Emerald Star – Food Glorious Food

Our cruise on Emerald Star started in Nuremberg and I have to say the mooring point for most river cruise ships here is not the most picturesque in the world to put it mildly, although the town itself looks really pretty.At least the sun was shining as we settled into our cabins and started our journey down the river towards Budapest.

Our next stop was Kelheim and a visit to Weltenbug Abbey, but before then we had our first night on board Emerald Star with lots to look forward to. Food is always a very important part of any holiday and cruising is no exception, our Star was not to disappoint.

Dinner on the first evening was a buffet served in the main restaurant Reflections. This is a lovely bright area with white tablecloths and sparkling glasses. Personally I am always a little wary of buffets, on ship or anywhere for that matter, but I have to say this was excellent and, as most of us had a really early start to the day, the casual atmosphere in the restaurant on the first evening was just right. The food was beautifully presented with an excellent array of fresh salads, soup and breads. The chef was on hand to cook the most gorgeous garlic prawns I`ve ever tasted, along with lovely roast meats, potatoes and a good variety of vegetables. The style and type of food in the evening was always geared to where we were on the river, what was going on each evening and local specialities were always included in the menu.

Breakfast in the morning was equally good, either a full buffet served in Reflections from 0700 to 0900am or a light breakfast served in the Horizon Lounge from 0630 until 1000am. I usually chose the light option as it was nice to sit at the front of the ship enjoying the view as we sailed along the river .Here you can have muesli, yoghurts and smoothies, scrambled eggs , croissants and pastries. The coffee ! This ship has the most amazing coffee machine in the Horizon Lounge that is available 24 hours a day with a really good selection of drinks to chose from.

Most days we came back to the ship for lunch, this was again either a full buffet in the restaurant or a light lunch in the lounge. The food was everything from sandwiches and burgers to meats and fish, again loads of salad and pasta freshly cooked for you by the smiling chef. Local specialities included fabulous sausages, the white ones were particularly good as were the puddings and cheeses.

On four evenings dinner was waiter service in the mainrestaurant, always a choice of 3 starters and desert or cheese to finish. The Captain`s Welcome and Farewell dinners were especially good with up to 7 courses if you could manage them ! The lamb main course on the Welcome Evening was some of the best I have ever tasted. If you couldn’t find anything on the menu that you liked there was always a choice of steak, grilled salmon and a vegetarian pasta to chose from. I tried both the steak and the salmon, both were lovely and cooked to perfection. We had an opportunity to visit the galley on the Emerald Star and were amazed to see how small and spotlessly clean it was.

Wine and beer is included with both lunch an dinner, local to the area the ship is sailing through with always a good dry white and a red on offer, free flowing too! I don`t really drink beer but was assured by my colleagues that it was really good to – well they drank enough of it so they should be experts on the subject !

Last, but definitely not least, the staff! They were wonderful, friendly smiling and nothing was too much trouble for them. We tended to dine at the same table every evening but you can move around if you wish, there is no fixed seating on the river, and our waiters quickly got used too what we liked an didn’t`t, putting up with us normally being the last table left every evening!I really can`t praise the food and staff enough, and if you really were still hungry along they came with late night snacks in the bar too! Don`t go on this ship if you are on a diet!