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Lobster Night Question


Nick Gulla

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15 hours ago, Jayhoaps said:

On all the ships is there a Lobster night? I"m cruising on Symphony of The Seas, will they have a Lobster night?

Thanks in advance.

Yes they have! Usually on night 6 but it could change from itinerary to itinerary.

You can look up the MDR menus on the app!

For current sailing Lobster appears on the menu on the 6th night. 

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14 hours ago, Jayhoaps said:

 

I understand, but is that true for all lobsters served in the ship such as Hooked Seafood and Chops grill?

Maine lobster (cold water lobster) is available in Hooked, Chops, and the MDR for an additional fee. The MDR, no up-charge lobster tail is from warm water lobsters. It's less about the preparation as it's the starting quality of the meat. What's made complementary on lobster night is widely regarded as inferior to the paid options due to flavor and texture.

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1 hour ago, Rackham said:

Maine lobster (cold water lobster) is available in Hooked, Chops, and the MDR for an additional fee. The MDR, no up-charge lobster tail is from warm water lobsters. It's less about the preparation as it's the starting quality of the meat. What's made complementary on lobster night is widely regarded as inferior to the paid options due to flavor and texture.

Did not know that both warm and cold water lobsters were on board.  How do you know this information?  Is it printed on the menus?

Reason that I ask is because I assumed that all Maine Lobsters were cold water lobsters.  Pacific lobsters DO NOT have claws and I always thought of these as warm water lobsters.  

Can you verify this?  I am happy to be wrong if proven wrong.  Thanks.

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18 minutes ago, CruisingNewb said:

Did not know that both warm and cold water lobsters were on board.  How do you know this information?  Is it printed on the menus?

Reason that I ask is because I assumed that all Maine Lobsters were cold water lobsters.  Pacific lobsters DO NOT have claws and I always thought of these as warm water lobsters.  

Can you verify this?  I am happy to be wrong if proven wrong.  Thanks.

All Maine lobsters are cold water. The warm water lobster information I've seen by hanging out on these forums. They're probably serving Caribbean or Brazilian lobster tails though. https://www.seafoodsource.com/seafood-handbook/shellfish/lobster-spiny

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11 minutes ago, Rackham said:

All Maine lobsters are cold water. The warm water lobster information I've seen by hanging out on these forums. They're probably serving Caribbean or Brazilian lobster tails though. https://www.seafoodsource.com/seafood-handbook/shellfish/lobster-spiny

I have eaten and seen pictures of the MDR lobster tail...they are for sure Maine lobster tails.  I know spiny lobsters because I go diving for them here in Southern California.  The tails looks different than Maine lobster tails.  Sorry, you have not convinced me that MDR lobster tails are warm water tails.

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Yes I agree it’s the prep that’s the problem.  I’ve posted before that the lobster tails served on Harmony last month were not fully cooked.  They had a faintly blue tinge and were slimy.  Fully cooked lobster loses both of those qualities.  If they were cooked, I’m sure they’d be fine.  Next cruise I’m gonna inspect them before I order!!

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Wow.  I keep reading how awful the lobsters are aboard a ship.  And I completely disagree.  I love lobster.  I've had many aboard a ship, and in every case they were terrific! 😍

We looked forward to lobster in Maine while we were on our Northeast cruise.  We even attended Captain John's presentation  on lobster, learning everything about lobster we never knew to ask.

Bottom line, our two Maine lobster experiences were disappointing.

Interesting how foodies tastes must differ wildly from non-foodies like me.  And I don't get their criticism.

So when I push myself from the table, stuffed with wonderful lobster, don't try to convince me it wasn't good.🦞😎

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On 3/20/2022 at 1:26 PM, Pooch said:

Just off Harmony.  Frankly the lobster was awful.  Wasn’t even fully cooked.

We were on the Harmony April 3rd cruise and didn't care for the lobster this time.  The coastal kitchen cooked it different so I though I would give it a try.  I want do that again.  Next time I will skip the CK and eat in the MDR for lobster night.

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  • 2 months later...
9 hours ago, bazingau said:

Sorry for bumping this, but are lobster nights only on the 7 night cruises? We will be on a 5 night but people say there are 2 dress to impress nights.

It is a toss-up; I believe there is lobster night on cruises of 6 nights or better. The formal/dress your best nights may coincide with lobster but also don't have anything to do with lobster. Depending on when you are sailing, you can check the menus in the app and see if there is an actual lobster night. 

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  • 4 months later...

We just returned from Royal Caribbean-5 night-Adventure of the Sea (12/17-22). We had 8 members of the family for a holiday vacay. Very disappointing that there was not a lobster night especially during the holiday! We were not informed in advance that this was a change. First time that we have never had lobster night. If we would have known, we would have had a lobster feast on the beach in Mexico. Do better RC!

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1 hour ago, MSW said:

We just returned from Royal Caribbean-5 night-Adventure of the Sea (12/17-22). We had 8 members of the family for a holiday vacay. Very disappointing that there was not a lobster night especially during the holiday! We were not informed in advance that this was a change. First time that we have never had lobster night. If we would have known, we would have had a lobster feast on the beach in Mexico. Do better RC!

Did 5 night sailings ever had lobster nights? I feel like they didn't.

