Great Cruising Memories

[shipgeeks]

Our "try to replicate" is MSC sticky buns.

The pecan sticky buns on HAL and Celebrity were delicious, but we never thought to try to make them at home.

Then we had sticky buns on Seaside (every day), and we liked them so much that DH has been working on creating similar ones.  Pretty close!  And getting better with every try.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Pabst draft beer.

 

I do look at the beer taps when sitting at a bar and I don't ever recall seeing Pabst draft on tap.  

20 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

 

 

Deleted.  Something happened to what I posted.  

 

 

[rkacruiser]

21 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Blue Moon with an orange slice comes to mind.  

 

rkacruiser needs some educating about this topic.  I have not understood why Corona drinkers liked a slice of lime with their beer.  A slice of orange with Blue Moon is what you enjoy.  What does the fruit add to the beer?  

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Heading on the Viking World Cruise, I was somewhat concerned on having no beers for 100+ days, but Viking had a Norwegian IPA and a Double Dark.

 

Sounds to me that someone else tries to check out what the beverage list is for a ship before one embarks.  I routinely do this, particularly if it is a new ship/line on which I have not sailed.  

[George C]

44 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Our "try to replicate" is MSC sticky buns.

The pecan sticky buns on HAL and Celebrity were delicious, but we never thought to try to make them at home.

Then we had sticky buns on Seaside (every day), and we liked them so much that DH has been working on creating similar ones.  Pretty close!  And getting better with every try.

We had Johnny Walker Blue everyday on the seaside always doubles , that was almost exactly a year ago, loved there yacht club..

[CGTNORMANDIE]

7 hours ago, George C said:

My love for German beer came 50 years ago while being stationed in Germany while serving in the army . Luckily I got Germany and not Vietnam. Also best pizza I ever had was visiting Naples on a cruise 20 years ago, we had to miss our annual New York trip this year where we have pizza multiple times .

Hi George, what’s your favorite German beer??

[CGTNORMANDIE]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

Our "try to replicate" is MSC sticky buns.

The pecan sticky buns on HAL and Celebrity were delicious, but we never thought to try to make them at home.

Then we had sticky buns on Seaside (every day), and we liked them so much that DH has been working on creating similar ones.  Pretty close!  And getting better with every try.

Let us know when you nail it.  Would love to get the finished recipe!

[CGTNORMANDIE]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I do look at the beer taps when sitting at a bar and I don't ever recall seeing Pabst draft on tap.  

 

Hi RK,  you are probably frequenting the more upscale bars in tonier neighborhoods...LOL. 

[CGTNORMANDIE]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

rkacruiser needs some educating about this topic.  I have not understood why Corona drinkers liked a slice of lime with their beer.  A slice of orange with Blue Moon is what you enjoy.  What does the fruit add to the beer?  

Ahhhh RK, the orange in the Blue Moon actually compliments the flavor of the beer.  The lime in a Corona attempts to mask the awful skunk odor of the beer.  I could never get by the smell of Corona.

[George C]

12 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Hi George, what’s your favorite German beer??

Really not a beer drinker, but occasionally have a Heineken or Stella but drink lots of California Cabernet Napa and Sonoma , Johnny Walker Blue is out of my price range but there Gold is excellent and still love my Chianti Classico. One of our favorite restaurants has half price wine bottles on Tuesday so we can get a really good Napa. 

[CGTNORMANDIE]

56 minutes ago, George C said:

We had Johnny Walker Blue everyday on the seaside always doubles , that was almost exactly a year ago, loved there yacht club..

Ohhhhh I miss the YC sooooo much!  Doubles of Johnny Blue...you must have upgraded the YC drink package.  

[George C]

18 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Ohhhhh I miss the YC sooooo much!  Doubles of Johnny Blue...you must have upgraded the YC drink package.  

Yes they charged 17 a day for the upgrade and that included all drinks sold by the glass, we definitely got our money’s worth, they had a nice champagne bar that we visited daily , XO cognacs and top of the line scotch. We definitely sail msc yacht club again and hopefully seaside staff was excellent.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

23 minutes ago, George C said:

Yes they charged 17 a day for the upgrade and that included all drinks sold by the glass, we definitely got our money’s worth, they had a nice champagne bar that we visited daily , XO cognacs and top of the line scotch. We definitely sail msc yacht club again and hopefully seaside staff was excellent.

LOL...I’ll have to remember that one.  XO Cognacs and Moët et Chandon would be just right!

[George C]

3 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

LOL...I’ll have to remember that one.  XO Cognacs and Moët et Chandon would be just right!

