Georgia Peaches heads to The Last Frontier…Seeking Answers…Will She Love Alaska? Live-May 31-June 7th…Teetering on The Edge

[Georgia_Peaches]

Over cocktails in the martini bar DH and I perused the evening dinner options. As it was the second chic night, most of the dining rooms were serving lobster in some form or fashion. I’m allergic to lobster so this is never a special event for me but Luminae was also serving scallops…and pigs feet carpaccio so Luminae was the clear winner. 
 

After grabbing a glass of wine to take along, we headed to Luminae around 8 pm. We were seated at a 2 top next to the window

(our first all week). The water was much calmer and the view was spectacular. 
 

For starters we ordered the creamy Tuscan  kale soup, octopus pasta salad and yes, the pigs foot carpaccio. I asked for an explanation of the dish before ordering. Was told that an actual foot would not appear on the plate. Instead, the meat is shaved from the foot and rolled into a carpaccio…whatever that means. 

The soup was delicious!

 

The octopus pasta salad was outstanding!  I’d order this as a main if doing it again. 
 

 

And here’s the pig foot carpaccio. The round wafers you see here were very thin, like a crepe and the marbling was a mixture of meat and fat. The carpaccio part of the dish is the dollop of pate-like sauce in the middle. I ate a whole disc in one bite. And with great horror soon realized that I wanted to spit it out!  With no safe or discreet way to do so, I had no choice but to swallow. The taste wasn’t as bad as the texture, which was slimy leather. If I had the trained pallet of a true food critic I’d say it needed salt but even added salt wouldn’t convince me to eat more. 
 

I think our server was watching from a distance because almost immediately he appeared to remove the plate. I asked him if he had tried the dish and he said he had but he doesn’t like it. At least I’m in good company!!  
 

The rest of the meal included the scallops for me and a lobster dish for DH. We shared the rack of lamb. the scallops were very good and DH enjoyed his lobster. The lamb was just meh. 
 

We finished out the meal with a glass of port and shared a baked Alaska. 
 

Edited June 6 by Georgia_Peaches

[Georgia_Peaches]

Chic nights on Alaska cruise itineraries are very casual. Last night I dressed up my black silky jogger pants with a tank top and a light jacket and gold sneakers. The hostess said I was fine and that the interpretation of “chic” is given wide berth on Alaska sailings. 
 

After dinner we went to the casino for a final spin. The casino will close at 3 on the last day as we approach Victoria. The machine that had been mine for most of the week switched loyalty to another so I was forced to move on. I found another game in pretty short order and managed to parlay a hundred bucks into 15. Decided to end on a high note and cashed out. 

[Mrs_Tiki]

@Georgia_Peaches, your description of the Pigs Foot Carpaccio experience was not only entertaining, but informative. I appreciate your sense of adventure but will certainly not be emulating you on our upcoming Edge cruise!

 

Thank you for taking one for the team...

[abbydancer2003]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

 

 

 

 

And here’s the pig foot carpaccio. The round wafers you see here were very thin, like a crepe and the marbling was a mixture of meat and fat. The carpaccio part of the dish is the dollop of pate-like sauce in the middle. I ate a whole disc in one bite. And with great horror soon realized that I wanted to spit it out!  With no safe or discreet way to do so, I had no choice but to swallow. The taste wasn’t as bad as the texture, which was slimy leather. If I had the trained pallet of a true food critic I’d say it needed salt but even added salt wouldn’t convince me to eat more. 
 

I think our server was watching from a distance because almost immediately he appeared to remove the plate. I asked him if he had tried the dish and he said he had but he doesn’t like it. At least I’m in good company!!  
 

 

 

 

 

 

DH tried it and pretty much hated it.  He too, thought it was slimy.  Our waiter told us that pretty much nobody likes it.  We were told by one Maitre'd that it's not actually raw.  

