Food Budget to increase in line with fares?

[Bollinge]

I wonder if the Azamara per diem food budget will be increased as part of the plan to take the line upmarket, and to justify the price rises.

 

Did the menus change at the beginning of April?

[Susan-M]

I thought Azamara had a higher food budget than Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, so have to wonder if there's room for increased spending now? When we travelled with Az, we found the food to be better than what we had experienced on Celebrity and RC, yet our fare was lower on Az. The bargain rates that many of us have enjoyed over the past couple of years didn't reflect in the food that was served ... at least I didn't notice any boloney or mac & cheese being served.:)

[WooKeef]

I am glad to hear that the food is good and as a fan of Celebrity I am excited that the food can get any better. I always found the food delicious on Celebrity in the past. I hope there is basic fare available for my MIL when we go the beginning of May...she can be a bit finnicky at times and if she can just get a grilled chicken or steak or shrimp she is happy...but we usually can talk her into trying something on the menus.

 

I am getting very excited and this just kicked it up a notch.

[DrKoob]

Here is my take on the food from our recent sailing on Quest (after 10 cruises on X). My buddies Mike and Carol Preisman have all the menus on their website from the 14 day cruise at http://www.thepreismans.com/ (click the link for SE Asia-Quest and right at the top is a link to the menus.

 

There has been quite the discussion on the Cruise Critic boards about Azamara’s food. It amazes me the differences in opinions about the food. Some think it is terrible with little selection while others find it excellent on all counts. It is one place where the difference in your tastes in food in general make all the difference in the world. For me, the food on Quest was the best food I have ever had on a cruise ship, period. Not everything was great but the majority of what I ate was superb. And more than that, it was interesting.

You see to be able to make my review of the food work for you, you need to understand my feelings on food in general. I like to eat interesting food. My favorite foods include octopus, squid, duck, lamb, pastas, sauces, Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian and Greek. I like things that most folks don’t. I like spicy food. And in the past, one of my biggest complaints about food on our cruises has been the lack of spice. No heat. No “interesting food.” Well not on Quest!

The food on cruise ships can be broken up into four areas, the main dining room (open for all three meals), specialty restaurants (open for dinner only) the buffet/grille and room service. We don’t often do room service (we did do a breakfast via room service on this cruise as we didn’t know if the buffet would be open early enough for us to eat before we left for an early shore tour) very often so I will not be commenting on that other than to say our one breakfast arrived on-time, and hot. It was breakfast. That’s about it.

Main Dining Room

On most of our cruises we ate dinner in the main dining room every night but because this cruise was so port intense, because the offerings on the buffet on certain nights were really interesting and because we fell in love with the food in Aqualina (one of the speciality restaurants) we only ate dinner in the dining room seven nights where on a regular 14 night cruise it would been 12 or all 14 nights. Of all the three venues for food (buffet, MDR and specialty restaurants) the main dining room was the least interesting and the service there was hit or miss (see my notes about service below) so it was easy for us to make other choices. That said, I had some of the best prime rib I have ever had one night, some excellent caesar salads (Azamara does better salads than X but not better soups), three or four superb pasta entrees and some great appetizers as well. We also got escargot and as much shrimp as we could eat. If I had to rate the food in the dining room on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 at the top, I would give it a solid 7. I should add that you can also eat breakfast or lunch in the MDR but we only ate lunch there once and had a special sea-day brunch there on another day. I think this is because once we found out how great the buffet was, we never went back.

Speciality Restaurants

Now a few words about the speciality restaurants. There are two on Quest (Aqualina and Prime C) and during our sailing you paid an extra $5 service charge to eat in them. Every cabin was guaranteed two reservations and every suite, three. If you are a Captain’s Club member, you can call in advance and make one of your reservations which I did for six of us. I was told by the folk on the phone that there were no tables for eight (there were eight in our group) but we learned when we got on board that there are a number of tables in Prime C that will hold eight or more and there are at least two in Aqualina that will, so if you are making reservations for a party that big and they will only let you reserve for six on the phone, go directly to the restaurants when you board and change it to eight.

