Riviera Live! March 8 from a food lover and O newbie

[sunlover12]

On 3/16/2022 at 9:32 AM, basor said:

That is something new as we had the cart on Sirena, Nautica and Regatta but this was pre-COVID....need to check with those on ATW and see if it is there now

When we ate in Toscana the 2nd time they brought the cart around. We never saw it the first time. 

[Mudhen]

VERY late to the party here! Had some "technical" errors that needed to be corrected so I'm just now reading all 8 pages!

You have done a marvelous job of documenting all of your dining experiences!!! Congrats on a job well done! Fabulous!

It sounds like you're now smitten with O....looks like this line might interest us as well!

In the meantime, take care.....miss you two!

Linda and John

[kjbacon]

7 hours ago, Mudhen said:

VERY late to the party here! Had some "technical" errors that needed to be corrected so I'm just now reading all 8 pages!

You have done a marvelous job of documenting all of your dining experiences!!! Congrats on a job well done! Fabulous!

It sounds like you're now smitten with O....looks like this line might interest us as well!

In the meantime, take care.....miss you two!

Linda and John

Thank you, my friend!! We miss you guys too and yes, we have thoroughly enjoyed our first trip on O. We booked 3 more so let’s find one of those that you want to join us for 😻

[kjbacon]

We had our last dinner at Jacques and it was wonderful. Just as we are about to disembark, the weather improved and we had calm seas with only slight breezes … so to those of you boarding today for the transatlantic … you’re welcome! A fine restaurant and a fine wine on the ocean is about as good as it gets ❤️

 

For appetizers, Jack repeated the Scallop Gnocchi dish and said it was even better the second time. I got an appetizer sized portion of bouillabaisse and while it was not my favorite, the table side service was beautifully done.

 

Our main courses were fabulous! The Prime Rib with herbs de Provence was the best piece of beef we have had on this trip and we’ve had many good beef dishes. The seasoning was done with a delicate hand and was spot on. Thank you to my fellow poster for recommending the Coquilles St Jacques as it was delicious. I was able to justify eating way too much of that spectacular French bread because that sauce was much too good to leave behind. 

 

 

We enjoyed the cheese cart very much. The restaurant was a little noisy last night, probably the combination of it being our last night and St Patrick’s Day, so we had difficulty hearing what the different cheeses were. Obviously, we enjoyed some more than others! Look at the beautiful spiral cut technique.

 

 

We have eaten way too well and I have no hesitation saying that Oceania delivered on their claim that they have the best cuisine at sea.

 

Today, I am back to my normally very healthy eating plan 🍏🍓🥑🍑🍋

 

We have a busy morning so I will be doing my summary later, probably tomorrow. Thank you all for coming along for the ride and making it all the more fun! 😻

 

[beardedshark]

Thanks KJ. Really enjoyed your reports.  Thanks for flattening the seas for us. 😉

hope disembarkation goes ok, we should be onboard in 5 hours (can’t believe I’m writing that). 
I look forward to your review

 

thanks again

 

shark

[brittany12]

Will someone please on this next Transatlantic voyage leaving today on Riviera pick up on keeping us so beautifully informed??n We'd all be so appreciative. 

[Aloha 1]

Have a safe trip home and don't forget to give us your final comparison of O to R! You just had to post that Tete de Moine wheel didn't you?😂 Oh well, My turn this July on Nautica.

[ronrick1943]

Great photos, Jacques is my favored restaurant on the ship.  Food looked “WOW”.

 

[kjbacon]

On 3/16/2022 at 12:04 PM, tropicalkerry2002 said:

also, make sure you get some Parmesan from the wheel, drizzled with Balsamic!

Edit: just realized they may not have that due to Covid.

We did not see that but will look for it next time! Sounds delicious.

 

On 3/16/2022 at 12:50 PM, cruisingxpert said:

The cheese cart has a wheel of cheese on that you won't find in too many places.  It is called Tete de Moine and it is from Switzerland.  I am a lover of the french "stinky cheeses" and the cart usually has Livarot or Munster .  Even their Brie has a ton more taste than anything I can get at home.

