Alaska Cruise, Fresh Fish?

[diligaf51]

Can I expect anything different in the quality of fish served on Alaska cruises? Do they source locally? Thanks.

[Blue Lagoon]

Can I expect anything different in the quality of fish served on Alaska cruises? Do they source locally? Thanks.

We did a Canada/New England cruise last fall and were hoping for a step up on the quality of the lobster served on board. No luck.

[floridatravelersforlife]

Only on shore will you find fresh fish. Had the most wonderful Salmon at Vancouver.

[skandls]

If you want fresh fish plan to eat in port. The cruiseline is feeding a big crowd each day and they need to have preplanned menus - so the stuff they serve is frozen.

[jackdiamond]

And, there is nothing wrong with frozen fish; as a matter of fact, I am having frozen Pacific Basa for breakfast tomorrow.

[mapsmith]

In most cases, the Cruiseline loads all the food at the embarkation port. This is because they can negotiate better prices with regular customers. I also think that there may be CDC rules that prevent them from local sourcing once the cruise has begun.

 

So if you want fresh Halibut, get it ashore.

[Bridge Maven]

When we took our cruise to Alaska on Infinity ten years ago we saw them load fresh salmon on the ship while we were in Juneau. I had it that night and it was by far the best fish I ever had on a ship. However, I don't know if they still do because that was a long time ago and Celebrity had a very different product at that time.

[tea4ular]

Last year on the Mercury we went to the mini specialty restaurant (dang, can't recall the name, but it was right off the buffet area, and it was "free" with a suggested gratuity of $2 per person)...anyway that restaurant was all Alaska sourced food. Beef stew with Alaska-raised Angus, greens grown in Alaska, and fresh fish every night. It was delicious. All of it. It was a limited menu, but really excellent. The service was fine, the staff there is in training to move to the main dining room. They were attentive and aimed to please. The atmosphere was more casual than the main dining room, but the tables were beautifully set, and the view spectacular as they set up in an area with huge picture windows. We liked it so much we went back several times during our 12 days away.

[Lsimon]

I know other cruise lines have this. I've seen advertisements from HAL over the years advertising fresh seafood on Alaskan cruises. We've only done one Alaskan cruise and that was on Princess a little over 5 years ago. On that cruise they had fresh Alaskan Salmon and Halibut, and also had Alaskan King Crab Legs on night at dinner (might have been in place of lobster on the last formal night).

 

I'm not 100% sure about Celebrity as I've never been on one of their Alaskan cruises but my impression is that they never have fresh fish. Too bad.

 

BTW: I can still remember how fantastic the fish was during our pre-cruise dining at Simon and Seaforts in Anchorage. Also, the Salmon we had at a Salmon bake as part of a longer ship's excursion at Skagway was surprisingly wonderful. Fresh really makes a difference.

 

We're pretty loyal Celebrity cruisers but if we were planning another Alaska cruise and found out for sure that Celebrity had no fresh fish and a similar line did - it would make the choice much more difficult for us than if Celebrity did as well.

 

Too bad we're not faced with that tough decision this year!

[Lois R]

Last year on the Mercury we went to the mini specialty restaurant (dang, can't recall the name, but it was right off the buffet area, and it was "free" with a suggested gratuity of $2 per person)...anyway that restaurant was all Alaska sourced food. Beef stew with Alaska-raised Angus, greens grown in Alaska, and fresh fish every night. It was delicious. All of it. It was a limited menu, but really excellent. The service was fine, the staff there is in training to move to the main dining room. They were attentive and aimed to please. The atmosphere was more casual than the main dining room, but the tables were beautifully set, and the view spectacular as they set up in an area with huge picture windows. We liked it so much we went back several times during our 12 days away.

 

Hi,:)...you didn't forget the name because it was just part of the

Palm Springs Buffet.;)...(that was the name of the entire area on

Mercury)

[ellp]

We were on the Millennium a couple of weeks ago and I didn't find any "local" fish on any of the menus. The "comfort food" menu in the MDR always has a Salmon dish but I really doubt that it was alaskan. The other fish dishes were imported, frozen fish.

[d&a Delaware]

Two years ago on Millenium Seward to Vancouver in August they served an excellent selection of fresh fish every evening in the small, casual alternative dinner venue in a section of the buffet area. An extra charge of $2 per person.

 

In the MDR, however, it was the usual selection of frozen fish on the dinner menu.

 

David

[miched]

I haven't done it but I have heard that if you go on a fishing excursion the ship will prepare any fish you caught. May just be BS.

 

I think the may be a problem with the ship getting fish from a non approved source. Too many risks involved and people are always looking for a loophole for a reason to sue.

 

 

.

[cruisestitch]

"Two years ago on Millenium Seward to Vancouver in August they served an excellent selection of fresh fish every evening in the small, casual alternative dinner venue in a section of the buffet area. An extra charge of $2 per person."

 

This option no longer exists -- Celebrity stopped offering it as the Bistro on 5 begin to be offered.