MS Swiss Ruby - Prague - Welcome to Dinner

The last dinner for the river cruise. I'm holding back the tears. I will need to get much better at cooking since I am used to these meals.

Red beet cheese terrine
Terrine of goat's cheese and roasted red beets.
Served over mixed greens and topped with rum
marinated raisins.

MS Swiss Ruby - Prague - Welcome to Lunch

We have now switched from a Germany food emphasis to a Czech food emphasis, so it was exciting to see and taste new foods. I don't speak or read Czech, so it was very interesting to read the menu and suddenly feel that I knew NOTHING!!

Kapustnica
Typical Czech cabbage soup with creme fraiche

MS Swiss Ruby - Captain's Farewell Dinner

The bling was unwrapped and and all dressed for the Captain's Farewell Dinner. Hosted cocktails were served in the upper lounge.  It was fun to chat about the week and enjoy the special treatment from the wonderful staff on the MS Swiss Ruby.

Fancy spoons for the appetizers in the lounge.

MS Swiss Ruby - Elbe River - Welcome to Lunch

Here are some photos as we entered the Czech Republic on the river, on our way to Prague.  The big event along the river were a few men shouting and waving bottles, encouraging us to all join them for a drink.

Towns nestled in to the hillside along side the River Elbe.

A sleek new bridge. Pretty impressive sight.

Next bridge was a little more traditional.

Larger apartment buildings, commercial buildings

The older bridge with a train crossing it.

A shot of the deck with the upcoming castle on the far
hill. This view of the castle caused quite a buzz
on deck, and the photographers were all poised
and ready to shoot.

A view of the town.

The castle. Looked pretty cool.

What better place to take a girl to impress her?

The language changed to Czech.

A shot of the castle as we were directly below it.

Lunch

(Photos are on the iphone and I'll add them later.)

Three Onion Soup served with cheese croutons

Entrée – Fish and Chips ‘Saxony Style’ – Fish finger fried gold-brown, served with a tartar sauce and potato fries

Buffet Lunch – Turkey Roulade, vegetable rice, creamy pork, basil/tomato fettuccini, Focaccia Sandwich (oven fresh focaccia with ruccola, mozzarella, tomatoes, and roasted bell peppers.) European cheese selection, local flavors, traditional condiments, green salad, fresh fruits.

Dessert – Pear Strudel served with vanilla sauce.

MS Swiss Ruby - Dresden - Welcome to Dinner

Enjoy!

Vittello tonnato
Thinly sliced veal, topped with tuna sauce, garnished with
mixed greens, black olives, capers and tomatoes

MS Swiss Ruby - Meissen and Dresden - Welcome to Lunch

Another wonderful meal on-board the MS Swiss Ruby

Potato Cream Soup
served with bacon and marjoram

MS Swiss Ruby - Torgau - Welcome to Dinner

Dinner was waiting for us when we returned from our day's touring.
Click here to see the orignal posting. It has more narrative.

Roast Beef asparagus roll
served with aioli sauce

MS Swiss Ruby - Torgau - Welcome to Dinner

The food and service provided by the MS Swiss Ruby staff has been incredible.  There is a good variety, and a vegetarian selection is always available.  The portions are good, and even though they are not large I am always full at the end of each meal.  Coffee and tea are available at the lounge when ever we are on the boat, as well as drink service throughout the day on the upper deck and in the lounge.  The staff is personable and very friendly, with full service language spoken in English and conversational efforts at various levels of accomplishment. They are attentive and make me feel like a queen on a luxury cruise.  The favorable impression has been expressed by all of the people that I’ve chatted with. We don’t have assigned seats and have floated from table to table to meet different people.

(Note: Photos are on the iPhone and will be added by mid-May)

Chef’s Dinner

Roast Beef Asparagus Roll served with aioli sauce

Wild Mushroom Veloute served with parsley foam

Strudel of Salmon wrapped in puff pastry and served on Ruccola Risotto and Champagne-Hollandaise sauce

Lemon Sorbet with Vodka and Sprite

Grilled Veal Ribeye – Veal rib eye grilled to a perfect medium, served with a whisky-peppercorn sauce, accompanied by grilled potatoes and garden vegetables.

Quark Tart (or Fruits, or Cheese)

MS Swiss Ruby - Wittenburg - Welcome to Lunch

Technically, a buffet lunch...but this was...again...another wonderful lunch.  We ate before we journeyed out on our tours.

