Review: NCL Star to Alaska, 8/7/05, part 1 and 2 of 3

[CthyC]

I am trying to be patient, but the anticipation is killing me. I know you are working hard but when do you think you will be finished with part 2?

[vacationfool]

can anyone tell me about the movie theater on the NCL Star? What types of movies are shown and how often? are they mostly for children? Thanks!

[ethelberga]

I am trying to be patient, but the anticipation is killing me. I know you are working hard but when do you think you will be finished with part 2?

 

Now! I'm finally done!

[ethelberga]

Food! Perhaps the most contentious of cruise review topics. And when coupled with that other hot contender, dining room apparel, it's quite the hot ticket and I’m sure ensuing discussions will see familiar themes surface once again.

 

I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to evaluate food. Standards are so subjective and your interpretation depends on your own experience. For example: if one were to say (to reference a prior thread) the food was mediocre, what does that mean? One person might think of Denny's as mediocre. Another person might think of anything under 4 star quality as mediocre. Layer onto that the choice of dishes. If there's nothing I like on the menu, or if a particular dish isn't to my taste, is that my fault or the chef's?

 

So with that in mind, I'll do my very best to address this meaty (hyuk!) topic.

 

Overall impression:

 

Was the food stupendously excellent, beyond anything I've ever tasted? No. Was the food, as a whole, tasty and comparable to what I would pay for in a higher-end chain restaurant? Yes. Was every item prepared and presented the way it should have been? No. Do I look back fondly upon my dining experiences? Yes. Do my memories of the food on this recent cruise make me want to cruise again? Double yes with sprinkles on top.

 

I think I'll break this down by meal type.

 

Breakfast:

 

We tried breakfast three ways: Versailles, buffet, and hanging the room service tag on the door the night before.

 

Versailles:

 

Of these, Versailles was definitely the best. The selection is broad and they easily accommodated my husband's hearty morning appetite. He would generally order two different juices, two different "entree" type dishes, and some sides. I usually stuck to one juice, an entree, and some sides.

 

The juices served in goblets and were reasonable portions, not those tiny shot glass-sized servings you get many places. The other dishes tended to vary widely in proportion, and this was the most frustrating part of the meal. The first day, my omelet was much smaller than I had been expecting. So I was quite surprised several mornings later when the scrambled eggs filled the large plate! (They were a little runny, too.) There must have been at least a half-dozen eggs used and there was no way I could finish them. On the last morning we ate together as a family before dispersing to the winds. I got two rather small and quite thinly sliced pieces of ham (about the size of Canadian bacon, but oblong instead of round) and my sister-in-law received a veritable mountain of bacon that she begged the rest of us to help her eat. So it was all good, just be aware that portions might not be what you were expecting.

 

Oh, another thing we really liked about breakfast in Versailles was the "Danish lady" who walked around with a tray of sweet rolls and muffins while you were waiting to place or receive your order. That last morning my dad, who fancies himself quite the comedian, asked for one of everything. Boy did she call his bluff! She had a great sense of humor and immediately went for it. He turned beet red and declined, but she kept coming back to tease him and slip another one on his plate while his back was turned.

 

And one last rave for the individual pots of hot chocolate! That yummy diner kind that's premixed -- no powder packets in the Versailles! And the pot is enormous. The first morning our server teased me that I couldn't leave because I hadn't finished it.

 

Buffet:

 

Okay, so I never actually went to the buffet myself. It was much easier to send my husband to bring back things! Thus, I don't really have a good idea of what the selection was. I do know that they had some large sausage things that were absolutely disgusting and some smaller brown-and-serve size sausages that, well, tasted like brown-and-serve

sausages. Also making an appearance in our cabin were assorted muffins and Danishes, French toast, a portable eggs Florentine type thing cut into rectangles, toast, and fresh fruit.

 

It was not the tastiest food I've had. I would put it on a par with Denny's. (Apologies to the Denny's fans.) But the variety was sufficient that I could find something to eat that was at least adequate.

 

Room service:

 

Smallest. Portions. Ever. I thought we were being enormous pigs with our order. We've stayed in so many hotels with those overnight breakfast order tags to hang on one's door that we were really excited to do it for free! (The one time we did this at a Disney hotel we got a feast -- but it also cost $50!) This time we ordered coffee, hot cocoa, fruit compote for each of us, and a Danish for each of us.

