The Secret . . . .

Holland America Zaandam

You hear it all over the ship. “I think I gained 10 pounds!” One of the best reasons to go on a cruise is the food; even on the least expensive cruises, they food is gourmet quality. There is normally at least four courses; appetizer, soup or salad, main course, and desert. This is of course in the formal dining rooms; if you choose to go to the Lido Buffet, you can have as many courses as you like. People come on a cruise and they suddenly lose all self control – people who would normally eat pretty carefully, suddenly pile their plates with anything under the glasses. Why stick with the Italian menu when you can get regular food, Italian, Asian and possibly even Mexico. People stagger to their tables with plates piled high. The ships encourage it, the cruise staff constantly remind you of all you can eat, and the amount of food is the standard joke for all the entertainers. You can't escape the food, and to make it worse, there is often special food events at midnight, and just in case you missed something, there is 24 hour room service. As a result, people are always complaining about how much food they are eating – they're not doing anything about their eating, just complaining about it.

The Dining Room - Pounds to Gain

Now, I do not seem to have as much problem as most; my clothes seem to still fit at the end of the cruises. I do however have to work at it. And I'm willing to tell you my secrets.

First, I usually try to eat in the Dining room. The servings are smaller, and although you do get four courses, they are pretty reasonable. If you go to the buffet, it is just too tempting to sample everything. If I go to the Buffet, I use it for lunch, and instead of moving around the buffet table sampling everything, I do not pick up plates, drinks or utensils until I walk around examining what is available on this particular day. I then choose one thing, and that is all I get. On this cruise for example I discovered that the Asian menu was excellent, and they serve it in nice small bowls. If I ordered rice and one of their Asian dishes I ended up with a very tasty reasonable lunch.

The Buffet - Too Tempting

The other secret is the gym. Hidden way up in the front of the ship is a very well equipped gymnasium; stationary bicycles, elliptical machines, treadmills, and a whole slew of exercise machines. The best thing is that although other venues on the ship can be crowded, with the age and health limitations of many of the passengers, the gym is usually deserted. I have never had to wait for a stationary bicycle to free up, and the exercise machine I want to try is rarely being used. On this ship, there are perhaps four other people who regularly use the gym, so it is never a problem working out. There are of course always someone who comes in, looks around and tries out some of the machines – sit down, read the instructions, try to work it, change the setting to minimum and do five or six reps. They rarely come back.

I go to the Gym every day and do the same work-out every day. This keeps my back and knees in shape for exploring the ports of call, and it also lets me work off some of the extra food I have been eating. I only hope that the ships do not actually put two and two together and discover that their gyms are used more by their staff than the passengers. They may decide to take out the gym and add another wheel-chair accessible card room or a Polka bar.

Food !

Good but Expensive

It would have cost $15.00 a day to have a refrigerator in our room for the two weeks. We could have ordered one from Sears for what we would have spent. We spoke to someone staying in another hotel that included a fridge. It was full of those little drinks and snacks, but he wanted to put his own food in it, so he took things out to make room – didn't use them, just took them out to make room. He was charged for every item he removed. So, if you come to Las Vegas, you are probably going to be sampling some of the many eateries in the city.

A delicious Hot Dog

There are an amazing number of restaurants in Las Vegas. In general, there are two bits of useful information I can give you about them. The food is excellent. The prices are high.

We really have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food. We really have not had a meal that we could complain about. From hot dogs at a fast food place (Nathan's), to authentic Brazilian beef barbecue, at Pampas, the food has always been among the best we have had. We were taken to a Barbecue restaurant while in Santos Brazil, where the beef is seasoned with nothing but course salt and brought to your table on a spit and chunks carved right at your table so we knew what to expect, and the beef at Pampas, was almost as good as the original.

I have been trying, during all my travels to sample calamari from every place I go, looking for a sample that can match the calamari I can get at our local tavern The Mic Mac. I tried two samples here in Las Vegas, and although the Mic Mac still has the best calamari, the Las Vegas varieties were almost as good; cooked properly, and spiced just right.

Even the Buffets were good

Even the little places are good. We went out for lunch one day to a little bar and grill in the Luxor resort called the T & T . This was just a small bar in the main lobby area of the Luxor Casino, but the chicken wing appetizer I ordered was, I believe among the best wings I have ever had; big, meaty, and spicy enough to make them interesting without hurting.

Even the chain restaurants seem to put a bit of extra effort to stay ahead of the competition. I have always wanted to try one of B. B. King's Barbecue restaurants, and we found one in the Mirage Hotel & Casino. We went to listen to a Blues group that was going to be playing, but the NCAA basketball tournament seemed to be more important to most patrons, so we had to wait for the game to finish, but the wait was worth it, and the ribs I had were almost as good as my own, and the music was very entertaining. Regis reports that her chicken burger was also excellent.

