Cuisine - Berlitz Cruising & Cruise Ships 2017 (Berlitz Cruise Guide) (2016)

Berlitz Cruising & Cruise Ships 2017 (Berlitz Cruise Guide) (2016)

Cuisine

Anyone determined to eat around the clock could do so aboard many ships, but the health-conscious should exercise restraint, especially at self-service buffets.

The dining rooms and restaurants aboard any cruise ship are the collective lifeblood of the entire ship, cruise, and hospitality experience. Except for the destinations, it’s the food that most people remember and talk about.

Cruise lines love to boast about their food, but the reality is that most meals aboard most ships are not gourmet affairs. How could they be when a kitchen has to turn out hundreds of meals at the same time? I’ve never actually met a passenger able to recite the menu of their most memorable meal (including appetizer, main course/entrée, and dessert) aboard a cruise ship. Why? It’s just that most ships simply can’t deliver the Wow factor the brochure promises, and so hype about ‘gourmet’ food is often overstated puffery.

Generally speaking, as in most restaurants on land, you get what you pay for. High-quality ingredients cost money, so it’s pointless expecting low-cost cruises to offer anything other than low-cost food. Most cruise ship cuisine compares favorably with ‘banquet’ food in a family restaurant. You can expect a selection of palatable and complete meals served properly in comfortable surroundings. Maybe you will even dine by candlelight (well, battery-powered candlelight), which creates some ambience. Menus are typically displayed outside the dining room each day, so that you can preview each meal. Menus are usually delivered to suite occupants.

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Dieter Müller creating an appetizer on Europa.

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises

The major cruise lines sometimes bulk-purchase food, which means lower-quality ingredients and cheaper cuts of meat and fish. perhaps ‘enhanced’ with preservatives. That said, cruise lines do sometimes upgrade food items - Carnival and Royal Caribbean International, for example, introduced free-range eggs aboard their ships in 2011.

Fresh versus frozen

Aboard low-priced cruises, you will typically be served portion-controlled frozen food that has been reheated. Fresh fish and the best cuts of meats cost the cruise lines more, and that cost is reflected in the cruise price. Aboard some ships, the ‘fresh’ fish - often described as ‘Catch of the Day’ - has clearly had no contact with the sea for quite some time.

Sushi bars are a fashionable addition to some ships. However, as the kitchen facilities on ships are generally inadequate to turn out food something as super-fresh as sushi, the only ships with authentic sushi bars and authentic sushi/sashimi are Asuka II, Crystal Serenity, MSC Musica, and MSC Poesia. Note also that many items of ‘fresh’ fruit may have been treated with 1-MCP (methylcyclopropene) to make them last longer - apples, for example, may be up to a year old.

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A Carnival chef putting the finishing touches to dessert.

Carnival

Bread and pastry items

While there are exceptions, much of the bread baked aboard cruise ships is unappealing because, with little time for fermentation of natural yeast, it is made instead with instant dough that contains dried yeast from packets. Many baked goods and pastry items are made mostly from refined flours and sugars.

Celebrity chefs

Several cruise lines have signed up well-known chefs to devise menus for their alternative dining venues. Celebrity Cruises, for example, worked with three-star Michelin chef Michel Roux from 1989 until 2007.

Celebrated chefs have included Georges Blanc (Carnival Cruise Lines), Elizabeth Blau (Celebrity Cruises), Geoffrey Zakarian (Norwegian Cruise Line), Jacques Pépin (Oceania Cruises), Nobu Matsuhisa (Crystal Cruises), Todd English (Cunard Line), Mauro Uliassi (MSC Cruises), Atul Kochhar, James Martin, and Marco Pierre White (P&O Cruises), and Aldo Zilli (Thomson Cruises).

Most celebrity chefs sail only one or two cruises a year, but Germany’s three-star Michelin chef Dieter Müller has set a new benchmark by sailing for up to half a year in order to run his eponymous restaurant aboard Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Europa.

