Sushi on Cruise Ships: How Good Is It?

I see that more and more cruise ships are adding a Japanese sushi
restaurant onboard. If anyone with experience eating sushi while
onboard a cruise ship can advise the cruise ship name and relate their
experience, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Did you have to pay a surcharge at the sushi restaurant? If so, what
was the additional fee? Was it all-you-can-eat? If so, did they include
the more expensive items such as abalone, sea urchin, high-grade tuna,
etc.? Was it crowded? Did you need reservations? How did things compare
to your landside experiences?

Thanks. - Rik


--
Rik Brown
Please reply to the newsgroup or PM me at TRAVEL.com.

Rik Brown wrote:
I see that more and more cruise ships are adding a Japanese sushi
restaurant onboard. ...Did you have to pay a surcharge at the sushi
restaurant? If so, what was the additional fee?

On the NCL JEWEL, the surcharge for sushi is $15 per person. The sushi
is served at a sushi bar within their cluster of pan-Asian restaurants
that include Teppanyaki, sushi, Mongolian hot pot, and primarily Chinese.

Was it all-you-can-eat? If so, did they include the more expensive items
such as abalone, sea urchin, high-grade tuna, etc.?

I believe it was an all-you-can-eat, but I ate about what I normally eat
on land so I really didn't test the system. Continue reading my comments
and you'll see that I think the sushi bar controls the all-you-can-eat
factor by using much too much rice in their creations.

I recommend you eat at these restaurants only if you like sashimi or
nigiri sushi. I primarily ordered sashimi and I was pleased with the
quality of my tuna and salmon. I was disappointed that they were not
serving fatty tuna, yellow tail, or albacore on this cruise although
these items appear on the menu. When we were given our menus, the server
announced that these three items "weren't loaded on this cruise."

Neither abalone nor sea urchin was on the menu. I'm certain about sea
urchin since I had planned on trying some for the first time. I'm
reasonably confident about abalone. I know they did offer octapus if you
like your sushi on the chewy side.

My husband had quite a different experience, and we'll probably not
bother with the sushi restaurant on future cruises. He prefers rolls and
ordered four: spicy tuna, spicy scallop, rainbow roll, and one other
combination. The two spicy rolls verged on using too much rice,
although, in contrast to the remaining rolls they were acceptable. The
other two rolls were dominated by so much rice that the taste of the
fish/seafood/vegetables barely came through.

My husband ate his lunch without much enjoyment. At the end of the meal,
he commented that he should have abandoned the over-riced rolls and
ordered some nigiri sushi for which he could have pinched off any excess
rice. (I had ordered one spicy scallop roll to go with my sashimi. I
deconstructed it before I ate it since I thought the amount of rice was
too much.)

Was it crowded? Did you need reservations? How did things compare
to your landside experiences?

On the JEWEL, the sushi bar is largely a dinner-time experience,
although it is open on at-sea days for lunch. We did the lunch route.

The bar could accommodate perhaps a dozen patrons, but seats were
available at the bar when we lunched and the night we ate in the Chinese
restaurant. There was a group of five lunching at the sushi bar and
their shouts to one another dominated that area. We asked to sit at a
one of the tables technically located in the Chinese restaurant area.
There was no problem meeting our request.

The night we dined at the Chinese restaurant, the couple next to us also
made a meal of sushi rather than ordering from the Chinese menu. In
fact, we could have mixed and matched items from both the Chinese and
sushi menus if we had been willing to pay both the $10 surcharge for
Chin-Chin and the $15 surcharge for sushi.

Karen Selwyn

Rik,

We were recently on RCCL's Mariner of the Seas, which claims to have
sushi, but if you really like sushi, you will be disappointed. There
were some rolls and there was smoked salmon sushi, but no other kind,
no tuna, salmon, yellowtail....

So, no at least on Mariner,
Kathryn

On Jan 29, 6:51 pm, Rik Brown Rik.Brown.2l7...@no-
mx.forums.travel.com wrote:
I see that more and more cruise ships are adding a Japanese sushi
restaurant onboard. If anyone with experience eating sushi while
onboard a cruise ship can advise the cruise ship name and relate their
experience, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Did you have to pay a surcharge at the sushi restaurant? If so, what
was the additional fee? Was it all-you-can-eat? If so, did they include
the more expensive items such as abalone, sea urchin, high-grade tuna,
etc.? Was it crowded? Did you need reservations? How did things compare
to your landside experiences?

Thanks. - Rik

--
Rik Brown
Please reply to the newsgroup or PM me at TRAVEL.com.

Rik,

Oops I forgot, no charge for this on Mariner, it's part of the dinner
buffet.

Kathryn

On Jan 29, 6:51 pm, Rik Brown Rik.Brown.2l7...@no-
mx.forums.travel.com wrote:
I see that more and more cruise ships are adding a Japanese sushi
restaurant onboard. If anyone with experience eating sushi while
onboard a cruise ship can advise the cruise ship name and relate their
experience, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Did you have to pay a surcharge at the sushi restaurant? If so, what
was the additional fee? Was it all-you-can-eat? If so, did they include
the more expensive items such as abalone, sea urchin, high-grade tuna,
etc.? Was it crowded? Did you need reservations? How did things compare
to your landside experiences?

