My NCL Getaway Dining Notes & Thoughts

[cadien]

David, I notice you are from Miami... Are you familiar with the bike thing called Critical Mass that happens the last Friday of every month in Miami?

 

 

Good grief. Miami too? That's really spread.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[lindy56]

We are definitely not foodies, and we don’t cruise for food. I have written up some thoughts on our dining experiences since there is always so much discussion here about restaurants and food. Of course, it’s all very subjective and keep in mind that these are my experiences and someone else’s might be completely different, and that’s okay.

 

We received the UDP for free during the booking promotion, so we decided to get our money’s worth by trying as many specialty restaurants as we could. In addition to free Illusionarium the first night, we also had specialty dinners at Cagney’s, Moderno, Teppanyaki, La Cucina, and Le Bistro. (Other than Illusionarium, it's cheaper to eat those 5 restaurants paying as you go than to buy UDP).

 

 

La Cucina

 

• This was the first specialty restaurant we tried. *Disclaimer* we had been drinking all day before dining here. Our taste buds might have been tainted, or we might have ordered poorly. I’m not sure.
  
• We were seated on the waterfront, which is a great location to people watch, and stare at life boats.
  
• Our reservation was at 7:30 on Sunday (sea day), and the restaurant was about 10% full or less when we arrived, and still less than half full when we finished.
  
• I ordered the bruchetta and my husband had the minestrone. He enjoyed the soup. I removed the nasty anchovy from the bruschetta only to find that the rest was completely flavorless. It must not be tomato season. There was truly no flavor. We then shared a mini pizza. The pizza had pancetta (a sort of bacon), which was actually clear jelly-like balls the size of large marbles. I can’t imagine those are fit for human consumption. If I wanted to eat a ball of fat, I’d liposuction my hip into a bowl and chow down. It would be the same thing. The Italian sausage on the pizza tasted like no sausage I’d ever eaten in Italy or the states for that matter. We really didn’t like it at all. The pizza went uneaten.
  
• For entrees, I had the shrimp risotto and my husband ordered the ribeye. I ridiculed him properly for ordering a steak in an Italian restaurant, when there was other good steak to be found on board. He didn’t enjoy it. (The steak or the ridiculing). My shrimp risotto was fairly bland, but it was cooked perfectly. I peppered the heck out of it and it was better. The shrimp itself was way overcooked. It took forever to chew each one.
  
• We skipped dessert.
  
• We absolutely would not return to this restaurant.
  

Moderno

 

• This was our first specialty restaurant, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We ate here on Monday evening (sea day) at 5:30. The restaurant was about 25% full.
  
• My 11 year old son joined us for this one, and he couldn’t get enough of the lamb chops. The server would come by and ask if there were any meats we were waiting to see. I really enjoyed the salad bar, even though it’s smaller than other Churrascaria’s I’ve visited on land. My favorite meats were the filet and lamb chops. My son and husband also loved the sirloin. The grilled pineapple was simply grilled pineapple. It’s no different or more special than any grilled pineapple, so it’s good but nothing to celebrate unless you’ve never had grilled pineapple before. We didn’t order any dessert because we were too full.
  
• My husband and I have UDP, but our son does not. For some reason he was not charged for this restaurant at all, despite eating the same food as we did. I’m not complaining.
  
• This restaurant has a great view of the ocean out the back, or you can choose to sit at the waterfront. You can also sit along the inside edge and move the curtains to watch the entertainment below in Tropicana Room.
  
• We would definitely return to this restaurant in the future.
  

Teppanyaki

 

• My son joined us for this restaurant, and we were charged $12.50 for him. He ordered shrimp and chicken, and his portions were exactly the same as the rest of us.
  
• We were seated at 6:30 on Tuesday (St. Martin day), and they had us out of there promptly by 8:00 PM. The restaurant was full.
  
• We had someone with a shrimp allergy at our table, so that wasn’t cooked until last, after all the other dishes had been cooked and served, and the grill cleaned. I was thrilled to see that they handled this so well, and those with allergies need not worry.
  
