Princess Cruise (summary)

Food For Thought was away for a week and a half while cruising on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean while visiting places like Bahamas, Curacao and Aruba.  While it will be virtually impossible to go through every food we had, it might be better just like the past to go through the highs and lows of the whole experience.  While on the cruise ship, we went through almost each diner section including the buffet station, the traditional night diner, a specialty restaurant and the International Cafe centre.

Prior to going on this cruise, we did a quick research and was told that the food on this ship was pretty decent.  The best place to start would probably be where we had dinner for the majority of the time which was in the traditional dining section. We had the early dinner section which was like 6:00.  Each dinner they would have about a dozen appetizers, entrees and deserts to choose from.  We would have the same waiters each night.  Each night the menu would change but the main staples of seafoods and meats would always be there.

I have to admit the first few days were a bit of a disaster with the staff.  By day three things were much better.  I surmised that the waiting crew was either new or had just hopped on board as they seemed confused and disorganized at where things were placed and orders just took forever for it to arrive.  In the beginning even asking for a glass of water took 35 minutes to arrive!!  The waiting staff didn't even know where the cups were placed and we could see they needed other staff members to help them out.  The food wasn't much better.  Twice we asked for medium rare meat only to got well done meat.  By the end of the week, it was only slightly better.  Some of the sushi they had served was par at best.  I was told that this ship actually won awards on this ship for their sushi but I can truly tell you that as a sushi lover, the sushi was hard, almost borderline stale and quite mushy.  My guess is that because they have to serve so many people that many of it was made ahead of time and it literally sat in a refrigerator.  You can certainly taste the fact that it was not fresh.  On the plus side, their appetizers were not bad.  Some of their soups including the French Onion soup do deserve some praise.  Some of their deserts also lacked the necessary wow factor.  The shrebets and the apple crumble pie were descent however the creme brulee, although it looked good, did not taste as good as it looked.

Insalata di Gamberi

Strangely the buffet section at the Horizon Court was much better at preparing their meats than the traditional dining section.  The prime rib cuts were beautifully cooked to medium rare.  The meats were juicy and the meat was very tender.  Although the night and snack choices would change on a nightly basis or at least provide more variety, the breakfast menu was always the same.  I know that this is the case for every cruise ship in the world so I can't just fault this cruise liner at all.  My only words are that it would be nice if they could try to produce something different once in a while just to throw in some variety outside of the usual ham, eggs and sausages. For example, some dim sum or dumplings would certainly give the morning breakfast a bit more variety because after seven days on a ship of having to eat the same foods every morning, it certainly is not the most appealing way to start the morning. 

 I have to admit we only tried one specialty diner section which was Sabatini's.  On this evening we had a combination of an Insalata di Gamberi special, Tris d'Aragosta and the Lombata di Vitello alla Griglia.  The insalata is basically marianted shrimp on top of white beans and a mini salad.  The jumbo shrimp was very tender and very delicious.  I'm not a big fan of white beans however it seemed to be satisfactory.  The tris d'Aragosta is the chef's way of making the lobster three different ways in one dish.  The meat made on top of a risotto was amazing.  The lobster meat was very fresh, very smooth and the risotto was made perfectly.  The chef nailed this one on the ball.  No complaints here at all.  The best was the Lombata di Vitello alla Griglia which was the grilled veal.  This was like the juiciest and the softest piece of meat I have ever had.  It was very very good.  There are no other words to describe the piece of meat that we had other than it is definitely a must try if you do come aboard this ship.

The Coral is a slightly more upscale non-specialty restaurant on the ship.  The foods they serve here are slightly better than what they serve at the buffet stations and what they serve at the traditional diner place.  I had a philly cheese steak sandwich which I have to admit was not bad at all.  The only bad part is that the restaurant appears to be located at the end of the ship and what seems to be like on top of the engine room.  You certainly will be given a pretty good shake while you are eating.  Although one can move to other parts of this restaurant, no matter where you sat it seemed to be moving pretty good. 

