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Food on Viking Embla is horrible

goldenrod

By goldenrod,
in River Cruising

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JVilleGal

JVilleGal

Posted
Posted
Guidelines Reminder – Please read the new Sticky titled How to Deal With "Difficult" Posts or Threads on this Board, especially the part regarding commenting on moderation.

Was this directed at me? Thought I was being a helpful poster?

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SuiteTraveler

SuiteTraveler

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Posted (edited)
Another bad dinner with no regional foods and the same wines, they did have spring rolls as a appetizer so I guess we're in China not Vienna!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I found the possible menu goldenrod is describing for this night on the internet from a blogger who was on the Viking Atla cruising the same area in 2015. Here it is:

https://rivercruisenewbie.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/dinner_menus_viking.pdf

scroll down to International Dinner

 

The choices were:

Appetizers:

Baba Ganoush

Vegetable Spring Roll

Baby Arugula and Watermelon Salad

Fish & Shrimp Sinigang

 

Entrees:

Orange and Soy Marinated Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Crispy River Perch

Pocini Mushroom Ravioli

 

Dessert

Creme Caramel

Ice Cream

Sorbet

Black Forest Cake

Fruit Plate (fresh watermelon)

 

Cheese plate:

Munster (French)

Cambozola (Italian)

 

Here is the blog the menus were attached to.

https://rivercruisenewbie.wordpress.com/2015/05/15/some-insights-on-viking-river-cruises-first-the-bad/

It begins in Budapest, so that river cruise was in the same area goldenrod is in. What stands out to me from perusing all of the menus, is that this is all American food with no local type recipes until night 10 when they finally have Zweibelrostbraten & Crispy Onions. Other than that, I don't see any food that is truly from this area of Europe (except some cheese) and the Black Forest Cake listed under desserts.

 

goldenrod, Can you confirm if this was the dinner menu you had tonight?

Edited by SuiteTraveler
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Carnevale

Carnevale

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Posted

While we are on the food topic, can anyone tell me how responsive Viking is to special dietary needs? Our party will include some who don't eat meat (including chicken stock in soup and sauces), someone with a dairy allergy, and a few other limitations. Viking has been advised and we raise it again when we board, but I am wondering how accommodating they will be given how small the kitchen must be and how limited their menu options are. It will be so helpful to hear from anyone with experience on Viking who has dietary issues.

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SuiteTraveler

SuiteTraveler

Posted
Posted (edited)
While we are on the food topic, can anyone tell me how responsive Viking is to special dietary needs? Our party will include some who don't eat meat (including chicken stock in soup and sauces), someone with a dairy allergy, and a few other limitations. Viking has been advised and we raise it again when we board, but I am wondering how accommodating they will be given how small the kitchen must be and how limited their menu options are. It will be so helpful to hear from anyone with experience on Viking who has dietary issues.

 

You might find this very informative:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2208834

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2191948

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1573948

Edited by SuiteTraveler
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mskaufman Great Review Rare

mskaufman

Posted
Posted
FYI - just retuned from the Rhine Getaway with Viking last week, and the food choices were all (for the most part) based on the destination, etc. Once again, we found the food to be good to excellent on this cruise and we've been happy with the other cruises as well. The "free" wine stayed pretty much the same (with the exception of a Riesling added once in that region) but they had other (maybe free, maybe not) options as well. Same with beer - more than one included option as well.

 

Sounds like the OP may have a boat with chef issues?

 

Jeff

 

 

Was it local, German beer?

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mskaufman Great Review Rare

mskaufman

Posted
Posted
Another bad dinner with no regional foods and the same wines, they did have spring rolls as a appetizer so I guess we're in China not Vienna!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Viking seems to indicate that you can always get steak, chicken or salmon. Did anyone with you try those options?

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goldenrod

goldenrod

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  • Author
Posted
I found the possible menu goldenrod is describing for this night on the internet from a blogger who was on the Viking Atla cruising the same area in 2015. Here it is:

https://rivercruisenewbie.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/dinner_menus_viking.pdf

scroll down to International Dinner

 

The choices were:

Appetizers:

Baba Ganoush

Vegetable Spring Roll

Baby Arugula and Watermelon Salad

Fish & Shrimp Sinigang

 

Entrees:

Orange and Soy Marinated Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Crispy River Perch

Pocini Mushroom Ravioli

 

Dessert

Creme Caramel

Ice Cream

Sorbet

Black Forest Cake

Fruit Plate (fresh watermelon)

 

Cheese plate:

Munster (French)

Cambozola (Italian)

 

Here is the blog the menus were attached to.

https://rivercruisenewbie.wordpress.com/2015/05/15/some-insights-on-viking-river-cruises-first-the-bad/

It begins in Budapest, so that river cruise was in the same area goldenrod is in. What stands out to me from perusing all of the menus, is that this is all American food with no local type recipes until night 10 when they finally have Zweibelrostbraten & Crispy Onions. Other than that, I don't see any food that is truly from this area of Europe (except some cheese) and the Black Forest Cake listed under desserts.

