Cruising for Chocolate

"Nobody knows the truffles I’ve seen.” – George Lang

If you’re like me, you can’t get enough of the stuff. Even when there’s so much other stuff to be had.

Luckily, the cruise ships oblige. The main dining room, specialty restaurants, buffets and cafés—they’re chock full of chocolate.

Some of the ships even go overboard. There was the chocolate buffet in Harmony of the Seas’ Windjammer at dinner. And the same ship had a chocolate fountain and dessert bar in the main dining room for lunch on sea days. The Regal Princess had the biggest surprise—a chocolate buffet at breakfast in Horizon Court on the last full day.

 

Going overboard? Chocolate buffet on Harmony of the Seas' Windjammer

Then there are the sheet cakes, the layer cakes, the puddings and cookies. Some are so-so, others are good and a few are positively memorable. Among the standouts:

The Bittersweet Chocolate Bourbon Tart at 150 Central Park outshines the Liquid Center Chocolate Cake at Chops Grille—both specialty restaurants on Oasis class ships. The chocolate tart with flaky crust, and cranberries and spiced pecans on top create an explosion of complex flavors.

It's bittersweet when you eat it and bittersweet when you finish it

Of the Norman Love desserts we had on the Regal and Royal Princess, the crème de la crème was the Chocolate Pistachio Dome—as wonderful to eat as it is to look at. Chocolate on the outside, chocolate, pistachio and cookie in the inside. Pure Heaven. Brings to mind Jane Seabrook’s quote:

“If there’s no chocolate in Heaven, I’m not going.”

While the dome is served in the main dining room, Love’s sweet masterpieces are sprinkled throughout Princess’ specialty restaurants, such as the Crown Grill and Sabatini’s.

 

A dome like any other, only on Princess

And while you’re on Princess, in case you haven’t had enough after the sheet cakes, layer cakes, pudding, cookies, breakfast buffet and Norman Love treats, there’s always the chocolate on your pillow.

The Good Ship Lollipop

"It's a sweet trip to a candy shop"...
at Candy Beach on Allure of the Seas

“On the Good Ship Lollipop 
It’s a night trip into bed you hop 
And dream away 
On the Good Ship Lollipop.” 

– “The Good Ship Lollipop” by R. Whiting and S. Clare

When chocolates started disappearing from our pillows, was that the end of our candy on cruises?

Nah! Those little silver-coated bedtime treats may be gone, but there’s still “good & plenty” of sweets on your next Good Ship Lollipop.

Why, you many wonder, with all the food onboard, do we really need candy too?

Well, the kids want it. And sometimes, we do too. So, while our pillows no longer come sugar-coated, the cruise lines still find ways to deliver the goods:

Onboard shops

Princess: The Celebration shop on Regal and Royal Princess – Visibly planted in the atrium, the store’s shelves are lined with boxes of creamy Norman Love chocolates and Godiva. Some are in just-for-cruisers packaging and make great gifts.

"Happy landing on a chocolate bar"...on the Regal Princess

Royal Caribbean (RCI): Candy Beach Sweets – The Boardwalk neighborhood shop on Oasis class ships is chock-full of penny-candy-ish and carnival-style colorful sweets.

 

"On the sunny beach of Peppermint Bay"...on Allure of the Seas

Disney: Vanellope’s Sweets and Treats – The Disney Dream features a dessert shop with gelato, baked treats, chocolate lollipops and other confections.

The convenience stores

Craving a Snickers? A bag of Gummy Bears? You might just find one in the convenience store shop. You know which one I mean—where all the shirts have the ship’s logo and the first aid cream is twice what it costs at Walgreens.

The buffets

Celebrity’s Oceanview Café buffet is legendary for its ice cream bar, where you can get several flavor choices, with M&Ms and other goodies to top off your scoop. In fact, according to Cruise Critic, you can hold the ice cream completely and just get a cup ‘o candy.

