Alaska Cruise Pt. 7 - Breakfast! and Lunch! And Dinner!

Finally, we got up early enough to have breakfast in the dining room, as Derek was leaving the cruise early. We wanted to have one last meal alltogether, so we obliged by cutting our much needed sleep short.

This breakfast was kind of awkward, because our waitstaff was pretty lame - check this - when the waitress going around, asking if we wanted coffee...we said, "No", right? But then when the lady taking our orders went around taking our orders, and we asked for juice, the waitress got all huffy and angry, and said, "The other waitress was taking your drink order, why didn't you go through her?" Totally confusing, and unnecessary. How were we supposed to know that we were supposed to ask for our drinks when someone asks if we want coffee?

Anyhow.

Another round of salmon, anyone?

Derek and I shared this lox plate, as we wanted to try their regular breakfast items as well. Delicious and generous portion, as usual.

This is what I ordered as my main breakfast, the poached eggs plate. This was a serious awesome plate of breakfast. Check out those bacon slices! That's like, a whole side of pig! The eggs were delicious and perfectly formed - how do they do that? I liked how they were sitting on perfectly toasted toast. The only thing that was disappointing was the hash brown patty, which was not crispy and way too dense.

Owen ordered a combination of blueberry pancakes and a "rasher"of bacon. Owen's bacon was really good, I like crispier bacon, so he ended up switching a few of my pieces for his. He really liked his pancakes but the waitstaff was really slow in locating the syrup, Owen was done with one of his pancakes by the time they found some for him.

This was the special of the day, a scramble of smoked salmon on top of eggs, with the disappointing hash brown patty. This was disappointing for Derek, as the eggs were kinda gross and not the way he liked them (I avoided scrambled eggs on this cruise completely - I knew I'd be disappointed, I like my eggs a bit more runny and less...overcooked.)

Later that day, after going on our excursion (zip lining! totally awesome! I would suggest anyone to try it, so fun!) we were walking around Ketchikan, and saw a small greasy spoon diner called the Pioneer Cafe. Well, I haven't met a diner that I didn't want to go into, so Owen and I sat down and ordered a few things. The older lady who waited on us was very nice and had that awesome attitude that comes with being in a diner most of your life - like how she throws in "hon" into her speech. But what we ordered was kind of awesome!

I got a reindeer hot dog, with fries. This was superb! I was totally not expecting it to taste this good, but it was seriously good, a good amount of spice and kick, grilled perfectly, on a hoagie Columbo style bun, and good fries. Also, what was great was their yellow mustard - a bunch of that, and a bite of the hot dog, and I was totally happy.

Owen got a chicken club sandwich. When it arrived, I admit, I was skeptical, and figured Owen would be completely disgusted and not eat it. But he tried it, and was thouroghly surprised! It was really tasty! Even the american yellow cheese was really good, as it melted onto the crispy chicken, which was super moist on the inside and crunchy on the outside.

This came with Owen's sandwich - a side salad, diner style, with iceberg lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes and mushrooms. Blue cheese dressing came on the side.

Here's a closeup of the reindeer hot dog. Check those grill marks! And if you squint closely enough, you can see parts of Dasher or Dancer...kidding, kidding. This was some good reindeer hot dog though. Reindeer are very tasty.

Then back on the ship again, and dinner in the dining room. First the appetizers...

I started off with"Smoked wild sockeye salmon with condiments and brown bread" - I can't get enough of salmon on this cruise. Delicious as always, and maybe it's just me, but smoked sockeye salmon tasted EVEN BETTER than the other smoked salmons I had on this cruise, but maybe it's just because they called it that? I don't know, all I know is that I love smoked salmon. There was a nice little touch of already cream cheesed brown bread slices.


Next up, "Cook Indlet crab cakes and green asparagus spears, with whole grain mustard and puff pastry crown" - this was disgusting. Inedible, I only took one small bite. Even the puff pastry looks like a pac man mouth that has spit out this untasty crab cake. The crab cake was heavy, like a hockey puck, and hardly tasted of crab and way too much filler. I ate one spear of the asparagus, which was limp and dying. Complete failure.


"Pioneer Lentil soup with caribou sausage, cheese croutons" - this is the soup my brother got. The caribou sausage sounded kinda good, as did the cheese croutons, but the taste that I had just tasted of heavy lentils. Thick and overly filling.


The soup that I got was the "Diced root vegetables in clear oxtail broth" - this had a good beefy oxtail flavor and was still light. I liked it a lot, actually.


Now to the main course..."Supreme of Chicken a la Kiev - Breaded and pan fried breast filet with garlic herb butter, julienne of red beets, pea pods and parsley potatoes". This was good! Owen got this and I wish I had gotten it instead of what I got. Emma, our waitress, called it "High end KFC". That was a pretty good assessment of this dish. The chicken breast was moist and tender, the sugar snap peas were pretty overcooked and dried out. A decent dish overall.


