Historical Cruise Ship Menus

[CaptCruisee]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm a PhD candidate researching the history of cruise ship dining. A large part of this involves looking at menus from the 1970s-1990s from Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian. I've found some across various threads here, and in other online databases like the New York Public Library's (http://menus.nypl.org/ - really interesting stuff if you're into historical food). But I have some gaps for those decades that I can hopefully fill.

 

I'd appreciate any help, either photographs of those menus from cruises you've been on (information relevant to those menus like dates/itineraries/cruise lines would be great) or leads towards where I might potentially find some. I would be happy to credit you in my dissertation using your preferred method (by name, username, or anonymous).

 

Thank you!

Edited September 22, 2019 by CaptCruisee

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Hi Capt.

 

I am an ocean liner historian.  It looks like you are looking for fairly recent menus.  You can try the Seaport Museum in New York City.  I would help you but I just donated my entire collection to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.  I had many menus from Royal Caribbean Princess and Norwegian.  Is there anything specific that you are looking for?  

 

You might want want to look at the the library at Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park New York.

 

You definitely want to check out Ebay-Ocean liner collectibles-menus.  Most menus there are much older but you will find some from the 1970’s.  

 

If you leave your your email I can contact you with more information.  

 

 

Edited September 24, 2019 by CGTNORMANDIE

[CaptCruisee]

49 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Hi Capt.

 

I am an ocean liner historian.  It looks like you are looking for fairly recent menus.  You can try the Seaport Museum in New York City.  I would help you but I just donated my entire collection to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.  I had many menus from Royal Caribbean Princess and Norwegian.  Is there anything specific that you are looking for?  

 

You might want want to look at the the library at Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park New York.

 

You definitely want to check out Ebay-Ocean liner collectibles-menus.  Most menus there are much older but you will find some from the 1970’s.  

 

If you leave your your email I can contact you with more information.  

 

You're an absolute legend, thank you kindly! The information you've given me here is extremely helpful.

 

I'll check out Seaport Museum as well as the Culinary Institute of America. And if Peabody Essex Museum in Salem has the menus from those mass-market lines, I reckon arranging a research trip to take a look wouldn't be a problem. I assume it'll take them some time to make your donations available for archival research, but I can contact them to find out. Ebay does indeed have some, but they mainly seem to be from higher end lines like Holland America. I will dig deeper there, though.

 

I'm not looking for anything too specific. Just menus from those mass-market lines from the 1970s to present, especially on Caribbean itineraries, to analyze how the cultural themes being offered changed over time.

 

I'll message you with my email address. Thank you once again for your help, and I look forward to corresponding!

Edited September 24, 2019 by CaptCruisee

[CaptCruisee]

57 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Hi Capt.

 

I am an ocean liner historian.  It looks like you are looking for fairly recent menus.  You can try the Seaport Museum in New York City.  I would help you but I just donated my entire collection to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.  I had many menus from Royal Caribbean Princess and Norwegian.  Is there anything specific that you are looking for?  

 

You might want want to look at the the library at Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park New York.

 

You definitely want to check out Ebay-Ocean liner collectibles-menus.  Most menus there are much older but you will find some from the 1970’s.  

 

If you leave your your email I can contact you with more information.  

 

 

Hi,

 

I've now realized that I can't send messages so I'll leave you my email here. It's cruiseshipdining@outlook.com.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

16 minutes ago, CaptCruisee said:

Hi,

 

I've now realized that I can't send messages so I'll leave you my email here. It's cruiseshipdining@outlook.com.

Thanks Cap,

 

Not to worry...folks seldom come here...lol.  You can call PEM and ask for Tamara.  They just received 7 trunks from me last week.  Talk about timing...lol.  

 

I’ll contact you and maybe we can figure out a plan of attack.

[rkacruiser]

On 9/22/2019 at 7:55 PM, CaptCruisee said:

I'm a PhD candidate researching the history of cruise ship dining. A large part of this involves looking at menus from the 1970s-1990s from Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian.

 

I am sorry that I cannot offer any information to assist you in your research.  But, I am interested as to why you are interested in this particular topic as a Ph.D. candidate.  As a former graduate student myself, I spent some time in my University's library's stacks reviewing past dissertations of Master's candidates on a variety of topics.  Frequently, I left reading these papers wondering:  what made these individuals choose to research their topics?  

[CaptCruisee]

On 10/10/2019 at 8:46 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

I am sorry that I cannot offer any information to assist you in your research.  But, I am interested as to why you are interested in this particular topic as a Ph.D. candidate.  As a former graduate student myself, I spent some time in my University's library's stacks reviewing past dissertations of Master's candidates on a variety of topics.  Frequently, I left reading these papers wondering:  what made these individuals choose to research their topics?  

Haha I have to say, it is funny how weirdly specific dissertation/thesis topics can get. I found my passion in studying the history of food, in part because it's a great way to examine how societies past encountered different cultures. By the time I started my master's, I decided to study the history cruise food. Having been on a few cruises with my family, I wanted to know more about how the floating vessel with like a dozen themed restaurants - a cosmopolitan hub - emerged. As well, that topic came from a place of passion. For years cruising has been a way for my family to spend time together. The ship is a place relatively isolated from the world, and it's easy to distance oneself from daily commitments and focus on quality time onboard - especially while dining. Because of that personal connection, I was very happy to pursue the topic in graduate school.

[rkacruiser]

On 10/15/2019 at 4:29 PM, CaptCruisee said:

Haha I have to say, it is funny how weirdly specific dissertation/thesis topics can get. I found my passion in studying the history of food, in part because it's a great way to examine how societies past encountered different cultures. By the time I started my master's, I decided to study the history cruise food. Having been on a few cruises with my family, I wanted to know more about how the floating vessel with like a dozen themed restaurants - a cosmopolitan hub - emerged. As well, that topic came from a place of passion. For years cruising has been a way for my family to spend time together. The ship is a place relatively isolated from the world, and it's easy to distance oneself from daily commitments and focus on quality time onboard - especially while dining. Because of that personal connection, I was very happy to pursue the topic in graduate school.

 

Thanks for your response.  The last sentence in your post says why I think all of us who pursue a graduate degree does so.  We want to know more about whatever interests/concerns us.  Best wishes for successful research!

[clo]

This is so off topic but....  For me traveling always includes eating the local foods with the locals.  Part of the culture.