items on buffet you avoid every time

[Hlitner]

7 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

On Royal, Holland, Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, NCL, MSC all have whole eggs on the breakfast line. Made to order fried eggs also. Omlets are are all made with a liquid egg concoction. Have no idea what that is. Like egg beaters. Could be from whole eggs. Have no idea.

Most cruise lines use liquid whole eggs that are homogenized and pasteurized and packaged in large containers for commercial use.  Many of these concoctions also have other additives such as citric acid to maintain the color and freshness.  On every cruise line we have cruised (16) egg beaters (or comparable egg white mixtures) are available on demand.  These commercial eggs are interesting products (anyone can buy them on the Internet or at most restaurant supply stores).  We have seen some of these products claim they have a 10 year shelf life!  Go figure.

 

Hank

[clo]

12 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Hank

You seem very, very knowledgeable.  Have you worked in the biz?  I enjoy your posts.  Thanks.

[Shmoo here]

On 7/7/2019 at 9:23 AM, havanadaydreaming said:

what items on the buffet do you pass by every time?

Any fish dish.  Any dishes that would likely be overly spicy.  Sausage.  Anything with coconut in/on it.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Shmoo here

[clo]

15 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

Any fish dish.  Any dishes that would likely be overly spicy.  Sausage.  Anything with coconut in/on it.

 

 

Do you eat any of those things at home?

[Shmoo here]

3 minutes ago, clo said:

Do you eat any of those things at home?

Nope.   If I don't like them at home, I don't like them away from home.

[ldubs]

17 hours ago, spookwife said:

ube is awesome.  and makes a very tasty soft serve.   seriously.  

 

Mrs Ldubs would agree with you.  I don't like it.  Ube ice cream is the worst (right after fried okra- haha).  

[ldubs]

On 7/7/2019 at 9:42 PM, DarrenM said:

I actually have no idea what those 4 things are. 🤣

 

 

Then you lucky!!  😀😀😀

[ldubs]

12 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

Just cruised on the Celebrity Equinox and never saw this before on any other ship ever. They were Cleaning and then they would felet the fish right there in front of everyone on the buffet. Handed it over to the cook and then on the tray. The fish were very large and looked fresh. They grilled and fired. I had the grilled and my husband had the fried. Excellent. texture and taste. Now on Carnival you pay for a small fish and chips.

 

Ooooh, I like this.  Sounds great.  I hope I get to see this on one of our cruises.   

[SRF]

16 hours ago, spookwife said:

Yes, I am an idiot.  I hang my head in shame.  I’m just a D@mn Yankee who doesn’t appreciate Southern cuisine.  

 

Yes you are. 

 

And I am not going to clarify which one I am agreeing with.

 

Or are they the same thing. 

 

😄

 

Teasing.

[SRF]

16 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

Or mustard greens, or turnip greens......

 

Or kale.

 

So I was with a team in Kenya, right on the shore of Lake Victoria.  Now all of us have a Southern connection.

 

So first day, local driver asks us where we want to eat lunch.  So we ask, what would you be having.  He told us fried fish.  Great, we all wanted to try local fried fish.

 

So we go to this place, were were sitting RIGHT next to the lake.  And he asked what we wanted to eat with the fried fish.  We again asked, what would you have.  He told us Ugali and Summawiki.  We said fine.

 

They brought the food, we all looked at each other and broke out laughing.  The poor driver was upset that something was wrong.

 

So we have fried fish.  Ugali is a corn product, dried, ground, and reconstituted in hot water.  We call them Grits.  Although they cook them stiff and they are eaten more like bread.  And Summawiki is kale, chopped up, thrown in a pot with some meat and cooked.  Yeap basic Southern greens.

 

The driver was amazed that we ate African food in America. 😄

 

[Hlitner]

9 hours ago, clo said:

You seem very, very knowledgeable.  Have you worked in the biz?  I enjoy your posts.  Thanks.

My goodness no.  Actually learned about the egg situation by having a long chat with a HAL Lido supervisor.  At the time I just knew that the texture and taste of the lido omelets "sucked" and wanted to know why.  That particular supervisor treated me very nicely (after explaining about commercial eggs) by ordering the omelet cook  to make me an omelet with real eggs :).  Another Senior Officer (in the hotel department) later told us that the commercial eggs also helped solve a storage problem (fresh uncracked eggs take up a lot of space).  Nearly all cruise lines now use the commercial eggs for their omelets and scrambled eggs.

 

I no longer order omelets on most cruises unless I can get it made with real eggs.  On some lines the staff will refuse.  While on our first MSC cruise last fall (in the Yacht Club) I was delighted to discover that the breakfast cook (at the small sun deck buffet for the Yacht Club) only used fresh eggs for any egg preparation.  When I chatted with that Italian cook about commercial eggs he told me he would never use that stuff for the Yacht Club :).  

 

Hank

[clo]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

I no longer order omelets

I make omelets at home but don't order them when out.  I find them generally overcooked and with too much filling.