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9 hours ago, MSW said:

We just returned from Royal Caribbean-5 night-Adventure of the Sea (12/17-22). We had 8 members of the family for a holiday vacay. Very disappointing that there was not a lobster night especially during the holiday! We were not informed in advance that this was a change. First time that we have never had lobster night. If we would have known, we would have had a lobster feast on the beach in Mexico. Do better RC!

As an FYI, all the MDR menu's are available in the app for your cruise.  You can look at all of them on Day 1 and make your plans accordingly.  As stated above, cruises under 7 days do not normally have lobster night.

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On 4/22/2022 at 1:38 PM, CruisingNewb said:

I have eaten and seen pictures of the MDR lobster tail...they are for sure Maine lobster tails.  I know spiny lobsters because I go diving for them here in Southern California.  The tails looks different than Maine lobster tails.  Sorry, you have not convinced me that MDR lobster tails are warm water tails.

In the Caribbean, there are 9 different species of lobsters, including the spiny lobsters. 

Cold water lobsters are from the New England area, usually found from MA to Canada in the Atlanta.  The warm water lobsters are from Florida, the Caribbean, California, Mediterranean, and South Pacific.  

I believe that the lobster tails that are served on the 2nd formal nights are warm.

The following information is from: https://a-z-animals.com/blog/cold-water-vs-warm-water-lobsters-whats-the-difference/

Cold water lobsters provide more meat than warm water lobsters due to how thick their shells are. Maine and Canadian lobsters are some of the most commonly harvested lobsters in the world. Their meat is known for being tender and sweet. 

Warm water lobsters only provide meat through their tails, which can commonly be seen lining the frozen sections of grocery stores. The meat isn’t as tender as the kind harvested from cold water lobsters, and it is said to have a fishier taste.

The following is from the Weathervane seafood - which is a restaurant in New Hampshire so they could be bias: https://weathervaneseafoods.com/cooking-lobster-tails-at-home/#:~:text=Warm water lobsters typically come,have a slight ammonia odor. 

Warm water lobsters typically come from places like Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America and tend to be softer and more difficult to firm up even when cooked properly. It has also been reported that warm water lobsters have a slight ammonia odor. Cold water lobsters on the other hand have firm, whiter meat that tastes “cleaner.” The cold water allows the lobsters to grow slower which makes for tastier more tender meat.

 

I guess @Poochand I can tell the difference in the taste.  I don't knock warm water lobsters - especially to those who never had lobsters or can only get warm water lobsters.  But I think that the cold water lobsters taste better.  Whatever you like, enjoy those tasty BIG BUGS! 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/20/2022 at 6:39 PM, JohnK6404 said:

Taste is subjective and quality can vary by sailing of course, but we've always enjoyed our lobster tails on every cruise to date. We always make it a point to attend the last formal evening in the MDR just for the lobster tails. Naturally, growing up and living on Long Island I have been all over New England. I'm certainly not going to compare it to a fresh Maine lobster just out of a tank, etc., but we definitely find the Caribbean lobster to be very tasty and consistent with Royal. I actually ate 6 tails last month on Odyssey! 😂

The pics are from our last 3 cruises... presentation and quality has been very consistent in the MDR. Now I'm craving lobster!

Allure (2019)

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Oasis (2021)

image.thumb.jpeg.5c1d170af05251bdbd289514af3cc53c.jpg.b2ec86b19b71fcfb0388935c1a2d558a.jpg

 

Odyssey (2022)

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Ill be on Odyssey in a few days. You cant get multiple repeats anymore. $16.99 per tail now extra.   One of your pics , the tail looks undercooked with a blueish fringe.     Not a huge fan anyway. Just not even close to a fresh Maine or Canadian lobster. Bring on Alaskan King Crab legs!!!   now thats a treat!

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59 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

We had our 2nd formal evening last week on Wonder on Day 7 (of 8, in Labadee that day). The new menu now serves cold water, Maine lobster tails (one served with an additional cost of $16.99 for a second)... all six of us ordered the lobster.

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image.png.c6e15c23cbbcdf69e6e09cc48e2ed7e5.png

Finally some real news on this. So that have made changes to the lobster ....

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2 hours ago, Xaa said:

How were they @JohnK6404?

Once again, taste is subjective, but most of us are from NY with one of the couples from FL. We have all seen our share of great lobster and seafood here from Maine down to LI/Montauk and into Maryland, down in Florida, etc., over the years. It's not the best we've ever had of course, but it was tender and cooked properly for us on this sailing. No complaints, everyone enjoyed it, and these tails were certainly better than the Caribbean/Spiny lobster we had back on Odyssey in FEB 2022 or the lobster at the Coco Beach Club (still Caribbean lobster) we had last week.

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5 hours ago, Censored said:

Ill be on Odyssey in a few days. You cant get multiple repeats anymore. $16.99 per tail now extra.   One of your pics , the tail looks undercooked with a blueish fringe.     Not a huge fan anyway. Just not even close to a fresh Maine or Canadian lobster. Bring on Alaskan King Crab legs!!!   now thats a treat!

Yes, those pics are from Allure (2019), Oasis (2021), and Odyssey back in FEB 2022 before the switch to Maine lobster this year from the Caribbean/spiny lobster. We liked the Maine lobster on last week's Wonder sailing. Let us know how the lobster is on Odyssey this month!

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