Thinking about a river cruise with Gate 1

[Canal archive]

I’ve encountered meat and fish on the same plate basically all over the world. In the U.K. the colloquial expression is ‘surf & turf’. If it were me and had your preferences I would have gently reminded the servers of my preferences because as it was it does seem to have caused a real blot on your enjoyment of your cruise, such a pity.

[CDNPolar]

3 hours ago, Canal archive said:

I’ve encountered meat and fish on the same plate basically all over the world. In the U.K. the colloquial expression is ‘surf & turf’. If it were me and had your preferences I would have gently reminded the servers of my preferences because as it was it does seem to have caused a real blot on your enjoyment of your cruise, such a pity.

 

If it is advertised as so on the menu, that is ok.  If not on the menu then not ok.  Surf and Turf and Scallops wrapped in bacon are typical globally.  But if I order a fish dish and it comes with animal meat on it and it is not on the menu then that is something different.

[Canal archive]

Then you are well within your rights to point this out in no uncertain manner, first as hopefully the staff have been informed about your preferences and secondly your dietary requirements. There is no way this kind of thing should happen as I know this is your choice but say you had an intolerance to any meat that could cause real health problems what then. We’ve had a few really awful cases in the U.K. over the past few years leading to death so any food provider should absolutely aware of choices and intolerances. Sorry rant for the day I’m lucky I don’t seem to have any at the moment but taking Girl Guides to camp meant it was a live subject all the time we were away.

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, Canal archive said:

I’ve encountered meat and fish on the same plate basically all over the world. In the U.K. the colloquial expression is ‘surf & turf’. If it were me and had your preferences I would have gently reminded the servers of my preferences because as it was it does seem to have caused a real blot on your enjoyment of your cruise, such a pity.

The problem was that each day there was only 1 meat dish, 1 fish dish, and 1 vegetarian dish on the menu (+ always available salmon and chicken). If this is the way you are going to set up your menu, your fish dish has to remain a fish dish, not fish + meat.

[CDNPolar]

12 hours ago, ontheweb said:

The problem was that each day there was only 1 meat dish, 1 fish dish, and 1 vegetarian dish on the menu (+ always available salmon and chicken). If this is the way you are going to set up your menu, your fish dish has to remain a fish dish, not fish + meat.

 

Is this perhaps the way the more "discount" operators keep costs down?

 

I don't consider them a discount line, but when we sailed to Antarctica with Hurtigruten, we were surprised at the limited dinner menu which was one meat dish, one fish dish, and one vegetarian dish ONLY each night.  We came to Hurtigruten from Viking Ocean having extensive menus and many choices nightly.  

[ontheweb]

41 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Is this perhaps the way the more "discount" operators keep costs down?

 

I don't consider them a discount line, but when we sailed to Antarctica with Hurtigruten, we were surprised at the limited dinner menu which was one meat dish, one fish dish, and one vegetarian dish ONLY each night.  We came to Hurtigruten from Viking Ocean having extensive menus and many choices nightly.  

I do not know if other more expensive river cruise lines do this differently or not. It is obviously different than mainstream or luxury ocean cruise lines.

 

I did read that one difference between Gate 1 River cruises and Viking and possibly other river cruise lines was that Gate 1 only had free wine and beer at dinner and not lunch. 

[CDNPolar]

9 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I do not know if other more expensive river cruise lines do this differently or not. It is obviously different than mainstream or luxury ocean cruise lines.

 

I did read that one difference between Gate 1 River cruises and Viking and possibly other river cruise lines was that Gate 1 only had free wine and beer at dinner and not lunch. 

 

Viking's lunch and dinner menus always have the "always available" at lunch and dinner, then the locally inspired 3 courses, then the dishes of the day...  there is LOTS of selection on Viking's daily menus on River Cruises.

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Viking's lunch and dinner menus always have the "always available" at lunch and dinner, then the locally inspired 3 courses, then the dishes of the day...  there is LOTS of selection on Viking's daily menus on River Cruises.

I guess there is more of a difference than just the availability of free wine and beer at lunch.

[bessinfl]

I have only been on Gate 1, not Viking. But we have traveled widely, and the offerings that some of you see as limited seemed like plenty of choices to us. 
 

Also, I never saw fish served with meat on Gays 1. I suspect this was a one-time thing. 
 

Our meals have been consistently plentiful and delicious. 

 

 

[CDNPolar]

12 hours ago, bessinfl said:

I have only been on Gate 1, not Viking. But we have traveled widely, and the offerings that some of you see as limited seemed like plenty of choices to us. 
 

Also, I never saw fish served with meat on Gays 1. I suspect this was a one-time thing. 
 

Our meals have been consistently plentiful and delicious. 

 

 

 

All due respect.... Viking's food offerings are often so plentiful and so many choices that perhaps if you have not experienced it you would take a limited selection on Gate1 to be plenty of choices.

 

The way Gate1 food choices have been described above do remind us of Hurtigruten and that was our biggest complaint with Hurtigruten.  There was not enough choice.

[bessinfl]

With all due respect  to CDNPolar ... I have been on many ocean cruises and also worked as a restaurant critic, so I am well acquainted with "plentiful" meal choices. I was entirely happy with Gate 1's offerings. 
 