 

The coffee came as two pots of hot water and no coffee, so that had to be fixed. The hot cocoa wasn't the yummy stuff from Versailles that I was expecting, but a pot of hot water and a package of instant. The Danishes fit into the palm of my hand -- with room to spare. And finally, the fruit compote was a single canned peach half. Barely enough to feed a mouse, yet it seemed like such a huge order. And on such large plates that any more items would have required multiple trays.

 

 

 

Finally, breakfast arrived a full 30 minutes early and without a warning call. I suppose better 30 minutes early than 30 minutes late, but I had to dash into the bathroom when it was delivered. And then again when they brought the replacement coffee pot.

 

We did not attempt room service breakfast a second time.

 

[ethelberga]

Lunch:

 

 

 

We also tried lunch three ways: Versailles, shore excursion, Blue Lagoon. Oooh, maybe a fourth. One morning we had a late breakfast and didn't really have lunch so we had a midafternoon snack of room service. I'll include that in this section as well.

 

Versailles:

 

Again, this is the clear winner. I had some really excellent food for lunch. The first day we were on board early enough to each in the dining room. We got to sit right up against the portside window and watch barges go by. It was wonderful! We had a pretty good seat for our late lunch in Ketchikan, too, one row back from the back windows.

 

For lunch one generally selected a starter, an entree, and a dessert. There was usually a pasta of the day as well. Burgers and hotdogs were available. There were a few desserts of the day, as well as a selection of ice creams, sorbets, and yogurts, with different flavors on different days.

 

It was at lunch that I had my single most amazing food item while on board: chilled pineapple banana cinnamon soup. I salivate just thinking about it. Not all the fruit soups were to my taste, but this one was amazing. Far superior to the blueberry pear a few days prior, which was good, but the blueberry bits were a bit gritty.

 

I had good experiences with lunch, but not everyone else did. We were joined by my aunt, uncle, cousin, and sister-in-law for one lunch. (Cousin's wife and my brother sleeping off some indigestion. In separate cabins, of course.) Both my husband and uncle ordered the pasta of the day as well as another entree. I ordered just the pasta of the day, plus starter and dessert.

 

The pasta was allegedly macaroni and cheese with Monterey Jack cheese, broccoli florets, and duck sausage. The two men got these as just the macaroni and cheese -- no broccoli or sausage. Mine came later with broccoli, sausage, and garnish on top. I have no idea why they received "lesser" servings. They didn't intend to receive lesser servings. The Cuban sandwich my husband got as an entree was possibly the smallest sandwich I've ever seen that didn't involve crustless bread and cucumbers, so without the pasta portion he would have been hungry. It was particularly disappointing because they had especially wanted to try the duck sausage. We didn't ask about it because we were in a hurry and because our server was a) barely understandable and b) nearly invisible.

 

Our irritation mounted, however, when my husband's dessert contained only one of the two flavors of sorbet he'd requested. Usually it comes as two or so scoops in a fountain glass. He orders two flavors and the glass comes with a scoop of each. This time it was two scoops of the same. This is not a huge alarming issue, and as a whole I think I miss the Versailles lunches the most of any food experience, and if he really wanted more sorbet he could have asked for it and I’m sure they would have brought it. But it was a weird service experience.

 

 

 

Later on in the week, while we were enjoying our view out the aft windows in Ketchikan, we had prompt and efficient service. My parents, who were two tables down and who had been one group behind us in the line waiting to be seated, did not receive prompt and efficient service. We were eating our entrees when my mom came over to visit – they were still waiting to have their orders taken! Seated not five minutes apart, and we’d had orders taken, finished our entrees, and were on entrees, and my folks were still on bread. We stopped by their table on our way out, after dessert, and they’d had their orders taken, but no food yet. An extreme example, and arguably an isolated example, but it does happen.

 

 

 

I’ll talk about our shore excursion lunch in part three.

 

 

 

Blue Lagoon:

 

 

 

We had a late lunch here Saturday because I wanted the chance to try it before we left the ship. We’d tried to eat there before, but it tended to be full; there’s not much seating and those seated tend to bring newspapers and games and such and linger.

 

 

 

Stuff was okay for a snack, but I wasn’t just blown away. We ordered an assortment of things. Hubby ordered chili, fish and chips, chicken wings, and fried rice. I ordered a cheeseburger and potato skins. We waited a while, and then the chili came. Then the fish and chips. Then the chicken wings. Finally my potato skins came, followed by his fried rice and my burger.

