Cruise Food

[diy dave]

I was wondering how far one could go , when sitting in the main dining room, at asking for something different than what is on the menu, as far as accompaniments go.i know you can ask for beans instead of peas, chips or mash instead of baked potatoes. EG? When we went to the Sterling Steakhouse I ordered a filet mignon, and was surprised when it came Not wrapped in bacon, when I queried it they said it was done Traditional style! Could I have asked for it to be wrapped in bacon?has anyone tested the waiters?

[Sven51]

Dave,

You may ask for it to be wrapped in bacon and they would graciously comply.

We have asked for things that are not even on the menu and if it is on the ship they will serve it up for you. You may have to give them a day's notice but we have never had a problem ordering anything in the MDR.

[wildweston]

Dave, I definitely think they would try to do as you requested.

[thied]

I was wondering how far one could go , when sitting in the main dining room, at asking for something different than what is on the menu, as far as accompaniments go.i know you can ask for beans instead of peas, chips or mash instead of baked potatoes. EG? When we went to the Sterling Steakhouse I ordered a filet mignon, and was surprised when it came Not wrapped in bacon, when I queried it they said it was done Traditional style! Could I have asked for it to be wrapped in bacon?has anyone tested the waiters?

 

Dave,

You may ask for it to be wrapped in bacon and they would graciously comply.

We have asked for things that are not even on the menu and if it is on the ship they will serve it up for you. You may have to give them a day's notice but we have never had a problem ordering anything in the MDR.

 

we have ask for some thing that is not on the menu and have got what we ask for.

[cjm66]

On one Princess cruise, our table mates got a yen for a curry dinner - this pre dated the Asian and Indian menus now in vogue - so with 24 hours notice we had a set up of two varieties of curry, pilau rice, papadums, all the accompaniments etc. The whole table was in favour. On another we ordered exra green vegies specifying asparagus and peas - served from a larrge platter by our waiters. I have ordered smoked salmon from the buffet when it was not on open offer and hollaindaise sauce to create my own eggs benedict. Extra side sauces, accompaniments are always available for the asking from observation and experience.

 

Colleen

[diy dave]

Sounds like I've got to be more forthright in future, in a nice way. Thanks for the replies. When I ordered my filet mignon the waiter brought a selection of steaks available on a tray to select from. The meat was wrapped in cling wrap , that's why I didn't see that it wasn't wrapped in bacon, also it never occurred to me that it was ever served without bacon.

[marquisite]

I was caught out by this on Radiance of the Seas during the Tasmania trip. On the last night I decided I'd request the Fillet Mignon which was the upcharge item after ordering from the standard menu for each night prior, and it too came without bacon. Of course, there was no mention of bacon on the menu, I had just assumed it would come with it. Having said that it was a very nice cut of steak so I wasn't disappointed.

[rugbypopsie]

I love seafood and I was disappointed in the scallops one night on the Dawn Princess as they had been overcooked and were miserable tight little balls...I only mentioned it in passing to the Maitre D and he asked how I liked them...I said in Pernod sauce and lo and behold a few days later out came for our whole table the most superbly cooked huge scallops.

 

Great customer service...ask away, if you give them some notice and they have what you want in the stores I am sure they will oblige you.

 

Sue

[spiritreturn]

Much as we all enjoy certain things why do any of you see the need to "test the waiters" In my opinion they do a wonderful job, they are polite, friendly and will try to make every dining experience perfect, on all our cruises my husband and I have always been amazed at the number of people who do not even bother to say thankyou when the waiters bring their meal, maybe they are the ones who are too busy "testing the waiters"

[diy dave]

Much as we all enjoy certain things why do any of you see the need to "test the waiters" In my opinion they do a wonderful job, they are polite, friendly and will try to make every dining experience perfect, on all our cruises my husband and I have always been amazed at the number of people who do not even bother to say thankyou when the waiters bring their meal, maybe they are the ones who are too busy "testing the waiters"

 

I didn't mean "test the waiters" in anything but a nice way. I agree they have always been very helpful. Don't take it too literally .

[cjm66]

I didn't mean "test the waiters" in anything but a nice way. I agree they have always been very helpful. Don't take it too literally .

