...

 

Does not always work

Our friend ate in the hotel in Egypt and ended up in hospital with e-coli infection on I.V. for 5 days

[cbb]

I thought about posting this on the current Egypt/Israel thread but noticed that many more people are reading this thread. Here is my question: has anyone taken the O shorex "Pyramids, Memphis, Sakkara" which provides a "lunch buffet?" If so, were you comfortable with all of the food or did you pick and choose, ignoring salads and fruits? Like some of you, we are great fans of granola bars and MMs! (that whole melts in your mouth, not your backpack thing!) Thanks! c

[wripro]

I would assume Oceania will not contract with any excursion company that does not adhere to sanitary guidelines. The last thing they want is a ship full of sick passengers.

[kaimedia]

What I'd learned long ago was that, when travelling in many third world countries, to be on the safe side, stick with the "tourist restaurants"--you know...the ones that seem to cater strictly to foreigners rather than locals...restaurants whose existence depends on recommendations from hotel concierges, professional tour guides and cruise ship concierges...They will keep up their standards so as not to lose these recommendations...

In Mexico, for example, these "tourist restaurants" will use a water filtration system for all their water needs--serving, cooking, dishwashing and ice making...I eat in such places and, no matter how tempting, avoid the "local" places and the street vendors...and never have a problem...

 

The locals do just fine eating there, but their systems are adjusted to the local bacteria and so on...

 

That said, when we were in Egypt last summer, we had one of the most memorable meals of our cruise on our tour of the Pyramids, Sphinx, etc. Our guide took us to a restaurant called "Felfala"...This was obviously one of those "tourist" places--clean and spacious...and looked like any similar restaurant you'd find here in the US...This one was directly across from the Pyramids...Each of us was brought a plate of meat to our order and the rest of the food--Pita bread, assorted humus and eggplant and other items were brought to our table family style...and our little tour group of six enjoyed quite a feast...

 

I would SO MUCH have missed this if I were eating some box lunch from the ship!!!

 

I think we all have different tummies. I too travelled to Mexico years ago and despite following every precaution and staying at a resort with a "water filtration system" ,and being on preventative rx for lomodil, I contracted dysentery ( which as you may or may not know makes you want to committ suicide). To this day I will not return to Mexico.

 

I would hate to ruin our $15,000 20th Anniversary cruise because I took a chance. Mind you if the food looks okay I will eat it. I just want the option of a box lunch available.

[Paulchili]

Mind you if the food looks okay I will eat it.

 

There is where you BIG mistake would be. "Looking OK" has nothing to do with being OK - you only find out later that what "looked OK" wasn't OK after all.

[Bruin Steve]

I thought about posting this on the current Egypt/Israel thread but noticed that many more people are reading this thread. Here is my question: has anyone taken the O shorex "Pyramids, Memphis, Sakkara" which provides a "lunch buffet?" If so, were you comfortable with all of the food or did you pick and choose, ignoring salads and fruits? Like some of you, we are great fans of granola bars and MMs! (that whole melts in your mouth, not your backpack thing!) Thanks! c

 

cbb,

Rather than taking that shorex, what we did was to book the private van option Oceania offered and have them follow roughly the same route...Of course, with only six of us rather than a big bus, we had much more time and more flexible time at each stop and we had more attention from our guide--who only had six of us to deal with...

 

AND, rather than a buffet somewhere, we got to go to the restaurant I described above...

 

Of course, I am sure prices differ from year to year, but for us, remarkable as it may seem, the price per person actually came out to LESS than the shore excursion!!!

[cbb]

steve,

what did your group do for security? Friends that have done this said they were part of a convey of smaller vehicles with security in front and back. c

[Bruin Steve]

steve,

what did your group do for security? Friends that have done this said they were part of a convey of smaller vehicles with security in front and back. c

 

Same convoy...Egyptian security personnel followed us all the way from the ship into Cairo, then picked us up and drove with us (alongside, in back, in front) the entire distance back to the ship...

 

From what I understand, the convoy is more for anti-crime reasons than for terrorists...

In Alexandria, where we did a bus tour, they stayed with the bus the whole time...From Port Said to Cairo/Giza, they only accompanied the vans and buses for the ride in and ride back...ordinary local security was around at all the sites...

[Mparis184]

What I'd learned long ago was that, when travelling in many third world countries, to be on the safe side, stick with the "tourist restaurants"--you know...the ones that seem to cater strictly to foreigners rather than locals...restaurants whose existence depends on recommendations from hotel concierges, professional tour guides and cruise ship concierges...They will keep up their standards so as not to lose these recommendations...

In Mexico, for example, these "tourist restaurants" will use a water filtration system for all their water needs--serving, cooking, dishwashing and ice making...I eat in such places and, no matter how tempting, avoid the "local" places and the street vendors...and never have a problem...

 

The locals do just fine eating there, but their systems are adjusted to the local bacteria and so on...

