10 days of Dining Delightfulness - Caribbean Princess (November 20 2017)

[JF - retired RRT]

Day 3

 

Breakfast today was in the Club Class section of the MDR; we'd tried Sabatini's and thought we might as well try the MDR to see if there was a big difference for us (spoiler: since we don't get mimosa's and weren't offered specialty coffees, we actually ended up preferring the MDR).

That's strange...never been in a suite, but everyone on CC raves about the mimosas and specialty coffees.:confused:

Did you ask for them??

[meatloafsfan]

Lunch was in the MDR room (love those sea days).

 

First we stopped by the international café to get my mom an iced tea fusion (Citrus Spiced fruit tea).

 

 

The special for Club Class was Nachos which is what I decided on for lunch - it was Chili, guacamole, Pico de Gallo, and sour cream. This was very tasty and better than my traditional sandwich and vegetables I have a work.

 

 

Both of my parents ordered the Chef's salad - with turkey, ham, Swiss and eggs (plus tomatoes and lettuce). It was a nice appetizer size salad. My dad doesn't like "weird" lettuce so he was happy to see the chunk of iceberg in there.

 

 

I also had the soup (and sorry - I didn't write down the type but since I'm the only one who ordered it, I would guess that it had something spicy in it).

 

 

My mom ordered the lamb stew and was happy to see that it had more of a soup consistency than thickened stew. She loved this - tender lamb, rich broth, root vegetables....this is the kind of meal she (and in our house, only she) loves.

 

 

My dad went with the Parmesan Chicken - it wasn't what he was expecting (I think he thought it would have red sauce and cheese) but it was very good. It was chicken breast, breaded with a breadcrumb coating mixed with parmesan cheese. His fries were cold when served so he sent those back and Wilson brought him a hot (super hot - just from the fryer) order in just a couple minutes flat.

 

[meatloafsfan]

That's strange...never been in a suite, but everyone on CC raves about the mimosas and specialty coffees.:confused:

Did you ask for them??

 

We don't really drink (mimosa's we were offered) but we weren't offered anything other than "coffee" and no, I didn't ask.

[hm9912]

Nice food photos

 

You missed one of my favorite deserts

 

The Volcano on the Children's Menu

 

Volcano

 

 

Howard

[XBGuy]

Patricia, the unidentified soup "with something spicy in it" pictured in your Post #27 looks quite similar to the Tuscan Style Chickpea soup pictured in your Post #2.

 

What do you think?

 

In fact I wonder if they heard your comment about the chickpea soup being "bland" and decided to spice it up a bit.

 

;)

 

My wife's abosolute favorite Crown Grill entree is the Mussel Pot. On the old Sabatini's menu (that is now being phased out in favor of the new Sabatini's Trattoria menu) they had a very excellent Mussel and Tuscan Bean soup. Do you think it was the same broth in both of them? I certainly do.

 

I am enjoying your commentary, very much.

 

(y)

[meatloafsfan]

Nice food photos

 

You missed one of my favorite deserts

 

The Volcano on the Children's Menu

 

Volcano

 

 

Howard

 

 

Yes, my dad did end ordering those for dessert a few times.

 

Patricia, the unidentified soup "with something spicy in it" pictured in your Post #27 looks quite similar to the Tuscan Style Chickpea soup pictured in your Post #2.

 

What do you think?

 

In fact I wonder if they heard your comment about the chickpea soup being "bland" and decided to spice it up a bit.

 

;)

 

My wife's abosolute favorite Crown Grill entree is the Mussel Pot. On the old Sabatini's menu (that is now being phased out in favor of the new Sabatini's Trattoria menu) they had a very excellent Mussel and Tuscan Bean soup. Do you think it was the same broth in both of them? I certainly do.

 

I am enjoying your commentary, very much.

 

(y)

 

I think in the MDR, they have 2 hot soup bases - Red or Brown. Every hot soup is a variation on Red Soup or Brown Soup.

 

And sorry but cold fruit soup isn't soup and no one will change my mind on that one :cool:

[canadarocks]

And sorry but cold fruit soup isn't soup and no one will change my mind on that one :cool:

 

LOL..... I totally agree with you! DH loves those darned things though.... :confused:

[meatloafsfan]

Dinner.

