Cruising Through Spring Break

Last week, I ate like a Hobbit.

In the J.R.R Tolkien books, Hobbits ate six meals a day. In the Peter Jackson movies, they had seven. There was first breakfast, second breakfast, Elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper.

I managed to enjoy most of those this week.

My son and I are just back from a four night round trip cruise out of Los Angeles.  We drove to LA mainly to say goodbye to my daughter, who headed out this week for a five-week study abroad adventure in French Polynesia.  She will get academic credit for snorkeling every day!  (And doing other work, too, I know. But still! The snorkeling!) I found an amazing deal on a Spring break cruise that corresponded with her departure date. Ports of call on our cruise were Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico (although the sea was so rough on our Catalina day that we weren’t able to actually go to the island. The little tender ships that ferry passengers over from the big ship were unable to run because of safety concerns.)

Primarily, the main activity one does on cruise ships? At least for us?

It was the eating.

It is very difficult not to eat too much on a cruise ship.

There is so much food! And it is carefully prepared and served by waitstaff who pull out your chair and put your napkin on your lap and say “Yes, of course!” when you hesitantly ask if it might be possible to have two appetizers, please? Which explains why I had French onion soup and a shrimp cocktail one night, and coconut crusted shrimp and a Caesar salad another. I noticed that a young man sitting near us even ordered two entrees one night: a New York steak and a pesto pasta dish. I wasn’t bold enough to do that, but will keep it in mind for next time if we ever go again.

That is just the meals that are served in the main dining room. My son and I enjoyed lunch in the main dining room one day, and then a few hours later were slightly unfull so we took a trip through the buffet on one of the ship’s upper levels for more desserts, delicious Indian curry dishes, steak, strawberries, made to order hamburgers and hot dogs, pastas. Just about anything you could imagine. We ordered room service continental breakfast one morning with juice and fruit, hot tea and toast, and then a few hours later went to the buffet for second breakfast.

I can’t imagine anyone not being perfectly satisfied with the food options that were included with our cruise package. But just in case you needed a Johnny Rockets fix, there was one of those restaurants on the pool deck where people paid extra for hamburgers and milkshakes (even though they had made to order cheeseburgers at the buffet which was just steps away). Also a Starbucks if the ship coffee wasn’t good enough for you, and a Ben and Jerry’s if the soft serve by the pool didn’t suffice. There were numerous other restaurants on the ship where you could eat for a fee, ones that specialized in Italian dishes (Jamie Oliver had a signature restaurant there), sushi, seafood, and steaks (if the New York steak that was an option every evening in the dining room was lacking.)

I was reminded of a job I had in college my junior year. I was a food R.A for a few months. This meant that I got my own single room (bonus!), got paid, and had the responsibility of going to the dining hall several times a week to make sure the food service company was honoring their contract (a vegetarian option at every meal? Check! Fifty fresh items on the salad bar? Check! Cereals out in the morning! Check!). I also had to talk with students to get their opinions on the food and write down their comments.

It didn’t take me long to realize that college students can be whiny. It didn’t matter what the food service folks presented, there were always people who complained.

I imagine that there were people who complained on the cruise, too. Two of our waitstaff informed us that we would be receiving a survey from the cruise company at the conclusion of our cruise, and asked us to please rate the dining room food and service with tens if we had been satisfied with our experience (and to please tell them now if we weren’t!). I assured them that of course, they would receive tens, because they had been wonderful. How could anyone say anything different?

But there must be evaluations that come back with negative comments. Because people are people, and there will be some folks who are never satisfied, even if they are on a luxurious ship with dedicated waitstaff who are doing their best to make you happy.

I filled out my survey this morning. I gave everyone tens. But I had to lie a little, because there was  question that asked, “Did anybody on staff inform you of this survey and ask you to give a certain rating?”

Umm.

No?

 

Because although I am committed to honesty, it is more important to me that a hardworking crew member who signs a six month or nine month work contract, who is away from home  for that time, and who is apparently a little stressed (maybe even fearful?) about the ramifications of receiving even an “8” or “9” ranking on a survey? It matters more that they are cared for and treated well, not reprimanded or rebuked because of  survey results. I made sure to give our housekeeper a 10, and also the cruise activities director, who was from Peru. The ship had staff from many countries: photographers from India, waitstaff from the Philippines, housekeepers from all over Africa.

It is good to be home today. I had eggs for breakfast. Just eggs. Not eggs with a bite of fancy European muesli or a blueberry yogurt parfait, along with a little taste of the Indian spiced lentils that showed up at breakfast every morning, or bacon, or regular sausage, or chicken sausage. Did I mention that the scale  inched up a few pounds when I weighed myself this morning? It’s OK, though. I enjoyed every bite of the desserts I ate: the carrot cake, the crème brulee, the dark chocolate mousse. They put bread and butter on the table with every dining room meal, and I ate that, too. I probably had more bread in our four days on the ship than I’ve had in the last six months of eating on my own.

Also, I learned something about myself from the plethora of options at the buffet. Given nearly endless choices, I always gravitated toward the same foods. I had smoked salmon for breakfast. I had smoked salmon for lunch. I had baked fish whenever I saw it. I didn’t know I liked fish so much! I had a few bites of the Indian spiced curried chicken dishes, and the Caribbean beef stew, but it was the fish that I kept going back to. My son repeatedly filled his plate with things that I didn’t even know he liked. Lots of toast! And whole apples. It gives me good information for my next grocery shopping trip.

It’s fun to eat like a Hobbit, for a short time anyway. The time with my son without the distraction of our phones and internet was priceless for sure. But I’m left with a strange sort of sadness that I didn’t mention on my after-cruise survey; there wasn’t a space for that. Of course it was a vacation. Of course people like to eat and lay out by the pool on their holidays. There was just so much, though. So much food. So much alcohol consumed by our fellow cruisers. So many crew members working so hard to be pleasant, to ensure that we had a lovely time. Workers from all over the world, who probably would never be able to afford to take a cruise with their families like we did.

Honestly, it’s not something that we  normally would do, either.  I think the cruise industry is still in recovery mode from the Covid pandemic cruise ship debacle, and is offering deep discounts through discount companies. We got an amazing deal. But we did not go down to the “Next Cruise” office to book our next cruise at “up to a $600 savings!”  We will not be serial cruisers like some folks who had oceanview cabins on our floor (We had an inside cabin. Perfectly comfortable, but small, and without a view).  They knew that the room doors would be magnetic, so they brought along banners and signs for decorations. “The Smith Family!” one door said, “We’re cruising with Mickey!” along with a sleeve of lollipops that read, “Ships ahoy! Take a lolli to enjoy! (for cruisers and staff, the fine print read)”

This wasn’t a Disney cruise, but I guess it was good enough for them, even though Mickey was nowhere to be found.

Interestingly enough, my daughter and I bought some smoked salmon when she was home last time. It had been sitting in the refrigerator, waiting for the right time to enjoy it. So I pulled it out today and had some with my breakfast eggs, just like I did on my cruise mornings.  Mostly, though? It’s nice to be back in the world of simple food. It’s good to skip lunch right now, because I’m not hungry yet, and not to feel like I’m missing out. There’s no chocolate mousse cake here, or fresh baked bread, and I’m OK with that.  Yes, it’s lovely to be waited on, and it was a luxury, a treat, to be out on the ocean. But it’s also good to be home.