Specialty restaurants

Most new cruise ships have a number of specialty restaurants and dining venues that provide alternatives to the large main dining rooms. Extra-cost specialty restaurants were pioneered in 1936 by RMS Queen Mary (Verandah Grill, for first-class passengers only, at an extra cost of one guinea - one English pound and one shilling) and introduced in modern times by Norwegian Cruise Line in 1988 (The Bistro - an à la carte, extra-cost French dining spot) and Crystal Cruises in 1990. But it was Star Cruises that introduced multiple venues - seven of them - aboard Star Aquarius in 1993; some were included in the cruise price, others cost extra.

These specialist restaurants are typically smaller, à la carte venues, where you must make a reservation, and pay an extra charge of between $6 and $75 a person. In return, you get better food, wines, service, and ambience. Celebrity chefs add to the mix and are asked to establish their own ‘at sea’ dining venues, or collaborate on menus for shipboard eateries, although they seldom appear on board.

Some specialty restaurants can also be very entertaining (dubbed ‘foodertainment’), such as the Teppanyaki Grill aboard Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Epic, and Norwegian Getaway.

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Hebridean Princess provides the antithesis to mass catering.

All Leisure Holidays

Barbecues and hot rock grills

Although some ships - usually the smaller ones - offer barbecues on deck, the latest trend is the Hot Rocks Grill. This consists of steaks, grilled meats, and seafood presented on a platter that includes a scorchingly hot rock base - so you can cook it yourself however little or well you want it done. It makes for a pleasant, refreshing change, all in a casual pool deck environment. Seabourn and Silversea Cruises pioneered this option; more lines will surely follow.

Molecular gastronomy

The term, invented in 1992 by the physicist Nicholas Kurti, signals food’s collision with science to create molecularly synthesized food. The cuisine was first introduced to the cruising industry by Italy’s Emilio Bocchia in the extra-cost restaurants aboard some Costa Cruises ships. To provide it, kitchens need blast chillers, atomizers, vacuum sealers, a Pacojet (a machine that can turn everyday ingredients into ice cream), liquid nitrogen, thickening gums (such as algin and xantham), malic acid, and flame retardants such as gellan. It also requires a serious qualification in molecular engineering and pharmaceutical know-how, and access to mountains of gelatin.

The end result is rather like a plate of colorful toy portions of ‘foam food.’ It can look pretty, and is reassuringly expensive. In the world of molecular gastronomy, bacon can be made to taste like melon. This type of cooking is, in the most literal sense, a matter of taste.

Special diets

Cruise lines tend to cater to general tastes. If you are allergic to ingredients such as nuts or shellfish, want lactose-free or gluten-free food, or have any other dietary restrictions, let the cruise line know in writing well ahead of time and, once on board, check with the restaurant manager.

If you are vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, or counting calories or want a salt-free, sugar-restricted, low-fat, low-cholesterol, or any other diet, advise your travel agent when you book, and get the cruise line to confirm that the ship can meet your needs. Cruise ship food tends to be liberally sprinkled with salt, and vegetables are often cooked with sauces containing dairy products, salt, and sugar.

Most cruise ships don’t cope well with those on vegan or macrobiotic diets who regularly need freshly squeezed juices; most large resort ships use commercial canned or bottled juices containing preservatives and aren’t able to provide really fresh juices in their bars.

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Afternoon tea in Crystal Symphony’s Palm Court.

Crystal Cruises

Self-serve buffets

Most ships have self-serve buffets for breakfast and luncheon (some also for dinner). Strangely, passengers don’t seem to mind lining up for self-service food in scandalously overcrowded venues. But while buffets look fine when they’re fresh, they don’t after a few minutes of passengers helping themselves. Self-serve buffets have become more user-friendly by increasing the number of ‘active cooking’ stations and food islands, which help to break up lines created by typical straight-line buffet counters.

Dare to ask for something that’s not on the display, however, and any form of human communication ceases and supervisors become invisible. For example: trying to get a freshly cooked four-minute soft-boiled egg at a breakfast buffet is a major challenge. I am always met with: ‘We’ve only got the ones in the bowl, sir.’ But the ‘eight-minute’ eggs in the bowl have been sitting there since they were boiled at 6:30am before the buffet opened. They’re still under the infrared heat lamp at 9:30am! Plus, there are typically no eggcups - or small spoons to eat them with!

Nor can you expect to find the following at the large resort ships’ breakfast and lunch buffets: warm plates (for ‘hot’ food items), fish knives, a smoked salmon omelet, soy milk, brown rice, fresh herbs, loose tea, or freshly grated nutmeg for oatmeal or cream of wheat.