There are so many restaurants it is hard to choose. We often based our choices on discounts and coupons we had, but sometimes we found places just by wandering around. One day while looking for tickets to a show, we found that the restaurant we were aiming for was VERY busy, but next door was a very interesting Italian place where we found that I actually had a choice of two pizzas I could eat (Not an easy thing when you are lactose intolerant). This restaurant, Lombardi"s Romagna Mia had friendly staff, and the pizza was excellent.

Great Place downtown at Freemont St. 

Although there are plenty of places to eat right on the strip, there are also some excellent places requiring a bit of a walk away from the neon world of the casinos and resorts. One example is the Alexis Gardens Restaurant in the Alexis Park Hotel. This is a small resort hotel a couple of blocks off the strip that we had an Entertainment Book coupon for. It was definitely worth the walk, the food was excellent, and the atmosphere was wonderful. It was nice to be away from the crowds and lights of the big casinos and enjoy a nice quiet meal. I had a Blackened Texas Redfish that was amazing.

Now you do have to check the reviews of the restaurants, and my famous “Trip Planner” is great for this. She really wanted to try one of Emeril Lagasee's restaurants. We dropped into his Stadium Sports Bar for lunch one day and enjoyed it, so we made reservations at his Seafood Restaurant next door in the MGM Grand. When we read the reviews however we had second thoughts, There was not one good review. Everyone agreed that the service was good, but the food just was not up to standards. Then when we met a gentleman who actually worked at MGM and agreed that we should go elsewhere, we decide to cancel that meal.

$9.00 Beer at a Bar?

So the good news is that you will probably enjoy any meal you have in Las Vegas. We found that everything was delicious, and the service was always friendly and helpful. The bad news is that if you eat on the strip it is going to be expensive. Main courses can be as high as $60 to $70 at most “good” restaurants in the casinos on the strip. Oh, BTW, you may have to pay extra for sides. Even when you find a place with decent prices on the food, don't be surprised by the price of the things you don't think about. Often the juice or coffee to go with your bargain breakfast will cost a couple of dollars more than you are used to. Don't expect to get a beer for under $7.00 at most casino bars or eateries unless you have a “Big Spender” card. I paid as much as $9.00 for a beer at one place. Don't expect to always see the prices either. If the beer prices are not on the menu, ask, or you may be surprised when the bill comes. Many restaurants and bars have “Happy Hours”, where prices on food and drinks are much better, but a beer will still usually cost you $5.00.

So when in Las Vegas, expect to eat very well. You can get anything you want, and it will probably be very good, but if you eat on the strip, expect to take a hit on the credit card.

Doing the "Buffet"

The Excalibur Casino

The food in Las Vegas is fabulous! It is expensive, but very good. We have yet to find meal that we did not enjoy. However, when you are here for 14 days, meals add up, so we were happy to take advice from my niece who visited Las Vegas in the summer, and was on an even tighter budget than we are. One of her recommendations was the buffet at the Luxor, and we discovered they had a special “all day - two hotel” deal; breakfast, lunch and supper for less than you would normally spend on just supper.

We just got back from breakfast, and I certainly got a lesson in how to maximize your “buffet experience”.

Sitting across from us was a table of six “middle-aging” ladies. Do you know the expression “dressed to the nines” . . . Well they were working on ten? I always thought leopards and zebras were natural enemies. These ladies made them work together; leopard jacket and zebra handbag. They all had enough “bling” on to short out any metal detector, their hair was tossed & flossed to perfection, and their eye shadow looked installed by roller. And . . . They all had huge “designer” handbags. No husbands in sight, so this was either a “ladies holiday”, or the men were busy losing some money already this morning.

Or all you can carry away.

I noticed one of them return to the table with a full sized dinner plate piled with sweets, then another sat down with the same sized helping. Ok, I admit it, I’m nosy, this peeked my interest. I could feel a blog coming on . . .

I found out what the “designer” bags were for. The bags opened, zip lock plastic bags were extracted, and the plates of sweets disappeared. They didn’t eat one; the entire plateful went into the purse. Another of the party then returned with four bananas. Yup, into the purse wrapped in napkins. Then, back to the buffet for more. Into the handbag. All six women loaded their bags with food. One then picked up the bowl of little cream packets, and half of that disappeared. They were not even being secretive about it; it looked like they thought this was perfectly acceptable.

When they were finally ready to leave, I saw one slip the waiter they had all been flirting with two dollars; it must have been her turn to tip. . . .

So that was my lesson in buffet dining.