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June15
Speaking of Italian, top-notch thin-
crust pizzas are served all day in
Alfredo’s Pizzeria, and at no extra
charge. And on the last night, we
enjoy a marvellous four-course meal at
Sabatini’s: a cone of crispy calamari for
me and a perfectly creamy burrata for
Roy; impeccably light manicotti stuffed
with spinach and ricotta; a veal chop for
Roy and lobster three ways for me. (A
month later, I’m still racked with regret
that I was too full to try the zabaglione.)
A stupefying amount of food is put
away at the vast Horizon Court buffet,
open from 5am to 11pm, and the
standard is fairly good. We far prefer the
more intimate International Café in the
buzzy Piazza, however, where they serve
great cappuccinos along with toasted
sandwiches, patisserie and more.
We find the service fine on the whole,
sometimes excellent, but unfortunately
– perhaps due to the on-job training
that’s going on – decidedly inconsistent.
That said, it must be a huge challenge
to provide a uniformly good service
experience for passengers from such a
wide variety of cultures, especially given
Dining
When you book your cruise, you’re
asked to choose between Anytime
dining and Traditional dining. The
Traditional option means you dine
in the International restaurant at the
same table at the same time with the
same people for the duration of your
journey: perhaps more convenient for
families or larger groups. Most couples,
though, might prefer to dine Anytime
and wherever they like.
They suggest booking your dinner
table ahead, but we never find that
necessary on this cruise, except in the
two fine-dining restaurants – Sabatini’s
and Sterling Steakhouse – for which you
pay an extra US$25.
On a short cruise like this, the same
menu is served up at all five main
restaurants: the International, the Savoy,
the Vivaldi, the Pacific Moon and the
Santa Fe; but the themed menu is
different each night. For example, our
first dinner is at the Savoy (supposedly
British in décor and ambience), and the
theme is Italian. The standard, by the
way, is generally very good.