So, the following are some observations about the food on the MSC Lirica.

Room Service Food
Always read the daily newsletter and check the opening times of the dining areas. Obviously, we didn’t do that one day and headed down to the dining room as we usually did. Ordinarily, breakfast was served here until 10:00. Not today. So we went up to the buffet, which is also open until 10:00. Not today. We were baffled and stopped at the front desk to grab a copy of the daily newsletter and saw that breakfast stopped at early today for some unknown reason. Nothing about today was different, although we heard later that the ship was being inspected.
We went back to the room and ordered room service, which operates 24-hours per day. We just needed something quick, so we ordered tea, orange juice and pastries. 20 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. The room service guy came in with a smile carrying a pot of tea and nothing else. There wasn’t even cream for the tea. No pastries, no juice. He told us that there was no food available. So much for 24-hour room service.
Once very nice thing about MSC is that they supply the stateroom with fresh fruit. As we had run out of breakfast options, we really appreciated our nice bowl of fresh fruit and grabbed a few pieces to hold us over until lunch. We made sure that we checked the lunch opening times.
As it turns out, this was the day mentioned in the last post when the grill only had hot dogs. This was definitely not our day for food.

No Food
I remembered reading a comment about no food being available at certain times of the day and thought it was no big deal and nobody would likely starve. I have changed my mind about that.
If you have left to go ashore, you need to make note of the times that food is served, if you want to eat on the ship. Otherwise, you may have to wait until something is opened. This was a new experience for us, as usually whenever we returned from ashore, there was always some place to grab a bite.

Afternoon Tea
Usually between 4 and 5, the afternoon tea takes place. This consists of small sandwiches and pastries. Coffee, tea and punch are always available. We found that the cup supply was sometimes depleted as was the cream supply. Be sure to carefully check the cream containers. They contain either half-and-half or non-dairy creamer. I had a little surprise the first time I emptied the containers without reading the labels. The mix of non-dairy and half-and-half wasn’t appetizing.

Fructose Sweetened
There is a dessert option called Fructose Sweetened. What? We asked our server what this meant since many products contain fructose. Did they add extra sugar to these desserts? He told us that these desserts contain artificial sweeteners. Guess that something got lost in the translation.

Menu Options
The menu does list choices for Italian, lighter fare, and vegetarian options. I find it interesting that they have to indicate which of the choices are Italian. It’s good that they do this because it isn’t always obvious. As mentioned before, don’t expect southern Italian dishes like saucy pastas. Having said that, in the list of always available choices is a Bolognese Spaghetti. Other always available options are: Caesar salad, sirloin steak, chicken breast, salmon filet served with a choice of french fries, baked potato or vegetables of the day.

Gala Dinners
On our 10-day cruise, we had three gala dinners. Supposedly, these dinner feature special food. We didn’t notice anything special about the food. In fact, on the last gala dinner that featured lobster, we saw many plates being sent back. The people at our table who had the lobster found it tough, dry and tasteless.
Our server was distressed that I didn’t finish many of my dinners including the Gala offerings. He offered to bring me something else, but I had usually had enough to eat considering the multi-courses offered. I was usually full enough after the soup and salad. Our server did say that there were only four days with good food. That was rather bold of him. However, we could not tell which days were the good food days.

The buffet does not open on Gala Dinner nights so that everybody may enjoy the Gala Dinner or so the MSC people say.

Midnight Buffet
The midnight buffet has different themes featuring things like snacks and sandwiches and pasta.

Bar Food
This is the first ship that I have been on that offered potato chips with drinks. Also served with drinks are olives and a snack mix.

Next time: The drink on the MSC Lirica

Sail Away

If you have ever thought of cruising with Holland America, you might be motivated by their three day sale starting on January 28,2008. Reduced deposits and coupon books sweeten the pot. This sale is for New bookings only.

I am the first to admit that cruising does have some impact on the environment, but don’t take everything that is written about the topic as gospel truth. We recycle, Freecycle, turn off unused rights and keep our thermostat set low to do our part in conserving resources. We even did a transcontinental trip by bicycle. It’s somewhat disconcerting to hear how environmentally unfriendly cruising is. It does appear that cruise lines are taking some measures to improve their impact on the environment as several ships now have environmental officers onboard. At least it’s a start. Until I thoroughly research the problem, my comments are strictly my own opinions.

Flying is three times greener than cruising, according to a recent article in the Telegraph. Keep in mind that greener is relative.The first paragraph offers a comparison between cruises and airplanes by figuring emissions on a per person basis. The first faulty bit of their equation is that they use the average numbers of passengers on the ship without adding the number of crew. The crew can number close to 1000 people,so adding these people to the equation would reduce the final number by half.

