Food on the cruise ships?.

[bling19572010]

I am an American and live in Midwestern US and would like to know if the food on a cruise that leaves from and returns to Copenhagen that tours the Norwegian Fjords, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Estonia would be Scandinavian cuisine or would there also be American food served on the ship?

[aquilegia]

It's not the itinerary that determines the cuisine, it's the cruise line. If you go on an American ship, you will get American cuisine. If you cruise the fjords with the Hurtigruten line, you will get Scandinavian cuisine, though as far as I am aware Hurtigruten don't cruise from Copenhagen.

 

Incidentally, is this a single cruise you are looking at? The reason I ask is that because of the distances involved cruises normally go to Finland, Russia, Estonia etc, or else they go to the fjords. It's not usual to get the fjords included on a Baltic cruise.

[bling19572010]

It's not the itinerary that determines the cuisine, it's the cruise line. If you go on an American ship, you will get American cuisine. If you cruise the fjords with the Hurtigruten line, you will get Scandinavian cuisine, though as far as I am aware Hurtigruten don't cruise from Copenhagen.

 

Incidentally, is this a single cruise you are looking at? The reason I ask is that because of the distances involved cruises normally go to Finland, Russia, Estonia etc, or else they go to the fjords. It's not usual to get the fjords included on a Baltic cruise.

 

Thanks for the information. These are two separate itineraries on the same cruise line. Back to back cruises.

[Giantfan13]

As was said, if you are on any of the several American cruise lines that do those cruises, you will get regular American (or whatever you want to call it) food.

 

Funny, when we cruised Alaska, we asked for Salmon, and it wasn't even Alaskan salmon. It was the regular old farm raised salmon. You could reach in the water at most ports and grab as many salmon as you want, but that's not what you will be served.

 

When we did our Baltic cruise, we always tried to sample some local food from each port we were in. Be it lunch, desserts, even ice cream, it sort of lended some authenticity to us being there.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[kaisatsu]

The standard for most cruiselines is a nondescript international menu. As others have said, American lines lean towards American food and dining habits. British lines are similar but with a slightly British slant (afternoon tea, curry nights, etc). The Italian lines I've sailed don't seem to have as much of an Italian influence aside from the dining times and meal order (serving the salad course after the main).

 

I have, however, seen Royal Caribbean try to put a bit of local influence into the dinner menu on our Baltic sailing. It was a somewhat cursory effort, but I appreciated the attempt all the same.

 

(We sailed Princess in East Asia and it was terribly depressing to have amazing Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. food for lunch each day and then come back to a completely western dinner menu.)

[LondonTowner]

In my experience there is such a good selection that you will always find something you like to eat.

[onlyonetrevorfrancis]

British lines are similar but with a slightly British slant (afternoon tea, curry nights, etc).

 

Made me smile :)

 

Afternoon tea and curry does pretty much sum up us Brits :). Hopefully though we do get a bit of local influence with Royal Caribbean on our cruise to the Baltics in June that you received.

[Giantfan13]

I really wouldn't count on it.

 

When we cruised on NCL, we met a very nice couple from England who we became good friends with. My DW is a tea drinker, but our British friends said that as much as they tried to explain to the waiters and such, how to make a 'good' cup of tea, they just didn't get it. In fact they had brought their own tea pot along so they could make what they referred to as an actual pot of tea.

 

Enjoy your cruise, but don't look for much local flavor on the ship.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Essexlass2]

Made me smile :)

 

Afternoon tea and curry does pretty much sum up us Brits :). Hopefully though we do get a bit of local influence with Royal Caribbean on our cruise to the Baltics in June that you received.

 

Afternoon tea maybe (made in a pot, of course :D) but no curry for this lass thanks! ;)

[LondonTowner]

I hate tea, but enjoy a curry now and then.

[nybumpkin]

As you can see from my signature we've cruised only Carnival. (It suits our family, since we sail with teens - we have other lines to try on the bucket list.:)) Last year we did Carnival's Baltic cruise out of Dover, and although Carnival isn't doing European cruises this year our experience might help since we saw the differences between a US-based cruise and a Europe-based cruise. For breakfast there was a full British breakfast buffet line (sorry, but with four trips to England under my belt I've never been able to get used to baked beans and tomatoes for breakfast.:p) The lunch buffets generally had several international selections as well - Carnival regularly does a "taste of nations" menu at one buffet line every day, but there were some additions. And for dinner, since this was such a different itinerary from the usual Carnival cruise there were a number of added offerings, in addition to most of the regular favorites. Afternoon tea was the same as on US-based Carnival cruises. Several years ago we went to tea and were seated with a Canadian lady and her British friend. Her friend liked tea, but was very clear that this was not British tea.:)

 

When we were in Warnemunde, there was an evening German-themed buffet as well as local beer on tap and a German band. It was very good.

[Norwegianlatvian]

haha! A lot more surprising for me was Scandinavian type of breakfast with salted salmon, pickled herring and cucumbers. For the first time it's just very strange and then you start dreaming about toasts:D

 

Dreaming of toast when you get salted salmon? Okaaay.. :)

[nybumpkin]

haha! A lot more surprising for me was Scandinavian type of breakfast with salted salmon, pickled herring and cucumbers. For the first time it's just very strange and then you start dreaming about toasts:D

The pickled herring actually sounds pretty good. Not too different from kippers and toast.:)

[Essexlass2]

The pickled herring actually sounds pretty good. Not too different from kippers and toast.:)

 

Kippers and toast - now you're talking! :D

[nybumpkin]

Kippers and toast - now you're talking! :D

I did gain something by marrying a guy who lived in London for a year!:D

[Essexlass2]

I'm really looking forward to our next cruise on RCI in the hope that we shall discover some of the US dishes that could be different from our own. One thing we really notice when in the US is that there are very few veggies on restaurant menus. Also, when seeing our meals arrive on the table, there's always the question of whether we should eat it or climb it! :D

[BoatyBex]

Is there hope that Holland America will make an attempt to serve something local during the Baltic cruise?:)

 

Each Holland America Ive done they have had local food.

 

Australian BBQ with kangaroo , emu, crocodile. (on all 3 Aussie cruises)

Indonesian & Philipino

South America , Chile Argentinean

Hawaiian

So I guess they would do something baltic.

 

They also serve proper English tea and have a selection of 20 different "flavour " tea bags at the coffee machine, from camomile , peppermint English breakfast & PG tips, even a Holland America blend. So my British, tea addicted mum thought it was perfectly fine.