A long time ago I heard that the Alaskan cruises have the best food. So I had that expectation going on board. We dined within the confines of what was included in our cruise package (no additional dining packages) and … it was good!
Dine My Way dinners at Allegro Dining room (Days 2-7). The dining room is situated in the aft section of Deck 6 and basically above the propeller. It made for bumpy dinners most days and nice and serene ones the couple of times we did not leave port until after dinner.
Saturday, May 6 / Captain’s Welcome Dinner / Alaskan Crab Cake, Seared Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon with Wild Cold Shrimp, Princess Love boat DreamThe kids thoroughly enjoyed the Key West Cooler mocktail that MIL kept getting.
Recipe is just passionfruit juice (or puree), cranberry juice, watermelon juice.
Although it’s not listed on the dessert menu, my aunt-in-law (AIL) told me that you can always get a banana split.Sunday, May 7 / Princess Dinner / Fishermans Clam Chowder / Parmesan & Panko Baked Cod / Alaskan Blueberry CobblerKids got Mac N Cheese every night off the kids menu until Baby was feeling ill. Added Beef Stroganoff because they could both easily finish their Mac N Cheese plate.Monday, May 8 / Italian Night / Mushroom & Truffle Arancini, Seared Shrimp and Sea Scallops, Guanduja Souffle, TiramisuTuesday, May 9 / Chef’s Dinner / Vol-au-Vent, le Grand Chef, Oven-Roasted Cauliflower Steak, Rack of Lamb, Chocolate Tarte Appetizers selection was so good, I also got the Oxtail Soup en Croute to give a lot of the broth to Baby.Kids got their usual Mac N Cheese and added Spaghetti Alla CarbonaraWednesday, May 10 / Princess Dinner / Classic Caesar Salad, Wild Coho Alaskan Salmon, Seafood Risotto, macademia nut & mango samosa with coconut-mint cream, blueberry sorbet with strawberry topping Thursday, May 11 / Gala Dinner / Seafood Deviled Eggs, Land & Sea, Chantilly Swan, Chocolate Pistachio Dome
Also ordered Warm Tri-Color Quinoa and Butternut Squash
Most breakfasts and lunches were at World Fresh Marketplace, the buffet on Deck 6. Most of the time it was not photogenic so I only have a few pictures.
We didn’t set sail until 10 pm the first day and 7 pm dinners seemed too late so we had our first dinner at the buffet and it felt like we were at a waterfront restaurant.cookies & cream cupcake, praline brest, fruit tarta breakfast platelunch plate on the last dayWhile enjoying my lunch plate above, a verifiable bonanza was going on between Fisherman Corner with seafood cioppino, crab cakes, clam chowder, grilled calamari, butter shrimp and more. Then, for dessert, four sheet cakes of flavours not usually available at the buffet!
AIL mentioned and so does the in-laws Chopsticks Noodle Bar and we finally found out way to it on Wednesday, May 10, five days into the cruise! And again the next day because sick kid.
Won Ton noodle soup, miso soup, ramen soup (the special)Two won ton noodle soup, two braised pork noodle soup (the special)
International Cafe on Deck 5 in the Piazza is a must-do and it’s included. It’s open 24 hours a day, purportedly, but I haven’t tested that one out. With the limited, but delicious selection, it felt healthier than buffet offerings.
After attending the tai chi offering at 8:00 am, I brought breakfast back for the kids: strawberry smoothies, breakfast sandwich, egg & avocado toast, broccoli egg biteOn afternoon (Monday, May 8), I dropped the kids off at Camp Discovery for an hour so that I could have coffee with adults only. Along with a latte – honey lavendar with almond milk was my go-to – a beef Guinness pie and lemon cheesecake.On the first day line dancing in the Piazza was offered, I wanted to join but we arrived late, kids’ hunger takes precedence, etc. We picked up breakfast: breakfast sandwich, egg bites, monkey bread, gluten-free bread, breakfast burrito, danish, strawberry smoothie, vanilla donut, blueberry chia pudding.
Restaurant breakfast at Allegro Dining Room : it was only available between 7:00 and 9:00 am and it was one of those morning on Tuesday, May 9 that it looked like the kids wouldn’t wake up until close to the end of breakfast so I skipped down to join the in-laws.
The muesli (one of the specials) was dry and needed some more warm milk. And we each ordered the avocado, not on the menu.
While we found an interesting and educational activity for Kiddo in Skagway, we rushed a little back and had a late lunch at Alfredo’s Pizzeria. The server warned us the pizza would take 40 minutes so I ordered pasta and some antipasta to start. The pizza were good and I wanted just a little more, to have different toppings.
Oops, I used Food mode on my camera and so only one dish is in focus. Ordered antipasta, an eggplant-wrapped angel hair pasta and some ravioli. The casserole dishes were tiny!I saw someone send back their soggy gluten-free crust pizza. The gluten ones were just great! We got two Hawaiian, one pepperoni and 1 seafood.
We checked out Swirls for ice cream a few times! I like how they will automatically make smaller cones for kids if I forget to specify.
One of the last things on my list and knocked out on Thursday, Day 7 was afternoon tea. After checking out the paper airplane “competition” (fold a paper airplane, try to throw it through a hoop), we started queuing at 2:40 pm for the 3:00 pm service. It turns out they’ll seat everyone as Concerto dining room has a large capacity. It also turns out that you don’t get a multi-tier tray with a ton of goodies and instead, like old-school dim sum-style, you select from trays the waiters were walking around with.
I didn’t try the desserts as they are reminiscent of the buffet, and I tried out a couple of sandwiches and the hot ticket item, the scones.
