Lido seafood boil

[Crusin-Suzan]

We are on the Rotterdam now!   Has anyone tried the $35. Seafood boil!   If so is it worth the money?   Do 4* get their half off?   Thanks for any advise!

[Haljo1935]

No discount the couple times DH had it. I've seen really mixed reviews w/some saying it is not a true seafood boil. But DH has enjoyed it - so much that he did it on a couple cruises. It was a lot of food.

 

 

[Toad]

What’s in it? Maine lobster, clams , or what?

[Haljo1935]

2 minutes ago, Toad said:

What’s in it? Maine lobster, clams , or what?

Here's the flyer. I think it did have lobster, but don't make me swear to that as I didn't eat it.

 

[Dutchman48]

4 hours ago, Crusin-Suzan said:

We are on the Rotterdam now!   Has anyone tried the $35. Seafood boil!   If so is it worth the money?   Do 4* get their half off?   Thanks for any advise!

Mixed review. Had it along with my brother-in-law on recent cruise. Both of us enjoyed it, but I thought it was too messy. Pulling the shellfish out of the broth mas more of a mess than I cared for. My brother-in-law on the other hand liked it enough to do it again the second time they offered it on the cruise.

[Gigi1977]

1 hour ago, Toad said:

What’s in it? Maine lobster, clams , or what?

We had it on Noordam last year.  It was delicious but very messy.  The berry dessert was just ok but I was extremely full.  No lobster.  Salmon, clams, shrimp and crab with potatoes in broth.   I don’t think there was corn or if there was, it was not on the cob but maybe in the broth?  It was a nice change from MDR.  

[Vict0riann]

And here's my picture from Rotterdam last year.  It was messy, the crab legs were a lot of work, we get lots of salmon here, so I didn't eat that.  No lobster.  There was corn, plus clams, mussels, shrimp, potato, I couldn't eat all of it.  We didn't get any discount.  It was fun but I don't know that I will do it again.

 

[OlsSalt]

Is this cost per person,  or one boil to share?  Thanks. 

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, Gigi1977 said:

We had it on Noordam last year.  It was delicious but very messy.  The berry dessert was just ok but I was extremely full.  No lobster.  Salmon, clams, shrimp and crab with potatoes in broth.   I don’t think there was corn or if there was, it was not on the cob but maybe in the broth?  It was a nice change from MDR.  

DH had corn both times he had the boil; it was on the cob,  very small piece.

[Haljo1935]

It's $35 for the one meal (chowder, pot, dessert). I don't know if they allow sharing; I don’t eat seafood, so no reason for us to ask.

[XBGuy]

3 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

I've seen really mixed reviews w/some saying it is not a true seafood boil. But DH has enjoyed it 

 

There is such a thing as a "True Seafood Boil?"

 

I'll be darned.  As a person who enjoys Seafood/Shellfish boils very much, I am now wondering what that means.  Can anybody explain to me the difference between a "True" version and a "False" version?

 

I have similar confusion when people discuss whether or not the Italian food or the Mexican food is "authentic."  Those seem to be the two national cuisines that attract the most questions about authenticity.  Who cares?  The evaluation that most interests me is whether or not it is good.

 

Thank you to the contributors who have shared the pictures on this thread, and thank you to @Haljo1935 for posting the menu description.  The description sounds terrific to me, and all the pictures support that opinion.  The one bark I would have, is that if I was going to be having a seafood main, I think I would prefer a salad for my starter rather than the clam chowder.  Again, though, that is just a personal thing.

[OlsSalt]

PSSSST: The HAL taco bar is not authentic either.  Nor is their Lido sushi or pizza.  I refuse to make claims about their Yorkshire pudding or Swiss roesti too. But we survive and enjoy the novelty

 

Seems to be some controversy over use or non-use of Old Bay Seasoning in the seafood boil.  The salmon they pick up for the Alaska cruises however is dreamy beyond belief. 

[Haljo1935]

@XBGuy both times DH had the seafood boil it was served in the Lido (which is where my meal came from since I don't eat seafood) so I thi k you'd be able to either ask for a salad or get one to have with it. Last time, the servers who brought his food asked me what I wanted from the buffet and brought it to me after they delivered his food.

[kazu]

28 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

 

There is such a thing as a "True Seafood Boil?"

 

I'll be darned.  As a person who enjoys Seafood/Shellfish boils very much, I am now wondering what that means.  Can anybody explain to me the difference between a "True" version and a "False" version?

