Ship menus

[lenquixote66]

Does anyone collect ship menu’s ? I do not have an original but I have a copy of the menu from a ship that sailed from Liverpool to NY in 1913.

[ahl]

I can't say I collect the contemporary paper copies. I do take pictures of the posted menus. (Carnival and Princess post copies next to the dining rooms.) It was interesting to recently discover that Coral Princess and Caribbean Princess have old P&O menus displayed in their Wheelhouse Bars. (I took photos of those, too!) I think in those days, the menu was intended as more of a souvenir of the voyage than it is now. The name of the ship and more was printed on it, especially if it was gala dinner. Now they carry  just the name of the cruise line. I don't know what the dining room staff would say if one asked to take a souvenir menu.

[rkacruiser]

Yes, I do.  For some time, I tried to get every MDR dinner menu for each evening.  I have many.  Recently, I have been taking photos of the dinner menus (or of other meals as well from time to time).  On my most recent cruises on Princess and HAL to/from Alaska, I collected the dinner menus in order to provide more information to a friend considering an Alaska cruise in 2020, but on which Line.

 

I enjoy reviewing them in conjunction with my journal.  

 

As a collector of maritime memorabilia, I also have other menus that are now "historic".  I enjoy being a collector of such.

[norboy76]

I collect menus, I have maybe a little over 150 menus from various lines:

Holland America Line:  Statendam 1962, Nieuw Amsterdam 1970, Veendam 1984

Cunard: Ivernia 1961, Lancastria 1939, Queen Mary Gala Dinner 1958

Matson: Matsonia 1960, Monterey 1976

Grace Line: Santa Paula 1963

Home Lines: Oceanic 1971, Homeric 1988

Italian Line: Andrea Doria 1953, Michelangelo 1967

Sitmar: Fairwind 1977

French Line: France 1972

Alaska Steamship Lines: All Ships 1941

P&O: Canberra 1965, Oronsay 1966

Greek Line: Queen Anna Maria 1967

Royal Caribbean: All Fleet Souvenir Menus In Folder *unsure of year*

MSC: All Fleet Breakfast Menu

 

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, norboy76 said:

Matson: Matsonia 1960, Monterey 1976

 

I sailed on Monterey in September, 1977.  She was a Pacific Far East Line vessel at that time.  

[norboy76]

3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I sailed on Monterey in September, 1977.  She was a Pacific Far East Line vessel at that time.  

oops lol ty for fixing that for me, ill fix my post. One of my favorite menus is an *Error Nieuw Amsterdam* menu, the error is that when you open it up, the menu is both *upside down and on the wrong side* the ship's name and date and such are upside down inside the back cover and the menu part is upside down on the inside of the front cover. i'll post a photo of the error menu. See note after photo

*Arrow is pointing to what appear as lines on the menu, but is actually the indentation of the cover which is an embossed illustration on the cover of the menu, and that's the side the upside down menu is printed on, not the inside of the back cover where it should be. I thought might find an *error menu* interesting to see

Edited September 6, 2020 by norboy76
change in post

[shipgeeks]

Thanks to this post, I discovered that I have more menus than I thought!  And they are among my favorite ship items, allowing me to see the differences in foods over the years.

-Berengaria, 1920's (re-printed as a greeting card, never opened)

-SS United States, 1950's

-Rotterdam, 1965 & 1966

-Cap Vilano, 1969 (freighter, German cuisine.  Lunch was fixed, two choices for dinner.)

-Norway, 1996 Gala Dinner

-Caronia, 2000 "Introductory Event"

 

Celery or carrot sticks for appetizer, anyone?

[rkacruiser]

On 1/7/2021 at 3:23 PM, shipgeeks said:

Celery or carrot sticks for appetizer, anyone?

 

I do remember when small dishes of such were on the table when I arrived.  They can still be requested along with olives, etc.  

 

 

[norboy76]

I took some photos of my nice collections adding which ship and the year they're from. Enjoy the photos. The one photo I didn't put a date to, showing a group of 4 menus, they are from 1960 from the Matsonia. I have to include this one photo I took for a *Breakfast* menu from the Michelangelo and see what you think, note the foods inside the black lines *the lines are not on the actual menu* and tell me that food isn't kinda *heavy* for a breakfast lol as some of the breakfast items included: Mutton, Lamb Chops, Minute Steak, Filet Mignon, Liver, Mashed or Fried or Roasted Potatoes, Loin Of Veal, Roast Turkey, Spring Chicken On The Spit.

[rkacruiser]

Your Michelangelo menu obviously is from First Class.  So many offerings and so many that sound delicious and tempting.  Scrambled Eggs Cacciatoria:  what must those have been like?  Sounds good---and different!  Baked Pears?  I don't ever recall seeing that being available even on a Cunard First Class menu.  Italian Coffee?  Would that be Espresso?  