[broberts]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

And here’s the pig foot carpaccio. The round wafers you see here were very thin, like a crepe and the marbling was a mixture of meat and fat.

 

I believe the round "wafers" are the carpaccio. I suspect center dollop is the porcini emulsion. It does not look appetizing.

 

[markeb]

55 minutes ago, abbydancer2003 said:

DH tried it and pretty much hated it.  He too, thought it was slimy.  Our waiter told us that pretty much nobody likes it.  We were told by one Maitre'd that it's not actually raw.  

Of course it’s not raw. It’s pork. 
 

I actually had it last night. My main complaint was texture. There’s an emulsion of I assume olive oil and there’s no real flavoring. Throw in some garlic and red pepper, reduce the emulsion, and it would be fine. Maybe put a small piece of toasted bread under it. But you start with an idea that many will dislike and make it bland and slimy…

 

Summit didn’t have the wafers. 

Edited June 6 by markeb

[Georgia_Peaches]

36 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

I believe the round "wafers" are the carpaccio. I suspect center dollop is the porcini emulsion. It does not look appetizing.

 

Seems logical. There may have been a bit of a language barrier as it relates to the description. 

[cruzzzinma]

Has the (formerly know as) child-size filet mignon (4 oz) returned to Luminae? That was always my go-to if nothing struck my fancy on the menu.

Edited June 6 by cruzzzinma

[Georgia_Peaches]

13 minutes ago, cruzzzinma said:

Has the (formerly know as) child-size filet mignon (4 oz) returned to Luminae? That was always my go-to if nothing struck my fancy on the menu.

Not for dinner. It was offered one day at lunch. 

[lovecruzin]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Chic nights on Alaska cruise itineraries are very casual. Last night I dressed up my black silky jogger pants with a tank top and a light jacket and gold sneakers. The hostess said I was fine and that the interpretation of “chic” is given wide berth on Alaska sailings. 
 

Your outfit sounds perfectly acceptable!  We know Nia from several cruises on Eclipse in The MDR. She was very good at discreetly enforcing the dress code. We found on our 6 day Edge from Vancouver, a few men in tank tops at lunch and shorts and baseball caps at dinner.  She said that many suite guests have the attitude of they’ll wear what they want because they paid a lot for the retreat (that is my paraphrasing, she was much more diplomatic). 
 

Thanks for taking us along on your cruise!
 

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

1 hour ago, markeb said:

Of course it’s not raw. It’s pork. 
 

I actually had it last night. My main complaint was texture. There’s an emulsion of I assume olive oil and there’s no real flavoring. Throw in some garlic and red pepper, reduce the emulsion, and it would be fine. Maybe put a small piece of toasted bread under it. But you start with an idea that many will dislike and make it bland and slimy…

 

Summit didn’t have the wafers. 

Yeah, we figured that, but I'd always thought Carpacchio meant raw.  That said, I can't imagine serving raw pork.  Still looked terrible to me.

[markeb]

5 minutes ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Yeah, we figured that, but I'd always thought Carpacchio meant raw.  That said, I can't imagine serving raw pork.  Still looked terrible to me.

Normally for beef or fish it would be. The recipes I’ve seen using pork are either precooked (actually using pigs feet) or smoked. It looks worse than it is, but I’m probably one and done. Carpaccio of beef or tuna would be much better…

[PTC DAWG]

11 minutes ago, markeb said:

Normally for beef or fish it would be. The recipes I’ve seen using pork are either precooked (actually using pigs feet) or smoked. It looks worse than it is, but I’m probably one and done. Carpaccio of beef or tuna would be much better…

Agree..I love the thinly sliced beef carpaccio…tuna is excellent too..

 

Good work Peaches on giving it the old college try. 
 

I would  have ordered scallops and lobster and see what they said. 🙂

Edited June 6 by PTC DAWG

[DaKahuna]

4 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I am not bothered by the motion in terms of feeling sick but it was noticeable enough to have sea sickness bags posted and available in public restrooms and the evening show which included acrobatics was postponed until the the final night. 