 

 

 

The food was okay, even good. And if I wanted a late night snack I’d consider it. However, I thought the delivery was weird. I don’t expect the same service at the Blue Lagoon as I’d get at Versailles, but I thought our orders would have been staggered more evenly. Also, some of the seats are backless stools which aren’t comfortable for everyone. All in all it was okay. I’d do it again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to make time for it like we did on this trip.

 

 

 

Room Service:

 

 

 

Monday we had a large breakfast rather late, followed by massages, and never really got around to lunch. We needed to eat before dinner, but didn’t want to eat too much since we had an early group reservation at Versailles. Room service to the rescue!

 

 

 

Room service during the day is much different than room service for breakfast and I think our breakfast expectations were influenced by our experience Monday afternoon.

 

 

 

My husband had a turkey sandwich and we each had pepperoni pizzas and chocolate mousse. The sandwich wasn’t huge, but he said it was tasty. It came with chips and some coleslaw. The pizzas were little individual pizzas. The crust was a little weird, but I thought it was tasty for what it was. Same for the mousse. The portions weren’t enormous, but they were much more reasonable than at breakfast. Service was timely and it was the crew member’s first cruise, too. That was sort of fun to chat about. I would definitely do this again. If you’re really hungry, order a couple of things.

[ethelberga]

Dinner:

 

 

 

We tried Versailles, Aqua, and three specialty restaurants: Cagney’s, Le Bistro, and Soho.

 

 

 

Versailles:

 

 

 

Dinner at Versailles was good. Not astoundingly stupendous, but good. Sometimes very good. Service wasn’t always excellent, but usually was okay. They were very nice to make reservations for our group of 10 for formal night.

 

 

 

Digression: Because we were a large group, our reservation had to be for 5:30 or 8. Most of my family prefers to eat early. However, the dining room opened at 5:30 and there was an enormous line. We didn’t want to cut and join our group, although I can’t see that it would have mattered; they seated those in our group who were ahead of us and we joined them when we hit the front of the line. Nonetheless, we didn’t want to appear like we were inconveniencing anyone, so we waited our turn.

 

 

 

I was absolutely appalled at the behavior of some of my fellow cruisers. An elegantly-dressed woman asked me if that was the line for the dining room. I replied that it was. She indignantly huffed that she wasn’t going to wait in any line and marched ahead and cut into the line at the top of the stairs. She was not the only one. Astoundingly, it was some of the more formally dressed folks who behaved in this fashion. I don’t know why, but I had expected better behavior from grown adults, on a cruise, on formal night.

 

 

 

Anyhow, we only ate at Versailles the one night – Monday. It was formal night. The ambiance seemed very different from at lunch. Maybe it’s because it was formal night and just as the dining room opened. It just seemed so hectic and busy and loud. On the other hand, occasionally there would be moments where I could imagine myself on a glamorous transatlantic cruise right out of history.

 

 

 

One fun note – my cousin has a number of very severe food allergies and usually can’t have any of the desserts. So, at dessert time, he said he’d have nothing. And thus they brought him a plate with “nothing” written across it in chocolate sauce. We had a good laugh over that.

 

 

 

Aqua:

 

 

 

The next night my husband really wanted to try Aqua. I didn’t think I would like it, but to my surprise I really did. It was the Presidents’ menu night, and I think that might have been my favorite menu. (I definitely recommend the gruyere appetizer!) The high ceilings and large open space of Versailles just seem so busy. In contrast, Aqua’s lower ceilings and U-shaped configuration made it seem more like a regular restaurant. Also, the tables seemed farther apart and it was easier to walk between them.

 

 

 

We enjoyed Aqua so much we ate there the next night, too. This night was not quite as successful. Items did not come as described on the menu. The appetizer was described as a warm fruit compote, but it came quite chilled. The salad was supposed be butter lettuce (which I love) with chives and white grapes on it, which made sense given the chardonnay dressing. But it was just a salad of mixed greens – with chardonnay dressing. By this time I was wondering if it was me – but the table next to us was also asking each other if they had any grapes in their salads. I thought maybe they were out, but my aunt ate that night in Versailles and her salad did have grapes. I was pretty annoyed because I wouldn’t have ordered a plain garden salad. I wanted to see how the white grapes interacted with the special dressing. If our server had said “grapes are off,” I would have ordered something else. If it was a kitchen error, someone should have noticed. I don’t like the bait and switch technique. If something’s not as advertised, just tell me! I’ve been to more than one restaurant in my life where menus were presented along with a recitation of what was no longer available and any substitutions.

