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Returning to P&O

killaypirate

By killaypirate,
in P&O Cruises ( UK )

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Interestedcruisefan "Live from...." Rare

Interestedcruisefan

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi

No,,,after x3 awful meals in the MDR we had Fish & Chips in the Quays or the (actually better food)in the buffet.

 

In the last 18 months I have been on Britannia which was hands down better than my Iona cruise this year in both food and service.

Twice on FO Boudicca from Liverpool,,,,the best MDR food I had in those 18 months and service second to none.

Twice on Celebrity Silhouette where P&O could take lessons in Service and food

The best buffet restaurants at sea.

 

Im on Marella Voyager in a couple of weeks,I’ve heard good things about it’s food and service…..I’ll let you know the result,,,,,,but I won’t be swayed by any blind loyalty to a cruise line……..

Fair enough. 

 

I used to enjoy meals in the buffet and Quays but actually went the other way and we actually started preferring the MDR for evening meals

 

We ate there early or later on and either got lucky with the food or service as had zero complaints

 

Or else I say again maybe you got unlucky

 

But it's hard to get unlucky  3 times I admit

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Selbourne "Live from...." Rare

Selbourne

Posted
Posted
52 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Not comparable to normal MDR we are discussing then


Whilst I am in the camp that is generally happy with the P&O MDRs from both a food and service perspective (once you can eventually get in, if on Freedom Dining on certain ships), I do feel that the choice has diminished. The formal night menu posted above is far superior in choice to any formal night menu we had on Britannia or Iona this year and the standard menus look far better as well. 
 

I don’t have a problem with ‘traditional’ options, in fact I quite like them (had a nice Prawn Cocktail when out for lunch yesterday 😂). For me, it’s more about the totality of the choice. Nowadays, I can usually find a main course that I’m happy with, but 1 or 2 days per cruise none appeals. In the past (as evidenced by those menus) I would be torn between 2 or 3 per day.

 

As for Silver Service, we’ve been cruising with P&O long enough to remember it, but I prefer plates meals for the reasons that others have stated. 

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Interestedcruisefan "Live from...." Rare

Interestedcruisefan

Posted
Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, zap99 said:

In many parts of the UK, Macaroni cheese pie is traditional.

Yes just googled it. Must be places weve never lived or got family

 

I've never been served it

 

I didn't even think it was Italian let alone had British roots. Thought Mac and cheese was something Americans ate tbh

Edited by Interestedcruisefan
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Megabear2 "Live from...." Rare

Megabear2

Posted
Posted
31 minutes ago, pete14 said:

I wish people would stop using steak and kidney pie / pudding as an example of how bad the menus have become. Made well, it can be a wonderful thing. Beautiful food can be made out of cheap ingredients, something we should be celebrating and not sneering at.
Back in the day, when the late Gary Rhodes had a fine dining restaurant on Arcadia, Steak and Kidney pie was on the menu. When served to me, it was a piece of fillet steak and a small kidney pie. Although it was extremely good, I did have an initial sense of disappointment that it was not the real thing. 

I remember the bangers and mash. The latter was mustard mash and the sausages were venison.  Very tasty but most definitely not bangers and mash!

 

By the way, where has venison gone? I'm very partial to venison and apart from in the Limelight Club it's disappeared since the pandemic, even on Cunard I struggled to find it. 

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Interestedcruisefan "Live from...." Rare

Interestedcruisefan

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

I remember the bangers and mash. The latter was mustard mash and the sausages were venison.  Very tasty but most definitely not bangers and mash!

 

By the way, where has venison gone? I'm very partial to venison and apart from in the Limelight Club it's disappeared since the pandemic, even on Cunard I struggled to find it. 

For some reason I've never really enjoyed venison when I've tried it

 

 

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Selbourne "Live from...." Rare

Selbourne

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

By the way, where has venison gone? I'm very partial to venison and apart from in the Limelight Club it's disappeared since the pandemic, even on Cunard I struggled to find it. 


Oh deer (sorry - couldn’t resist it) 😂 Happy Birthday 🥳 

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zap99

zap99

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Yes just googled it. Must be places weve never lived or got family

 

I've never been served it

 

I didn't even think it was Italian let alone had British roots. Thought Mac and cheese was something Americans ate tbh

In South West London, in the 50's Macaroni Cheese Pie was quite a Local dish.

