Food and dining on P&O ships

[Mama.nurse]

3 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Don't see why not as long as you have proof you bought it on board (otherwise they charge corkage). However, some ships' MDRs do not keep wine for next night so if you don't drink the whole bottle you will have to carry it away! 

It's only 5.5% so I will drink the bottle if it's a night my husband isn't drinking that night. 

[terrierjohn]

On board Iona at present and thought we would try Sindhu again to see if it had improved, sadly IMO it's not changed. We tried to select dishes that sounded like something we would enjoy, but unfortunately they did not live up to our expectations. Not that they were bad or poor, just lacking in flavour and we were glad when they were finished. Probably it's that they don't suit our tastes, but we both much prefer  Sainsbury or M&S Indian ready meals which have more flavour.

However the day after in the MDR I had singapore satay chicken as a starter and salmon fillet as a main, and the whole meal was 10 out 10 compared to the 5 we would have given to Sindhu. And so far we both feel that the MDR quality has improved, although still too many green beans!!

[yorkshirephil]

5 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

On board Iona at present and thought we would try Sindhu again to see if it had improved, sadly IMO it's not changed. We tried to select dishes that sounded like something we would enjoy, but unfortunately they did not live up to our expectations. Not that they were bad or poor, just lacking in flavour and we were glad when they were finished. Probably it's that they don't suit our tastes, but we both much prefer  Sainsbury or M&S Indian ready meals which have more flavour.

However the day after in the MDR I had singapore satay chicken as a starter and salmon fillet as a main, and the whole meal was 10 out 10 compared to the 5 we would have given to Sindhu. And so far we both feel that the MDR quality has improved, although still too many green beans!!

I haven't been impressed with Sindhu for quite a few years, like you keep trying, it is far too bland for us, we have asked what meals were deemed the spiciest and asked for it to be spiced up but to no avail. I have had better curries in the MDR. 

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

I haven't been impressed with Sindhu for quite a few years, like you keep trying, it is far too bland for us, we have asked what meals were deemed the spiciest and asked for it to be spiced up but to no avail. I have had better curries in the MDR. 

Same here. I know that most people rave about Sindhu but it does nothing for me. I love Indian (and in fact all Asian) cuisine at home, but the ‘fusion’ concept of Sindhu just doesn’t work for me. Like you, I tend to enjoy the curries in the MDR far more.
 

The place that I’d really like to eat, but never will, is the crew canteen. They have different sections for each major nationality that the crew come from. I bet that the food there is far more tasty, as they won’t tone it down to suit what they perceive to be the bland palates of us Brits! 

[carlanthony24]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Same here. I know that most people rave about Sindhu but it does nothing for me. I love Indian (and in fact all Asian) cuisine at home, but the ‘fusion’ concept of Sindhu just doesn’t work for me. Like you, I tend to enjoy the curries in the MDR far more.
 

The place that I’d really like to eat, but never will, is the crew canteen. They have different sections for each major nationality that the crew come from. I bet that the food there is far more tasty, as they won’t tone it down to suit what they perceive to be the bland palates of us Brits! 

Honestly I found the crew canteen not to my liking that much. Mostly found it catered for the Indian/Philippine crew. It did have some British food like burgers, fish, chicken curry but repeated often. It was just better going up to the buffet or a specialty restaurant most days.

Edited March 23 by carlanthony24

[brian1]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Same here. I know that most people rave about Sindhu but it does nothing for me. I love Indian (and in fact all Asian) cuisine at home, but the ‘fusion’ concept of Sindhu just doesn’t work for me. Like you, I tend to enjoy the curries in the MDR far more.
 

The place that I’d really like to eat, but never will, is the crew canteen. They have different sections for each major nationality that the crew come from. I bet that the food there is far more tasty, as they won’t tone it down to suit what they perceive to be the bland palates of us Brits! 

How dare they,they wouldn't have a pint of Cobra and a Vindaloo every friday night.Bloody lightweights.

[yorkshirephil]

29 minutes ago, brian1 said:

How dare they,they wouldn't have a pint of Cobra and a Vindaloo every friday night.Bloody lightweights.

You need more than a pint to wash a vindaloo down Brian.

[Selbourne]

8 hours ago, carlanthony24 said:

Honestly I found the crew canteen not to my liking that much. Mostly found it catered for the Indian/Philippine crew. It did have some British food like burgers, fish, chicken curry but repeated often. It was just better going up to the buffet or a specialty restaurant most days.

It’s the Indian & Philippine sections that I’d go to!

