Food, Glorious Food! What else is there to eat on Viking Octantis?

Aside from room service (check out the menu in my cabin tour post), we sampled every food venue on board. While we found the service in our first couple visits to The Restaurant to be lacking, it greatly improved when we had the pleasure of not only sharing a table with two lovely sisters but also having the great wait staff team of Daniel and his assistant Naomi. It impressed me as well that when we were thanking and praising Daniel at the end of that first meal for his team's wonderful service, Daniel made a point of calling over Naomi so she could hear the praise from us directly. We asked for all future reservations to include being seated at one of their tables and made sure to share our praise with management and on the surveys left in our cabin.

Another praise I'd like to share is from an afternoon in the World Cafe. Dad and I took separate excursions which meant I returned back onboard about 30-45 minutes before he did. I headed to the World Cafe in search of lunch and a few of the crew stopped me to ask why Dad was not with me. I explained and thanked them for their concern. As I'm sitting at a table enjoying my procured lunch, several crew came and found me to let me know that Dad was now back on board. Dad told me later that they too came up to assure him that I was safely back as he stood in line at the grill station. 

This post features a variety of the dishes we tried during the week in Mamsen's, World Cafe, and The Restaurant.

First night's menu in The Restaurant:

Tiger Prawns - poached and chilled, cocktail sauce from the Classics: Always Available menu. Would have liked more than a drop of cocktail sauce but the taste was good.

Chicken Consommé with shredded chicken, fresh coriander, red onion, and lime wedge. Dad's starter from the Classics menu. He said the taste was good but he would have liked more chicken. Keep in mind that this is coming from a guy who thinks every meal could use more meat.

Angus New York Strip Steak 8 oz - grilled to order, french fries, beurre maitre d'hotel. While I don't usually get dishes like steak or seafood unless I'm out to eat or on a cruise, I found myself having to choose this or the chicken dish from the Classics menu quite frequently. I did add the compound butter slice from that little bowl which took some effort to spread around the steak. The steak was not delivered hot enough to melt the butter as intended. I wished there was some sort of liquid or cream based sauce to go with the steak as well.

From the regular side of the menu, Dad ordered the Beef Tenderloin with horseradish mashed potatoes, roasted red cabbage, and red wine sauce. This one was definitely a winner.

We slept in on day two and found a late breakfast at Mamsen's. We were the only ones there until another couple came in just before we finished our meal. 

Dad enjoyed the famous Belgian waffle but I wasn't hungry enough to get one of my own. Vowed to try it later in the cruise and just never took the time to eat much breakfast. Today I made up a plate of made to order scrambled eggs, a cinnamon roll, and some sausage.

Lunch after an excursion from the grill station at the World Cafe - hamburger and hot dog. The hot dogs had an unusual taste to them and it was often hit or miss as to whether the burgers were going to be fully cooked. One evening we were dining with our pre-cruise extension friends in the World Cafe and Dad ordered a steak from the grill station. It was severely undercooked and he took it back to the station to report it. They offered to cook him another ribeye steak but Dad opted instead for a filet mignon. By the time he was back at the table with the filet mignon, three crew members including a manager stopped by the table to ask what was wrong and offer to get him another steak made. It was nice to see how much of an effort the Viking crew did to make things right even without raising a fuss.

The "Viking Burger" with onion rings from the grill station:

Our dinner in The Restaurant where the host asked if we'd mind sharing a table. The venue did not seem too full so I'm guessing it was more about filling a four top table. It ended up being a lovely dinner with wonderful company.

Lobster Ravioli with steamed carrots and basil infused foam from the Starters menu. While I usually cringe at main entrees that have ravioli because they'll give you one or two total, I was pleasantly surprised by this starter. It was one single ravioli but that entire center was filled with a huge lump of solid lobster meat. It was like someone had made a lobster version of a proper crab cake and closed it inside a ravioli. 

And look who had himself vegetable soup? Roasted Carrot Soup with pistachio and mild spices blend. This may be the one and only occurrence of Dad raving about a dish that was solely vegetables.

After a repeat of the steaks, we went different ways with dessert. My Mille-Feuille of puff pastry layers and light vanilla cream from the unique menu:

And Dad's Iced Vanilla Parfait with warm chocolate sauce and toasted meringue from the Classics menu. He raved about this dessert and encouraged everyone that we dined with after this evening to order it as well.

