Cruise Lines

You learn something new every day, don't you?

I had lunch with Simon Weir, hotel director on Celebrity Eclipse, who has brought out all Celebrity's new Solstice-class ships, at the finale of the Association of Cruise Experts conference in Southampton last Saturday and naturally asked how things were going with the ship.

You will remember it is based in Southampton, offering cruises largely aimed at the British - a double first for Celebrity.
 
All good, he told me, explaining they were even managing to satisfy the British demand for hot food.

The British demand? You mean the Americans don't like their food hot? I asked. No, he said. They like it lukewarm. In fact it's not just the Americans, but also most Europeans as well, leaving us Brits the odd ones out yet again.

I relate this only because a) I didn't know it and think it is interesting, and b) it begins to explain why food on cruise ships is served lukewarm, bordering on cold (of course it doesnt explain it for the British ones...).

Personally I like my soup piping hot, likewise my pasta, meat, whatever. Otherwise it's like drinking warm instead of hot tea. Yuk.

Maybe the solution is to mention, at the time of ordering, "by the way I am a Brit and I like my food served nuclear" (that's how the dishes were served in the Noodle Bar on Norwegian Epic - American! - and I loved it, making it my favourite place to eat).

I'll try it tonight here on Compagnie du Ponant's Le Boreal - so far the food has been lukewarm, which I have found disappointing - and let you know how I get on.