Photo Review: H, a loyal CCL cruiser, tries Breakaway. Puppies! Babies! Applie Pie!

[ProfCruise]

Do they have a special menu for children in the MDR? Love your review by the way!

 

Yes and the mac n cheese, cheese pizza, and PB&J come highly recommended. You can also give the menu to mom to color if she starts getting antsy. :D

[ProfCruise]

Taste Lunch Appetizers/Soups

Hummus & Peperonata

 

Roasted Tomato Soup

 

Spinach Caesar

[MrsPhoenix91]

Thank you for the pictures, H's mommy and daddy LOL

[ProfCruise]

Taste Lunch Entrees

 

Grilled Cajun Grouper Sandwich

 

Spanish Frittata

 

Shrimp Arrabiata

[Dukemstr]

your review is awesome and I cannot stop reading it!

 

I have only one complaint: they can't seem to come fast enough!!! I can't wait for the next part of the review.

 

Dukemstr

[Sunshine2U]

Great review. I'm prepping for our Escape cruise with a crash diet accompanied by dental surgery, liquid diet, no alcohol. I'm dying at the food porn. I figure I'll be on mushy food, no alcohol about the time you move on to reviewing the bars. But hey, I'm in! Carry on.

[ProfCruise]

A Little Bit Irish

 

St. Paddy’s Day has always been my favorite holiday -- there’s Irish blood flowing through these veins. Plus I get to do four of my favorite things: dress inappropriately for the weather, pinch, drink green jello out of tiny cups, and yell loudly while nearly running into traffic (at least that’s how we celebrate in Pittsburgh).

 

So, in honor of St. Patty’s Day weekend, it feels appropriate to review O’Sheehan’s. O’Sheehan’s has two sides: the Irish pub/restaurant side and the bar side. While I was at the bar shooting some pool (the bar side has a pool table, darts, video games, and a few small bowling lanes)…

 

 

 

…mom was at the pub/restaurant ordering a veggie burger and a fruity drink (My Irish blood? Dad’s side). Sigh.

 

 

 

I wore a disguise (so no one would see me with mom) and we hit up the restaurant for lunch on one of the sea days. It gets crowded at peak times and we had to wait 15 minutes or so for a table. Once seated, the service was really slow and there weren’t any vegetarian entrees on the menu for mom and I (they did have a veggie burger, but it wasn’t on the menu), but otherwise it was fun (pub type atmosphere with TV’s) and the food was great. Here’s the menu:

 

 

 

To be continued (don't wait up, I didn't die my hair green to sit around writing a cruise review)...

[rustyroo]

Is the menu in the manhattan room the same as savor and taste?

[ProfCruise]

It’s all fun and games until you wake up the next morning (on the roof) feeling like this:

 

 

Here’s what we had at O’Sheehan’s:

 

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

 

Wings

 

Fish and Chips

 

Shanghai Noodle Bar is up next. In the meantime, send me (and those with the UBP) your best hangover remedies.

[ProfCruise]

Is the menu in the manhattan room the same as savor and taste?

 

Yes, dinner menus are the same (the Manhattan Room is only open for dinner).

[ProfCruise]

 

My favorite cure for a hangover? Chinese food.

 

Which brings us to the Shanghai Noodle Bar

 

Mom has a 3 week trip to China planned for May, so she was eager to get some practice using chopsticks (if you can’t say anything nice…you shut your mouth and smuggle in a set of silverware from the buffet) and speaking Chinese (which, as it happens, sounds a lot like French) at the Shanghai Noodle Bar. This is a free restaurant open for dinner only. Because reservations aren’t accepted and the space is small and always crowded, we got in line at 5:10pm, which was 20 minutes before it opened.

 

We snagged a seat right up front (so we could watch the chefs cooking…which is great for keeping a restless mom from using her chopsticks as swords).

 

 

 

Here’s the menu.

 

 

They give you a disposable write-on menu (like at sushi restaurants) where you indicate how many of each item you want (mom wrote 65 next to the chocolate cake). Mom and I were disappointed there wasn’t a vegetarian noodle dish (they did have veggie spring rolls and fried rice…but no entrée items), but dad was pleased with the selection.

 

To be continued...

[ProfCruise]

Shanghai Noodle Bar Appetizer Photos

 

Pork Pot Stickers

 

Vegetable Spring Rolls

[ProfCruise]

Shanghai Noodle Bar Entree Photos

 

Char Siu with Rice Noodles

 

Singapore Noodles

 

Vegetarian Fried Rice

[ProfCruise]

Shanghai Noodle Bar Dessert Photos

 

Panda Salad

 

Five Spice Chocolate Cake

 

If you’re looking for an authentic Chinese experience, this probably isn’t the place (but really, when the walk from Ireland to China is less than 5 minutes, what do you expect?). Still though, there wasn’t a legit fork to be found (so there’s that) and this was a great alternative to the main dining rooms. Très bon (that's "very good" in Chinese)!

