The new menus

We are just back from 3 weeks on Cloud. There are no changes to the breakfast or room service menus (I don't think they have changed since we first went on Silversea in 2000, but that's a separate issue!).

Lunch was much as usual, with the Terrazza offering salads, pizza and some hot dishes. The pool grill lunches also have not changed, though the "fish of the day" didn't seem to change from day to day as much as usual. The dining room lunches also were the same sort of choices as we were used to.

The real change is the dinner menu in the Restaurant. At first glance it looks OK, with choices of cold and hot starters, soups, salads, fish, meat/poultry, vegetarian. The problem is in the detail: lots of repetition (we were on 2 cruises back to back, so some repetition is inevitable, but beef goulash 3 times...). There is also a burger choice every night, which I felt belonged more appropriately on a room service menu than on a dining room menu. There also seemed to be a lack of thinking everything through; scallops 2 nights running, a chicken choice at lunch and an almost identical chicken dish in the evening, for example.

The big loss for me is the "always available" choices, which I used to go for regularly on previous cruises, including the extra vegetables. I did discover that if you want something simple, then they can adapt the dishes on the main menu - for example, they had a lemon sole dish with quinoa and a fancy sauce and I asked for the sole grilled with just french fries and tartare sauce, and that was no problem.

Yes, I know you can order something different at 24 hours notice, but who wants to think that far ahead on holiday?

Having said all this, we enjoyed the trip; the staff were superb, and the weather behaved. I just hope they re-think the menus.

Gwyneth

We are just back from 3 weeks on Cloud. There are no changes to the breakfast or room service menus. Lunch was much as usual, with the Terrazza offering salads, pizza and some hot dishes. The pool grill lunches also have not changed, though the "fish of the day" didn't seem to change from day to day as much as usual. The real change is the dinner menu in the Restaurant. At first glance it looks OK, with choices of cold and hot starters, soups, salads, fish, meat/poultry, vegetarian. The problem is in the detail: lots of repetition (we were on 2 cruises back to back, so some repetition is inevitable, but beef goulash 3 times...). The big loss for me is the "always available" choices, which I used to go for regularly on previous cruises, including the extra vegetables. Yes, I know you can order something different at 24 hours notice, but who wants to think that far ahead on holiday? Having said all this, we enjoyed the trip; the staff were superb, and the weather behaved. I just hope they re-think the menus. Gwyneth

Appreciate, Gwyneth, these various details and updates. YES, it's nice to hear that you enjoyed your B2B trip, the staff being so good, etc. From our 26-day, B2B Silver Cloud sailing earlier this year, the variety in the MDR was fine and we never went to the "always available" choices. For our upcoming Feb. 2016 South Africa cruise on the Silver Cloud, it seems that we might need to plan ahead a little and be creative with some advanced requests, if and if. We will see if Silversea makes any needed adjustments to make sure that the evening MDR offerings are up to the usual standards we have enjoyed in the past.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 186,018 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

Always available is still...always available.

So is decide what you want to eat and enjoy with notice for tomorrow as you leave the dining room.Plenty of lobster Thermidor ,Chinese selection ,Indian ,Filipino banquet,surf & turf,Dover sole etc.Menu not required and food cooked to order,works well for us