Onboard Explora 1 (Sept 25- Oct 13) with Hank

[frantic36]

On 10/7/2023 at 4:03 AM, Waltershipman said:

Thats my understanding we were told that rhey fax him photos of food everyday for his approval

Someone is pulling your leg 😅. I am not a big Tk fan but I must admit that certainly our cruise in September in TK they were more into modifying things, ie I like my steak rare and that is how they served it and it was excellent. 

 

On a side note I meant to have dover sole and didn't, next cruise I must try it.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, frantic36 said:

Someone is pulling your leg 😅. I am not a big Tk fan but I must admit that certainly our cruise in September in TK they were more into modifying things, ie I like my steak rare and that is how they served it and it was excellent. 

 

On a side note I meant to have dover sole and didn't, next cruise I must try it.

We really do enjoy the TK Grill (Seabourn) and have dined, dozens of times, in those venues.  It is not an extension of Keller's French Laundry, but rather a long-standing fixed menu curated by Thomas Keller.  He does maintain some quality control (we actually met the person who moves between the Seabourn ships ensuring quality in those venues).  The negative thing about TK is that the menu has not changed (except for a few tweaks) for as long as we have been cruising on Seabourn (2018).  It is about fine dining, but not overly gourmet.  So, for example, our favorite main of Dover Sole is finished, tableside, in a chaffing dish where it is also fileted.  Some SB regulars have posted about the quality going downhill since COVID, but that has not been our expereince on our 3 post Covid (over 60 days) cruises.

 

Overall, we think that the food prep and variety on EJ, is far superior to what is offered in the TK Grill.  On the other hand, Seabourn shows a lot more flexibility in their other dining venues (the onboard chefs have some discretion) and do very innovative things that are a lot of fun.  

 

In fact, it is the flexibility on SB (and the willingness to have socialization between the passengers and crew) that is part of their charm and much of the reason why we still prefer Seabourn over EJ...despite EJ having the better cuisine.  Consider my post when I mentioned that the pizza chef/cook in the Emporium simply refused to put some pepperoni (which was readily available) on a pizza.  Something like that would never happen on Seabourn (where the word "No" is not in their vocabulary).  On SB, if I asked them to put blue cheese on a burger, it would happen.  On EJ they would say "no" because it is not a recipe endorsed by Geneva...even if the blue cheese was at arm's length.

 

We became friendly enough with one of the top EJ chefs to bring up this lack of flexibility.  He agreed that there was a downside to not allowing his chefs/cooks to have more flexibility but thought this might change "over time."

 

Hank

 

 

[Waltershipman]

1 hour ago, frantic36 said:

Someone is pulling your leg 😅. I am not a big Tk fan but I must admit that certainly our cruise in September in TK they were more into modifying things, ie I like my steak rare and that is how they served it and it was excellent. 

 

On a side note I meant to have dover sole and didn't, next cruise I must try it.

We ate the diver sole twice at Mediterranean yarch club and it was excellent i have seen others post that it was comparable to TK. 

 

I lived the TK lobster Thermador and also lived the lobster Thermador at Fil Rouge and ate that 3 times.  Wonder which one has less cholesterol? Lol

Enjoy

[saminina]

Dover sole.....TK versus Fil Rouge.  Yes, TK will properly debone.  My partner ordered the dish last night on Explora and the server attempted to debone on the plate in front of guest.   Awkward!  The fish served last night was superior to the (very) many had in TK.   One persons opinion, of course.

 

Personally, I enjoy separating the bone.  SB still supplies fish knives in all venues.   Explora does not and Silversea tossed theirs to reduce weight and save fuel costs..   I miss the fish knife.  And try buying one on land.

Edited October 15, 2023 by saminina

[Critically Cruising]

16 hours ago, Hlitner said:

This goes to an issue that the designers seemed to sometimes put style over substance.  The showers should have a long grab bar along the long shower wall, but the designers likely wanted to preserve the beautiful design without an ugly hand bar.

 

Maybe they figured that their target market - younger millenials who aren't into cruising - don't need grab bars.

 

 

[InsGuy3]

Has anyone tried connecting an Apple TV to one of the TV’s in the Suites?

