Half and Half

[kenevenpar]

When did finding half & half become an issue?  On our Mariner cruise this past weekend, finding it was like pulling teeth.

 

Ken

[cb at sea]

Must be something new....it's always been readily available on every ship we've sailed...I saw another post about difficulty finding it!

[felton183]

We were on Brilliance of the Sea last March and they had no half/half in the main dining room at breakfast????  The waiter had to run to the buffet to bring the table half/half, very nice and we told him it was ok but why should he have to!  Just venting and wondering why this was a problem.  Sailing on Oasis in March, hope they have plenty of half/half😊

[jsf]

What kind of issue is this! just mix your milk with cream.

[DaniDanielle]

It is the same with mayonnaise at lunch in the MDR.  They need to get it from Windjammer,  makes no sense.

[davekathy]

On our B2B Freedom cruise (March 2019) we always ate breakfast in the section of the MDR for diamond and above. My wife had to request half-n-half. After a few mornings of requesting it the wait staff finally caught on and brought it to her when we were first seated. 

[CruisingAlong4Now]

BTW, I have found half and half to be an American thing.  Generally not available in Europe.  

[kenevenpar]

1 hour ago, jsf said:

What kind of issue is this! just mix your milk with cream.

 

HaHa.  I offered to do just that.  I was told cream would be harder to get 😮

[kenevenpar]

1 hour ago, felton183 said:

We were on Brilliance of the Sea last March and they had no half/half in the main dining room at breakfast????  The waiter had to run to the buffet to bring the table half/half, very nice and we told him it was ok but why should he have to!  Just venting and wondering why this was a problem.  Sailing on Oasis in March, hope they have plenty of half/half😊

 

I was told numerous times that they had no half and half in the Windjammer.  I, of course, did not believe that this was possible.  It took a while until I found an officer who "offered" to go find some.

[Merion_Mom]

On the Anthem, it is "everywhere".  I have seen it wherever there are coffee dispensers, in the various venues. 

 

It is NOT in the tiny little sealed cups.  It is in large dispensers, like the coffee.

[kenevenpar]

37 minutes ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

BTW, I have found half and half to be an American thing.  Generally not available in Europe.  

 

I thought about that as well, but discounted it as Mariner sails from Port Canaveral with mostly American guests, and is not flagged in any European country.

 

 

[SRF]

However, the food and beverage supervisory staff is likely not US, so base things on THEIR experience.

 

Anyway, I am happy with anything from 2% milk up to heavy cream for my coffee.

[Esilef]

13 hours ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

BTW, I have found half and half to be an American thing.  Generally not available in Europe.  

 

We don’t have this in Australia either. Took me a couple of posts to workout what was meant by this 

[cublet]

Hello,

 

It was not until the fourth posting that I realised the topic was about milk.

 

We (UK) have three 'standard' milk types: Whole Milk (3.5% fat); Semi skimmed (1.7% fat) ; skimmed (0.1% - 0.3% fat).

 

There are exceptions to the 'standard' and not widely available outside major supermarkets: 1% (1% fat - obvious really); Channel Island Full Fat Milk (5% fat).

 

So "Yes, we do have 'half and half'" - mathematically, just not called that.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[Lady Hudson]

Try getting full cream for coffee for diabetics wanting to cut down on hidden sugars.  Almost impossible.  Wish it wasn’t so.  Katherine

[SRF]

2 hours ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

It was not until the fourth posting that I realised the topic was about milk.

 

We (UK) have three 'standard' milk types: Whole Milk (3.5% fat); Semi skimmed (1.7% fat) ; skimmed (0.1% - 0.3% fat).

 

There are exceptions to the 'standard' and not widely available outside major supermarkets: 1% (1% fat - obvious really); Channel Island Full Fat Milk (5% fat).

 

So "Yes, we do have 'half and half'" - mathematically, just not called that.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

 

Nope.

 

Half and half is half whole (full fat) milk and half cream (18-30% fat).   So lighter (less fat) than light cream, and more than whole (full fat) milk.  So half and half is about 10-15% fat.

 

About the only thing that it is used for is coffee.

 

In the US, if you ask for cream in your coffee, you will normally get half and half.

 

In the US, for milk, we have whole milk (3.5% fat), skim milk (0% fat), 2% milk (2% fat, DUH), and most places have 1% milk.

 

We have light cream (as above), and  heavy cream (which may be the same as whipping cream, or may be slightly less fat, around 33%).  Whipping cream is greater than 36% fat.

Edited January 16, 2020 by SRF

[kenevenpar]

2 hours ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

It was not until the fourth posting that I realised the topic was about milk.

 

We (UK) have three 'standard' milk types: Whole Milk (3.5% fat); Semi skimmed (1.7% fat) ; skimmed (0.1% - 0.3% fat).

 

There are exceptions to the 'standard' and not widely available outside major supermarkets: 1% (1% fat - obvious really); Channel Island Full Fat Milk (5% fat).

 

So "Yes, we do have 'half and half'" - mathematically, just not called that.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

 

In the US, the fat content of 1/2 &1/2 is between 11% and 18.5%.  Half cream, (30 - 36%) and whole milk (~4%).

[kenevenpar]

1 hour ago, Lady Hudson said:

Try getting full cream for coffee for diabetics wanting to cut down on hidden sugars.  Almost impossible.  Wish it wasn’t so.  Katherine

 

Yes, i tried that route as well, without luck.

[SRF]

1 minute ago, kenevenpar said:

 

In the US, the fat content of 1/2 &1/2 is between 11% and 18.5%.  Half cream, (30 - 36%) and whole milk (~4%).

 

See my edits. 😄

[kenevenpar]

4 minutes ago, SRF said:

About the only thing that it is used for is coffee.

 

In the US, if you ask for cream in your coffee, you will normally get half and half.

 

The servers did try to convince me that the "creamer" was really the same.  "Is it real cream and milk or non-dairy?" 

[kenevenpar]

2 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

See my edits. 😄

 

Sorry, I wasn't trying to step on your post.  😉

[SRF]

NP, it happens.

[sparks1093]

6 hours ago, SRF said:

However, the food and beverage supervisory staff is likely not US, so base things on THEIR experience.

 

Anyway, I am happy with anything from 2% milk up to heavy cream for my coffee.

Same here, I stay away from the non-dairy creamers as much as possible (my preference is light cream but I can rough it if necessary).

[cublet]

Hello,

 

Half CREAM😧?!

 

And for all these years I thought I was doing my arteries a favour by reducing my fat intake.

 

I'll stick to milk from now on.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[kenevenpar]

5 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Same here, I stay away from the non-dairy creamers as much as possible (my preference is light cream but I can rough it if necessary).

 

I can also drink it black, if it is really good coffee.  The real point is, it is prevalent in most places, most cruises, and it should not be a painful experience trying to find it.

 

Once I discovered that you needed to ask an officer, I just made a preemptive strike, asking the first officer I saw, mentioning that I was told I needed to ask an officer, and making a point of observing his/her name.  It still took too long, but was a bit better.

 

Next cruise I will bring a second mug, ask for it to be filled with 1/2 & 1/2, and keep it in the "refrigerator" in the cabin.  Again, we should not have to do this, but it is not the end of the world...