Indulge yourself without abandoning the healthy lifestyle

The Luxury of Good Health

Senast uppdaterad 24 Oktober 2008

Peka på vad du vill ha i Wok-baren, så lagas det till dig.  [Foto: Bo Sjösten]

Most diners aboard Quest eat in the Discoveries Dining Room, where a four course dinner is served each evening. Dinner begins with an appetizer, followed by soup or salad, and an entrée from a menu of both steady favorites and daily selections. Presentation is more important than portion size, and you can choose any item without fearing you’ll regret it the next time you step on a scale.

Appetizers go well beyond the expected shrimp cocktail, with carpacchio, baked brie, and lime-scented prawns with avocado. The soups are delicious, from chicken consommé to wild mushroom and creamy pumpkin bisque. Caesar salad, with chicken or shrimp if desired, and mixed Mediterranean greens are always available, as is a nightly salad entrée such as Watercress and Wasabi-Seared Tuna with Sweet Orange Segments or Medallions of Turkey with Marsala Wine on Baby Meschun Lettuces and Belgian Endive.

Liten läcker sallad.  [Foto: Bo Sjösten]

Dinner entrees are generally contemporary Californian, with nods to middle-America and the surrounding Mediterranean. There is something for every taste, from the tame Lemon-Marinated Grilled Chicken Breast with a baked potato, to Sautéed Filet of Salmon with Herb Butter and Provencal-Grilled Vegetables. The Grilled Tenderloin of Beef and Scallop Brochettes were juicy and delicious, or you might prefer Wok-Fried Grouper with Coconut Jasmine Rice or Roast Cornish Game Hen with Scalloped Sweet Potatoes. No matter where your own taste leads you, the dishes are well-prepared with an especially adept touch for the vegetables, which are cooked to a perfect crispness.

Each night, the Healthy Choice selection offers steamed or pan-seared fish or poultry with lower fat vegetables and whole grains. Or, selected salads and appetizers followed by the vegetarian entrée provide a complete vegetarian dinner. Unfortunately, my single disappointment in the Discoveries Dining Room came from this menu: a lukewarm mascarpone and spinach ravioli floating in flavorless creamed tomato sauce. In general, the pasta dishes suffer a bit from comparison to the local cuisine ashore, but with so many alternatives, it is still quite possible to eat a vegetarian diet, or a diabetic one, onboard Quest.

Efterrätter och mer i Windows Cafe.  [Foto: Bo Sjösten]

If you get a bit weary of the main dining room’s slightly hovering table service, you may wish to try the dinner buffet in the Windows Café, which offers antipasti, a wonderful salad bar, pasta station, several entrées, sushi bar, and, our favorite, a stir fry station where you can mix and match your own meats, vegetables and sauce for the wok.

Breakfast and lunch buffets are also served in the Windows Café. At lunch you will find entrées similar to dinner: grilled, baked, or pan-seared fish, sautéed chicken or pork, roast poultry or meat at the carving station, plus potatoes, fried rice, scalloped or sautéed vegetables, and pizza. Prepared salads replace the stir fry bar, and usually include a Mediterranean-inspired vegetable and cheese blend, a seafood salad, a hearty bean or lentil creation, and an American classic such as potato or Waldorf salad. Soup tureens, cheese board, bread basket and dessert table round out the lunch buffet. There’s plenty of temptation to overeat onboard Quest, but the wide variety of dishes and thoughtful portioning make it just as appealing to sample things in a healthier, yet satisfying way. 

Förrätt i Aqualina.  [Foto: Bo Sjösten]

Breakfast is again directed toward Azamara’s primarily American clientele. Fresh fruit, yoghurt, and smorgasbord items are bracketed by sausage, bacon, various egg dishes, roasted potatoes, and an omelet station. Cold and hot cereals are available, as are a wide selection of pastries, juices, teas, and coffee. Or choose a freshly-made smoothie from the Health Nut Bar. There is something for every guest’s taste or habit, and breakfast is always available for in-room service. The simplest item, enjoyed on your veranda overlooking an exotic port of call, becomes a pleasure you won’t have to undo at the gym once you’re home again!

