Wny the fascination with lobster?

Why do so many people seem to make a big deal that lobster is being served one night in the dining room, usually on elegant night??

 

I love lobster, but I've never understood why some people think it's so special to have it served. It's available in any nice restaurant, doesn't cost anymore than a good filet, and certainly is easy to ruin by overcooking, (which I've found often).

 

"Lobster Night" has taken on a special status on cruise ships, and I just can't figure out why!!

I'm going to take a stab at this one and say it is a combination of things that causes this phenomenon. Most people don't get to dine on lobster that is prepared by a chef while sitting in a formal setting while all dressed up very often. It's a novelty thing. Perhaps they have never had a lobster tail before and this is their chance to try it. Some do it just because they can or because they just like the taste of lobster. Now, personally, I am not a huge lobster fan myself. Especially the way carnival cooks it. I find the tails to often times be rubbery and kinda tasteless. Give me a plate full of blue claw or stone crabs with melted butter on the side and cooked in old bay seasoning. Unfortunately crabs are not on ccl's menu. I will often times go for the st. Louis style ribs on formal ight as they are usually much more tasty and substantial. They are messy though. Saying all this, I still usually get a lobstah tail at dinner on formal night just because it is there and I never eat lobstah when I'm at home.

Why do so many people seem to make a big deal that lobster is being served one night in the dining room, usually on elegant night??

 

I have often wondered about this too. Don't get me wrong. I can gag 3 or 4 of them down without any regrets but to tell the truth, I would be just as happy with shrimp. Fried, broiled, boiled, scampi, bar-b-qued, grilled, ceviche, I don't care how it is fixed. I bet I could eat them raw.

Now look what you have done. I have drool all over my keyboard.:mad:

it is definitely NOT fresh Maine lobster - it is flash frozen Lobster tails - they are still a few steps above "Red Lobster" but until you have had a FRESH Maine lobster --straight off the boat to the pot ....then you don't know what fresh is! We often times meet a fishing boat as it comes in and they have big outdoor fires and pots going - the lobster goes immediately into the pot - now that is "fresh"! Keeping a lobster alive in a tank works, but it's not fresh from our cold Maine waters.

You are so right! Our neighbor has a boat and goes fishing for dolphin(mahi mahi) every now and then. He filets it himself as soon as he gets home, sprinkles it with blackening seasoning, and sears it in a hot pan.....and then he brings some over to us:D. I am not a lover of fish, but when it is fresh off the boat it is delicious. I grew up at the shore in the mid Atlantic region, and we used to go fishing often and filet our own catch and then cook it right away. I do eat the lobster on cruise ships, but I recognize and accept it for what it is. But fish on a cruise ship--I've really never had any that was good, so I no longer order it.

We don't have a single restaurant in our town that serves lobster. In fact, I'll have to go to the city (2 hours one way) to get it. Steak on the other hand, is a dime a dozen in the Midwest - including at home from your own cattle. Nothing better than a KC strip or a good old T-Bone or a ribeye. Having steak out somewhere is not 'special' to us, but lobster and good seafood is.

I agree. Ribeye is great and I love it. But I can buy a good tasting steak at the grocery store for $10 or less most of the time and grill it at home. I don't need to go out to a fancy restaurant to eat it. But I love seafood. Lobster is the ultimate treat. The only place that I know that has it is red lobster. I have seen it on the menu at a couple of places here and there but its at "market price" and that scares me.

I'm really fond of lobster and its nice having all I want to eat at no way that price but I'm really fond of many of the food they serve on the Carnival cruise ships. I'm actually more excited about the escargot and the grand mariner souffle offered on other nights. I'm also very fond of the filet mignon and eggs as well as this sort of Mexican chicken quesadillas with eggs on top that they serve at the brunch on sea days.

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But you get to have as many of those little lobsters as you want at no charge in the main dining room. And most of the time they're quite tender and tasty. Also carnival makes the best escargot on the sea. / I've tried it on many other ships and in restaurants and have never found better escargots than carnivals.

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Honestly, I've never quite understood the obsession with lobster on ships either. It's not like something we can't get at home in restaurants . :confused:

LuLu

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It's available in any nice restaurant, doesn't cost anymore than a good filet, and certainly is easy to ruin by overcooking, (which I've found often).

 

Must be nice to be from Richmond, Virginia.

Can't get lobster at any restaurant where I live.

A few years back we went to some nice restaurant in Oregon where there was lobster. The steaks ran $18-$30, the lobster started about $45. That seems to be the norm on the West coast.

Last summer, I was on a Canada cruise on the Glory. Portland ME was the first port of call. It was lobster night. We stopped at a seafood market at the harbor and purchased some lobster meat and had it. It was good.

 

The lobster served that night at dinner was better than the stuff we had at the seafood store. It was the best we ever had on a cruise, by far. It made me wonder if they loaded up on lobster tails while in port. (They were still small tails)

Picked lobster meat has probably been sitting in the display case for a day or two, so it's not really the greatest. Being able to break a bug down in a minute or two to get all the meat, I just can't figure out why folks pay $30 a pound for picked meat (yeah, I know, the smell and the shells), when they want a lobster roll.

If they were typically small cruise line tails, they weren't from Maine, as Maine is the only state in New England with a minimum keeper size. Also, if the shell wasn't bright red, it was a warm water lobster.

