'Twas the Week Before Christmas - Live from the Eurodam

[POA1]

While I love a free drink when offered I'm not big on champagne. Would the steward in the Cabana's substitute a glass of wine? Failing that how bad is the champagne? First world problems I know!

 

I didn't ask about still wine instead, but we can check. The wine is the Cantine Maschio Prosecco from the regular wine list. It sells for $6.25 on the list, and if memory serves me, it rated about an 85 (Good) when I looked it up. It's perfectly pleasant. I wouldn't serve it for a special occasion, but it would be fine as a "watching the ships sail out of Port Everglades" wine.

[POA1]

This post is a full blown salute to Krazy Kruizers. It involves caviar and Champagne. If these topics aren't your cup of tea, skip ahead a bit.*

 

 

DW and I arranged for caviar service as a pre dinner snack in the Pinnacle Bar last night. Normally we'd have ordered it with out Pinnacle Grill dinner, but that leaves DFIL sitting there, watching us enjoy our caviar, twiddling his thumbs. *I regret saying what a great value HAL's caviar was at $45/oz. Because it's now $70/oz. We reluctantly paid that - purely in the interest of research. (If you are a HAL corporate accountant, please look away. I think I see some expense irregularities over there.)*

 

 

It's just us cool kids now, right?*

 

 

Even at $70, HAL's caviar service is an excellent value. (Don't tell anyone.) You get a full ounce of Osetra plus.accompaniments: Crème fraiche, eggs, scallions, and onions. The buckwheat blinis are fresh and the overall service is impeccable. If we had one wish (hint, hint) it would be for more and slightly larger blinis. If we had two wishes, it would be for a 100 g portion of caviar per person. (Third wish is a black Labrador retriever named Winston and a pony.)*

 

 

Since we have dinner at eight o'clock, I ordered the caviar for 6:30. They held a corner high top table for us. Upon arrival, we checked in at the Pinnacle and headed over to the bar. We ordered two glasses of Champagne (Nicholas Feuillatte Brut) and Renzo from the Pinnacle brought our two orders of caviar out shortly.*

 

 

 

This is a nicer mother of pearl spoon than the ones we have at home.

 

 

 

[POA1]

 

 

And the big reveal so you can put faces to names:

 

Huskerchick

 

Poohby Joe

 

Me

[POA1]

Here's the "When & Where" from December 20, 2016 - San Juan

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFj3hEUanp1CfIQUT471i3og5rf8-OArMAY/

[POA1]

We're in a bit of a holding pattern in San Juan now due to rain. We're docked alongside the Konigsdam. We plan to head into town when it stops raining. It's kind of a bummer because it was a relatively cool day. Now it's going to be sticky.

[DWAliaschief]

[Our wine steward, Joan, has done a great job. (Joan is a guy.) We make it pretty easy on him though, because I pick out our wines beforehand, once we know what we're ordering. We have them bring everything but dessert wine out at once - because who ever has the most stemware on the table wins.

 

 

Please give Joan (the guy wine steward) a shout out from Bruce and Susan, Ray and Janet. He served us for the first 7 days of our 22 Med-TA in Oct. Great service and excellent suggestions!

[pspehar]

HAL should be updating their master plan to make room under the spending caps. The Institute needs to be contracted for an ongoing HAL blog series.

[kazu]

Love your caviar pics POA1 & the idea to order it pre-dinner. Did you request that in the PG that night or just later? That would be a very nice idea to do one night :)

 

Your pics of the three of you are marvellous. Good to see the two of you again :)

 

One little favour - On JohnnyB's live thread he reported that the De Librije dinner did not get the Mariner's Discount?? According to the old faqs it should but since they updated the faqs, the dinners don't seem to be listed. Would be curious to know if the discount applied for this dinner or not? Thanks :)

[cruisun]

And love your fun witty style, continue to enjoy!!

[POA1]

Love your caviar pics POA1 & the idea to order it pre-dinner. Did you request that in the PG that night or just later? That would be a very nice idea to do one night :)

 

Your pics of the three of you are marvellous. Good to see the two of you again :)

 

One little favour - On JohnnyB's live thread he reported that the De Librije dinner did not get the Mariner's Discount?? According to the old faqs it should but since they updated the faqs, the dinners don't seem to be listed. Would be curious to know if the discount applied for this dinner or not? Thanks :)

 

I stopped by the Pinnacle in the afternoon and spoke to Renzo, one of the waiters who was setting up. It was probably around 2 o'clock or so. He took my name and room number, along with the time we wanted to stop by. They had a table in the restaurant, but I opted for the bar so that they could sell the table. I made sure to ask nicely, but caviar for 2 is the same revenue as 4 PG dinners - or 8 if you are 4 or 5 stars. It's also less labor intensive, so it makes business sense.

 

We did receive advance credit for our PG reservations, but there is nothing on the statement yet for De Librije. I'll know for sure after tomorrow and will dutifully report back.

[POA1]

 

Please give Joan (the guy wine steward) a shout out from Bruce and Susan, Ray and Janet. He served us for the first 7 days of our 22 Med-TA in Oct. Great service and excellent suggestions!

 

Will do!