Douglas Ward’s top restaurants

If asked to pick a baker’s dozen, I would choose: Dieter Müller at Sea aboard Europa; Tarragon aboard Europa 2; Kaito aboard MSC Musica and MSC Poesia; Le Champagne aboard Silver Spirit; Le Cordon Bleu aboard Seven Seas Voyager; Olympic Restaurant aboard Celebrity Millennium; Prime 7 aboard all Regent Seven Seas Cruises ships; Red Ginger aboard Marina; Remy aboard Disney Dream; The Sushi Bar aboard Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony; Teppanyaki Grill aboard Norwegian Epic; Umihiko aboard Asuka II; and Veranda Grill aboard Queen Elizabeth.

Healthy eating

It’s easy to gain weight when cruising - but not inevitable. In fact, taking a cruise could be a good reason to get serious about your well-being. Weight-conscious passengers should exercise self-restraint, particularly at self-service buffets.

Many ships’ menus include ‘heart-healthy’ or ‘lean and light’ options, with calorie-filled sauces replaced by so-called ‘spa’ cuisine. It may also be wise to choose grilled or poached fish (salmon or sea bass, for example), rather than heavy meat dishes, chicken, or fried food items.

Quality and variety are directly linked to the per-passenger budget set by each cruise line and are dictated by suppliers, regions, and seasons. Companies operating large resort ships buy fruit at the lowest price, which can translate to unripe bananas, tasteless grapes, and hard-as-nails plums. The smaller, more upscale ships usually carry better-quality ripe fruits as well as the more expensive varieties such as dragon fruit, carambola (star fruit), cherimoya, cactus pear, guava, kumquat, loquat, passion fruit, persimmon, physalis (Cape gooseberry), rambutan, and sharon fruit.

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The iPad menu and wine list at Celebrity Reflection’s QSine.

Celebrity Cruises

Even some of the large resort ships, such as Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas, have calorie-control food items at the Solarum Bistro, where no dish is more than 500 calories. Carnival Cruise Lines have a Mongolian barbecue on their buffets, where tofu is a regular feature. Crystal Cruises features more grains and fresh fruits on its buffet lines than is standard on a cruise, and you’ll find Ayervedic breakfast items in Europa 2’s Yacht Club.

Where to find real ale

Most major cruise lines offer mainly canned lagers such as Becks, Budweiser, or Heineken. The best beer from the barrel and bottled beers are stocked by UK-based cruise lines such as Cunard Line, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, P&O Cruises, Saga Cruises, and Swan Hellenic Cruises, though the selection is generally unexciting. Of course, many real ales do not travel well. But then, AIDA Cruises has a micro-brewery aboard its newest ships (AIDAblu, AIDAmar, AIDAprima, AIDAsol, and AIDAstella).

An 11 ounce (33cl) can of lager on a major cruise line ship will cost you anything from $3.50 to $5 plus a gratuity of a minimum of 15 percent.

Raw food

In 2011, SeaDream Yacht Club introduced raw food dishes. The cruise line has tapped into the Hippocrates Health Institute’s Life Transformation Program and introduced a complete additional menu of raw food items. ‘Raw’ means that ingredients are raw, organic, enzyme-rich, and vegan: no meat, fish, eggs, or dairy items, and nothing heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius) in order to retain as many micronutrients as possible.

Items include fresh sprout and vegetable juices, plant-based protein foods, and items such as pasta made from spinach leaves and coconut meat. Even desserts are created from raw foods including cashews, almond milk, and coconut butter.

General service

Aboard many ships today, passengers are often in a hurry (to get to a show or shore excursion) and simply want service to be as fast as possible. They also don’t like seeing empty plates in front of them, and so service speeds up because waiters need to clear the empty plates away as soon as someone has finished eating a particular course. In what is correctly termed European Service, however, there should always be a pause between courses, not only for conversation, but to let the appetite and digestive tract recover, and also to anticipate the arrival of the next course.

Plate service versus silver service

Plate service. When the food is presented as a complete dish, as the chef wants it to look. In most cruise ships, ‘plate service’ is now the norm. It works well and means that most people seated at a table will be served at the same time and can eat together, rather than letting their food become cold.