We had read on Cruise Critic that most people preferred Prime C so we made our phone-in reservation there for our first day at sea. Prime C is basically a steak house. When we are at home we NEVER go to steakhouses. My feeling is that if I want steak (or pretty much any other meat, I can make it better at home on my grille. Prime C proved me right again. Steaks, chops, a fish entree and that was about it. I was unimpressed. And unimpressed with service there as well. It was a very forgettable dinner and we pretty much decided we would not be going back there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful room with great atmosphere but the food wasn’t “interesting.”

We also made a reservation for our next day at sea at Aqualina which describes itself as “Mediterranean cuisine.” That must be interesting to me because we loved it and immediately booked two more nights. We would have gone more if they could have squeezed us in. The food was outstanding, the service wonderful and the entire experience grand. I had baked brie, a seafood appetizer platter that was to die for, three outstanding entrees as well as Grand Marnier souffle for dessert. All for a $5 service charge. Dining doesn’t get any better than that.

The Buffet

Or maybe it does. I can’t believe that after that description of Aqualina that I am about to type that the best meal I had on board was at the buffet. In fact, I can state unequivocally that the best meal I have ever had on a ship was in Quest’s buffet and I have had some pretty great meals on ships. Was it the best service? No, that would be in the United States Dining Room on Infinity. The best experience? No, that would be in the same place. But it was the best food, ever.

That meal took place on our first night in Bangkok. We came back late after getting stuck in traffic and missing eating in Thailand to find that our chef had scheduled a Thai buffet. There was some discussion about skipping it and going to the dining room but thankfully that was overruled and we headed up to the buffet. Thank God we did. I was in heaven. From the spicy Thai steak salad to the soft shell crabs done Thai it was all good. I especially loved the calamari done in curry. And there was so much more. And you could go back as many times as you liked. Yikes. I am getting hungry just thinking about it. But I won’t be able to top it here locally (well maybe by eating Vietnamese food at Long in Seattle). Just suffice it to say it was great.

And great was a word that would describe most of the other meals we had at the buffet. They did a spicy Indian night which was outstanding as well as an outdoor BBQ and a British Pub buffet (we missed that one to go to Aqualina). Pretty much every dish I had at the buffet was excellent and “interesting.”

We have read some Cruise Critic comments that the buffet did not have enough “choices” or “variety.” But again that is a matter of what kind of food you like to eat.

For instance, at lunch every day you had your choice of the following: at least four speciality salads, a green salad bar, a sandwich bar (made to order), cheeses, three kinds of pizza, at least four and often six entrees (interesting food) and a carving station with turkey, ham, roast beef, etc. If that wasn’t enough you could go just outside the buffet to the grille where they would make you a made-to-order hot dog, sausage of the day, hamburger, veggie stir fry, lamb and at least two other grille specials of the day. And after all of this there was dessert. Cakes, cookies, soft-serve ice cream and at least 12 flavors of scooped ice cream (including coffee ice cream most days for Barbara), often more. If that’s not enough variety for you for lunch then I want to come to your house or local restaurant and see what you get there because it must be amazing. And at dinner they had all that on the regular buffet but added a complete sushi bar as well.

The buffet was also our usual place for breakfast and they had all the usual stuff but they also had one person I had never encountered before, “Chef Perfect Omelet.” I wish I could remember his name but he made me 13 omelets and everyone was perfect. I mean perfect on the outside and on the inside. They rocked. And I am sure if my doctor knew I was taking in that much cholesterol he would shoot me, but these were just too good to pass up. All the other usual breakfast stuff was very good. Kathleen had her muesli, there was fruit and yes Texed, there were really good waffles. But I fell in love with the omelets on the second day and never went back. It was one of those and a brand muffin or sticky bun for me and that was breakfast. And Kathleen just reminded me that they had fresh squeezed OJ every morning as well.

