Feedback Wanted: Holiday Meals

[LauraS]

Have you had a great meal while on board your HOLIDAY CRUISE? We're writing an article and want to hear what you've enjoyed -- or disliked -- about holiday dining on your cruise!

 

Post away, and thanks,

 

Laura

[goldmom]

In all honesty, I really don't remember the holiday meals on the ships. But, I do remember the little extras that we got on board to celebrate.

 

Years ago we were on the QE2 with our children during Christmas. They set up all the video games to work for free for the whole week for the kids and had a party for all the kids onboard where Father Christmas showed up and gave all the children gifts. At dinner they had these things that you pop open and each had a little toy in it.

 

Last year, we were on the QM2 during Easter and the room stewart left a chocolate Easter Bunny, jelly beans and chocolate eggs. All were Cadbury chocolate. Yummy! We're Jewish, but we still enjoyed the holiday celebrations and thought it was nice to get a special treat.

[skywalkervadar]

Does anyone know if they will be serving a traditional Christmas dinner on Christmas day? Turkey, stuffing, etc etc ;o)

 

Please say yes !!!!!

[Gigi&Don]

We went on the Dream Christmas 2003 and I can't remember the actual meals, but do remember that the menus (in all the restaurants) were quite special. I had lamb with all the traditional trimmings...not sure about Turkey.

 

The ship too, was decorated nicely along with a large (Babie doll sized) ginngerbread house, wreaths, etc.

 

The trip was festive as long as you did not look at the palm trees...giggles...this is coming from midwesterns who love their snow for Christmas. :D

 

Gigi & Don

[Another ship trip]

I have been on a Thanksgiving sailing for the past 3 years and will be again next week. I have been on RCCL and NCL I believe during these sailings. I have to say that the turkey and dressing is not nearly as good as what we fix here. The stuffing that each person likes tends to be what one was raised on and stuffings and methods of preparation vary so much since tastes may be influenced by decades of prior cooking that the families did. One of the stuffings I had on a cruise was very sweet and had nuts in it and whole berries. Not at all what I am used to. I like a cornbread stuffing with lots of sage and not too dry-(read moist). My MIL's stuffing is so dry that it practically flakes. Everyone is different. The turkey on one of the ships seemed to be pressed or something--again not what I am used to. The Thanksgiving meals I have had have been way under par for what I am used to BUT the rest of the meals have always been fine for the most part. I wouldn't say they were necessarily bad--just not to my tastes. There is so much tradition in a Thanksgiving meal, that it would be hard to meet everyone's approval on this particular day.

[rho88]

from my last cruise on NCL Sea.

 

 

[ejnsb]

We just had Thanksgiving dinner on the Pride of America. We were told that all the restaurants would have traditional Thanksgiving food (plus their own specialties). We had a family group of 16 and wanted a traditional meal so opted to eat at the Aloha buffet where we easily put together a long table for everyone. The food was excellent and we all ate too much (also a tradition) and were able to sit and talk as long as we liked. It was perfect (I canceled reservations at the Lazy J to do this instead and we were all glad we did). No, we didn't have everybody's specialties but it didn't matter because what they did serve was very good and we were all together.

[Another ship trip]

I ate traditional turkey on Thursday. The stuffing did have cherries and the turkey was not the large sliced breast meat like I am used to but it still was good. I didn't stuff myself like I ordinarily would at this meal which is actually a good thing. Over all, the food was good. The best thing all week was the clam chowder in the East Meets West on the SUN and the Mushroom soup in a sourdough bowl in the Bistro. They also served the same Mushroom soup in the dining room one night. The escargot is also served on formal night along with a tiny lobster tail. We had filet mignon in both East Meets WEst and Le Bistro. They were prepared identically in both venues. Dinner just costs more in the East Meets West--maybe because they have several different steaks on the menu. Order your steak a bit more "done" than you normally would. I ordered mine medium and it was bloody and had to be sent back in both restaurants. Asking for it to be butterflied prior to cooking it might alleviate the undercooking problem, but I didn't think to ask for this at the time. Used the butler for breakfast 3-4 mornings. Only thing I missed out on was the eggs benedict, but DH got some. Yummm. I have never starved on a cruise ship and if I find that I don't like something, I just get something else! Basically the food is identical as all cruises except for the turkey offerings on Thanksgiving.

