Food on all Regent Ships

[Travelcat2]

A recent post (not by me) regarding Portofino restaurant on the Navigator made me reflect on food/restaurants on the Mariner and Voyager (I don't really count PG since it isn't owned by Regent and will be gone at the end of next year).

 

The Mariner (not been on this ship) and the Voyager are larger ships and have enough dining choices while the Navigator has only one (not counting pool restaurant(s)).

 

My question is why Regent is missing the opportunity to serve "local" foods in one of their restaurants. The kitchen has plenty to do, however, how great would it be to have specials related to the port they are in? For instance, in our last cruise, a "Mexican" buffet would have been fairly easy (this was done at the pool restaurant a week after we docked in Mexico). A Belize, Hondurus or even a Cuban buffet would have been great!

 

Just throwing the idea out there. Any thoughts on this?

[xplrcrzn]

Generally, I think cruiselines are much like airlines with regard to catering--menus and provisions are planned months in advance and there is little room for individual creativity.

[TedC]

I sure hope Regent food willl be FAR better than airline "food" I've been subjected to.

[petlover]

We are just ending the World Cruise and here on the Voyager we HAVE had foods from many of the various ports we were visiting. Latitudes especially caters to the different regions of the world we were in with themes changing through out the 4 months. The pool grill ,especially, had lunches reflecting the various regions as well. Compass Rose remained fairly consistent but often had one entree reflecting the region we were in. Maybe it just depends on the Chef (in our case it is Tobias). The food through out this cruise has been consistently excellent!!!

[Kiwi Kruzer]

My question is why Regent is missing the opportunity to serve "local" foods in one of their restaurants. Just throwing the idea out there. Any thoughts on this?

 

 

I think you will find it is the same on all cruise lines.Any food on board must comply with very strict standards.The standards apply not only to the quality, but also the sourcing , processing/manufacturing, and storing/handling , of the food.

We had a case in Australia where a cruise returned from a Pacific Island cruise and many passengers went down with food poisoning......it was traced to a meal they had ashore, on a tour.

[Iamboatman]

Latitudes is supposed to combine local fare with a rather standard Asian theme. It isn't really "local" however.

 

Most offerings are generic, as we know; not referring to quality, but local influences.

 

While it is harder to put together local dishes from one off ports on larger ships, I would think that making a a port-influenced menu would not be that hard. It would take a bit of coordination from the vendors - and more complicated menu rotation - but at the prices Regent is asking it should be possible...if even limited to it being offered in Signatures or Latitudes on the Voyager and Mariner and the Compass Rose on Navigator.

 

By way of comparison, not criticism, on Seabourn guests can go "Shopping with the Chef" where the chef ventures into the local markets, selects some local delicacies and a new dish appears on the menu that night. Sometimes it might be interesting local fruits, other times a particular type of fish; you never know.

 

I am involved with a Seabourn cruise where a U.S. James Beard Award winning chef is cruising with the intent to make regular ventures into the local markets in order to create some spur of the moment creations. I am not sure if that would work on Regent (because of size), but it might be an alternative to the "lecture" formats or the extra cost Cordon Bleu courses.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

There are definitely health regulations that limit what they can do. For example, all the meat on Voyager has been frozen (had a tour with the head chef last year.) But they do try to get local fish from time to time. And local produce. I admit I was disappointed about the lack of local items on Diamond 3 years ago in the Med., but I was accustomed to the PG, where there is a wealth of local foods.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

On the various RSSC cruises, there are always some local choices, even, when prepared with the ingredients sourced from the US. As Wendy stated, they use the buffet lunch at La Verandah to usually to that. They do cater to American tastes as to not have waste. Also, on most of the Cordon Bleu programs, there are opportunities to go shopping with the chef as a part of the class.

 

I am really glad that Tobias is back on Regent. There are a few F&B staffers that make the food program pretty terrific.

[Travelcat2]

The responses have been very interesting. When you refer to Latitudes, La Veranda, etc., it confirms in my mind that the Navigator just did not have enough diversity. The food in Compass Rose is "normal" but there really isn't comparable to Latitudes, Signatures or even La Veranda. It's really disappointing that, although we loved the Navigator, our future choices will probably be on the Navigator or Mariner -- if only because of the dining choices. Really wish there was a way to add one more restaurant on that ship.

 

Oh well -- it's great reading the responses from other passengers:)