Food on the High Seas

We just spent the past week on a cruise to the Bahamas.  Before we get to the food, let us just say the cruise was . . . a-may-to the ZING!  It was so relaxing and we constantly were cracking up.  We also decided to fight the weight gain from cruise food by only taking the stairs on the cruise ship.  It was quite the task at times since there were 12 decks but it helped us to both fit in our jeans at the end of the cruise.

Now on to the main attraction (or main entree) . . . the food!

Andrei:  Okay. I loved the whole cruise experience. I'm thankful to my parent's and my sister for making it so fun and to Rachel of course for being her cute self during the whole trip. It was truly a magical experience (though it wasn't a Disney cruise to the Magic Kingdom). The food, as Rachel details below, wasn't as great as advertised, especially  (not to brag) when you eat as well as Rachel and I often do. The most fun thing about the eating on a cruise ship is how much food you can get. If you wanted chicken wings at 5AM you can eat them without even PAYING FOR THEM! That's awesome. Never mind the fact that they are frozen and covered with hot sauce at the last second. Don't get me wrong there are AWESOME food adventures to be had on the boat, you can find sublime culinary tastes on the boat you just have to be selective and observant, and it helps to go in a group so you can each try one entree and find the gem among the ordinary. (Do I sound snobby...? I hope not...)

Rachel:  The adage Quality vs. Quantity was definitely true on our cruise.  Food was ALWAYS available and was ALWAYS free -- but wasn't necessarily high quality.  I guess this is to be expected when you are feeding 3,000 people; most of whom are used to eating McDonald's and Luby's but what a disappointment.  There were some buffets and some sit down restaurants which provided great variety but we found that even the specialty restaurants served some mediocre food.  We tried conch while in the Bahamas and also a guava tartlet at the Starbucks in Nassau that was spectacular.  (The tartlet, not the Starbucks!)  I loved the chocolate croissants at breakfast each morning and the presentation of many of the meals at the specialty restaurants.  I'm also a sucker for a good salad bar and the Garden Cafe was always able to provide.  What have been your cruise food experiences?