Crab Shack Question?

[barbie5401]

Hello Barbie,

 

First of all congrats on being a survivor. My wife, Dolores, is a nine year survivor and I am on my first year.

Now, for my question. I love every form of seafood. Or, for that matter, every form of food. My wife is less enthusiastic about working for her meal. If we were to go to the Crab Shack would we be able to share our table with me partaking in the seafood and she going to the Horizon Court ?

 

Regards,

Tom

Tom thank you being a survivor makes living life very differently. Now about Crab Shack my experience was on the Regal where we saw one person eat from the buffet and one crab shack

[easyboy]

Would you consider the Crab Shack well worth the money? As good or better than an option on land?

We love crab and when we crave, we go to Joe's Crab Shack in our area. We find the set menu at Princess' Crab Shack better and cheaper.

[Kenswing]

We love crab and when we crave, we go to Joe's Crab Shack in our area. We find the set menu at Princess' Crab Shack better and cheaper.

 

Except you don't have to spend several thousand dollars before you can walk into Joe's Crab Shack.. :p

[Akaicb]

On the Regal the crab shack is located in a roped off area of the buffet, so people were getting up and making salads and bringing them back to the table. Also, we saw couples were one order the $20 dinner and the other ate from the buffet. However, no one could access the food being served to those that paid for the crab shack.

 

I am so glad you posted this, I absolutely love seafood but my husband cannot stand it. I was wondering if I could do the crab shack and he could grab dinner from the buffet.

 

I wonder if the smell of the seafood would be really overwhelming. Can anyone comment on that aspect?

[barbie5401]

I am so glad you posted this, I absolutely love seafood but my husband cannot stand it. I was wondering if I could do the crab shack and he could grab dinner from the buffet.

 

I wonder if the smell of the seafood would be really overwhelming. Can anyone comment on that aspect?

 

Your not in very tight quarters so I don't think it would be offensive. I was very surprised to see so many couples split on this. We even had a few men eating by themselves enjoying the dinner with a couple of beers.

[Akaicb]

Your not in very tight quarters so I don't think it would be offensive. I was very surprised to see so many couples split on this. We even had a few men eating by themselves enjoying the dinner with a couple of beers.

 

That is great to hear, I was a little worried. Since it will be just me and my husband, I don't think he would eat by himself...I can do it with no problem but he would just order room service and I don't want him to do that.

[barbie5401]

That is great to hear, I was a little worried. Since it will be Justin me and my husband, I don't think he would eat by himself...I can do it with no problem but he would just order room service and I don't want him to do that.

 

Sorry if I gave wrong impression you both go to the crab shack and he can eat from the buffet and you order the food from the crab shack

[kennicott]

I am so glad you posted this, I absolutely love seafood but my husband cannot stand it. I was wondering if I could do the crab shack and he could grab dinner from the buffet.

 

I wonder if the smell of the seafood would be really overwhelming. Can anyone comment on that aspect?

 

I'm not certain what you mean by the smell of "seafood". What I find in a good seafood restaurant is not much odor at all, but I do suppose seafood gives off an aroma of its own more or less similar to that of the unique smell a good steak does on the grill.

 

Same goes for the taste of seafood, if it tastes or smells fishy I pitch it, the reason being is that it hasn't been take care of properly, more than likely it has been exposed to too much bacteria action. The three things that are the scourge of quality seafood are bacteria, enzyme action and oxidation. All of those can be controlled by proper handling.

 

I know that some fish markets are terrible, particularly those in hot climates, I've walked into some where the stench is so strong that it almost takes me to my knees. On the other hand, the markets I frequent are clean and the air has no "fishy" odor to it at all instead a refreshing whiff of the sea, like salt water, etc. That is the way the "Crab Shack" smells to me.

 

I haven't thought about it before, since we are both seafood lovers, but I'm almost positive that Princess will allow a couple into the "Crab Shack" when one eats from the buffet while the other eats sea food. We see families with kids in there all the time and you just know that those kids aren't chowing down on mussels, steamer clams and crab.

[Lucky TGO]

We love eating at the Crab Shack! The answer to OP is yes both.

Tony

Edited April 29, 2016 by Lucky TGO

[Akaicb]

I'm not certain what you mean by the smell of "seafood". What I find in a good seafood restaurant is not much odor at all, but I do suppose seafood gives off an aroma of its own more or less similar to that of the unique smell a good steak does on the grill.

 

Same goes for the taste of seafood, if it tastes or smells fishy I pitch it, the reason being is that it hasn't been take care of properly, more than likely it has been exposed to too much bacteria action. The three things that are the scourge of quality seafood are bacteria, enzyme action and oxidation. All of those can be controlled by proper handling.

 

I know that some fish markets are terrible, particularly those in hot climates, I've walked into some where the stench is so strong that it almost takes me to my knees. On the other hand, the markets I frequent are clean and the air has no "fishy" odor to it at all instead a refreshing whiff of the sea, like salt water, etc. That is the way the "Crab Shack" smells to me.