• I had filet and shrimp – delicious! I also enjoyed the rice. I could have eaten a bathtub full of it. I might have eaten that much, come to think of it. The meat was all cooked perfectly, even my husband’s steak that was ordered medium rare. (This can be challenging to do when the meat is chopped up like it is at these restaurants). We also liked the miso soup and the standard salad with ginger dressing.
  
• Our chef was friendly and enjoyable. He did the usual Japanese steakhouse little tricks, which are always cute.
  
• One dessert choice was described as, “A selection of delicately sliced exotic fruit”. This consisted of a strawberry, pineapple slice, cantaloupe slice, and a piece of kiwi. All at the table got a kick out of their idea of “exotic fruit”.
  
• We would definitely return to this restaurant in the future.
  

Cagney’s

 

• Our favorite food was Cagney’s. You can sit on the waterfront, or at the stern of the ship with a view of the water behind. If seated on the inside edge of the restaurant, you can open the curtains and look down upon Tropicana Room and watch the dancers or band. It’s a super location. I had crab salad (like chicken salad but with crab. Some have called it a crab cake, but not even close) and the Cagney’s sliders appetizer which were good (VERY rare with soggy buns), but way too filling as an appetizer – I think I ate half of one (they serve 2 of them). My husband had the split pea soup and lettuce wedge. We each had filets and shared au gratin potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, broccoli, and Cagney’s fries. The filets were cooked perfectly. I ordered mine with garlic butter. My husband ordered his “gorgonzola crusted”, which means he was given a regular filet with a little cup of gorgonzola on his plate. (Whatever, it was delicious.) We loved the au gratin potatoes. The mushrooms tasted fine, but they were sliced and not whole. The fries were fries – despite all the raves I’ve read here, I didn’t find anything special. They were just fries. We liked them, but each only ate a couple since we had way too much food. The server noticed us enjoying the au gratin potatoes, and he brought out 2 more dishes of them without us asking!
  
• The server was friendly, but he did nothing to explain the menu, offer suggestions, or anything. When we had questions, he’d offer just one word answers while looking a different direction. I have no clue what his issue was. It didn’t have any affect on our meal one way or the other, but I thought I’d mention it. Once we finished dessert (Oreo cheesecake – delicious!!), we sat another 30 minutes waiting for him to come back to give us the check for our drinks, and give my husband his card back.
  
• I also want to mention for the kid haters out there... The table beside us was a large round table that held 5 children probably between the ages of 4 and 10. Their adults were seated elsewhere. Despite the balloon animals scattered on the floor in the walkways and lots of noise and climbing around on chairs, they were very well behaved. I only mentioned it because I know some grumps who would probably not be happy about the presence of kids in what they deem a fine dining establishment.
  
• That brings me to this: I think Cagney’s has a bit of an identity struggle. Are they a steakhouse or are they a fine dining restaurant? The servers and décor makes me think they are going for fine dining, yet long pants aren’t required (as they are in Tropicana Room and Le Bistro), and fries are served in red and white checked paper. I think I’d like this even better if they stopped trying to act fancy and just went with the true steakhouse attitude. (Just my opinion). Most of the best steaks I’ve had in my life were at places that didn’t try to be fancy and just focused on grilling meats.
  
• We dined here at 8:00 PM on Wednesday, the restaurant looked about 2/3 full at the most.
  
• We would definitely return to this restaurant in the future.
  

Tropicana Room

 

• Next to Cagney’s, this was my favorite place to dine of all on the ship. If I didn’t have the UDP, we would have eaten here often. The food was terrific, and the service was quick and outstanding.
  
• We dined on Thursday evening when the Burn the Floor dancers were performing. The performance was at 6:00pm, and the restaurant was scheduled to open at 5:30. We arrived at about 5:15, and there was already a bit of a line. We waited and they opened the doors early for seating. We were able to get right beside the dance floor. The show was wonderful! Once the dancers finished, the band began to play and patrons danced away. We looked up and saw diners at Moderno above us watching and enjoying the activities below. This giant restaurant has views of the water all around, entertainment, and delicious MDR food for no additional cost. It was truly a wonderful experience I would highly recommend.
  