"See the sugar roll do the tootsie roll"...in Celebrity's Oceanview Cafe

Our last trip on RCI’s Allure of the Seas surprised us with a chocolate breakfast bar in the Windjammer, complete with chocolate fountain and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Sweets in a package

RCI, Princess and Disney all feature celebration packages* you can order online to enjoy onboard to celebrate an event, a romance or add something special to your trip. Here’s just a sampling of what they offer:

Princess

Anniversary package – Dinner for two at a specialty restaurant, champagne, framed photo, roses and a box of Norman Love chocolates.

“Kid’s Party Package” – Stanley the Stowaway Bear, inflatable Princess ship and a pack of Gummy Bears.

Royal Caribbean

“Decadent Romance Package – Champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries, Belgian truffle collection and a bouquet of roses.

Disney

“Romance for 2” – Two Disney Cruise Line robes, a bottle of sparkling wine, a box of chocolate and a rose.

“Ahoy Matey” – Edible dark chocolate treasure chest filled with candy coins, an edible Mickey pirate head, chocolate bark treasure map and more.

Still not convinced that cruising and candy go together like chocolate and peanut butter? Consider this: the new Symphony of the Seas will not only still feature the Boardwalk candy store, but like the ship itself, it will be bigger than ever.

* Not available on all ships

Romance on the High Seas

Romance with chocolate: the Love Boat Dream
Dessert on the Regal Princess

It’s no wonder the infamous TV show was called The Love Boat. Cruising and romance go together like, well, love and marriage.

In fact, more than 85 percent of cruisers take along their significant other.*

There’s something about cruising that brings out the romantic in us. Maybe it’s the way the sea shimmers in the moonlight. Or the unbroken horizon suggests anything is possible. Or maybe it’s just that we’re on vacation.

Whatever the reason, the cruise lines want to help you along when you’re in the mood for love. Here’s just a sampling of what you can do with your one-and-only:

Tie the knot or announce you’re glad you did. Royal Caribbean, Princess and Carnival all have packages for doing weddings onboard. Princess also has some for engagements, honeymoons, vow renewals and anniversaries. Carnival will even help you get married on the beach.

 

Bliss and blue skies on the Regal Princess' SeaWalk

Two for dinner. When you sign up for your cruise, you can ask for a table for two in the main dining room and can usually get one. There’s a limited number of them, though, and while most are okay, you can get one in a weird spot. If this happens, you can always ask for a change.

Dine al fresco. Do a leisurely breakfast, pre-dinner cocktail or quiet dinner for two with room service and a view.

Or make it extra special. The specialty restaurants will cost you more, but you get better service and better food than the main dining room. Some of the settings are more fitting for flirting too. Like the plush high back chairs of Oasis of the Seas’ Central Park 150 or the dark moody lighting in the Regal Princess’ Crown Grill.

 

Making it special at Sabatini's on the Regal Princess

Be formal. Formal nights were made for romance—with both of you in your best digs, find your ship photographer of choice and pose for posterity.

Room for wine and roses. From Royal Caribbean’s room décor packages to Carnival’s goodie baskets to Princess’ Norman Love’s chocolate gifts to Norwegian’s flower deliveries, you’ve got a number of choices for building a stateroom love nest.

Massage à deux. For the ultimate in peer pampering, consider a couples massage in Royal Caribbean’s Vitality Spa. In Princess’ Sanctuary, you can be massaged side-by-side each other and the sea in your own onboard cabana.

Kiss on camera. On the Regal Princess’ disco night, you might get your romance up on the big screen. Cameras scan the crowd and if lands on you, your fellow cruisers will egg you on to indulge the Love Boat Kiss Cam and see your smooch on the more than 300-square-foot poolside screen.

Together, alone at the ports. Take a carriage ride in San Juan, a floating raft for two in Carnival’s Mahogany Bay or Amber Cove, or spring for seclusion in a cabana by the sea in Royal Caribbean’s Labadee.

Find some seclusion by the sea in a cabana for two at Amber Cove

A final thought (or warning). Whether you find yourself stoking the fires of your passion on a raft, at a table or in the spa, no matter how tempting, just say “no” to being on the marriage game show—if you still want to be in love on the morning after.