 

I thought that O had misspelled Munster the first time I saw it because I was only familiar with Muenster(totally different cheese)

Munster – This cheese made mainly from milk from the Alsace, Lorraine and Franche-Comté regions, is referred to by some as a monster cheese (see what they did there) due to its particularly pungent smell. But the name actually comes from the small town of Munster where abbeys and monasteries have made the cheese since the middle ages. The tasty, soft cheese is left to mature in damp cellars and its rind is washed regularly with salted water which offers protection and gives it a penetrating aroma. It’s also not the healthiest of cheeses – it has a fat content of 45-50%.

 

Livarot is considered to be one of the finest cheeses by aficionados who love its soft, golden paste with little holes and springy texture. The taste is nutty, melting in the mouth, to release flavours of a salty lemon and spiciness. The texture is creamy, smooth and quite runny at room temperature.

The cheeses were delicious and we also love the big, bold, stinky cheeses. One thing that I was able to hear was that this cart did not have Brie, but had a very nice Camembert. The Tete de Moine was as gorgeous as it was delicious. Thank you for all this great info.

 

On 3/17/2022 at 3:48 PM, Aloha 1 said:

Only on this Forum. We didn't board Explorer until 2/21 but we've been on Riviera several times. Before you sadly disembark and finish your live report, did you have have dinner at The Terrace one night?

No, we never did! There were several things that we missed and that was one of them. We will def do that early on our next O adventure.

 

On 3/17/2022 at 4:47 PM, Pizzasteve said:

I think the breakfast dish to get on Regent is the Poached Eggs on Rustic Avacado Toast, make sure to get two eggs.   It was wonderful in main dining as the bread/avacado combination was wonderful.  They also had a very good breakfast chickpea pancake with tomato and spinach salad on top.

I’ve had the Chickpea Pancake for breakfast on R and agree with you. It was delicious and one of my favorite meals on our last R cruise. I also preferred the hearty whole grain bread on R for avocado toast.

[kjbacon]

It’s the morning after and we have only fond memories of our first O experience. We look forward to our next one. We are feeling especially fortunate this morning (even though we had to make our own coffee) and feel that we have two fantastic cruise lines to enjoy moving forward. 
 

Each line has much to offer but they have different strengths. I feel ok saying that they are both wonderful and I do not have a flat out favorite …. wait, am I talking about my daughters or cruise ships?

 

The food on O was outstanding and as I’ve already said, yes it’s the best cuisine at sea. La Reserve is in a category of its own and there are only land restaurants to compare it to (where it compares well). La Reserve is not to be missed and everyone should treat themselves at least once to this magnificent venue. There’s nothing equivalent to this on Regent so an easy nod to O.

 

Red Ginger was the very best of the other specialty restaurants. We had two flawless meals here and while one flawless meal is amazing, two is nearly unheard of. Again , O.

 

Everyone already knows that Toscana was our least favorite but we will try them again on our next cruise. Anyone can have an off night but for this purpose, R.

 

Both Jacques and Polo Grill were excellent and yes, they each had a couple misses but that’s ok. Both ships do very well here but a slight preference for O.

 

The Terrace Café, aka the buffet, was great and I absolutely loved the fact that they serve making for a far more sanitary environment! On sea days, it could get a little more crowded than I’d like but the quality and variety of the food was very good. It was also beautifully presented. Another nod to O.

 

Bread. Omg, the baguette on O is a category on to itself and one of the very best bites you are going to get anywhere at anytime. Baguette all the way O.

 

So, now some cons! The smoking setup on O is frankly terrible and seriously needs to be improved upon. An overwhelming nod here to R.

