Soft Shell Crabs Availability???

[Bo1953]

Hello all - I have a few family members who want to go on a sailing with me PROVIDED soft shell crabs are on the menu at some point during the sailing...

 

Thus my question, has this ever appeared on any itinerary and if so which one in your most recent sailing memory???

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

[TeeRick]

Bo I have never seen them on the menu.

[bama4cruisin]

I have never seen them on a menu, and I would have noticed as I love them.  
 

I think a major factor is that soft shell crabs is a very short seasonal item . . .only available at the point the crab sheds their hard shell and before  the new shell is complete and hardened.

[George C]

I have also never seen soft shell crab on Celebrity menu, it’s my wife’s favorite dish, agree it’s a short season , they should be available now , I will ask our favorite restaurant if they can get them today.

[Mr. Click]

I have never seen them either.  They are a tricky dish to have. They don't feeze well and have a limited season.  Besides, how do you eat something that is still looking at you?   On the serious side after this long hiatus who really knows what the menus will be. Where will they cut corners? Where will they add something new?

 

[Denny01]

Hi Bo. Been on more than a few X cruises and never seen it. Sorry. One of the more ‘unique’ requirements to go cruising, ha!

 

den

[justcrusn]

You might want to plan to have that dish on shore before (and/or after) the cruise.

we’ve never seen it on a cruise ship.

[C-Dragons]

I have never seen them either.

[ipeeinthepool]

24 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Hello all - I have a few family members who want to go on a sailing with me PROVIDED soft shell crabs are on the menu at some point during the sailing...

 

Thus my question, has this ever appeared on any itinerary and if so which one in your most recent sailing memory???

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

 

I think you'll be sailing alone.  Never seen them on the menu.

[mafig]

21 minutes ago, Mr. Click said:

. They don't feeze well 

 

I'm also a fan.  I did have them one time  when they were frozen and they were awful.

Edited June 4, 2021 by mafig

[Bo1953]

3 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I think you'll be sailing alone.  Never seen them on the menu.

I was hoping not to, then again if I can find some vegan soft shell crab recipes for the chef, maybe, just maybe??

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

[Bo1953]

24 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

Hi Bo. Been on more than a few X cruises and never seen it. Sorry. One of the more ‘unique’ requirements to go cruising, ha!

 

den

LOL d - I have quite a group of 'unique' friends who have requirements to sail...

 

I just roll with it... and smile.

 

bon voyage

[FlyerTalker]

FWIW, I have never seen them on a ship's menu, and that includes Crystal, Silversea, Regent, Seabourn, Oceania and others.  If the smaller luxury ships can't seem to properly include them in their menus, I doubt if a much bigger ship would.

[chemmo]

1 hour ago, Bo1953 said:

Hello all - I have a few family members who want to go on a sailing with me PROVIDED soft shell crabs are on the menu at some point during the sailing...

 

Thus my question, has this ever appeared on any itinerary and if so which one in your most recent sailing memory???

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

 

Like others we have never seen them onboard.

 

However, on several cruises we have planned pre or post cruise special dining/hotel experiences. Perhaps you can research your boarding and disembarkation ports and find a gem of a restaurant.....

 

After travelling the world our most surprising gem was probably the ‘Red Lion’ in the New Forest. A 16C pub serving wonderful traditional pub fare and, at the time we visited, it had a cozy upstairs apartment you could stay in too.

 

Adding special meals/accommodation to pre and post cruise stays is one of those things that adds to the fun of cruising!

 

Hopefully this could prevent you from having to pay high solo supplements !!! However, you could pick up a high pre or post cruise restaurant bill....

Edited June 4, 2021 by chemmo

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, Bo1953 said:

I was hoping not to, then again if I can find some vegan soft shell crab recipes for the chef, maybe, just maybe??

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

Bo, if you are picking up the tab, I’ll be happy to be your brother from another mother, I love crab!  I’ll also pay the tip.

Edited June 4, 2021 by LGW59

[Von & John]

Sounds like a great opportunity to sail to/from Baltimore & they can dine on them on both ends of the cruise...

[Homosassa]

19 minutes ago, Von & John said:

Sounds like a great opportunity to sail to/from Baltimore & they can dine on them on both ends of the cruise...

Ports in any state that body salt water with blue crabs can be a source of peelers.

 

Just a note: Because of over crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay, most of the blue crabs sold in Maryland are from out of state. Texas is often the source.

 

Here in the Florida county where I now live, there is a supplier of soft shell crabs. They maintain large peeler tanks and harvest the crabs that have just molted. As a result, soft shell crabs are inexpensive in local restaurants.

 

For those not familiar with what a soft shell crab is, it is a crab that has just molted and the new shell has not yet harden. They are lightly floured and fried. You eat the entire crab, soft shell and all.

 

In my forty years of cruising, I have only seen soft shell crab once on a cruise ship. It was on an up scale line where part of the food budget was allocated to visiting the port of the day and buying whatever local specialty was available that day.

 

On my cruise, an announcement was made that soft shell crab was obtained and would be offered in the buffet that night at dinner.

[TeeRick]

4 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

I was hoping not to, then again if I can find some vegan soft shell crab recipes for the chef, maybe, just maybe??

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

Bo- I did not think there were soft shell crabs that were Vegan.  Most eat dead fish. 😊

[kasowell2]

I may be wrong but I think I had them one time in Blu.

[Chrisfromco]

18 minutes ago, kasowell2 said:

I may be wrong but I think I had them one time in Blu.

You are correct. I have had them in BLU as well. Unfortunately my last experience was in 2017, so that may not be a very reliable source for today.

[Covepointcruiser]

Frozen Soft Shell Crabs are nasty and they are the only ones you will get on a cruise ship.

[Charles4515]

4 hours ago, Von & John said:

Sounds like a great opportunity to sail to/from Baltimore & they can dine on them on both ends of the cruise...

 

They are available in Maryland all summer.

[kasowell2]

2 hours ago, Chrisfromco said:

You are correct. I have had them in BLU as well. Unfortunately my last experience was in 2017, so that may not be a very reliable source for today.

Thanks now I don’t feel as crazy as my wife says I am.

[papadave]

You are a wonderful friend for trying to accommodate others, but I don't think you are going to have any luck finding a good soft shell crab on a cruise ship.   Maybe, just maybe, you might find one tucked away in the Japanese menu of a specialty restaurant on a cruise ship, but I don't recall seeing one there and would not have ordered a soft shell if it wasn't alive a minute before being cooked.   I clean and cook my own and have been doing this for decades.   For most people this is a food item you either love or don't love.   I just don't expect to see this on a cruise ship menu any more than I would expect to see kangaroo meat.

[hcat]

Hi Bo.. an original EDGIE!

 

Nice to see you posting.

Never saw soft shell crabs on X or Royal..your travel group really works you hard!

 

Best regards 

Hcat