When in Trøndelag Choose Local

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MS Vesterålen
Norway's Coastal Kitchen

Hurtigruten’s cruise along the Norwegian coast not only offers a whole host of incredible experiences and wondrous scenery, but is also a culinary journey. The on-board menus offer authentic Norwegian cuisine, which reflect both the seasons and the local specialties and cuisine of the regions past which the ship is sailing.

        Dinner in Trondheim

During our cruise through Trondheim on the way back south, Hurtigruten's Norway Coastal Kitchen featured local cuisine from the Trøndelag area in Central Norway.  This was one of the most unique local meals during our voyage.

“Sodd” means to seethe and is traditional soup of the region. Genuine Sodd from Trøndelag consists of meatballs and dices made ​​of lamb (mutton),  beef, and broth. The meatballs are made with cornflour, whole milk, heavy cream, ginger and nutmeg. It must be served with Skjenning, a flat bread that has been brushed with sugar and fresh milk on one side.

Additional photos can be found on our Norway Shutterfly page

Norway's Coastal Kitchen


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Crown Princess Welcome Dinner

Welcome Aboard Dinner

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Our early seating dinner was scheduled for 5:45 PM in the Botticelli Dining Room on deck 6 aft. Due to the safety drill, we were running behind schedule.  A waiter escorted us to our assigned table (#39) for two, at the rear of the dining room.  There were a few more tables of two near us, as well as one larger table which was occupied by an extended family group. It was in a nice location, near a window, so we were content.

As usual, the assistant waiter helped seat us, gave us our menus, put the napkins on our laps and took our drink order.  We like ice tea with our meal and regular water.   This would be the last time we'd have to tell them since from then on, they remembered and had it waiting for us shortly after we were seated every night.  This is one of the things we love about traditional dining.

Tonight's Choices

Dining on a Princess cruise ship is equivalent to fine dining at home.  The daily menu consists of Starters, Soups & Salads, Signature Patas, Mains, Featured Beverages, and always available Princess Favorites.  Typically you select an item from Starters or Princess Favorites, a soup and /or salad and a Main entree.   It is possible to select one of the pasta as one of your starter choices as well.   Desserts are presented in a separate menu at the conclusion of the meal.  You can purchase alcoholic beverages and wines from your wait staff if desired.  There also was a nice selection of rolls and bread sticks on the table to complement your meal.

Our Selections included:  Crispy Hand-Rolled Vegetable Spring Rolls (peanut dip), Frozen Rum-Infused Pina Colada Soup (chilled), and Roasted Pork with Apricot Glaze (for me) Slow-Roasted Corn-Fed Prime Rib (husband).  See the menu for complete details and alternate choices.

We picked two different desserts as well:  Milky Chocolate-Hazelnut Souffle and French Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee.

More Pictures:  Welcome Dinner

Additional photos can be found on our South America Shutterfly page

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Note:  we will be adding to these albums as we continue our journey.

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On-board Buffet Lunch Breisach

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Avalon Artistry II Lunch

Back from our first official excursion to the Black Forest, it was now time for our first lunch on-board the Artistry II.  As with everything on this cruise, you had choices.   We opted for the buffet lunch in the main dining room.

In this picture you can see guests in the background helping themselves to salad and the main dishes.   Another table had hot and cold soup selections along with breads.   Other choices included daily selections, which could be ordered via one of the waiters, or you could have a light lunch in the lounge if you preferred.

Soup & Salad

The complete lunch buffet included a selection of salad fixings with choice of dressings.

There were two soup choices - Vegetable Bouillon with Potato Strudel and Chilled Pineapple.  Both of the soups were very good.
In fact the chilled soup was so good that instead of dessert, I had a second cup of soup.


Main Dishes

Pictured here are two of the entree choices - Roast Beef Loin with gravy and Strips of Turkey Breast "Chop Suey" over rice.

Each lunch had one or more dishes at the carving station - usually a meat and a pasta as well as self-service selections.

^{Additional photos can be found on our Rhine & Moselle Shutterfly page}

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Star Princess Main Dining Room

Star Princess

Amalfi Dining Room

 In our last post about our Star Princess 12-Night Greek Isles and Mediterranean Cruise, we were preparing to sail away form Civitavecchia, Italy.  

As usual, my husband was taking pictures somewhere on the open decks before we sailed.   I had no idea where he'd gone and decided to return to the cabin and get ready for dinner.   Hoping that he'd gone to the dining room, I headed there and found him at our assigned table already engaged in conversation with two of our table mates from England. We had a table set for 8, but ended up with only 6 of us since their friends had to cancel due to illness.

At the advice of our waiter, Jigger, we ordered the spring rolls for our appetizer and the tenderloin of beef for our main course.   We've learned that you won't go wrong if you follow the advice of the wait staff. 

We've posted several more photos on our Facebook Fan Page and will be adding more as we continue to bring you the story of our cruise vacation. 

For those not familiar with dinners on a cruise ship, you select one or more appetizers, soups & salads, and the main course.  Following dinner the waiter will describe the desserts from which you can select one or more of those.   Some nights there may be a special appetizer or dessert prepared  such as a special pasta for an appetizer or cherries jubilee for dessert.

The food quality was very good.   We only had one meal that we didn't enjoy and that was the veal scaloppini which was too cold when it was served.  Our waiter notified the head waiter who came over to apologize and got the meals replaced.   Those were very hot.  We suspect the others had been left out too long.

Overall the dining experience in the Amalfi Dining Room was very enjoyable.  Our waiter and assistant were excellent.   After the first night, we never had to ask for ice tea again as they would bring it to us when we sat down. The only issue we had in the 12 nights was the one meal that must have been sitting   at the serving station too long before being server to us.  

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




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