Regatta, Insignia and Nautica refurb info.

[hypercafe]

I would vote to drop Toscana, in favor of the wildly popular Red Ginger.

 

It would be the perfect mix of variety and lite dining rather than the heavy Italian venue

 

They could very easily offer both Polo and Toscana in the main dining room on some nights.:rolleyes:

 

That is a great plan, Italian food is a dime a dozen, in fact coming from NYC I felt I could get better on any block in Brooklyn.

[cbb]

Since a grill is being added to Terrace (and I love Terrace) perhaps they could offer part of Polo's menu there some nights.

 

One of my great life memories was sitting outside on the Terrace and saluting the setting sun with an adult beverage as we left Rhodes. Extraordinary light hitting those walls.

[Hawaiidan]

That is a great plan, Italian food is a dime a dozen, in fact coming from NYC I felt I could get better on any block in Brooklyn.

 

I agree, I spent almost a month in Italy North, South east and west with local Italians who were "foodies" Got taken to every level of restaurants from Michelin on down. After a while it just all tasted the same...there is only so much pasta and tomato variants you can take.

Don't get me wrong in moderation is can be good, but one meal a month would, for me, be enough

 

Aisian fusion is multi-national and so flavor/variety rich... what you need on a long cruise so you don't " broaden" your experience. Yes I know pasta started in China.

[TKS]

Dan, I love Italian, but your idea of Red Ginger on the R ships makes my mouth water. Love the miso glazed sea bass! That could be the best fish I've ever eaten.

[pacheco18]

Dan, I love Italian, but your idea of Red Ginger on the R ships makes my mouth water. Love the miso glazed sea bass! That could be the best fish I've ever eaten.

 

They serve it in the GDR periodically.

[Arusha]

Dan, I love Italian, but your idea of Red Ginger on the R ships makes my mouth water. Love the miso glazed sea bass! That could be the best fish I've ever eaten.

 

On my recent Regatta cruise to Alaska, the GDR dinner menu had "A Taste from Red Ginger" and "A Taste from Jacques" section, with one dish each.

 

One night's dishes included:

* Red Curry Chicken with Thai Eggplant, Baby Corn, Lime Leaves and Basil

* Filet de Bouef aux Cinq Poivres: Five Peppercorn Filet Steak with Light Brandy Sauce and Anna Potatoes

 

Other nights:

* Malaysian Beef Penaeng: Beef Short Rib, Nutty Curry Paste, Coconut and Paratha Roti

* Canard a l"Orange: Crispy Duck Breast with Orange Sauce, Potato Gratin and Braised Red Cabbage

* Pork Luc Lac: Pork Filet, Baby Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes, Black Mushrooms, Iceberg Lettuce and Chili Sauce

* Coquilles Saint-Jacques aux Morilles et Pomme de Terre Fondantes: Sauteed Scallops over Fondant Potatoes and Morel Sauce

 

The dishes were repeated during the cruise, so if you missed them one night, you could try them on another night.

 

Someone on a later Regatta cruise reported the miso glazed sea bass was available on at least one night.

[YoHoHo]

I would vote to drop Toscana, in favor of the wildly popular Red Ginger.

 

It would be the perfect mix of variety and lite dining rather than the heavy Italian venue

 

They could very easily offer both Polo and Toscana in the main dining room on some nights.:rolleyes:

 

That is a great plan, Italian food is a dime a dozen, in fact coming from NYC I felt I could get better on any block in Brooklyn.

Coming from Vancouver area where there is great, and great variety, of Asian cuisine, I still prefer Toscano. 2010 Conde Nast Traveller article reported Vancouver as the best place for Chinese food (granted not Asian fusion). Whether or not that is an exaggeration it goes along with the comment that if coming from NYC you are not so interested in Toscano - coming from different areas we have different experiences.

 

While we once had very poor service in Toscano (the adjective is not an exaggeration) we have never had as good an experience, end-to-end, in Red Ginger. In general the food was generally good (not the duck confit / watermelon which was unexpected and terrific!), spiced (and I don't mean just as in hot) to a middle of the road level (which I do understand) but the staff seemed to rely more on the uniqueness of the offerings than the service. I won't bore you with the details from several visits but we will try again in the hope of improvement.