 

 

 

Overall, we liked the atmosphere of Aqua better than Versailles. Service both places could be very good to poor.

 

 

 

Cagney’s:

 

 

 

We ate here the first night after leaving Seattle. The menus at Cagney’s are really neat – they’re paper affixed to wooden planks. I got the crab cake starter and my husband got the jumbo shrimp cocktail. We both got the surf and turf and an assortment of sides.

 

 

 

Honestly, we probably wouldn’t do this again. There wasn’t anything really wrong, it just wasn’t sufficiently special to merit the surcharge, in my opinion. Service was good. The servers were eager to offer to help with the lobster, but I’m determined to practice so I stuck it out. It was nice of them to offer, though, and they did it without making me feel like a goober, which is quite an accomplishment. And the cheesecake I had for dessert was actually quite good. But somehow it just didn’t click with us.

 

 

 

Le Bistro:

 

 

 

Boy was this an experience, and not the way they intended! We had the romance package and this was our included night at Le Bistro. We imagined a romantic dinner. However, shortly after we were seated, a huge family was seated directly behind us, taking up the entire back of the restaurant. We think there were 28 of them. We can’t be certain, because about half of them were young children. Very young children who were utterly unsupervised and who would literally wriggle around on the floor, banging into other tables. We’d finish counting the bodies at one table, then the second, and by the time we hit the third long table there were kids from the first table yammering on around the third table. Or kids had left the third table and congregated around the second table. So let’s just say there were about 30 of them.

 

 

 

On the one hand, this significantly impaired the experience for us. These people were loud and unruly and totally out of scale for the space. I’m totally shocked that any group would take that many young children to a restaurant like that. If you have one or two well-behaved children, more power to you! They deserve to eat in nice restaurants like the little ladies and gentlemen they are. But at least a dozen young hellions? Egads! We literally couldn’t hear each other talk.

 

 

 

What salvaged this evening for us was the restaurant management. I have no idea what her name (I do remember that she was Romanian) or specific function was, but one of the more senior staff (in a jacket instead of vest and in some sort of authority) was visibly irritated. She apologized to us right away – and more than once. At one point she told us, in a very offended tone, “I understand that they’re on vacation, but they’re in a *Public Place*!” She would go and stand behind a group of kids and glare at them until they settled down. At one point I saw her looking at the group with utter contempt and if looks could kill, there would be approximately 28 dead bodies in Le Bistro. She made it clear when she chatted with us that this was NOT her idea and she did not approve.

 

 

 

I’ve been to so many restaurants where patrons misbehaved and the staff didn’t care. Here, clearly upper management didn’t care, but the staff very much did care and for us, that made a significant difference in our experience. I strongly feel that this restaurant, given the small size and the promotion of the venue as a romantic setting, should be adult only. Although I’ve not been on any other ships, I note that even the Disney ships have an adult only restaurant. The physical setting simply does not handle large groups of children well.

 

 

 

So how was the food? The food was very good. We enjoyed our escargot and our onion soup and our salads and our filets. I finally got to try foie gras and truffle. And I enjoyed the fondue and my husband enjoyed the cherries jubilee.

 

 

 

(Tangent – all week we amused ourselves by talking about the “Flamb” (rhymes with lamb) of the day. And then we heard manicured ladies refer to the main dining room as Ver-Sails. That just made it worse! I can never say “Flahm-bay” again. It will always be flamb to me.)

 

 

 

We definitely thought the food was better – or at least more worth the service charge – at Le Bistro. And if Satan’s School for the Unruly hadn’t set up camp behind us, we probably would have had a great evening. We’d probably do this again, but we would pick a totally inconvenient time in the hopes of avoiding similarly annoying groups.

 

 

 

Soho:

 

 

 

I think our views differed on Soho. I liked it way more than I was expecting to, and I think my husband wasn’t so impressed. However, my husband was also pouting because he’d been on the silly token machine in the casino and run out of tokens and while he was getting more, someone had taken *his* spot and got the $20 bill he’d been “working on.” Seriously, he was acting like quite the baby. So let’s disregard his opinion and go with mine, shall we?