This was one of the more anticipated main courses of the cruise, but totally disappointed me...the "Alaskan King Crab Legs with Melted butter - Split and steamed, served with New Red potatoes and sugar snap peas" - this was pretty bad, actually. The meat was tasteless, no flavor anywhere, even the butter didn't mask the mushy unappealing crabmeat. More of those overcooked snap peas and steamed red potatoes, which were the best thing of this plate. At least I didn't eat too much that night.


Bananas Foster was the dessert they were making tableside, so I got that. The bananas were too overdrowned in the sauce, and didn't crisp up, which is what they're supposed to do, right? Definitely mediocre, and more of that melted soup they're trying to pass off as vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate cake slice for Owen. He liked it, but what is not to like about chocolate cake?

This was the second best sorbet on the cruise, which was BLUEBERRY flavored. The combination of the icy texture with real blueberries thrown into the mix was perfect. I really liked this and wish I could have more.

Melted ice cream soup. What the heck.

This was also disappointing, the crepes. Leah ordered this, and said it tasted like egg and cheese omelet. They didn't sweeten this dessert enough.

Almost there! I promise! Only sea days are left at this point, so we're winding down...

Alaska Cruise Pt. 6: French Themed evening

French dinner night on the cruise! Little French flags adorned the dining table, and we were excited to look over our dinner choices - French cuisine is also so fun for me to try, as I don't partake of it very often.

First up to bat...

"Strasbourg Duck Liver Pate, flavored with vintage port and served with warm toasted brioche" - this was pretty decent, although I am still not really accustomed to liver flavor. This was mild though. The brioche was really tasty. My brother ended up eating half of the portion of the pate, . The red jelly thing was tasteless and I wondered why it was even on the plate.


Another fruit plate, excellent as usual, and a good assortment this time around too. Kiwi fruits weren't always available in the usual fruit salad mix at the buffet, so it was a good treat.


This was Charisse's escargot plate. I didn't get these myself, because it would have been a bit too intense, plus, I'm not the biggest fan of snails myself. These, however, smelled really good - doesn't anything smell pretty decent, cooked in butter and garlic? - and were done pretty well. I tried one - it tasted and had the consistency of an earthy mushroom. The sauce was very good with these, and after she was done with the snails, she used some bread to sop up some of the delicious buttery sauce.

Justin got Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder - A Hearty Soup flavored with Spring Onion Vermouth and Cayenne" - I only tried a spoonful of this, it was just okay.


For my soup, I got the Onion Soup Gratin - A Traditional French onion soup baked with Emmenthal Cheese" - This was pretty delicious as it was mostly cheese and bread. The soup itself was pretty great though. Lots of cooked down onions, a broth that was rich and deep with flavor - this was a winner.


In keeping with the French theme, I got Crispy Duck a l'Orange - Roast Ducking Glazed with an Orange Curacao Sauce, Accompanied by Briased Red Cabbage and macaire potatoes" - this was ok, the duck was pretty dry and not "crispy" at all, the potatoes were good, the green beans were okay, the red cabbage was gross.


Owen got the Rack of Lamb Dijonnaise - Roasted Rib Chops Coated in Mustard and Bread crubs with brussels sprouts and roasted garlic mashed potatoes" Owen really liked this, as it was lamb, and decently cooked, i.e. not horribly overdone. Owen hates brussel spouts so he didn't eat any of those.

This was the peach sorbet, it was okay but definitely not as good as the black cherry sorbet. However, it was refreshing, and good for cleaning the palate after all that rich food.

Justin got the apple cake, which had a lot of cooked down apples over a tart crust. I liked the design of the apple that they had drawn on the plate before they placed the apple cake over it.

This was the sugar free option of the night, puff pastry swans. This was disgusting. Tasteless, not sweet, just...not good.

This mint chip ice cream was pretty good, I got one taste of it, as Owen ate the rest of it.

Stay with me, everyone...getting there to the end of these Alaska posts...

Alaska Cruise Pt. 5 - Well documented meals, lunch and dinner

Our next stop was Skagway, and we were taking our time, because we didn't have an excursions on this port. So we had time to go to lunch and dinner on the boat.

This appetizer was a cheese quesadilla, with guacamole and salsa. The salsa was quite fresh and spicy - they put a lot of jalepenos in it! This was a good quesadilla, very crispy edges and tasty, and went well with the guacamole.

Minestrone soup, alright, but nothing special.

Owen's carbonara pasta - a decadent pasta dish with tube pasta, eggs and panchetta and cheese and cream. I'm not much of a fan of tube pasta (too much carbo bite to them) but cover anything in cream and butter and stuff and I guess it's good. I tried one tube, it was very rich.

Here's a dish of the beef shortribs. We were pretty excited to order this, but were disappointed when we started eating it - it had way too many hard pieces of tendon, lots of chewy parts that should have been cooked down. The sauce was ok, good and hearty, the mashed potato was good, the root veggies were eh.