[jh1809]

I've enjoyed all the meals I've had in Sindhu on Aurora and Arcadia (the only P&O ships I've been on). No, they aren't extremely hot, if that's what you want, but I find them far more subtly spiced and higher quality than one finds in most high street Indian restaurants (and cheaper too!). I suppose all this shows is that people's tastes differ. Unless there's great variation from ship to ship depending on who the head chef is?

 

Having said that, I do enjoy Sainsburys Indian ready meals too, though they aren't comparable to Sindhu.

[davecttr]

9 hours ago, carlanthony24 said:

Honestly I found the crew canteen not to my liking that much. Mostly found it catered for the Indian/Philippine crew. It did have some British food like burgers, fish, chicken curry but repeated often. It was just better going up to the buffet or a specialty restaurant most days.

Crew members using the buffet is a problem on Arcadia which has the worst buffet on P&O IMO. In the evenings  one of the serveries and a significant part of the seating is cordoned off and reserved for 'officers', apparently Arcadia does not have a officers mess? There are also groups of staff in certain grades that arrive en-masse and demolish the buffet offerings. IMO the buffet is for passengers and staff who are allowed to use it should be mindful that it is a privilage and that the passengers pay their salery.

[brian1]

8 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

You need more than a pint to wash a vindaloo down Brian.

Now I would,but back in the day,lol.

[sussex blue]

Could anyone confirm whether a MDR table for 12 people is a possibility for fixed dining on Azura?

 

Our family party size has now grown to 11 people (including 3 children under 4) for our Azura Canaries cruise in November. We're all on Select bookings for 4 cabins, celebrating a big birthday, and the bookings are linked. 

 

Thanks

[elmsliebev]

On 3/24/2024 at 7:22 AM, Selbourne said:

It’s the Indian & Philippine sections that I’d go to!

me too! We were on another line just before Covid (a line no longer with us) and one lunchtime a chef from south Indian was making dosas to order with sambal. Absolutely delicious. I had more than one ...

[beathhail]

A question about Olive Grove on Arvia. I've seen an enhanced menu knocking around online for formal evenings but also seen it marked as normal menu and also that it's been closed for normal operation and used as overflow capacity for the MDRs. If anyone knows what the standard situation is I would appreciate it, alternatively if someone reading this has boarded 407 today and could see what the app says regarding arrangements for Monday/Tuesday night that would be great as we are on 507 next year 

[Leomins]

1 minute ago, beathhail said:

A question about Olive Grove on Arvia. I've seen an enhanced menu knocking around online for formal evenings but also seen it marked as normal menu and also that it's been closed for normal operation and used as overflow capacity for the MDRs. If anyone knows what the standard situation is I would appreciate it, alternatively if someone reading this has boarded 407 today and could see what the app says regarding arrangements for Monday/Tuesday night that would be great as we are on 507 next year 

On Arvia in January, Olive Grove served the MDR menu on formal night. We went to the Chefs Table one formal night and the MDR on the other, we preferred the MDR.

We had two meals in the Olive Grove on other nights which we enjoyed.

[Ultralets2]

After an amazing food experience on Iona going to Norway we booked a longer trip to the canaries.

 

How wrong we were.

 

Buffet choices:

 

Our choice for every breakfast was Tomato Mushrooms (sometimes hidden under the counter) and many variations of potatoes and basically apart from toast or cerial that was it. 

No protein what so ever no scrambled tofu or a veggie sausage.

 

Lunchtime and Dinnertime were even worse.

 

Basically Veg curry with Aubergine every meal or salad and on a rare occasion a pot of slime with  coconut on top and slimy Aubergine in the slime.

 

After complaining many times about the lack of any choice in the buffet the next day we had another option 2 curries with prawn crackers !!!

 

I loved the curry's but not for  every meal (even in the dining room the same) The crew is  mostly Indian based but the guests are not.

 

 

We were told to try the dining room.

 

In the dining room our starter was 1.5 asparagus tips and a micro portion of carrots and potato for our main. Not worth the hour sitting there.

 

Looking at the menus vegan food is listed as snacks or light bites.

 

I Won't be going on this swful ship again.

 

 

 

 

[Sonyar]

I agree the Vegan food provision is poor, little choice and hardly any protein.

We were so disappointed when there was a curry buffet and only one dish was Vegan. It's unnecessary to use butter in Vegetable dishes.

The buffet is awful so it's best to use the MDR.

We don't tend to have lunch and preorder our dinner. We are able to choose from the lunch and dinner menu for our evening meal. 

