Freedom of choice: NCL's "Freestyle Cruising" revolutionizes shipboard dining - Sailing With The Chefs - Norwegian Cruise Line

Dressing up for the captain's welcome party, dining with the same passengers at early or late seating, Broadway-style and variety shows, diverse activities onboard, and tours and excursions ashore are all well-established cruise traditions.

But now Norwegian Cruise Line has put a spin on the traditional experience with its "Freestyle Cruising" concept. A dramatic departure from past formality and schedules, a cruise vacation on NCL resembles a stay at a top hotel combined with the best cruising has to offer. Although there's at least one formal night for those who enjoy dressing for dinner, resort casual attire is the role. Flexible dining hours with open seating at different restaurants and countless events onboard and ashore permit planning days and nights to the fullest---or you can simply relax.

NCL's two, new large ships--the Norwegian Star and Norwegian Sun--were purpose-built in 2001 to implement this novel idea. You'll find more dining venues, bars, lounges, and a larger staff--where gratuities added automatically to the bill eliminate the need to sit at one table with one waiter.

While most cruise ships provide a "taste of the world" by serving international dishes, NCL's specialty restaurants provide a closer look at foreign favorites with miso soup at breakfast, Indian buffet at lunch, and escargot for dinner. The first ship to offer Freestyle Cruising, the Norwegian Sky has been making waves since 1999 with her resort-like atmosphere and six restaurants. In addition to two main dining rooms serving international and regional specialties, vegetarian and "Cooking Light" dishes, there are inviting buffets at the cafe and three alternative by-reservation dining venues seating 80 to 90 with a cover charge.

An intimate ambiance, better service, gourmet products, and more dishes cooked to order--like a shoreside restaurant--distinguish these small eateries. Le Bistro has contemporary and classic French fare, Horizon features an Italian-Mediterranean menu, and Ciao Chow offers Asian cuisine from Asian-style pizza to traditional sushi prepared with fresh fish (air freighted) from Japan. Passengers develop preferences, dining several nights at their favorite restaurant, trying different menu items, or repeating a favorite. (It's advised to make reservations early.) Flexible dining hours and more restaurant options provide the opportunity for such higher quality, leisurely meals. Dishes are prepared in smaller quantities, more a la minute, since the kitchen isn't rushed to serve 2,000 people in four hours.

The Norwegian Sky kitchen brigade of 200 hails from 22 countries, and turns out dishes that reflect seasonal and regional flavors. On Alaska cruises, fish and seafood are popular with fresh salmon and halibut vying with the runaway favorite lobster (85 to 90 percent of the passengers order the eight-ounce Florida lobster tails). But the Pacific Rim restaurants on the Norwegian Star and Norwegian Sun feature fresh 174- to 1 h-pound Maine lobsters directly from their lobster tanks, the first such tanks at sea.

Although NCL typically has offered cruises to Alaska, Bermuda, Canada/New England, and the Caribbean, recent plans to visit 140 ports--including more exotic destinations worldwide--have been shelved since 9-11. NCL schedules now provide many cruises originating from U.S. and Canadian ports that include shorter flights for North Americans--part of a program NCL calls "Homeland Cruising."

Since the Norwegian Star is cruising Hawaiian waters full time, with fleetmates sailing there seasonally, there's a greater interest in Hawaiian, Californian, and Asian cuisine. The line's list of Asian ingredients has expanded dramatically. Potstickers, shiitake mushrooms, napa cabbage, soba and rice noodles, baby shrimp, and spicy sambal oeleck and soy are offered daily at the Garden Cafe so passengers can design their own soup bowls.

Major provisions are loaded in Seattle or Vancouver for Alaskan cruises, Boston for Bermuda, New York for the Eastern Seaboard, and Miami for Caribbean destinations. Delicacies loaded in Honolulu may include chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, papaya, and pineapple. Previously NCL brought perishable fruits and vegetables onboard for worldwide cruises in Barcelona, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Dover, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Piraeus, and Valparaiso.

To provide 12,000 pounds of beef, 10,000 pounds of poultry, 9,500 pounds of seafood, 2,500 pounds of veal, 25,000 pounds each of fresh vegetables and fruit, and 24,000 dozen eggs weekly on the Norwegian Sun, astronomical amounts of food are procured. It's hard to imagine the busy crew bustling in galley prep areas continuously round-the-clock, readying the food that is presented so effortlessly to passengers.

While many other cruise lines have discontinued the gala midnight buffet, NCL continues with this cruise custom. The signature Chocoholic Buffet is a highlight showcasing chocolate black and white cheesecake, chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate velvet cake, chocolate-chip cookies, an ice-cream sundae bar, perhaps the award-winning Kentucky chocolate cake, and many more.

Warm-weather destinations mean luncheon buffets poolside. Country & western tables are laden with potato, corn, and bean salads, corn on the cob, baked beans, barbecued beef and pork ribs, chicken, pies, and cakes. Conch salad, escovitch fish, jerk chicken, red snapper, rice and beans, fried plantains, and suckling pig make the Caribbean buffet one to remember.

Coffee and tea--even pizza--are offered around the clock, and 24-hour room service is available at no extra charge (except for a gratuity). Many passengers enjoy breakfast in their cabins, especially those with balconies. And now there's no need to order room service just to escape the "formal night." Enjoy cabin service for the pleasure of private dining with your loved one. Those who do so say that it's memorable.