[WooKeef]

Here is my take on the food from our recent sailing on Quest (after 10 cruises on X). My buddies Mike and Carol Preisman have all the menus on their website from the 14 day cruise at http://www.thepreismans.com/ (click the link for SE Asia-Quest and right at the top is a link to the menus.

 

There has been quite the discussion on the Cruise Critic boards about Azamara’s food. It amazes me the differences in opinions about the food. Some think it is terrible with little selection while others find it excellent on all counts. It is one place where the difference in your tastes in food in general make all the difference in the world. For me, the food on Quest was the best food I have ever had on a cruise ship, period. Not everything was great but the majority of what I ate was superb. And more than that, it was interesting.

You see to be able to make my review of the food work for you, you need to understand my feelings on food in general. I like to eat interesting food. My favorite foods include octopus, squid, duck, lamb, pastas, sauces, Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian and Greek. I like things that most folks don’t. I like spicy food. And in the past, one of my biggest complaints about food on our cruises has been the lack of spice. No heat. No “interesting food.” Well not on Quest!

The food on cruise ships can be broken up into four areas, the main dining room (open for all three meals), specialty restaurants (open for dinner only) the buffet/grille and room service. We don’t often do room service (we did do a breakfast via room service on this cruise as we didn’t know if the buffet would be open early enough for us to eat before we left for an early shore tour) very often so I will not be commenting on that other than to say our one breakfast arrived on-time, and hot. It was breakfast. That’s about it.

Main Dining Room

On most of our cruises we ate dinner in the main dining room every night but because this cruise was so port intense, because the offerings on the buffet on certain nights were really interesting and because we fell in love with the food in Aqualina (one of the speciality restaurants) we only ate dinner in the dining room seven nights where on a regular 14 night cruise it would been 12 or all 14 nights. Of all the three venues for food (buffet, MDR and specialty restaurants) the main dining room was the least interesting and the service there was hit or miss (see my notes about service below) so it was easy for us to make other choices. That said, I had some of the best prime rib I have ever had one night, some excellent caesar salads (Azamara does better salads than X but not better soups), three or four superb pasta entrees and some great appetizers as well. We also got escargot and as much shrimp as we could eat. If I had to rate the food in the dining room on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 at the top, I would give it a solid 7. I should add that you can also eat breakfast or lunch in the MDR but we only ate lunch there once and had a special sea-day brunch there on another day. I think this is because once we found out how great the buffet was, we never went back.

Speciality Restaurants

Now a few words about the speciality restaurants. There are two on Quest (Aqualina and Prime C) and during our sailing you paid an extra $5 service charge to eat in them. Every cabin was guaranteed two reservations and every suite, three. If you are a Captain’s Club member, you can call in advance and make one of your reservations which I did for six of us. I was told by the folk on the phone that there were no tables for eight (there were eight in our group) but we learned when we got on board that there are a number of tables in Prime C that will hold eight or more and there are at least two in Aqualina that will, so if you are making reservations for a party that big and they will only let you reserve for six on the phone, go directly to the restaurants when you board and change it to eight.

We had read on Cruise Critic that most people preferred Prime C so we made our phone-in reservation there for our first day at sea. Prime C is basically a steak house. When we are at home we NEVER go to steakhouses. My feeling is that if I want steak (or pretty much any other meat, I can make it better at home on my grille. Prime C proved me right again. Steaks, chops, a fish entree and that was about it. I was unimpressed. And unimpressed with service there as well. It was a very forgettable dinner and we pretty much decided we would not be going back there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful room with great atmosphere but the food wasn’t “interesting.”

We also made a reservation for our next day at sea at Aqualina which describes itself as “Mediterranean cuisine.” That must be interesting to me because we loved it and immediately booked two more nights. We would have gone more if they could have squeezed us in. The food was outstanding, the service wonderful and the entire experience grand. I had baked brie, a seafood appetizer platter that was to die for, three outstanding entrees as well as Grand Marnier souffle for dessert. All for a $5 service charge. Dining doesn’t get any better than that.