Starters are mainly salad unfortunately.

Food is a big part of a lot of people's cruise yet for us it's a bit of a chore.

We sailed with Carnival last month, they have a separate Vegan menu and it was lovely to have choices like everyone else.

 

[Dobbers]

I am a meat eater but agree about the lack of choice. At home I make veggie curry using onion, peppers, courgette, cauli, spinach and chickpeas. In the Keel and Cow I ordered the vegan vegetable kofta balti pan which was basically peas and carrots in sauce and the kofta were balls of mashed potato with again peas and carrots. It wasn’t worth the £6.50 charge and was very disappointed at the lack of variety of ingredients in the dish.

[showingdiva]

47 minutes ago, Dobbers said:

I am a meat eater but agree about the lack of choice. At home I make veggie curry using onion, peppers, courgette, cauli, spinach and chickpeas. In the Keel and Cow I ordered the vegan vegetable kofta balti pan which was basically peas and carrots in sauce and the kofta were balls of mashed potato with again peas and carrots. It wasn’t worth the £6.50 charge and was very disappointed at the lack of variety of ingredients in the dish.

 

No green beans ?!!

 

However, in all seriousness, as a pescatarian myself, I would be disappointed with that.   Especially with a cover charge.

[Mark36]

Hi we have just returned from the Canaries on Iona, My wife is vegan and agrees with most of your comments. There are Vegetarian/Vegan sausages available in the Buffet but you have to ask they keep them separate behind the counter. We ate in the limelight twice. Sindhu twice vegan options much better but you have to pay more.

We have been on Arvia which has more options. The American diner included in cost has some nice Vegan options,  Also Quays has a Vegan roast option. There is a dedicated Plant based venue extra cost but very nice,

My wife  ate a lot of Chips, Salad and cheese and biscuits on IONA and a lot of cakes. Lovely ice cream in skydome but costs extra.

We are trying Princess next hopefully better Vegan options. 

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Mark36 said:

Hi we have just returned from the Canaries on Iona, My wife is vegan and agrees with most of your comments. There are Vegetarian/Vegan sausages available in the Buffet but you have to ask they keep them separate behind the counter. We ate in the limelight twice. Sindhu twice vegan options much better but you have to pay more.

We have been on Arvia which has more options. The American diner included in cost has some nice Vegan options,  Also Quays has a Vegan roast option. There is a dedicated Plant based venue extra cost but very nice,

My wife  ate a lot of Chips, Salad and cheese and biscuits on IONA and a lot of cakes. Lovely ice cream in skydome but costs extra.

We are trying Princess next hopefully better Vegan options. 

Are ice cream, cakes, cheese and biscuits acceptable vegan foods?

[Ultralets2]

Vegan foods don't contain meat egg or milk so unless its a basic fruit or vegetable it has to labeled vegan. 

[zap99]

On 4/2/2024 at 6:24 PM, Ultralets2 said:

After an amazing food experience on Iona going to Norway we booked a longer trip to the canaries.

 

How wrong we were.

 

Buffet choices:

 

Our choice for every breakfast was Tomato Mushrooms (sometimes hidden under the counter) and many variations of potatoes and basically apart from toast or cerial that was it. 

No protein what so ever no scrambled tofu or a veggie sausage.

 

Lunchtime and Dinnertime were even worse.

 

Basically Veg curry with Aubergine every meal or salad and on a rare occasion a pot of slime with  coconut on top and slimy Aubergine in the slime.

 

After complaining many times about the lack of any choice in the buffet the next day we had another option 2 curries with prawn crackers !!!

 

I loved the curry's but not for  every meal (even in the dining room the same) The crew is  mostly Indian based but the guests are not.

 

 

We were told to try the dining room.

 

In the dining room our starter was 1.5 asparagus tips and a micro portion of carrots and potato for our main. Not worth the hour sitting there.

 

Looking at the menus vegan food is listed as snacks or light bites.

 

I Won't be going on this swful ship again.

 

 

 

 

I don't know how many Vegans were on the ship  but P&O may be better not catering for Vegans at all. They seem to get nothing but  criticism.

[Palaceman]

44 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I don't know how many Vegans were on the ship  but P&O may be better not catering for Vegans at all. They seem to get nothing but  criticism.

Only 4.7% of the UK adult population are vegan. This would equate to just 244 out of 5200 if there were no children on board. Agree, with the amount of criticism, why do P&O continue to cater for them?

[Red Ray]

Far too many veggie/vegan choices on the MDR dinner menus imo.