You had me at lobster, you lost me at this......

[Blondie511]

Just back from my first cruise on the Harmony.  I was thrilled to have lobster on our second formal night, it made it seem like a high quality restaurant on the cruise.  Later that week, in the MDR I ordered the crab cakes, Maryland style, as an appetizer.  WOW, I was excited for more high quality seafood!  What a disappointment!!!  They were blatantly imitation crab, not even trying to pass for the real ones!  Our whole table was floored at how they even called them crab cakes on the menu, say they are fake.  I asked the waiter about them, and he shrugged and agreed they were fake too.  It just brought the whole dining experience down a few notches.  In my humble opinion, it brought the whole food quality WAY down for us, and I wrote about it when Royal Caribbean sent me the follow up survey about their food.  

[monctonguy]

Does this surprise anyone? We know this is the trend with Royal(and maybe all cruise lines but). You get less for what you pay and you have to pay more for extras or things that you may have gotten before.

 

Seeing as I don't like seafood, it doesn't affect  or bother me. For what I enjoy to eat when cruising the quality is still there...just less options and often have to pay more for it.

[coneyraven]

Let that be a lesson --- always carry a jar of Old Bay with you ..... if it doesn't have Old Bay, it's NOT Maryland anything.

[melski94]

I would never expect a good Maryland crab cake outside of Maryland or at least the east coast.  I wouldn't say budget cuts because many places make bad Maryland crab cakes.  I probably will never order the lobster roll at Hooked either. I just think certain regional foods are better had in that region. 

Personally, I hate the lobster.  Its too rubbery.  Do I expect them to keep fresh lobsters so I can have a good lobster tail?  Of course not!  I don't believe that is due to budget cuts. I just think there has to be a practical side of the business when serving thousands of people.  Its not the same as your local high end restaurant but I think it is more like decent convention or wedding style food.

I find that there is always something I like on the menu.  If I don't like my choice, I can ask my waiter for something else, which isn't something that can happen at a land restaurant.

[Pooch]

I have to agree with this.  Do not order a regional specialty from  your "region".  I have no doubt I would love BBQ that most who live in good BBQ areas wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.  I live in New England and would never order lobster/clam chowder/fried clams/steamers anywhere else, just wouldn't be the same.  I'm guessing I'd find the frozen lobster tails on the cruise pretty inedible.

[coneyraven]

11 minutes ago, Pooch said:

I have to agree with this.  Do not order a regional specialty from  your "region".  I have no doubt I would love BBQ that most who live in good BBQ areas wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.  I live in New England and would never order lobster/clam chowder/fried clams/steamers anywhere else, just wouldn't be the same.  I'm guessing I'd find the frozen lobster tails on the cruise pretty inedible.

I couldn't have said it better ..... Being a Marylander, I know a good Crab Cake ... so my opinions on them outside of the Chesapeake Region would be uber critical, whereas, with me not being from New England, I could eat the worst lobster roll on the planet, and love it, because I wouldn't have a preconceived notion on how it should taste.

[Pooch]

Yup 2 weeks ago I was sitting at a picnic table in Maine waiting for the lobster I picked out right out of the trap to be steamed.  Doesn’t get better or fresher than that!!!

[cruise-y]

If you like lobster, wait until the day after lobster night and head to the Windjammer where the leftovers will be on ice in the salad bar.  Yes, they were previously frozen but I think the frozen ones taste a lot better cold.

[JLMoran]

16 hours ago, Pooch said:

I have to agree with this.  Do not order a regional specialty from  your "region".  I have no doubt I would love BBQ that most who live in good BBQ areas wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.  I live in New England and would never order lobster/clam chowder/fried clams/steamers anywhere else, just wouldn't be the same.  I'm guessing I'd find the frozen lobster tails on the cruise pretty inedible.

16 hours ago, coneyraven said:

I couldn't have said it better ..... Being a Marylander, I know a good Crab Cake ... so my opinions on them outside of the Chesapeake Region would be uber critical, whereas, with me not being from New England, I could eat the worst lobster roll on the planet, and love it, because I wouldn't have a preconceived notion on how it should taste.

And this is why I find the pizza onboard to be abominable -- After all, the best pizza on the planet comes from New York / New Jersey! Chicago's a close second. 

And with that, we've met the requirement that "all conversations must eventually come back to the pizza."

[Pooch]

So now do we have a discussion of hand stretched versus pan???

[Orange Crush]

On 6/27/2018 at 1:30 PM, Pooch said:

So now do we have a discussion of hand stretched versus pan???

Both!

[Pooch]

Yeah, I am a pizza-holic but never cared much for the hand stretched.  In my area (CT) my favorite pizza always seems to be made by Greeks and is always pan style.  I know its almost sacreligious but I don't like floppy, fold it in half pizza (I'm also a Red Sox fan so maybe that's why I don't like traditional New York pizza!!!)

[JLMoran]

1 hour ago, Pooch said:

Yeah, I am a pizza-holic but never cared much for the hand stretched.  In my area (CT) my favorite pizza always seems to be made by Greeks and is always pan style.  I know its almost sacreligious but I don't like floppy, fold it in half pizza

My favorite pizza that I think is a region-specific thing is called a "Grandpa Pizza". It's a thinner-crust Sicilian style pan pizza with mozzarella, sliced fresh tomatoes, minced garlic, oregano, and grated parmesan; no sauce, it's a variant on a "white pizza". Cut into 9 or 16 squares depending on who pulls it out of the oven. The crust is always nice and crisp, except for the middle piece(s) that tend to be a bit more "floppy" but are small enough you don't have to fold. Sometimes we'll get one with half pepperoni to spice up part of it, but honestly it's really awesome on its own. Prefer that event more than the usual round pizza, but I can't convince my family to buy it as often as I'd like.

[mom2mybugs]

On 6/27/2018 at 12:30 PM, Pooch said:

So now do we have a discussion of hand stretched versus pan???

Pan... This is the only Chicago thing this born and raised detroit girl living in Chicago thinks it's the best lol.  Now if total could only do a Detroit Coney island!  Jane

[ellcee]

NY hand stretched all the way. Not hating on Chicago at all - it's good if you like a more bread to cheese/sauce ratio.

[David Maryland]

I think it is reasonable for the OP to have expected to have real crab meat.  No doubt it will not be the same quality as getting crab cakes at a nice MD restaurant but one would at-least expect to have real crab meat in a crab cake.

The other seafood you have to be careful about is when ordering scallops at land based restaurants.  Many pass off skate as scallops and skate is chewy and tasteless.  Perfectly cooked scallops will practically melt in your mouth.