Edited March 13, 2016 by ProfCruise

[KSU Fan69]

Have seen some old ones but would like to see some updated ones so I can plan out my UBP. Lol

[ProfCruise]

Apologies for the delay (This thing’s taking longer than it took mom to prepare her legs for the beach. Three WeedWhackers later…). I had an unfortunate run-in with a chair (I got my clumsiness from mom – it's a miracle we've never reviewed a ship medical unit) and, well, here’s what a broken clavicle looks like:

 

 

And here’s what it feels like:

 

 

But when you get injured at school and your dad’s a lawyer (Oceana, here I come!), here’s what they send you:

 

 

Chocolate covered strawberries…SCORE!

 

Back to your regularly scheduled review. Uptown Grill’s up next. But first, here’s a rogue photo of the Open-Faced Smoked Salmon Bagel from the Savor breakfast menu.

 

[LuCruise]

Oh my gosh. Your poor little guy. My heart just melted at the picture of him in his cast. Glad you could cheer him up with chocolate. Hope he heals real soon.

[greatlakesgirl]

Aw...poor lil H :( Hope you heal fast.

[ProfCruise]

 

Uptown Grill, not to be confused with Uptown Funk (I’ll get to that later with mom’s review of the gym) is located above the Garden Café (buffet) and is open for breakfast and lunch.

 

At breakfast they have a small buffet with eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes, a variety of breakfast sandwiches, and the now world famous (H endorsed) cinnamon rolls (they come in chocolate, vanilla or lemon).

 

 

 

So, Uptown Grill at lunch. That brings me to a real low-point in our trip. It seems that dad does something on every cruise to get try to get himself arrested (yes, traveling with mom is that bad – see my Carnival Pride review for the time dad tried to poison her). This time it was a dine and dash (didn’t think that was possible at a free restaurant, did you?).

 

We were eating at the buffet one day for lunch when dad ventured off to get more food, leaving me to wrangle mom on my own. 20 minutes later we see him, with a burger in hand, leap down a flight of stairs in a single bound and hurdle over 16 tables to where we were sitting. “HIDE ME!, he said.” Dude’s 6’4” and I’m 3, but with some strategically placed mac n cheese, he managed to elude security. Seems dad didn’t realize that Uptown Grill is a traditional, sit-down restaurant at lunch where you order at a table and eat like a civilized person. But the minute his server turned her back, he was off -- way more afraid of my reaction at being left to handle mom on my own for 20 minutes than jail. So here’s what a hot hamburger from Uptown Grill looks like:

 

 

Uptown Grill was never crowded and the food is totally worth a few days in the brig.

[Orleanscruiser]

 

Uptown Grill, not to be confused with Uptown Funk (I’ll get to that later with mom’s review of the gym) is located above the Garden Café (buffet) and is open for breakfast and lunch.

 

At breakfast they have a small buffet with eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes, a variety of breakfast sandwiches, and the now world famous (H endorsed) cinnamon rolls (they come in chocolate, vanilla or lemon).

 

 

 

So, Uptown Grill at lunch. That brings me to a real low-point in our trip. It seems that dad does something on every cruise to get try to get himself arrested (yes, traveling with mom is that bad – see my Carnival Pride review for the time dad tried to poison her). This time it was a dine and dash (didn’t think that was possible at a free restaurant, did you?).

 

We were eating at the buffet one day for lunch when dad ventured off to get more food, leaving me to wrangle mom on my own. 20 minutes later we see him, with a burger in hand, leap down a flight of stairs in a single bound and hurdle over 16 tables to where we were sitting. “HIDE ME!, he said.” Dude’s 6’4” and I’m 3, but with some strategically placed mac n cheese, he managed to elude security. Seems dad didn’t realize that Uptown Grill is a traditional, sit-down restaurant at lunch where you order at a table and eat like a civilized person. But the minute his server turned her back, he was off -- way more afraid of my reaction at being left to handle mom on my own for 20 minutes than jail. So here’s what a hot hamburger from Uptown Grill looks like:

 

 

Uptown Grill was never crowded and the food is totally worth a few days in the brig.

 

Was that a vegetarian burger with bacon imitation?

[Orleanscruiser]

[

 

Back to your regularly scheduled review. Uptown Grill’s up next. But first, here’s a rogue photo of the Open-Faced Smoked Salmon Bagel from the Savor breakfast menu.

[/font][/size][/color]

 

 

Open-Faced Smoked Salmon Bagel from the Savor breakfast menu. Yum my favorite

Edited March 16, 2016 by Orleanscruiser

[Clarea]

Enjoying the review, great photos!

[AnonomissX]

Little H...please get well, I love your Mommy's, I mean, your writing style, hope you get all better soon!

[Selva]

H I'm so sorry about your accident. I think you deserve ice cream every day until you recover. I love your review. I'm so glad that you get to go on so many cruises.

[Megali]

Oh no on the injury! May you never have to tour the ship's infirmary.