Seafood Cioppino was the dish I ordered after not finishing the beef shortribs. This was much better than the ribs, good portions of seafood, I think the mussels were the best. The seafoody broth at the bottom was a delight to soak up with the garlic toasts.

I got a slice of carrot cake for dessert. Tasty, but I was too full at this point and only took a few bites.

In Skagway, we hung out at an old cool bar called the Red Onion Saloon, which used to entertain the gold miners before their treacherous journey for the search for gold, to get rich quick. The place had a really old timey feel, with saucy stuff on the walls. We had a few drinks (cranberry soda for me) but we also ordered some nachos with the works for the table. I remember there being bell pepper, onion, jalepenos, sour cream. The nachos did not include any kind of meat, but they were pretty decent, albeit expensive for what they were (do you think this plate should cost 12 dollars?)

Back on the boat for dinner, my brother had been trying to save his appetite all day for the main course...but of course, appetizers first..

"Poached Baby Leeks with Smoked Salmon Julienne, Champagne Vinaigrette" was my brother's choice. This looked pretty good, more smoked salmon, sign me up! Most of us were "fooled" by the first part of the description, we thought it would be mostly baby leeks but ended up being mostly smoked salmon. Eh, it's okay, plenty of other things to try...


"Citrus Fruit selection with toasted brioche and apple butter" - Owen's choice. He liked the apple butter a lot, it was really good with the bite of brioche he gave me. The usual awesome fruit deliciousness. This plate represents the best parts of the cruise food, heh.


"Tomato cream soup with a basil crouton" - just okay. As much as I try to like tomato soup, I think it's too acidic for me. I need this ladled over some pasta or something to make it palatable for my tastes.


And now, the thing my brother had been waiting for the whole day - "Aged Rib Eye Steak of Beef - Grilled Texas beef in a grain mustard sauce with corn muffins and garden vegetables". I also got a baked potato on the side. This was okay, again, needed to be salted properly. This cruise is very stingy with seasoning meat, as I have said before. I really liked the baked potato, as they gave us as much green onion and bacon bits as we liked. Mmm. I didn't eat the corn muffin, but Owen liked it a lot, so I guess it was tasty.


One of the desserts - chocolate creme cake with coconut shavings on top. I don't remember who got this, but I guess it was okay. (??)

This is what I got - the BEST sorbet I have ever had, which was this black cherry sorbet, which was made on the boat. The flavors unfolded on the tongue...complex...really cold and not melted by the time it got to me (one of the complaints that I always had about the frozen confections on this cruise), this was perfection. I wish I could buy this at the store.

This lemony cake was okay, I had a taste but I'm not really into lemon desserts unless they are in sorbet form. Good presentation though, the color of the cake really pops against the white of the dish, and the different pastel colors of cream are way fun.

And now I present to all, Owen's favorite dessert, hands down, of the whole trip - a chocolate "pudding" of sorts (pudding in the British sense, like bread pudding, not Jello Pudding cup pudding), but the show stopper was the dark chocolate sauce that was drizzled all over it. He was so in love with this sauce that he wanted to fill a thermos with it and drink it straight. Yes. I guess it was that good.

More Alaska to come? Why yes there is...

Alaska Cruise: Pt. 4 - Another lunch

Another sit down lunch before heading out to Juneau, to see the Mendenhall Glacier and a salmon hatchery. This lunch with most of the family, so there was a variety of food stuff to take pictures of!

There were a few appetizers that I didn't take a picture of - I remember having buffalo wings (which were okay, but needed more kick and spice) and some salad (which had a lot of onion in it,and the usual dressing that all tasted the same). What followed were the main courses and dessert...

This is some sort of fish filet, with veggies and rice. I didn't try this, but it looked pretty good. And healthy.

This is what I ordered, a steak sandwich. This was a pretty decent sandwich, as they used a good piece of grilled steak, atop a roll that had garlic butter on it, with 2 raw onion rings, 1 tomato slice and fries. For what it was, it was a good sandwich! The fries were just okay. Nothing special there.

My cousin Derek's beef spatzle. As this was across the table, I didn't get to try any, but I've never had spatzle before anyways, so I wouldn't be a good judge as to whether or not it was any good. It looked ok though.

My brother's pork chop plate, with steamed veggies. He let me try some of the pork chop, cooked very well, nice and juicy and flavorful.

Owen got potato pancakes - latkes, which came with sour cream, applesauce, and randomly, 2 onion rings. He said these could have been vastly improved if they were on the skillet just a little longer, to get crisper. I hate latkes so I probably would have said they sucked either way.

What did NOT suck was this panna cotta, with caramel sauce. Great texture, light, and not too sweet. One of my favorite desserts of the whole cruise.

This is my cousin's fruit plate. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: fruit was, consistently, one of the best things on the cruise.

More dinners to come!