[kidless]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

 Consider my post when I mentioned that the pizza chef/cook in the Emporium simply refused to put some pepperoni (which was readily available) on a pizza.  Something like that would never happen on Seabourn (where the word "No" is not in their vocabulary).  On SB, if I asked them to put blue cheese on a burger, it would happen.  On EJ they would say "no" because it is not a recipe endorsed by Geneva...even if the blue cheese was at arms length 

 

Hank

 

 

This is craziness! I love blue cheese on a burger and pepporoni on pizza. I will be testing their flexibility next month. 

[Waltershipman]

1 minute ago, kidless said:

This is craziness! I love blue cheese on a burger and pepporoni on pizza. I will be testing their flexibility next month. 

Enjoy and you will also find filet minion topped with foie gras at the Emporium.  They will also serve you foie by itself. Enjoy as the food is spectacular and memorable in a great way

[Hlitner]

51 minutes ago, kidless said:

This is craziness! I love blue cheese on a burger and pepporoni on pizza. I will be testing their flexibility next month. 

Another passenger (onboard friend) also tried to get the pizza chef to modify his usual pizzas.  Also got a "no,"  The pizza is excellent, and even the selection seemed OK...the first day.  After a few days we realized they only have very few topping options and never vary.  It is similar with the gelato where they change very few flavors.  No problem with anything they have, but the lack of variety with some items.  In some cases, such as with paninis and their wok offerings, they do allow passengers to make some choices (oh, the horror).

 

Hank

[Waltershipman]

24 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Another passenger (onboard friend) also tried to get the pizza chef to modify his usual pizzas.  Also got a "no,"  The pizza is excellent, and even the selection seemed OK...the first day.  After a few days we realized they only have very few topping options and never vary.  It is similar with the gelato where they change very few flavors.  No problem with anything they have, but the lack of variety with some items.  In some cases, such as with paninis and their wok offerings, they do allow passengers to make some choices (oh, the horror).

 

Hank

Well I happen to like Anchovies on pizza. I never asked the pizza maker to do anything. I did however go over to the ceaser salad station and picked up some Anchovies and placed it on my pizza. Loved it

 

Loved the food loved the ship and in hindsight the cruise remains wonderful with great memories

[Hlitner]

29 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Well I happen to like Anchovies on pizza. I never asked the pizza maker to do anything. I did however go over to the ceaser salad station and picked up some Anchovies and placed it on my pizza. Loved it

 

Loved the food loved the ship and in hindsight the cruise remains wonderful with great memories

They had a large bin of pepperoni at the panini station.  We simply wanted him to take a few of those (which we would have handed to him), put it on a margarita, and pop it in the oven for a minute.  "No" was the refrain.  Not a big deal and certainly not worthy of complaining to the Emporium management.  The cooks and chefs simply do as they were trained.  The "customer is always right" is something often lost on EJ.  On the plus side, they certainly do have a consistency of product.  What you get one day will be exactly the same on another day.

 

Speaking of pizza, it was interesting to watch the pizza chef making his dough (he often did this during breakfast).  Each dough ball (later used to make one rectangular pizza at lunch or a round pizza at dinner) was carefully weighed to make sure that each pizza had exactly (we are talking to the gram) the same amount of dough :).  The old Italian pizza shop owner (near our home) would probably fall down laughing at the thought of ever weighing his dough on a scale.  The only place, on the ship, where there seemed to be some discretion was with the terrific bar tenders/mixologists who would vary drinks according to customer preferences.  

 

We regularly ate in Sakura (our favorite restaurant) and found that the handmade sushi was always exactly the same :).  The two sushi chefs were obviously well trained the consistency was amazing.  But if you wanted some kind of sushi not on the menu.....forget about it!

 

Hank

 

 

[Waltershipman]

8 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

They had a large bin of pepperoni at the panini station.  We simply wanted him to take a few of those (which we would have handed to him), put it on a margarita, and pop it in the oven for a minute.  "No" was the refrain.  Not a big deal and certainly not worthy of complaining to the Emporium management.  The cooks and chefs simply do as they were trained.  The "customer is always right" is something often lost on EJ.  On the plus side, they certainly do have a consistency of product.  What you get one day will be exactly the same on another day.