While nowadays many cruise ships have two alternative restaurants, NCL has more dining options than days in the week. On the Norwegian Sky, early-risers can find coffee and cinnamon rolls in the Ciao Chow Restaurant, a breakfast buffet in the Garden Cafe, continental breakfast in the Great Outdoor Restaurant, and full breakfast in the main dining rooms. Snacks are served in the cafe in the afternoons. Then there are cocktail parties and Asian platters in the Observation Lounge, plus tapas in the wine bar. (On the Norwegian Star and Norwegian Sun, tapas are also offered in Las Ramblas before dinner, and later at midnight buffets.) Presidential favorites created by Henry Haller, White House executive chef to five former presidents, are featured one evening in the main dining rooms. Vegetarian specialties at lunch go beyond a plate of steamed vegetables to forest mushroom crepes, vegetable moussaka, and Thai tofu curry. And veggie burgers are always available.

More passengers also are looking at the low-fat, low-calorie "Cooking Light" cuisine with a dedicated dining room on the Norwegian Sun. Good intentions are not put aside as more people continue to pursue a healthy lifestyle while cruising, using the 24-hour fitness center, walking and jogging deck, and relaxing spa services. For the annual "Cooking Light Ship Shape Adventure," Cooking Light magazine editors guide their readers through cooking demonstrations, cooking programs, and food and wine seminars on a seven-day cooking-theme Caribbean cruise.

Wine-tasting provides an opportunity to sample five varietals for $10 (a fee partially offset by a wine purchase). With the purchase of four bottles of wine from the well-chosen list of mostly California and French varietals, the fifth of equal or lesser value is free.

The littlest seagoers have not been forgotten. "Jolly Crew Happy Meals" appeal to children with pizza, pasta, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, and ice cream, but there are more healthful selections of soups, juices, salads, fruits, and vegies that mom will approve. Some dishes are geared to ports-of-call.

Let these outstanding NCL recipes recapture the excitement of a cruise and satisfy cravings for something memorable from cream of mushroom soup to Kentucky chocolate cake. For more information about cruising NCL, contact your travel agent or Norwegian Cruise Line (Cruise Travel Magazine), 7665 Corporate Center Dr., Miami, FL 33126; or log on to www.ncl.com.

CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup finely chopped leek,
    white and tender green
2 ounces button mushrooms,
  preferably brown
4 ounces wild mushrooms
  (cepes, morel, chantrelle, porcini, etc.)
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken broth (about)
1 small bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Sprig fresh thyme, chopped (divided)
Sprig fresh tarragon, chopped (divided)
1 cup whipping cream (divided)
4 8-ounce sourdough bread rounds
Chopped chives

In medium saucepan, melt butter, add
onion, saute until tender. Add garlic, then
leek, saute until tender. Add mushrooms and
saute. (Note: If dried wild mushrooms are
substituted for fresh, use 3/4 ounce; soak in
boiling water 30 minutes, strain, and use
mushroom broth as part of the liquid.)

Add wine, reduce by half. Add broth, bay leaf,
and pepper. Cook 20 minutes, skimming
occasionally.

Remove bay leaf. Puree soup in food
processor or blender. Return to saucepan,
add half the herbs and half the cream. If too
thick, add more broth to thin to proper
consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning, add
remaining herbs. Whip remaining cream.

Cut lids off bread, scoop out insides
forming bowls with 1/4-inch rims. Place on
baking pan, bake at 200 degrees 5 minutes.
Spoon soup into bread bowls. Top with
whipped cream and chives.

Makes 4 servings.
SUN-DRIED TOMATO RAVIOLI

9-ounce package refrigerated ravioli
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 cups vegetable broth,
  preferably mushroom
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup sun-dried tomato pesto
   (recipe follows)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
Herbed tomatoes & olives (recipe follows)
4 basil or rosemary sprigs

Cook ravioli according to package
directions. In large saucepan, whisk together
cornstarch and broth, add garlic. Cook and
stir over medium heat until broth is thickened;
mix with pesto. Add ravioli and heat.

Remove from heat, stir in grated
Parmesan. Place in bowls, sprinkle with
shredded Parmesan. Top with herbed
tomatoes & olives. Garnish with basil.

Makes 4 servings.
SUN-DRIED TOMATO PESTO

4 ounces sun-dried tomatoes
4 large cloves garlic
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon dried leaf basil,
  or 4 basil leaves
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt, pinch pepper

Place tomatoes in bowl, cover with boiling
water. Soak 1 hour, turning tomatoes
occasionally, until soft. Squeeze out water. In
food processor, mince garlic, then pine nuts.
Add tomatoes and basil. Chop coarsely.
Gradually add oil until smooth and well
blended. Add seasonings. Transfer to jar,
cover, and chill.
HERBED TOMATOES & OLIVES

1 1/4 cups seeded, diced Roma tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped black olives,
  preferably Kalamata
1 tablespoon julienned basil
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Dash black pepper

In a bowl, combine all ingredients.
KENTUCKY CHOCOLATE CAKE

8 ounces white chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
Bourbon
1 pound unsalted butter,
  at room temperature
2 9-inch chocolate cake layers
 (from your favorite recipe)
Cocoa powder
Chocolate leaves

In double boiler, melt chocolate with cream
over hot, not boiling water; set aside to cool.
In saucepan, boil water and sugar 5 minutes.
In electric mixer, whisk eggs until well
blended, gradually beat in syrup at high
speed until foamy, mix on slow until cooled.
With paddle, beat in chocolate mixture, 2
tablespoons bourbon, and butter, a little at a
time, on medium speed, until smooth and
creamy.

To assemble, sprinkle one layer with
bourbon. Spread with filling, top with other
layer sprinkled with bourbon. Frost top and
sides of cake. Sift cocoa over top. Decorate
with chocolate leaves. Refrigerate cake.

COPYRIGHT 2002 World Publishing, Co. (Illinois)
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group