Note: Facilities and amenities vary by ship.

* Cruise Lines International Association website, www.cruising.org

Making the Next Time Feel Like the First Time

There’s just nothing like the first time. That thrill, that excitement, that joy at discovering something new.

You may have felt it during your first cruise; I know I did. But I also know there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy your second cruise as much as your first. Or your 5th as much as your 15th.

The secret? Doing something really different the next time around. Here are just a few ideas for rekindling that first-time feeling:

Try another line. While one line can feel much like another (after all, there’s a view of the sea and they feed you), there really are differences. You can ride a carousel on Royal Caribbean. Watch a movie under the stars and a blanket on Princess. Cook along with the chefs on Holland America.

Recapturing childhood joy on the Oasis

Jump ship. Going from small to big or the other way around can change things up if you’re married to one line. While Royal’s Navigator of the Seas at 139,500 tons is no row boat, Oasis of the Seas at 225,200 is a whole other class by itself.

Room for a change. Always get an inside room? Spring for a balcony. Pick off-season (e.g., not January-March) and a less popular itinerary (e.g., Western Caribbean), and you can get one at a great price. We’ve picked some trips on Princess just so we could afford a mini-suite.

Venture out. After many Caribbean cruises, we got out of our comfort zone (and our shorts) and took one to Alaska for an experience unlike any other. Or, look for Caribbean itineraries that go off the beaten path. We took one of Celebrity Constellation’s rare trips to St. Barts and got a sneak peek of the famous French chic, amazingly hilly, yacht-choked island. See the posting “Off Course and Worth It.”

 

Tough to find parking for your car--or your yacht--in St. Barts

Don’t or do an excursion. Always sign up for one? Wander around town next time. Always roam the port? Parasail, tour the island or cook up a Caribbean lunch for a change.

Dine differently. After years of set seating, we finally tried my-time style. And never turned back. On an upcoming cruise, we’re doing a five-night specialty package for the first time. Stay tuned for how that goes.

Drink it up. Whether you’re a big drinker or not, will get your money’s worth or not, you should try a drink package at least once. It was a throw-in on our recent Princess trip, and it was a blast trying some new drink each day, getting cappuccinos when we felt like it and ending the night with liqueur—and all without a thought about cost. Or who was going to get us home.

Experience this. You might try some shipboard activity you’ve never done—from climbing the walls on Royal, doing the pricey but unique Captain’s Dinner or grabbing the mike at karaoke. It will probably be the one thing you remember most about your cruise.

Take a camera. I don’t mean a smartphone; I mean a real camera. One that lets you get in close from really far away. Shoot the jugglers in low light. Take in the lights around the pool at night. With a camera, you can be creative. And there’s so much to capture inside and outside the ship. It’s particularly great for those lazy days at sea. See “Unleashing Your Inner Artsy-Fartsy” for ideas and photos.

 

We needed a Panasonic GX7 to get this shot on the Caribbean Princess

An excuse for a cruise. Whether it’s over a national holiday or your personal celebration, it’s a great excuse to splurge while onboard. Buy a box of divine chocolates. Make a reservation at a specialty restaurant. Do a couples massage. Throw a party. Don a tiara. Make it special and make it memorable.

 

Norman Love chocolates and more on the Regal Princess for your personal celebration

Bring along friends or family. Perhaps nothing changes the cruise experience more than changing who you’re with. Maybe you’ll finally get that “I’ll-never-be-caught-dead-on-a-ship” person you know to actually take the plunge. And here’s a new experience to look forward to: telling him (or her) “I told you so.”

Princess Plus: a Review of the Regal Princess

The Regal Princess—the newest in the Princess fleet—takes what we love about its ships and betters it:

More pizzazz in the piazza. The Regal’s stunning atrium is way bigger, giving a spacious and open feel to the hub of the ship. It’s all done up in marble and glass, with lounges that jut towards the center and tables positioned to eye all the action.

And action there is. In turns, there was a steel drum, varying bands and juggler, as well as the Captain’s Welcome champagne waterfall, a balloon drop—and on our trip, even a groom whisking his bride across the dance floor.