Later in the article, it was pointed out that all aspects of flying are not taken into account when calculating emissions. One must consider that a cruise is more than a means of transport from point A to point B. Cruise ships provide food, entertainment, laundry services and many other services that make it difficult to compare it with something as different as a flight.

Don’t forget that the crew members are not commuting back and forth to work everyday. How does that affect the comparison?

Obviously, the cruise lines need to become environmentally accountable and continue to improve and update their environmental policies. In the meantime, I will be waiting for a solar-powered ship. How hard would it be to equip the top deck with evacuated tubes and photo-voltaic cells? Think of all that sun in the Caribbean.

Which of these would look best on the ship?

Sail Away

Carnival has produced a series of new advertisements. What do you think? If you’re ready to try out Carnival, head over to Cruise Bug Vacations and book a cruise.

Continuing on with our fun New Year’s resolutions….

Are you ready to take the plunge and try sailing on a different cruise line? Have you heard horrid stories about all those other cruise lines? Are you certain that no other cruise line could compare to your favorite line? Why fix something if it isn’t broken.

As somebody who has sailed with several different cruise lines, I too, heard the horror stories of other cruiselines, in my case Carnival. “Friends don’t let friends cruise Carnival.” “If you sailed on other ships, you’ll hate Carnival.” “It’s a party ship.” I heard all the stories and frankly did not put Carnival at the top of my list.That changed when an organization that I belong to chose the Carnival Fantasy as the site for its annual conference. Here was my chance to sail Carnival without ruining my reputation. If I found it as horrid as I had been forewarned, I could always explain that the only reason that I went was because of the conference.

Not knowing what to expect and thinking myself a real risk-taker for signing on for the cruise, I arrived in New Orleans, ready for the worst cruise of a lifetime. I went with the lowest of expectations and advised Bugsy to do the same. This would be totally different than any other cruise we had been on. We could be subjected to all sorts of pain and suffering on this ship. What had we gotten ourselves into?

To make a long story short (we will review the Fantasy at a later date), our most disturbing experience on the ship involved catching a glimpse of an obese shirtless man sitting at the Majestic Bar. Majestic and shirtless have always been synonymous in our eyes. We simply commented on the gross scene and diverted our eyes.

We observed many people having a good time on this ship. It is a Fun Ship after all. A reputation is a hard thing to change and Carnival tries hard to change its image. The people who hold on to this old image have never cruised Carnival. None of the people who warned me about it had.

Take any advice about any cruise line with a grain of salt. Do you really care that the bedspread is blue and not green? Obviously there are differences in cruise lines and if you take the plunge and try another line, try not to compare things to your favorite cruise line. Certainly, you will take notes of the similarities and differences, but don’t automatically assume that the differences are bad; they are just different.

Remember that each ship sails with a different set of passengers. If you heard complaints about rowdy people or rude fellow passengers, keep in mind that those same passengers will not be on your ship, unless you have found yourself in some sort of Twilight Zone situation.
You might be tempted to try out a shorter cruise on another line. While great for checking out the ship itself, don’t forget that shorter cruises often attract a much different crowd from longer cruises.

On our recent NCL Star cruise, a woman nearly trampled us while running with her camera to get on deck. She said that there was a Carnival cruise ship in port and she needed to get a photo because she had sailed with them nine times, and moreover, this was her first and LAST NCL cruise. She was gone before we could ask why. We picked ourselves off the floor and brushed off our clothes, hoping to encounter this person again as we were very curious as to what could be so horrid on a ship that one would never return. Perhaps this allegiance to one cruise line is similar to being a Chevy person or a Ford person. If you try a new cruise knowing from the start that it won’t please you; it will never meet your expectations.

So what should you consider when choosing a different cruise line?

Luxury, premium, mainstream? Staying within the same level may make the transition easier. I admit to sailing on Seabourn and easyCruise, which are about as extreme as one can get. I enjoyed both because I knew that trying to compare them would be like comparing a Kia to a Maserati.

If you enjoy the exact same breakfast, on the same plate with your food in a specific place, trying out something new might not be for you. If you know how you like things, you know how you like things.

Getting a good price on a cruise might mean that you can afford to take another one sooner. If you can cruise from a nearby port, you save money on airfare and even a hotel. If you want to go to a specific destination and your preferred line doesn’t sail there, you have an excellent reason to try out another ship.

There are plenty of reasons for trying out a new cruise line and an equal amount of excuses for not doing so. 2008 could be the year for experiencing something new – or not. Only you can decide.

Sail Away