 

Offering a few unique dishes from each of the Specialty restaurants in the GDR is a terrific idea and look forward to that. While dining in the Specialty venues includes the atmosphere and, in theory, more focused service, it would be great to have a freshly prepared Pad Thai ( or the perfectly balanced Tom Kha Gai chicken/lemongrass/coconut milk soup) in the GDR. (Hmmm...Red Ginger's ginger cake for desert too!). Now I *am* ready for a new sailing!

[Paulchili]

Let's not forget about Jacques now - Mr. Pepin would not like that! :)

There are many offerings on their menu that I would welcome on an R ship MDR menu.

[Paulchili]

. 2010 Conde Nast Traveller article reported Vancouver as the best place for Chinese food (granted not Asian fusion).

 

While I put very little credence to Conde Nast and their lists, I do agree that Vancouver has to be one of the top 3 or 4 places for Chinese food in North America - along with Toronto, S.F and NYC (still).

[YoHoHo]

Let's not forget about Jacques now - Mr. Pepin would not like that! :)

There are many offerings on their menu that I would welcome on an R ship MDR menu.

That I completely agree with. Sadly they dropped the near perfect appetizer of house-made sausage garnished with cold marinated potato. A specialty of Lyons. Just could not compete with the foie gras and escargot I guess. The Iberico pork is superb though I suspect coming off the rotiserie it would not make it to the GRD.

 

You are correct though, there are many offering that could be, and *hopefully* will be, served on an R-ship menu.

[YoHoHo]

While I put very little credence to Conde Nast and their lists, I do agree that Vancouver has to be one of the top 3 or 4 places for Chinese food in North America - along with Toronto, S.F and NYC (still).

Heading to S.F. later this month - any suggestions?

 

edit: Sorry getting too OT - I'll ask on the 'Ports' board

[Paulchili]

Heading to S.F. later this month - any suggestions?

 

edit: Sorry getting too OT - I'll ask on the 'Ports' board

 

 

What the heck - this won't be the first or last OT post :D

2 places for food - Yank Sing for Dim Sum and Slanted Door for Vietnamese.

Both hugely popular and getting more expensive by the day, but still very good.

If you can postpone your trip till Sept. the weather would be better (less fog). Bring sweatshirts/jackets.

Enjoy your visit - Cheers.

[ohmark]

That is a great plan, Italian food is a dime a dozen, in fact coming from NYC I felt I could get better on any block in Brooklyn.

I'm sure that's true. But, although many New Yorkers don't accept it, not everybody lives in NYC. Here's two votes for the outstanding Toscana. I like Thai. I like Chinese. I like Japanese. I like Korean. I like Vietnamese. Red Ginger--not so much.

[Hawaiidan]

What the heck - this won't be the first or last OT post :D

2 places for food - Yank Sing for Dim Sum and Slanted Door for Vietnamese.

Both hugely popular and getting more expensive by the day, but still very good.

If you can postpone your trip till Sept. the weather would be better (less fog). Bring sweatshirts/jackets.

Enjoy your visit - Cheers.

 

A second on Yank Sing just great. And As I recall North China. both not in china town...

Do not over look Brisbane and Redwood city, where there are super Chinese places serving the Asian community . I went to several Chinese banquets that were astounding. And parking easy

[hypercafe]

I'm sure that's true. But, although many New Yorkers don't accept it, not everybody lives in NYC. Here's two votes for the outstanding Toscana. I like Thai. I like Chinese. I like Japanese. I like Korean. I like Vietnamese. Red Ginger--not so much.

 

That is true and after I reread this I did think it sounded silly, my point was that Italian food is very common no matter where you live. I was not that impressed with what I had on the ship. I guess I feel if they are going to devote a large space to a special rest make it a special or hard to get type of food.

