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

[POA1]

I just fact checked myself. Happy to report that I was not making up the info on the Freedom. Carnival's new livery is a lot more attractive than the plain white hulls of the past.

[POA1]

The two ships from the Margaritaville side of the beach.

 

And here Michelle helpfully points out the sign warning Carnival guests not to smuggle.

I wonder why the sign fails to mention Holland America passengers. C'mon HAL cruisers! It's time to up your drug game.

[*Miss G*]

10 minutes ago, POA1 said:

I wonder why the sign fails to mention Holland America passengers. C'mon HAL cruisers! It's time to up your drug game.

 

I honestly didn’t realize the massive problem Grand Turk was having with recreational marijuana users!  Maybe too many laid-back passengers wasting away in Margaritaville?  🤷‍♀️ 

[POA1]

Tonight's Club Orange dinner menu.

For all intents and purposes, the CO menu and the MDR menus are the same with the following differences: Club Orange always has Beecher's Mac and Cheese available as well as a seared tuna and asparagus salad. We also get one extra entrée choice. (Except on formal nights when the menus are the same.)

 

[*Miss G*]

39 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

 

I honestly didn’t realize the massive problem Grand Turk was having with recreational marijuana users!  Maybe too many laid-back passengers wasting away in Margaritaville?  🤷‍♀️ 

 

Whoops!  I just realized it’s a warning to passengers returning to the ships with local souvenirs!  (And, apparently, I’m not their target demographic. 🤪)

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by *Miss G*

[POA1]

The MDR menu often has a cordial of the day, which does not appear on the Club Orange menu. Naturally, there is none today, but I swear I'm telling the truth.

The cordial comes in a souvenir glass for a surcharge. I'm interested to see what they look like. But since we have full sets of the last two series, I'm not sure if we really need more shot glasses. Although a game of checkers with shots is always a possibility. (That's from the TV show M.A.S.H. or college in the 80s.)

[Navybikermom]

All my HAL cruises before Covid had the cordial of the day, but I’ve not seen them since. I think I have three sets of those shot glasses ☺️.

[POA1]

We have the colored bottom ones and the ones with the pewter emblems. Is there a third series?

[*Miss G*]

33 minutes ago, POA1 said:

We have the colored bottom ones and the ones with the pewter emblems. Is there a third series?

 

Those are the types I have also (x3) (or 4).  I wised up after that.  Although, now that you mention college checkers, I may need another dozen.  😜

[ottahand7]

13 hours ago, POA1 said:

Our starters were paired with Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay for the shrimp and Château du Trignon Côtes du Rhone for my duck. Both main courses were paired with Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir.

 

 

Tenderloin & shrimp. Not the best photo.

 

Rack of lamb, mid-rare

Chateau Trignon is a favorite of ours, do they offer it by the glass now or is still by the bottle?  We really found we loved in on the Volendam and ran out of Meomi on day 20 of a 74 day cruise.   

[FLCruiser97]

21 hours ago, POA1 said:

Danzante. It's on the Cellar #1 list. It's also on the By the Glass list and is covered by the SBP.

Thank You!

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

We have the colored bottom ones and the ones with the pewter emblems. Is there a third series?

I, too, have both of these, but nothing else, so if there's a 3rd set I am behind in my collecting duties. 🫣

From the menus, I'll have a Dutch 150 (never got around to trying it, so this is a test), Caesar Salad no anchovies, pork belly sans squash & sweet potato, add basil-mashed potatoes & snow peas, finish w/any sorbet but coconut,  please and thanks!!

Now I need to visit my sad, uninspired land pantry😪

[VMax1700]

I do feel twinges of jealousy reading your posts and drooling over your pics.  Navigator is telling me that it is 130 days 4 hours and 16 minutes until our journey commences 😭

 

Can you report on who is responsible for the direction taken by this bubble of awesome?  Master, HM, etc?  Thanks

[skatelady]

6 hours ago, POA1 said:

Yes. Those are the ones. I prefer the old plastic liter bottles, for volume if nothing else.

 

For the record, we brought along some plastic bendy straws. I'm not a fan of the paper straws. And don't worry, we won't throw them away. We will pack them and take them home with us. (We have sea turtles on Fort Lauderdale Beach. They love plastic straws! 😉 Just kidding. We will dispose of them properly.) We drink our water from Yeti cups with reusable straws. We probably use fewer than a dozen plastic straws a year.