 

On our last cruise, twice Celebrity put sea sickness bags out on the end of the stair wells on deck four and five.   The seas were a little rough but I did not think them that rough.   

 

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, cruzzzinma said:

Has the (formerly know as) child-size filet mignon (4 oz) returned to Luminae? That was always my go-to if nothing struck my fancy on the menu.

 

 It's now a New York Stirp vice fliet mignon.  

 

[DaKahuna]

20 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I would  have ordered scallops and lobster and see what they said. 🙂

 

 Nothing would have been said.  I've done that.  

 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

Loving your review. Sorry it is almost Friday. Would be there any way you could post The Eden Wine menu? 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

21 hours ago, Texed said:

We love Luminae.  😋

We mostly do too. But I think they need to add more options. (and remove anything with pig feet!)

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, cruzzzinma said:

Has the (formerly know as) child-size filet mignon (4 oz) returned to Luminae? That was always my go-to if nothing struck my fancy on the menu.

When I was on Edge they had replaced the 4 ounce Filet with a 4 ounce NY or Sirloin on Apex . With advance notice they were able to provide us with a Filet.

Edited June 6 by Jim_Iain

[Georgia_Peaches]

We attended the Captains Club wine tasting this morning. It was a nice event featuring some wines that we hadn’t tried on this cruise. 
 

When we returned to our room luggage’s and boarding passes awaited us for debarkation tomorrow. I highly recommend the port valet service offered free of charge by the port of Seattle. I signed us up ahead of time. The service will collect our luggage and transport to the airport. In addition, we are already checked in for our 3:30 flight tomorrow afternoon. This is great because Alaska airlines will only allow checked bags 4 hours before flight time. Without this service we would have had to wait in the prescresning area until the 4 hour window opened. This free service seemed like a no brainer to us. In addition, we prepaid for port transfers via Seattle Express. 

[dlh015]

5 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 It's now a New York Stirp vice fliet mignon.  

 

Now that's too bad! (just my opinion...)

[dlh015]

BTW @Georgia_Peaches, I completely concur with your opinions re Luminae. Frankly, I much preferred eating lunch there as versus dinner.  

[DaKahuna]

21 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

BTW @Georgia_Peaches, I completely concur with your opinions re Luminae. Frankly, I much preferred eating lunch there as versus dinner.  

 

 We only sail on M and S class ships where you can order from the MDR, and sometimes Blu, menu's in Luminae.   Best of both worlds .. 

 

 

  

[jelayne]

8 hours ago, cruzzzinma said:

Has the (formerly know as) child-size filet mignon (4 oz) returned to Luminae? That was always my go-to if nothing struck my fancy on the menu.

It doesn’t show on the menu, it is a sirloin.  But our waiter seemed to be able to get me a small filet when nothing else worked. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

We rounded out our final day of this cruise mostly relaxing. Pulling into Victoria at 4:30 and then being cleared to get off an hour later really made for another sea day with limited time to do much of anything in the actual port. Weather in Victoria was beautiful and we had made plans to meet up with a family member in the area but that plan fell through so we walked the port area for a bit and then got back on the ship. 
 

Dinner in Luminae was smoked tomato soup, filet mignon and chocolate tart. The steak was cooked exactly as requested and tasted great. If I hadn’t been stuffed from eating my way through the week, I would have been sad with the small dollop of potato and green bean that came with the meal. 

I’m pretty sure this chocolate tart is the same as the ones they offer in Al Baccio. 
 

After dinner we headed to the theater for the production show that had been rescheduled from the night before. It was a well produced show with some nice vocals and dance numbers. The theater was on the empty side though as many people were likely still in port or at dinner. Still, we enjoyed it!

 

We called it a night after the show and returned to our room to put a lid on another successful and enjoyable Celebrity cruise. 
 

Random thoughts and minor rant to follow…