Food Advice for an Idiot

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, Cadodge said:

If you Google "sugar-free syrup" you will see about 35 brands for sale. At least here in the U.S. Regardless, people with medical or weight conditions like to put it on waffles, pancakes and other items instead of fruit or regular syrup. Just wondered if Viking ocean provided anything like that, or should we pack our own? Same with peanut butter. 

They have sugar free syrup. My DMIL had it for her pancakes. Just yesterday one of the cruisers on the World Cruise posted that there was a jar of Jiff at the WC.

[Eggtuary]

17 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

They have sugar free syrup. My DMIL had it for her pancakes. Just yesterday one of the cruisers on the World Cruise posted that there was a jar of Jiff at the WC.

You must not be on Weight Watchers.  Those of us who are and who eat Jif know that it is spelled with only one "f" and can tell you exactly how many points it is for every teaspoon. 😅

[Twitchly]

5 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 

Geosez - we are also quite big fans of the World Cafe (and will soon be on our 8th Viking Ocean).  I think the WC is the Rodney Dangerfield of the restaurants.  It doesn't seem to get much respect - but there is a decent contingent of us who are faithful fans!!  For many of the reasons you described.  Calling it a buffet is probably a slight misnomer, only since it conjures up those images of the old Cruise Buffets that frankly were not very good.

On our recent TA cruise in December, quite often the WC was relatively uncrowded at dinner time.  The waiters told us often that the various restaurants were quite crowded and even they couldn't understand why more people didn't come to the WC.   Everyone has their reasons.  It is just nice to have a choice!

Oh - the final big reason - WC has the BEST view to eat dinner on the ship - and when it is warm and nice, going outside makes it a wonderful eating experience!

There’s another reason we love the WC: you can wear jeans and sneakers at dinner! After a long day cramming in as much shore time as possible, we frequently didn’t have the energy or inclination to get gussied up for dinner. The informality of the WC suited us well. And we enjoyed seeing what was on offer and just having little tastes of various things rather than full entrees. We’re big fans!

[stretchcruz]

Love World Cafe. On our 5 week NZ/Australia cruise I think we ate in the Restaurant maybe 3 or 4 times. The rest of the time Manfredi's, and World Cafe. So nice to be casual and pick what we want and how much. We also had room service a couple of times in our jammies. They bring beer/wine (at the time we just had the included) and the chicken breasts and potatoes etc were hot, fresh, and good!!

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by stretchcruz

[Eggtuary]

I've been sharing everyone's posts here with my wife.  I think you've convinced her we'll want most of our dinners at the World Cafe! 🙂

 

Now she has a question for you:  Is it possible to take food from the World Cafe back to one's room?

Edited February 21, 2022 by Eggtuary

[Cadodge]

3 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

They have sugar free syrup. My DMIL had it for her pancakes. Just yesterday one of the cruisers on the World Cruise posted that there was a jar of Jiff at the WC.

Thank you.

[gymfreak]

Can anyone tell me what the opening hours are in operation at the World cafe for evening meal. We are sailing next month on Sea.

Thank you

[KBs mum]

12 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 

Geosez - we are also quite big fans of the World Cafe (and will soon be on our 8th Viking Ocean).  I think the WC is the Rodney Dangerfield of the restaurants.  It doesn't seem to get much respect - but there is a decent contingent of us who are faithful fans!!  For many of the reasons you described.  Calling it a buffet is probably a slight misnomer, only since it conjures up those images of the old Cruise Buffets that frankly were not very good.

On our recent TA cruise in December, quite often the WC was relatively uncrowded at dinner time.  The waiters told us often that the various restaurants were quite crowded and even they couldn't understand why more people didn't come to the WC.   Everyone has their reasons.  It is just nice to have a choice!

Oh - the final big reason - WC has the BEST view to eat dinner on the ship - and when it is warm and nice, going outside makes it a wonderful eating experience!

Hush, don't tell everybody, there will be ques there as well! 😊

[Eggtuary]

5 hours ago, gymfreak said:

Can anyone tell me what the opening hours are in operation at the World cafe for evening meal. We are sailing next month on Sea.

Thank you

Judging by the Viking Daily posts from recent cruises, it looks like dinner is typically served 5:30 to 9 in the World Cafe (and The Restaurant, Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table as well).

[Moonlion]

 

6 hours ago, gymfreak said:

Can anyone tell me what the opening hours are in operation at the World cafe for evening meal. We are sailing next month on Sea.

Thank you

On our Jan '22 cruise on Venus, dinner at all four venues (WC, Restaurant, Manfredi's, CT) was available from 6-9 PM.  

[gymfreak]

23 minutes ago, Moonlion said:

 

On our Jan '22 cruise on Venus, dinner at all four venues (WC, Restaurant, Manfredi's, CT) was available from 6-9 PM.  

