Danube Christmas Market Eastbound

MardiGrasBob

We are booked on the 6 Dec departure and we have heard that the meals onboard are standard American fare. We understand that there is no regional fare offered. Is this accurate?

jdurkin

Well, while I haven't taken a Christmas Markets journey ... yet ..., I have sailed from Amsterdam to Bucharest and from Basel to Amsterdam, via the Mosel. I can tell you that on both those journeys the chefs managed to showcase the local fare and often managed to tally it with the precise area being travelled through that day. Same goes for the wine served at dinner. As a fairly knowledgeable foodie, I think the chefs did the most marvellous job with the regional cuisine. I can't say that I remember American food on the first trip, but last year on the Rhine & the Mosel, as well as the exquisite European cuisine, a selection of standard, American-styled food was offered every night. In effect this meant simple steak, fish, pasta & chicken dishes were added to the normal, table d'hôte menus, providing something for everyone including those preferring a blander diet. (This is in addition to any particular dietary issues which the chefs delt with individually.) Plus, I do recall hot dogs were served in the bistro for lunch one day!

For the Christmas Markets specifically, I'm sure similar principles would apply. If you read the details of the itinerary for the various Christmas Markets trips you see multiple references to gluhwein! I can only assume similar attention will be paid to Christmastime foods! Bon appetite!

Cheers,

Jan

Claudia Sails

I've only done the Rhone and was very happy with the meals - especially dinner. Since "American Food" encompasses cuisine from our melting pot of cultures it's pretty hard to come up with a definition of it. Breakfast had all the usual choices of eggs, pancakes, etc plus lots of cheese, fruit, pastry, etc. Lunch had a hot entry (prime rib, fresh cooked fish), a daily soup, pasta, and sandwich plus salad bar. Some regional choices there like croque-monsieur.

The dinner menus generally offered a featured meat/poultry offering, a fish, and a vegetarian choice. For those who wanted something very plain they also offered a grilled steak or salmon. I never bothered with those as the featured items were always interesting. One regional item was Bresse chicken - a special and delicious french chicken. I'd say dinner was comparable to what you'd find at an upscale/gourmet restaurant, but not anything outside most Americans comfort zone (I don't plan to ever eat sweetbreads, offal, etc)

British

Claudia, I was raised on sweetbreads, tripe, kidney, liver and oxtail, a true Northern Englander! Miss my steak and kidney pudding from the Chippie! Perhaps just as well health wise!

Claudia Sails

"Raised on" being the operative words. I was raised on chicken fried steak and meatloaf. Not exactly health food either.

Should have said I don't plan to eat offal since I spent 2 years in Japan and tried some fairly out there foods including puffer fish. Thankfully it was prepared correctly and safe.

If you ever come out to NM, you should try Menudo.