The bartender at the champagne bar would start pouring us a glass of Moët champagne as soon as he saw us coming , he used to work on rccl.

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Ahhhh RK, the orange in the Blue Moon actually compliments the flavor of the beer.  The lime in a Corona attempts to mask the awful skunk odor of the beer.  I could never get by the smell of Corona.

 

I am learning.  Now not more interested than ever in Corona!  What do you do with the slice of orange?  Put it in the glass and pour the beer over it?  

 

1 hour ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Hi RK,  you are probably frequenting the more upscale bars in tonier neighborhoods...LOL. 

 

🤣🤣!!  The bars that I patronize are those where I must sit at restaurants while I wait to be seated, the bars at hotels where I am staying, or the bars on the ships on which I am sailing that I enjoy.  

 

As a solo cruisers more often than not, I have found that sitting at a table in a lounge anywhere is a lonely experience.   

[CGTNORMANDIE]

41 minutes ago, George C said:

The bartender at the champagne bar would start pouring us a glass of Moët champagne as soon as he saw us coming , he used to work on rccl.

Now you’re really making me “home sick” for MSC YC.  There really isn’t anything like it.  

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Sounds to me that someone else tries to check out what the beverage list is for a ship before one embarks.  I routinely do this, particularly if it is a new ship/line on which I have not sailed.  

 

Did check out the drinks menu, but Viking often change the content based on where you are cruising. We had the Norwegian beers for about 2/3 of the cruise and they brought on local craft beers.

 

Believe we drank the ship dry of IPA about 4 times.🙁

[CGTNORMANDIE]

On 12/7/2020 at 7:54 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

Did check out the drinks menu, but Viking often change the content based on where you are cruising. We had the Norwegian beers for about 2/3 of the cruise and they brought on local craft beers.

 

Believe we drank the ship dry of IPA about 4 times.🙁

Now Viking is a whole “nother” type of cruise...luxury.  Did they serve Moët et Chandon?

You sailed on one of the top luxury lines and drank all their beer??  I like your style.😊

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Now Viking is a whole “nother” type of cruise...luxury.  Did they serve Moët et Chandon?

You sailed on one of the top luxury lines and drank all their beer??  I like your style.😊

 

Moet was available, but it wasn't included in the drinks package.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Moet was available, but it wasn't included in the drinks package.

Looks like I will be staying with MSC...LOL.

[rkacruiser]

On 12/7/2020 at 7:54 PM, Heidi13 said:

Believe we drank the ship dry of IPA about 4 times.🙁

 

Storerooms too small?  😃

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Storerooms too small?  😃

 

Sadly the beer store was huge, more a case of too many craft beer drinkers.🙁

[CGTNORMANDIE]

On 12/9/2020 at 6:35 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

Sadly the beer store was huge, more a case of too many craft beer drinkers.🙁

Sounds like too many craft beer drinkers drinking beer by the case!  Curious that you would find that happening on a luxury cruise.  You would think the Person in charge of provisions or Head of Hotel Services would order enough to keep everyone happy.  To have shortages like that over and over is inexcusable.  

[Heidi13]

12 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Sounds like too many craft beer drinkers drinking beer by the case!  Curious that you would find that happening on a luxury cruise.  You would think the Person in charge of provisions or Head of Hotel Services would order enough to keep everyone happy.  To have shortages like that over and over is inexcusable.  

 

They had some significant challenges with stores due to the COVID changes to the schedule.

 

This cruise was Jan to April 2020 and our itinerary was decimated due to COVID. They had containers full of stores at ports we couldn't enter, so then they would be re-shipped to other ports. Some of the staples were replaced with locally purchased products.

 

Apparently we had a number of containers of stores at various SE Asia ports we missed.

[rkacruiser]

8 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

They had some significant challenges with stores

 

8 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

They had containers full of stores at ports we couldn't enter, so then they would be re-shipped to other ports. Some of the staples were replaced with locally purchased products.

 

This is what we experienced on the Volendam's Asia Pacific Cruise in 2002.  A dock strike on the West Coast prevented containers of some supplies from reaching a few ports in Asia where we were to re-supply.  The most memorable example was a container that contained toilet paper.  Not sure which port in China where we were to receive that container, but it had not arrived.  Local supplies of toilet tissue had to be purchased and distributed as needed to the staterooms.  Our Hotel Director apologized for having to do so.  The quality of the product was certainly different from the usual tissue.  There were probably other problems with the supply of other items, but it's the TP that I remember.