Fresh salmon available in the dining room on Alaska cruises?

[dopey1200]

Do the HAL ships cruising the inside passage get fresh salmon at any of the ports to serve in the dining room? While the salmon bake excursions sound delicious, I'd hate to pay $80 per person for one of them when I could possibly have it for dinner that night or the next day for free on the ship. TIA

[Kay S]

In my experience, the food on the ship has been loaded on in port before the cruise.  If you really want that salmon bake, I say go for it.  I have never had cruise ship salmon as delicious as you get on shore.

[CruiserBruce]

No fresh salmon. There will definitely be salmon, and they might pick it up at one of the ports. But it won't be fresh. I have seen fish loaded at a couple ports around the world, but it's frozen. 

[Mary229]

Not salmon but on a recent cruise chef did pick up tuna at the pier and served it soon thereafter 

[CruiserBruce]

19 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Not salmon but on a recent cruise chef did pick up tuna at the pier and served it soon thereafter 

Protein has to be frozen (to kill parasites), so very good chance it was frozen.

[0106]

I never believed HALs “fresh fish” PR until I saw it being loaded on to the ship in Montevideo.

 

@CruiserBrucecooking fresh salmon to 145 degrees kills bacterial pathogens and parasites.

[tupper10]

On our cruise our waiter told us what the fresh fish was for that day.  I don't recall if one of the days was salmon but I will say I had it multiple times and the quality was excellent. 

[Mary229]

9 hours ago, tupper10 said:

On our cruise our waiter told us what the fresh fish was for that day.  I don't recall if one of the days was salmon but I will say I had it multiple times and the quality was excellent. 

I find the salmon on HAL is always pretty good much better than most restaurants.  

[vicd1969]

The destination specialty salmon dishes onboard HAL for their Alaska cruises are very good, much better value, if not outright taste, than the $80 cost of a Salmon bake. I would spend my excursion dollars on other activities.

[cbr663]

I expect the salmon served on HAL's ships is farmed Atlantic Salmon whereas it will be Wild Sockeye Salmon served during the excursion.  I remember learning that while Alaska has hatcheries for salmon it does not allow salmon farms like those for farmed Atlantic salmon.  

[Blackduck59]

Much of the "wild" salmon caught in Canadian and US  waters is frozen at sea. Fresh (never frozen) fish is rather uncommon. The land based "salmon bake" may have a local fisher that goes out every day to get their fish, but that is a rather hit and miss proposition. When we did our Alaska salmon lunch it was very good, they were grilling Coho that day.

[EJLobster]

20 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Protein has to be frozen (to kill parasites), so very good chance it was frozen.

Hmm...doesn't cooking it kill any parasites?

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, EJLobster said:

Hmm...doesn't cooking it kill any parasites?

If cooked uniformly and appropriately. 

[Cruise Junky]

Just watch the labeling on the menu.  If it doesn’t say wild or if it says Atlantic then it’s farmed.  

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I have had the salmon on HAL several times, usually though just in Alaska and I do agree it is pretty good but was more than likely previously frozen and probably Atlantic Salmon but of very good quality. With that being said the Salmon Bake being offered and I have attended twice the first in 2004 and probably again in 2009 was more than likely frozen salmon. There is no way doing these salmon bakes from late April till October that those tour operators can provide FRESH Salmon. I will say that I did enjoy them but both times knew they had to been previously frozen especially because they were extremely dry and very small pieces. It was fun doing the salmon bake the first time we did it in Juneau and then later did it as part of our Whale watch that was on an island not far from Auke Bay. It was nice to have done it once but the prices seem to be so much more now that I agree you may enjoy what you would be served on the ship much more.

[Btimmer]

On the Grand South America in the fall of 2023, we frequently had fresh fish loaded and later served.  In one port, the chef and provision master literally obtained it from a nearby moored fishing boat.

[Aexboeingdriver]

Holland America Line earns certification for responsible fish sourcing in Alaska

From Travel Weekly

 

On a typical Alaska cruise, Holland America Line said it serves more than 2,000 pounds of Alaska salmon, 1,000 pounds of Alaska cod, 800 pounds of Alaska halibut and 500 pounds of Alaska rockfish.  

HAL has pledged to buy and serve only local, sustainable, fresh seafood on its Alaska cruises. The line said it is the first cruise line to obtain that distinction from Responsible Fisheries Management

[Khlela]

You will have at least one FRESH Alaskan salmon option every day of your alaska cruise such as a salmon bowl, broiled salmon, miso glazed salmon, etc. 

For Alaskan cruises specifically it is all fresh and all Alaskan (NOT Atlantic). 

Edited April 3 by Khlela

[XBGuy]

I have been on AK cruises (not HAL) where one of the port excursions (Ketchikan?) was on a salmon fishing boat.  If you caught a salmon, the fisherman had a choice of having it frozen and shipped to his home or taking on the ship and having the dining room galley prepare it to enjoy for that evening's dinner.  On our very first AK cruise in 1992, there was a party of eight at the table next to us.  One of their members caught one and had the galley prepare it for their dinner.  They offered a taste to us. and it was excellent.  This is a good way to be confident of freshness--pull it out of the sea and eat it a few hours later.

 

I have read recently of somebody doing this on Princess.  I assume it would be available on HAL, but I do not know for sure.

[QuattroRomeo]

6 hours ago, XBGuy said:

I have read recently of somebody doing this on Princess.  I assume it would be available on HAL, but I do not know for sure.

There are a few, under HAL's "Savor My Catch" program. Here are a couple of them (pricey though !):

[dopey1200]

Just saw this in the latest brochure 

[terrydtx]

On 4/2/2024 at 8:11 PM, Aexboeingdriver said:

Holland America Line earns certification for responsible fish sourcing in Alaska

 

From Travel Weekly

 

On a typical Alaska cruise, Holland America Line said it serves more than 2,000 pounds of Alaska salmon, 1,000 pounds of Alaska cod, 800 pounds of Alaska halibut and 500 pounds of Alaska rockfish.  

HAL has pledged to buy and serve only local, sustainable, fresh seafood on its Alaska cruises. The line said it is the first cruise line to obtain that distinction from Responsible Fisheries Management

I was hoping that we would some fresh local fish served on our August Volendam Boston to Montreal cruise. Even local cold water lobster and fresh scallops would be nice too.