Lobster on board?

[Coralc]

What do you get on Mediterranean cruises?

 

Sue

 

From what I have read from other cruisers...Lobster is not served on cruises in Europe. And we only had shrimp.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Coralc

[JamesEM]

Was on the Allure in Nov., after my less than stellar lobster dinner I went to the Windjammer to get something else to eat.

[OzKiwiJJ]

From what I have read from other cruisers...Lobster is not served on cruises in Europe. And we only had shrimp.

 

I don't think they serve it on Australasian itineraries either. I'll find out next month.

[hcps-osullivax]

Here's a photo of the free lobster on the Freedom this week as posted by ckrobyn on her live thread. Served without shrimp.

 

 

 

Im sorry I thought you said it was served without shrimp, but there's one in the middle of the plate. But where is the lobster?:p

[wendychloecruiser]

I have never figured out the whole lobster thing on a cruise ship. The lobster served have been frozen and are truly disgusting. I have wondered whether it's the breed of lobster caught as they are so small that surely there are standard legal size requirements for commercial trade.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I guess it depends of the variety of lobster and where they are sourced from.

 

They are quite different from the varieties we get in Australasia, some of which are better than others.

 

And from what I'ev been reading it also depends on the ship and what they have in stock at the time. It seems to be very variable.

 

If the rumours are true I won't get a chance to try one on Rhapsody. We did have superb lobster on Sun Princess over Christmas, they were a variety that was quite different to what we get here, smaller and sweeter. The shell was reddish/black when cooked, not the orangey-red in the pictures above. They certainly backed up my theory that the darker the shell when cooked, the better the lobster, and that is alwyas true for Aus/NZ lobsters.

[chengkp75]

The biggest problem is that the lobsters are frozen. Freezing most shellfish, like lobsters, shrimp, scallops, etc., causes a change in the consistency of the flesh. So, unfortunately, even a superior Maine lobster tail is degraded when frozen.

 

I have seen where some lines are starting to stock live Homerus Americanus (North American Lobster), though not all of these cold water lobsters are from Maine (only the best ones). However, they can only be kept alive for about 24-36 hours in refrigeration, unless you have a tank that recirculates cold salt water.

 

The tails you get with the orange shell is generally the warm water spiny or rock lobster (langouste), while the red shell is a cold water bug.

 

Cold water lobsters range from Canada to New Jersey. I am not sure where the small tails the cruise lines get are from, but as I noted to ckrobyn on her live thread, that size tail would get a $600 fine in Maine. Maine is also the only state with a maximum keeper size to allow the obviously superior survivor lobster to breed into the gene pool.

 

Grand Isle Joe: I prefer my lobster without butter at all, but then we do the entire bug, and that process (steaming preferred) sends the flavor from the rest of the lobster to the meat. And we get the best, in the claw meat. My wife prefers a roll: lobster meat, just the merest coating of mayo and paprika, on a toasted hotdog roll. However, a restaurant here in town does a deep fried tail that is really something (it may have something to do with the Guinness in the batter:D).

[OzKiwiJJ]

The tails you get with the orange shell is generally the warm water spiny or rock lobster (langouste), while the red shell is a cold water bug.

 

 

All of the big lobsters in Australia and New Zealand are rock lobsters. The New Zealand Rock Lobster and the Southern Rock Lobster (Bass Straight and Tasmania) come from cooler waters, the Eastern Rock Lobster and the Western Rock Lobster are from warmer seas.

 

The latter two are the easiest to buy in Sydney. Personally I don't like the Westerns, they are always pale orange when cooked and I think they are tasteless.

 

The other varieties differ in shell colour when cooked. Some are orange and some are a deeper red within each variety. Many, many years ago my father taught me to look for the darker shells when buying a cooked lobster and I've always found that these lobsters have had better flavour than the orangy shelled ones. Yet presumably lobsters of the same variety, sold by each outlet in the Sydney Fish Markets, have been caught in the same waters. That was certainly the case in New Zealand when buying from local fishmongers.

 

The lobster served on Sun Princess was about half the size of a small legal sized Aus/NZ lobster (which is a feast for one person) and looked quite different. I have no idea whether it was a Maine lobster or something else but it was very tasty. The flavour was closer to another type of shellfish found in Australia - the Moreton Bay Bug (also called Flathead Lobster), which are much smaller than lobsters.

[PennStateFan123]

OK not to sound like a seafood snob, but when they serve lobster on the ship ... are we talking about Florida lobsters? Or New England lobsters?

 

 

 

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Neshaminy creek lobsters

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chengkp75]

All of the big lobsters in Australia and New Zealand are rock lobsters. The New Zealand Rock Lobster and the Southern Rock Lobster (Bass Straight and Tasmania) come from cooler waters, the Eastern Rock Lobster and the Western Rock Lobster are from warmer seas.

 

The latter two are the easiest to buy in Sydney. Personally I don't like the Westerns, they are always pale orange when cooked and I think they are tasteless.

 

The other varieties differ in shell colour when cooked. Some are orange and some are a deeper red within each variety. Many, many years ago my father taught me to look for the darker shells when buying a cooked lobster and I've always found that these lobsters have had better flavour than the orangy shelled ones. Yet presumably lobsters of the same variety, sold by each outlet in the Sydney Fish Markets, have been caught in the same waters. That was certainly the case in New Zealand when buying from local fishmongers.

 

The lobster served on Sun Princess was about half the size of a small legal sized Aus/NZ lobster (which is a feast for one person) and looked quite different. I have no idea whether it was a Maine lobster or something else but it was very tasty. The flavour was closer to another type of shellfish found in Australia - the Moreton Bay Bug (also called Flathead Lobster), which are much smaller than lobsters.

 

Yes, the Southern Hemisphere bugs are quite different, and you have your own differentiation between warm and cold water types. I've had your cold water lobsters and find them very good. Though I am partial to the "banana prawns" from NW Australia.

 

Our lobsters will vary in shell color, having seen yellow, purple, and even "harlequin" (two different colors on each side of the shell) lobsters. The change in shell color is caused by protein changes when cooking. Not sure whether that equates to different taste or not, you probably have a better base of reference there.

[FLACRUISER99]

Im sorry I thought you said it was served without shrimp, but there's one in the middle of the plate. But where is the lobster?:p

Thats not a Shrimp it's the lobster tail meat taken out of the shell.:eek: By the way the Lobsters served on EX last month were excellent.

[LovesCruising]

Thats not a Shrimp it's the lobster tail meat taken out of the shell.:eek: By the way the Lobsters served on EX last month were excellent.

 

So you never know - my lobster on Ex for NYE itinerary was awful! And only enough to fill your tooth (and Im not a huge eater)

[beachbell]

Can you order more then one lobster mea?l I thought I read somewhere on cruisecritic that you can't.

[Clarea]

Can you order more then one lobster mea?l I thought I read somewhere on cruisecritic that you can't.

We have always been able to order more than one.