Silver service. When the component parts are brought to the table separately, so that the diner, not the chef, can choose what goes on the plate and in what proportion. Silver service is best when there is plenty of time, and is rare aboard today’s ships. What some cruise lines class as silver service is actually silver service of vegetables only, with the main item, whether it is fish, fowl, or meat, already on the plate.

National differences

Different nationalities tend to eat at different times. North Americans and Japanese, for example, tend to dine early (6-7pm), while many Europeans and South Americans prefer to eat much later (at least 8-11pm). Brazilians traditionally like dinner at midnight. During Ramadan, Muslims cannot eat during the daytime, but can instead order room-service meals onboard during the night.

Beef, lamb, and pork cuts are different on both sides of the Atlantic, so what you ordered may not be the cut, shape, or size you expected. For example, there are 15 British cuts of beef, 17 American cuts, and 24 French cuts. There are six American cuts of lamb, eight British cuts, and nine French cuts. There are eight American cuts of pork, 10 British cuts, and 17 French cuts.

If you are particular about cutlery, note that few large resort ships provide correctly shaped fish knives or the correct soup spoons (oval for thin bouillon-style soups and round for creamy soups).

A typical day

From morning until night, food is offered to the point of overkill, even aboard the most modest cruise ship. Aboard the large resort ships, pizzas, hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, and frozen yogurt are almost always available. If you’re still hungry, there’s 24-hour room service - which, aboard some large resort ships, may cost extra. Some ships also have extra-charge bistros, cafés, and patisseries.

If you prefer to eat at set times rather than graze, these are the options:

6am: hot coffee and tea on deck for early risers (or late-to-bed types).

Full breakfast: typically with as many as 60 different items, in the main dining room. For a more casual meal, you can serve yourself buffet-style at an indoor/outdoor deck café, though the choice may be restricted.

Lunchtime: with service in the dining room, buffet-style at a casual café, or at a separate grill for hot dogs and hamburgers, and a pizzeria, where you can watch the cooking.

4pm: afternoon tea, in the British tradition, complete with finger sandwiches and scones. This may be served in a main lounge to the accompaniment of live music (it may even be a ‘tea-dance’) or recorded classical music.

Dinner: the main event of the evening, and, apart from the casualness of the first and last nights, it is generally formal in style.

Light bites: typically served in public rooms late at night. These have mostly replaced the traditional midnight buffet.

Gala midnight buffet: this is almost extinct, but if there is one, it is usually held on the penultimate evening of a cruise when the chefs pull out all the stops. It consists of a grand, colorful spread with much intricate decoration that can take up to 48 hours to prepare.

Multi-deck dining

Dining rooms with balcony levels include: Amsterdam, Carnival Legend, Carnival Pride, Carnival Spirit, Celebrity Century, Celebrity Infinity, Celebrity Millennium, Celebrity Summit, Costa Atlantica, Costa Mediterranea, Dawn Princess, Empress, Eurodam, Legend of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Maasdam, Mein Schiff 1, Mein Schiff 2, Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam, Oosterdam, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, Rotterdam, Ryndam, Sea Princess, Splendour of the Seas, Statendam, Sun Princess, Veendam, Volendam, Zaandam, and Zuiderdam.

Not to be outdone, Adventure of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Independence of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, and Voyager of the Seas have dining halls that span three decks.

Seating

Depending on the size of the ship, it may have single, two, or open seatings:

Open seating. You can be seated with whomever you wish at any available table, at any time when the restaurant is open.

Single seating. This doesn’t mean seating for single passengers. It means you can choose when you wish to eat (within dining room hours) but you will have the same table assigned for the whole cruise.

Two seatings. You are assigned (or choose) one of two seatings: early or late.

Some ships operate two seatings for all meals, and some do it at dinnertime only. Some ships operate a mix of open seating (dine when you want) or fixed dining times, for greater flexibility. Dinner hours may vary when the ship is in port to allow for the timing of shore excursions. Ships that operate in Europe and the Mediterranean or in South America may have later meal times to suit their clientele.