Tired of a huge sit down meal, we opted for dinner at the World Cafe one evening. I made a plate of the filet mignon and lobster tail from the grill plus a few of the shrimp cocktail from the sushi section. No that's not a chocolate frosted brownie on my plate, that was the nearly bite sized filet mignon I was served. I think I'll save my future steak indulgences for specialty dining on the other lines.

A couple nights before the end of the cruise, all of us on the pre-cruise extension opted to dine together and made a group reservation for The Restaurant. I was impressed to see how well the Viking crew handled a table intended for 13 (several two top pushed together in a line). Though I'm guessing the wine works a lot better when it is drunk and not knocked over onto your fellow group member. Gives new meaning to not being able to hold your liquor! And in this case, things really do come out in the wash. And of course, a fresh glass of wine was readily available to replace it.

The snow crab leg starter. Dad and I both ordered this as nothing else appealed to him. When the plates arrived, he handed me his snow crab legs and I handed over my corn on the cob. 

The Beer Marinated Chicken from the Classics menu - roasted tomatoes, Diane sauce, and your choice of side dish. This dish was a bone in breast and leg piece and was quite tasty. The side dish options are Steamed Vegetables; Charred Maple Syrup Brussels Sprouts; Mashed Potato; Creamed Spinach; and Rice Pilaf. 

For dessert, Dad and I both went for the Iced Vanilla Parfait from the Classics menu but what came was something moderately different topped with what appears to be candied chopped walnuts. If anyone recognizes what this dessert was really called, please comment below. 

Our last dinner of the cruise had us back in The Restaurant. I ordered the Chunky Langoustine Bisque with sour cream from the main menu and a caesar salad from the Classics menu as none of the main courses interested me. I appreciated how the waiter always asked if the person ordering caesar salad wanted it with or without anchovies.

And for our final dessert, we once again ordered the Iced Vanilla Parfait and this time what showed up was back to what Dad enjoyed the first time.

Mangia! Mangia! Time for some included Italian food!

If you know me, then you know Italian food is considered like another food group in my world. I may have a slight scampi and carbonara addiction and think garlic bread is simply a way of life. I was excited to be on a ship this time with an included Italian themed restaurant. Unlike "The Restaurant", Manfredi's on Viking Octantis does not change their menu at all. Keep that in mind when making your reservations pre-cruise so you can decide whether there is enough variety for your tastes to want to visit more than once. We chose to visit twice during this seven day cruise.

Our first visit to Manfredi's on night two was delightful. I only wish I could remember the name of our waitress because she was fantastic! Very personable, funny, and amazing service! 

It should come as no surprise that my first dish, ordered from the Qualcosina (A Little Something) section of the menu, was the Calamari Fritti - crispy parsley, bottarga, and balsamic aioli. I would rank this calamari as one of my top favorites on a cruise. Lightly breaded without being too crispy and the calamari itself was fresh and not overly chewy.

From the Un Po Di Pasta E Risotto (A Bit of Pasta & Risotto) section, between us we shared the Spaghetti con Lardo di Colonnata - fresh spaghetti with lardo from Tuscany region and the Gnocchi Freschi di Patate con Crema di Tartufo - hand rolled potato gnocchi with a black truffle sauce. I appreciated our waitress' patience and kind way of explaining to Dad that this spaghetti would not have his preferred red tomato sauce but simply an oil based sauce. I think it helped him be more willing to try something different and we enjoyed both options.

And you know I wasn't leaving an Italian restaurant without sampling the carbonara item on the menu right? Bucatini Freschi alla Carbonara - fresh bucatini pasta, smoked pancetta, creamy parmigiano reggiano sauce, and Italian parsley. Is bucatini the new spaghetti when it comes to carbonara? Virgin Voyages also used bucatini pasta in their carbonara dish from Extra Virgin. The taste and flavor was there but I miss the ease of twirling spaghetti around my fork. 

From the Piatti Unici category, Dad went with the Parmigiana di Pollo - lightly breaded chicken breast topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella. I joked that Dad finally got his red tomato sauce after all. He enjoyed this dish as meat covered in cheese and sauce is definitely right up his alley. Also right up his alley was pushing off and ignoring the pile of leafy greens they added on top.

For dessert we both enjoyed scoops of gelato. Each ice cream order came with a half sized Pepperidge Farm style pirouette cookie stuck in the scoop. Dad loved it when we both ordered gelato because he got to enjoy both of our cookies. Pictured below is my Cookies & Cream gelato after the cookie had been passed over.

