Food, Glorious Food!

Brian and I treated ourselves to a cruise vacation last week.  We decided on a four-day package, embarking in New York City with one port call to Saint John, New Brunswick Canada.  Being our first cruise, we boarded with no expectations.  And we were blown away!!

For four days (kid-free, as the children were happily playing with their grandparents down in PA and getting spoiled) all we had to do was eat and play.  And boy, do I mean EAT.  If you are hungry on a cruise, then you have no one to blame but yourself.  For there is food EVERYWHERE.  And ALL of it is fabulous.  The cruise director said in the beginning that the average passenger gains about a pound and a half a day.  He was not kidding. 

The day starts with a breakfast buffet.  There's fresh fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, and the hot foods bar.  The hot foods usually included scrambled eggs, pancakes or french toast, always bacon, and there was always something interesting at the end, like breaded whole eggs or a mini quiche or burrito.  Also, an omelet station.  The ship's coffee was terrible, so for a nominal fee we would hit the coffee bar on Deck Five for an iced mochachino.  Then we'd lounge by the pool or walk on the top deck, enjoying the breezy sunshine.  Lunchtime would bring us back to the buffet, where there were many cold salads to choose from, plus a meat dish and accompanying sides.  If you didn't like what was for lunch or dinner, there was also a deli AND a burrito bar.  (I never ate at either, I liked lunch every day.)  There was a fish joint on Deck Nine that had mostly fried fish.  There was a grill station, which we went to once for the most delicious cheeseburgers. For dinner, there was the ship's three restaurants, or the more casual buffet on the lido deck.  And if that just wasn't enough.....there was gourmet pizza and soft-serve ice cream available 24 hours per day.  I love, love, LOVE soft-serve and it's something I don't get to have very often.  So my personal record for cones in one day?  Four.

On our last full night on the ship, we got all gussied up and dined at the ship's fancy restaurant:

Dinner:  the food was excellent!!!  We each had tuna tartare for an appetizer, then filet mignon.  The best part though?

The chocolate sampler that we shared.  This thing was to DIE FOR.

So my recommendation is to try a cruise if you never have before.  We certainly will be going back!