Cruise Ship Food Aboard the Norwegian Bliss

I recently went on a cruise aboard the Norwegian Bliss from Seattle to various ports in Alaska and British Columbia. While I did eat off the boat, this post will focus on food aboard the ship.

Garden Cafe:

This is the main buffet on the Norwegian Bliss. While the Garden Cafe did a good job with their food for the most part, sometimes certain foods were hit or miss. I found the breakfast buffet got repetitive with the same several items repeating themselves over and over again with certain items that they could never get right (good luck finding a piece of crispy bacon on this buffet). Breakfast also seemed to lack certain items which seemed standard on every other cruise I've been on (lox/smoked salmon at breakfast). Lunch and dinner buffets had a nice selection with a good number of items that changed from day to day. There was an after hours buffet in the Garden Cafe which was quite sad. Seemed like hamburgers, hot dogs, and a few select leftover items from dinner.

Various Breakfast Foods:

There were certain genres of food that the Garden Cafe did consistently well. For example, they always had really good Indian food. I'd rank the Indian food at Garden Cafe up there with some of my favorite Indian restaurant lunch buffets!

Tried some of the items when Garden Cafe had a seafood themed dinner buffet. Fish cakes, seafood casserole, and salmon bisque.

There was also an Asian noodle soup station which I enjoyed. There seemed to be some daily variation here in terms of broth and noodles. I saw udon, ramen, and pho.

Desserts:

The Local:

This was the only restaurant serving food 24 hours a day on the Bliss. I enjoyed almost everything I ate at The Local with one exception.

Rachel Sandwich and Pretzel Bites.

Caesar Salad

Watermelon Greek Salad and Turkey Pot Pie

Fish & Chips. This was the only meal from The Local that I didn't enjoy. The batter on the fish was thicker than the fish itself and was soggy rather than crispy. The french fries were also on the soggy side.

Taco Salad. Beef, beans, salsa, guacamole, and cilantro served over rice, all in a taco bowl.

Watermelon Greek Salad. This was one of my favorite salads I had on the Norwegian Bliss. The sweet watermelon mixed with the salty feta, kalamata olives, and vinegar was very nice.

Carrot Cake

The Manhattan, Taste, and Savor:

These were the three main dining rooms on the Norwegian Bliss. These were the fanciest restaurants on the boat which didn't have an upcharge. Each location had a different name, but each had the exact same menu for each day. Like the Garden Cafe, some foods at these restaurants were hit or miss.

Breakfast was consistently better at Taste and Savor compared to the Garden Cafe. You got service, presentation, and items that didn't make it to a buffet.

French toast:

Bagel with lox.

Eggs Benedict.

Strawberry Yogurt Parfait.

Smoked Salmon and Dill Spinach Pancakes. This was my favorite breakfast aboard the ship. I am a big fan of savory pancakes, and this combination of spinach-green tinted pancakes, salty fish, and sour cream topping was delicious.

Breakfast Casserole. This seemed like an interesting variation on an English breakfast. Baked beans and sausage topped with a poached egg. Not my favorite, but it was interesting regardless. 

I think I preferred breakfast in these restaurants a bit more than dinner. Dinners weren't necessary bad, they just had the feel of mass-produced convention center type food. I had an appetizer with every meal in these restaurants at dinnertime. Here's some of them:

Scallops:

Fig and Goat Cheese Flatbread:

Baked Brie:

Matzo Ball Soup (I question the Kosherness of this soup):

Stuffed Mushrooms:

Tostadas - I think nachos would be a more appropriate name since these were basically tortilla chips topped with stuff:

Spring Rolls:

Vegetable Tempura Rolls:

Here's some of the dinner entrees I ate:

Lamb Shank:

Salmon:

Shrimp and Grits:

Eggplant Parmesan:

Pad Thai:

Various desserts from Taste, Savor, and The Manhattan:

Overall, the food on the Norwegian Bliss was decent. There were definitely some hits and misses when it came to menu items, especially at dinners in the dining rooms. Definitely better food compared to what I've had on Carnival ships.

Cody Jack's Seafood in Clermont, FL

I ate at Cody Jack's Seafood in Clermont, FL, not far from the Citrus Tower. Before entering the restaurant, I snapped a picture of the S.S. Oyster Bar in Cody Jack's parking lot.

Inside, Cody Jack's was a bit more of a bar than I was expecting. They had a very loud football games playing on their projection screens. Lots of alcohol was flowing, and eventually a band began to set up. For some reason, I wasn't getting the bar vibe from the outside of the restaurant. It wasn't a big deal though.

I ordered a crab cake dinner. It came with two really good crab cakes, really flavorful and plenty of crab meat in them. For the two sides, I choose the collard greens and cheese grits. I realized after ordering that my sides seemed really southern, not that it matters. The collards were bitter and could have used some more flavoring, but I liked the grits. You can't go wrong with cornmeal mixed with cheese!

I enjoyed my meal at Cody Jack's!

While writing this post, I found out this restaurant has a miniature golf course out back. If I knew that, I would have played a round of golf!

Carnival Sensation Food

I went on a four day cruise out of Port Canaveral to the Bahamas. The food was decent, although Royal Caribbean cruise ships definitely have better food. Here is a sampling of what I ate:

Lunch Buffet, Day 1:



Smoked Salmon Bagel:

Fried Food:

Sushi:



Cheesecake:

Dinner, Day 1:
Duck appetizer, cream of broccoli soup, and baby back ribs...



Melting Chocolate Cake:

Anchovies and Caper Pizza:


Breakfast Day 2:

Leaving the cruise ship, here is some Bahamian Ginger Ale bought from a roadside stand outside of Lucayan National Park on Grand Bahama...


Lunch Buffet, Day 2:




Dinner, Day 2:
Pumpkin Soup, Greek Salad, Lobster tail, Shrimp, and Black Forest Cake...





Breakfast, Day 3:

Tasty tropical fruit outside of Fort Fincastle in Nassau, Bahamas.

Lunch Buffet, Day 3:

Ice Cream from Atlantis in Nassau:

Midnight Mexican Buffet:

Lunch, Day 4

Dessert Sushi:

Ice Cream Swan:

More anchovy and caper pizza:

Chicken Tenders, beans, and nachos:

Another Smoked Salmon Sandwich:

Middle of the Night Sourkraut and Sloppy Joes:

And the very last Breakfast buffet: