Seabourn's amazing tasty new offering!

[Accessor]

Bologna!! Yes, Seabourn has raised the bar for a 6 star cruiseline, exceeding our expectations and creating a "Seabourn Moment". It was served at multiple venues & times; Colonnade lunch buffet, Tapas in the Observation lounge, and the highlight was featuring this gourmet treat on pool deck celebration party on the last day of the cruise. What's next Cheese Whiz and PB&J?

 

This was from our March 11th Sailing on the Encore from Auckland to Sydney, our 1st time on Seabourn. For a second I had to check my room key to make sure we were on the right ship...

[saminina]

Thanks for the pic......you cannot make this stuff up.  It's not even all beef baloney.

[tv24]

My mother often packed my lunch box with a boloney sandwich with butter on white bread, and a little sack of potato chips.  She did not know she was a luxury cruise line chef.  You go Mom!

[lincslady]

Apologies for the ignorance from this side of the pond, but what is bologna/baloney?  It looks more like a folded pancake from the photos.

[Accessor]

10 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Apologies for the ignorance from this side of the pond, but what is bologna/baloney?  It looks more like a folded pancake from the photos.

The bologna sausage is traditionally made from the “odds and ends” of chicken, turkey, beef, or pork. It is similar to the Italian mortadella, which originated in the Italian city of Bologna. The inexpensive deli meat is often pronounced and spelled “baloney.”

 

Basically the cheapest type of sliced lunch meat you can usually buy in a grocery store

[Isklaar]

Actually, unless Seabourn was forcing guests to eat that stuff, or there was no other food offered, I'm not sure I see a problem here.

If guests don't want to eat it they don't have to.  If guests don't eat it, Seabourn will stop serving it. If enough guests do eat it, Seabourn will likely continue to serve it. 

Maybe a guest actually requested it at some point? 

Should Seabourn stop serving other 'junk' foods such as sugar, artificial sweeteners, various sodas, hot dog sausage etc? 

 

I had to Google it LincsLady, it's a version of what we would call luncheon meat, so cheap and full of goodness knows what. Rather like cheap sausages and especially like most hot dog sausages. 

 

 

[Isklaar]

I'm wondering if this post is a pre-cursor to a longer review, I'm guessing that you didn't enjoy your cruise Accessor? 

[Accessor]

6 minutes ago, Isklaar said:

I'm wondering if this post is a pre-cursor to a longer review, I'm guessing that you didn't enjoy your cruise Accessor? 

 

We loved the ship, the people, and the itinerary on our cruise! What shocked us was some of the food offerings such as bologna and not just once, again and again.  I have been to Bologna, Italy and the mortadella is of very high quality and delicious! 

[brittany12]

If this posting is really an opening for a bigger, robust discussion of what has happened over the past few years to the quality of food coming out of the kitchens and the menu offerings on the Luxury cruise lines, - Seabourn, Silversea,  Crystal,  Regent, and yes, even Oceania which has very good food but not considered in the Luxury class,  or in Cunard's high end, luxury class restaurant Queen's Grill, both in buffet style lunches and in their normal MDRs, and for both lunches and dinners,  I'm all for that. I too would be a little put off by this bologna/boloney/luncheon meat offering at the buffet selection, even if it is one of many choices. Why not SPAM, which someone might actually like?

For example, admittedly food items at the top end for us, all the Luxury lines used to offer 24/7 complimentary and good quality caviar. Now only Seabourn does this, and Cunard  QG on request, and the quality has varied a lot from the past when the product was very good. Of course the bottomline is the issue for all cruise lines owned by big corporations  when it comes to caviar today. Or another of our favorite disappointments  - the quality of the sliced smoked salmon served onboard. Anyone serving other than the low end, salty and fishy tasting Norwegian commercial grade stuff? God forbid Luxury lines, at the high prices we pay, have available and serve high quality, much smoother and better tasting,  smoked salmon -  like the real Scottish or even Irish smoked varieties, or just much better Nova Scotia.. Just to pick two items of particular interest to us where we have seen a downward slide over the years of our cruising. But the question of food generally being prepared and served today across the board is an important subject.

[adoctor]

I am amazed that Seabourn would serve up this stuff.I hope this posting is brought to the attention of the folk in Seattle who should be embarrassed and ashamed.

I am usually pretty happy with the food on board but increasingly they are using software to source and menu plan leaving little flexibility for the chef's on board.

Shopping with the chef whilst fun is now just a market tour rather than being part of the ship's sourcing regime.

After sailing on a Montreal Boston cruise I enquired why Lobster had not been served given its low cost and abundance in the region. I was told that they had frozen Lobster tails on board but decided not to serve it during the cruise as it compared so unfavourably with the local product.

Next up we are in Alaska.Will there be locally sourced Salmon and Spider crab? I think I have already answered my own question!

 

[lincslady]

Thanks to all for the explanation.  I have to admit I am a bit horrified- have not been on Seabourn for over a year (mainly because of not flying at present) - I  cannot remember the likes of pork luncheon meat/Spam ever being offered when we were on board.  And always assumed that the hot dog sausages (not that we ever had one) and burgers, which I have liked and think were made from good cuts of meat - maybe I was wrong, or else the cost cutters have been at work recently.

[tjcox9]

At first I thought this was an April Fool's thing, and then I read further to see that this was in mid-March...........

Edited April 2, 2019 by tjcox9

[Hlitner]

This topic begs the question which is,) "was it Boars Head Bologna?" 

 

Hank

[rols]

Perhaps it's 'Humbolt Fog Bologna' in association with Thomas Keller. "A rich and satisfying sliced delight sourced sustainably from farms along the beautiful Colorado river. Thomas and his partners have sourced only the slowest growing and tastiest bologna plants from around the world and each is lovingly tended to until it's at the peak of ripeness, then hand sliced and individually packed for shipment around the world". 

 

Doesn't that sound tastier? 

 

(and yes I know bologna isn't a plant)

[Joc123]

We were also on this cruise and thought the food in the Colonnade was not up to the usual standard. We were by told by a very reliable source that it was because a Corporate Chef was on board controlling things. We actually complained (something we don’t usually do) about the poor fruit offerings and suddenly they improved! 

This was a good cruise, but for us, but not great - I’m realistic enough to know not every one can be. I think the food was the biggest disappointment - Earth and Ocean continues to be the best restaurant on board.

[brittany12]

Rols  you have gotten  it exactly right with your tongue in cheek about Thomas Keller and his product.  For me, it is a way overblown dining experience. When does his contract expire?

[SLSD]

Perhaps those in Great Britain don't know what bologna is.  It is a very cheap lunch meat that VERY FEW people in the United States eat.  It was very popular in the 1950s/60s, but has been discredited because it is extremely unhealthy.  I don't think I've had a taste of it in over 50 years!  There is no way we would even want to taste it on a cruise.  

[tv24]

9 hours ago, rols said:

Perhaps it's 'Humbolt Fog Bologna' in association with Thomas Keller. "A rich and satisfying sliced delight sourced sustainably from farms along the beautiful Colorado river. Thomas and his partners have sourced only the slowest growing and tastiest bologna plants from around the world and each is lovingly tended to until it's at the peak of ripeness, then hand sliced and individually packed for shipment around the world". 

 

Doesn't that sound tastier? 

 

(and yes I know bologna isn't a plant)

Too funny!  A very cute send-up of the pretentious TK experience.  When i told the server in the MDR that I found my uneaten TK-inspired main course to not be so "lah-dee-dah,"  she responded, "Well they got the "lah" down and the "dee" down, but sometimes they don't have the "dah" together.