Sushi Princess

I've been on exactly ONE cruise in my life, and that was on the fantastic Regal Princess last December. :D I love to eat sushi and before the cruise I assumed I would be able to satisfy any sushi cravings I had on Princess' newest, largest ship. Boy was I wrong. I was surprised to find that only a few types - less than 5 - were offered, almost as an afterthought, at the Ocean Terrace. When I tried to indulge, I was VERY disappointed in the quality and of course the lack of variety. Maybe it is an exercise in expectation management, but is good sushi simply not a culinary priority on Princess ships? It sure didn't stop me from loving the cruise (booked my second for this December), but maybe the future has a different ship in store - one that serves up my fishy delicacies with aplomb! Is there such a thing?

Well darn. Here I thought this thread was going to be about the latest Princess ship to sail in Asia...EM

Sadly the sushi in HC has diminished in quality lately. I recall the offerings in Cafe Caribe on the Grand Class ships to be passable, but in HC on Royal Class to be dry and tasteless...too bad.

Try the sushi in Vines for a better experience. It's free with any beverage purchase.

Lew

Well darn. Here I thought this thread was going to be about the latest Princess ship to sail in Asia...EM

LOL I was thinking the same thing. But it does have a nice ring to it. :)

I think the sushi selection is dictated by safe food handling procedures. Unless its made to order, it can go bad quickly. Most of it isnt real sushi anyhow.

The thought of supermarket sushi comes to mind, ewwww

Sadly the sushi in HC has diminished in quality lately. I recall the offerings in Cafe Caribe on the Grand Class ships to be passable, but in HC on Royal Class to be dry and tasteless...too bad.

 

Try the sushi in Vines for a better experience. It's free with any beverage purchase.

 

Lew

Was on the Regal earlier in the month. Also very disappointed in the sushi. Dry and tasteless, indeed.

We recently had sushi at Vines on the Crown. Although the fish on the nigiri pieces was good, the rice was not. Come to think of it, I have never had good sushi on any of the three lines I've sailed. No, I don't think sushi is a priority offering for cruise ships and really excellent sushi would be cost prohibitive if it were offered freely. If there were a specialty restaurant for sushi, that might be different. As a matter of fact, I believe the Diamond now has a sushi specialty restaurant.

We recently had sushi at Vines on the Crown. Although the fish on the nigiri pieces was good, the rice was not. Come to think of it, I have never had good sushi on any of the three lines I've sailed. No, I don't think sushi is a priority offering for cruise ships and really excellent sushi would be cost prohibitive if it were offered freely. If there were a specialty restaurant for sushi, that might be different. As a matter of fact, I believe the Diamond now has a sushi specialty restaurant.

Yes... Sun Princess and Diamond Princess have the Kai Sushi restaurant.

As per RickEk, check out the Princess web site for their Specialty Restaurants that are on the Diamond and Sun Princess. They have the "Kai Sushi" menus, listing of over 25 items. Lot more than those five items you had.

During last Chef's Table, I had a chance to ask chef about some of inner workings of food service.

Per company and USDA rules, they are not allowed to take any food from non-US port. So entire week you are eating stuff that was loaded at beginning of the cruise. Why do you think crab shack can be reduced price towards end of the cruise?

So, sushi you are going to enjoy will be a slab of fish frozen for a week. Not saying it's horrible or anything, but do not expect amazing experience.

During last Chef's Table, I had a chance to ask chef about some of inner workings of food service.

 

Per company and USDA rules, they are not allowed to take any food from non-US port. So entire week you are eating stuff that was loaded at beginning of the cruise. Why do you think crab shack can be reduced price towards end of the cruise?

 

So, sushi you are going to enjoy will be a slab of fish frozen for a week. Not saying it's horrible or anything, but do not expect amazing experience.

So where do the ships that homeport out of the US get their food?

I have never found decent Sushi on a Princess cruise. :(

During last Chef's Table, I had a chance to ask chef about some of inner workings of food service.

 

Per company and USDA rules, they are not allowed to take any food from non-US port. So entire week you are eating stuff that was loaded at beginning of the cruise. Why do you think crab shack can be reduced price towards end of the cruise?

 

So, sushi you are going to enjoy will be a slab of fish frozen for a week. Not saying it's horrible or anything, but do not expect amazing experience.

In that case the chef lied to you.

I enjoy sushi but any that I have had on a Princess ship has been pretty average.

StanLaurel: Crystal cruises has Nobu overseeing the specialty Japanese restaurant. Japanese, Peruvian fusion sashimi, sushi, Asian tastes. Sushi bar and table service.

Crystal cruise line is a very different animal than Princess.

Sushi in or coming from USA is always frozen so unless you go to Japan it is what you get.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the sushi on our recent cruise on the Eurodam (holland America). Excellent sushi in the surcharge restaurant Tamarind, and very decent freshly made sushi daily on the lunch buffet in the Asian section. Agree that sushi on Princess has not been good.