OlsSalt

If unused for 20 minutes, I believe you can remove the belongings and claim the chair for yourself. 

Best treat at the prior Indonesia Tea besides the wonderful little green coconut-sugar crepes, was  showcasing Sumatra Coffee. Come to the Indonesian Tea for the Indonesian coffee - hope they continue to offer it - beautiful flavor.

Standard equipment I believe are more "comfort" height. Ask Guest Services for more details and what accommodations are available. 

8 hours ago, oakridger said:

@amandas friend aren't you glad you asked??  Ha ha.  It's either "dog food" or "outstanding" or anything in between!

 

Have a great time and please come back here after your cruise and let us know what YOU thought about HAL's food!

 

~Nancy 

I dunno Nancy. You know the old saying: on the internet, anyone can really be a dog.

19 minutes ago, bluesplayer said:

I don't think the Noordam has the Gallery bar..   my favorite....

Noordam did recently add an expanded library space.

Which is not like the Gallery Bar additions which was a very good improvement -a place where groups could enjoy nosier table games and not get the stinky eye from.... (ahem)....  those of us who liked the former  library spaces to be quiet as a tomb. 

I use the Lounge for breakfast, lunch and late afternoon snacks, almost every day. Love having it just down the hall.  Their small bites are appealing enough, and that keeps me from perusing (and eating) the larger items offered at the Lido buffet. 

We tend to stay in the cabin more when we have a Neptune, so we do like having the Lounge act as our "corner market" for nibbles.  And the go-to spot to hang out and have that second cup of special coffee while the stewards are cleaning the room, if there are no other morning activities. 

That said, the views from an aft-wrap Neptune cabin cannot be beat. You won't go wrong with either. 

We **always** prefer being close to the Neptune Lounge. That's us. 

39 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

I think that is a good location! Here is the same cabin on the Zuiderdam (decor may be different but arrangement the same).

1073 – Zuiderdam | HAL Cruiser Information (halfacts.com)

 

I have always wanted to sail in a Super-K or J inside!

Just add a few windows and a balcony and you almost have a Neptune Suite, or at least a Signature Suite. Pretty nice layout for that inside cabin.

No matter what cruise line, I remain in awe of the challenge preparing, serving and cleaning up thousands of meals a day, including their international crew and staff.

Plus  working in cramped inside quarters, on a moving ship with restricted supply lines, and always having to pre-guess who will want what and how much they will want every single meal.  

Getting it right 80% of the time, is high marks for me. In fact, it is almost a relief to have something I can turn down at least a few times during a cruise. 

NA has Tamarind restaurant; Noordam is smaller and easier to get around. 

I personally  like the smaller ship intimacy of the Noordam, when the grandeur of Alaska is staring you in the face from all sides.

Recently spent 21 days on the Noordam, including 14 days in Alaska - no problems at all. Loved the addition of Valdez to the more typical Alaska itineraries. 

Another test - who will you be sharing ports with, and does one leave midweek and another follow the more standard weekend to weekend itinerary, though most 14 days cruises go more off the beaten path.

3 hours ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

You really should book on another line - the cutbacks in service & food is very apparent - I sailed in ROTTERDAM last Nov / Dec & after many years & cruises it is my last w HAL.

 

I'm not a foodie or a food snob - but the lido was no better than a mall buffet, the only thing special about the specialty steak house was the food poisoning I had after eating there.  I ate alot of pasta(which was pretty good) & the GRAND DUTCH CAFE had good coffee, croissants & apple pie, at ports I ate ashore at restaurants I researched - usually at hi end hotels.

 

I'm amazed at what people eat - I keep measured expectations & don't pile food onto my plate.  But even the cookies in the lido were tasteless.....

 

I'm upgrading my cruises - not just for the food but for the overall experience!!!

 

PS - be cautious of the HAL cheerleaders on these boards - they'd be served dog food & still defend the line!!!

HAL cheerleader here:

Gimme a Bee

Gimme a Why

Gimme a EEEEE

What does it spell?

BYE!

Let them eat cake, Holland America says:

https://profcruise.com/holland-america-new-cakes/

So I guess if I woof down their food, this does qualify as dog food. 🐶

13 minutes ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

.......

 

PS - be cautious of the HAL cheerleaders on these boards - they'd be served dog food & still defend the line!!!

Woof, woof. That would be me, except HAL food is not dog food and I do know the difference. So I am confused. Four years living in Europe, I did develop a palate. Kein tierfutter heir. 

