O Food Items Made from Scratch Onboard

[harryw]

Years ago, in the Golden Age of Celebrity Cruises, i took a "kitchen" tour and it was pointed out that bread, pastries, pasta and ice cream were freshly made onboard. Can O make similar claims in the present?

 

Harry

[bitob]

Yes

[sitraveler]

English muffins and bagels are the only exceptions.

[cotto22]

I wish they had kitchen tours! We really enjoyed them on Silversea.

[njhorseman]

It's not just upscale or luxury cruise lines that make virtually everything from scratch, the mass market lines do too.

 

Preparing from scratch isn't just a product quality issue, it's generally much cheaper than buying prepared products.

 

Of course the mass market lines will generally use lower quality meats, fish, produce, and other ingredients than do the luxury lines.

[CAG]

Oceania uses flour made especially for them for their baking.

[Hambagahle]

Many of the mass market lines use pre-prepared vacuum packed food. I learnt this during a kitchen tour of the Regent Mariner from the Executive Chef at the time, Quinn. Neither Oceania nor Regent does that.

 

Depending on who is the pastry chef on board the breads/desserts etc can be awesome on Oceania.

[njhorseman]

Many of the mass market lines use pre-prepared vacuum packed food. I learnt this during a kitchen tour of the Regent Mariner from the Executive Chef at the time, Quinn. Neither Oceania nor Regent does that.

 

Depending on who is the pastry chef on board the breads/desserts etc can be awesome on Oceania.

 

Sorry but the chefwho told you that was wrong and if you were ever to take a tour of a mass market line's galley you would find out how wrong he was.

[Paulchili]

English muffins and bagels are the only exceptions.

 

 

..and it shows :D

With all the great baguettes and croissants, I stay away from those 2 items.

Edited January 21, 2016 by Paulchili

[tvmovielover]

..and it shows :D

With all the great baguettes and croissants, I stay away from those 2 items.

Not to mention the pastries! But the bread-I do not know if the flour is special for sure but the bread is great and better than on some other lines.

[DOJO466]

..and it shows :D

With all the great baguettes and croissants, I stay away from those 2 items.

 

If I could only stay away from those Devine baguettes. I have had to limit myself it was getting so out of hand:D

[harryw]

The flakey buttery croissants are amazing! And when I go to the 4 PM Tea and the amazing array of offerings, it takes every ounce of discipline not to ruin my appetite for dinner.

And the MDR breakfast pancakes (batter must be high quality) are so light and tasty...

 

Harry

[nvgal]

I was told once that O makes everything except the French fries.

[S2000ap1]

O only uses spaghetti when it's in season , and the ships are in range of Italy for the harvest

Edited January 24, 2016 by S2000ap1

[Hawaiidan]

Years ago, in the Golden Age of Celebrity Cruises, i took a "kitchen" tour and it was pointed out that bread, pastries, pasta and ice cream were freshly made onboard. Can O make similar claims in the present?

 

Harry

 

lots more...and made from much higher quality ingredients by much higher level galley crew... plus all ingredients from seafood and meats and fruits exceptional... Huge daily selection of fresh fish...on last cruise Jan 13,

Lobster, Crab, Oysters, Scallops, Mahi Mahi, Swordfish,Sea Bass,Salmon in both all the restaurants ...including cooked to order even at the pool grill and Terrace cafe....and at no charge

add this to your not on a floating city of 3000+ where even if it were available it would cost $$$$$$.......not so on Oceania

[Hawaiidan]

Oceania uses flour made especially for them for their baking.

 

their butter is from France....and premium as said before, Regent and Oceania provisions are much higher in quality/grade than the mass market, unless your going to pay$50-75 pp more to eat in one of their pocket -mine restaurants

[Iamthesea]

The Aqua Spa Café (free for all) on the Celebrity ships has a lovely grilled salmon salad that can be made to order.;)

 

In addition, they have a wonderful dark grain bread and bread sticks with dinner. Raisin Bran Muffins for breakfast. Yum! I don't know if they are made from scratch, but I sure do love them! ;)

[cathi]

On the Insignia for 180 days and the first 3 weeks have been spectacular for food!!! Trying very hard not to double my weight. Overheard someone complaining about the food - figure they are in another universe!!!! Just this morning I wanted french toast but O's is a chunk of bread and I like just a slice of bread. So I got a couple of pieces of fresh baked bread and asked the egg guy to make me french toast. Voila perfectly done french toast!!!!!!

And don't get me started on that dang pastry chef!!!!!!!!! or the guy who makes all that delicious ice cream!!! Who can resist??!!!!

And the staff onboard - well they sure weren't trained on any other line!!! They are all so friendly and happy.

[Troban]

I am Gluten Free, does anyone know if they have Gluten Free Bread or pastries? I usually eat my fill of Creme Brûlée but I do like something with tea..

[Mura]

They do have gluten free but you have to notify them in advance, just as you do with any special diet requests. They will let you know what is okay for you to eat.

 

Mura

[We're The Groupnors]

English muffins and bagels are the only exceptions.

 

Also the gluten-free breads are pre-made and purchased.

[LHT28]

Be sure to have your TA notify Special service dept about 60 days in advance or ASAP

 

Then follow up with the Restaurant manager once onboard

[Troban]

Thank you, when we booked I notified her and will reconfirm closer to sailing. It appears to be same process as we had on Regent last year and that worked well.

[kruznkanuk]

I can't eat Soy and the Insignia fryers use soybean oil, so that helped with the weight gain issue (no fried food!). After reporting my allergy well in advance as required, I got some rather nasty messages from O's head office about how they could not guarantee that I would be able to eat anything 'due to my multiple allergies' (it's Soy. That's it. No others) but the onboard experience was much more positive. The exec chef on Insignia was excellent and answered my questions about the ingredients used in bread, pastry, salad dressings, etc so I could make my own decisions for breakfast, lunch, and tea-time. He said I should ask the Terrace Grill or Waves staff to use olive oil or butter if i wanted an egg or burger, for example, but I found that was too confusing for them and not worth the trouble and delay. But they would certainly try!

 

O's policy is to give you the evening menus 2 days ahead and ask for your selections before 10 AM the day before, which works fine unless you decide to dine in Polo or Toscana or somewhere different than your original booking. This is the same as I experienced on X and Princess recently except they ask for your selection the night before, allowing a little more flexibility.

 

Someday perhaps the cruise lines will be able to put their ingredients on an interactive TV or onboard computer which would make life easier for crew and for guests with food allergies or sensitivities--like many restaurants are doing with their websites. But O does a good job within their current practices. And the food is yummy!