Fresh Milk?

Does anyone know whether fresh milk is available onboard? If not, is it permissible to bring it onboard? Pet hate is uht milk in tea/coffee.

I never asked however they had what looked and tasted like fresh milk. Ask ship services as you would for any special dietary need.

Does anyone know whether fresh milk is available onboard? If not, is it permissible to bring it onboard? Pet hate is uht milk in tea/coffee.

Do you mean raw or unpasteurized milk? Or will regular pasteurized/homogenized do. In reality they do not have a cow on board so it must be bottled as a dairy. They also have real cream too.

What is UHT.....never heard of it..is that powered milk?

Do you mean raw or unpasteurized milk? Or will regular pasteurized/homogenized do. In reality they do not have a cow on board so it must be bottled as a dairy. They also have real cream too.

What is UHT.....never heard of it..is that powered milk?

Regular, 2%, pasteurised milk is what I meant. I've only been on one cruise (with Regent) and no such milk was available. Just half and half and UHT (which is a high temperature treated milk which results in longer life, but a weird, sweet flavour).

Does anyone know whether fresh milk is available onboard? If not, is it permissible to bring it onboard? Pet hate is uht milk in tea/coffee.

Of course there's Fresh Milk onboard!! They would be asking for a rebellion from passengers if they didn't serve it!! Fresh milk is delivered to the ship in just about every port....

I'm not sure about "bringing it onboard" as they seem to want to prevent anything being brought on that may cause sickness to other passengers. You should inquire of Oceania before you try!!

Hello,

Sorry to say I was on the fabulous Marina last year in a top suite and they dont have fresh milk even the butler could not get any (lack of refrigeration space I was told) and you can bring your own - hope you have a lot of ports!

Unfortunately, the milk is mostly UHT. I really hate Cornflakes or tea /coffee with UHT milk, so I bring my own on board and pop it in the fridge, that way I can have a decent cup of coffee/tea with full fat fresh milk on my cereal.

I'm not very sociable at breakfast so it suits me well to have breakfast delivered!

Each to his own, I suppose. I can hear he howls of disgust already.....

:eek:

I have to echo Torbsboy and PSCaledonia's comments......one of the first things I do when researching ports of call is to figure out the closest supermarket to the pier.....

So far, the best fresh milk we have found has been the gloriously unpasteurised variety from the farmers market adjacent to the pier in Halifax, Nova Scotia, closely followed by Morrisons (UK Chain) Gold Top from their store close to the pier in Gibraltar :)

I can say I never noticed a difference in the taste of the milk

How funny! I just clicked on the 'public profile' of each of the answers above, and noticed that the ones who knew what I was talking about are all from the UK. All my friends in the US (where I spend 3-4 months per year) know of our funny little 'quirks' and provide fresh milk for us, but I notice that they all have 'half and half' in their coffee which is probably why some of you don't notice the difference.

Thank you all for the replies and also the advice that we can take fresh milk onboard - which I will certainly do. Long life milk is just about bearable in coffee, but in tea it is absolutely disgusting and completely disguises the delicate flavour of good tea.

How funny! I just clicked on the 'public profile' of each of the answers above, and noticed that the ones who knew what I was talking about are all from the UK.

Well I am not from the US & I have bought UHT milk before as well as fresh milk & as I said I did not notice a difference

Maybe the UHT milk we get here in Canada is different from the UK & on the ship

Just my experience

Lyn

Probably my only pet peeve regarding O is the milk they serve, it is not fresh milk. I do not drink tea or coffee but love to have a glass of cold milk with breakfast. I understand the whys of the other milk (longer shelf life) but I will admit to this milk reminding me of the powder milk my mom used to try to sneak by us when we ran out of fresh milk!!! Ugh :)

Even the milkshakes are made with this preserved milk and I can definitely taste the difference.

But I never thought to purchase my own at the port and bring it on board!! LOL Thanks for the idea.

Probably my only pet peeve regarding O is the milk they serve, it is not fresh milk. I do not drink tea or coffee but love to have a glass of cold milk with breakfast. I understand the whys of the other milk (longer shelf life) but I will admit to this milk reminding me of the powder milk my mom used to try to sneak by us when we ran out of fresh milk!!! Ugh :)

Even the milkshakes are made with this preserved milk and I can definitely taste the difference.

But I never thought to purchase my own at the port and bring it on board!! LOL Thanks for the idea.

