Tea Service?

[penguinscott]

Afternoon tea is always one of my favorite parts of my cruise. Please, never get rid of tea, HAL!

[syesmar]

. . . my KBYG is 2018 but still mentions the Dutch Tea. When I sail next week, I might just approach a staff member, point to the PDF of it on my phone and ask which day it will be. :);p

 

I noticed that the updated 7/18 Edition of the KBYG still has Royal Dutch High Tea mentioned on Page 9. Has anyone who's sailed recently had it on their cruise?

 

Happy Sailing! :)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I think Holland is changing the tea service options

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[JoAnnaBullhead]

On 6/12/2018 at 4:42 PM, syesmar said:

I was wondering about the Teas this week, too. I came across this older thread with photos of the plates for the regular daily Tea and the Classic Tea: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2565971

 

I see that the Know Before You Go 2018 still states that Tea is elevated to Royal Dutch Tea once per cruise, but I have not seen any first hand reports of this.

Many sailings have a Sea Day the day after embarkation and I have met more than a few that substituted the Tea for lunch if they overslept due to jet lag.

 

Happy Sailing!

Does it cost money for the every day high teas?? On the Maasdam? Than you. We are a 4 star.,. but have gone to high tea.

[RuthC]

18 minutes ago, JoAnnaBullhead said:

Does it cost money for the every day high teas?? On the Maasdam? Than you. We are a 4 star.,. but have gone to high tea.

HAL has afternoon tea, not high tea, so don't expect the hot items high tea generally offers. It will be small sandwiches, desserts, and scones. And tea, of course. 
There is no charge for it, as it is included in your fare. 

[JoAnnaBullhead]

Thank you for the info. It is appreciated.

[kwb101]

We're on Volendam on a Grand Voyage, and have seen three varieties of tea: Afternoon, Classic, and Dutch High. The Dutch High Tea was pretty much like the others, save that the food was brought by on rectangular plates with one each of four or five items, while with the other teas, the servers brought large silver trays by. I thought the food was very similar for all the teas, so I'm not sure what the science is between them. All the food was very good. 

Nonetheless, an enjoyable and civilized way to spend time in the afternoon: enjoy!

[Bostonjetset]

3 hours ago, kwb101 said:

We're on Volendam on a Grand Voyage, and have seen three varieties of tea: Afternoon, Classic, and Dutch High. The Dutch High Tea was pretty much like the others, save that the food was brought by on rectangular plates with one each of four or five items, while with the other teas, the servers brought large silver trays by. I thought the food was very similar for all the teas, so I'm not sure what the science is between them. All the food was very good. 

Nonetheless, an enjoyable and civilized way to spend time in the afternoon: enjoy!

Any chance the beloved sausage rolls were brought back for the new Dutch tea?  Maybe at least one of the special teas has make a return. Hopefully not just on grand voyages. 

[kwb101]

5 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

Any chance the beloved sausage rolls were brought back for the new Dutch tea?  Maybe at least one of the special teas has make a return. Hopefully not just on grand voyages. 

Sadly, I don't recall seeing those (at least I don't think I did). Are they like pigs in blankets? (My apologies for being a culinary Philistine.) The one thing I do remember about the Dutch tea was that the goodies were larges, often more than a single bite. 

[Bostonjetset]

2 hours ago, kwb101 said:

Sadly, I don't recall seeing those (at least I don't think I did). Are they like pigs in blankets? (My apologies for being a culinary Philistine.) The one thing I do remember about the Dutch tea was that the goodies were larges, often more than a single bite. 

Here is a picture of the Dutch tea goodies on Westerdam back in 2016.  The sausage roll is the delectable meat-filled pastry on the bottom of the plate, between 5 and 7 o'clock..

 

[kwb101]

13 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

Here is a picture of the Dutch tea goodies on Westerdam back in 2016.  The sausage roll is the delectable meat-filled pastry on the bottom of the plate, between 5 and 7 o'clock. <snip>

Looks yummy! However, I don't recall seeing them. I did see shrimp and chicken sandwiches made from similar buns. It's very possible that the various vittles rotate across the menu. I'll keep an eye out. 

Edited January 22, 2020 by kwb101

[Clay Clayton]

If there were various teas on our early December 2019 sailing on Veendam they were not advertised.

 

While we enjoyed it the day we attended, we were surprised that there was no choice of tea-the white gloved waiters poured it premade from a silver-ish pot into our cups. The pasteries were tasty but we hated that the scones were pre-creamed and jammed.  We like being able to decide on our own if we are having Cornish scones or Devon scones.  LOL

[kwb101]

5 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

If there were various teas on our early December 2019 sailing on Veendam they were not advertised.

On every voyage we've taken (we started in spring 2017 and will hit 4☆ in couple of weeks), the teas are always on our When & Where, at 3pm daily.

5 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

While we enjoyed it the day we attended, we were surprised that there was no choice of tea-the white gloved waiters poured it premade from a silver-ish pot into our cups. The pasteries were tasty but we hated that the scones were pre-creamed and jammed.  We like being able to decide on our own if we are having Cornish scones or Devon scones.  LOL

This picture of the three-tiered server makes me think you had what's now called Classic Tea. The garden-variety Afternoon Teas were served from large silver trays (and waiters  didn't wear gloves for those).

[Clay Clayton]

Sorry for any confusion.  Tea was advertised but it was always referred to as “Afternoon Tea”.  Never saw the other designations. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

3 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

If there were various teas on our early December 2019 sailing on Veendam they were not advertised.

 

While we enjoyed it the day we attended, we were surprised that there was no choice of tea-the white gloved waiters poured it premade from a silver-ish pot into our cups. The pasteries were tasty but we hated that the scones were pre-creamed and jammed.  We like being able to decide on our own if we are having Cornish scones or Devon scones.  LOL

 

If you don't like the version of scone you got, just flip it over!

 

Whether it's clotted cream or whipped cream, that is a pitiful serving of jam and cream. Come on over the Cunard where the scones are not pre-filled, and they serve real clotted cream!

 

[Clay Clayton]

31 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

If you don't like the version of scone you got, just flip it over!

 

Whether it's clotted cream or whipped cream, that is a pitiful serving of jam and cream. Come on over the Cunard where the scones are not pre-filled, and they serve real clotted cream!

 

Actually it seemed they had put down the cream and then put ham around it. 🤪

 

I’m sure Cunard is nice but Viking is fine by me. Looking forward to being aboard in 44 days and having great scones warm from the oven and “proper” clotted cream and jam separate so I can make my own Devon/Cornish decision!  LOL