 

Tonight started off with a lovely cheese plate - it was a nice mix of hard cheese and firm cheese along with almonds and dried apricots. My dad did not partake because the only cheese he eats is cheddar or American. My mother and I loved it though.

 

 

We were also served an amuse bouche of whipped goats cheese with nuts, on a crostini with a balsamic flare. This was crazy good - the cheese was light and fluffy and then there were little bits of nuts. And I got 2 because again, it's not cheddar so no go for my dad.

 

 

Both my mother and I started with an appetizer portion of the Farfalle alla Rustica - bow tie pasta with veal and mushrooms. It was good - maybe not as hot as I would have liked but definitely flavourful. The veal was finely chopped (very small pieces).

 

 

My dad had a shrimp cocktail and a fettuccini Alfredo again. (no pictures as I get tired of reviewing pictures of shrimp cocktail - if I took pictures each night, every trip, I'd probably have 189 pictures of shrimp cocktails by now).

[meatloafsfan]

For entrees I made an almost fatal flaw and ordered the Spinach and Potato Flan with Spicy tomato sauce. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this:

 

 

Would you perhaps like some fresh ground pepper with your green goo?

 

The surrounding veggies were nicely cooked; the flan itself was just terrible.

 

Thankfully I had also ordered the Shrimp Daniele with fried rice because - well, shrimp! This was very good - I mixed the rice, sauce and broccoli together and cut the tails of the shrimp and mixed that in too.

 

 

My mother had the Roasted leg of Lamb which she thoroughly enjoyed. I was glad that it was served off the bone. Green beans are also her favourite vegetable and these ones were nicely cooked - still a little snap but not raw.

 

 

My dad ordered the Grilled medallions of beef tenderloin. Love at first bite - perfectly medium, served hot with a bit of au jus.

 

[meatloafsfan]

Dessert was again a mixed bag

 

I got the Norman love chocolate hazelnut dessert.

 

Despite looking like a set of devil horns, this was very good - chocolate with a super smooth layer, then a smooth layer followed by a bit of crunchiness. The little gold hazelnut reminded me of a gold tooth.

 

 

My mother tried the Love Boat dream. I thought maybe she got a bad one - the mouse was far too stiff, and the cookie bottom was hard and inedible. Apparently, this is the way they make them because I ordered one later in the cruise and it was the same.

 

 

My dad got a banana split but it came with just chocolate sauce, bananas and vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

 

[JF - retired RRT]

Your dad sounds like my DH.;p

Experiment? NO!! Try something different?? Not gonna happen.

[meatloafsfan]

For breakfast the next morning, my mother wanted a waffle so we went to Sabatini's.

 

Of course after we sat down we were told that the waffle maker was broken.

 

And so this is the record of our last trip there for breakfast.....

 

My mother and I both started with the fruit plate - it had a few more berries than last time.

 

 

I had a spinach and onion omelet with a hashbrown. This was greasy. It was nicely cooked (i.e. no raw egg), lots of cheese and spinach and onions - they had just over-coated the pan with oil and it made me taste eggs all morning.

 

 

My mother went with the French toast - it was different than the dining room one. Still very good.

 

 

My dad had a one egg omelet with ham and cheese, a hashbrown and sausage links. He also found his omelet greasy and said he preferred the one in the MDR - even though the MDR one looks overcooked.

 

[meatloafsfan]

We again made it to lunch in the MDR (loved how frequently this cruise the MDR was open for lunch).

 

My dad started off with the spinach fettuccini with tomato sauce. He liked this but really did prefer the alfredo sauce at night.

 

 

I started with a fresh tossed Caesar salad - no anchovies / no capers.

 

 

I had the Philly Cheesesteak sandwich for lunch. And yes, it had whiz on it. (try typing that out with a straight face). The beef was good, but the caramelized onions were the standout. I think they had been rendered down in beef stock.