The International Café is as good as always, with its 24-hour array of terrific quiches, sandwiches, salads and desserts.

A robust buffet with better navigation. Princess has always had the best buffet at sea, with quality unmatched by the other mass market lines. This new Horizon Court stretches out on both sides of the ship, with a Pastry Shop in between—think “H” shaped.

Part of the buffet, “Horizon Court Bistro,” has lighter fare (Note: you can tell the difference because the furniture is white while in the regular buffet, it’s brown. This is important because my first time there, I got seriously lost.)

There’s never congestion or seating issues, and the options are seemingly endless—from American fare to Asian, some even with a bit of spice.

To this foodie’s delight, there were was papaya and smoked fish such as mackerel, Mahi-Mahi and trout at breakfast (there was even an “everything chocolate” section the last morning). There were good choices at lunch, but dinner is where the really special stuff made an appearance: poached salmon; shrimp; cheeses such as Stilton, Port Salut, Havarti and camembert; and dried figs, dates and apricots.

Desserts at lunch and dinner—such as opera cake, peach cobbler, various mousse-y-cakes, pineapple

upside down—were nearly always of good quality. And you could always rely on fabulous rolls at every meal, which varied from sunflower seed-studded to focaccia.

Love that Norman. The Norman Love desserts are knockouts—as yummy to eat as to look at. The main dining room had several—a kind of tiered chocolate, merengue thing, and a chocolate and pistachio dome. The Crown Grill featured a milk chocolate peanut butter bar.

A dome of Love in the main dining room.

MUTS is now a must. The Movie Under the Stars big screen is not just bigger than previous ships, but the picture is much sharper. We were really taken aback by the difference. It’s now actually worth watching a movie you’ve been wanting to see on that screen. And you get a blanket and popcorn to boot.

What could be improved

Like all the cruise lines and all their ships, not everything is perfect:

MDR a mixed bag. The main dining room food was fair, with a few decent dishes amid a sea of mediocrity and sometimes, dishes that just weren’t quite right. A mixed seafood skewer early on and lobster tail on formal night were well prepared and flavorful. But the red snapper and beef Wellington were neither.

Design flaws. The Regal has some of the same weirdness in layout of other Princess ships, with challenges getting to a few of the dining rooms. 

And the jogging track on Deck 18 was clearly an afterthought. While it has wide separate lanes for joggers and runners, it’s a small track (seven laps=a mile) and when we tried to use it one day, we were shooed away, as the crew was doing maintenance there—at 6 p.m.

A small room with a view. The standard balcony staterooms are smaller on the Regal than the Caribbean Princess. If you can afford it, it’s a good ship to spring for a mini-suite, a Princess specialty. If you pick the right ship, itinerary and time of year, you’ll not pay much more for a mini-suite, yet the difference is enormous. Think full-sized couch vs. two chairs. More storage space than we could even fill.

The mini-suite feels like a hotel room. Pick your trip right
and you won't pay much more than for just a balcony.

The bottom line

Princess still deserves the crown for the best all-around cruise experience and the Regal delivers it best. Even the “Love Boat” “crew” thinks so.

Find this shrine to the TV show on the Regal Princess, Deck 5, outside Guest Services; the six
original cast members are the ship's godparents. 

Musing’s Top Tip: Princess now has an app you can use with the ship’s wi-fi at no cost to access your account balance, daily activities and more. No downloading is needed; simply put your phone on “Airplane mode” while you’re on board and bring up the cruise line’s website.

You can also text your cruise companions while you're on the ship, but this part of the app has to be downloaded with real wi-fi from Android or Apple online stores. You can do this for free if you download the app before the trip. See Princess' website for details.

Princess Preferred: A Review of the Caribbean Princess

A mouthful of luscious Love
from the Caribbean Princess

From the Norman Love truffle pops at the Welcome Toast to the restaurant-like beverage service in the buffet, Princess is filled with surprises that make it my favorite among the mass market cruise lines.

