I am writing this post well after my last almond croissant aboard the beautiful Quest, and well before I might ever hope to fit into a pair of non-stretch pants again. I expected the food to be good. I even expected some of it to be outstanding, but I certainly didn’t envision that it was, for the most part, all going to be amazing.
Suddenly, well into my 3 PM pizza-by-the-pool snack, I was thinking about what a really unfortunate thing it was that I only brought
bikinis with me. I have every menu from every night of the cruise, just in case I need to go back and drool a bit. (Drooling does burn calories, right?)
Our vacation went something like this… Each morning we would wake up and generally have breakfast in The Colonnade, a huge buffet with the option of made to order eggs, pancakes, waffles and the like. The buffet featured many homemade breads and pastries, including three or four kinds of croissant. Only once did I veer from my beloved almond to try apricot, but that was purely by accident. (In the rest of the world,
almond croissants are topped with powdered sugar, here they are topped with roasted almonds.) The buffet also features fresh cut melons, berries, yogurt, cereal, toast, scrambled eggs, potatoes and bacon. I will say this: the weak link was the strange, almost fast-food-looking hash browns. I think this must be a thing with Seabourn, since I remember them from my last cruise two years ago. We did opt to eat in The Restaurant a couple of times for breakfast with the same delicious pancakes and full table service.
On some days this was the perfect time to sit by the pool and read, while on others we took this time to go
explore whatever our destination island was that day. Lunch, with the exception of San Juan day, we either ate in The Colonnade, again with the buffet and option of a cooked meal, or at The Restaurant. One day, while sitting at The Restaurant perusing the menu, the sommelier walked by, doubled back and with a concerned look on his face said “you look like you need some champagne.” It was lunch, so it was likely the first drink of the day. I guess we did need the bubbly. Service at The Colonnade was just as good with the salad guy making me a Cesar salad and insisting that I go sit down and he will bring it out to me, as if waiting the two minutes would have been some great tragedy. (In retrospect, I may have burned an extra five calories standing, which I’m sure would make up for about a tenth of a crouton).
Sometime after lunch, while we were sitting at the pool, soaking in the hot tub, or being plied with rum punch and champagne cocktails (not that the soaking and drinking are mutually exclusive, mind you), we might saunter over to the Patio Grill and see what kind of tasty morsels would make for a good snack. Each day they had a different theme with salads, sandwiches, pizza, little tortilla sandwiches rolled up on a toothpick (my favorite of those was the veggie burrito wrap). The pizzas varied each day, but always had interesting toppings (the anchovy and caper one was a surprising hit).
There were two standout lunches on this trip. They were all delicious, but one was the beach BBQ, which is worthy of its own post, so that is coming next week. The other is the Galley Lunch. This was The. Best. Buffet.
Ever. I know some people are turned off by buffets, but not this one, I can assure you. Walking into The Restaurant, there are two giant tables set up in the middle with desserts. Loads of desserts. Each one more beautiful than the next. Then there were three showpiece desserts on each table as well. Towards the back of the dining room were two tables set up with identical cold buffets. These had salads, cheeses, shrimp, red and green gazpacho shots (our table universally preferred the red) and more salads. It was a big buffet.
Then we went into the galley, where the hot stations were set up. There was someone greeting everyone at the entrance with shots of Aquavit (surprisingly tasty) and flavored vodkas. The line snaked through the
spotless kitchen to a fondue station (I ate mine in line. Hey, don’t judge, I had to make room on my plate for the next thing.) There was a gigantic display of cold seafood, followed by two pasta choices, freshly sauteed on the spot. There was fish and chips, with the traditional (again, who knew?) mushy peas (sounds gross, tastes good), sushi, a whole roast suckling pig (the pig did not look happy), prime rib (carved on the spot, of course), paella, and if you can believe it, even more. We were sitting and talking to some people who had joined us and did not realize that two hours had elapsed when our waitress told us it was last call for the hot buffet. Naturally, I had to get more pasta.
What you want to hear about dinner, too? I thought you’d be in a food coma by now. You’ll have to wait until
tomorrow for that. I’m sure you are already drooling over the croissants, and all their butter, almondy goodness… I can’t torment you with tales of fish, lamb and vindaloo, too. Stay tuned. I’ve eaten a lot. I have loads more to say about it.