• Although this was our only visit to a MDR, we checked out the menus nearly every day and often considered cancelling out specialty reservations in lieu of the MDR choices. Like I said before, if we didn’t have free UDP, we never would have paid for those over this. I’m all about atmosphere, and this place definitely has it.
  

Le Bistro

 

• This was our final specialty restaurant. Our reservation was for Friday (following Nassau) at 8:30 pm. The restaurant was full. In hindsight we wish we had booked this earlier in the week and booked a restaurant with a view for the final night.
  
• I did not like the location of this restaurant at all. Unlike all the other specialty restaurants, this one has no view of the water whatsoever – like they want you to forget you are on a ship, which seems weird to me. The tables are packed in very tightly, so you are involved in the conversations of everyone around you.
  
• We tried to eat everything (not really, but I wish). I had the mushroom soup, which was divine. We also had the mussels, scallops, and escargot. The broth in which the mussels are served was delicious, and it was definitely our favorite of the appetizers, although the others were also good. The scallops were fully cooked, but had no color on the outside, which would be perfectly cooked. They were tasty though. The escargot was the same as any other we’ve had. Nothing special, but very good.
  
• We both ordered the beef filet, and we both loved it. It was much more tender than that at Cagney’s (which we also loved!). It was cooked perfectly medium rare, as I had ordered. My husbands was about half medium and half medium-rare, which he had ordered, but certainly not worth complaining. We also loved the potatoes that were served with the steaks. It was truly a delicious meal, just not my favorite simply because I didn’t like the atmosphere, but I would definitely return again for the food.
  
• We skipped dessert, like usual. We just aren’t big dessert people.
  

Garden Buffet

 

• We ate breakfast here almost every day, and were very happy with it. There is such a huge variety. Although most things repeat at several stations, if you walk the entire way around both sides, you can always find something a bit different in a couple spots. If there is a long line for an omelet, move to the next station. We generally ate breakfast around 7 or 8 AM, and it was never crowded at that time. I found the selection to be fantastic and the variety was great. On the first morning I asked a server who was clearing my table where the drink station was, and she couldn’t tell me. I found that odd, but no big deal because I was easily able to find it myself once I got up and looked.
  
• My son ate lunch here nearly every day, and I think my husband and I did twice. The food was really good, and of course there was a giant selection. Again I’d say to walk around the entire thing because you will always find something different despite lots of repeated items at the various stations. We never had a problem with food temperature.
  
• SEAFOOD NIGHT: This was a total disaster. We showed up around 5:30 which was when about 3500 other passengers also decided to go. The lobster tail pieces you are given were the size of my pinky finger and the lines were gigantic. My son waited for 10 full minutes, only to be told by a grumpy old geezer, “You aren’t allowed to be here”. He didn’t know what to think, so he left the line and came to the table to find us, completely defeated. I waited in another line with him to fight off any nasty greedy old mean men. I also saw some good looking shrimp skewers on some plates, but when I located them, there was also a giant line waiting for those. It was difficult to see what else was on the buffet due to the long lines of people waiting for lobster which blocked access and views of the other dishes. I did try a slice of seafood pizza which was delicious! We headed out of there quickly and decided to hit La Cucina later.
  

Flamingo Grill

 

• This is without a doubt our favorite place for lunch on the ship. We LOVED the food, which had a bit of different variety every day, all with a Latin flair. There was some sore of ethnic meatballs that I could have eaten every meal. I also loved the pulled pork, empanadas, stuffed potato ball things, etc. It was all good. On embarkation day, it was not crowded at all compared to O’Sheehan’s and the Garden Buffet. It’s such a great view and location.
  
• We went to Flamingo Grill one time for breakfast. I got a sandwich that was kind of an egg/cheese mixture on a long roll. I was surprised to find it very cold. I don’t mean like it sat out too long, I mean like it just came out of a fridge! I couldn’t eat it, and it kind of turned me off to Flamingo Grill breakfast. The variety was way better in the Garden Buffet, so we just stuck with that. Had we been there when Garden Buffet was crowded, we might have tried Flamingo Grill again for breakfast, but we never had that problem.
  

