Possible Sticky: Food Feedback

[UKCruiseJeff]

I suggested in another thread that it might be useful to both CC'ers and SS if there was a single thread to record feedback about what seems to be the main concern of SS cruisers ie the food.

 

As a starting point I suggest the following headings allow both some consistency and some lattitude for free expression.

 

I suggest that for it to be useful over time it's confined more to feedback than debate.

 

It is of course for the mod to decide to keep it or not - and whether to "sticky" it.

 

My opening proposal is that the following headings can be cut and pasted into each feedback.

 

 

 

Ship:

 

From where to where?

 

Embarkation date?

 

Cruise Length?

 

Overall, how satisfied were you with the food you received on your cruise?

 

Comments:

 

 

 

 

 

Individual restaurant name?

(Copy and paste for each – include room service if experienced)

 

Overall, how satisfied were you with the food you received?

 

Comments:

 

 

 

What do people think?

[WesW]

Want to provide feedback to this sticky (thanks for the great idea Jeff) from our fabulous Spirit maiden crossing back in January 2010 (Lisbon to Ft. Lauderdale). We embarked in Lisbon on Jan 10, 2010 for a sixteen day maiden crossing. In general we found the food in all dining venues (La Terraza, The Restaurant, Seishin, Le Champagne, The Grill) to be outstanding. However, this post will focus on special orders. In the first case one of our cruise party special ordered a very special English lunch for six of us in The Restaurant. We had four courses perfectly paired with a different wine from the complimentary wine list. Carl (our English friend) discussed this special order with the Spirit Food & Beverage Manager, and arranged for an outstanding English pie (Mushroom, leeks, Chicken) pls see first picuture below. For desert, Carl had the pastry chef whip up a fantastic Chocolate English Trifile--take a peak at the beauty below (second pix)

 

English Pie shown below (could have feed a dozen) special ordered on the Silversea Spirit for lunch in The Restaurant. The Executive Chef checked on our special lunch after our meal and shared the balance of our English Pie and English Trifle with the wait staff.

 

 

English Trifle for desert:

 

 

We have special ordered numerous meals while aboard the Silver Spirit (in Jan 2010, Nov 2011 and we plan to again in April 2013 (on our third Spirit crossing). Ida and I enjoyed a six course Indian dinner celebrating our 25th Anniversary aboard the

Spirit's maiden crossing. Silversea made a very special chocolate mouse cake for desert shown below as cruise friends ambushed our table to join in our celebration. (pls see third pix below). WE also special ordered Dover sole for dinner and lunch, steak diane (main course) and Crepe Suzette's for desert. If you would like to make a special order, just see the Maitre'D at least 24 hours prior to your dining time and place your order. WE have even had our complimentary bottle of Dom, taken down to the Restaurant to be used with Dover Sole in Nov 2011, and our Indian Dinner in January 2010.

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

That pastry looks somewhat good. Why is it that big pies are always nicer than small ones.:)

[UKCruiseJeff]

Seeing that picture provided the impetus for a Lancashire Hot Pot Pie today - partly because it has started to snow. My kitchen - my rules!:D

[UKCruiseJeff]

We have recently been on the Cloud and Whisper multiple times. The food has been very good compared to a few years ago. I am a foodie. The Chefs have latitude with local products. They adjust the menu accordingly. Look forward to the Shadow next winter. It has always been my opinion that the food on the Spirit is not up to the rest of the line and never will be.

 

The other thread is now thankfully closed .... this seems a reasonable place to clarify.

 

Great to hear of the good food. What specifically has been better now than a few years ago and why do you conclude that Spirit will never be as good as the other ships?

 

Thanks.

[UKCruiseJeff]

There are not many of us foodies on the ships.

Could be that you will never get food in a ships restaurant as good as food in a land based restaurant.

Not many peas in the pod with us Jeff.

 

It was one of the reasons why I was interested in asking about reaction to Wes's food pictures. There we had a unique opportunity to test the theories concerning different levels of national discernment ... if you get my drift .... photographs that we all see and some were saying 'fantastic'. My reaction was that it indicated to me pretty low standards set, low supervision, low pride levels etc. It was regularly in my view and purely my taste - inedible. Overly pre-prepared and held and dry. Other stuff - the plates were so sparse the garnish in fact became part of the meal! The half tomato forest for example. It might be that different people all seeing the same pictures have a different idea of what constitutes impressive and appetising food. The fact that there was no response could indicate many things .... ;)

 

You eat out much more than me. The issue in our case is that we eat really well every day we are at home. We're passionate about food. But I've also owned catering as a part of a Soho club, so I understand the professional challenges.

 

So when we go on a cruise generally the food will be worst every day than what we eat at home. Many of SS customers may be hard working people who tend to eat better out than at home. And all standards and expectations are different. Not right or wrong - just different.