Our second visit to Manfredi's did not go as nicely with service. We were seated at a two top table around a partition that was next to a large booth. This time I questioned whether our waiter doubled as a magician because he had a habit of disappearing when we needed something and reappearing at the large booth next to us chatting and socializing. We'd try to catch his eye and call him over but he'd turn his back to us and walk off. Courses took a lot longer to arrive and be cleared and we sat waiting for drinks and drink refills for ages. At one point we did get his attention to ask about a drink refill and he cut us off to insist that the food would be out soon and scurried off before we could say anything else.

Tonight's choices were Insalata Caprese - buffalo mozzarella, vine ripened tomatoes, basil, and extra virgin olive oil; some sort of pasta that I remember thinking looked nothing like it did last time; Lasagne al Forno alla Bolognese - handmade pasta layered with minced beef, Béchamel sauce, and parmigiano reggiano; Bistecca Fiorentina - thick cut ribeye coated in garlic oil and rubbed with porcini mushroom powder, kosher salt, brown sugar, and red chili flakes; and of course gelato for dessert. 

Insalata Caprese

Mystery Pasta?

Lasagna al Forno alla Bolognese

Bistecca Fiorentina

Vanilla Gelato with pirouette cookie

Is Manfredi's worth a visit on your Viking cruise? Absolutely! Is it worth multiple visits? Maybe not as our second menu choices weren't as good as the first visit. The nice thing though is that as long as you can get a reservation (and we did change a few while onboard), it's similar to specialty dining on other cruise lines but without the fee. I will leave you with this pro tip: The bread offered in Manfredi's is these soft pull apart popover style rolls. If you're dining in The Restaurant and don't care for the crusty bread assortment they offer, kindly ask your wait staff for the rolls from Manfredi's instead. So much nicer and tastier for someone like me and perhaps more detrimental to me because they kept bringing us more! Several tablemates and neighboring tables would ask how to get bread like ours so I think we started a trend. As the saying goes, it never hurts to ask!

Now it's time for everyone's favorite cruise topic - food! How does Viking deal with food allergies?

One of the most popular questions I see asked is how does insert cruise line here handle passengers with food allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities? Our experience on Viking Octantis mostly impressed me and very minorly perplexed me. 

On embarkation day, we had this letter amongst our welcome paperwork in the cabin. It confirmed Dad's avoidance of seafood and offers instructions for pre-ordering his evening meal. For the record, he never bothered to pre-order so I can't speak to whether anything would have been tweaked to fit his choosing, i.e. using a different sauce. Pre-ordering is a great option for those with gluten allergies because that often requires the extra step of preparing separately from the same cooktop that is used for everyone else.

For each day that we had made a reservation for dinner in one of the non World Cafe venues, a printout of the day's menu for that venue was left tucked into the cabin number light box. It was always folded up and stuffed inside an envelope so complete discretion was provided. 

My only two small notes that I'd suggest tweaking is thus - there was no further explanation on the menu pointing out what dishes had the allergy item. I often have the task at meals of "translating" what a food or cooking term means to Dad. He's told many a waiter "Hold on a moment please, she has to tell me what I would like." We had a discussion the other day after overhearing a couple debate whether a vegetable was eggplant or aubergine. Dad admitted he would have had no clue if he saw aubergine on the menu that it meant he was still ordering eggplant. I have no doubt that if we were concerned enough to ask the restaurant team in person to explain which dishes had the allergen, they would have been happy to go over the menu with us. If anyone would like to hire me for my onboard mealtime foodie translation services, I will be launching a new side business for the low low cost of a free cruise. All those years of watching the Food Network has to count for something right?

The second minor concern is the fact that said choices had to be turned in each day by 9AM. We never had the next day's menu left in our cabin slot until hours after nightly turndown service and we'd already returned to the cabin for bed. If we were even up before 9AM it was to head out of the cabin just in time to reach our meeting place for a shore excursion leaving no time to debate a menu and run it up to turn in. 

The menu printout for "The Restaurant" had the "Classics: Always Available" portion of the menu on the back. The items listed on the front of this printout is what changed each day.

Manfredi's is an included dining venue onboard but it keeps the same Italian themed menu every day. We ate here twice during the cruise and both times received a printout.

Another item I appreciated seeing was little signs above the stations in World Cafe that showed icons indicating whether the dish had known allergens like gluten or dairy.

What makes Viking Expeditions unique?