 

 

 

I’m not a huge pop art fan and I didn’t think I’d like the sort of restaurant that includes a pop art décor. But the restaurant was nicely laid out and felt quite spacious. We had a table right next to the windows and really enjoyed looking right out at the waves.

 

 

 

I had the tuna tartar, veal chop, and tempura chocolate cake. I enjoyed all of it. I even ate my polenta, which had mushrooms in it – and I don’t like mushrooms! The tartar was presented quite nicely. It came with the tartar on the bottom of an upside-down martini glass, with the bed of greens imprisoned under the bowl of the glass. The server disassembled it at the table so that I could actually eat it. And the chocolate cake – oh! The chocolate cake! It was just amazing!

 

 

 

This is the sort of place that I like more and more as time goes on and I reflect back on it.

[ethelberga]

Bars, snacks, and nibbly bits:

 

 

 

On the last afternoon we had a few drinks in the Spinnaker Lounge. During the day, the lounges are quite deserted. Service was prompt and the drinks were strong and they didn’t push any annoying commemorative glasses. They gave a discount on the second drink, but I’m strictly a one drink gal.

 

 

 

One evening the 6 of us young folk gathered in the game room to play “Lord of the Fries.” (It’s a cute card game we’d brought with us.) The men folk went forth to pillage desserts from the buffet and brought back a feast for the ladies. Most of them were tasty, although we decided that a white square that looked sort of cheesecake-y tasted like tofu. Bad tofu. But most were good.

 

 

 

Chocolate buffet:

 

 

 

This was on the one hand fun and amazing, and on the other hand anti-climactic. It was mostly too dark to take photos. They didn’t let us in early for photos – they just plain let us in early! We got paper plates to take stuff back to the room, went through the line, loaded up, and then just left. We were exhausted and not in the best of moods and it just didn’t seem very festive. But I did enjoy many chocolate delights that night and the next morning. And just maybe when I got home on Sunday.

 

 

 

I think this might have been better done earlier in the cruise when we weren’t so worn out!

 

 

 

Apparel side note:

 

 

 

I understand why people get upset about the dress code. It’s hard to understand why “nice” jeans – dark denim, long, worn in today’s style with heels and a dressy top, not ripped or stained – are prohibited, but the girl in the miniscule white skirt made from sweatshirt material and the camisole of similar fabric worn with no bra is a-okay.

 

 

 

I imagine the one side says that if that’s what people will wear for “resort casual,” just think of what they’d wear if they were allowed to wear jeans! And they’re probably right. If the bar were lowered any further, people would come to dinner dressed even sloppier than they already are. And that penalizes people whose “nice jeans” outfit is clearly classier than “barely legal tennis terry knit skirt.” It’s not that the teeny tennis skirt is acceptable; it’s that people will push whatever boundaries they’re given and the cruise line has apparently tried to draw some sort of line in the sand and they’ve chosen to draw it at jeans.

 

 

 

That being said, I barely noticed what other people wore. I only noticed the “skirt” because it passed by at eye level when I was seated and was short enough that I had to avert my eyes. Ish!

[ethelberga]

So there you go! Finally the food. If you have any questions on material I didn't cover regarding the food, let me know. I'll be working on the shore excursions and other entertainments for part 3, which will hopefully be done sometime before I expire.

 

(If it's any consolation, I'm behind in my coursework, too. And it's only the second week!)

[Wendolyn]

I find it interesting that jeans are allowed for the Texas cruises, as jeans are apparently part of the Texas culture.:rolleyes: Like they're not anywhere else? Or is it just that Texans throw bigger hissy fits?:p I wonder if the Prez gets away with this Texas coutere pass.... Anyway, thanks for the report! (I'll be leaving for my trip here this weekend!)

[ethelberga]

Could whomever elected to merge these threads please at the very least correct the title to read "parts" instead of "part"? I had thought, based on how others posted their reviews, that it was preferable to a) split up lengthy reviews and b) create new threads instead of resurrecting old ones. I will do my best to comply with whatever style is prefered, but it's difficult to hit the target when the target remains in motion.

[kroozroo]

ethelberga - Thanks for part 2 of your review. I do have one question about Blue Lagoon: can you order food to go or do you have to sit down to order?