The Buffet

Or maybe it does. I can’t believe that after that description of Aqualina that I am about to type that the best meal I had on board was at the buffet. In fact, I can state unequivocally that the best meal I have ever had on a ship was in Quest’s buffet and I have had some pretty great meals on ships. Was it the best service? No, that would be in the United States Dining Room on Infinity. The best experience? No, that would be in the same place. But it was the best food, ever.

That meal took place on our first night in Bangkok. We came back late after getting stuck in traffic and missing eating in Thailand to find that our chef had scheduled a Thai buffet. There was some discussion about skipping it and going to the dining room but thankfully that was overruled and we headed up to the buffet. Thank God we did. I was in heaven. From the spicy Thai steak salad to the soft shell crabs done Thai it was all good. I especially loved the calamari done in curry. And there was so much more. And you could go back as many times as you liked. Yikes. I am getting hungry just thinking about it. But I won’t be able to top it here locally (well maybe by eating Vietnamese food at Long in Seattle). Just suffice it to say it was great.

And great was a word that would describe most of the other meals we had at the buffet. They did a spicy Indian night which was outstanding as well as an outdoor BBQ and a British Pub buffet (we missed that one to go to Aqualina). Pretty much every dish I had at the buffet was excellent and “interesting.”

We have read some Cruise Critic comments that the buffet did not have enough “choices” or “variety.” But again that is a matter of what kind of food you like to eat.

For instance, at lunch every day you had your choice of the following: at least four speciality salads, a green salad bar, a sandwich bar (made to order), cheeses, three kinds of pizza, at least four and often six entrees (interesting food) and a carving station with turkey, ham, roast beef, etc. If that wasn’t enough you could go just outside the buffet to the grille where they would make you a made-to-order hot dog, sausage of the day, hamburger, veggie stir fry, lamb and at least two other grille specials of the day. And after all of this there was dessert. Cakes, cookies, soft-serve ice cream and at least 12 flavors of scooped ice cream (including coffee ice cream most days for Barbara), often more. If that’s not enough variety for you for lunch then I want to come to your house or local restaurant and see what you get there because it must be amazing. And at dinner they had all that on the regular buffet but added a complete sushi bar as well.

The buffet was also our usual place for breakfast and they had all the usual stuff but they also had one person I had never encountered before, “Chef Perfect Omelet.” I wish I could remember his name but he made me 13 omelets and everyone was perfect. I mean perfect on the outside and on the inside. They rocked. And I am sure if my doctor knew I was taking in that much cholesterol he would shoot me, but these were just too good to pass up. All the other usual breakfast stuff was very good. Kathleen had her muesli, there was fruit and yes Texed, there were really good waffles. But I fell in love with the omelets on the second day and never went back. It was one of those and a brand muffin or sticky bun for me and that was breakfast. And Kathleen just reminded me that they had fresh squeezed OJ every morning as well.

 

thanks for the great rundown on the food!:D I see that you and I have similar tastes in food and I am hoping for that Thai buffet;)...but probably will not happen on a Med. Cruise. However, food is one main area my MIL and I differ. She has what can only be described as "boring" taste in food. One example is we took her to a nouvaeu cuisine restaurant once. She ordered something that even sounded bland...must have been baked chicken or something...when it arrived it had dried plaintains sticking straight up like rabbit ear in what can only be an attempt to dress up a boring dish. Well, she looked at my husband and said...OMG...my food has ears. Then she proceeded to not eat it if you can believe it. That has lived on in our family to this date and it was about 12 years ago. So, you can see my concern...I hope she can get something without having to go to the buffet every night.

Anyway, I thank you again.

[DrKoob]

If you check the menus on Mike's site you will see she can get a steak or salmon each and every night of the cruise. And don't worry if you have to go to the buffet with her. The most adventurous food can be found there.

 

That's a great story. Thanks for sharing.

 

Jim