 

I haven't thought about it before, since we are both seafood lovers, but I'm almost positive that Princess will allow a couple into the "Crab Shack" when one eats from the buffet while the other eats sea food. We see families with kids in there all the time and you just know that those kids aren't chowing down on mussels, steamer clams and crab.

 

Thank-you for your description, I just know that when I cook salmon at home that my husband comments on the smell. I can only cook scallops on the bbq because I find they do have a strong smell while cooking, not a bad smell but to non-seafood lovers they do have a scent.

 

I hear you about that overwhelming "fishy" odor, we just had a supermarket in our area expand their fish area and they moved it to the front of the store where the sun beats down all day long. They put shades up but i do not think they help much, because like you the smell when you walk in can bring me to my knees. I have started going to a different supermarket now.

Edited April 29, 2016 by Akaicb
spelling

[psouthcomb]

I am a retired seafood specialist at Publix. No seafood department should smell fishy. If it does it's because of lack of sanitation and proper cleaning. I love the crab shack and have never smelt a bad odor. A little trick I learned about cooking seafood, is try cooking it with a little vermouth. I stops the oils from fish escaping and clinging on to curtains that causes the odor of fish to linger. I've had luck doing this.:)

[kennicott]

I am a retired seafood specialist at Publix. A little trick I learned about cooking seafood, is try cooking it with a little vermouth. I stops the oils from fish escaping and clinging on to curtains that causes the odor of fish to linger. I've had luck doing this.:)

 

Thanks for the vermouth tip, we will have to try that.

 

This entire thread makes my mouth water, so much I stopped by our favorite seafood market here today, Sagaya's, just to look around. They had all sorts of good and very fresh stuff there. We like oysters on the half shell and they had lots of them, Alaskan oysters too. I like yearlings best but most of their's were rather large. By the way, on the Regal and Royal we really like to eat at the Ocean Terrace where they have excellent sushi and oyster shooters.

 

The question about seafood odor reminds me of the old days before technology created devices which removed the meat from crabs. I come from the central coast of Alaska where all five species of Pacific Salmon are harvested as well as Dungeness Crab, some King Crab, Tanner, Opilio (snow crab---http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/deadliest-catch/about-this-show/hsw-hunt-for-snow-crabs/).

 

There was no market for Tanner Crab until they devised mechanical methods to get the meat out, however, Dungeness and King Crab meat was extracted by breaking the shells and pounding the meat out by hand. Long lines of "crab shakers" were employed to do this, they were paid by the processors according to the number of pounds of meat extracted.

 

Even though the crab odor in the processor facilities wasn't very offensive it was strong. As a kid growing up in Cordova, Alaska I recall when the crab shakers, mostly women as the men were out on boats fishing, got off shift and were walking home, you could smell them a block away.

 

My future wife, now wife of 52 years, was a crab shaker. When we were courting I was a bush pilot in the summers and assigned to a station a couple of hundred miles away. When I would get into town for maintenance on an aircraft or something I would go down to the cannery and say hello to her as she was worked on the crab line. I remember one time I was wearing a down vest. After getting back to my base I could still smell the crab line on it a week later.

[kennicott]

Regarding the Princess Crab Shack versus similar shore style restaurant posts: By coincidence a younger friend of mine, (He is always asking me about cruising as he wants to do that.) who I met at the gym where I work out in the morn mentioned that he and his gal friend had just came back from the east coast, one day they spent in Savannah Georgia. When there they ate in a "Crab Shack" style restaurant and really loved it. He said they had a pail of seafood with everything in it you can imagine, for about $27.00. One pail was enough for both of them.

 

He said it was "Fiddlers Crab House" downtown (they have one other seafood place on the river). I looked it up in a couple of different sources, the restaurant atmosphere and pictures of the food look great so if I should ever visit Savannah we might try it. I couldn't match up the price he said they paid on their published menus though. They call the pails "Towers" and have three different sizes, smallest for $30.00, next $50.00, then $77.00. They also have one for $23.00 which includes only two different seafood types, your choice. From the pictures it does appear the smaller pail would be enough for two, barely, but he said King Crab plus Snow Crab were in there, according to their menu they don't offer King Crab. He must have mistaken some Snow Crab parts for Kings but I don't know how come since he has been in Alaska for many years.

[Gwendy]

On the Crown the Crab Shack was at Cafe Caribe which is basically the aft end of the buffet seating area. I'm certainly not a crab gourmet but for $20 we enjoyed it & here's a PDF copy of the menu that 'Kennicott' previously posted:

 

http://www.beyondships2.com/uploads/8/2/4/5/8245255/crab_shack-fleet-29-apr-14.pdf

 

Here's a photo of the "Mixed Steamer" entree (snow & king crab, shrimp, clams, mussels, kielbasa sausage, corn & potatoes):

Just browsing and saw your menu, thanks for posting.