 

Like you,  enjoy talking with the staff (anywhere) and learn so much.  Thanks for sharing.

[Herfnerd]

Salads and vegetables in general.  I'm on a cruise and don't plan on eating healthy!

 

[DarrenM]

1 hour ago, Herfnerd said:

Salads and vegetables in general.  I'm on a cruise and don't plan on eating healthy!

 

I concur fully with this. I could share a table with you.

[slidergirl]

18 hours ago, Bookish Angel said:

Any seafood, dark meat chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, Indian food with the exception of biryani, cottage cheese, cold cuts, almost all the desserts, etc.   I eat mostly salads and the occasional chicken breast, well-cooked eggs, oatmeal and fruit.

If you like oatmeal, give the muesli a try!!!  

[SRF]

On 7/9/2019 at 1:05 PM, slidergirl said:

If you like oatmeal, give the muesli a try!!!  

 

*****??????
 

NOWHERE near the same.

[slidergirl]

35 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

*****??????
 

NOWHERE near the same.

But, if you like oats and some fruit and nuts, it's worth the try for diversity.   I love oatmeal, but a batch of muesli made the night before is yummy.   It's good on a summer day, opposed to hot oatmeal.   

[peanutter]

Things I eat at home but would not generally eat on the ship include most any "specialty" thing from my part of the country.  Southern things like okra (have seen a few times), cornbread, biscuits (not the U.K. kind - I'll eat those cookies!) and/or gravy, fried chicken, greens (turnip, collard or mustard).  Bless their heart, they try, but it's just not good.  They (Princess, generally) do make a good pecan pie, but other than that I stay away from a lot of the buffet desserts.  Those gelatinous type cakes (especially on Celebrity) just don't even taste like real food.  

 

I wonder if others feel the same about their types of local food offered onboard.  Like a New Yorker with pizza (and a plethora of other items), New Englander with lobster, an Asian with, well, Asian offerings, and other nationalities.  I guess with mass market lines they tend to homogenize the offerings.     

[Texas Tillie]

15 minutes ago, peanutter said:

  I guess with mass market lines they tend to homogenize the offerings.     

 

Not just the mass market, you wouldn't believe what they served under the name pecan pie on Crystal!!

[clo]

22 minutes ago, peanutter said:

Southern things

I grew up in Atlanta and I'd probably do the same.  Not sure I've found most of those things in restaurants.  And I'm a total snob about biscuits!  The majority I see anywhere bear no resemblance to what I grew up eating.  Thanks for this comment.

[Warm Breezes]

Depends on the cruise line.  Some cruise lines there is not much I do like on their buffets and others that I like a lot of what they have on their buffets.  One thing for sure is if they do the toasting of the breads in the morning I skip the toast.  I prefer hot toast to cold.  I also tend to stay away from eggs (unless they are made to order omelets) and most meats.

Edited July 11, 2019 by Warm Breezes

[slidergirl]

I had to laugh about the "I won't eat things from home" comments.  I don't have to worry about that too much - I've not seen Lebanon Bologna, wet-bottom shoo-fly pie, green jello, funeral potatoes or any of my other dual-regional "specialties" on any of my cruises yet.  😉 

[Mike981]

Anything that could be under cooked, or food known to be more susceptible to food poisoning.
I have the unfortunate ability to get food poisoning very easily, it's probably a dozen times so far. It started in grade school when my mother packed me a school lunch with curry chicken salad, it sat in my locker un-refrigerated for a few hours and must have gone bad. Boy did I get sick. We were at a bit of a rough patch, so I'm still not if she wasn't trying to kill me.

[clo]

2 hours ago, Mike981 said:

Anything that could be under cooked, or food known to be more susceptible to food poisoning.
I have the unfortunate ability to get food poisoning very easily, it's probably a dozen times so far. It started in grade school when my mother packed me a school lunch with curry chicken salad, it sat in my locker un-refrigerated for a few hours and must have gone bad. Boy did I get sick. We were at a bit of a rough patch, so I'm still not if she wasn't trying to kill me.

Wow.  Poor you.  I eat everything and drink the local water.  The only time I've been sick (knock wood) was from salmonella-tainted peanut butter made in the US.  It would so take away from my enjoyment of travel if I couldn't eat from street vendors, etc.

[pacruise804]

13 hours ago, slidergirl said:

I had to laugh about the "I won't eat things from home" comments.  I don't have to worry about that too much - I've not seen Lebanon Bologna, wet-bottom shoo-fly pie, green jello, funeral potatoes or any of my other dual-regional "specialties" on any of my cruises yet.  😉 

Sounds like you are from PA Dutch country 🙂 Sweet Lebanon or Regular (I prefer regular)?  Does your green jello have anything in it?  My aunt makes a fabulous lime jello salad with marshmallow, cream cheese, and pineapple (and colored mini-marshmallows on top) - I've tried making it and it's close but never quite like hers.

Edited July 12, 2019 by pacruise804
jello add