 

I thought it was quite an apt pun with slightly mangled vowels!

 

Colleen

[musicorn]

Dave

 

My daughter puts the waiters to the test every cruise, in a nice way, and they have always complied.

 

She has asked for and being given with a smile:

 

*A bowl of cream cheese and a bowl of cooked mushrooms (not on the menu that day)

 

*Salmon without the garnish and just cream sauce

 

*Pork belly and scallops without the pork belly and lots of scallops (she got 8 scallops on a plate)

 

*A bow of mixed thousand island dressing, blue cheese dressing and Italian dressing. This one got a strange look I must say.

 

I have to say that the waiters do a great job for her strange requests and this in turn makes her enjoy her cruise, Now it could be that she gets a small sympathy vote as she is quite small for her age and uses a wheelchair. But I think asking for bacon on your steak would be fine.

[room010]

By asking for non menu dishes you aren't "testing the waiters", you're testing the chefs who are already working flat out to produce hundreds of plates of food. Neverthless they do try to accommodate special requests (some reasonable, some not) and for that we should all be very thankful.

[spiritreturn]

By asking for non menu dishes you aren't "testing the waiters", you're testing the chefs who are already working flat out to produce hundreds of plates of food. Neverthless they do try to accommodate special requests (some reasonable, some not) and for that we should all be very thankful.

 

Hear Hear

[ceejay3377]

I can understand why the OP was expecting bacon, as in Australia "Filet Mignon" refers to a cut of eye fillet wrapped in bacon (and frequently served with a creamy mushroom sauce). However, in other countries "Filet Mignon" can mean something different. In the US Filet Mignon is what we call Eye Fillet, and in France if your order Filet Mignon, you will be served the eye fillet cut of Pork! Eye Fillet in France is actually called "Filet de beouf". I am not sure what ship the OP was on, but the kitchen must operate using US terminology, hence his surprise at not getting the expected bacon.

[jfadra]

Dave...When we were on the Dawn Princess in February, we had a lovely lady at our table who was 89 years old and she asked our waiter if she could have some rice with sugar and milk for her dessert and within a few minutes a big bowl of rice arrived and she managed to eat it all. She prefered that to all the fancy desserts.

[K-Roo-Zers]

Hi Dave,

 

We just returned from 42 nights on the Cherry Blossom cruise on Sea Princess.

 

"If they have it, they will do it", said Larry our wonderful Head Waiter. I love spicy food, and each time there were prawns or lobster (twice on formal nights) on the menu, I had mine done chilli style, and boy were they hot.

 

Trivia friends loved Creme Caramel, so they put in a special request. Instead of one person having it, they all enjoyed it.

 

Is it any wonder I am having problems getting back into cooking - no one here is interested in my special request - whats for dinner???

 

Nicki

[diy dave]

Thank you all for your varied inputs. I have never ordered anything that wasn't on the menu myself, and the steak i ordered without the bacon was cooked to perfection and tasted perfect. It's interesting what you can do. I was prompted in the first place to ask CC after watching a cruise show where they stated we could order anything and was curiouse as to wether many people did.

[lizzy77]

I love to have my steamed veg's every night and it has never been a problem. We have had sweets that everyone on our table loved and we reordered them again for another night, no problems .

Every cruise we have done we find the staff are always more than happy to accommodate your every whim:)

[Sandielle]

I've noticed every cruise that the waiters are wonderful at remembering your likes. We've asked if we can have extra veges - every night we got extra veges. Likewise, my DH would be given three scoops of icecream with his dessert - whether he wanted it or not. :D (He DID want it, by the way!)

[robinph]

On one Princess cruise there was bread and butter pudding in the buffet, and that night at dinner in the dining room I asked our waiter if there happened to be any left in the kitchen, he went away to find out, but had no luck which was not a problem ,it just would have been nice if there was some. Next night at dinner come dessert time out comes the waiter with a bowl of fresh bread and butter pudding for me which I thought was wonderful, and totally unexpected with the offer to have it made again for the following night, which I declined as I felt they have so much to do without having to cater to my whims. As has been said nothing is a problem for most of the wonderful staff but I would certainly not make them go over and above just for me! Robin:)