SpaceGirl

You can fill it from the faucet in your room

I figured but wasn't sure. Sometimes the bathroom faucets are so close to the sinks, I can't put my water bottle underneath it.

Yes! We always bring water bottles. We fill it up at the buffet. Just be careful that you fill it up using their glasses so that you aren't touching your bottle to the water dispenser.

 

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The bottle I'd be bringing has a removable lid (like a sports bottle), and I drink from the lid, not from the part where I put water in at. Do you still recommend that I do the same and fill it up with their glasses?

I'm a huge water drinker, and I pretty much have a water bottle with me 24/7, that I sip from throughout the day and fill when it's empty. Will Princess allow me to bring an empty water bottle on board? And if so, are there places around the ship where I can fill it for free? I'd prefer to carry a bottle around with me when possible and not just wait for meals, and I don't want to pay $36 (or however much it is) to have ten bottles delivered to my stateroom. Thanks!

I started a favorite food thread (and if you want to add to it, what your favorite dishes are, it should be on this first page, titled "Favorite Dishes"). Anyway, I'm pretty much just a water drinker, with the exception of a cup of morning caffeine (coffee or chai), and the occasional cocktail. What alcoholic drinks do you recommend on board (Ruby)? I'm not a huge fan of beer and wine, so I'm looking mostly for cocktail suggestions, though I wouldn't mind a wine suggestion if it's on the sweet side. I find most to be bitter, but I have liked a few dessert wines in the past. Mai Tai is one of my favorites.

WOW, what a great thread!

We cruise in November and this brings all those favorite food memories forward; Goat Cheese Souffle/Fettuccine Alfredo/Escargot/Pub Lunch/Afternoon Tea/ PIZZA/ Trident Grill burgers/ I.C. warm cookies or Tiramisu... OK the oatmeal cookies from the I.C. or the Buffet are great for me.

Only have time for one each day love those ten night cruises.

Not so sure about the Crown Grill our last two cruises it was not so great.

I hope you have a great cruise and book many more of them

Thank you!

Burgers are available at the Trident Grill on Lido deck & also in the dining room.

 

The IC has several rotating choices of sandwiches such as a chicken/pineapple, BBQ beef & a Cuban. You can make it a soup & sandwich by having their soup de jour.

Don't know if he'd eat the chicken/pineapple, but he'd definitely eat the BBQ beef and Cuban. Both sound good to me, as well!

We love the international cafe. For breakfast they have the BEST almond croissant. The salads for lunch often has shrimps. Often you see so many people watching some kind of activity and snacking from the international cafe. Our favorite by far. On the MDR we love the cold soup when they are the smoothly style.

Oh, looks like we'll be having a lot of lunches at the IC, if I can help it! LOVE salads with shrimp on it! Do they have burgers or roast beef sandwiches, a good selection of stuff without seafood in it? My companion hates seafood (where I'm thinking I'll probably live off of it this cruise). His favorite foods are things with beef in it (burgers, french dips, pastrami), and Fettuccine Alfredo.

Anything that has ice cream on it or in it.:D :D :D Try a Volcano it's on the kids menu.

Tony

What is it?

One advantage of late dining is that you can take advantage of the afternoon tea (held in a main dining room every afternoon at no charge). You can eat the scones, the little sandwiches, and the little pastries - may be enough to tide you over until dinner.

I'll definitely try it, but I'm normally not hungry for dinner as it is, and I usually skip it in normal, everyday life, since I'm not hungry for it. I'm thinking if I am hungry for dinner, it likely won't be until close to the time we're scheduled to eat. But I'll definitely put it on the to-do list, to try the tea at some point while we're there!

It is also possible to meet interesting passengers if you choose to share a table at Anytime Dining.

I will talk to him and find out if he has his heart absolutely set on dining with the same people, at the same table every night. I'm not thrilled about the idea of eating at 8:30 every night, but I'm totally fine with doing it if he has his heart set on it. I have a preference toward Anytime, but it's not a strong preference. The one thing I like about it is I might actually be hungry for dinner at that time. Since I'm going to be eating breakfast and lunch (and probably a lot of it!), I'm more likely to be hungry later than earlier.

I don't get to eat a lot of salmon at home as the boys don't like it. I tend to order salmon every second night in the MDR.

I love that we all get to eat what we love when on a cruise, just adds on to a fab holiday!