 

That said, when we were in Egypt last summer, we had one of the most memorable meals of our cruise on our tour of the Pyramids, Sphinx, etc. Our guide took us to a restaurant called "Felfala"...This was obviously one of those "tourist" places--clean and spacious...and looked like any similar restaurant you'd find here in the US...This one was directly across from the Pyramids...Each of us was brought a plate of meat to our order and the rest of the food--Pita bread, assorted humus and eggplant and other items were brought to our table family style...and our little tour group of six enjoyed quite a feast...

 

I would SO MUCH have missed this if I were eating some box lunch from the ship!!!

 

I agree. However, eating lunch at a restaurant depends on the time you have in port and how long the tour is........ If it is a choice of tour or eat, I pick the tour and munch on what I bring from the ship.

 

The ideal situation IS having time for a nice lunch but often we can't do that. Alhambra is a good example. Our travel time will be about 4 hours and we only have 8 hours in port. That doesn't give you much time to go to a restaurant and have a nice lunch and fit all the touring in at the same time.

 

Marion

[lyndenfa]

Tenrife is 8am to 6 pm. hope this is enough time for an 8 hour tour. most importantly, if you are on a ship tour, if they leave late, your are okay. No idea what the meals O will provide for this tour, but compelling to think about it.

[Mparis184]

I have only taken one or two ship excursions and that was many years ago before I learned that the private excursions were less money and you could plan your own itinerary.

 

I always get a Cruise Critic group together from the boards and we plan our private tours. The group is always more interested in touring than taking the time for a sit-down lunch.

 

The only cruise I remember having a box-lunch was in Alaska with Princess on an all day bus tour through Denali.

 

Marion

[beachchick]

Did you ever notice which ports posts large signs warning you NOT to take food ashore - It's our own home ports in the US! I haven't seen them in foreign ports, have you?

 

I am one of those tacky people who pack food in the plastic bags to eat for lunch in port on tour. The food on the AM buffet will get me through until I get back to the ship for dinner. I usually book private tours and we don't want to take the time to sit for an hour or two and eat lunch. I love trying the local cusine but don't want to take the time out from our touring. We can cover many more towns and miles if we keep moving - that's why I am visiting the country - to see it. If we have the time I will look for a local bakery and try some of the local sweets. However, I agree with umtali but sometimes you can't have it all. I will eat lunch in port if I am not heading out on an all day tour.

 

Last year in Morocco we had a wonderful tour. The guide brought us to a lovely restaurant but it took us too long to eat and we wasted a lot of precious touring time. That won't happen again!

 

Marion

 

Australia and New Zealand are sometimes happy to let you pay several hundred dollars in fines if you fail to notice the signs they clearly display.

 

beachchick

[Mparis184]

I am sorry to say I haven't been to Australia yet. I will make certain I don't pack a lunch and will bring pre-packaged breakfast bars with me - just in case I need a quick sugar lift when we visit the Land Down Under.

 

Thanks!

 

Marion

[comcox]

I don't think it's tacky at all to bring zip lock bags for off-ship dining. We've already paid for all the food anyway. It's no different than taking a tray back to your cabin.

 

Australia and New Zealand are the only two countries I've visited (out of 54) that really do limit what food can be taken off ship although in some ports earlier this year they had no problem with items like cookies or candy.

 

For our upcoming Amazon cruise three of our birding tour companies have told us to bring our own lunch boxes as we will be off in the jungle with no food vendors available. I'm a personal fan of the peanut butter sandwich--great protein and heat no problem. I often bring a jar with me on trips as I can always find a bread roll at breakfast somewhere.

[potterhill]

When we went to China several years ago the Public Health Dr who gave us our injections gave us the following advice which we followed and had no problems:

 

For cold drinks, drink only from sealed containers. This means bottled water, beer, wine, sodas etc.

 

Anything served hot is OK whether it is drink or food.

 

Nothing cold EVER. No salads, fruit salads, cold hard boiled eggs, fruit like berries. Only eat fruit that you peel like bananas or oranges.

 

It was difficult to pass on fruits and salads, but I had gotten ill in Sapin years ago by eating salad so that helped me comply!

 

We had no problems whatsoever with these simple guidelines. The Dr in question had travelled and worked extensively overseas in less than ideal conditions, so he had personal experience of what worked.

 

Mo

 

Edited to say that we did eat from street vendors in the Beijing night market following these basic rules with no problems whatsoever.

[Mparis184]

Peanut Butter - great tip - many thanks!

 

Marion

[caribbeansun]

And it doesn't just apply to food - upon my arrival in Auckland after a long, jet lagged flight I forgot that I had packed my golf shoes which had small amounts of dirt on the soft spikes - serious kaka for that oversight.

 

Australia and New Zealand are sometimes happy to let you pay several hundred dollars in fines if you fail to notice the signs they clearly display.

 

beachchick