11 day cruise menus

[MisterBill99]

Have you ever wondered if what the waiter recommends is what the chef says to push because that is what they have the most of? :confused:

 

Doesnt it always appear as if they have all of the best entrees on the same night? The other nights you have to decide which one is the best of the worse and on that night you really have to choose on the one that you desire the most.

I rarely pay attention to the chef's (or waiter's) recommendations and just order what sounds good to me. It's not like a restaurant on land where they can tell you that something just came in and it's really fresh. The menu is what it is.

 

And yes, there are nights when there are 2 or 3 entrees that sound great (usually formal night) and others when I struggle to find anything of interest to me. I've never asked to get an entree from one night's menu on another night. I suspect that would be pretty difficult to do, even if the assistant maitre'd was outstanding. Fortunately, you can always order 2 entrees. I'm going to miss sailing with son this time since with him I didn't feel as guilty ordering an extra entree, since we could just share it.

[MisterBill99]

"if they serve lobster and you would rather have 2 tails than the dessert, can that be ordered?"

 

Generally they won't bring two lobster tails simultaneously, but if you finish one and would like a second one, they will bring you another. You can also have dessert that evening if you still have room for it.

Or if your traveling companion is not having lobster, tell them to order one for you in addition to their own meal.

"How do you find out if you're eligible for the free galley tour?"

 

If you are Elite, it will be listed on your instructions sheet along with the other Elite events -- look for that in your stateroom on arrival. It should be stapled to the coupon sheet you'll also receive

Or, if you are Captains Club but not elite, stop by the Captains Club desk and see if there is a nice host(ess) who can either tell you when the public tour is, or get you invited to the private one. Stranger things have happened, I got invited up to the bow of the ship for the sail-in to Venice a few years ago even though I was a basic CC member (that was really nice).

[Milhouse]

Have you ever wondered if what the waiter recommends is what the chef says to push because that is what they have the most of? :confused:

<snip>

 

Generally speaking, I think we've gotten great advice from our waiters; not perfect but generally very good suggestions. We usually ask what's recommended but decide in conjunction with what interests us on the menu.

 

On our last cruise, we were in Select dining but we hit it off with our waiter the first night and asked to be seated in his section the rest of the time (as it seemed a lot of people did also); we didn't mind waiting if necessary.

His recommendations were pretty bang on. An interesting example was during the formal night with the lobster (tail?) main on the menu. He actually talked us out of getting it and suggested other items. However, he did bring us the lobster entree later just to try it and yep, pretty disappointing.

He'd give us guidance on what was done well and items that were hit & miss and explain why.

[Milhouse]

<snip>Entree question...if they serve lobster and you would rather have 2 tails than the dessert, can that be ordered?<snip>

 

This example is likely out of date but when we did our Alaska cruise we sat at a table of 6; formal night, lobster tails on the menu (these ones tasted quite good compared to our most recent cruise). After everyone finished their entrees, one of our tablemates asked about additional lobstertails and our waiter brought out a large plate with additional tails for everyone. YMMV.

[MisterBill99]

Generally speaking, I think we've gotten great advice from our waiters; not perfect but generally very good suggestions. We usually ask what's recommended but decide in conjunction with what interests us on the menu.

OK, that is probably true. I was really referring to ignoring the "chefs suggestion" on the menu, which I ignore. The waiters do often know what is good, and more importantly, what is not so good, based on what previous guests have sent back. However, I've rarely had them suggest something on their own.

[Milhouse]

OK, that is probably true. I was really referring to ignoring the "chefs suggestion" on the menu, which I ignore. The waiters do often know what is good, and more importantly, what is not so good, based on what previous guests have sent back. However, I've rarely had them suggest something on their own.

 

Yeah, we usually ignore what's listed as the "chef's suggestion" too. :D

[Despegue]

The Chef suggestions still hail from Jacques van Staden's era where he had a " signature dish" on each menu...it was sometimes the worst choice :rolleyes:

 

Slowly, but steadily, we see the menus changing from the Van Staden time. Especially the starters and soups are currently being revamped.

 

I never had a bad lamb dish, an steaks are normally also good.

Fish is hit or miss as all fish is frozen...

[Milhouse]

We love eating fish but are hesitant ordering it from the MDR because of the potential of it ending up being overcooked.

 

Would it be just fish that's frozen or nearly all proteins?

What's throwing me is that meat in the fridge (depending on what it is of course) generally only has a max shelf life of 5 days. On a 10-12 day cruise, would they restock mid-cruise or have frozen (hopefully vacuum packed?) product?

[MisterBill99]

Since this discussion has become more general, we're sailing on a 12 night Baltic cruise out of Amsterdam. Does anyone know where they provision the food from for that cruise? Where does it (or at least most of it) get loaded onto the ship? Do they pack it up on pallets in the US and ship it over, or do they have a European location where they do this? If the latter, is the quality any different than the US supplied food?

[MisterBill99]

We love eating fish but are hesitant ordering it from the MDR because of the potential of it ending up being overcooked.

That is true. I specifically never order salmon on a cruise because I like it medium rare and I know I'm never going to be able to get it prepared like that. I noticed that the tuna on the menu claims to be seared. What are the odds that it actually comes out rare?

[monakayk]

http://s1073.photobucket.com/user/Patricia_Lenhart/library/Transpacific%20Cruise/On%20the%20Millenium/Menus

 

Here's pictures of the menus on our April/May Transpacific

:confused:These menus sound great. Do you think they are used on Caribbean-Panama cruises? Sure hope so!!!:D

[MisterBill99]

:confused:These menus sound great. Do you think they are used on Caribbean-Panama cruises? Sure hope so!!!:D

They use the same menus across the fleet. Note that the menus from the main dining room were interspersed with the ones from Blu in that link. MDR is the ones that were two columns. Blu had a graphic on the left side.

 

I just got a really cheap upgrade to Aqua this week for our upcoming Bermuda cruise so I'm finally going to be able to try Blu on this cruise.

[monakayk]

They use the same menus across the fleet. Note that the menus from the main dining room were interspersed with the ones from Blu in that link. MDR is the ones that were two columns. Blu had a graphic on the left side.

 

I just got a really cheap upgrade to Aqua this week for our upcoming Bermuda cruise so I'm finally going to be able to try Blu on this cruise.

MisterBill,

 

Thanks for the additional info!:D