Mediterranean chicken breast, Thyme potato, Garden vegetables
Tuna Penne

MS Swiss Ruby - Magdeburg - Welcome to the Dinner

The bus returned to the boat. I dumped my stuff in the room and went up to the top deck to stretch out on the sun chair and grab a few rays of the marvelous sunshine on a great day.  We “set sail” and just watched the world go by.

Dinner menu was another knockout: 

Beef consommé served with julienne of vegetables.

MS Swiss Ruby - Typical Breakfasts

Breakfasts on the boat were served buffet style.  Fruits, meats, cheeses, eggs, breads...chocolate croissants!  The juice was orange or mixt (that is how they spelled it so don't send typo emails!).  The coffee flowed freely and was very good.  A few sample views:

The buffet had cold meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables and breads.
Thin sliced hot bacon and scrambled eggs were prepared.
Omelettes and specially prepared eggs were cooked on request.

Germany - MS Swiss Ruby - April 17 Dinner

We arrived back at the boat in time to freshen up and go to Happy Hour (and watch as the boat went through very tight locks).  Appetizers included chicken wings with sweet and sour sauce, and fancy roast beef.  

The dinner announcement came and we made our way to the dining area.  What a meal was in store!

Tartar of mackerel served with tomato compote

Cappuccino of curry and lemongrass

Carpaccio of beef: thinly sliced tenderloin of beef, served over a chiffonade of salad bouquet. Garnished with fresh shaved Pecorino cheese and tossed with balsamic vinaigrette

Main Course

Roasted Pork Tenderloin – Pork tenderloin seasoned with roasted garlic and fresh herbs and roasted to a perfect medium.  Served with a red wine onion sauce, accompanied with Rosmarin (Rosemary?) Garlic potato and garden vegetables.

Dessert!!!

Melody of Vanilla – Crème Brulee, Panna cotta, and Stracciatella ice Cream

(Fancy sounding and incredible)

MS Swiss Ruby - Berlin/Potsdam - Welcome to Dinner

NOTE: Photos are on my iPhone and I will put them in later.

We arrived back at the boat in time to freshen up and go to Happy Hour (and watch as the boat went through very tight locks).  Appetizers included chicken wings with sweet and sour sauce, and fancy roast beef.  The dinner announcement came and we made our way to the dining area.  What a meal was in store!

Tartar of mackerel served with tomato compote

Cappuccino of curry and lemongrass

Carpaccio of beef: thinly sliced tenderloin of beef, served over a chiffonade of salad bouquet. Garnished with fresh shaved Pecorino cheese and tossed with balsamic vinaigrette

Main Course

Roasted Pork Tenderloin – Pork tenderloin seasoned with roasted garlic and fresh herbs and roasted to a perfect medium.  Served with a red wine onion sauce, accompanied with Rosmarin (Rosemary?) Garlic potato and garden vegetables.

Dessert!!!

Melody of Vanilla – Crème Brulee, Panna cotta, and Stracciatella ice Cream

(Fancy sounding and incredible)

MS Swiss Ruby

The boat traveled from Berlin, through a series of canals, to the Elbe River and on to Prague.  This was an incredibly beautiful river boat.  The outside was functional and rather plain. The interior was polished wood and sparkling lights.

The upper deck with the flag pole "bowed".

Berlin - Ritz Carlton and MS Swiss Ruby

Today was an easy day.  Rose late and walked to the dining room in the Ritz Carlton for an inclusive breakfast.  Enjoyed the usual cheeses, fruits, a crepe, and some meats.  Finished blogging from yesterday’s adventures.  Packed the suitcase and said goodbye to the wonderful amenities at the hotel, and went downstairs to check out.  We were able to split the bill on two different credit cards (according to what we had each billed to the room) without a problem  We asked about the next two hours of wifi, and the front desk clerk gave us each a card and code for one hour (she could see on the bill that we had paid for 24 hours which wouldn’t expire until later in the day).  We dropped off our luggage, with the special ID tags from the AHI cruise group, with the tour guides.  These ladies were very helpful throughout our stay and I just need to put a good word in about them.  We then walked into the charming bar area with the large stuffed chairs and the wooden walls for an internet session, drinks, and a light lunch.  The bartender/waiter helped us to find an area with plug access and we set up shop for the following two hours.  Ordered a hot coffee with a spot of kahlua and rum, and it came with an nice portion of whipped cream on top.  Ordered club sandwiches and fries for lunch and finished the wait.  When it was time to gather all of the laptop articles, we packed and gave the bags to the AHI cruise directors. 

MS Swiss Ruby
(Looks little on the outside)