 

Wine 🍷 is not the strong suit here. The complimentary wines for the named suites were not wines we prefer. The wines on all of the beverage packages are not wines we prefer. Not a Bordeaux to be found unless you wanted to pay dearly for it! There were some decent wines on the wine lists that we found to be pricier than need be. Moving forward, we will bring our own . And yes, I’m ready for the onslaught of “I told you so” comments coming, and it’s ok by me so bring it on!! Regent has several decent wines included in the price so another easy nod to R.

 

From wine, let’s go to cocktail hour which is something we truly enjoy on a cruise. Spending an hour with good music and a good drink before dinner is a treat we look forward to. We found the deck 6 venues were both too crowded for our taste and thought the music offerings were better on Regent. Upstairs, in the Horizon Lounge, is where we usually spend cocktail hour on the Regent equivalent. First major problem is the smell of smoke from the adjacent indoor smoking lounge. The band is only ok and the comparative piano players (Ross and Eddie) on Regent are fabulous. There’s also some lovely canapés served in the lounge on Regent at about 6pm. Another easy nod to R.

 

The Sommeliers are much better on Regent except for one of the top crew members on O that we were lucky enough to benefit a great deal from named Juni. We loved this guy for his knowledge and joie de vivre. Another nod to R.

 

Food - O and Drink - R 🥩🍷

 

This is a good Segway to service. Both lines are in the excellent category here but O does it just a little bit better. We both noticed that the crew members seemed a bit more genuinely happy on O and they related to each other like a family environment. Someone at the top is doing something right when the crew members are all that happy and getting along so well. Another nod to O.

 

Early on in the thread, I talked about our butler, Bosco, who could not have been better in anyway. It was a privilege to have such a fine gentleman to take such good care of us. We are early risers so we also benefitted by the fantastic night butler, Melvin, who cheerfully and efficiently brought us our morning coffee every day (and anything else we might have wanted). A huge nod to O that there is 24 hour butler service and the overall quality is another nod to O.

 

The overall beauty of the ship is there for both lines but between the amazing artwork and the many cozy little quiet spaces, the nod goes to O.

 

Excursions are included in the cost of Regent and they are really darn good. There are top notch offerings and plenty of variety plus you can take more than one excursion per day, still included. Here the nod goes to R.

 

Cabins are beautiful on both ships and we did do some looking around on disembarkation day so that we could see some other cabins. Sorry, but here I’ll have to say it’s a tie.

 

I am sure that I will think of more to be verbose about and am happy to answer any questions. Someone needs to unpack and lose a whole lot of weight!!

Edited March 19, 2022 by kjbacon

[Aloha 1]

That's a great summation! Pretty much mirrors our take. We love both lines and basically pick between them based on inventory. Can't go wrong with either compared to the mass market behemoths.

[Pizzasteve]

On Riviera now and pleased to report that olive oil and basalmic cart was in action for our meal. Ordered in the seafod arena and some specials in Toscana and had an exceptional meal, above our expecations based on the thread.  Octopus carpaccio, squid ink pasta with small clams, spicy lobster with pasta were all excellent, as were our deserts, apricot with pistaccio being my favorite.

 

Solid food in Red Ginger weve eaten there twice already, but it seems knowing what to order for ones preferences is important.  Really enjoyed the miso black cod, as expected, and scallops three ways, crispy duck and watermellon salad, crusted rack of lamb and masamam curry (short rib). Crispy ginger calamari was fine, well prepared without much ginger punch and was a bit dull. Likewise the chilli prawns were sweet and beautiful, but a bit bland to me, at least vs what i expected (more heat, less sweet). Still others would love them I expect.  Ginger cake was excellent among desserts, as were sorbet offerings.

 

Sorry no photos.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Pizzasteve

[LHT28]

11 minutes ago, Pizzasteve said:

Crispy ginger calamari was fine, well prepared without much ginger punch and was a bit dull. Likewise the chilli prawns were sweet and beautiful, but a bit bland to me, at least vs what i expected (more heat, less sweet). Still others would love them I expect.  Ginger cake was excellent among desserts, as were sorbet offerings.