But I do admit that food is not my first interest when I travel. Rather, it's people, scenery, culture and art. So maybe you should stick with Viking, and I will enthusiastically stay with Gate 1. 

Edited April 7 by bessinfl
Omitted word

[sjde]

I have not been on Gate  (I would like to), but on the 4 others I've been on, there were more than 3 choices for dinner (besides the everyday standards). 

[TRLD]

11 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

All due respect.... Viking's food offerings are often so plentiful and so many choices that perhaps if you have not experienced it you would take a limited selection on Gate1 to be plenty of choices.

 

The way Gate1 food choices have been described above do remind us of Hurtigruten and that was our biggest complaint with Hurtigruten.  There was not enough choice.

Would disagree. Have done both Viking and Gate1 river cruises. The only real difference we found was in the selection of appetizers. Also found Gate1 tended to be more local dishes and Viking tended to be more americanized.

 

The the biggest difference being Gate1 on smaller ships at about a 30% lower price point and much later final payment date.

Edited April 7 by TRLD

[ontheweb]

On 4/6/2024 at 6:38 PM, bessinfl said:

I have only been on Gate 1, not Viking. But we have traveled widely, and the offerings that some of you see as limited seemed like plenty of choices to us. 
 

Also, I never saw fish served with meat on Gays 1. I suspect this was a one-time thing. 
 

Our meals have been consistently plentiful and delicious. 

 

 

I was wondering if this was only for the ship we were on or possibly the chef in charge or totally throughout Gate 1. You seem to have answered that question. Thank you.

 

I thought of calling Gate 1 if we found another of their river cruises that interested us and asking about this, but did not know if they could really answer.

[Canal archive]

Or could it have been a servers incorrect interpretation of how a dish should be plated up!

[ontheweb]

25 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Or could it have been a servers incorrect interpretation of how a dish should be plated up!

No, each time it was how it was listed on the menu.

[gnome12]

I think the chef needs to be talked to. 

[TRLD]

Do you recall any specific examples of meat in the fish dishes?

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, TRLD said:

Do you recall any specific examples of meat in the fish dishes?

Yes, one dish with shrimp had some sort of Italian ham. Another fish dish had bacon. I am sorry I do not remember the specific dishes. The shrimp dish is one I would have ordered.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, gnome12 said:

I think the chef needs to be talked to. 

I hope they show him my comments on their post cruise survey. I was very positive on everything else, but wrote that with the limited menu adding meat to fish dishes was a MAJOR PROBLEM.

[TRLD]

59 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, one dish with shrimp had some sort of Italian ham. Another fish dish had bacon. I am sorry I do not remember the specific dishes. The shrimp dish is one I would have ordered.

Sounds like shrimp saltimbocca. Similarly fish with bacon is common. Have encountered both on Ocean cruise ships as well.

 

I expect that unlike your expectations they do not consider their fish dishes to be necessarily for pescatarians. I expect that they feel the vegetarian option is how that is covered. Not unlike some of the major cruise lines a few years ago.

 

Did you ask if they could prepare it fish only? On my last Gate1 a friend of ours had some diet restrictions and they made some modifications in his dish. Though he did coordinate in advance each evening.

Edited April 8 by TRLD

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

Sounds like shrimp saltimbocca. Similarly fish with bacon is common. Have encountered both on Ocean cruise ships as well.

 

I expect that unlike your expectations they do not consider their fish dishes to be necessarily for pescatarians. I expect that they feel the vegetarian option is how that is covered. Not unlike some of the major cruise lines a few years ago.

 

Did you ask if they could prepare it fish only? On my last Gate1 a friend of ours had some diet restrictions and they made some modifications in his dish. Though he did coordinate in advance each evening.

NO, NO, NO. Shrimp was an ingredient, not part of the name, so that was not the dish.

 

Let me repeat this once again. Each night they had ONLY 3 entrees. The first was always meat. The second always fish. The third was always vegetarian. By adding meat to the fish dish, they severely limited the choice for anyone not eating meat.

[TRLD]

22 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

NO, NO, NO. Shrimp was an ingredient, not part of the name, so that was not the dish.

 

Let me repeat this once again. Each night they had ONLY 3 entrees. The first was always meat. The second always fish. The third was always vegetarian. By adding meat to the fish dish, they severely limited the choice for anyone not eating meat.

Certainly but they did have a vegetarian option.

 

Did you ask them if they would prepare ones without meat.

 

With my friend the chef would go over with him the plans for the next evening and they would agree on a preparation.

 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, TRLD said:

Certainly but they did have a vegetarian option.

 

Did you ask them if they would prepare ones without meat.

 

With my friend the chef would go over with him the plans for the next evening and they would agree on a preparation.

 

So, I did that evening order the vegetarian dish, though with some trepidation. It was a curry. Also had rice and mango chutney. I tried some of the rice with the little bit of mango chutney, and it was very good. (I really like mango.) And then I took my first taste of the curry, and it was incredibly HOT. My wife looked at me and said go back to the room, which I did and basically threw up all night.

 

But thanks for the advice. 😢😢