[caa]

Thanksgiving Dinner on Norwegian Sun was just o.k. I don't think the German chef has much opportunity to cook traditional American Thanksgiving dinners! The mushroom soup in the bread bowl was the best part of the dinner. The mashed potatoes had leeks in them (the same recipe was served with prime rib on Monday, where it went much better); the stuffing was pretty good; not enough cranberry sauce and it was on top of the corn bread. The turkey was alright, nothing special.

[Crew32]

Laura,

 

I'm a new to message boards and would like to find out how to talk with folks going on the PoAL Dec. 18, 2005. How do I do that? Thanks in advance.

[Mr_Rusted]

My wife and I both opted for the turkey on Thanksgiving day.

 

We were both happy with the food, though we ordered it without the red cabbage. My turkey was fine and the stuffing was a little more generic then we would make it, but it was still good.

 

A lot of folks on our ship complained the turkey was dry. Maybe so, but ours was just fine.

 

I like a lot of cranberry sauce, and they brought me plenty more when I asked.....Looking forward to Christmas dinner as we go back out again in a few weeks. We will book Cagney's for Christmas eve as soon as we get on the ship!

[Onessa]

My family (DH, DW, 10YO DD) just returned from POAm 11/19 cruise.

 

I was happy that there was a full slate of excursions available on Thanksgiving and we did participate in a morning 4x4 adventure and an afternoon snorkel.

 

As to how the holiday was celebrated on-board, not much changed but the menu (and the addition of a small pumpkin to the floral arrangement on the dining tables!)

 

We ate at Little Italy for dinner on Thanksgiving. She had pizza, I had pasta with pesto - DD and I are not big traditionalists! They did have a turkey dish as the special that evening so my husband had that - Turkey with polenta. They also had pumpkin pie for him for dessert.

 

Typically we will go away for the Thanksgiving weekend, so we do not have a tradition of sitting about, eating and/or watching football or whatever. Last year we stayed in the loop downtown in Chicago and went to the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum. In previous years we have gone to Minneapolis or St. Louis. There is generally a museum open, we stay in a hotel, swim and very often end up with coldcut sandwiches or chinese food for dinner! So this was a traditional Thanksgiving for us!

[Nilla]

Did a Christmas cruise a few years ago with Carnival! I remember we were upset that they did not have some of the traditional foods. We always have mashed patatoes with our Turkey, so did the other Canadians sitting at our table. The one lady pouted and complained so much the kitchen ended up making the 4 of us our own mashed potatoes. It was almost lik mom's but not quite!

[skywalkervadar]

As expected, the Spirit served a "traditional" turkey dinner for those who wanted it on Christmas Day. However, while the menu said it was ROAST turkey, I guarantee you it was some sort of pre-made, pre-formed turkey.

Let's just say, they hadn't been cooking fifty 25 lb birds in the galley ovens for 8 hours Christmas Day which I believe is the only way to get a real roasted turkey.

 

Unfortunately, it was a big let down from what I hoped we'd get, plus the service in Windows was abysmal to the point that it was if our food was practically being thrown at us. The wait staff are completely rushed off their feet. If you're going to eat in one of the main dining rooms, go to the Garden Room. Trust me .... 10 times better!

 

Other than that though, the food was typically good for cruise food. Hey, I didn't have to cook it at least ;o)

[cruise chick21]

I just recently went on the New Year's cruise with NCL this 2005 aboard the Star. Honestly the food was great the whole trip but the desserts were especially good on New Year's Eve!! Chocolate Souflaes with chocolate sauce!!!!!

 

 

Hope it helps!!

 

 

~Cruise Chick21

[Pursers Office]

On the Tahitian Princess we had a french theme for dinner , french onion soup and for deserts creme brulee . Delicious, even my Marseilles born wife gave it 11 out of ten . :)