 

Just ask for a bit more spice  when ordering

[Pizzasteve]

11 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Just ask for a bit more spice  when ordering

Thanks for the tip!  Service has been excellent. Will shoot for a 3rd Red Ginger chance!

[kjbacon]

11 hours ago, Pizzasteve said:

On Riviera now and pleased to report that olive oil and basalmic cart was in action for our meal. Ordered in the seafod arena and some specials in Toscana and had an exceptional meal, above our expecations based on the thread.  Octopus carpaccio, squid ink pasta with small clams, spicy lobster with pasta were all excellent, as were our deserts, apricot with pistaccio being my favorite.

 

Solid food in Red Ginger weve eaten there twice already, but it seems knowing what to order for ones preferences is important.  Really enjoyed the miso black cod, as expected, and scallops three ways, crispy duck and watermellon salad, crusted rack of lamb and masamam curry (short rib). Crispy ginger calamari was fine, well prepared without much ginger punch and was a bit dull. Likewise the chilli prawns were sweet and beautiful, but a bit bland to me, at least vs what i expected (more heat, less sweet). Still others would love them I expect.  Ginger cake was excellent among desserts, as were sorbet offerings.

 

Sorry no photos.

Glad to hear that all is well!! We will try Toscana again. I second what LHT said that when you are in Red Ginger, you can order a dish to be served spicy 🌶 

 

Try the molten goat cheese soufflé in Jacques with plenty of baguette for dipping!

[boblerm]

Karen, I have finally caught up on your excellent report (I am a slow reader😄)

I am very glad that you enjoyed your first O cruise, and appreciated the comparisons to R.

As you know, I was sailing on R during the same time as you, and agree that this was among the roughest seas that we have experienced in the Caribbean.  The upside was that if I was staggering out of a lounge, no one noticed,😉.

[kjbacon]

11 hours ago, boblerm said:

Karen, I have finally caught up on your excellent report (I am a slow reader😄)

I am very glad that you enjoyed your first O cruise, and appreciated the comparisons to R.

As you know, I was sailing on R during the same time as you, and agree that this was among the roughest seas that we have experienced in the Caribbean.  The upside was that if I was staggering out of a lounge, no one noticed,😉.

Thank you, Bob, and I made good use of the upside of the rough seas as well 🤣 I need to go check to see your final trip report. Your thread was wonderful and nostalgic 😻

[tvmovielover]

Kjbacon Thanks to your wonderful pictures and descriptions of your dinners, we are finally going to try La Reserve on our fall Riviera cruise plus many ideas for new dishes to try in various venues.  I also think because of some of the comments, I found out we could sign up for La Reserve now and  not have to wait until our specialty restaurant sign up date.  It was a great thread.

[Phylpow]

On 3/18/2022 at 5:54 AM, kjbacon said:

We had our last dinner at Jacques and it was wonderful. Just as we are about to disembark, the weather improved and we had calm seas with only slight breezes … so to those of you boarding today for the transatlantic … you’re welcome! A fine restaurant and a fine wine on the ocean is about as good as it gets ❤️

 

For appetizers, Jack repeated the Scallop Gnocchi dish and said it was even better the second time. I got an appetizer sized portion of bouillabaisse and while it was not my favorite, the table side service was beautifully done.

 

Our main courses were fabulous! The Prime Rib with herbs de Provence was the best piece of beef we have had on this trip and we’ve had many good beef dishes. The seasoning was done with a delicate hand and was spot on. Thank you to my fellow poster for recommending the Coquilles St Jacques as it was delicious. I was able to justify eating way too much of that spectacular French bread because that sauce was much too good to leave behind. 

 

 

We enjoyed the cheese cart very much. The restaurant was a little noisy last night, probably the combination of it being our last night and St Patrick’s Day, so we had difficulty hearing what the different cheeses were. Obviously, we enjoyed some more than others! Look at the beautiful spiral cut technique.