Questions - what is a hush puppy (they are a type of shoe in Australia) and is it usual to have sausage with seafood? Never done this before. Sailing on Regal in June an love seafood, will definitely be at Crab Shack.

[OzKiwiJJ]

And please don't form an opinion about hushpuppies based on what they serve on Princess ships. They're nowhere as tasty as Southern ones. The "popcorn" shrimp also surprised me. They're battered and fried large shrimp with the tails still on.

 

I'll try not to - but the hush puppies on our recent Golden cruise were horrible. Dry and tasteless. The popcorn shrimp were delicious but definitely not what i think of as popcorn shrimp - which is usually small pieces of shrimp, battered and fried.

 

We were very disappointed with the Crab Shack. We tried the mudbugs and the Alaskan king crab. Both were overcooked, dry and tasteless, as were the peel and eat prawns. Waste of money IMHO.

Edited May 6, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[easyboy]

We were very disappointed with the Crab Shack. We tried the mudbugs and the Alaskan king crab. Both were overcooked, dry and tasteless, as were the peel and eat prawns. Waste of money IMHO.

I will be disappointed too if crab was overcooked. Did you try to have it changed?

[OzKiwiJJ]

I will be disappointed too if crab was overcooked. Did you try to have it changed?

 

No, we didn't bother. If it had just been one item we probably would have but both dishes were overcooked so that's usually a sign there is an overall problem in the kitchen. We weren't prepared to waste time waiting for more to be prepared - we could have been there all night if we'd done that. ;)

 

We didn't go hungry - there is always far too much food on Princess. :D

[easyboy]

No, we didn't bother. If it had just been one item we probably would have but both dishes were overcooked so that's usually a sign there is an overall problem in the kitchen. We weren't prepared to waste time waiting for more to be prepared - we could have been there all night if we'd done that. ;)

 

We didn't go hungry - there is always far too much food on Princess. :D

Oh, the wait staff was lucky with you then:)

[Lucky TGO]

Why did you not send it all back and order something else? Or just leave and don't pay for it.

Tony

[OzKiwiJJ]

By the time we got to the crab course we had realised that the whole meal wasn't a style of cuisine we enjoyed.

 

The only things we enjoyed was the popcorn shrimp, they were really, really good. The hush puppies were dry and inedible, the clam chowder tasted like the worst type of gluey canned vegetable soup - there was no hint of clam flavour at all, and both mains weren't nice either. We just couldn't be bothered trying to get something else that may or may not have been edible. It just wasn't worth the hassle.

 

Since we'd each had three extremely large popcorn shrimps, some bread, and enough of the other dishes to realise how bad they were, we were no longer hungry. We tried a couple of the desserts then left.

[joanne2]

Would you consider the Crab Shack well worth the money? As good or better than an option on land?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I don't think you can get that much crab for $20 in the midwest. Maybe New England or other areas where it's just caught. But we thought it well worth the money.

[HuskyMom1]

No, we didn't bother. If it had just been one item we probably would have but both dishes were overcooked so that's usually a sign there is an overall problem in the kitchen. We weren't prepared to waste time waiting for more to be prepared - we could have been there all night if we'd done that. ;)

 

We didn't go hungry - there is always far too much food on Princess. :D

We had a similar experience on the Island Princess cruise we recently took. The crab was way over cooked and over salted. We reached the same conclusion you did and didn't try a second round. Seafood can be ruined so easily that different ships can have very different results. Sorry to hear that you also had a bad experience.

[billyball69]

Panda if you are a seafood lover, the Crab Shack is for you. The only negative would be the amount of food served, just couldn't finish it all. Cruising in Alaska in June and first thing aboard will be Crab Shack reservation. You can't go wrong. It's wonderful!

[kennicott]

Seafood can be ruined so easily that different ships can have very different results. Sorry to hear that you also had a bad experience.

 

That is certainly true. Pretty hard to cook seafood without overdoing it. I like to point out the rule of thumb is with salmon and halibut, you can put it in a water tight bag then run it through a full cycle in the average dish washer. It will be cooked just about right then.

 

The worst offenders that I have ran into over the years are restaurants that serve "Razor Clams" (The best clams for chowder ever, yummy). I have never been in one where they didn't cook the clams so much that they were like eating shoe leather. I know after digging Razors that a lot of people like to dip them in boiling water so the shell opens up and one can clean them easier. It only takes a split second to do that, any longer and you have just cooked the clam, live.

 

We have eaten, on numerous occasions, in the "Crab Shack" on the Regal, Royal and Caribbean Princess ships. Never had a meal where they overcooked, of course, they didn't serve Razor Clams either.

[Coasty]

Has anyone had experience enjoying the Crab Shack on the Star? Tell me about your meal.