 

As to the items you highlighted:  Minute Steak, Sauteed Potatoes, and Eggs your style would not be an uncommon breakfast item that some still order.  The other items?  I wonder how many passengers actually ordered many or any of them.  

 

Oh, how I wish I could have sailed on the Italian Line!  

 

Matson always produced beautiful menu covers, works of art themselves.  

 

I sailed on S. S. Monterey in September, 1977 and was pleased to see that Pacific Far East Line continued the beautiful menu covers that Matson had used.  Once I had a complete set for my 3 cruises on the Monterey, but lost them.  The Monterey was a darn good ship.

 

[norboy76]

5 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Your Michelangelo menu obviously is from First Class.  So many offerings and so many that sound delicious and tempting.  Scrambled Eggs Cacciatoria:  what must those have been like?  Sounds good---and different!  Baked Pears?  I don't ever recall seeing that being available even on a Cunard First Class menu.  Italian Coffee?  Would that be Espresso?  

 

As to the items you highlighted:  Minute Steak, Sauteed Potatoes, and Eggs your style would not be an uncommon breakfast item that some still order.  The other items?  I wonder how many passengers actually ordered many or any of them.  

 

Oh, how I wish I could have sailed on the Italian Line!  

 

Matson always produced beautiful menu covers, works of art themselves.  

 

I sailed on S. S. Monterey in September, 1977 and was pleased to see that Pacific Far East Line continued the beautiful menu covers that Matson had used.  Once I had a complete set for my 3 cruises on the Monterey, but lost them.  The Monterey was a darn good ship.

 

Yes, they are all from First Class, it is a collection of *30* Michelangelo menus all from the same year covering different meals such as Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Gala, Farewell Dinner and Captain's Dinner. One thing I love is their Italian Renaissance art covers.

[BklynBoy8]

We like to collect our menus from our sailings especially from Cunard.

 

When sailing on the QM2..... I like to ask from the first night if they can save them for us and they do.

 

When we are looking to book a cruise  and when the sailing date approached, we take them out and look at what we are looking forward to enjoy again.

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, BklynBoy8 said:

I like to ask from the first night if they can save them for us and they do.

 

 

That is what I used to do.  Until one time, my Stewards didn't.  I started taking the evening's dinner menus with me each night.  Did the same with any "special" menus, i.e. Mariner Society Luncheons.  Most recently, while I still ask for certain menus, I have been taking photos of the menus rather than the hard copies.  It's just not the same, though.

 

3 hours ago, BklynBoy8 said:

When we are looking to book a cruise  and when the sailing date approached, we take them out and look at what we are looking forward to enjoy again.

 

As do I!

[norboy76]

Two nice menus I have in my collection is for the Andrea Doria, it's for cabin class though, not First Class, it's from 1953. I also have a nice *Gala* menu from the Queen Mary for 1958. While they're not menus, I also have a couple of really nice cookbooks from various lines such as Cunard, Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean and a neat cookbook called *The Last Dinner On The Titanic*. Also enjoy this postcard of the kitchen on board the Normandie too as interesting to see where the meals on board her were prepared.

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, norboy76 said:

*The Last Dinner On The Titanic*. 

 

That book is in my collection as well as a complete set of HAL's Rudi's Sodamin's cookbooks and a cookbook from Princess.  

 

I was unaware that Mr. Sodamin had been Executive Chef on QE2.  He must not have been in the kitchen when I sailed on QE2 in 1980.  

 

Interesting to compare the Cabin Class menu of the Andrea Doria with the First Class Gala Dinner menu of Queen Mary.  The Cabin Class menu provides more than ample selections for me.  The Queen Mary's selections are "over the top", but, that was what the First Class guests expected when they sailed the Queens.  

 

[norboy76]

5 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

I was unaware that Mr. Sodamin had been Executive Chef on QE2.  He must not have been in the kitchen when I sailed on QE2 in 1980.  

 

 

That cookbook is dated from 1988, and inside lists the ships in the fleet:

On the cover, he is standing in front of the Vistafjord and Sagafjord

Inside the book lists the fleet of: QE2, Sagafjord, Vistafjord, Sea Goddess 1 & 2, Cunard Princess and Cunard Countess

 

*Mr. Sodamin in the book started as a chef on the Vistafjord working and ending up as Corporate Chef for the entire Cunard fleet  and by the time of the book in 1988, was now on the QE2. One nice feature of the book are 2 page Cunard menus *they're part of the book*

[norboy76]

I thought might find this cookbook interesting, I've seen cookbooks for Princess, HAL, Cunard, Royal Caribbean, but this is the first time I've seen a cookbook for this line *Home Lines*, and this book as mentioned earlier is from 1970. I don't know which of the Home Lines ships this was bought from though.

