They say you should "Eat Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, and Dinner Like a Pauper.
Well, if you spent a day on a cruise ship with me, you'd soon realise that:
- I eat at least 7 meals in 24 hours
- I start off eating like a princess and end the night smashing down pizzas in bed like an ogre.
Breakfast 1
We arrived just before 9am and were seated immediately. There was a hum of activity, and pretty soon we were handed a menu. There are two sections:
- Sweet - Just Like You
- Savoury - You Can't Say No to Bacon
Now, before you place your order with a waiter, another waiter - laden with a tray of pastries, breads and muffins - arrives. As a sweet tooth, I love this feature, plus it helps me to choose my 'real' breakfast while I'm chewing flaky yum yums. The platter includes an assortment that any fussy eater would find at least one thing that they'd like. I always go for a croissant (oh, one day Paris) or a fruit-filled danish. As an added bonus, the pastries are only mini-sized, so you can have two (or three or four) and not feel like too much of a glutton.
At the same time, another waiter takes your coffee, tea and drink order. You can order orange, apple or pineapple juice. You can even ask for a mix of juices if you want to be special. The coffee is the percolator variety, so if you're after a proper coffee, grab one from Charlie's Bar on Deck 5 or The Cafe on Deck 12.
As a tea aficionada, I was in desperate need of a good cup of tea. I knew one cup would not cut it, and as I was acting the Pampered Princess, I asked the lovely waitress if I could get a pot. Yes, I know I'm demanding, but in my mind, it would save the lovely server countless trips back to the Pampered Princess. I only ever get served a meal on my birthday and Mother's Day in my house, so if I wanted to be little self-indulgent, then I wanted the motherfunking pot. I got the pot.
The food - I ordered the Wild Berry and Ricotta Pancakes with Rosewater Marscapone. As I'm ethnically Arab, the word 'rosewater' flashed at me and kick-started the salivary glands. I was delighted with the pancakes which were light and fluffy. The marscapone was nicely perfumed with the rosewater, but I would have added a few more drops of the heavenly essence.
For my third course (pastry, pancakes being first and second), I ordered the Creamed Maple Scrambled Eggs with Crispy Bacon and toast. Warning! Do NOT order this if you do not have a sweet tooth. I love maple syrup and there was a copious amount on this dish. I absolutely loved the presentation and the bacon was super crispy. The eggs were very creamy, but I couldn't get through it all due to the pool of sweetness - and maybe because I had already eaten two courses!
All four of us really enjoyed breakfast, no complaints only compliments. Courteous, efficient staff as always. However, I did notice the staff were all super busy, so there wasn't any time for pleasantries and the usual chit-chat I engage in with everyone. Then again, I could talk underwater.
A standout dish was the Persian Feta and Smashed Avocado with Poached Eggs and Bacon on Soy and Linseed bread Mrs S ordered. It was totally smashing.
Breakfast 2
We'd been up to watch the sunrise on our last morning, so we arrived at the Waterfront quite early, about 8am. By the time we had finished eating, the Pearl had already docked at White Bay 😞. I was feeling rather sorry for myself that the weekend was over and knew the only thing that would make me happy was cake. So I ordered it, well not cake, but bread - banana bread. Well, it's kinda like cake and it made me supremely happy. Once again, bathed in maple syrup, I'd warn against ordering it if you do not like sweets for breaky. Nice texture, not too heavy and good banana flavour.
For my savoury selection, and tempted by the word 'polenta' (I had the best polenta with my dinner a few nights before), I chose the omelette with polenta and sausages. NB The disembarkation day menu was limted and had different dishes to the menu I posted at the top of the page. I'm sad to report, the polenta was tasteless, season-less and gloopy. I picked around it for a while and gave up. The dish wasn't to my palate, but I'm sure others would enjoy it.
And that's breakfast. Great service, great selection and wonderful tea. Once again, I have to reiterate how lucky I felt beings served a THREE course breakfast. No whinging, no serving the kids, no washing up and no cooking. Enjoy the treat of eating Breakfast Like a King (or Princess) when you're aboard, and if you're still hungry, run up to the Plantation buffet and grab something else or maybe just a cappuccino out on the deck.
Signing off, the no-longer-Pampered-Princess.
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