Equinox and fresh fish on the buffet

[di T]

Have had fresh fish and mussels brought on board in the morning and served at lunch, this has been on a number of our med cruises with Celebrity! Much better than some of the frozen stuff they usually serve, a real treat! 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

28 minutes ago, di T said:

Have had fresh fish and mussels brought on board in the morning and served at lunch, this has been on a number of our med cruises with Celebrity! Much better than some of the frozen stuff they usually serve, a real treat! 

 

Yes, we had the same experience in the Med.  We ate in the buffet more than in the MDR as the food was  much more interesting.

[George C]

29 minutes ago, di T said:

Have had fresh fish and mussels brought on board in the morning and served at lunch, this has been on a number of our med cruises with Celebrity! Much better than some of the frozen stuff they usually serve, a real treat! 

I was going to mention the mussels they looked great , I think by far they have the best buffet , but real treat was sea bass in luminae.

[Irishwhiskey]

We will be sailing in September and looking forward to trying the fresh fish.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I'm on in August and September and will definitely check this out!  Love fresh fish!

[keesar]

Fresh fish is typically brought on board at certain ports.  Often, it is announced.  In Alaska, I believe the fish were brought on board  the Silhouette in Juneau.  There had been fish earlier in the cruise but it was frozen.  

[WackyWayne]

Recently on the Equinox doing western Caribbean, they had a Fish Station in the OceanView cafe (buffet) at least twice for lunch.  They had signs for Grouper and Red Snapper that I recall.  There may have also been Mahi at some point, based upon a sign I saw sitting on top the buffet, but laying down.  I did NOT see a sign saying it was fresh or local, but maybe I missed that sign.  I believe I saw them sectioning it or filleting it, but I don't recall them being "cleaned" (ie descaled or gutted).  I know they were very tasty, being freshly cooked.  I recall that everything I saw was apparently being grilled or "pan-fried" on the flat top, but maybe some was deep fried.  We have seen this "Fish Station" feature on other (probably Celebrity in the Caribbean) sailings, but I forget exactly which.

 

This is different than the common (deep fried) "Fish & Chips" feature that I see frequently at lunch in a buffet.  This Equinox sailing also had a deep-fried Calamari station multiple days for lunch.

 

Edit: I should have taken a pic of the chef station as they were prepping the fish.

 

 

Edited July 13, 2019 by WackyWayne

[Parrotgirl]

On 7/8/2019 at 1:25 PM, twodaywonder said:

Just off of the Equinox, saw something I never have on any other ship or cruise line. One evening in the buffet the chefs were cleaning and filleting fish on the buffet line in front of everyone.  They looked like very fresh fish. Handed the fillets to the Cook, he grilled and also deep fried. I had grilled and my husband had the deep fried. Both had excellent texture and taste. The size of the fish were about 16 inches to a large 24 inches or so. 

Also on Equinox a week ago, they had it on the lunch buffet on sea days.  They had sea bream and grouper.  It was cooked fresh and very good.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

8 hours ago, keesar said:

Fresh fish is typically brought on board at certain ports.  Often, it is announced.  In Alaska, I believe the fish were brought on board  the Silhouette in Juneau.  There had been fish earlier in the cruise but it was frozen.  

 

I was on the Silhouette in Alaska in May.  Nary a word about fresh fish.

[drdaddy]

We were on Silhouette 2 years ago on the Westbound TA.  We had an overnight stop in Bermuda and in the morning we saw the head chef speaking with some local fishing people on the quay.  The fresh fish was on the lunch buffet!  It was outstanding and knowing that is was caught that morning.  Wonderful  experience.

[ipeeinthepool]

We always stay away from dead fish on any ship.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

12 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

We always stay away from dead fish on any ship.

No fish eater I guess.

[ipeeinthepool]

4 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

No fish eater I guess.

😉

[cynbar]

Yikes, don't know how I missed this, will definitely look for it on my next cruise. We live on the coast so are used to very fresh fish at home, always find the fish on cruise ships to be somehow lacking (frozen fish just isn't the same no matter how "flash frozen" it was.)  I don't tend to do the buffet a lot but would definitely make an exception for this.