Still trying to remember if there was a single HAL cruise I did not come back 5 pounds heavier, and I consider myself somewhat of a "foodie". Also can't remember coming back from a cruise where I actually honored my promise to lose those extra five pounds before my next cruise either. And so if goes after a decade or so of HAL cruises ........  (insert sad emoji here)

There is so much variety, it is hard to think you will not find something, somewhere to enjoy. But as a mass market cruise line, it will be at a hotel banquet level for the most part, but a good hotel banquet level.

Some of the smaller HAL speciality restaurants are better than others, but tend to be more inconsistent across the line. But again, never bad. (Well once, when they really blew the "Fegato ala Veneziana" at Canaletto.)

The Club Orange upcharge option, if available, gets pretty solid positive reviews if you want the best possible execution of the more standard dining choices. Individually made servings from the standard menus, in a special dining setting, so the menu items can be customized more to your own liking. 

I personally am a fan of the variety one finds at the Lido -more for the extra things they offer, but not necessarily for their main entree items which tend to be less interesting. They have many international options also which add a lot of variety to the choices too. Love HAL breakfasts and lunch has plenty of tasty items at the Lido.  Plus free room service can still be a good option too, though they have cut back on the number of choices. 

Check out their main dining room Indian menus, and their vegetarian menus - they have really upped their game offering variety for these choices which are available to anyone if you request them up front. 

Do stay away from the freshly made large crepes at the Lido for breakfast with butter, sugar and lemon, if you don't want to follow down my path. I seem to stop only at number three. 

10 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

I am at home, and have a had a slight irritated throat right now. Going to try the hot water and honey while watching TV tonight.  Where in the Lido do you get honey?  We bring supplies from home, but a sore throat is the worse!  I want to try that out on the ship if it works tonight.

 

The sundry shop on the Rotterdam is the worse of any ship I have ever been on.  

 

Do all ports of call have this "Seamans Society" store?  Have never seen it, but have seen crew coming back with bags from Walmart.

I found the honey in a jar by the coffee and tea supplies on the Noordam, next to the bank of coffee and hot water servers. It has one of those wand servers to swoop it out, and let it flow into your waiting cup. Maybe they have honey in single serving packets on other ships.

There could be a market for this instant anti-aging formula. 

Recent cruise that led to some cruise crud - best sore throat soother was simply hot water and a large dollop of honey from the Lido. Felt like magic.

6 hours ago, Thundertime said:

We were on Oosterdam in September cruising the Mediterranean, home of the pizza, and I tried the Lido pizza and it was horrible. Like a biscuit base.

Without high heat pizza ovens on some of the older  ships, at best you do get a baked flat bread with pizza type toppings. Know before you go.

Great suggestion. DH just reported he won't have to get me a birthday present. I'll tell him now I am supposed to get two of them.  🎂🎂 

Does this mean two gorgeous chocolate cakes at the Pinnacle now?

1 hour ago, kazu said:

We had a book club on a recent roll call with a LOT of participants.  The books were chosen pre-cruise and people either borrowed them from the library, downloaded or bought them.  No way would the library have enough copies of any book for a group and no one expected it.

The book choices were very good and well worthy of reading 👍 

Please kazu, tell us more about how you organized this and where you held it - what times worked best - how often? This is just a budding idea right now on our Roll Call but we are not sure how to go about this.  

Sharing some titles right now for a start.  Was yours for general reading, or tied into where you would be visiting?  TIA.

I think disorientation is expected after consuming one large Bosch Ball (sp?) in the GDC. Makes one go so Dutch, they start seeing everything in shades of orange. 

Just now, AV8rix said:

Uh, no. You are actually sitting in the GDC. Just sayin'😉😉😉

What???  You mean Club Orange does not serve its coffee in paper cups? 😜

Some duos were better than others, but others are still better than none.

My favorite mismatch was the eastern european couple who  were obviously acting out some sort of marital difficulties on stage. As pianist she would play over his strings, and when the set was over she would slam down the keyboard cover and stomp off. He frantically tried to keep up with her "accompaniment". Yet, they were both very talented and the music did prevail. 

On past HAL surveys I asked to have QUIET signs posted in the old format large library spaces that had lots of chairs and leather sofa -at least at the far end of that space,  so one could just nod and point to the sign, without creating a confrontation.

I do believe, just like some German trains, there needs to be dedicated quiet public spaces on board ships.  Know ye, before entering here. And far away from the hissing espresso machines!

So instead  they got rid of the libraries themselves in response my prior suggestion. Ha. But glad to see libraries are now coming back. even if to a lesser extent. But looks like the request for a posted QUIET sign is still in order.