 

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Two of our excursions include salmon bakes, so I'm so looking forward to that!

We enjoy the wonderful scones with jam and "clotted" cream (Princess version). They are served at afternoon tea, usually in a MDR at 3:30-4:30. They are so good.

Thank you! Will definitely put that on my to-try list!

I love the Fettuccini Alfredo and I frequently request an appetizer size portion. That stuff is addictive.

 

For dessert I love the warm soufflés ( any of them).

I'm not an Alfredo person myself (though I'll definitely try it, because I don't dislike it), but I'll pass that along to my companion, who LOVES Fettuccini Alfredo!

If you love salads, the buffet on Princess has the best salad bar afloat, bar none. That's my lunch nearly every day aboard. It may be weird, but the salad bar is frequently what I'll most look forward to as I'm getting ready to cruise!

If I had my way, I'd have salad bar for dinner, but it looks like all of the good stuff is being served at dinner, not lunch.

I've not been on the Ruby but have been on her sister ships. The pub lunch has always been in the Wheelhouse Bar or the Crown Grill and it has been held twice per a week long or 10 day cruise around noon.

I get that about canned tuna ... either you love it or you don't. I love it! I could just open a can for dinner and mix it up with mayo and celery ... I am happy, happy, happy! hahaha! Anyway, those sandwiches they have in the International Cafe are pretty good....their bread is just excellent! Heaven knows, I try to stay away from it but it gets me every time. And, those crab cakes were really good ... just not sure if it was offered while up in Alaska.

I am not sure if they've shown the Titanic on a cruise ... good question, though. It would be like showing 'Snakes on a Plane' during a cross country flight ... creepy! We watched The Martian while snacking on crab cakes ... this was just this past summer.

Ewwwwww, on the tuna with celery! See, I think that's probably why I dislike canned tuna, though. I despise both celery and sweet pickles, and both are usually in canned tuna. I might possibly be able to stomach it if it came without celery and the pickles, but who knows. Don't really want to take my chances! I'm sure there are other good panini sandwiches with the yummy bread in there!

The portions are smaller than your typical American oversized piles you find at most land restaurant...and because they are cooking in volume and not to order, you aren't wasting anything! Someone can correct me if I am wrong but I believe the leftovers become fish food and go right back to the earth.

 

 

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That's true, but since I'm short, I get to eat less food than anybody else if I don't want to blow up like a balloon. As it is, I normally don't eat three meals (I'm usually not hungry enough for dinner), but I plan to on this trip, since everything is covered. I don't anticipate that I'll be that hungry for dinner, so I'll really be making myself eat something when I likely won't be hungry. Although, since dinner's at 8:30, who knows!

Has anyone told you not to hesitate to order multiple appetizers or entrees even if you won't eat it all? That way you can try several things to see what you like!

 

 

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I figured we could do that, but I don't like wasting food. That's why I'd prefer to dine in the buffet (so I could try small amounts of everything) except on formal nights, but my friend has his heart set on eating in the main dining room. I'm easy-going, so I don't care that much.

Each time I've ordered it & requested medium-rare it was pink in the middle & not rare. With beef & other meats they ask how you want it served so you could probably request a medium or well done portion.

 

If it's not prepared to your liking, request a different portion because they want your food prepared as you like it. They want happy passengers & to correct any issues during our cruise. :)

That's good to know. I didn't know if they prepared the Wellington to people's liking, since it appears to be one large roll. I figured they cooked it all at once, and everybody gets however it looks when it's done cooking.

Usually, during the second pub lunch, they serve shrimp and chips (fries) ... so good!!

So far, the pub lunch has not incurred any extra charge ...hope it is still like that when you go.

 

I also love escargot ... not sure if Princess has the best I've had but it is decent. I love the lobster and shrimp dish on the last formal night.

I like the tuna sandwiches at the International Cafe but they do need extra pickles ... but that is easily rectified on a cruise. They will even make a panini out of your sandwich for you.

The pizza up by the pool is really good ... I mean really good!! It's the best I have ever had on a cruise.

At the Trident Grill up by the pool, they serve some fun dishes at dinner time. We were in Alaska and instead of going to dinner, we wanted to watch a movie up on deck and they were serving crab cakes and onion rings. I was a happy camper!! Sometimes, they have chicken wings or ribs ... fun food!! They have popcorn up there, too!