 

goldenrod, Can you confirm if this was the dinner menu you had tonight?

 

 

No it is not.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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pully8

pully8

Posted
Posted

regarding the food/catering on river ships does anyone know are teams of staff supplied by agencies/contractors for the season?

 

also wonder if the budgets for food/beverages per guest varies between operators?

 

we have noticed differences in food quality/delivery over the years on river cruises.

sometimes the description on the menu and what arrives can be ...a surprise.

its great that forums like this can prepare/inform the potential difference between what is promoted and what is actually delivered.

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pully8

pully8

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Posted

just another thought a menu may sound lovely but the actual food delivered maybe something quite different.

pictures are great of the actual food served. so disappointing when food is not good anywhere especially if a premium price is paid.

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capriccio

capriccio

Posted
Posted
Well looking forward to our next cruise, it will be on Princess in a Penthouse Suite 450 Sf 31 days LA to Buenos Aries and will spend days trying to forget this Viking worst food ever 25k joke on me! I garrentee it won't happen again!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

That's a great cruise! We were on the 2016 version LA to Rio in December/January and loved everyone of the 31 days. While the quality of food is influenced by the chef on ocean cruises just like river cruises, we (group of 4) were all extremely pleased with our meals on the Crown Princess (what ship is doing that itinerary next year?). I hope it works out for you. We were in a mini-suite on that cruise but have been in a Penthouse Suite on a sister ship before and love the extra space but we also loved our cozy little cabins on our 3 Uniworld cruises (and their meals are fabulous) since we weren't expecting spaciousness on such small ships.

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jrkstl

jrkstl

Posted
Posted
While we are on the food topic, can anyone tell me how responsive Viking is to special dietary needs? Our party will include some who don't eat meat (including chicken stock in soup and sauces), someone with a dairy allergy, and a few other limitations. Viking has been advised and we raise it again when we board, but I am wondering how accommodating they will be given how small the kitchen must be and how limited their menu options are. It will be so helpful to hear from anyone with experience on Viking who has dietary issues.

 

We are both vegetarian (not vegan) and this has never been an issue with any of our Viking cruises. They really handle this well, at least in our experience. I do recommend that you mention it to your server and restaurant manager if possible, but you'll be well taken care of.

 

Jeff

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Host Jazzbeau Great Review Rare

Host Jazzbeau

Posted
Posted
Was this directed at me? Thought I was being a helpful poster?

 

No, you got swept up in the clean-up of guidelines-violations and posts that quoted or referred to them. Please use the red triangle and refrain from commenting on "problem" posts.

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Host Jazzbeau Great Review Rare

Host Jazzbeau

Posted
Posted
regarding the food/catering on river ships does anyone know are teams of staff supplied by agencies/contractors for the season?

 

also wonder if the budgets for food/beverages per guest varies between operators?

we have noticed differences in food quality/delivery over the years on river cruises.

sometimes the description on the menu and what arrives can be ...a surprise.

its great that forums like this can prepare/inform the potential difference between what is promoted and what is actually delivered.

 

According to Berlitz River Cruising in Europe, yes the catering budgets vary a lot between lines. Not every line is singled out in that book, but they do highlight the best and the worst -- definitely worth borrowing from your library.

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JVilleGal

JVilleGal

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No, you got swept up in the clean-up of guidelines-violations and posts that quoted or referred to them. Please use the red triangle and refrain from commenting on "problem" posts.

Yiks sorry didn't know I had! I am on the CC APP using an iPhone and there is no "Red Triangle".

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Host Jazzbeau Great Review Rare

Host Jazzbeau

Posted
Posted
Yiks sorry didn't know I had! I am on the CC APP using an iPhone and there is no "Red Triangle".

 

Now that you make me look more closely, I realize that after the redesign it is now the "Blue Triangle" :o I'll have to edit the sticky to get the color right!

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goldenrod

goldenrod

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  • Author
Posted (edited)
That's a great cruise! We were on the 2016 version LA to Rio in December/January and loved everyone of the 31 days. While the quality of food is influenced by the chef on ocean cruises just like river cruises, we (group of 4) were all extremely pleased with our meals on the Crown Princess (what ship is doing that itinerary next year?). I hope it works out for you. We were in a mini-suite on that cruise but have been in a Penthouse Suite on a sister ship before and love the extra space but we also loved our cozy little cabins on our 3 Uniworld cruises (and their meals are fabulous) since we weren't expecting spaciousness on such small ships.

 

 

We will be on the Emerald Princess it leaves early December this year! And we are staying an extra six days at the end. We were supposed to be on Uniworld for this trip but the Suites were sold out so we switched to Viking, what a mistake!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited by goldenrod
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Kingofcool1947

Kingofcool1947

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Goldenrod you are using an IPhone. Why not take a photo of the menu plus the wine description and post it? That will solve the debate.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

My guess is goldenrod won't take pictures of any menus.

OP will just ignore your request. :o

What do you think?

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