'Twas Two Weeks Before Christmas - Live from the Nieuw Statendam, Dec. 10 - 17, 2023

[POA1]

Just now, kazu said:

 

I love this idea.  Perfect timing with Main Dining.   When you say Tudor accommodated you does that mean you didn’t need to pay the PG surcharge to have the caviar?

I would love to do this for both PG (for the caviar) and Sel de Mer (for the fruits de Mer) if I didn’t need to pay the fee for the restaurant.

 

After all, both items are hefty surcharges.

 

Great pics - thank you for acquiescing 🙂 

 

 

Excellent question! We were charged for the dinner when we made the reservation, because that's what the system requires. Once we checked in, they backed out the dinner charge and we only paid for the caviar.

 

From the restaurant's perspective, we're a table that turns in about an hour and has a check that's higher than a dinner bill would be.

 

We have been doing this for a long time. I don't see why it would not work in Sel de Mer. We make the earliest reservation so as not to be in the way. It also gives us some time to digest before dinner.

[kazu]

5 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Excellent question! We were charged for the dinner when we made the reservation, because that's what the system requires. Once we checked in, they backed out the dinner charge and we only paid for the caviar.

 

From the restaurant's perspective, we're a table that turns in about an hour and has a check that's higher than a dinner bill would be.

 

We have been doing this for a long time. I don't see why it would not work in Sel de Mer. We make the earliest reservation so as not to be in the way. It also gives us some time to digest before dinner.

 

Got it.  Thank you 🙂. It’s a brilliant idea.  PG’s caviar is quite decent IMO.

 

thank you so much for taking the time to reply.  It’s such a wonderful idea - love it 😃 

 

[POA1]

Just now, kazu said:

 

Got it.  Thank you 🙂. It’s a brilliant idea.  PG’s caviar is quite decent IMO.

 

thank you so much for taking the time to reply.  It’s such a wonderful idea - love it 😃 

 

Happy to help! You put all that time into the Future Cruise Listings. It's the least I can do.

[kazu]

4 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Happy to help! You put all that time into the Future Cruise Listings. It's the least I can do.

 

but it’s thanks to YOUR website that it’s been able to be posted on the boards for a number of years when CC changed the forum.  Your assistance setting it up and letting me use it is appreciated beyond words.  ♥️ 

[BetsyS.]

Thanks for the pictures! You, Michelle and Tudor all look great! 😊

[kopykat]

2 hours ago, POA1 said:

Welcome to our family tradition, formal night caviar and champagne. Tudor, the Pinnacle Grill manager was gracious enough to accommodate us for a little caviar snack before dinner.

 

 

When you order a glass of bubbly and they just bring the whole bottle, you feel like you are both known and loved.

 

 

The accoutrements.

 

 

An ounce per person, a respectable amount.

 

 

 

That's two photos with me in them. I'm at my quota for 2023.

 

 

Where’s Pooh By Joe? Doesn’t he get caviar and champagne?

[POA1]

Just now, kopykat said:

Where’s Pooh By Joe? Doesn’t he get caviar and champagne?

No. He stays home most of the time. He'll pop out for some honey on occasion, but he tries to avoid getting mobbed by his adoring public.

[POA1]

So... Despite the fact that you only get towel animals on special nights, our guys have been making "friends" for Poohby Joe during nightly turn down.

 

We returned from dinner to a "mouse and cheese" themed towel animal.

 

 

Michelle went around to her side of the bed and burst out laughing. Here's what was there. Those are my sneakers. Not sure if I should be scared.

 

 

Well played, room stewards. Well played.

Edited December 16, 2023 by POA1

[Cruising-along]

4 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

 

 

Well played, room stewards. Well played.

This was my favorite “towel animal” too. Laughed so hard and then found our stewards outside waiting for my reaction. 🤣

[POA1]

Our Club Orange Dining Room dinner was very good. We had our same waiter and wine steward, so it was smooth as silk. (We've taken to treating it like we're in regular, fixed, late seating. It seems to work.)

 

As it's "could you see your way to wearing a collared shirt night," we started with Champagne. Le Grande Cortage Rosé. $12.

 

 

The rest of dinner will be posted once we finish with the night's clean, bright entertainments.

[POA1]

We started with Escargot for Michelle's appetizer. (I'm as shocked as you are.)

 

Pairing was the Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay.

 

I chose the Sunchoke Soup, based on an expert recommendation. It lived up to the hype. (Thanks for the tip!)

 

 

Michelle, being a good, Midwestern, beef-eating girl from Nebraska, had the filet with shrimp.

 

 

I went with the grouper.

 

 

Everything was quite good.

 

The big news, however, was that I finally won dessert.

[broberts]

24 minutes ago, POA1 said:

The big news, however, was that I finally won dessert.

 

Cliff hanger.

[POA1]

I thought that Michelle was going to pick the Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert. She did not.

 

She bobbed and weaved and went for the Caribbean Bread Pudding

 

 

Those who know me - which now includes you - would immediately peg me for anything involving toasted coconut.