 

Speaking of pizza, it was interesting to watch the pizza chef making his dough (he often did this during breakfast).  Each dough ball (later used to make one rectangular pizza at lunch or a round pizza at dinner) was carefully weighed to make sure that each pizza had exactly (we are talking to the gram) the same amount of dough :).  The old Italian pizza shop owner (near our home) would probably fall down laughing at the thought of ever weighing his dough on a scale.  The only place, on the ship, where there seemed to be some discretion was with the terrific bar tenders/mixologists who would vary drinks according to customer preferences.  

 

We regularly ate in Sakura (our favorite restaurant) and found that the handmade sushi was always exactly the same :).  The two sushi chefs were obviously well trained the consistency was amazing.  But if you wanted some kind of sushi not on the menu.....forget about it!

 

Hank

 

 

We even found wait attentive and caring  staff serving drinks offering suggestions and variations based upon taste

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, Waltershipman said:

We even found wait attentive and caring  staff serving drinks offering suggestions and variations based upon taste

One of our favorite bar tenders (at the Lobby Bar) suggested I try a "Paper Plane."  Never heard of that drink and he explained that when he started working on EJ1, he noticed they had a liquor called Amoro.  Since he had never worked with that product he did some research and found the "Paper Place" cocktail.  It was OK, but probably would have been better appreciated by folks that like to drink an Aperol Spritz.  But I really enjoyed his friendly banter and insistence I try this drink :).  

 

Hank

[kelleherdl]

37 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

One of our favorite bar tenders (at the Lobby Bar) suggested I try a "Paper Plane."  Never heard of that drink and he explained that when he started working on EJ1, he noticed they had a liquor called Amoro.  Since he had never worked with that product he did some research and found the "Paper Place" cocktail.  It was OK, but probably would have been better appreciated by folks that like to drink an Aperol Spritz.  But I really enjoyed his friendly banter and insistence I try this drink :).  

 

Hank

This is a good point about the bartenders on EJ1. They are not bashful at all about challenging the guests with new drinks and variations on traditional favorites. They are not bothered at all if you let them make you something ‘new’, and you say you don’t care for it. It is a fantastic banter. It’s like there is no real restriction on their use of the liquor to ‘entertain’ the guests. They come with varied backgrounds from very sophisticated resorts from all over the world. The Lobby Bar is the centerpiece, but each will appear at other bars throughout the day, including the pool bars.

[no1talks]

38 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

"...he noticed they had a liquor called Amoro."

Just "Amaro," without a brand? There are dozens of brands and they can vary quite a bit in flavoring and proof. However, amaro is Italian for "bitter," so thirst-quenching it ain't. As for myself, I enjoy an occasional fernet con coca before dinner, even though amari are usually served as digestifs.

[Waltershipman]

8 minutes ago, kelleherdl said:

This is a good point about the bartenders on EJ1. They are not bashful at all about challenging the guests with new drinks and variations on traditional favorites. They are not bothered at all if you let them make you something ‘new’, and you say you don’t care for it. It is a fantastic banter. It’s like there is no real restriction on their use of the liquor to ‘entertain’ the guests. They come with varied backgrounds from very sophisticated resorts from all over the world. The Lobby Bar is the centerpiece, but each will appear at other bars throughout the day, including the pool bars.

Absolutely 👍 

[Critically Cruising]

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

One of our favorite bar tenders (at the Lobby Bar) suggested I try a "Paper Plane."  Never heard of that drink and he explained that when he started working on EJ1, he noticed they had a liquor called Amoro.  Since he had never worked with that product he did some research and found the "Paper Place" cocktail.  It was OK, but probably would have been better appreciated by folks that like to drink an Aperol Spritz.  But I really enjoyed his friendly banter and insistence I try this drink :).  

 

Surprised you never noticed a Paper Plane before.  It has been a staple on the cocktail menus on Old Crystal for at least a half-dozen years.

 

I'll leave the discussion of the bartenders for another day.  My experience was that they knew the EJ cocktails well, but that knowledge of other traditional cocktails was inconsistent at best.  An example was a Rusty Nail.  Found that the bartender proportions ranged from 4 parts scotch to 1 Drambuie down to 1 to 1.  What the....

 

In a proper operation, the cocktail should be the same in every venue - training should ensure that.  Maybe it's the one spot where EJ rigidity wasn't. 