Tris d'Aragosta

The International Cafe is a 24 hour cafe that served mostly light food and hot drinks and is open 24 hours.  For those who are looking for a midnight snack or just want to sit in the middle of ship and relax, this is the place to be.  Nothing spectacular here as they serve mostly soups, sandwiches and cookies.  However if someone is looking for a nice light snack, this would be the place to be.

Lombata di Vitello alla Griglia

Overall, the specialty diner really stood out the most.  Unfortunately we only went to one of the four specialty diners on the ship although mind you the other three appeared to be mostly steakhouses.  The buffet will take you through the entire week as there is enough food there to keep one happy for a week.  The traditional diner could have been better from start to finish.  Having sat on my 4th different cruise ever, this was probably ranked near the middle at best.  Overall I would give Sabattini's a 5 out of 5 and the rest of the ship a 2.5 out of 5. 

Linda Modern Thai Cuisine

The other night we went to Linda Modern Thai Cuisine to have some authentic Thai food over at the Shops at Don Mills in North York.  This restaurant's interior is beautifully decorated and offers many authentic Thai dishes in their menu.  Tonight the four of us each decided to pick something from the menu since it was our first time inside this restaurant.  The four of us decided to go with the Crispy Duck with Steamed Pancakes, Thai Islamic Noodle, Pineapple Fried Rice with Mango and Shrimp, Green Curry Shrimp and Fried Fish.  For dessert, we also chose a Mango Sticky Rice and a Sweet Rice in Bamboo. 

The fried fish was the first to arrive.  Basically it was a fish that was fried in oil that also came with a vinaigrette sauce.  The fish was very crispy however there was not much taste to it.  Even with the special sauce, it lacked a strong fish taste.  It was however mostly deboned so it was easier to chew on its own.  Personally rather than using the sauce they had I would use Worcestershire sauce as it would give the fish a much strong flavor. 

Fried Fish

Next to arrive was the Crispy Duck with Steam Pancakes.  This is similar or equivalent to a Chinese Peking Duck.  With pieces of cucumber and what appeared to be oyster sauce, this is Thai's version of a Peking Duck.  I will say this personally I like the Chinese version better.  The duck meat is less chewy and the skin is much tastier.  The duck that came in tonight was a little rough and not as flavorable as the Chinese method. 

Pineapple Fried Rice with Mango and Shrimp

The Thai Islamic Noodle was next to arrive. This noodle had a combination of chicken, shrimp, peppers, broccoli and onions.  The combination of all these food gave this dish a very nice flavor. It was tasty, juicy and something that one should have.  It was not creamy at all and not overdone.  I actually liked this dish a lot and it's something I would highly recommend. 

Green Curry Shrimp

Thai Islamic Noodle

The Pineapple Fried Rice was also done very good.  The shrimp on the dish elevates the pineapple which is located inside a shrimp cracker.  Appearance alone would have been five stars for this dish.  the taste on this dish was delightful.  Again like the noodle, it was not heavy at all and the shrimp was tender and juicy.  I too would recommend this dish to anyone visiting this dish. 

The last to arrive was the Green Curry Rice and Shrimp.  This was mostly vegetables and shrimp mixed with curry.  It is a good side dish to have and to go with the rice and noodles. 

Mango Sticky Rice

Bamboo Sweet Rice

The desserts were the next to arrive.  Both the sweet rice and the sticky rice were okay however I was a little disappointed in that both were quite bland in nature.  Despite the sweet sauce in the bamboo sweet rice and the mango sticky rice, both dishes failed to deliver that WOW factor.  I have been to Thailand and when you go to Thailand and have their mango sticky rice and compare it to what was presented, I would say this restaurant was only half as good as what a true dessert would taste like in Thailand.

I would say that overall it was a fair night here at Linda's.  The food was a little bland to my liking however the rice and noodles were made to perfect.  Service was pretty good and they gave us a private booth in the corner of the restaurant.  Overall I would give this place a 3 out of 5. 

Linda Modern Thai Cuisine
11 Karl Fraser Road
North York, Ontario
M3C 0E7

416-642-3866