 

I firmly believe that the answer to SSs challenges is to increase centrally controlled, produced and distributed sous vide and use the slack released to improve the fresh reliant on -board offerings. This would also increase variety and range. Most SS customers might be horrified to learn that the best meals ie that lovely beef, might well have been prepared some weeks before and stored in it's vacuum pack in a fridge for a couple of weeks to be served on the night. The best restaurant food now is rarely entirely freshly produced. As you know Heston claims that 100% of his proteins are prepared sous vide and as you also know Ramsay has a sous vide factory to supply his places.

 

This thread may encourage debate and increase discernment through ideas and knowledge - and will either inform Ss that their customers care and can tell the difference ...or not!

[Mr Luxury]

Jeff,you make some good points.

 

You and I eat well at home and can enjoy the best restaurants wherever we go.

 

After seventy one cruises I have learnt that a lot of guests do not know much about Haute cuisine and therefore the luxury cruise lines are dealing with at least two types of guest expectations.

So it all depends on how high on the hog that you live,

thus your findings on the pictures that Wes posted about the look and the quality of the cooking on board a ship.

Some guests are amazed by the food and some not so.Nothing wrong with that I say just different life styles or understanding of the food being offered.

Restaurants on ships will never be as good as restaurants on land.

 

I travel on ships just because I love being at Sea not for the food.If I want a really outstanding meal I get off the ship and go to a restaurant ashore that I know will give me exactly that.

The Luxury lines do offer a good product and make it enjoyable for all, even exacting sods like us

[UKCruiseJeff]

I think our issue is that cruise-wise there are few destinations that we haven't done and that are compelling for us and we are at that stage where we say "what is the point in finding the elusive new place when there are so many places we now know that we like to return to". So it has to be something special for us to make the effort. And if the food is dire on board then the incentive recedes. There reaches a point where you cannot even get a piece of freshly grilled fish on board and a decent salad and you think "why?". I also don't understand why they aren't be bothered with making really good bread. If you look at the pictures - apart from some of the stored dark pumpernickel type breads - they seem to use a basic mix which they shape into different types and pretend its ciabatta, focaccia, sourdough, baguettes, bagels etc, god bread isn't tough to bake .... I bake most days. A poolish is easy to do, sour dough is not difficult. It is my impression that because so many punters on these boards say the food is great the incentive for SS to improve isn't there.

 

An example of our current focus would certainly be Singapore where we go a couple of times a year to learn more street food. The fact is that Singapore is genuine (as against synthetic) fusion food due to the Peranakan heritage. Extraordinary new thins for me to learn - ie Thai, Malaysian, Indian, Chinese, all smashed together in evolved cuisines. Street food is populated by families often making the same dish year in year out for generations. Food hygiene is extremely high with scores on the doors displayed by law. So much of my repertoire improvement comes from these trips where I eat and learn.

 

We fly First, have JetQuay meet us and have a large suite for a couple of weeks. It isn't possible to spend much more than 10 quid a day on food - -and 90% of what we eat is exceptional. Our days revolve around walking and eating and learning and dozing ...

 

We want to do more cruises but the food compromise and other factors mentioned means that for the time it is sadly less of a focus than these other things.

[Mr Luxury]

I have been without alcohol for two weeks before.It was the two weeks before my first birthday.:)

 

Sous vide is indeed the perfect creation for a ships galley.

I will be taking two Seabourn trips so far this year,I can't remember tasting food that was cooked sous vide before on Seabourn,I will have a good chat with the chefs,The beef that Wes took a picture of must have been cooked that way as you say the pink consistency right the way through is impossible to get with normal oven cooking.

I will look at far east trips and look forward to trying the varied offererings of the street.

Simple cooked food with excellent ingredients is often much more enjoyable than the Michelin starred stuff that we have been having for years.

 

Is italian food a favourite of yours Jeff?

[UKCruiseJeff]

Yes - I love Italian food!

 

SS is interesting on that front. Italian owner, Italian themed restaurant - but then they go all sales market native and quite a lot of the serves are clearly over adjusted to the American palate. Their customers genuinely believe that they are eating iItalian. In Italy the pasta in a pasta dish is the star and for American tastes it will be under- sauced. It will seem mean and ungenerous. If you glance at some of the senior crew when eating lunch in Terraza they have very lightly sauced pasta. But in Wes's pictures pasta is clearly terribly over-sauced. They also over-top pizza. I also love making some light risotto. If I were interviewing a chef I use to ask him to make an omelette and a risotto. Tells you all you need to know.;)

 

Also make a fair amount of pizza - we have a beehive and we also have a counter top pizza oven that reaches 600 degrees - a highly dangerous beasty that produces a pizza in around 90 seconds! I make a bigga prep the previous day and use Caputo flour in deference to my Naples lessons where the best pizza is from yesterday's dough and only from Caputo. And very little topping. The crust is the star.