Now, I am not much of a foodie ... I just like things that taste good and really eat more salads and veggies than anything else (they even have grilled vegetables for breakfast, which I love, but those things I mention are my little splurges and tend to be popular with many passengers.

Is the pub lunch in the pub, or in one of the dining rooms? I think Ruby has a pub... am not sure. Lol, tuna is another one of the few things I don't like. I love sushi/sashimi and tuna, but not the canned stuff that's mixed with mayo and celery. Yuck. The crab cakes sounds really good, though! Yum!

By the way, have they ever showed Titanic as the movie for any of the movie nights?

Again really a personal choice. Once you cruise you tend to develop a cruising style. Some people like to party and sleep late. Others like us are in their room most nights by 10 and up with the sun. Some people like to grab food as they go. Others like us prefer to eat in MDR most of the time because I cook at home all the time and one of the great things about cruising is being waited on. If we do Lido, it's usually at lunch only because we are out and about; on sea days we spend a lot of time walking the ship, watching people, having a drink or seeing some demonstration and when we aren't we are relaxing on our balcony. Other people camp out on the adult deck or by a Lido bar and are in the sun all day.

 

We cruise to relax so MDR meals fit in well with that slower pace. Others who are poolside or on the go or want a quick bite tend to do Lido. The great thing is having the flexibility.

 

 

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This is our first cruise, so I don't know what our cruising style will be like. Guess we'll see! The funny thing is, my travel partner is a total morning person, and he's usually in bed by 10 every night and up by 5 every morning. I'm a light sleeper, so while I'm a night owl, I'll adjust to his schedule, like I had done on our past trips. Anyway, even though he goes to bed super early, I thought it was funny that he picked to dine at 8:30 every night! I think he really liked the idea of sitting at the same table with the same people every night, and the only time available for us to choose from was 8:30. I'm not too thrilled about the idea of going to bed on a full stomach, but, hey, we're on vacation, and it'll only be for a week, so it's not a big deal. But we have excursions set, and I know we're going to explore the ports we stop at, so we'll likely have lunch there those days (and some of our excursions include salmon bakes).

That's a question without any real answer but here are a couple of my favorites. ;)

 

The Melanzane Parmigiana (eggplant) is one of my favorites as are nearly all of the nightly different pasta courses which I usually get as an appetizer size portion. I don't eat much fish & seafood at home but I greatly enjoy their fish & seafood options. I've had good Châteaubriand, Beef Wellington & beef medallions each time but sometimes steak & prime rib have varied.

 

Some evenings in the buffet they have a Mongolian BBQ to create your own Asian dish. Other than that we don't often eat in the buffet & prefer the IC for a lighter meal.

 

I rarely eat dessert at home & go on a cruise not wanting to eat them onboard. However I get weak & order dessert (particularly the Norman Love chocolate ones) and also their freshly made ice cream.

I initially thought the Wellington sounded good, until I saw pictures of it and found that it tends to be cooked rare, and I don't like my meat cooked rare. That's one of the few things I'm picky about; red meat just grosses me out. I'm sure my friend I'm traveling with will get it, so if he does, I'll likely try some of his and order something else.

We tend to just go with the flow on this point. We have seen tables where no one showed up but us the entire week and had others where we had excellent conversation. Depending on how many are in your group you could be at a small table or a large one. It's really hit or miss. The one thing I have found that they do try to sit similar together...i.e. Families with young kids, families with teens, young couples, older couples etc.

 

 

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We're a party of two, in our early 40s, no kids, so it'll be interesting to see who we get paired with!

And do you recommend eating certain meals in certain areas? For example, I think we're planning to have all of our dinners in the main dining room, but I'm not sure about breakfast and lunch. Is the buffet or International Cafe - or somewhere else - a better option than the MDR for breakfast and lunch? Is there one in particular that has more options to choose from than the others?

This is just my opinion and I am sure others we disagree. But the chefs on Princess tend to be Italian and I have found their Italian choices to be a step above what I would have expected. Likewise, many chefs on Carnival are Indian and their Indian food is great.

 

 

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Good to know! Thank you!

On the "other places" do try International Cafe which is open 24/7 for something tasty wherever you wish! :D

That's on my to-try list. :-) I know the menus differ between breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but are the menus for each meal the same every day? What are some of your favorite things to eat from IC?