O’Sheehan’s

 

• In researching the ship, we had intended on spending lots of time here, but it didn’t turn out that way simply because of other priorities. We ordered lunch just one time, and had breakfast just once. We had the spinach artichoke dip, which was some of the worst we have ever had. It had basically no flavor at all, and the spinach was long and stringy. I ordered the hot wings, and they were not crispy, but instead were completely soggy in way too much breading and sauce. I couldn’t eat them. My husband had fish ‘n chips, which he said was “fine, nothing special”. It’s sad that my favorite part was the fact that the marinara sauce served with the mozzarella sticks was watery enough that it was easy to dip the sticks. Ha!
  
• We also ate breakfast here once and it was fine. I had an omelet, and there were half as many choices for fillings than in the buffet, and it wasn’t served as hot as in the buffet, but it was fine for a change of pace. My husband ordered the famous corned beef hash, which included eggs that were the main item on the plate, and a tiny little bit of the hash added as if it were an afterthought. The service was quick, which is what we desire for breakfast, so we can get fed and go about our day.
  

Ocean Blue on the Waterfront

 

• This was not at all what I had expected. I had thought that one would walk up, order a lobster roll, have it handed to us in a few minutes, and walk away. That’s not the way it works. You are given a number and are REQUIRED to sit at one of the tables. It was very busy when we placed our order. The worker gave me a number and told me to sit down at a table. There were no open tables. I told her that I’d just wait by the railing. She said, “No, you must be seated at a table.” I again said there aren’t any open, and she again told me that I must sit down and could not wait by the ship’s railing. This went on for a while. I was on the verge of simply plopping myself down on the deck right in front of the window, but right then a table cleared. We took that table and placed our number on it. This is where we sat for the next 20 minutes waiting for our lobster rolls. When she finally brought them, she had only one lobster roll and the calamari. We had ordered 2. She apologized for the mistake. I then watched her carry lobster rolls to several others who had ordered AFTER us while I waited 10 more minutes for her to bring the other to us that she had forgotten. (Yes, it was on the receipt).
  
• While we were in line, another man had ordered a lobster roll and wanted to take it right inside to join the rest of his family who was eating sushi. They would not allow him to do this. He pointed out how ridiculous this was being on the same ship, etc, but they refused to allow him to eat the lobster roll inside. He demanded a refund, and I don’t blame him. Interestingly, we saw another person order sushi to go, then bring it out to eat on the Ocean Blue tables with his family eating lobster rolls. So you can bring the sushi out, but don’t even think of taking a lobster roll any place other than the designated lobster roll tables. Stupid.
  
• By the way – the lobster roll was delicious, but we wouldn’t mess with it again. If they are going to require people to sit there, then they should have a hostess seating people. I’m not sure why I can’t grab a lobster roll and wander around the ocean front watching the sea while eating, but this mean little employee wasn’t having any of that. (Think, “No soup for you!!”)
  

Wasabi Sushi

 

• When we finished our lobster rolls we went inside for sushi. This was on Thursday, the final sea day, when they are open for lunch from 12 to 2:00PM. It was packed. We managed to grab 2 spots as they cleared at the sushi bar.
  
• The sushi was very good. We only ate maki – we had Spicy Tuna Roll, Dynamite Roll, Godzilla Roll, and Shrimp Tempura. The Godzilla was our favorite, but they are all fresh and tasty.
  

Overall we were very pleased with all the food choices – there are so many! We never saw more than a handful of people in Ocean Blue, although by later in the week we stopped looking (we checked out the menu and weren’t interested.) Also, early in the week the specialty restaurants always had lots of empty tables.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions. Please do NOT copy this entire post into yours, because that really makes scrolling a huge pain for others. It’s easier for everyone if you just copy the part you have a question about, or none at all.

 

By the way - here is a picture of lobster night in the buffet:

 

Great review:)

[miataman19]

Enjoyable and realistic food review. Well done. I always find it funny when people rave about chicken wings on this forum. Folks......it's just chicken wings. lol

 

O’Sheehan’s I ordered the hot wings, and they were not crispy, but instead were completely soggy in way too much breading and sauce. I couldn’t eat them.