[norboy76]

7 hours ago, norboy76 said:

I thought might find this cookbook interesting, I've seen cookbooks for Princess, HAL, Cunard, Royal Caribbean, but this is the first time I've seen a cookbook for this line *Home Lines*, and this book as mentioned earlier is from 1970. I don't know which of the Home Lines ships this was bought from though.

I also got my hands on a second cookbook from another line that I didn't know had a souvenir cookbook. I found a Moore McCormack Lines cookbook dated somewhere between 1939 - 1942, 1948 - 1954 as the ships listed inside are:

SS Uruguay 38 - 42, 48 - 54.

SS Brasil 38 - 42, 48 - 57

SS Argentina 38 - 42, 48 - 57. 

[rkacruiser]

On 5/19/2021 at 4:02 PM, norboy76 said:

I don't know which of the Home Lines ships this was bought from though.

 

The ship illustration on the menu's cover is the S. S. Oceanic.  

 

On 5/18/2021 at 10:22 PM, norboy76 said:

Mr. Sodamin in the book started as a chef on the Vistafjord working and ending up as Corporate Chef for the entire Cunard fleet

 

 

I assume this means that he joined the Vistafjord after Cunard had acquired her.  I visited Vistafjord when she was still a Norwegian American Line ship.  A beautiful vessel; the menus that I once had included a set from both Norwegian America Line and Swedish American Line.  Guests on those lines dined as well as those on Cunard did!

[norboy76]

5 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

The ship illustration on the menu's cover is the S. S. Oceanic.  

 

 

I assume this means that he joined the Vistafjord after Cunard had acquired her.  I visited Vistafjord when she was still a Norwegian American Line ship.  A beautiful vessel; the menus that I once had included a set from both Norwegian America Line and Swedish American Line.  Guests on those lines dined as well as those on Cunard did!

I'm not sure as the inside of the book cover doesn't give too much info about him. Any thoughts on the Home Lines and Moore McCormack cookbooks? I've never seen them before, so I'm glad I'll have them as part of my collection now.

[rkacruiser]

19 hours ago, norboy76 said:

I'm not sure as the inside of the book cover doesn't give too much info about him. Any thoughts on the Home Lines and Moore McCormack cookbooks? I've never seen them before, so I'm glad I'll have them as part of my collection now.

 

Trying to respond to your post about Chef Rudi, I have not found a complete biography of him other than he applied to be a Chef on a ship at age 22 and became an Executive Chef at age 23!  No details about that have I found.  

 

Regarding your question about the cookbooks you have from Moore McCormack and Home Lines, they may be one of a kind now.  I have no experience with Moor McCormack and I was such an inexperienced cruiser when I sailed on S. S. Oceanic that I would have had no interest in a cookbook.  Be glad that you have them!

[broadwaybaby123]

I have one from the inaugural of "The Voyager Of The Seas".

[lenquixote66]

On 5/17/2021 at 1:28 PM, BklynBoy8 said:

We like to collect our menus from our sailings especially from Cunard.

 

When sailing on the QM2..... I like to ask from the first night if they can save them for us and they do.

 

When we are looking to book a cruise  and when the sailing date approached, we take them out and look at what we are looking forward to enjoy again.

We were on the Cunard Ambassador in 1973.The menus were huge .At the end of the cruise anyone who desired could have a menu to keep.I was the only one who wanted one and kept it for many years .Somehow it got lost when we moved from Brooklyn to LI in 2003.

[BklynBoy8]

Just now, lenquixote66 said:

We were on the Cunard Ambassador in 1973.The menus were huge .At the end of the cruise anyone who desired could have a menu to keep.I was the only one who wanted one and kept it for many years .Somehow it got lost when we moved from Brooklyn to LI in 2003.

 

Till the last sailing in 2017 we got Ship Menu signed by the Waiters each sailing. The last time was some and not all since you have to share.

 

But on the Beginning of the QM2 and Always on the QE2 we got full set of Menus from Breakfast to every lunch and dinner and the colorful theme cover each came in.

 

The island we would visit, Easter, Gala theme night etc.... Still have them as keepsakes. Will till I depart from sailing when I will look back at them for memories.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, BklynBoy8 said:

But on the Beginning of the QM2 and Always on the QE2 we got full set of Menus from Breakfast to every lunch and dinner and the colorful theme cover each came in.

 

Several lines would provide sets of menus on the last night of the cruise.  Some would give a set to each guest.  Some would do it on request.  On a few cruises, I made a request of my dining room stewards to collect and save the menus when I finished dinner that first night.  Most of the time, they would do so.  But, some nights they would forget.  I decided after that I would take with me the menu for that dinner.  Never had any objections for me doing that.  

 

I think the most colorful menu covers that I had was during a round trip to/from Hawaii on the S. S. Monterey of Pacific Far East Line.  They were beautiful.  

 

Cunard's menu covers were also exceptional.  I loved the covers for the First Class menus when the two Queens were in service.  Very nice pictures of the ships on those covers.