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Food Menus and Wine, Beer and Liquor Lists
I can't find any information on the Tauck website, or forums regarding food menus, and wine beer and Liquor lists. I'm on the Treasures cruise embarking Amsterdam on August 8th and would find this information useful. Will Tauck make this information available prior to the cruise and does anyone here have this information. TIA.
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I’ve been on one river cruise and one expedition cruise and have never been provided with such prior to the cruise.
Tauck does not publish pre-tour menus. Their focus is on locally available ingredients and regional specialties depending on the tour.
Always plenty of fresh fruit, yogurt and traditional egg/meat breakfasts for the American palate. A myriad of fresh salads and soup for lunch.
Dinners are what you would expect from fine restaurants and always delicious in my opinion.
For those who prefer heavier items, the casual Arthur’s has burgers, fries and the like.
I do not drink hard liquor so can’t comment on that. I have never been dissatisfied with their wine offerings.
For those with dietary restrictions, the chef will meet with you to understand those restrictions.
Zich6- Unless you are looking for the very high end liquors, Tauck will have them. I know they have Grey Goose vodka and equivalents. If you have a specific request, they will try to get it in the next stop if possible. kfnkfzk did a great job regarding the menu. There is also a station at the end of the buffet for omelets, etc.
You will not be hungry or thirsty. All of your beverages are included. The last two cruises we have done, every passenger or couple have met with the chef and staff on the embarkation day. If you are staying early at the Tauck hotel, breakfast is included.
Breakfast: You will go to the main dining area. Buffet style with a larger selection of juice, bread/pastries, fruit, cereal, lunch meat, yogurt... There will also be some standard hot items as well.You have the option of ordering hot items from the kitchen such as eggs any form, pancakes, French toast. The wait staff will bring you coffee. The staff will know your preferences by the end. Alternatively you can have limited options at Arthurs.
Lunch: if you are on the ship for lunch it is typically a buffet style with some speciality items served at the galley entrance. Wide selection of options for all food categories. If you are out for the day they will either give you recommendations and usually 20 Euro or they will be a restaurant with a semi set menu.
Pre dinner/dinner: Depending on the day you may have an afternoon food activity. Just prior to dinner there will be an information session on tomorrow's activities along with a cocktail hour. This will include nuts and your seating area as well light horderves. There may be a specialty item offered as well for example one night we had oysters. Wide assortment of drink options. The wine list is very good in my opinion. Beer selection is more limited. You can alway buy beer/wine when out and have it in your room if there is a particular brew/vintage you are interested in. During the pre dinner the Matordee will tell you the speciality and the specific wine pairing for the evening. Usually a local wine both red and white. Most nights you then go to dinner when you are ready. For groups of 6 or more ask ahead for a table. When you are seated you will be asked if you would like the two wines that are paired or something else. You will be given a menu and served bread. All meals are soup/salad, main course and desert. There are standard items on the menu every night and then 3 specialty items for that day. There will be at least one chef dinner when everyone is seated at the same time. On 5 river cruises I have never been disappointed. You always have the option of going to Arthurs for a casual dinner.
Your night out in Vienna is awesome. This is the only event I really thought a blazer was a must.
After dinner there typically be entertainment and again drinks are included and the wait staff will ask you what you would like.
I have some of the chef and captains menus but not with me. I may be able to post them in a day or two. If there is something specific you want the matordee may be able to get it.
Thanks all, very helpful.
I failed to mention the occasional educational lecture with tastings—chocolates in France and beer in Belgium, to name just a few. The cooking demonstrations are always fun and interactive as well. They usually have at least one ice cream social in the lounge after dinner, sometimes a specialty such as flambéed Cherries Jubilee. Always fun!
Here are the Chef dinner menus from our last two cruises.
Those menus make me anxious in a good way for our next cruise later this year.
Fyi for zich6 the chef signature dinners have fewer choices but more courses than the average nights on board. Usually 2 starters, 2 soups , 3-5 mains, a dessert but also ice creams/sorbets to choose from.
We've always been very happy with the food and drink on the ships. It may not be the most exotic gourmet choices but definitely a chance to taste local dishes and drinks.
I gained 10 pounds just reading the above menus! LOL.....Beautiful offerings!
The menus look superb and the comments are very helpful, thanks.
Forgive me, Ben, but I cannot find Matordee as an alternative spelling for maître d', short for maître d'hôtel.
As @Ben mentioned above, at dinner you will be offered selected wines, one red and one white, that change from night to night based on the locale and/or entrees. However, you can also ask for a wine list to select from, which was available on the cruises that I took. Another example, if you enjoyed a particular wine the day before at dinner, or maybe in the lounge, you can ask for it again at dinner and if it is available they will serve it for you. My experience is that if it is on the boat they'll make the effort to get it for you.
sorry for the spelling error. I didn't think it looked right but had googled the spelling and did not notice it had autocorrected the spelling when it pulled up the definition. My middle school nun would be upset with me.
Champagne will be offered or available at all times. (Champagne, not Prosecco or Cava.) We had a whiskey tasting one afternoon in Arthur's to highlight what they offered on board. The chefs work hard on the boat preparing everything fresh. At one port we watched as they loaded a large crate of pumpkins onto the boat. The following evening, they had been turned into our pumpkin soup. We also had a special chocolate night where the pastry chef made at least 12+ special chocolate desserts which were served in the lounge after dinner as a "buffet." There was also a crepe night after one of the dinners.
It's a good idea to look at the wine display area in the restaurant as you can spot wines you'd prefer or would just like to try and then request them with your dinner. We were never told no. Once we found a few favorites, we enjoyed rotating through them. They did surprise us on one of the final nights with an excellent Chateauneuf du Pape that they had either recently brought on board or had hidden away. We also enjoyed a glass of port most nights after dinner in the lounge.
If you are interested in the meals and how the operation works, the ship will often offer a guided tour of the galley area and explain how they operate, where do the recipes come from, how much latitude does the chef have, etc. It's interesting. I was fortunate on one cruise to chat with the sommelier on the ship as a group of us were following the chef to a fish market. He explained that he worked with the chef to select the wines and had a lot of latitude to make choices. Our first cruise I was just in a happy state oblivious to how it all worked but have found it interesting to learn more about how they operate, where the ship's staff learns their trade, and what it's like for them working on the ships.
Our Tauck riverboat dining experiences have been uniformly excellent, as everyone has posted. We had one chef (Fenna Hummel) on 2 cruises (Seine River & also Rhine cruise); she was awesome. You just can’t go wrong: local wines paired with amazing entrees. Can’t decide? Get both entrees or at least ask for a taste of another entree. More wine? Just say the word! Save room for dessert!
Interestingly, the Tauck riverboat cuisine (and wine) were (in our opinion) clearly superior to the Ponant Bougainvillea cuisine and wine (Treasures of the Mediterranean cruise).