It won’t blow you away with bumper cars or carousels, but what it does deliver is consistently solid service, attention to detail and an eagerness to please.

The recent trip on the Caribbean Princess, our fourth on the line, proved to be as good as the first. With many of the lines noticeably scaling back, Princess is an exception. Here’s some of what made it special:

Ship shape. Princess’ mini-suite is ideal for those who want more space but not at a suite price. It’s essentially the size of a hotel room with two flat screen TVs, a full-sized couch, large counter, and porch furniture featuring reclining

A mini-suite is a perfect size but
doesn't come at a steep price

chairs, foot stools and a large table. The closets in the mini-suites—as well as the balcony rooms—are the largest we’ve had on any cruise line, and can accommodate three hanging shoe bags, along with a whole lot of clothes.

The staterooms—as well as the public rooms—were immaculate. You’d really have to look hard to find any evidence that the ship was built 11 years ago.

The piazza, the hub of ship activity, this trip featured a pianist, a we-can-play-just-about-anything band and singer, steel drums and a former circus performer who twirled lighted hoops in a blaze of 

A performance in the piazza

color and grace.

The only downside to the handsome piazza is that it can’t always accommodate everyone who wants to be there. Getting a good enough view to take photos of the Mardi Gras party or a seat to eat your International Café quiche can sometimes be all but impossible.

Food; themed and otherwise. Speaking of food, it ranged from fair to good, in both the Main Dining Room and Horizon Court buffet. One innovation in the MDR was Caribbean cuisine, a welcome reminder of where we were. And it was nice to see lobster tail still on the formal night menu.

Horizon Court themed nights were a lot of fun and we found ourselves there more than the MDR. German night was alight with a color-changing, larger-than-life beer stein (in ice, not on ice), landjagger bites and German hams, pretzel rolls, red cabbage, sausages, and linzer and sacher tortes. Italian night, with its gondolier-costumed waiters, served up prosciutto and hunks of parmesan, fennel au gratin and pasta many ways.



Part of the bread spread on German night

The bakery stuff is where Princess really excels. The breads are great—from the sunflower-studded rolls to the cheese-topped croissants to the onion-infused focaccia. The chocolate desserts were excellent, rivaling some of the best bakeries on land.

The ship was as generous with its buffet hours as it was with the food offerings. You can get breakfast until 11:30, lunch until 3:30 (if you miss this, there’s “afternoon snack” from 3:30-5:30, which is a scaled down lunch), and full dinner is available until 11. Late dining was an especially mellow meal, just us, a few other night owls and the crew.

Fun and games. While standard fare, the entertainment was generally good; highlights were a juggler/comedian whose not-G-rated shtick brought on belly laughs, and a magician/comedian with same-but-different sleight-of-hand tricks and fast wit.

In fact, everyone seemed to be a comedian on this trip—including the cruise director, Paul Chandler-Burns. The Brit’s quips shot out like sparks—in an understated, under-the-breath sort of way—and made him the ideal emcee. His banter during the “The Marriage Match Game Show” made it easily one of the best we’ve seen on any ship.
 

Love Boat disco

There were several themed parties, the most memorable was the “Love Boat Disco Deck Party” held by the pool. The ship’s singers and dancers, dressed officer-like in white pants suits and captain hats, did the hustle and other moves, while the Movie Under the Stars screen revived scenes from the TV show, interspersing its octogenarian cast members somewhat disconcertedly jiving to a disco beat.

Well served. Service onboard was attentive from the room steward to the well-orchestrated disembarkation. Ironically, some of the best service we had was in the buffet. One night, I was asked by three different waiters within 10 minutes if I wanted any water or coffee.

With the generous room space, great service, varied entertainment with plenty of laughs, satisfying food sprinkled with surprises, and four good Western Caribbean ports (seven days of sun didn’t hurt either), we felt gloriously pampered from ship to shore. And felt that Princess did its best—and succeeded—in helping us “come back new.”

Small talk: Princess Patter, the onboard newsletter, was named after the very first Princess cruise ship, the Princess Patricia.

 Photos by RJ Greenburg