Cruise Journalist need help about dining on board

[lucas34]

Hi!

 

I would need some help from you. I'm sailing on Sky Princess on June 3rd to write an article about onboard meals and dinner options. So I would be happy if I could hear your own favorites on the following topics:

 

-What's your favorite appetizer?

-main course?

-dessert?

 

-What are your personal favorite restaurants on board and why?

 

Thank you very much for your help!

[mnocket]

Excuse me for saying this, but you seem to me to be a lazy journalist who doesn't want to spend the time to do the research.  These boards are filled with information about cruise line food - the good, the bad & the ugly.  There's even a search function to help you find what you want. Time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. 

[voljeep]

Just now, mnocket said:

Excuse me for saying this, but you seem to me to be a lazy journalist who doesn't want to spend the time to do the research.  These boards are filled with information about cruise line food - the good, the bad & the ugly.  There's even a search function to help you find what you want. Time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. 

my thoughts exactly.  go in unbiased about what others think.  form your own results

[jeromep]

48 minutes ago, lucas34 said:

Hi!

 

I would need some help from you. I'm sailing on Sky Princess on June 3rd to write an article about onboard meals and dinner options. So I would be happy if I could hear your own favorites on the following topics:

 

-What's your favorite appetizer?

-main course?

-dessert?

 

-What are your personal favorite restaurants on board and why?

 

Thank you very much for your help!

Journalists ask questions of people.  If they are doing their job right, they will ask others questions and present different viewpoints of others and let the reader decide.  I have no issue answering a few of your questions.

 

There is way too much food on board to have just one or two favorites.  My wife considers most MDR cruise food, especially on Princess, "continental".  It leans on the tradition of western European multi-course meal presentations.  Things you'd typically see in what is now the UK or France.  It isn't very "Americanized".  For me, cruise dining is about trying out foods which are unlikely to be on a menu at home.  However, after a week or two on board you do get tired of chilled soups and dishes which have been constructed vertically.  The good news is that when you are tired of MDR food there are always a lot of other options.

 

A lot of Princess loyalists will tell you their favorite appetizer is the fettuccine Alfredo.  The biggest issues with that dish is that is has been absent from MDR menus on most ships since the restart and ramp up.  A few of the threads here indicate that it has appeared back on the MDR dinner menus on some ships, but it doesn't seem to be a universal change.  Many have requested it off menu and have been served the dish, but a lot of us feel a lot better when we see that on the menu every night.  So, as an appetizer the fettuccine Alfredo is excellent and I"m hoping it will be back on all the menus very soon.

 

You don't find Beef Wellington at Applebee's; or anyplace else in the states, unless it is a high end steakhouse that likes to specialize in "old school" dishes.  Otherwise, you have to make it on your own.  It isn't especially hard to make, just involved and time consuming.  Of course, a beef roast like Wellington is great for cruise dining rooms because, in reality cruise MDR food is basically served banquet style.  There are a lot less menu items on an MDR dinner menu than on the menu at Applebee's.  This points to the unique nature of cruise dining.  1.  You have limited kitchen and pantry space to stock up for a cruise, which will limit the number of dishes or different foods you can make.  2.  When you have 3000 people to feed 3 times a day or more often, you have to streamline your kitchen so you have a limited number of dishes to prepare with each meal and you can maintain the pace of feeding all those people... just like banquet service.

 

So, Beef Wellington remains one of my favorite main dishes on a cruise.

 

As for deserts, Princess has had this chocolate mousse desert called the Love Boat Dream around forever.  It used to be a firm chocolate mousse that is formed into a heard shape by a mold, kind of like jello, and then popped out on a plate and garnished with some fruit sauce, a mint leaf, and sometimes some kind of chocolate construction.  It was very good, very rich.  But there are lots of photos of it online from recent cruises, and it seems to have changed a lot or has a lot of different pastry chefs making odd interpretations of what it is supposed to be.  It is still one of my favorites, however it may be going the way of the fettuccine Alfredo.