If a buffet doesn’t sound appealing, you can have a sit down breakfast in the Discoveries Dining Room. The menu is very complete, but conversation is nearly impossible as numerous servers will stop by to offer more coffee, more juice, something from the pastry tray, or just to chat. We eventually abandoned the main dining room for other places with a bit less service.

In addition to the many open seating options above, each guest is offered two nights of complimentary dining in Quest’s specialty restaurants, Prime C and Aqualina. Prime C is a classic steak house; perhaps not the healthiest choice onboard Quest, but still an option as there are lighter items on the menu. You can indulge in a 12-ounce steak or a smaller filet minion, and you should, since the beef is truly remarkable! You can always ask for smaller or shared portions, and no one will notice if you haven’t cleaned your plate. For the appetizer, you might avoid the chicken lollipops and popcorn shrimp. In addition to the heavy breading, the dipping sauces are extremely spicy. Consider asking about the heat of any “spicy” appetizers, since a few dabs of dipping sauce and, later, a spring roll appetizer obliterated the taste of the courses that followed. The soups and salads are pretty and tasty, and side dish choices include wild mushrooms, various potatoes, and grilled or steamed vegetables. Surprisingly, my single disappointment at Prime C did come from a vegetable, usually a point of perfection, when limp asparagus had to be fished from a ramekin of congealed hollandaise sauce. Or perhaps it was simply the contrast to the beautiful, crunchy asparagus we’d been served so many other times.

Sushi-baren.  [Foto: Bo Sjösten]

Aqualina is nice, but as the top restaurant aboard a luxury cruise ship, it was a bit disappointing

The presentation of the dishes is lovely, but the preparation doesn’t quite match it. My “bouquet of greens” was cleverly bundled to stand on the plate, and looked wonderful. But once unbundled, it became a stack of bland mixed greens, virtually untouched by the dollop of dressing that had decorated the tips of the bouquet. The shellfish is always excellent onboard Quest, and the bouillabaisse, seafood platter, and scallop appetizer were all pronounced delicious. The Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass, however, was overly salty and somewhat soggy and not easy to distinguish from the potato puree it rested upon. The desserts, of course, are all very nice, but we learned early to choose sorbet, since anything made from fruit is a complete joy onboard Quest, especially if it involves passion fruit!

In general, the service onboard Quest could be called “warm”. The staff is very visible and eager to serve, which doesn’t necessarily suit Aqualina’s more refined setting. The table service was uneven, managing to feel slightly intrusive while we still waited over ten minutes to order wine. Small annoyances, such as being presented with the dessert menu up front (can’t the waiter simply mention that the soufflé needs to be ordered early?) and the feeling of being rushed at the end of the evening, also detracted from the impression that one is dining in a truly fine restaurant.

The Azamara tipping policy is a bit obscure. A daily service fee is added to your account for stateroom and dining room personnel, but an additional $5 per person gratuity is suggested for the specialty restaurants. After dinner you are presented with separate bills for the bar and wine charges (with an automatic18% gratuity) and for the “suggested” service gratuity. This requires an awkward explanation from the poor waiter, focusing everyone’s attention on the finances, something usually handled more discreetly at a top-notch restaurant.

I wok-baren på Windows Cafe är det bara att peka på de ingredienser du vill ha.  [Foto: Bo Sjösten]

As the one item you always purchase onboard Quest, it’s easy to keep any eye on just how much alcohol you’re consuming. The cocktails are fruity and fun, the beers are very American, and at 6 to 12 dollars a beverage, plus 18% gratuity, it will quickly add up! A healthier and more economical choice is to treat yourself to something from the wine cellar. We didn’t delve deeply into the wine list, since I was so pleased to find two old friends from California, Wente Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. Priced at the low end of the list, they are both delicious, which certainly indicates a knowledgeable sommelier. Unfinished bottles may be re-corked and stored until your next dinner, so there is never a reason to have more than you really want.

A wonderful vacation should feature plenty of fine food, and onboard Azamara Quest you will be able to enjoy it all! A little discretion and a few long strolls through the streets of a charming port-side town are all it took to accomplish my goal: ten days of indulgence without gaining an ounce!

Lorri Scilini

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