[ohmark]

That is true and after I reread this I did think it sounded silly

Please don't take it that way. Didn't mean you sounded silly. Just trying to add a little levity. Should have added a "smiley" to my comment.

[PaulMCO]

Please don't take it that way. Didn't mean you sounded silly. Just trying to add a little levity. Should have added a "smiley" to my comment.

 

What ever you meant ( :) ) I agree and prefer Toscana. Red Ginger was just so so and I have certainly spent enough time in Asia to know good Asian food. As an ex-New Yuucker what you get there is not real Italian food.

[Mura]

We also agree about the merits of Red Ginger (that is with the people who weren't so pleased). Even so, we only dined there once on our first Marina cruise and on our upcoming TA no doubt will give it another chance. And order differently!

 

In the spirit of truth and honesty, while we are fond of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc., food, we aren't all that fond of Asian Fusion. So it may be our palates and not the restaurant that are at fault.

 

Mura

[potterhill]

What ever you meant ( :) ) I agree and prefer Toscana.

 

For our first few cruises we did not care for Toscana. On our first Marina cruise, to our surprise, Toscana was our favourite. Also on Regatta in the South Pacific last year. This year on Nautica it was good but not nearly as good as the 2 prior cruises. I think it completely depends on the chef. Lets face it- the menu doesn't change except for occasional daily specials.

 

Mo

 

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Oceans&Rivers]

We would vote to keep Polo and its menu mostly as it is and replace Toscana, which we really disliked, entirely. We did not enjoy the display of greasy oil bottles and did not have to have such showy presentation. The bread basket was very attractive, but frankly, we'd rather have sour dough french bread, baguette, or numerous others to eat.

 

We would love to have either Jacques or Red Ginger in place of Toscana.

 

And here's another off-the-ship recommendation for Yank Sing for dim sum. Love it.

[ohmark]

I agree and prefer Toscana. Red Ginger was just so so and I have certainly spent enough time in Asia to know good Asian food.

Cutting Toscana would be a huge mistake IMO.

[wripro]

They're not going to replace either Toscana or Polo so the discussion is moot. I only posited that ti would be nice if they could find space to add another restaurant.

[Paulchili]

They're not going to replace either Toscana or Polo so the discussion is moot. I only posited that ti would be nice if they could find space to add another restaurant.

 

I agree. They are both here to stay.

The compromise seems to be to offer RG and Jacques dishes in the MDR from time to time.

[bruinbob95]

Oceania finally read my survey comments! This will make my next Oceania cruise perfect. I'll have to find something else to whine about, and that won't be easy!

[Mura]

Vis-a-vis the merits of Toscana, going back to the days of Renaissance we always preferred Polo to Toscana, although we HAVE had some excellent dinners in Toscana. But on average it was okay but not fabulous. (Our tastes, of course, and we DO like Italian food.)

 

But I think it would be a mistake to eliminate Toscana (not that I think they are going to) just because from my reading of the message boards for many years (not just CC but also the old yahoo board) it always seemed to me that the majority of passengers -- at least those who posted -- preferred Toscana.

 

(It also seemed to me that when Marina first sailed the majority seemed to prefer Red Ginger to Jacques, although our opinions were quite different. We went to RG expecting to love it and were very disappointed when we didn't.)

 

Regarding the changes in Toscana and GDR, I'm somewhat puzzled. When they say they are increasing their sizes and adding more two-person tables, do they mean they are taking away from Polo's space in order to make Toscana physically larger, or is it just that there will be more two-person tables?

 

Personally, again we don't like that approach since we prefer to share tables. There have been times when we got to the GDR at the wrong moment and ended up at a table for two even though we would have preferred company. (We eat home alone all the time, and we like to meet our fellow passengers even if on occasion not everyone is compatible.) And I can't remember a time when I didn't see plenty of empty tables for two, at least in the GDR. Maybe not in Polo or Toscana.

 

Also, maybe that's because we tend to come to dinner a bit later than the average passenger -- more like 8pm than 6:30.

 

If I have to dine alone with my husband, I guess I can manage ... we've been doing so for a lot of years!

 

Mura