 

My favorite cover charge restaurant on board is Sabatini's.  Excellent Italian at a competitive price relative to the service and presentation.  Crown Grill is also good, but it can vary greatly depending on the quality of the steaks they are acquiring.  There seems to be less variability from ship to ship in Sabatini's.

 

What publication do you write for?  Is this a freelance gig?

[lucas34]

4 minutes ago, jeromep said:

Journalists ask questions of people.  If they are doing their job right, they will ask others questions and present different viewpoints of others and let the reader decide.  I have no issue answering a few of your questions.

 

There is way too much food on board to have just one or two favorites.  My wife considers most MDR cruise food, especially on Princess, "continental".  It leans on the tradition of western European multi-course meal presentations.  Things you'd typically see in what is now the UK or France.  It isn't very "Americanized".  For me, cruise dining is about trying out foods which are unlikely to be on a menu at home.  However, after a week or two on board you do get tired of chilled soups and dishes which have been constructed vertically.  The good news is that when you are tired of MDR food there are always a lot of other options.

 

A lot of Princess loyalists will tell you their favorite appetizer is the fettuccine Alfredo.  The biggest issues with that dish is that is has been absent from MDR menus on most ships since the restart and ramp up.  A few of the threads here indicate that it has appeared back on the MDR dinner menus on some ships, but it doesn't seem to be a universal change.  Many have requested it off menu and have been served the dish, but a lot of us feel a lot better when we see that on the menu every night.  So, as an appetizer the fettuccine Alfredo is excellent and I"m hoping it will be back on all the menus very soon.

 

You don't find Beef Wellington at Applebee's; or anyplace else in the states, unless it is a high end steakhouse that likes to specialize in "old school" dishes.  Otherwise, you have to make it on your own.  It isn't especially hard to make, just involved and time consuming.  Of course, a beef roast like Wellington is great for cruise dining rooms because, in reality cruise MDR food is basically served banquet style.  There are a lot less menu items on an MDR dinner menu than on the menu at Applebee's.  This points to the unique nature of cruise dining.  1.  You have limited kitchen and pantry space to stock up for a cruise, which will limit the number of dishes or different foods you can make.  2.  When you have 3000 people to feed 3 times a day or more often, you have to streamline your kitchen so you have a limited number of dishes to prepare with each meal and you can maintain the pace of feeding all those people... just like banquet service.

 

So, Beef Wellington remains one of my favorite main dishes on a cruise.

 

As for deserts, Princess has had this chocolate mousse desert called the Love Boat Dream around forever.  It used to be a firm chocolate mousse that is formed into a heard shape by a mold, kind of like jello, and then popped out on a plate and garnished with some fruit sauce, a mint leaf, and sometimes some kind of chocolate construction.  It was very good, very rich.  But there are lots of photos of it online from recent cruises, and it seems to have changed a lot or has a lot of different pastry chefs making odd interpretations of what it is supposed to be.  It is still one of my favorites, however it may be going the way of the fettuccine Alfredo.

 

My favorite cover charge restaurant on board is Sabatini's.  Excellent Italian at a competitive price relative to the service and presentation.  Crown Grill is also good, but it can vary greatly depending on the quality of the steaks they are acquiring.  There seems to be less variability from ship to ship in Sabatini's.

 

What publication do you write for?  Is this a freelance gig?

Thank you for your information. I appreciate it. This article will come out in Finland. My last cruise with Princess Cruises was in 1992 and yes I know than the dining on board and the cruise industry have changed a lot during this time,  because I have had the opportunity to cruise with 30 cruise lines during all these years.

And each of us has own favorities with different cruise line. Mine with Princess Cruises are cold soups and beef Wellington.

