Norwegian Cruise Line's O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar & Grill
International Waters
Sauce: Sweet Chili | Order Size: 6 | Price: Complimentary *
Meat Quality: 3/5 | Finish: 2.5/5 | Size: 2.5/5 | Uniqueness: 2/5 | Flavor: 3/5
Last August (I know. This post is very delayed.) my partner, Meredith, and I went on a Caribbean cruise that departed from Miami and traveled to Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic, the US Virgin Islands, and the British Virgin Islands. On that trip, I went ziplining for the first time, I was stung by a jellyfish, and I almost drowned myself multiple times while jumping off of waterfalls. It was great!
What was less than great, or at least less than what we expected, was the food offerings on board our ship, the NCL Escape. The Escape is one of NCL’s newer, larger ships that first set sail in 2015 and features modern cruising amenities such as multiple pools, a piano bar, a Broadway-caliber musical production, and many complimentary and upgradable dining options. From what we had read online before our departure, the food on Norwegian Cruises tends to be better quality than what is found on many other cruise lines. I won’t say we were disappointed or were underfed on our trip, but it did take us a few days for my partner and I to develop a few heuristics for choosing the best options at each of ouring experiences. The chief heuristic I think all future NCL guests should be aware of is the concept of Wet Hot vs Dry Hot.
These are two terms Meredith and I coined to describe the preparation of hot meals found on the Escape. While cold foods would almost always be delightful as expected, hot meals would vary dramatically on quality based on how they were heated. Soups, curries, rices, and braised meats would be flavorful and have the expected textures that make them enjoyable to eat. Those foods could be described as Wet Hot. Grilled meats and vegetables, roasted potatoes, and some fried dishes were almost always colorless, flavorless, and dry. Those foods could be described as Dry Hot.
I thought this was called KevinEatsWings.com, not KevinWentOnACruiseAndComplains.com
I mention all of this backstory because it helps me categorize the wings that can be found at O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar & Grill, a 24-hour complimentary dining option on multiple NCL ships. Although the wings themselves would typically have fallen into the Dry Hot preparation that often finds itself lacking on these cruise ships, the sauces that coat the wings help add a new life to the meat and brings it up to fairly mediocre instead of outright bad.
Since O’Sheehan’s is the only 24-hour dining option on these ships and the price is baked into the cost of your trip, it’s hard say if they are worth their price or not. I simply can’t find an appropriate way to divide out the cost of the all-inclusive bundled vacation into a way to say how much I spent on these specific wings. I can say, however, that after partaking in the open bar drink package all day, I had a good time eating them at 11:30pm. Isn’t that the true way that wings were meant to be enjoyed?