 

I use to make my own pasta but the stuff you buy these days is so good. I make my own ciabatta though and my favourite sauce for pasta is freshly reduced tomato, a little long sweated onion some sugar, sea salt, a drop of balsamic, some basil ...

 

I'm hungry!

[Mr Luxury]

Jeff,the point you make about SS adjusting to the American palate is i am afraid on all cruise ships.I suppose that they make up the biggest contingent.

Also if you do not know about food and have not experienced it at its best then Marios/Giovanni/Giussepi/Dominos will fit the bill.

Lucky you having a pizza oven.I like salami,asparagus and balsamic reduction topped with some grated peccorino.

Risotto is always a must for me as a starter in a good Itialian restaurant.

Here are my favourites in London

 

http://www.locandalocatelli.com A must if you have not already been here.

 

http://www.genarocontaldo.com a great character chef that has cooked for me at home for dinner parties,he is too busy now tied up with Jamie oliver.

 

http://www.rivercafe.co.uk Jamie worked here for Rose gray and Ruthie rodgers. really consistant cooking

[sakaara]

I really like this thread and believe it is very helpful for those Planning to cruise

as first timers on Silversea and also for those of us who are looking forward to our next.

 

Ship : Silver Spirit

Date : 20 March 2013

Duration : 7 Nights

Embarkation : Fort Lauderdale - Barbados

 

Both my Husband and I felt this 7 day cruise was too short to really enjoy all the excellent food that Silversea had to offer.

We had a fabulous dinner at the Pool Grill. The night we dined there, it was very busy and had a really great atmosphere. Tables were also setup on deck 9 poolside which I hadn't seen before.

We both had Surf & Turf. The Fillet Mignon was superb, as were the Madagascan Prawns. We would perhaps like to see some other optional sides offered, like Spinach, and Wild Mushrooms and French Fries. These can be special ordered but due to how busy the staff were, we didn't want to ask.

 

We did request an Indian Meal. This was amazing. We had Planned on dining in The Restaurant for this but after a full day excursion we asked to have it served in our suite. Our feast consisted of Chicken Curry,Pilau Rice, a Lentil Side Dish, Raita and Poppadoms. We were very spoilt.

 

We had a spectacular dinner on our second evening ( formal night ) In The Restaurant. My husband had Grilled Foie Gras, with Caramelised Forest Fruit, and Port Wine Reduction and I had an Assiette Of Artichokes.

We both had the Porcini Veloute followed by Grilled Maine Lobster, with Saffron ,Arborio Rice. We finished off with an excellent Cheese Plate and Port.

This was a truly memorable meal, perfectly executed.

 

Le Champagne was good but not as good as our last meal there 18 months ago.

I chose badly. My risotto with gold leaf was very good but I didn't enjoy my lobster Thermidor.

I should have known not to order it prepared that way because I don't enjoy the creamy cheese sauce with extra gratinated cheese. I think I was craving my lobster from Formal night! My hubby ordered the same Foie Gras he had on Formal night, which he adored and the Lobster Thermidor.

 

We ate in La Terrazza also and had an excellent Anti Pasti Selection, followed by Pappardelle With Duck Ragu (small Portion) excellent (for me) and Ravioli for him. Main courses of Sea Bass and Tuna. fabulous!

 

Breakfasts were excellent. We had a few on our balcony and they were perfect every time. We enjoyed La Terrazza and The Restaurant also.

We didn't eat in Seishin as Sushi and Raw Fish would not be my first choice.

I would love if it was an Oriental Restaurant Serving Thai, Indian,Chinese and Japanese.

 

We find dining choices to be a very important part of cruising for us and Silversea at times really did deliver food as good as land based restaurants.

 

Ports of Call

 

The Ports of Call in the Caribbean for us are as much about the sightseeing as the local cuisine. We didn't get off in Either Nassau (been before) or Samana, Dominican Rep. (4 hours too short).

 

We took the excursion to Virgin Gorda which was very enjoyable and included an excellent lunch at Fischer's Cove.

 

In Bequia we also had a ship excursion to Mustique. This was fabulous as I have always thought of visiting but it is harder to get to. The night before arrival, we were notified of a very high profile celebrity staying in Mustique and that although our excursion was to include an Island tour, this wouldn't now be possible. We later found out it was members of the British Royal family, which we had guessed anyway. On arrival we had a quick drink at The Famous Basil's Bar and then On to Cotton House Hotel for a wonderful lunch and R&R. I asked for a resort tour and was personally escorted to The Great Room and some Rooms and the amazing 2 Bed Residence. We will Return to Mustique as we were so impressed with the little we saw and Cotton House had an almost Spiritual feel to it.