 

I am not sure what the poster meant by that.  We certainly have seafood boils here.  The ones I make traditionally include shrimp, lobster, clams, crab, mussels, potatoes, corn on the cob (f possible) & sausage made in a delicious broth.

 

Different cooks have different variations but I have never seen a Seafood boil without lobster, ever. 

 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

DH has had it twice. He's decided that next time he will ask for the salmon to be served separately-he didn't care for it being in the broth. After he ordered, I went to the Lido and found what I wanted to eat so we ate together, and I didn't have to eat smelly seafood! And he always had a small piece of corn on the cob.

[CruiserBruce]

18 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I am not sure what the poster meant by that.  We certainly have seafood boils here.  The ones I make traditionally include shrimp, lobster, clams, crab, mussels, potatoes, corn on the cob (f possible) & sausage made in a delicious broth.

 

Different cooks have different variations but I have never seen a Seafood boil without lobster, ever. 

 

As this is a northwest focused seafood boil (Ivers is a Washington state restaurant chain...a very good one), perhaps lobster is not a feature, as local lobster is not commonly available on the West Coast.

 

All of this is 100% subjective, as are all the discussions about food. Of course, we all want our food to "taste good", but alas, that is subjective as well.

 

"Real" food types do have some interest, because that can definitely be a consideration in terms of what one is expecting when they order something. "Real" Italian pizza, for example, is not something with 15 toppings on it.

[57redbird]

45 minutes ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

DH has had it twice. He's decided that next time he will ask for the salmon to be served separately-he didn't care for it being in the broth. After he ordered, I went to the Lido and found what I wanted to eat so we ate together, and I didn't have to eat smelly seafood! And he always had a small piece of corn on the cob.

You live on Vashon & consider seafood smelly?  Where are you originally from?  Native Seattle-ite here.

[SusieKIslandGirl]

1 hour ago, 57redbird said:

You live on Vashon & consider seafood smelly?  Where are you originally from?  Native Seattle-ite here.

Yep, my father wondered where I came from🤣. Born and raised right here-even living in the same house I grew up in.

[Cruising-along]

We enjoyed it recently on the Volendam. Very tasty but messy as others have said. No Mariner discount. 
The chowder was *not* anything like Ivar’s (native Washingtonian here). Extremely thin and only a couple clams and tiny bits of potato. No bacon to be seen. 
Other than that we enjoyed it but most likely wouldn’t go again. 
 

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

Yep, my father wondered where I came from🤣. Born and raised right here-even living in the same house I grew up in.

We may be related. 🤣 My father said me being born in Maine was a waste of genes as I do NOT eat seafood - how could a person born in Maine w/a Massachusetts father father not at least like lobster?🤷‍♂️ Baffled him 🙄

[Haljo1935]

21 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

We enjoyed it recently on the Volendam. Very tasty but messy as others have said. No Mariner discount. 
The chowder was *not* anything like Ivar’s (native Washingtonian here). Extremely thin and only a couple clams and tiny bits of potato. No bacon to be seen. 
Other than that we enjoyed it but most likely wouldn’t go again. 

No idea of the brand, but DH had bacon bits both times in his chowder and had noticeable amounts of clams & potatoes. 

 

Here's what was left of the boil pot when he had finished it.

And here's the crumble dessert I failed to post earlier.

Edited January 31 by Haljo1935
Typo

[Cruising-along]

20 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

No idea of the brand, but DH had bacon bits both times in his chowder and had noticeable amounts of clams & potatoes. 

 

Here's what was left of the boil pot when he had finished it.

And here's the crumble dessert I failed to post earlier.

I was hoping other ships do a better job on the chowder. Ours was like water. 

[Haljo1935]

12 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

I was hoping other ships do a better job on the chowder. Ours was like water. 

Those pictures are from Eurodam May 2023. It's unfortunate yours was sub par; I do think consistency would result in better passenger experience, so long as it's consistently good 😉

[57redbird]

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

We enjoyed it recently on the Volendam. Very tasty but messy as others have said. No Mariner discount. 
The chowder was *not* anything like Ivar’s (native Washingtonian here). Extremely thin and only a couple clams and tiny bits of potato. No bacon to be seen. 
Other than that we enjoyed it but most likely wouldn’t go again. 
 

I don't like the Ivar's chowder that Costco sells - nothing like the real deal - native Seattle-ite here.

[SusieKIslandGirl]

DH will agree about the chowder. I make geoduck chowder, after he’s been digging the ‘ducks, which beats most all chowders. And I enjoy the plain potato/bacon soup.