I guess that explains why I've never cared for the Milkshakes. Love the ice creams though.

Have to agree that the milk I have been served onboard is pretty lousy. I love a glass of milk with cake, so tried ordering milk with dessert several times. Now I stick to coffee on my cruises. :)

I'm kind of glad I'm not the only one as I know I'm a bit on the fussy side! I can understand that refrigeration space is limited, but I would have thought that fresh milk is a basic necessity. Maybe Oceania could think about compromising and sell it onboard to save us the trouble of having to shop for it and carry back.

This isn't particularly logical if you think about it - fresh milk, whether to be consumed free of charge in restaurants OR for sale to passengers needs refridgeration. UHT doesn't. if you have ever been in the galley area of these ships you would see that they do have huge walk in fridges but even huger walk in dry storage. So that is why I suppose they serve UHT milk. They don't have to take up fridge space for it.

Personally I think a good cup of tea (or coffee) is totally ruined by adding milk - or sugar. Really spoils the taste of the tea. But - chacun à son goût as one says.

This isn't particularly logical if you think about it - fresh milk, whether to be consumed free of charge in restaurants OR for sale to passengers needs refridgeration. UHT doesn't. if you have ever been in the galley area of these ships you would see that they do have huge walk in fridges but even huger walk in dry storage. So that is why I suppose they serve UHT milk. They don't have to take up fridge space for it.

 

Personally I think a good cup of tea (or coffee) is totally ruined by adding milk - or sugar. Really spoils the taste of the tea. But - chacun à son goût as one says.

Yes, perhaps it is a bridge too far. I guess it depends on one's priorities. For me, fresh milk in (certain) teas, (all) coffee and with cereal/breakfast oats is important, but I realise that being onboard does mean compromising in some areas and, clearly, this is one.

After all the hub bub here I asked DH if he saw real milk

he said he thought when we had ordered room service breakfast we had a small carton of whole milk for the cereal ...now this was in 2011 & he is old (67) so his mind might have mis remembered

You could always contact special services & ask for them to have "real Milk " onboard for you just as others request other foods/drinks

worse case is your butler can run ashore & get you some

Lyn

While possible lack of refrigeration space might be an issue, believe most of the posters are missing the big reason for UHT milk and that is the limited shelf life of "real" milk.

While it is possible to get sufficient "real" milk that will last for the entire cruise, there are cases where "real" milk is not available at the port of embarkation or at interim ports. Long cruises will have the "real" milk expiring before the cruise is over thus possibly making no milk available.

Also "real" milk in some ports may not meet the cruise lines requirements making UHT milk the only way to go. Simple logistics and perhaps costs may be the ultimate reason UHT milk is so often found on cruise ships.

I agree with rallydave. There are enough logistical challenges for cruise lines so UHT milk is a safe and economical solution. The downside is that some passengers may perceive the difference with their normally used product. I vote on the side of safety.

I agree with rallydave. There are enough logistical challenges for cruise lines so UHT milk is a safe and economical solution. The downside is that some passengers may perceive the difference with their normally used product. I vote on the side of safety.

Well said, the milk was just fine both for coffee and for drinking and cereal.

Well said, the milk was just fine both for coffee and for drinking and cereal.

I agree, the trick is to get them to serve it to you very cold and in a glass container.

We only noticed the different taste when the milk was delivered in those waxy cardboard boxes, which are reminiscent of a Juice Box, anyway ".

.

You won't convince any British posters on this thread that UHT milk is palatable however it is packaged and served......

I buy unpasteurised milk when I can, but this is only available direct from the dairy farms or from a farmers market.....pasteurised is an acceptable compromise, UHT is not.

I do not drink milk at all (except 1/2 & 1/2 in coffee) so I have no dog in this fight, so to speak. However, just out of curiosity I would like to know what kind of milk do they serve on British lines like Cunard, P&O, Swan Hellenic, Discovery cruises and others .

I do not drink milk at all (except 1/2 & 1/2 in coffee) so I have no dog in this fight, so to speak. However, just out of curiosity I would like to know what kind of milk do they serve on British lines like Cunard, P&O, Swan Hellenic, Discovery cruises and others .

Cunard serves UHT normally, but fresh is available on request, certainly in Queens Grill. Fred. Olsen serves fresh on ex UK itineraries. No idea about the others as I have never sailed with them.