Portland Spirit River Cruise Dining

Portland Spirit is the Northwest's premier dinner ship, has two enclosed decks that seat 340 guests plus an outer deck.  It offers dinner, lunch, brunch cruise as well as 'sight & sips' cruise.  We chosen lunch cruise as it works best for our girls schedule.

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday when we aboard Portland Spirit for downtown lunch cruise, a perfect day for river cruise. :)

This two-hour cruise offers fine dining at own private table with northwest cuisine, live piano music and the Portland downtown skyline.  There were quite a number of people joining the cruise on that day, it was almost full. 

My two little girls were very excited when been told to aboard the ship and have their lunch there.  Our luck was not bad that we were being seated on a table next to the window and facing the live entertainment stage.  The crew service is good and the ambiance set the mood. 

Prior to departure, there was a brief intro from the captain and a safety demo from a crew.  With a welcoming song from crew members, here we go for the beautiful Portland downtown skyline... 

While waiting for the food served, we had a quick visit to the outer deck. 

 

I didn't expect much on the food as for the one of its kind dining experience like this, normally the food is not really the selling point.  However the first item served - a basket of hot bun, has proved me wrong.  The bun was soft and tasted together with butter, it was yummy. 

Then come the entrees.  We were allowed to order 4 entrees though children below 4yrs old are FOC (what a great deal!).  I was surprised that the food served were tasty, especially the Chicken Pomodoro, which my girls kept asking for more. 

 

Chicken Pomodoro - Stewed chicken with tomato, artichoke, fresh herbs etc.
Served with mashed potatoes and sauteed seasonal vegetables



 Hubby had the steak and he was satisfied with it.    



Came Adobada - Chipotle marinated, charbroiled shoulder tender steak topped with fine roasted salsa.
Serve with mashed potatoes and cotija cheese



The smoked salmon pasta tasted not bad, but the Open Faced Crab Melt was so so only.

  

Wild Smoked Coho Radiatore Pasta - Tossed with asparagus, shallots, shiitake mushrooms and a clam be hamel sauce. Topped with shredded Parmesan





Open Faced Crab Melt - Crab meat, artichokes, tomato, ricotta and three cheeses on a toasted focaccia.
Served with shaved apple and pear salad with micro greens and raspberry vinaigrette



After completing our meal, we went to the outer deck again for a breeze and enjoyed the scenic view.

 

The girls visited the captain's work area and were fortunate to be offered the Honorary Captain's certificate for outstanding seamanship. 

They were happy to be invited to select a treasure from a treasure box, of course......as the treasure box was full of candy!!

There was Queen Melissa's Tea Party going on at the cruise as well.  Apparently, this Queen Melissa's Tea Cruise is available till May on Saturdays. 

We all enjoyed the cruise dining very much and had an afternoon of fun.  It was indeed a one of its kind dining experience, especially for my little lovers.



My 5yrs old drew this when back home, she said that is us had fun on ship....LOL