I will wait patiently for part 3 and I don't want to put any pressure on you or anything......but, I hope to see it before I leave on the Star (9/11).

[dgund]

Thanks so much for the detailed review. We will be on the Star in July 2006.

[sunshine 229]

 

I imagine the one side says that if that’s what people will wear for “resort casual,” just think of what they’d wear if they were allowed to wear jeans! And they’re probably right. If the bar were lowered any further, people would come to dinner dressed even sloppier than they already are. And that penalizes people whose “nice jeans” outfit is clearly classier than “barely legal tennis terry knit skirt.” It’s not that the teeny tennis skirt is acceptable; it’s that people will push whatever boundaries they’re given and the cruise line has apparently tried to draw some sort of line in the sand and they’ve chosen to draw it at jeans.

 

 

 

 

I've observed similar things on several of my cruises. I'm willing to bet that if you give me any set of dress code guidelines I could find a way to keep within the letter of the guidelines and still dress inappropriately. Not that I would, just that I've seen so many people do it. It increases the sympathy I feel for those unlucky individuals who get stuck writing and enforcing the dress codes for high school students.

 

Also I'd just like to mention that I've really enjoyed reading your review so far. Not just the information but the little touches of humour.

 

I laughed when I read the part about looking for your suitcases. I too usually buy distinctive (read ugly) suitcases. Last tme I was standing in the store waiting to pay for my newest suitcase I saw another customer looking at it with an expression that conveyed her disgust at my taste but, as I pointed out to her, it should be easy to pick out on the luggage carousel! Also who would want to steal it?:p

[ethelberga]

ethelberga - Thanks for part 2 of your review. I do have one question about Blue Lagoon: can you order food to go or do you have to sit down to order?

I will wait patiently for part 3 and I don't want to put any pressure on you or anything......but, I hope to see it before I leave on the Star (9/11).

 

My perception was that you had to sit down to order. Also, when we ordered multiple things they trickled out one at a time - and rather slowly. I didn't ask so I can't be certain. I think that if we wanted to take something to go we would either hit the buffet or order room service.

 

Soemthing I forgot to mention earlier -- late at night the buffet also had dinosaur-shaped chicken bits. (Can't really be chicken fingers if they're dinosaur-shaped, can they?) Apparently it requires a good deal of reaching and crouching to obtain them from the kid's buffet, but they were nonetheless a hit for game night. And that late at night you aren't as likely to be "depriving" actual kids of their goodies.

 

I'm going to try to work on part 3 over the 3-day weekend. Goodness knows I have a gob of other work to do, which means I'll be looking for ways to avoid that other work -- such as working on the final installment! Oh, and finally sorting the photos. If I should get photos uploaded to some online site I'll include that link. (Although it will also be used for family photo sharing, so you'll have to wade through the numerous photos of us taking pictures of each other taking pictures. We're weird that way.)

[Sailaway...Sailaway]

Yikes. I guess that must really say how taste-challenged the Market Cafe is! Breakfast was the ONLY meal I was able to halfway digest in there! :eek:

 

 

Breakfast:

 

 

Buffet:

 

Okay, so I never actually went to the buffet myself. It was much easier to send my husband to bring back things! Thus, I don't really have a good idea of what the selection was. I do know that they had some large sausage things that were absolutely disgusting and some smaller brown-and-serve size sausages that, well, tasted like brown-and-serve

sausages. Also making an appearance in our cabin were assorted muffins and Danishes, French toast, a portable eggs Florentine type thing cut into rectangles, toast, and fresh fruit.

 

It was not the tastiest food I've had. I would put it on a par with Denny's. (Apologies to the Denny's fans.) But the variety was sufficient that I could find something to eat that was at least adequate.

[johnql]

I do have one question about Blue Lagoon: can you order food to go or do you have to sit down to order?

Actually, both. You can order food to go, but you still have to sit down to order it.

[ethelberga]

In defense of the buffet:

 

I think it appeals to a certain type. For example: my dad loved it. Loved it so much he would drag my mom there instead of going to one of the restaurants. His assessment of the Italian joint? It was "too Italian" for him. What the heck? He's my dad and even *I* don't know what that means. Meanwhile, he couldn't wait to hit "Italian night" at the buffet.

