Cruise Cuisine – Sapphire

After a tiring day of walking and bussing about in Montego Bay, we settled in for supper with our sunburns and big grins. It was time to chat together about our day’s excursions while our meal was presented to us with leisurely decorum.

We admittedly got a little crazy with ordering items to try this night, but fortunately had table companions who were willing to help consume it all.

Appetisers

Cannelloni filled with Ricotta, bacon, and shaved Parmesan.

 

Lovely, salty cured ham with sweet and mellow cantaloupe is a definite taste treat.

Prosciutto ruffles over sweet melon.

 

It wasn’t as if there had not already been jerk chicken that day, but there just had to be more. The sauce was not as spicy hot as the one we had sampled on shore, but it was extremely tasty, nonetheless.

Jerk chicken wings with jicama slaw

 

I’ve tried ox tongue and beef tongue before now and found it to be chewy and not to my liking. This dish changed all that. The tongue was as tender and flavorful as any well roasted cut of beef I have ever put into my mouth. It fairly fell apart without chewing.

Braised Ox Tongue with onion marmalade.

 

Main Courses

Salmon Cakes with lemon, capers and sour cream.

Grilled Beef Tenderloin in a red wine reduction with polenta.

Caribbean Shrimp Curry (mild) with coconut rice, lemon grass and chilies.

Desserts

This may have been the most outstanding dessert we tried on the ship, even among all of the truly delicious temptations we had been offered. The warm brioche simply melted in your mouth.

Sticky Toffee Brioche with vanilla crème and strawberry sauces.

 

Mango Cream Cake with fresh fruit salsa and mint. Another lower calorie,  no sugar added item.

 

S’mores Parfait featuring dark chocolate, graham cracker mousse, milk chocolate, and toasted marshmallow.

 

 

There was simply too much to tease our palates with, and we definitely tried to taste everything!

— Ann Cathey

Cruise Cuisine – Jamaica

When one visits another country, it’s expected that you will look up local foods to try out. In Jamaica, that food would have to be jerked. Jerk chicken, goat, or conch matters not – you have to try something jerked at least once.

We only had one opportunity, and it turned out to be a good one. At the back end of the Shoppes at Rose Hall lies a large deck with a bar at the back end. That deck and bar offer some very tasty jerk indeed.

The jerk chicken was plentiful, served with a couple of corn fritters and some generously hot and flavorful sauce. My partner and I were able to enjoy not only the signature dish of Jamaica, but had the added bonus of washing down with a Red Stripe.

 

We were able to explore the duty-free shops in the complex as well, most of them being typical of the tourist trade. There was a coffee house featuring Blue Mountain and High mountain coffees in both whole bean and ground varieties, several shops offering the gamut of tchotchkes from t-shirts to shot glasses, and the ever present round of jewelers.

One enterprising gentleman had a sidewalk display of wooden sculptures, two of which followed me home.

There was a vendor of fresh coconut, which he hacked open for visitors with a machete.

There were a few history lessons available.

Of course there were several individuals sporting local color.

 

Jamaica is an amazing place, even from what little we were able to cram into a single days visit. There is so much more to see, and we hope to be able to go back again and again.

–Ann Cathey