 

I ordered the Toasted Coconut Dulce de Leche thing. It was quite tasty.

 

 

More importantly, I finally won dessert. I'm trying to hold a celebration, but it's hard to cram the mariachi band into the room. (Tip: If you are thinking about bedside Mexican bands, you'll want a Signature Suite, minimum.)

 

Michelle had nothing nice to say about the Caribbean bread pudding. As a fan of all things puddin', I thought that she was exaggerating. She was not.

 

 

 

 

[POA1]

Our luggage tags were delivered today. They gave us two. Somebody missed my photo from embarkation day.

 

 

I'll need to pick up another tag after breakfast tomorrow.

 

Speaking of breakfast, if anyone from CruiseCritic is around tomorrow (Saturday) please let me know. Of course, if you are in hiding, that's OK.

 

I think we missed @LAFFNVEGAS

by 15 minutes in CO tonight.

[Haljo1935]

50 minutes ago, POA1 said:

...She bobbed and weaved and went for the Caribbean Bread Pudding

 

Michelle had nothing nice to say about the Caribbean bread pudding. As a fan of all things puddin', I thought that she was exaggerating. She was not.

Did Michelle try the bread pudding from the CO breakfast menu? It came w/pomegranate seeds, which we removed.

[POA1]

Just now, Haljo1935 said:

Did Michelle try the bread pudding from the CO breakfast menu? It came w/pomegranate seeds, which we removed.

No. We can try it this morning.

[POA1]

Good morning! We are hit all three music walk venues last night, but we dine late so we're usually coming in at the tail end of things. BB King had the latest set, and that's where we wound up at the end of the evening. They have a new male vocalist, The previous one disembarked in San Juan. He's got a lower vocal range than the previous singer and it feels like he and the band are in the process of getting used to one another.

 

Naturally, I did not get all the band mrmbrrs" names. Nor anyone from Billboard or Rolling Stone. (I'd stink as a groupie.) I'll have to check with guest services on the Rotterdam in the Spring. Maybe they have a resource sheet for bloggers. I used to carry a little notebook and my astronaut space pen so I could write things down. I'm a little rusty after the five year hiatus.

[POA1]

The ship was rocking a bit last night. We don't mind, and being pretty much smack dab midship helps. We're on deck 7,thr Schubert deck which I really want to call the Rotterdam Deck.

 

People on the lower decks, particularly midship, will have the smoothest ride because of pitch, yaw and roll. (Sounds like a country western group.)

 

Assuming we run into Lisa, who is on Deck 5, aft, we're interested to hear how the ride is there. @LAFFNVEGAS

is on the ship and we should theoretically run into her every once in a while. This is all my fault for getting the meet & greet time wrong.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

8 minutes ago, POA1 said:

The ship was rocking a bit last night. We don't mind, and being pretty much smack dab midship helps. We're on deck 7,thr Schubert deck which I really want to call the Rotterdam Deck.

 

People on the lower decks, particularly midship, will have the smoothest ride because of pitch, yaw and roll. (Sounds like a country western group.)

 

Assuming we run into Lisa, who is on Deck 5, aft, we're interested to hear how the ride is there. @LAFFNVEGAS

is on the ship and we should theoretically run into her every once in a while. This is all my fault for getting the meet & greet time wrong.

Brian we will be going to C O for breakfast between 8 and 8:30 😉

[POA1]

I have the alarm set for 7:00 AM. We'll have breakfast in CO and then assess the weather, Half Moon Cay, and cabana situations.

 

We have a Plan B ready to go in case of bad weather or a missed port stop. The seas seem calmer this morning. Maybe they are, or perhaps we've just slowed down as we approach Little San Salvador. (That's Half Moon Cay's real name in case you want to find the weather forecast.)

 

It looks a little better than it did yesterday, but the winds are awfully stiff.

 

[POA1]

Just now, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Brian we will be going to C O for breakfast between 8 and 8:30 😉

Ohmigosh! So will we. See you then.

[POA1]

 

As expected, Half Moon Cay was a miss today.  We still have to see if Cabanaland is open or not.

 

On the plus side, we finally met up with @LAFFNVEGAS Lisa and Tom for breakfast in the Club Orange Dining Room

 

Activating Plan B... We'll do Plan C if the Cabanas are closed.

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by POA1

[POA1]

Well... Plan C it is!

 

But first, a breakfast recap. We had just ordered our cappuccino and juice* when we spotted Lisa and Tom. We moved from our two top to a larger table so we could eat together and chat.

 

 

It was nice meeting them and we had a lovely chat.

[POA1]

When they skip Half Moon Cay, they have a list of activities ready to go and they beef up the schedule.

Edited December 16, 2023 by POA1

[POA1]

We had an abbreviated breakfast, abbreviated in the fact that we had no OJ but double champagne.

 

Michelle did a little pre ordering recon at the pastry station in the open kitchen.