 

Our final Port was Antigua and rather than do an excursion We visited Carlisle Bay Hotel which I had also contemplated staying at.

We absolutely loved this hotel and the bay that it was on. Absolutely stunning and we had a wonderful lunch here too.

 

For us, it was a culinary voyage on land and sea.

[WesW]

Sakaara, thank you for a very well done Silversea food post, robust, rich with detail--helped me imagine we were back on board--alas we disembarked the Spirit last Tuesday.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Sakaara, lovely post. Thanks. Great to hear about such lovely food. They do do good curries!

[sakaara]

Col (Ret) Wes, Thank you for your kind words.

I have felt exactly the same while following along with yourself and Ida!

I truly enjoyed your daily accounts from Spirit, so thank you for giving so much of your precious time.

It was lovely to see all the wonderful crew acknowledged as they are what makes Silversea so special. Yes Myra is a wonderful person whom we both really hope to see on our next voyage The Grand Prixe 2014 which I wouldn't have known about without your help.

 

Regards

 

Sakaara

[WesW]

You're so very welcome and pls call me Wes. Absolutely, Myra is a keeper--a pro. Hoping now she is on our London Tower to Iceland and back on the Cloud, mid July.

[Mr Luxury]

Sakaara,thank you for your thoughts on the Spirit cuisine offerings.

I notice that you do not mention the Hot Rocks cook your own food restaurant,did you try it and if so what did you think about it.

[sakaara]

Referring to your earlier post about the great 'Hot Rocks', Silversea have renamed it The Grill. I mentioned The Grill in my review. We love this dining choice. There's Something very special about having dinner on deck with great sea views and warm air, and the cooking on hot stones produces a lovely aroma. There is always live music here too. It's a great spot for a casual evening, although some do dress up too.

We enjoyed a few Mojitos at our table before ordering.

 

We had great intentions of dining at Stars which halfway through our cruise became very popular. We didn't have time, but we really enjoyed many after dinner Cognacs here, and we happily polished off Louis xiii and were presented with the empty Crystal Bottle, as is tradition.

We loved relaxing here listening to the Pianist and Mikki Brown sing. Mikki has an incredible voice and performed amongst other favourites Smile by Nat King Cole.

I do have photos of various menus. I just need to learn how to post them here.

[Nigella]

We loved relaxing here listening to the Pianist and Mikki Brown sing. Mikki has an incredible voice and performed amongst other favourites Smile by Nat King Cole.

I do have photos of various menus. I just need to learn how to post them here.

 

Very pleased to read that Mikki is back on Spirit in Stars. She's extremely gifted and we never tired of listening to her.

[Les Picantins]

Just back from our first Silversea cruise. I took several poster's advice and made all of our specialty restaurant reservations right after boarding. We tried them all and were very pleasantly surprised. The only disappointment was The Champagne but then again, when it comes to fine french cuisine, we are very spoiled. My husband's favorite dinner was at Hot Rocks and mine was at Seishin.

 

The bread was not worth the calories (maybe that's a good thing!).

 

The only drawback to dining in the specialty restaurants, we never dined with other passengers, therefore missing out on making new friends. We will do things a little differently next time.

 

I will be writing a full review shortly.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Great to hear you had some good food. Hope you share the detail soon.

 

:)

[fdnycruiser]

Just got off the Whisper on 5/1 after 26 days. Although my wife and I go out to eat often,we're not " foodies". However, we do enjoy eating good food,and we thought the food was superb ! We didn't eat at LeChampagne,but ate everywhere else. Didn't hear anyone complain about the food either. We did speak with Chef David about how the ship is provisioned etc. Once we were provisioned in Capetown ,the next opportunity would be when we picked up a container in Barbados. we did notice that after that stop more fresh berries etc.were available. Totally enjoyed the entire cruise.

[WesW]

Thanks fdnycruiser, glad to hear you enjoyed your Whisper cruise. Favorite meal? Did you book another cruise while on board?

[Mr Luxury]

The berry supply is always an issue on any ship.

They nearly always run out and have to wait until they get to a port where a container is waiting with produce from a known supplier.

[fdnycruiser]

Colonel,we didn't book another cruise on board,because we've got a few scheduled through 2014. However, we did get a peek at the 2015 World Cruise,and would like to book a segment on that. They haven't released the segments,but you can roughly figure them out by the overnight ports.

As for favorite foods, I enjoyed the many Asian Fusion dishes in MDR, the veal scallopini in La Terazza and the ribeye at the grill.Wife's favorites were the talipia, and sliced beef with a burgundy sauce in MDR.,scallops in LaTerraza,and prawns in the grill. You can see who likes the fish,and who likes the turf. BTW, the duck ragout was superb,as was the curries.