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Megabear2 "Live from...." Rare

Megabear2

Posted
Posted
Just now, zap99 said:

You eat Rudolph on Christmas day ?.😶‍🌫️

We have him sent down from Scotland in a big frozen polystyrene box packed with ice.  He's very nice roasted or slow cooked.  Guess we are philistines eating Bambi and Rudolph on one day!

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Scirocco Breeze

Scirocco Breeze

Posted
Posted

I'm genuinely happy with good old fashioned dishes just as much as more modern choices, as long as they are well cooked.

 

P&O now have my opinion on the food, for all the good it will do. I encouraged the many other people complaining around the ship to make P&O aware too. The more people point out there's a problem, the more likely they are to address it. Maybe.

 

And there ends my P&O experience. Sad it's over in spite of the food. Looking forward to jumping back on Princess next month!

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zap99

zap99

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I saw one of the Great British recommendations on the old MDRs for main course as

 

Macaroni and Cheese?

 

Is that really a traditional Great British dish?

 

Never realised

 

And does anyone really choose that as a go to main course?

When we go into town to go to the bank and wander around the shops we often go into the local pub for lunch. I often have Mac and Cheese with garlic bread as a main. Funny old world. In Pizza Express on Saturday...for my main I had....Pizza.

20230923_165122.jpg

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AchileLauro

AchileLauro

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

For some reason I've never really enjoyed venison when I've tried it

 

 

P&O can be a bit hit or miss when it comes to cooking venison and game dishes.

The worst dish that I have ever eaten on all of the cruises we have taken with P&O was wild boar sausage. Now I've eaten wild boar dishes numerous times both at home and in France and always enjoyed then, but on this occasion the sausages were truly bad. I would go so far as to say that they were inedible.

On the other hand a spatchcock partridge dish that we had on board some years ago was probably one of the nicest meals that I have ever eaten on a cruise. The Chefs definately got that dish right.

We regularly eat venison at home so are quite fond of it. On the odd occasion that we've had it on a cruise in various forms it's been O.K. but not brilliant.

 

I tried grouse for the first time on a cruise a few years ago. Nothing wrong with the cooking or presentation just not to my own personal taste. Still it was very nice to have the opportunity to try something new to me.

 

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Dermotsgirl

Dermotsgirl

Posted
Posted

I made a comparison between non formal nights from 'before' and 'now' for main course choices, based on the menus in posts #195 and #294

 

'Todays' menu in post #195 shows 8 main course choices.  This includes 2 always available options and 3 vegetarian dishes.

 

'Yesterdays' menu in post #294 also shows 8 options. But it doesn't show the 3 always available dishes of steak, salmon and chicken. So 11 options in all. Out of the 11 choices there is just one vegetarian dish.

 

Therefore I conclude that for meat and fish eaters there is now less choice in the main dining room.

 

As there used to be a separate vegetarian menu, if vegetarians now have to select from the standard menu, then there is less choice for them too.

 

 

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Dermotsgirl

Dermotsgirl

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

 

 

As for Silver Service, we’ve been cruising with P&O long enough to remember it, but I prefer plates meals for the reasons that others have stated. 

I prefer the plated meals too.

 

When we first started cruising the placing of the vegetables on the plate for the silver service was done with a bit of panache. Latterly, it was just dumping a spud and a sprout on the side of the plate, even if it didn't go with the meal! 

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terrierjohn

terrierjohn

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

The  other standard MDR menus didn't  noticeably stand out as being a wider choice to me tbh

 

Not a lot different 

 

And some very basic courses on there as well tbh

 

Egg mayonnaise? For example

 

Spanish oranges ?

Not sure which menus you were viewing, but IMO they were the classy ones I remember, which are far superior to the current ones.

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Bill Y Great Review Rare

Bill Y

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I prefer the plated meals too.

 

When we first started cruising the placing of the vegetables on the plate for the silver service was done with a bit of panache. Latterly, it was just dumping a spud and a sprout on the side of the plate, even if it didn't go with the meal! 

Yes fish and chips, fish served plated with a garnish of five chips then silver service of root vegetables, once everyone had been serves you could ask for more chips. But in them days the waiters had less tables to cover and you did not spend ten minutes staring at dirty plates. When they first went fully plated the service was terribly slow presumably due to the reduction of staff,

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