Spend a week onboard a Viking Expedition ship and you'll soon learn the phrase that gets the expedition staff members and crew as excited as little kids - "Today, we get to play with the toys!" The toys in this case are the multimillion dollar subs, speedboat, zodiacs, and kayaks. You may find some of these items on an excursion in a regular cruise but you certainly won't find them stored in the bottom of your cruise ship in an area known as The Hanger traveling along with you for the voyage. Unfortunately, due to US law and lake depth, Viking Octantis was not allowed to use the vessels in any of the US lakes. This left just the one day of our itinerary when we stopped in Point Pelee in Ontario, Canada. Point Pelee's position on Lake Erie was unfortunately also our shallowest lake depth so the famous submarines named after Beatles John and Paul (Octantis' sister ship Polaris has two named George and Ringo) were not able to run on our voyage.

Each vessel had a member of the expedition team who was well versed in that type of vessel and led all of the outings on that vessel. To book a time slot to participate in any of these vessels, you need to book them when you book the rest of your tours pre-cruise.

Unfortunately, after several attempts to set up the kayaks, it was deemed too windy to hold the tour.

Dad and I both signed up for the speedboat tour. You are encouraged to dress warmly for being out on the water but also in anticipation of getting wet. I wore my raincoat with the inner layer that doubles as a cotton jacket while Dad wore his lined rain coat. Neither of us really got wet like we'd expected. 

For this ride, we were required to wear our provided life vests found hanging in our cabin's drying closet. Don't worry about trying to figure out how to wear them as the crew will help you put them on when you arrive. I was a bit concerned beforehand about feeling too constricted or too weighed down in these life vests but honestly, it didn't feel any more uncomfortable than carrying around a light backpack on a long tour. We also used our same listening boxes so we could hear our guide Kit's narration during the ride.

I got a kick out of how the brand of life jackets was "YouSafe!"

We had read pre-cruise that the crew loads you into the speedboat and then it launches down a rolling track into the water. In our case, we were led down a couple sets of stairs (elevator available if needed or preferred), and into the boat that was already in the water and tied up next to the ship. The crew helped each person transfer from the platform to the speedboat much like you would experience going on a ship's tender. As each person stepped onto the speedboat, Kit directed them where to sit taking the effort to make sure everyone got to sit next to the person they were with on the tour. No need to rush or push for that prime seat. 

Each seat is an individual cushioned seat that features a lowering seat when it senses weight, footrests, and joystick style handles to hold on to for safety. They are designed to move with the movements of the boat so while you will feel some motion, it won't be from sliding across a wooden bench seat. We ended up in the first row so we had a great view of the control panel. Kit moved around the front and sides of the boat during her narration so it was easy to hear and see her pointing out things.

Kit pointed out the stretch of woods and shoreline that passengers visited via these vessels who chose to embark on the hiking or birdwatching tours. 

One of the best things about having a tender port on your itinerary is the chance to see and photograph the outside of your ship from on the water. Thank you Viking for featuring my photo from this day on your Instagram stories!

Here's a shot I grabbed of the next tour going out on the speedboat:

What happens when one of the motorized zodiacs breaks down? You get towed back to the ship by another zodiac!

Dad decided to challenge himself after we both felt safe and enjoyed the speedboat tour and try out the zodiac ride. He said it was also very safe and the crew were great about helping everyone securely board the zodiacs. There was an option to get out and step on the shoreline but Dad opted to stay on for the ride back. On the way back, another returning zodiac came by and challenged Dad's raft driver to a race.

Here is a great close up view of Dad's zodiac. There is a solid platform riser to step onto when boarding and getting back onto the ship. Then the crew helps you down to the floor level and escorts you to a place to sit on the side of the raft. There is a strong corded string around the perimeter of the raft for passengers to hold onto during the ride.

On the morning of the last day of the cruise, Viking opened up supervised access to The Hanger so passengers can see, touch, and take pictures of all of the toys and the science lab. Members of the expedition team stood by each of their vessels offering to answer questions and share information about their positions. 

We had a fun chat with Tony Duarte whose position was to lead the kayak tours. We later learned during a nightly "Meet Your Expedition Team" storytime, Tony was on season 10 of Bravo's Below Deck and stuck living on Royal Caribbean's "Perfect Day at Coco Cay" for the duration of the pandemic having just been hired shortly before COVID shut down everything. I may have used the plane ride home to watch the first couple episodes of his season.

We then moved on to chat with Kit and give a more extensive look around the speedboat. 

It's a good thing this tour was always supervised. Some passengers think they can drive!

Lastly, we got to check out (from the outside) the two yellow painted and thus aptly named submarines. Dad enjoyed talking all things technical and mechanical with the gentleman whose one job onboard was to pilot the submarine.