Cuisine Aboard Oceania Ships

[kchesneylover]

Ahhh but I have that job now.

 

 

 

"A case of someone with nothing better to do."

 

...or a case of someone applying for a job in the Oceania's culinary area and wanting a heads up.

 

Beatrice

[raffeer]

Ahhh but I have that job now.

 

 

Then a commendation for the delicious cream of fruit soups served at lunch,

and for the all of the very delightful food we have had on our Oceania sailings. We thoroughly enjoyed the offerings.

Beatrice

[jeanine]

Getting back to cuisine on Oceania. I love Fois Gras. Ate it three or four times on the Paul Gaughin in June. Do they serve it on the Regatta? If so which restaurant? It is banned here in Oregon!!

 

Jeanine

[janycels]

Back to the original question--food aboard the Oceania---on all three cruises in the past 4 years the food has been outstanding---WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THEIR HORS'D'OEUVRES!!!! Every time (we've always had Vista Suite 6002 )-

after the first tray that the butler brings, we tell him to switch to crackers & cheese (altho the lovely tea sandwiches would be OK) . They are also served in the bar before dinner. Does anyone else share our opinion? We had the Yahoo board cocktail party on our last cruise -thru the Panama Canal in Jan 2005- 'cause we didn't make the 20 min. quota, and the hors'd'oeuvres were untouched. We also had other appetizers, so it was not important. For some reason, they seem to remain a staple with an otherwise chaging menu. Are we alone in our dislike for these hors'd'oeuvres? I have never seen it mentioned on the boards.

Jan S

 

PS. We are planning to hold the party again on our 1-6-2006 Hong Kong / Singapore cruise. Is anyone on that cruise? There was a special board

but I lost the link when I got the new computer.

[raffeer]

Janycels-

Good point! I had forgotten about the hors d'oevres(sp?). We use an OS and the delicacies brought to the cabin around 5 are best forgotten.

On our last cruise we did have a cocktail party in the cabin and Nino's catering was superb, so the kitchen can produce good tid bits. It would have been nice to have had them every night although on top of the incredible tea we would have come home looking like 600 lb. gorillas.

Beatrice

[esther e]

We didn't care for them, either. I wasn't aware you could ask for tea sandwiches or cheese and crackers. We will make a point of doing that.

 

Esther

[Jancruz]

I agree they are terrible..

Jan

*****

[brian_uk]

Then we are all agreed.............in fact our Butler only came by with them twice......seems you actually had to fill in a form each day for the privelege of 2 tiny canapees. We never bothered.

 

Brian

[KeepCruizen]

It seems to be the case on a lot of cruise lines.

 

Denise

[sandbag7]

Jeanine:

I support Oregon's position on assisted suicide, but banning Fois Gras is going too far. One of our premier chefs deleted it from his menu, but it's still available here generally.

Lord:

I recall the Bresse Chicken at Bocuse, but I don't think I would turn down the soup. Fois Gras and Chateu Yquem sounds perfect, but I'm not educated enough to know about the 1976 vintage. I'm up for trying it though.

[jeanine]

Now I am really curious about these horrible canapes! Would you please describe them for me? Are they the little cut out breads with stuff squeezed on top with a pastry bag? They had those on the PG, hated them, all they served at the parties. Loved the Champagne though. Jeanine

 

P.S. Just give me olives, nuts and cheese and crackers!!

[janycels]

I posted a reply which did not come on the board, although it said that i was the last post at noon today. it had to do with the hors'd oeuvres on the Oceania which are really not good at all!!!! Otherwise, the food is wonderful!

When i hit it again , the message said that it had already been postrd-what happened?

 

Jan S

 

WOOPS!!!! I JUST FOUND IT ---MEA CULPA

[lcand1923]

Now that we are back to the Original Thread, here is our general impression of the food that we had on our only Regatta Cruise in response to the request from the Original Poster. (We DO have two cruises booked on Insignia and are looking forward to eating well.)

 

Loved the chocolate croissants, french toast and omlettes for breakfast. Was disappointed in the other breakfast pastries. Ate breakfast on the Terrace, so can't comment on any other breakfast venues.

