Stilton cheese on the cheese plate?

My DH favorite cheese is stilton. Does anyone know if this is ever served on the ship?

When we were on the Rotterdam 2 years ago, they did have Stilton on the cheese plate - it's DH's favourite too. He's looking forward to ordering the cheese plate both after dinner and as an in-cabin snack. I can't eat it because I'm allergic to penicillin - and that's okay with me, as just the smell of the stuff turns me off!

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

I think they use plain blue cheese and not Stilton.

I am a cheese lover too and occasionally order the cheese plate. It tends to be less than a delicate offering - mainly just several large chunks of cheese of unknown origin. It is cheese and that can be good enough, but not sure there was that much intentional choice or variety.

On a recent Crystal Cruise there was a "cheese sommelier" and an elaborate listing that changed nightly but after a few days it was repeating itself and it was harder and harder to get the "cheese sommelier who in fact was the Maitre d' who was not too keen to come over and do all the cheese discussions and bother with the time it took.

So that was the "Crystal Difference" - quite a bit of hype, but no traction. You want cheese on HAL ships, they give you plate of cheese and it is not much more than that. But the cheese is good. I eat a lot of it on HAL ships, but mainly from the Lido buffet.

I am a cheese lover too and occasionally order the cheese plate. It tends to be less than a delicate offering - mainly just several large chunks of cheese of unknown origin. It is cheese and that can be good enough, but not sure there was that much intentional choice or variety.

Good description of what we have experienced. We have never gotten an explanation of what cheese is what. The waiters don't know and flee while pretending they did not hear the question.

Your husband could just ask for a bit of Stilton and see what he gets, if anything.

On our recent Amsterdam cruise -- this was the write up of the Dessert Cheese Plate:

Artisan Cheese Selection -- Select 4 options from our artisan menu.

We did not order the cheese plate any night -- so I can not tell you anything about it. But another couple said that their waiter said it was 4 slices of cheeses selected by the chef each evening. Didn't sound like there was a choice.

When we were on the Ryndam -- one of the appetizers that you could order at the MIX between 11 AM and 2 PM was a cheese plate. I ordered it -- one bite of each of the following: swiss, american, brie and edam.

On the Noordam last year (Caribbean, TA & Spain) there was no Stilton. In fact, the cheese selection was rather poor.

The best cheese selection I have ever had is on Windstar cruises. They seem to understand what a cheese lover would like. Also, they seemed very knowledgeable about the cheeses.

Here is the Crystal cheese hype:

http://www.crystalcruises.com/MediaCenter.aspx?pr=477&JLT=cheese

The worst part was only the Cheese Sommelier could take the cheese order and because he had other important duties to the rest of the dining room, some nights we had to sit and wait far too long for him to come over since the waiters were not allowed to take my cheese order after having been handed the menu. That got old fast so after my first few nights enjoying the cheese offerings, I simply stopped ordering them.

When the Head Cheese was available to chat, it was interesting but clearly he did not have time to spend chatting up cheeses with individual tables. In the past on a former Crystal Cruise, the regular table waiter wheeled out a cart and selections were directly made from the cart though I am sure many waiters were not trained in any of their individual nuances or wine pairing recommendations.

In fact on Crystal Cruise, it appears required protocol to lavishly compliment the passenger on any menu choice one makes, and that also included the utlimate cheese selections too. No matter what combinations I ordered each night, they were "excellent, strong, robust, classic, impressive (yada, yada, yada) selections according to the Head Cheese.

Not tempting fate, I did not ask for pre-wrapped Velveeta to pair with a tall neck Budweiser. So not sure if that selection would have also been deemed "excellent, strong, robust, classic, impressive" (yada, yada, yada) too.

But without all the fuss, at least Crystal had a good range of choices and you knew what you were getting. But like the Yum Yum Man on HAL, the luxury of a single staff person for an isolated dedicated task probably is a luxury few can still afford.

Celebrity's Murano Cheese Cart is amazing. There are about 20(including Stilton) International and North American cheeses and the waiters know the name of everyone. There is no mention of it on the menu so we missed it the first time we dined in Murano. We saw the cart at the show and tell presentation of the a la carte restaurants the next day and mentioned it to the Manager. He asked what we were doing that night for dinner and when we said the main dining room, he said "Don't have dessert and come to Murano and we will serve you dessert,cheese plate and coffee-Free. Wonderful gesture and we just loved the cheese and the service.