The captain’s and senior tables

The captain usually occupies a large table in or near the center of the dining room on ‘formal’ nights (with senior officers such as the chief engineer and hotel manager hosting adjacent tables), although this tradition is fast disappearing, as ship dress codes become more casual. The table usually seats between eight and 12 people picked from the passenger or ‘commend’ list by the hotel manager. If you are invited to the captain’s table (or any senior officer’s table), it is gracious to accept, and you will have the chance to ask questions about shipboard life.

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In the Arctic, Hanseatic lays on a shoreside buffet.

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises

Dining room and kitchen staff

Although celebrity chefs make the headlines, it’s the ship’s executive chef who plans the menus, orders the food, organizes and supervises staff, and arranges all the meals.

The restaurant manager, also known as the maître d’hôtel (not to be confused with the ship’s hotel manager), is an experienced host, with shrewd perceptions about compatibility. It is his or her responsibility to seat you with suitable companions.

The best waiters are those trained in hotels or catering schools. They provide fine service and quickly learn your likes and dislikes. They normally work aboard the best ships, where dignified professionalism is expected and living conditions are good.

Many lines contract the running and staffing of dining rooms to a specialist maritime catering organization. Ships that cruise far from their home country find that professional caterers, such as Hamburg-based Sea Chefs, do an outstanding job. However, ships that control their own catering staff and food often try very hard for good quality.

Hygiene standards

Galley equipment is in almost constant use, and regular inspections and maintenance help detect potential problems. There is continual cleaning of equipment, utensils, bulkheads, floors, and hands.

Cruise ships sailing from or visiting US ports are subject to in-port sanitation inspections. These are voluntary, not mandatory inspections, carried out by the United States Public Health (USPH) Department of Health and Human Services, under the auspices of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Cruise lines pay for each inspection.

A tour of the galley proves to be a highlight for some passengers, when a ship’s insurance company permits.

In accordance with international standards, all potable water brought on board, or produced by distillation aboard cruise ships, should contain a free chlorine or bromine residual greater than or equal to 0.2ppm (parts per million). This is why drinking water served in dining rooms often tastes of chlorine.

Smoking and no-smoking areas

Most ships now have totally no-smoking dining rooms, although a handful still provide small smoking (cigarettes only, not cigars or pipes) and no-smoking sections. Anyone wishing to sit in a no-smoking area should tell the restaurant manager when reserving a table.

How the Major Cruise Lines score on cuisine and service

Carnival Cruise Lines

Celebrity Cruises

Costa Cruises

Cunard Line

Holland America Line

MSC Cruises

Norwegian Cruise Line

P&O Cruises

Princess Cruises

Royal Caribbean Intl.

Star Cruises

Food

Dining room/Cuisine

5.7

7.3

5.9

7.6

7.1

7

6

6.5

7.3

5.0

6

Buffets/Informal dining

5.8

7

5.6

7.0

6.2

6.4

6.2

6

6.7

5.8

5.7

Quality of ingredients

6

7.1

6

7.5

6.6

7.5

6.1

6.6

6.8

6.0

6.4

Afternoon tea/snacks

4

6.6

4.2

7.4

5.6

6.6

4.5

6.5

6.3

4

5.2

Wine list

5.7

7.5

5.6

8

6.1

7.3

6.2

6.7

6.6

5.4

5.5

Overall food score

5.44

7.1

5.46

7.5

6.32

6.96

5.8

6.46

6.74

5.24

5.76

Service

Dining rooms

6

7.6

6

7.6

7.4

7.3

6.6

6.8

7.5

5.7

6.3

Bars

5.8

7.4

6.2

7.6

7.1

7.5

6.4

7.1

7.5

5.6

6

Cabins

6

7.6

6.8

7.7

7.5

7.5

6.2

7.6

7.3

6.2

6.1

Open decks

5.5

7.2

5.6

7.4

6.6

7.2

6

6.2

6.8

5.6

6

Wines

5

7.5

5.2

8

6.1

7.4

6

6

6.2

5.2

5.2

Overall service score

5.66

7.46

5.96

7.66

6.94

7.38

6.24

6.74

7.06

5.66

5.92

Combined food/service

5.55

7.28

5.71

7.58

6.63

7.17

6.02

6.6

6.9

5.45

5.84

Scores out of a maximum of 10. Note that these ratings do not reflect extra-cost ‘alternative’ restaurants