 

 

My mother went with some kind of meat trio for lunch - it had a sausage (which she gave to my dad), and a lamb chop and then something that was supposed to be veal but actually tasted like ham. She also has a knack for ordering the meal that has the half tomato, slightly cooked on it. She hates those things - either cook tomatoes all the way (like in a sauce) or leave it raw. Mushy tomatoes are some kind of weird Halfling vegetable.

 

 

My dad went with the bacon cheeseburger. Let me put it this way, he never ordered one again and was suspiciously eyeing my Philly cheese steak. The burger was overdone is possibly the nicest thing I could say about it.

 

[meatloafsfan]

For dessert my dad again ordered a chocolate and vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a banana (or as was ordered, a banana split). Funny, but my dad is the only one in the family who actually LIKES strawberry ice cream and this trip, nope, nada, nyet.

 

 

Both my mother and I had the rice pudding. This was excellent despite the many, many, many, many horrendous raisins. I would put up with the mountain of raisins I dug out just to experience the sweet, cinnamon-y cream pudding again. I wish this was one of their everyday desserts.

 

[meatloafsfan]

Today was US Thanksgiving. I say "US" because I'm Canadian and we have Thanksgiving in October (at the proper time). This meant the menu was full of ham and turkey. Neither of which I ordered (but my parents did).

 

My dad started with chicken tenders from the kids menus. He loves mac n cheese and chicken fingers - most cruises he orders one or both several times. Mac n cheese wasn't available at all, and the chicken tenders were okay but he didn't order them after this again. The coating was kind of thin and he much preferred the Alfredo to them.

 

 

I had the vodka crab martini. Cute presentation - terrible tasting crab. I think that most of it (on the bottom of the glass on top of the purple cabbage) was from a can, and it had a piece of Pollock (that fake crab stuff) on top.

 

 

Sorry the next picture is a little blurry. This was a mushroom ravioli (Club class special dish). My mother couldn't stop raving about how good this was.

 

[meatloafsfan]

For entrees I ordered the other club class special dish which was called a "seafood platter". It had salmon, sea bass and prawns. This is my favourite dish from the trip. I have never had such nicely cooked fish and prawns. No sauce, no gunk, no floating in a sea of whatever - good tasting, served hot, nicely seared and perfect with just a squeeze of lemon.

 

 

My mom ordered the turkey dinner and my dad ordered the ham dinner. They ended up splitting them half-half. My dad didn't like the ham (thought it tasted funny) but my mom said it was fine.

 

 

 

 

I had also ordered the shrimp and scallop meal off the regular menu because - Scallops! but truthfully, it wasn't good. Maybe if I hadn't had the other dish it would have been "fine" but after the fish and prawns, this tasted over salted, wilted and mushy.

 

 

No dessert for us tonight.

[meatloafsfan]

We skipped breakfast today and just got coffees at the International café (we had a bit of a sleep in and missed breakfast in the MDR).

 

We were in port today so ended up trying out the pool deck venues. Before I go further, let me just say that this was disappointing. Everything has wonderful descriptions and sound like they are going to be "the best thing ever!" but execution is lacking and everything just seemed subpar.

 

First we tried Slice.

 

My mother didn't like any of it.

My dad liked the meatball focaccia (but I think that was just the meatball, sauce and cheese part, he didn't eat too much of the bread part).

I didn't mind the Stromboli (it's basically a large, rolled hot sandwich) but I wouldn't get it again.

No one liked the pizza.

 

 

 

So next we tried the Salty Dog.

 

My mother got the chicken tacos and cheese fries.

 

 

I got chili cheese fries

 

 

And my dad got a burger, and a hot dog (no bun).

 

 

I can recommend the cheese fries and the hot dog. There wasn't much to the tacos (chicken, wrap - hey we have a taco!); the chili wasn't good - some strange beans in there and absolutely no spice or chili seasoning; the hamburger was again over done and not even hot enough to melt the cheese.

 

Thankfully we were going to Planks for dinner. This lunch made certain we weren't overly full before going there.