Thank you. We are generally late eaters so that does help.

[Twitchly]

9 hours ago, Eggtuary said:

I've been sharing everyone's posts here with my wife.  I think you've convinced her we'll want most of our dinners at the World Cafe! 🙂

 

Now she has a question for you:  Is it possible to take food from the World Cafe back to one's room?

I’m pretty sure we did that once or twice. Or you could just call room service.

[LindaS272]

19 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

I’m pretty sure we did that once or twice. Or you could just call room service.

Room service menu much more limited than the main venues, but works well in a pinch.

[Clay Clayton]

11 hours ago, Eggtuary said:

You must not be on Weight Watchers.  Those of us who are and who eat Jif know that it is spelled with only one "f" and can tell you exactly how many points it is for every teaspoon. 😅

LOL. No WW here and I was raised a Peter Pan eater but now am a Lidl brand eater. 

[Clay Clayton]

8 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Room service menu much more limited than the main venues, but works well in a pinch.

Just an FYI, there are some dishes on the room service menu that aren’t available elsewhere. The pear and prosciutto salad is incredible for example.  

[CCWineLover]

7 hours ago, gymfreak said:

Can anyone tell me what the opening hours are in operation at the World cafe for evening meal. We are sailing next month on Sea.

Thank you

All of our cruises had the WC open 6:00-9:00, except one which was 5:30 due to Covid last summer so they could space people out.  

[JeriGail]

10 hours ago, Eggtuary said:

I've been sharing everyone's posts here with my wife.  I think you've convinced her we'll want most of our dinners at the World Cafe! 🙂

 

Now she has a question for you:  Is it possible to take food from the World Cafe back to one's room?

Yes -my husband took cookies several times and was encouraged to take several.

[CCWineLover]

2 minutes ago, JeriGail said:

Yes -my husband took cookies several times and was encouraged to take several.

Ha Jeri!  That was our ritual too!  Taking cookies back to the room!  They really were good and a decent variety.

And maybe a gelato to go. 😉

 

[JeriGail]

1 minute ago, CCWineLover said:

Ha Jeri!  That was our ritual too!  Taking cookies back to the room!  They really were good and a decent variety.

And maybe a gelato to go. 😉

 

It was kind of funny that when he asked if he could take a cookie to go, the server prompted him to take more!

[MamaFej]

Y'all are making me hungry! I'm really looking forward to trying that pear and prosciutto salad, and waffles, and cookies, and...

 

As for peanut butter, I was raised on Skippy Extra Chunky, but only eat natural peanut butter now. Kroger brand is rather good. 

[Clay Clayton]

43 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

Y'all are making me hungry! I'm really looking forward to trying that pear and prosciutto salad, and waffles, and cookies, and...

 

As for peanut butter, I was raised on Skippy Extra Chunky, but only eat natural peanut butter now. Kroger brand is rather good. 

Forgot I had a picture of the salad. We had it one day when I wanted dessert (nothing at dinner had appealed) so I ordered apple pie and Mike was going to get the cheese tray but decided this was more interesting. 
 

The pie was tasty too and different from those available elsewhere. 

[Cadodge]

13 hours ago, Eggtuary said:

I've been sharing everyone's posts here with my wife.  I think you've convinced her we'll want most of our dinners at the World Cafe! 🙂

 

Now she has a question for you:  Is it possible to take food from the World Cafe back to one's room?

I am an early riser. On past cruises (2), I would have a leisurly breakfast at the World Cafe and then take a plate of fruit, muffins, bacon and toast to the cabin for the late sleeper. And yes, we would stock up with a few cookies for the cabin as well.

[Mich3554]

14 hours ago, Eggtuary said:

I've been sharing everyone's posts here with my wife.  I think you've convinced her we'll want most of our dinners at the World Cafe! 🙂

 

Now she has a question for you:  Is it possible to take food from the World Cafe back to one's room?

I have seen people taking baked goods back to their room.  DH usually grabs the chocolate chocolate chunk cookies (he’s addicted to them) on his way out.

 

Otherwise, room service is phenomenal.  It’s nice to schedule when you have an early morning excursion,  or on disembarkation day.  

Edited February 21, 2022 by Mich3554

[Ceegeefl]

What are some other favorites  on the room service menu? 

[Australia08]

One huge disappointment for me on the Northern Lights cruise we just finished:  I have loved the curries in the World Cafe on our previous cruises. I was excited to see the fish curry last week and joyfully said so to the server who was from India. He apologized and said it might be different from what I’d had before because they had been told that passengers had complained about spicy food. I took some and he was correct.  It was so bland and I was so sad. They shouldn’t label it as fish curry - it was a bland fish stew. There is plenty of non-spicy food in the World Cafe. Please, Viking, bring back spicy curry. I hope Viking is not heading toward nursing home food.