[Lady Arwen]

My DH and I don’t eat meat, but we do eat fish and seafood.  It’s hit or miss on the fish dishes depending on the chef’s skill at cooking fish properly.  It’s usually pretty good on Princess.  Seafood is okay, certainly not great, but it’s what you expect on a cruiseship.  We both love crab cakes, but honestly the ones served on Princess are just not the same, so we may pass.  Same for scallops.  Most of the time Princess does a decent job with them, but not consistently.

I don’t eat pasta, but my DH is a fan of the fettuccine Alfredo.  I enjoy the onion soup.  The salads are nothing special, so we usually pass.

I love crepes!  Any kind, any time.  I also love Crème Brûlée!  Princess does a pretty good job of both.  Also, their soufflés are usually really good and I always try them when they’re on the menu. I’m not a big cake or pastry eater, nor is my DH, so he usually orders ice cream for dessert.

We occasionally eat in Sabatini’s and it’s always a decent meal.  Crown Grill is difficult for us because their specialty is meat, so unless it’s a complimentary meal, we won’t bother.

Hope this helps.  Good luck on your presentation.

[2MellowCruisers]

On cruises, we tend to try things we don't normally have at home so it's hard to pin down our favorites. 

 

For appetizers, I would have to agree with the cold soups.  I had never tried a "cold" soup before a cruise and was hesitant but what a nice surprise.  Also any salad that has goat or feta cheese.

 

Dinner, definitely the beef wellington.  If it is in menu, we are in the MDR that night.

 

Desert- I usually keep it simple, just a slice of chocolate cake or brownie and one scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

 

As for a restaurant, we like Alfredos for lunch if the ship has one.  The pizza has always been very good.

 

Please come back and post a link when the article comes out.

 

[Mike45LC]

I don’t eat cold soups.  The Main Dining Room was serving French Onion Soup as an Everyday Favorite, and I had it 14 times on our last cruise.  (Our two nights at Crown Grill, I had the Blue Onion Soup once and re-confirmed that I do not care for it.)  

 

My wife had the fettuccini Alfredo several times; we were happy to see it on the menu every night.  The cruise before, the Alfredo sauce was off somehow, but this last cruise, it was good.

 

The beef dishes on Princess are usually hit or miss.  However, you can count on one thing, that the Cowboy Steak is always lousy – tough, hard to cut and even harder to chew!  "Cowboy" as in saddle leather! 

 

The Wellington was very nice.  I’ve seen it posted that the Wellington is made with crushed mushrooms instead of pate, but our waiter said it was real pate.

 

I’ve seen it posted that the escargot is really mushrooms.  I did not try it personally, but our waiter assured me that they were snails.  Fortunately, snails are neither kosher nor hallal.

 

I didn’t try the new Love Boat dessert this last cruise – it turned me off previously, from a former favorite dessert.  

 

Floating Islands, a meringue creation, was very good this past cruise.  The cruise before this, the chef messed up the meringue (it was crystalized sugar) and it was not good.   I was happy with my Floating Islands this time.  

 

But ice cream is the best choice of dessert most evenings.

 

Of course, all diniing preferences are very personal!!  Your mileage will surely vary!

[reedprincess]

Twice baked goat cheese souffle

Vietnamese style spring rolls

Bread sticks

Hubs loves fettuccine alfredo

Lamb chops

5 spice duck breasts

The Caesar salad is surprisingly good, with anchovies

Pumpkin walnut crepes

James Beard French Toast (breakfast and brunch, MDR)

Any sorbet

Any dessert souffle

Above - all MDR

 

Corn beef hash

Mongolian BBQ night

German night 

Lamb steaks

Any of the Indian dishes, especially when they do Indian theme night with the different chanas, samosas, currys.  Delish! 

Above in buffet... 

(Side note, you can special order Indian food in the dining room, speak to the maitre'd about it, they'll arrange for a dish or two for the next night. Always excellent).

 

Specialty, Sabatini's new menu, by far, over Crown Grill. The pesto is wonderful, fresh, flavorful, light..

 

Enjoy exploring new flavors and experiences..