 

 

We have eaten way too well and I have no hesitation saying that Oceania delivered on their claim that they have the best cuisine at sea.

 

Today, I am back to my normally very healthy eating plan 🍏🍓🥑🍑🍋

 

We have a busy morning so I will be doing my summary later, probably tomorrow. Thank you all for coming along for the ride and making it all the more fun! 😻

 

kjbacon,  Hi, the cheese cart looks wonderful !   I had a tenant from Germany living downstairs for several years. His parents visited and gave me a cheese server just like the one in the middle of the tray.  Do you know what kind of cheese one uses with it ?  I must pull it out of 'storage' and use it when friends come over for drinks.  Hope I can find the cheese here in the Boston area !   Thanks for your words and pictures of your fabulous trip.  You should perhaps get a commission from Oceania....I'm sure you have swayed more than a few people to try an Oceania cruise !    btw- i was in Antigua in 1967 (10th grade) and had a super time.  Great memories even 50+ years later !

[Phylpow]

On 3/18/2022 at 3:45 PM, Aloha 1 said:

Have a safe trip home and don't forget to give us your final comparison of O to R! You just had to post that Tete de Moine wheel didn't you?😂 Oh well, My turn this July on Nautica.

Is that the cheese used for the cheese slicer in the middle of the table ?   Guess I should have read all comments before I asked what type of cheese you'd use !  Thanks !   btw- just read this: 'in 1982 the girolle was invented, an apparatus which makes it possible to make "rosettes" of Tête de Moine by turning a scraper on an axle planted in the center of the cheese. This apparatus helped to boost the consumption of this cheese.'

[cruisingxpert]

11 minutes ago, Phylpow said:

Do you know what kind of cheese one uses with it ?  I

Not KJ but the cheese is Tete does Moines from Switzerland

[Phylpow]

16 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

Not KJ but the cheese is Tete does Moines from Switzerland

Thanks cruisingxpert !   I even found that the name of the slicer is a girolle.  Going to a dinner tomorrow night and haven't decided what to bring.  If I can find the cheese, I'm all set with that and a bottle of wine !

[Aloha 1]

2 hours ago, Phylpow said:

Is that the cheese used for the cheese slicer in the middle of the table ?   Guess I should have read all comments before I asked what type of cheese you'd use !  Thanks !   btw- just read this: 'in 1982 the girolle was invented, an apparatus which makes it possible to make "rosettes" of Tête de Moine by turning a scraper on an axle planted in the center of the cheese. This apparatus helped to boost the consumption of this cheese.'

Yep, that's it.

[clairol]

19 hours ago, Phylpow said:

  If I can find the cheese, I'm all set with that and a bottle of wine !

If you’re in the Boston area go to Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge. Yum! If they don’t have the exact cheese there, they’ll recommend a good one for your girolle. 

[FetaCheese]

On 3/15/2022 at 5:51 AM, kjbacon said:

Another mixed bag at Jacques. Overall, it was very good with a couple misses. We had the same issue with the Amuse Bouche that I need not cover again.

 

Appetizers were the best course of the night. My salad, Boston Lettuce with Roquefort Cheese, was perfect and one of the best dishes on the ship. Jack had the Scallop Gnocchis with Lobster sauce and the Gnocchis were good but the sauce was amazing.

 

 

Main courses were a split. The Lamb Loin was fabulous and the Rack of Veal was not, even though it looked beautiful.

 

 

 

Our veggies were both good, Cauliflower au Gratin and Haricots Verts.

 

 

 Desserts were another split. The Mille Feuille was delicious and the chocolate mousse had good flavor but not the light, pillowy texture that it should have had.

 

 

 

We have a good weather report for today so that’s a great start. Today is San Juan and tonight is Polo Grill.

Glad to see they still have lamb loin. Was on Marina precovid, and it was just fabulous.  Mine had 3 pieces, so delicious and such a beautiful presentation. Really loved everything in Jacques.