Enjoyed the review. After reading your thought's we might make some reservation changes on our sailing this Saturday. People have been raving about the wings in O'Sheehans. In LrgPizza's review she mentions that the wings are breaded :eek:. I know they are just wings but being from Buffalo, NY and someone who has worked at Frank & Teressa's Anchor Bar (home of the original Buffalo Wing 1964) any chicken wing not naked (no breading) is not a Buffalo style wing. Oh, BTW, blue cheese and celery, nothing else ;). We have very few things in Buffalo to be proud of, please give me this one CC peeps, (as ridiculous as it seems).:)

[dockrocker]

Enjoyable and realistic food review. Well done. I always find it funny when people rave about chicken wings on this forum. Folks......it's just chicken wings. lol

 

I guess I feel the same way about people getting super excited about frozen lobster! I think some people really respond to the idea of getting a relatively high-value food item for free, even if it's not a particularly good specimen of same.

[DGP1111]

. . . I have written up some thoughts on our dining experiences since there is always so much discussion here about restaurants and food. Of course, it’s all very subjective and keep in mind that these are my experiences and someone else’s might be completely different, and that’s okay.

 

You review input is greatly appreciated.

Very nicely done!!! :)

 

.

[LrgPizza]

You review input is greatly appreciated.

Very nicely done!!! :)

 

.

Thank you very much, Don! I did write some other rambling thoughts here in this thread.

 

I keep looking over this dining review finding typos and things. Yuck. I hate that.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43024366&postcount=11

[weltek]

Thank you for the review. I agree with most of your comments based on our experience. There's a great tip hidden in there that I haven't heard before: People have complained it's often hard to get into Tropicana during the performances. Sounds like a great time to schedule dinner at Moderno or Cagney's and ask for a view! Thanks!

[LrgPizza]

Enjoyed the review. After reading your thought's we might make some reservation changes on our sailing this Saturday. People have been raving about the wings in O'Sheehans. In LrgPizza's review she mentions that the wings are breaded :eek:. I know they are just wings but being from Buffalo, NY and someone who has worked at Frank & Teressa's Anchor Bar (home of the original Buffalo Wing 1964) any chicken wing not naked (no breading) is not a Buffalo style wing. Oh, BTW, blue cheese and celery, nothing else ;). We have very few things in Buffalo to be proud of, please give me this one CC peeps, (as ridiculous as it seems).:)

There was so much sauce it was like chicken wing soup. LOL. The breading was actually falling off because it was being soaked off from the sauce. *shudder*. I absolutely love chicken wings of all shapes and sizes, including those I've eaten in Buffalo, NY. I also love Hooters (which ARE breaded), I love Buffalo Wild Wings, etc. I really love damn near any hot wing that I've ever tried... Until the ones at O'Sheehan's.

[punkincc]

Thank you for the review. I agree with most of your comments based on our experience. There's a great tip hidden in there that I haven't heard before: People have complained it's often hard to get into Tropicana during the performances. Sounds like a great time to schedule dinner at Moderno or Cagney's and ask for a view! Thanks!

 

Just be aware that although you can see the dance floor and band down below, you can hear absolutely nothing! We had a window table and I would not have minded at least a faint sound from below. They have some really good soundproofing! But we did enjoy seeing the dancers. I doubt you'd get much from the Burn the Floor performance without the music.

[LrgPizza]

Just be aware that although you can see the dance floor and band down below, you can hear absolutely nothing! We had a window table and I would not have minded at least a faint sound from below. They have some really good soundproofing! But we did enjoy seeing the dancers. I doubt you'd get much from the Burn the Floor performance without the music.

Yeah, good point!

[dexddd]

There was so much sauce it was like chicken wing soup. LOL. The breading was actually falling off because it was being soaked off from the sauce. *shudder*. I absolutely love chicken wings of all shapes and sizes, including those I've eaten in Buffalo, NY. I also love Hooters (which ARE breaded), I love Buffalo Wild Wings, etc. I really love damn near any hot wing that I've ever tried... Until the ones at O'Sheehan's.

 

Before we went on the BA someone mentioned about the wings being different (including the breading) compared to prior trips on different ships. They did seem to be different from what we had on previous sailings on other ships.