Food in the MDR on Aurora

[lancashire_cruisers]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Just posted on FB.  Not that bad, but what on earth is a chicken breast wing bone?  Can't say there is anything on there that excites me though.  The three veg dishes sound awful 😞

 

As a vegetarian of nearly 45 years the veggie dishes sound delicious!

[jeanlyon]

37 minutes ago, lancashire_cruisers said:

As a vegetarian of nearly 45 years the veggie dishes sound delicious!

I often like veggie food, but not those.

[Harry Peterson]

2 hours ago, mercury7289 said:

Told the same on Aurora ,factory produced.

That, if true (and I’m not in any way doubting what you say), is horrendous.

 

Those kitchens, which P&O used so proudly to show off to their customers on free tours, were fantastic, as were the chefs. The food, even in the MDR, was superb, and the choice was wide.

 

If that’s all been replaced with airline food, that’s one of the key pleasures of cruising gone completely.

[Camberley]

13 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

That, if true (and I’m not in any way doubting what you say), is horrendous.

 

Those kitchens, which P&O used so proudly to show off to their customers on free tours, were fantastic, as were the chefs. The food, even in the MDR, was superb, and the choice was wide.

 

If that’s all been replaced with airline food, that’s one of the key pleasures of cruising gone completely.

It’s actually quite the skill to be able to replicate the banality of airline food. But P&O cruises have nailed it there. Mind you we found it was adequate the last few times recently: but I imagine nobody would choose P&O for the limited quality of their food.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Camberley

[Harry Peterson]

12 minutes ago, Camberley said:

It’s actually quite the skill to be able to replicate the banality of airline food. But P&O cruises have nailed it there. Mind you we found it was adequate the last few times recently: but I imagine nobody would choose P&O for the limited quality of their food.

They did once, I can assure you. 

[Selbourne]

I’d be surprised if P&O (or any cruise line for that matter) are bringing on board pre-prepared meals. That must surely be massively more expensive than preparing food from scratch using raw ingredients, especially as their labour costs are so low compared to land based operations. 

[zap99]

43 minutes ago, Camberley said:

It’s actually quite the skill to be able to replicate the banality of airline food. But P&O cruises have nailed it there. Mind you we found it was adequate the last few times recently: but I imagine nobody would choose P&O for the limited quality of their food.

Let's hope they don't sink that low. We fly to Majorca on Friday with BA. As it's only a short flight, we are in economy

 Food is a small bottle of water and a bag of crisps.

[SteveH2508]

The big palettes of fresh produce being forklifted onto the ship would tend to bely the pre-prepared rumour.

[Camberley]

41 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I’d be surprised if P&O (or any cruise line for that matter) are bringing on board pre-prepared meals. That must surely be massively more expensive than preparing food from scratch using raw ingredients, especially as their labour costs are so low compared to land based operations. 

I really would hope not, but they have the uncanny knack of giving a pre-made vibe about their food,

[mercury7289]

3 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

That, if true (and I’m not in any way doubting what you say), is horrendous.

 

Those kitchens, which P&O used so proudly to show off to their customers on free tours, were fantastic, as were the chefs. The food, even in the MDR, was superb, and the choice was wide.

 

If that’s all been replaced with airline food, that’s one of the key pleasures of cruising gone completely.

Harry, this is what we were was told by a crew member they added,no fresh food on board 

[Harry Peterson]

6 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

Harry, this is what we were was told by a crew member they added,no fresh food on board 

That is just awful!  Do they have ships' biscuits perhaps?  

[jeanlyon]

49 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

Harry, this is what we were was told by a crew member they added,no fresh food on board 

Well that is just crazy, as of course they've got fresh food on board.  Fruit, veggies, salad etc. etc.

[Britboys]

On 6/1/2023 at 10:32 AM, annieuk said:

I was on Aurora for the first time since September 2019 and I wasn't sure what things were going to be like.  I've done more than 30 cruises with P&O so I've eaten many meals in the MDR.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Yes the choice was not as wide as I was used to before and there was no 'Always Available' listed.  I was only on for four nights on this cruise so it was only four evening meals and four breakfasts.  The first evening both my daughter and I thought there was a good choice.  It was her first cruise so she didn't know what to expect, I'd always cruised with my husband previously and this was my first cruise since he died.  I ordered a steak that first night and previously I've had some good and some not so good steaks.  I like mine medium rare with the emphasis on the rare and in the past if I was ordering a steak in the MDR I'd order rare as I found that if I ordered medium rare it was more medium than anything.  However, this steak was excellent, quite thick and beautifully medium rare served with Bernaise Sauce, my favourite and fries and the always expected green beans!  We were sat at a table with some other long term P&O cruisers and they thought the food was good too.  Yes things were missing, There was no Wine Line on the table, it seemed as if people were expected to look at the Wine List on line.  One thing that  I'm not sure if it was just our waiter or whether it's now the way things are done but our waiter wanted us to order our dessert at the same time as the starter and main course which I've never had to do before. The desserts were very good, the sort of things I remember from before.  We had a what's now called a Celebration Evening, what I've known as a Formal evening.  The Marco Pierre White menu was there and I had an excellent Beef Wellington.  There was no Sorbet between courses, but I know many people didn't seem to rate that anyway.  On the Celebration Evening there were Truffles served with Coffee and they were lovely.  I don't eat cheese myself but one of the women on the table ordered cheese at the end of the meal.  What came was a dinner plate with small slices of about five different cheeses, some biscuits on the side and some butter.  This bore no resemblance to the cheese boards I remember seeing with passengers choosing how many and which biscuits they wanted.  

