Cruising Cuisine

What’s Been On My Plate recently?

Mike and I took a 10-day cruise to Papua New Guinea in June. It was a ‘spur of the moment’ thing as we have a major European holiday booked for November, later this year. However, as it was a great deal and we had celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in April, we thought ‘why, not? Isn’t part of being retired having the time to take the opportunities for travel (or anything) as they arise? If you are interested in reading about the cruise you can read my take on Cruising Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.

Cruising Cuisine

What I enjoy about cruising is you unpack once, you visit new places and you can relax and unwind. The food choices on a cruise are plentiful. From a buffet style with service (due to changes made during the pandemic), to dining in the numerous restaurants for a three-course meal or just vegging out by the pool with a burger, fries, pizza, morning or afternoon teas or an ice cream.

The downside of course is there is far too much food on offer and if in ‘holiday mode’ willpower may not be as strong. There is of course a gym on board if you want to work off those calories or you can power walk the decks and take the stairs rather than the elevator.

So,What has actually been on my plate?

We mixed up our days depending on what we felt like and also tried some local fare during the tours. Lots of Kumu (edible green vegetables), Kaukau (sweet potato), Taro (root vegetable), Fish, Chicken and fruits such as bananas and coconuts and their byproducts such as coconut cream and coconut oil.

Breakfast

Breakfast was always in the Pantry a bit like a Food Court. From cereal, fruit, yogurt, bacon and eggs, asian style greens and rice, pancakes, muffins and the like there was heaps to choose from. I enjoyed the overnight oats with fruit and as we had taken the drinks package we could enjoy ‘real coffee’ whilst checking out the onboard activties for the day! That pretty much was my staple to start my day.

Lunch was usually back to the Pantry for a sandwich or salad.

We kept lunches low key although you could still have three-course meals if you wanted them.

Dinner

We had a couple of nights in the Pantry and then several nights in three different restaurants – Angelo’s, the Waterfront and Dragon Lady. As expected, the restaurant meals were superior in quality and we enjoyed all of our restaurant meals. The meals in these three restaurants are included in the cruise fare but they offer ‘specialty’ dishes which you can pay for plus there were a couple of Specialty Restaurants you could book at a price. For us, there was more than enough options for our taste buds. We ordered the three courses at each dinner and of course we tasted each other’s dishes!

Angelo’s – Live la doce vita!

Warming traditional dishes with a delicious modern twist. Surrounded by images of Latin legends captured by one of Italy’s most famous photographers, Angelo Frontoni, the restaurant is the perfect setting to enjoy la dolce vita as you indulge in a meal to remember.

The Waterfront

A modern Australian restaurant serving up a sophisticated selection of both classic dishes and cutting edge cuisine.

Dragon Lady

Asian cuisine with a twist of Chinese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian or Japanese recipes to select on the menu The restaurant has an ‘exotic’ feel with dark timbers, mood lighting creating an intimate atmosphere.

So, that’s what has been on my plate lately? What’s been on yours?

I’m linking up as usual to join the What’s On Your Plate? Blog Challenging co-hosted by Donna from Retirement Reflections and Deb, The Widow Badass. Take some time to pop over and see what’s been on their plate during the month

Also joining in with Denyse Whelan for her weekly #WednesdaysWordsandPics