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HAL Tea

ozcruizer

By ozcruizer,
in Holland America Line

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Epicureangirl

Epicureangirl

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Posted

 

 

Thanks for sharing that link -- that is fascinating and funny too. Maybe POTUS can bring back the Tea Board and they can get rid of TAZO and the brands made with fannings? ;)

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*Miss G* "Live from...." Rare

*Miss G*

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Yorkshire Gold is my favourite! Whenever I am across the pond (or my sister comes visiting) I have to bring back at least two catering bags of Yorkshire Tea for my parents and son. That's 1200 tea bags in each catering bag! Disclaimer: I am British, grew up in Canada, and live in the US.

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Epicureangirl

Epicureangirl

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I fear I may be a tea snob as well. What teas are in the Neptune Lounge.? This is first Hal sailing. Do they not have an afternoon tea each day?

 

I can't answer what type of tea in the Neptune Lounge question, but unless things have changed on HAL recently, they do not have afternoon tea service every day. There is a traditional (English-style) tea service and they also have an Indonesian tea service (usually they will be scheduled on a sea-day). They will be listed on your daily program, but I don't know how many tea-times are scheduled for each cruise. Anyone else know?

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lastlook

lastlook

Posted
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Yorkshire Gold is my favourite! Whenever I am across the pond (or my sister comes visiting) I have to bring back at least two catering bags of Yorkshire Tea for my parents and son. That's 1200 tea bags in each catering bag! Disclaimer: I am British, grew up in Canada, and live in the US.

Fortunately, I have been able to order it via Amazon.:)

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RuthC

RuthC

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They will be listed on your daily program, but I don't know how many tea-times are scheduled for each cruise. Anyone else know?

There has been an afternoon tea every day that I have sailed, with the exception of embarkation days. (that's a considerable number of days).

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Epicureangirl

Epicureangirl

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There has been an afternoon tea every day that I have sailed, with the exception of embarkation days. (that's a considerable number of days).

 

 

 

How did I miss that? I will scour my schedule more carefully!

 

I checked the HAL site and realized there is a regular daily tea, but the ones I look for on the schedule are limited, the Indonesian tea service and the Royal Dutch. I don’t miss those.

 

 

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Edited by Epicureangirl
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navybankerteacher

navybankerteacher

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You have to bring your own - unless you are satisfied with pot luck - I always travel with Lapsang Souchong.

 

More important: you must make it yourself. With the exception of a few London restaurants and hotels, no one seems to to know that the cup (or pot) needs to be pre-heated with boiling water before putting in the tea (loose or bag) and instantly adding boiling water.

 

In HAL MDR's they bring that little metal pot -which has pretty well cooled by the time it gets to the table - with the tea bag next to it. Save your bag for the Lido so you can almost do it right.

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3rdGenCunarder "Live from...." Rare

3rdGenCunarder

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Sadly, I am passionate about tea, coffee, wine and most food -- I am frequently disgusted (or at the very least disappointed) by all four. The flip-side of that, is when a place or person gets it right, it is a BEAUTIFUL thing.

 

My mother-in-law (British) is the one who first got me cruising HAL. She struggles on her cruises to ever so politely ask/educate the MDR staff to get her tea prepared properly. I swear she was ELATED when on the last day it came to her correctly. But now that I have seen this thread, I can be the one to tell her about the life-hack for the Lido tea experience! She will be forever grateful. And actually -- I am grateful to come across this thread. I love tea but gave up drinking it on HAL because of having similar experiences to the others here.

 

The best waiter team we ever had were Rianto and Henry on Maasdam. This was back when the MDR had china teapots. I requested the house Darjeeling (now gone, alas) and to put the bag in the pot when they added the hot water, and they always did it that way. The hot water wasn't boiling, but getting it on the teabag right away helped a lot. I usually can get the waiter to put my teabag in with the hot water and not on the side, but it may take a bit of training. The teabag-on-the-side thing is why I rarely order tea in a US restaurant.

 

I fear I may be a tea snob as well. What teas are in the Neptune Lounge.? This is first Hal sailing. Do they not have an afternoon tea each day?

 

The NL has a very nice assortment of teas in silk sachets. Can't remember the brand, sorry. maybe it's Harneys. They generally also have PG Tips (Sometimes the Lido has PG Tips, too). The NL ran out of the Darjeeling on our cruise (horrors!), so I changed to PG Tips.

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Epicureangirl

Epicureangirl

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You have to bring your own - unless you are satisfied with pot luck - I always travel with Lapsang Souchong.

 

 

Now that is a heavenly smelling (and tasting) tea!

 

I laughed at your reference to being “satisfied with pot luck”, I will be thinking about that comment when they present the tea chest (if they even still do that).

 

 

 

 

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TrolleyGirl

TrolleyGirl

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:)Count me in as part of the group that packs their own tea. But it is the iced tea that is served onboard that I don’t like. So I bring my own Twinnings Cold Brew green tea with mint. Perfect little individually package teabags that travel everywhere with me.

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Epicureangirl

Epicureangirl

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:)Count me in as part of the group that packs their own tea. But it is the iced tea that is served onboard that I don’t like. So I bring my own Twinnings Cold Brew green tea with mint. Perfect little individually package teabags that travel everywhere with me.

 

I really don't like the iced tea either on the ship. But for Canadians (me being one) iced tea is a sweetened tea -- not just cold tea. I didn't even know there was a such thing as 'cold brew' for iced tea. I have always made mine from a hot steep and then cooled it. I'll have to give it a try!

 

Thanks.

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gigianne

gigianne

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Hopefully HAL will always have PG tips in the Lido. Now, to get them to have them in the MDR. One of the biggest insults for a tea drinker when fine dining (MDR) is to have the tea bag put in the cup. After a couple of sad looking faces our server found us tea pots which he kept for us each night. If you use the Bigelow tea bags use two at a time and you will get a better cuppa! On a long Westerdam cruise our wonderful server warmed our cups for us - now that's service!

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Epicureangirl

Epicureangirl

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Tea confession — I started packing my tea for the cruise, so my husband decided to bring some too. He went to the store and brought back Tazo Zen. It is in my luggage! I had no idea he liked Tazo when I met him — luckily he did not disclose that!

 

 

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TrolleyGirl

TrolleyGirl

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Tea confession — I started packing my tea for the cruise, so my husband decided to bring some too. He went to the store and brought back Tazo Zen. It is in my luggage! I had no idea he liked Tazo when I met him — luckily he did not disclose that!

 

That may be a good thing. He won't take your stash.

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ToBe

ToBe

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Tea confession — I started packing my tea for the cruise, so my husband decided to bring some too. He went to the store and brought back Tazo Zen. It is in my luggage! I had no idea he liked Tazo when I met him — luckily he did not disclose that!

 

 

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Not only do I pack my own Darjeeling but I have learned to take a good sized mug. I love to enjoy a big mug in the afternoon.

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