 

Breakfasts were good in the Main Dining Room, apart from the coffee but then P&O have never managed good coffee other than years ago in Cafe Jardin on Oceana in the days when they used Villeroy and Boch china and served excellent coffee.  Toast at breakfast was crisp, and looked as if it had been properly toasted rather than just waved over the grill as often used to be the case.  In the past I often asked for Thick Toast which was always good as it was done specifically for the person who ordered it and was always thick and brown but I thought that might be going a step too far at the moment when things are still getting back to 'normal'.  The Eggs Benedict was superb and is now on the main menu daily rather than there used to be different dishes offered on different days and as far as I remember Eggs Benedict only appeared on a Monday.  My daughter had scrambled eggs and bacon and really enjoyed them in fact she enjoyed them so much she had them on two mornings and she's a scrambled egg connoisseur.  I don't remember if the Golden Triangles - fried bread - were still on the menu.  All in all I would say the food was good, not fine dining but then it doesn't claim to be.  

Glad to hear you had a good time and enjoyed the food. Of course, there is always a chance that they chose the best menu items and pulled all the stops out to try and impress all the new cruisers on the short 4-night itinerary.

I'll keep my expectations low for this summer and hopefully be pleasantly surprised.

[Camberley]

12 minutes ago, Britboys said:

 

I'll keep my expectations low for this summer and hopefully be pleasantly surprised.

This could be the start of a potential marketing slogan for P&O: always keep your expectations low and we might occasionally please you

[Britboys]

1 minute ago, Camberley said:

This could be the start of a potential marketing slogan for P&O: always keep your expectations low and we might occasionally please you

Yes indeed - but it will never take over from "99% of our passengers..." (oh sorry, that should of course be 'guests' these days...).

[Fionboard]

26 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Well that is just crazy, as of course they've got fresh food on board.  Fruit, veggies, salad etc. etc.

For the speciality venues!

[Fionboard]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’d be surprised if P&O (or any cruise line for that matter) are bringing on board pre-prepared meals. That must surely be massively more expensive than preparing food from scratch using raw ingredients, especially as their labour costs are so low compared to land based operations. 

Not if you use just eat or deliveroo🤣

[Britboys]

8 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Not if you use just eat or deliveroo🤣

I've now got images in my head of fast speed-boats pulling up alongside P&O ships to deliver food ordered by passengers...😂

[jh1809]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’d be surprised if P&O (or any cruise line for that matter) are bringing on board pre-prepared meals. That must surely be massively more expensive than preparing food from scratch using raw ingredients, especially as their labour costs are so low compared to land based operations. 

We know they had crew shortages post-Covid. If that included chefs, it might be the reason rather than to save money.

[jh1809]

1 hour ago, mercury7289 said:

Harry, this is what we were was told by a crew member they added,no fresh food on board 

Did the crew member work in the kitchen? If not, they might have been relying on the rumour mill.

[AndyMichelle]

24 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I've now got images in my head of fast speed-boats pulling up alongside P&O ships to deliver food ordered by passengers...😂

I've heard deliveroo are ordering jet skis as we speak... 😂🍕

[mercury7289]

40 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

Did the crew member work in the kitchen? If not, they might have been relying on the rumour mill.

Fairy senior member! Only agreeing with past post!

[Bazrat]

Nothing changes on here does it, now the great pre prepared food debate does anyone actually believe that they don’t prepare the food daily, if they do what is your favourite tipple I certainly need the out of body experience your having.

[mercury7289]

9 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

Nothing changes on here does it, now the great pre prepared food debate does anyone actually believe that they don’t prepare the food daily, if they do what is your favourite tipple I certainly need the out of body experience your having.

XO brandy, gentlemen's measure please!

[Rosy 2 cakes]

9 hours ago, Scorpio41 said:

On Aurora in May.
It was as bad as it reads. The deserts are flavourless and they are gf. The ice cream was good and the sorbets. Tomato soup, nice some of the others were questionable.

The food and plates were always hot. Tomato soup, chicken and sirloin steak on every night, plus one other dish and a fish dish. Rarely there was salmon on offer. 

The tomato soup and the consommes were delicious, I had tomato soup most nights. Plenty of pudding choice ( 3 every night plus ice cream ) and I didn't think they were flavourless. We had apple pie,  poached pear, sticky toffee pudding,  baked cheesecake, baked Alaska, chocolate mousse, meringues with  tropical fruit, grilled pineapple etc.

 

You say one other dish, you mean one other meat dish, plus a fish dish and the vegetarian  choices. We had a vegetable Morrocan tagine one night which was delicious. Some of the other dishes I remember Greek lamb meatballs, pasta dishes, goan  curry, lentil Dahl, Asian stir fry, several different types of pie.  Fish choices were varied and included, trout, lobster, baked cod, plaice, lemon sole, John dory, salmon, cod in batter, hake, a seafood risotto.  I thought food was pretty good. I've had far worse meals in  restaurants that I've paid a lot of money for including one of the worst meals ever in a Rick Stein restaurant in Padstow.