 

It's entirely possible that there are enough people out there like my dad that NCL caters to them on purpose with the buffet food, figuring the rest of us will just eat elsewhere. The buffet couldn't have been better pegged to my dad's palate. (Hey -- at least you didn't have to grow up eating meals that met with his approval. Adulthood has been a culinary awakening like no other.)

[johnql]

ethelberga's last post proves the point that judging food quality is one of the most subjective elements of a cruise. With 2,000 passengers, it's virtually impossible to please everyone. I myself had no problem with the Star's buffet. I wouldn't rave about it but I don't recall anything in particular that I would complain about.

[cruisingfromMN]

ethelberga's last post proves the point that judging food quality is one of the most subjective elements of a cruise. With 2,000 passengers, it's virtually impossible to please everyone. I myself had no problem with the Star's buffet. I wouldn't rave about it but I don't recall anything in particular that I would complain about.

 

Ditto to your buffet comments!

[Sailaway...Sailaway]

LOL. Your dad sounds like a kick! I think I like him already! :D

 

You're right, of course, that you can't please all of the people all of the time, but you sure can try to please most of 'em most of the time! I guess I just didn't fall into that "most crowd" when it came to the Market Cafe buffet. I am a HUGE buffet-buff, too! An exceptionally good one can be VERY dangerous to my waistline! :eek:

 

I guess my "beef" is that I believe NCL could do a lot better with their lido deck buffet no more WHO they are catering to. If you were to taste some of the Princess and newer Carnival buffets, you would know exactly what I am saying. If NCL knows they can continue to "get away" with serving this sub-par "food", then why not? SOMEONE obviously likes it. But, I still don't think it's fair to the crowd that I belong to. What I always seem to hear from folks when explaining their defense of the NCL lido buffets is: "Well, a buffet is a buffet." Or, "It was nothing to write home about, but it was filling and we found a few things we liked". And, " Well, my sister liked it even if we never wanted to eat there except for breakfast" And, "We paid for it, so we may as well eat it". I have observed people mindlessly streaming through the lines like cattle, piling their plates with stuff they wouldn't dare pay for back home. But, it's "part of the package" and "we're bound to pick around 'til we find something we really enjoy." Or, "Fortunately, we always have the dining rooms or other places to eat"...some folks even feel that it's necessary to pay a surcharge to REALLY get a nice meal. I'm tellin' ya, it's coming to that, people! :rolleyes: So, in other words, passengers seem to be "settling" instead of commanding the kind of tasteful cuisine they deserve. Yes, even in a cafeteria-style buffet it's very possible to serve some delicious foods. Not all of them, mind you...but a goodly amount. It's not happening in the Market Cafe.

 

I find that unacceptable. I want to be able to eat at ANY lido buffet of ANY ship and come away enjoying the food at least 80% of the time. I'll never expect to see the same type of desserts as I do in the dining rooms...or foods that taste best prepared the way they would for a sit-down meal....although more often than not, Princess will serve some of the exact foods they have in the dining rooms later in the evening/late night in their Horizon Court buffet...sometimes even concurrently. :cool:

 

I defy any of you who haven't experienced the buffets on some of these other lines, to give them a try and then come back and see if you can eat the "food" they dare to serve in NCL's lido deck buffets...at least the ones on Star and Dawn. ;)

 

 

 

 

In defense of the buffet:

 

I think it appeals to a certain type. For example: my dad loved it. Loved it so much he would drag my mom there instead of going to one of the restaurants. His assessment of the Italian joint? It was "too Italian" for him. What the heck? He's my dad and even *I* don't know what that means. Meanwhile, he couldn't wait to hit "Italian night" at the buffet.

 

It's entirely possible that there are enough people out there like my dad that NCL caters to them on purpose with the buffet food, figuring the rest of us will just eat elsewhere. The buffet couldn't have been better pegged to my dad's palate. (Hey -- at least you didn't have to grow up eating meals that met with his approval. Adulthood has been a culinary awakening like no other.)

[kroozroo]

ethelberga - I love your dad!

Thanks for the replies to my question about Blue Lagoon.

I am one of those "hey, a buffet is a buffet" people. We eat in the buffet if we want a quick meal or a small meal. I sometimes only want a salad and a glass of iced tea for dinner, but I've found that if that's all you ask for in the regular restaurants, they think you are crazy and spend the rest of the meal trying to get you to order more food.