 

Loved the burgers and ice cream near the pool. Pizza was just so-so. (Consider pizza one of the three perfect foods in this world, so a lukewarm review is unusual.) Did not try any other venue for lunch, so can't comment.

 

Two dinners at Polo. Food was OK. (Comment could be negatively impacted by very poor service each night, so take with a grain of salt.)

 

One dinner at Toscana. Food was exceptional! Had superb veal! Lovely chocolate lasagna! Excellent Service!

Could not get another reservation.

 

One dinner in Grand Dining Room. Food was good. Can't remember what was eaten. Soup was excellent.

 

Most dinners on the Terrace. Preferred food there after eating there the first time. Excellent seafood (shrimp and scallops were superb!) and roasted meat selections (prime rib and duck were excellent!). Was disappointed with the paella (tried three times) and the sangria (tried just once - too sweet for our taste). Enjoyed nibbling on the Tapas.

Excellent salads, soups and vegetables. LOVED the deserts - probably because they always had that Ice Cream.

 

Our group had nibbles at three cocktail parties. The cheese and crackers were excellent at the one. Had canapes at another - very good hot dog/sausage rolls and crab/sea food balls, did not care for the cheese puffs. Had mixed nuts at the third.

 

Did not make it to the tea, so cannot comment.

 

Been on HAL, Orient and Viking River. In our opinion, Oceania food is among the best we have had.

[circleboy]

I found the only way to avoid stuck up twats is to charter your own ship for your vacations. LOL

[lcand1923]

Sorry, just realized that two questions from the Original Poster were missed.

 

1. Re meeting the Chef

Did not meet the Chef on board. We normally take the Galley Tour if one is offered so that we can meet the Head Chef and give him our compliments. Since Oceania does not offer a Galley Tour, we could not do so. We did send our compliments to the Chef for the meal in Toscana and for a scallop dish on the Terrace.

 

2. Re the presentation of meals

The presentation in Toscana was beautiful. Each course was lovelier than the one preceding it. The presentation in Polo was adequate, nothing special. The presentation in the Grand Dining Room was better than that in Polo, but not as nice as Toscana.

 

What was really surprising was the way that the food on the Terrace was presented. This is a buffet, so you do not expect "pretty plates". Since the food is presented on a large plate, the servers would try to make things pretty. You do not serve yourself. The server will ask what you want and will put it on your plate nicely rather than just dumping it there.

 

The young lady who worked the Desert Station was superb at this! You would tell her what you wanted - she would suggest "a little something extra. Let me make it nice for you." She would then add a sauce, or a scoop of ice cream, or another little bite of something. By the last night on board, we would tell her to take care of us and let her do the picking and choosing.

[ClaudiaF]

Another vote for tossing the 5 pm hors' doeuvres overboard!:p

 

Got to the point we'd ask Carlos to not even leave them. For Jeanine, in answer to your question as to what are the horrible canapes.. well they change everyday and are delivered to the suites by the butlers.

One day could be sushi another little sandwiches etc. I prefer to just order shrimp cocktail from room service and have nuts and olives and potato chips and cheese and cracker type goodies deliveerd.

[FinelyCruising]

Cheese and Fruit would be my passion. Caviar too!

[ClaudiaF]

Agree.. but ya gotta pay for it on any ship.. darn

[FinelyCruising]

In April on Jewel of the Seas, the martini bar had caviar every night along with wonderful hot hors'douvres. While the caviar may not have been top shelf, it along with all the fixin's was good and I enjoyed it tremendously. The hot finger food was excellent.....so I am disappointed to hear these comments as we will be in a PH on this line and I would have expected these kinds of things to be at least on the same par, if not better.

[lord of the seas]

Agree.. but ya gotta pay for it on any ship.. darn

ClaudiaF,

Caviar is included on Silversea and Seabourn and you can have as much as you like

although a caviar omlette is a bit much at breakfast

[ClaudiaF]

Have been considering Silversea...

caviar omelet.. yummmmmmmmmm;) could try it once