 

 

[Hlitner]

7 hours ago, Critically Cruising said:

 

Surprised you never noticed a Paper Plane before.  It has been a staple on the cocktail menus on Old Crystal for at least a half-dozen years.

 

I'll leave the discussion of the bartenders for another day.  My experience was that they knew the EJ cocktails well, but that knowledge of other traditional cocktails was inconsistent at best.  An example was a Rusty Nail.  Found that the bartender proportions ranged from 4 parts scotch to 1 Drambuie down to 1 to 1.  What the....

 

In a proper operation, the cocktail should be the same in every venue - training should ensure that.  Maybe it's the one spot where EJ rigidity wasn't. 

 

 

You are harsh :).  Considering there are probably over 600 known cocktails, and few bars have the product to make all of them, mixology is an art (we have an excellent mixologist in our family which makes for some interesting discussion).  Personally, I would not want to ruin decent scotch by adding anything (other than a dram of water or perhaps an ice cube).  But my recipe for a Rusty Nail would be 2 parts scotch to 1 part Drambuie...and I would alter that recipe depending on the chosen scotch (a little less scotch if it came from Islay).  Over 50 years of extensive cruising, I have only had one margarita (a favorite cocktail) that met my own standards, and that was from one particular bar tender (who hails from Mexico City) on Seabourn.  I told him that he was the only bar tender that ever made a better margarita than yours truly (I call my concoction "Killer Margaritas").  And, it is impossible to make my recipe without "Controy" (Mexican Cointreau) which is difficult to find outside of Mexico.

 

I am not a big fan of strict company recopies since that takes the "art" out of cocktail making.  And when using fresh lime (or lemon) the drink varies depending on the particular lime (or lemon) and one should tweak the mixture for the specific fruit.  So, a good bar tender will add a little simple syrup (I prefer Agave Nector) to a margarita made with an overly sour lime..and perhaps no sweetener if the lime is less sour.

 

What I liked about our favorite bar tender on EJ (he comes from Bali) is that he ignored the company recipe (which calls for some simple syrup) because he said, "the lime is not very sour."  On the other hand, with a different bar tender when I ordered a Vodka Gimlet (a very simple drink) he gave me a "lemon drop,"  which I attributed to a language barrier misunderstanding (most EJ staff are not native English speaking).  And I like my gimlets with about 4 parts vodka to 1 part Rose's, which is not going to be the normal recipe in most venues.  

 

We could have a lot of fun with the "drink topic" but probably should start a new thread under a more appropriate topic (perhaps the mods need to add a "how to make your favorite cocktail"  under Cruise Conversations." {hint to the Mods}.

 

Hank

P.S.  Have a good one 🙂

[Whipsnade]

Yikes!!

[saminina]

More than seventy people in EJ bar department.   Only bar at sea known to me is S.A.L.T. Bar on newer Silversea ships paying a premium to the bartender for being a mixologist.   They operate under a different contract than bar staff. 

 

53 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

(most EJ staff are not native English speaking).  🙂

Are you positive?

[uktog]

Sounds though that I might enjoy the bar experience if they follow a recipe. To me a good drink is one where the spirits to other ingredients are in correct proportion. My absolute hate on Azamara is bar tenders who think they are doing you a favour with extra measures of spirits when you’ve told them otherwise 

[Whipsnade]

EJ bartenders spend their time with regulars and ignore casual drop ins. They wiuldn’t last a week on Crystal. 

[Waltershipman]

11 minutes ago, uktog said:

Sounds though that I might enjoy the bar experience if they follow a recipe. To me a good drink is one where the spirits to other ingredients are in correct proportion. My absolute hate on Azamara is bar tenders who think they are doing you a favour with extra measures of spirits when you’ve told them otherwise 

We loved the bar crew on EJ and they made creative and individual focused drinks with personal attention

[vistaman]

3 hours ago, saminina said:

More than seventy people in EJ bar department.   Only bar at sea known to me is S.A.L.T. Bar on newer Silversea ships paying a premium to the bartender for being a mixologist.   They operate under a different contract than bar staff. 

 

Are you positive?

I must confirm the bartenders mixologists in SALT were excellent on the Dawn !  I was there twice this year .  

[Whipsnade]

Anyone have knowledge how many pax currently on board?