[IllinoisGirl1978]

Since I am burdening you with research, I would like to pile on... Last cruise, I became fond of an after-dinner drink that I called a "Baby Guinness" which was Kahlua topped with a layer of Baileys Irish Cream. As I recall, HAL calls it something else but I can't find the menu where it is listed. Just curious if it is on the new menu since we are 39 days out from a Panama Canal Transit on the Rotterdam. We have a large selection of ornamental HAL glasses that it was served in (on the SBP)...

 

 

 

There's a version of that drink, glass of Guinness and a shot of Baileys dropped into the Guinness: 'Irish car Bomb'

 

 

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[kazu]

I stopped by the Pinnacle in the afternoon and spoke to Renzo, one of the waiters who was setting up. It was probably around 2 o'clock or so. He took my name and room number, along with the time we wanted to stop by. They had a table in the restaurant, but I opted for the bar so that they could sell the table. I made sure to ask nicely, but caviar for 2 is the same revenue as 4 PG dinners - or 8 if you are 4 or 5 stars. It's also less labor intensive, so it makes business sense.

 

We did receive advance credit for our PG reservations, but there is nothing on the statement yet for De Librije. I'll know for sure after tomorrow and will dutifully report back.

 

Thanks so much POA :). There's no Pinnacle Bar on the Rotterdam and like you, I don't want to take up a table in the PG so I'll think of something.

 

Appreciate the tip and your taking the time to research so hard on all of our behalf.

 

Hmmm, if you got credit for your PG reservations, then either the De Librije works differently or there is now no discount. We'll be trying it either way if it is offered on the Rotterdam -and should be, hopefully ;)

[POA1]

Since I am burdening you with research, I would like to pile on... Last cruise, I became fond of an after-dinner drink that I called a "Baby Guinness" which was Kahlua topped with a layer of Baileys Irish Cream. As I recall, HAL calls it something else but I can't find the menu where it is listed. Just curious if it is on the new menu since we are 39 days out from a Panama Canal Transit on the Rotterdam. We have a large selection of ornamental HAL glasses that it was served in (on the SBP)...

We asked about the off menu drinks and a very reliable bartender told us that they'll make anything as long as they know how. The old specialty drinks are still covered by the SBP. You'd have to know what to ask for though.

 

Which reminds me... We have to order the Wang Wang for Sppunk. Apparently it'll fall to me to drink it because Huskerchick wants no part of it. I wonder if I could chase it with Bourbon?

[POA1]

We haven't seen the Bailey's & Kailua after dinner cordial yet. We haven't paid a lot of attention. Mostly because we have all the glasses. Now that you mention it, I wonder if if the glasses have the new logo?

[IllinoisGirl1978]

We haven't seen the Bailey's & Kailua after dinner cordial yet. We haven't paid a lot of attention. Mostly because we have all the glasses. Now that you mention it, I wonder if if the glasses have the new logo?

 

 

 

There's new cordial glasses.

 

 

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[qsuzi]

Very much enjoying reading this thread and so much helpful information. Thanks so much for your "research". At some point will you please share your overall impressions of the Eurodam...favorites places/memories and any other comments.

Edited December 20, 2016 by qsuzi

[sppunk]

We asked about the off menu drinks and a very reliable bartender told us that they'll make anything as long as they know how. The old specialty drinks are still covered by the SBP. You'd have to know what to ask for though.

 

Which reminds me... We have to order the Wang Wang for Sppunk. Apparently it'll fall to me to drink it because Huskerchick wants no part of it. I wonder if I could chase it with Bourbon?

I have been patiently waiting ...

 

I had the crew version of the Wang Wang a few weeks ago - add bourbon and jager. It was ... an interesting experience.

[POA1]

A surprising fact that I've not mentioned yet is the lack of Christmas music on the PA.

[65 Gator]

Since I try to have a Guinness every evening at 5:00, I may have to try the Irish Car Bomb...

 

I found some notes from long ago and the Bailey's & Kahlua was called an Explorer's Coffee... I will certainly have a few and am curious to see if we get the new logo.

 

Thanks for your research...

[pspehar]

A surprising fact that I've not mentioned yet is the lack of Christmas music on the PA.

 

We are heading out this upcoming Saturday. I was thinking if we got lucky we would need only endure two days of that wonderful music. But this even better news than I could have hoped for.

[POA1]

Very much enjoying reading this thread and so much helpful information. Thanks so much for your "research". At some point will you please share your overall impressions of the Eurodam...favorites places/memories and any other comments.

You're very welcome. We're really pleased with the ship so far. One of the good things about doing these reports is that it forces us to pay attention to things we wouldn't otherwise see.

[POA1]

BBC Earth show thoughts? It's at 9:30 tonight and it'll be tough to make it with late dinner.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks POA1 for the update on the caviar.

When we order the caviar, we ask them to make extra blinis for us. Do agree that they are tiny and could be made a little larger.

[POA1]

We are heading out this upcoming Saturday. I was thinking if we got lucky we would need only endure two days of that wonderful music. But this even better news than I could have hoped for.

I was surprised because when we were on the Nieuw Amsterdam in 2014, the holiday classics started around December 6th or 7th. I have noticed that the background music seems to be themed for different areas. It's pretty low key and I think that you have to try to notice it.