Thanks. - Rik

--
Rik Brown
Please reply to the newsgroup or PM me at TRAVEL.com.

This is the same for Navigator OTS. The quality is about the same as the
ones from Costco.

kbutterly wrote:
Rik,

We were recently on RCCL's Mariner of the Seas, which claims to have
sushi, but if you really like sushi, you will be disappointed. There
were some rolls and there was smoked salmon sushi, but no other kind,
no tuna, salmon, yellowtail....

So, no at least on Mariner,
Kathryn

On Jan 29, 6:51 pm, Rik Brown Rik.Brown.2l7...@no-
mx.forums.travel.com wrote:
I see that more and more cruise ships are adding a Japanese sushi
restaurant onboard. If anyone with experience eating sushi while
onboard a cruise ship can advise the cruise ship name and relate their
experience, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Did you have to pay a surcharge at the sushi restaurant? If so, what
was the additional fee? Was it all-you-can-eat? If so, did they include
the more expensive items such as abalone, sea urchin, high-grade tuna,
etc.? Was it crowded? Did you need reservations? How did things compare
to your landside experiences?

Thanks. - Rik

--
Rik Brown
Please reply to the newsgroup or PM me at TRAVEL.com.

On Jan 29, 6:51 pm, Rik Brown Rik.Brown.2l7...@no-
mx.forums.travel.com wrote:
I see that more and more cruise ships are adding a Japanese sushi
restaurant onboard. If anyone with experience eating sushi while
onboard a cruise ship can advise the cruise ship name and relate their
experience, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Did you have to pay a surcharge at the sushi restaurant? If so, what
was the additional fee? Was it all-you-can-eat? If so, did they include
the more expensive items such as abalone, sea urchin, high-grade tuna,
etc.? Was it crowded? Did you need reservations? How did things compare
to your landside experiences?


The HAL Zuiderdam put out Sushi as part of its regular lunch
buffet ... talk to the chef who seemed more than willing to please
within the limitations he had ... not all available on each day ...
but if you wanted a lot of something he could do that day ... you got
it ... even with extra trimmings ...

Celebrity Mercury also had Sushi on the buffet ... evening I
recall ... very good ... but no interactions with the Chef ... I
dragged my wife up there before dinner for a few pieces as my own
personal appetizer ... but as much as you wanted was available ...

The NCL Dawn had a separate extra pay (I think like $7) Sushi area ...
a conveyor belt brought them past you ... and you picked your
choices ... They noticed my favorites ... and presto they brought me
out a plate just for me with my favorites ... without having to even
ask ... Then still wanting more (for indulgence not hunger ... ) we
asked for some specials ... and they came quickly ... probably the
best for ingredients and variety ... and the special treatment they
gave us ... but then there was a (small but wothwhile) extra cost ...

There was Sushi on other cruises ... but these 3 were special and
memorable ...

On 1/29/2007 6:51 PM Rik Brown wrote:
I see that more and more cruise ships are adding a Japanese sushi
restaurant onboard. If anyone with experience eating sushi while
onboard a cruise ship can advise the cruise ship name and relate their
experience, I'd appreciate hearing from you.+-


Did you have to pay a surcharge at the sushi restaurant? If so, what
was the additional fee? Was it all-you-can-eat? If so, did they include
the more expensive items such as abalone, sea urchin, high-grade tuna,
etc.? Was it crowded? Did you need reservations? How did things compare
to your landside experiences?

Thanks. - Rik



I like sushi fine as long as they *cook* it. ;-)

--
____
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
____
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

On Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:51:39 -0600, Rik Brown
wrote:


I see that more and more cruise ships are adding a Japanese sushi
restaurant onboard. If anyone with experience eating sushi while
onboard a cruise ship can advise the cruise ship name and relate their
experience, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Did you have to pay a surcharge at the sushi restaurant? If so, what
was the additional fee? Was it all-you-can-eat? If so, did they include
the more expensive items such as abalone, sea urchin, high-grade tuna,
etc.? Was it crowded? Did you need reservations? How did things compare
to your landside experiences?

Thanks. - Rik


I've had the sushi served on Carnival's Elation and Paradise.

These are not full service sishi bars, they have a small selection
that varies each day..usually four different types, basic, not the
exotic iterms and of course no sashimi.

It was free, there was sometimes a line but rarely a long one. The
bars were open about an hour before the dinner seatings. They also
ssold sake but I never tried it as I rarely drink.

I enjoyed them, but I will admit I am not a highly experienced sushi
gourmet and your taste may be too refined to enjoy this set-up if you
are expecting to be gustatorially transported to Osaka.

Jim P.

Thank you for all the responese about sushi when cruises. I'll
definitely add an onboard sushi restaurant as a new criterion when we
make our next cruise. Just reading the responses made me hungry.

Thanks again. - Rik


--
Rik Brown
Please reply to the newsgroup or PM me at TRAVEL.com.