[keesar]

11 minutes ago, cynbar said:

Yikes, don't know how I missed this, will definitely look for it on my next cruise. We live on the coast so are used to very fresh fish at home, always find the fish on cruise ships to be somehow lacking (frozen fish just isn't the same no matter how "flash frozen" it was.)  I don't tend to do the buffet a lot but would definitely make an exception for this.

 

I agree about the 'flash frozen" as I can tell the difference.  In Alaska, we had fresh salmon, halibut and rockfish.   Came on board eat one of the ports and was available at dinner in the buffet one night.  On the Equinox, there were 9 varieties of fish for the buffet's Fish Night.  I am not sure if the fish were fresh or not but they tasted pretty good.  It was not the same fish they served at lunch.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I'm bummed I didn't see this on my Alaska cruise in May!

[keesar]

13 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I'm bummed I didn't see this on my Alaska cruise in May!

 

I am wondering if it was not open fishing season in May.  We went in  August and it was advertised.  

[wishuponasea]

A question......do you need to let the MDR know you won't be there one night (if we decide to do buffet for fresh fish)? I want to be polite so they don't hold our table and others can take it if we are not there. Also, how far in advance can you find out about buffet menus vs MDR menus?  Thanks! We enjoy the MDR, being served for a change; but dangling Fresh Fish in front of me and cooking it on the spot -- I would make the sacrifice to serve myself!  🙂  

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Just now, wishuponasea said:

A question......do you need to let the MDR know you won't be there one night (if we decide to do buffet for fresh fish)? I want to be polite so they don't hold our table and others can take it if we are not there. Also, how far in advance can you find out about buffet menus vs MDR menus?  Thanks! We enjoy the MDR, being served for a change; but dangling Fresh Fish in front of me and cooking it on the spot -- I would make the sacrifice to serve myself!  🙂  

No need to let them know. 

[CardRock]

On 7/13/2019 at 11:20 PM, ipeeinthepool said:

We always stay away from dead fish on any ship.

Well I am not going to eat it alive....

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

3 hours ago, wishuponasea said:

A question......do you need to let the MDR know you won't be there one night (if we decide to do buffet for fresh fish)? I want to be polite so they don't hold our table and others can take it if we are not there. Also, how far in advance can you find out about buffet menus vs MDR menus?  Thanks! We enjoy the MDR, being served for a change; but dangling Fresh Fish in front of me and cooking it on the spot -- I would make the sacrifice to serve myself!  🙂  

 

If you are on fixed seating at a set table, it would be a courtesy to let your tablemates and the waiter know that you won't be there on a particular evening.  That way, they won't be waiting for you to show up.

 

If you have a reservation in Select, it would be courteous to cancel it.

[George C]

4 hours ago, wishuponasea said:

A question......do you need to let the MDR know you won't be there one night (if we decide to do buffet for fresh fish)? I want to be polite so they don't hold our table and others can take it if we are not there. Also, how far in advance can you find out about buffet menus vs MDR menus?  Thanks! We enjoy the MDR, being served for a change; but dangling Fresh Fish in front of me and cooking it on the spot -- I would make the sacrifice to serve myself!  🙂  

We normally will let them know , if we are at a set table with others. 

[Icon901]

This is really a nice feature. If they provided Salmon, I wonder if they'd be willing to provide the filet uncooked sashimi style... or if they would demand to fry or grill it. 

Snapper or grouper I'd want grilled for sure. 
 

[weregoingcruising]

On 7/13/2019 at 2:11 PM, Parrotgirl said:

Also on Equinox a week ago, they had it on the lunch buffet on sea days.  They had sea bream and grouper.  It was cooked fresh and very good.

This story sounds fishy.😉

[diesel1973]

I would think that the Alaskan cruises would be offering fish as the fishing up here has been fantastic this year. I will be heading home next week with 100-150# of fish.