I understand that people who can't get lobster at home would look forward to it on the ship, but I see posts all the time about folks saying that if lobster is cancelled then its a deal breaker, and treating it like it was the ultimate experience of the cruise.

While we'll have a couple of lobster bakes each summer, and this fall one of my wife's clients came in to give the office a bag of lobsters (which we quickly turned into a pile of rolls), I'll still prefer a dinner of fresh caught, well prepared sea scallops!

Just remember -- cruise-ship lobster is essentially a mass-produced product that's been stored for several days. It's not going to compare to fresh lobster from a moderate to high end restaurant. Go ahead and try it, but know that it's not as good as it can be.

That statement is so true! I have lobster when in Maine, otherwise, I will let others "enjoy" it.

we never order lobster on the ship..... Come to Maine and have a lobster dinner on the shore in your jeans and t-shirt in the middle of the summer - then you will know what "good" lobster is.

Do that in Bar Harbor, WOW it's the best!

Many of these answers miss the point. What is served on cruise ship is frozen lobster tail, while what people who live far from the coast say is too expensive to get at home is live Atlantic lobster. The frozen lobster tails served on ships are available at supermarkets throughout the US - and those lobster tails are not from Atlantic lobster - rather, typical, South African "lobster".

"Lobster night" is "special" because people have bought into the hype - not because what is served is anything that special.

Another Mainer here. Come to Maine for the real thing.... it's fresh and relatively inexpensive. Our supermarket will steam it and we can pick it up at a deginated time and then come right home and eat it with drawn butter. Lobster is always available everywhere. Right now they are hard shell..the best! The cost for fresh lobster right now at our market is 5.99 a pound. More in restaurants obviously, but also right off the boats.

That said, the lobster on the ships we've sailed on is cooked from frozen, tiny lobster tails and is nothing special. What gets me is that it is often overcooked. The butter is nice.:D

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Honestly, I've never quite understood the obsession with lobster on ships either. It's not like something we can't get at home in restaurants . :confused:

LuLu

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Then someone needs to explain the fascination with hamburgers.

Sometimes I think I'm the only one who doesn't particularly like lobster - even live and fresh-cooked. A little bit (in a seafood bisque, or part of a seafood salad) is fine, but I'm not excited about lobster. There are other shellfish I prefer (steamed littleneck or cherrystone clams) and other meals I look forward to with much more relish.

It's starting to feel like some people are trying to kill the buzz. Yes there is better lobster out there, but some people like the "fake" non Maine lobster tails. No need for a holier lobster than thou attitude....

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I used to love lobster, Had it all the time.

Then one day a friend asks me. Do you like the lobster or do you like the butter.

I did like the lobster but I really likes the butter.

Ever since then I don't eat near as much lobster. Saved me lots of money over the years

As a New Englander, I agree that I find the fascination with lobsters a bit odd. Lobsters here are cheap, found in most supermarkets (where they will steam them for free), and quite good. The lobsters I've had on the ship were either overcooked, or the warm water kind that are not as sweet or good, in my opinion. But then again, to each his own.

Lots of seafood available on the west coast, but lobster aren't native here, so it's usually $15-$20 per tail. Lobster night on cruises is one of my highlights because I can have as many as I can eat!

We have also been intrigued about the big deal made about the oft, not so good, lobster tails served on most cruise ships. As a lobster lover, I would run for good Maine lobster. But lobster tails, which are often inferior warm water lobster tails, that are often overcooked and salted, is just not a big deal. One can buy better quality lobster tails (the ones from South Africa are really good) and almost any supermarket. And they are very easy to cook. And you do not need to spend thousands of dollars :)

Hank

I haven't had lobster on a cruise ship in years. When I did have them they were always always overcooked, dry and rubbery and they are NOT Maine lobsters. However, on a Canada/NE cruise they did serve them and the menu specifically stated that they were "Cold water Maine Lobsters"...............very different (and VERY good!)

I never order lobster on a cruise. It's not very good quality compared with the fresh lobster you can get for a reasonable price at home.

It's starting to feel like some people are trying to kill the buzz. Yes there is better lobster out there, but some people like the "fake" non Maine lobster tails. No need for a holier lobster than thou attitude....

 

 

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We take our lobsters seriously here in Maine. ;)

Many of these answers miss the point. What is served on cruise ship is frozen lobster tail, while what people who live far from the coast say is too expensive to get at home is live Atlantic lobster. The frozen lobster tails served on ships are available at supermarkets throughout the US - and those lobster tails are not from Atlantic lobster - rather, typical, South African "lobster".

 

"Lobster night" is "special" because people have bought into the hype - not because what is served is anything that special.

I know my husband orders similar at our local Red Lobster, a lobster tail and some shrimp,or maybe it is scallops with the lobster tail? It is not very expensive at all. I am guessing it is frozen there since we live near Atlanta so no ocean near us-although they do have a few live lobsters in a tank if people want to order a whole lobster.

When we go to Myrtle Beach he will sometimes order a fresh whole lobster and again it is not that expensive, no more than a good quality steak would be.

I do not eat seafood myself but my husband will sometimes have the lobster tails on the ship but he is just as apt to pick something else.

Anyway, we certainly do not cruise for lobster,lol!

Then someone needs to explain the fascination with hamburgers.

It is quick and fast to order unless you are in an Applbees/) O'Charley's type restaurant. I do not eat them and my husband usually gets them when we are traveling and he wants to grab a quick meal. He is not going to order that at a regular restaurant that has much better food.