Cruise Food & Drink - Page 4 of 5

Recipe for success on Allurodam

Even if I didn't know how to chop an onion properly, making delicious sweet potato soup with chef Molly Brandt on Allure of the Seas has given me a taste for cooking. Especially for cooking in a cruise ship galley. And I think I may have spotted my next opportunity. TV chef Valentine Warner will be hosting a series of demonstrations for passengers on Holland America's Eurodam during a voyage to the Norwegian Fjords and Scottish Highlands later this year. The 12-night cruise leaves from Dover on June 3 and Warner, who spent five years working in London's restaurant kitchens [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 16 December 2010|Cruise Food & Drink, Cruise Ships|1 Comment

Fred serves dinner in the cabin

Fred Olsen Cruises have announced more details of their new in-cabin dining service which I previewed a week ago. Thankfully, it's not going to be lumbered with the name "Nights in With Fred" but is being branded as "An Evening In." More than just room service, it will offer a full four-course meal of starter, salad, main course and dessert - all at no extra charge - and the option to add a bottle of wine, which will have to be paid for. The new service will be offered on Balmoral and Black Watch from January 5, when the ships [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:14+00:00 10 December 2010|Cruise Food & Drink|0 Comments

Take it away, Fred . . .

UK cruise line Fred Olsen is about to announce a new dining option, according to reports from the Seatrade Med convention in Cannes. Passengers will be able to order a "takeaway" meal to eat in their cabins. During longer cruises - of 21 days or more - and only on sea days, there will be a choice of Thai, Indian, Chinese, Spanish, French, Mexican and English pub food, and orders will have to be placed by 2.00pm for delivery between 7.00 and 8.30 pm. It actually sounds like what you and I - and a number of other cruise lines [...]

By John Honeywell| 2010-12-04T08:23:00+00:00 4 December 2010|Cruise Food & Drink|0 Comments

Mighty challenge for the Captain

The excitement is mounting - one week from today I will be stepping aboard Allure of the Seas in Fort Lauderdale, ready for a three-night cruise. Last time I was on board, in the shipyard at Turku, Finland, there were workmen crawling all over the vessel and I had to wear a hard hat and protective boots. Now the ship is complete. US media, who don't want to work over the Thanksgiving holiday, will be sailing this weekend, and it is being used as the location for scenes from Adam Sandler's new movie Jack and Jill, also starring Katie Holmes [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:16+00:00 16 November 2010|Cruise Entertainment, Cruise Food & Drink|18 Comments

Epic’s Cirque beefs up the menu

The tumblers, acrobats and strongmen of Cirque Dreams on board giant cruise ship Norwegian Epic have been a popular attraction since the vessel launched in July. The food served during their dinner show in the ship's Spiegel tent has been less popular - as I noted after I became part of the act during the ship's brief visit to the UK. Now NCL are doing something about it - Andy Stuart, the man in charge of global sales and passenger services, has announced that the menu is changing. In comes a new starter with foie gras sharing a plate with [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:20+00:00 24 September 2010|Cruise Entertainment, Cruise Food & Drink|0 Comments

All you can eat – and even more – cruising on board Diamond Princess

They say that the bathroom scales never lie, but mine seem to have entered a whole new dimension since my return from the Diamond Princess cruise in Alaska. It’s no wonder really, considering the determination shown by maitre d’ Silvio Zampieri in getting me to sample just about every restaurant and every dish in my seven short days on the ship. He almost succeeded. From the Trident burger bar by Neptune’s pool to the Sterling steakhouse which takes over part of the Horizon Court buffet by night; from the Savoy dining room to Sabatini’s Italian restaurant, I was faced with [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:22+00:00 30 August 2010|Cruise Food & Drink|0 Comments

A pub, John, but not as we know it

Cunard ships have their Golden Lions, there's a Rising Sun on P&O's Arcadia and a couple of Northern Lights on Fred Olsen ships. Norwegian Epic has an Irish version in O'Sheehan's, and even Oasis of the Seas has the Globe and Atlas on its Royal Promenade shopping street We're talking about cruise ship pubs, where you might be able to sink a pint of Boddington's or Stella Artois, and feast on fish and chips or chicken curry. Now Carnival has announced that new ship Carnival Magic will be the first in the fleet to have its own pub. Except it [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:22+00:00 24 August 2010|Cruise Entertainment, Cruise Food & Drink|0 Comments

Fishy business for Lisa

As good as the food can be on cruise ships - and it can be very, very good - a little local knowledge can sometimes find even better meals ashore, as a group of top brass from Royal Caribbean discovered this week. Lisa Bauer (left), head of hotel operations, has been visiting the Mediterranean for a hectic tour of three of the line's ships, together with Captain Bill Wright, the boss of Marine Operations, and HR man John McGirl. Between dashing from Rome, Majorca, Barcelona, and Rome again, visiting Adventure, Navigator and Voyager of the Seas, they had just once [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:23+00:00 3 August 2010|Cruise Food & Drink, Cruise Gossip|0 Comments

Take three chefs . . . to sea

As countless waistlines and elasticated trousers have demonstrated, it goes without saying that cruise passengers are interested in their food. So P&O - whose ships feature restaurants overseen by three Michelin-starred chefs - have probably found the recipe for success with their latest promotion, especially as it comes in the week when one of their ships and one of those chefs is featured on breakfast TV each morning. Travellers booking cruises on which Gary Rhodes, Marco Pierre White and Atul Kochhar are travelling next year will be entered into a draw to win one of 70 vouchers of £150 each [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:23+00:00 28 July 2010|Cruise Food & Drink|1 Comment

Contest chefs are all at sea

Breakfast time gets a gourmet makeover next week, as a televised cooking contest takes to the sea on board P&O cruise ship Ventura. Four finalists, chosen this week by GMTV viewers, will join the ship for a week-long cruise to Vigo, Lisbon, La Rochelle and Brest. While on board, they will be mentored by Soapstar Superchef's Rosemary Shrager, who will be setting them a series of culinary taskes in the galley and ashore. Other passengers on the cruise will vote for their two favourites during a "cook-off" in the ship's theatre, and the two finalists will compete head-to-head in a [...]

By John Honeywell| 2017-06-15T16:00:24+00:00 21 July 2010|Cruise Entertainment, Cruise Food & Drink|2 Comments