[zaks pack4]

Enjoying reading along with your food-exclusive review. We are traveling on CB in March 2018 and your pictures / comments on the different venues and menu items are very helpful in planning. Looks like most people seem pleased with MDR. We are sorry to hear about the pizza downfall, but guess we will decide for ourselves when we try it. It used to be SO GOOD. Did you enjoy Planks? We are thinking of trying Steamers.

Patty

[meatloafsfan]

Enjoying reading along with your food-exclusive review. We are traveling on CB in March 2018 and your pictures / comments on the different venues and menu items are very helpful in planning. Looks like most people seem pleased with MDR. We are sorry to hear about the pizza downfall' date=' but guess we will decide for ourselves when we try it. It used to be SO GOOD. Did you enjoy Planks? We are thinking of trying Steamers.

Patty[/quote']

 

Planks was very good; my review will be posted shortly.

[meatloafsfan]

Dinner at Planks

 

Long before boarding the cruise, we had decided that Planks was a must try for us. I love BBQ and it's not available much in Canada (though we've found a BBQ place in Pickering ON run by 2 former Celebrity cruise employees that does a good job with smoked meats, sweet potato fries, beans, etc).

 

Anyways, the meal started off with rolls and cornbread. I can't say that this was great cornbread but it was passable. It was very firm. Generally I find the best cornbread to be crumbly and soft.

 

 

We also received 3 little cups each - 1 has a chipotle meatball, then Jalapeño honey butter, and one other kind of butter. The meatballs weren't our favourite. I did enjoy the Jalapeno honey butter though (on the cornbread).

 

 

We tried both appetizers. The potato soup and the wedge salad. The soup was bland - it tasted like they really didn't add any seasoning - it was just potato, with bacon, cheese and chives. I was disappointed because I had high hope for it. The salad on the other hand - wow! The creamy dressing was fantastic was were the croutons. All 3 of us shared and enjoyed the salad.

 

 

[meatloafsfan]

For the platters we were brought 2 - 1 for one person and 1 for two people.

 

This is the 2 people one:

 

 

We got the ribs, sausage, pulled pork (in one of the little pots) and tri-tip. I'm generally not a huge sausage fan but this stuff was incredible - after tasting the meats, this is by far our number 1 pick of all of them (by all 3 of us). It also comes with coleslaw and beans - neither of which were good. The potato wedges were good but with all of that meat, who wants potato? The ribs were our second choice followed by the pulled pork. The tri-tip (lower left corner beside the little silver pot) was the least favourite - it was over done and stringy.

 

We were all crazy full after these platters and didn't come close to finishing everything.

 

Of course, there's still dessert.

 

My mother and I opted for the banana pudding - something a little on the lighter side. This was the perfect serving size after a big meal.

 

 

My dad went with the chocolate cake. The candied pecans are fantastic. He liked the cake as well but couldn't finish it because it was just too much after all that meat.

 

 

Service was very good - there were only 3-4 table occupied so we had a lot of attention. At $12 per person, it was very reasonable. Though with it being so heavy on the meat, it was someplace we only wanted to do once on the cruise.

[meatloafsfan]

Breakfast the next day found us back in the MDR.

 

Today's club class special was Nutella crepes (very good). I split these with my mother (we each had 1).

 

 

My mother ordered some melon and banana:

 

 

While I went with the MDR special of pineapple and papaya with a honey yogurt drizzle.

 

 

My mother and I both got the French toast again and my dad got his frosted flakes and 1 egg omelet (no pictures of these).

[alwalaska]

I'm sorry but I didn't. I have even brought my hand held scanner and had every intention of taking menu scans. I just kind of forgot the first few days and then....I really forgot the last few ;p.

 

I will say that our menus were very similar to those found here:

http://www.cruisetipstv.com/star-princess-menus-download/

just in a different order.

 

Thank you so much! I am really loving all the pics and have found items I don't think I would have ordered, but now want to try. I've also found ones I would have ordered, but after seeing the pics or reading your disappointment in certain items, I will avoid those and try something else.

 

Thanks again for taking so much time and care putting this together. I can't wait to see the rest.

[OCruisers]

Loved your review! :hearteyes::hearteyes:

Thanks so very much!

[katisdale]

Your review is great! I keep coming back to see what I have missed.