That is good to know because we are trending more and more towards Celebrity.

We have really noticed that the quality of the food being served in the non pay restaurants on many cruise lines, including Celebrity, HAL, and Princess has slipped. We notice this most in the quality of the beef dishes and the quality and types of cheeses that are offered. We like both and have pretty much stopped ordering the cheese plates lately because they have become so homogenous and boring.

I often bring my own cheese on board...and when it's gone, it's gone. A favorite is Saint-Andre and I know they don't stock that on the ships.

Celebrity's Murano Cheese Cart is amazing. There are about 20(including Stilton) International and North American cheeses and the waiters know the name of everyone. There is no mention of it on the menu so we missed it the first time we dined in Murano. We saw the cart at the show and tell presentation of the a la carte restaurants the next day and mentioned it to the Manager. He asked what we were doing that night for dinner and when we said the main dining room, he said "Don't have dessert and come to Murano and we will serve you dessert,cheese plate and coffee-Free. Wonderful gesture and we just loved the cheese and the service.

Murano has $35 surcharge. HAL Pinnacle is $20. For the fifteen extra bucks you get better cheese ...... and cheese knowledge. Deal or no deal?

This is hardly a comparison of HAL or Celebrity, let alone Murano and Pinnacle.

Why get so uptight and defensive about a piece of cheese?

I had the cheese plate on the Eurodam last week - I was given a printed list of about 10 cheeses (name and description) to choose from. My selection of four was beautifully presented with grapes and biscuits. It was available in the main dining room every evening.

Sorry, not being a fan of stilton, I don't remember if it was on the list but I don't think that it was there.

I have a feeling that the dinner "Artisan Cheese Selection" will vary by ship and what has been ordered for that ship.

I like Stilton, also. I asked for a double serving of Stilton from the selection and they just doubled the whole plate - no problem. The Stilton wasn't Colston Bassett quality, but it was very good.

Not that this has anything to do with anything...but every time Stilton cheese is mentioned I think of Wallace and Gromit,:):o

Not that this has anything to do with anything...but every time Stilton cheese is mentioned I think of Wallace and Gromit,:):o

But Wallace loves Wensleydale cheese ;);)

:D

But Wallace loves Wensleydale cheese ;);)

 

 

:D

but of course,silly me. ;) Sending a big hello from Canada your way..young William and Kate made quite the impression while visiting. Not sure if they had any cheese.:)

When we were on the Ryndam -- one of the appetizers that you could order at the MIX between 11 AM and 2 PM was a cheese plate. I ordered it -- one bite of each of the following: swiss, american, brie and edam.

American on a cheese plate? :eek::confused::mad:

A favorite is Saint-Andre and I know they don't stock that on the ships.

That's a yum. :D

Boytjie- did you win anything at the Actor's Fund auction? Hope it wasn't cheesy.

Not tempting fate, I did not ask for pre-wrapped Velveeta to pair with a tall neck Budweiser. So not sure if that selection would have also been deemed "excellent, strong, robust, classic, impressive" (yada, yada, yada) too.

 

HAHA ha ha ha!! Ok, my sides hurt!

I live in wine country. Lots of pretentious Yadas.

If you are in the mood, do this: Tell them to skip the adjectives and give you the name, because you already know what you want. Even if you aren't familiar with it. Then grimace, hand it back and tell them it's gotten a bit musty.

:D Just choked on my coffee.

HAHA ha ha ha!! Ok, my sides hurt!

I live in wine country. Lots of pretentious Yadas.

If you are in the mood, do this: Tell them to skip the adjectives and give you the name, because you already know what you want. Even if you aren't familiar with it. Then grimace, hand it back and tell them it's gotten a bit musty.

:D Just choked on my coffee.

It was hard to contain my original disappointment when they stated they no longer offered Philly Cream aged in charred oak.

On our British Isles cruise in September on the Crown Princess, the cheese choices were far superior to what we had in March on HAL's Veendam. Yes, Princess had Stilton, excellent Stilton, on several nights.