Our first day we asked for 2 bottles of water and were given 2 - 16 oz cans, they charged us 5.90 each.  We learned after that to just ask for 2 water and they gave us the included San Benedeto cans.  I found it difficult to know if you were being charged for something as they always wanted you to sign, even if it was for something included in your beverage package.  We cruise Celebrity more, they only have you sign if it isn't included in your package. 

[POA1]

Just now, ottahand7 said:

Chateau Trignon is a favorite of ours, do they offer it by the glass now or is still by the bottle?  We really found we loved in on the Volendam and ran out of Meomi on day 20 of a 74 day cruise.   

The Trignon is on the By the Glass list and will be the pairing if one of us decides to order the pork belly tonight. I've used it for a pairing a couple of times already.

 

Here's the full list in case anyone wants to know. I find the wine selections by the glass to be fine. I haven't run into any problems finding a pairing for what we've ordered.

 

[forwardho]

4 hours ago, POA1 said:

The two ships from the Margaritaville side of the beach.

 

And here Michelle helpfully points out the sign warning Carnival guests not to smuggle.

I wonder why the sign fails to mention Holland America passengers. C'mon HAL cruisers! It's time to up your drug game.

On our February 2022 cruise (Hawaii, French Polynesia and Marquesa ) a passenger decided to get off the port of Raiatea with a suitcase. He was searched and the suitcase was full of drugs. Needless to say the French Polynesia Police arrested him. When HAL searched his room lots of more drugs were found.

 

[albingirl]

Great thread! Ordered some mystery books since you are so inspirational with your cruise reading. Thanks for the fun adventure!

[Jellifer]

You don’t know how happy I am to see your travel report, saw it was you and my first thought was ‘I hope Poohby Joe is coming along for the ride too’ !! 
 

It’s been FAR too long since I sailed on HAL so am really enjoying travelling vicariously with you. I’m heading off on a P&O cruise for Christmas so will be interesting to see how that compares to HAL. 

 

Following along in anticipation 

[Navybikermom]

3 hours ago, POA1 said:

We have the colored bottom ones and the ones with the pewter emblems. Is there a third series?

I thought there were three but I looked in my wine rack and only see the two. I might be thinking of the coasters with drink recipes on them… 🤔

[ottahand7]

@POA1 thanks for the good news that Trignon is offered by the glass.   We will be utilizing our SBP to the full with a $1.18 upcharge.  A lot cheaper than buying it by the bottle even with the 50% discount.  Enjoying all your photos and commentary. 🍷

 

 

 

[POA1]

Sorry for the posting drought. The radius server was down and we could not log on. It's a shame, because my response to was inspirational. @VMax1700

[POA1]

Just now, VMax1700 said:

I do feel twinges of jealousy reading your posts and drooling over your pics.  Navigator is telling me that it is 130 days 4 hours and 16 minutes until our journey commences 😭

 

Can you report on who is responsible for the direction taken by this bubble of awesome?  Master, HM, etc?  Thanks

Your trip reports were an inspiration to us over the summer. You UK itineraries are on our bucket list.

 

We try to make our own fun, but the staff has been uniformly great. I had a whole write up earlier and the internet went out. I'll keep this short, but there is more to follow.

[POA1]

This morning, at breakfast in the Club Orange dining room, a guy sent his breakfast back. Three times! He and his wife exuded a level of misery I thought would be impossible at 8:00 AM. Maybe it's just me, but if someone cooks my breakfast, brings it to me, and then cleans up afterward - I'm having a good day.

 

Despair rained down from the black clouds hanging over this couple. The bubble of awesome kept us dry and comfy.

[superoma]

Just went to my library to download “last devil to die” and I was told I already have a hold on this book (electronic resource). The waiting list for hard cover is quite long. So, please don’t give away any of the plot! I have read the first three.  
 

Really enjoying your writing. Keep up the good work.

Edited December 13, 2023 by superoma

[POA1]

Just now, superoma said:

So, please don’t give away any of the plot! I have read the first three.  

I would never do that. Michelle read it first and kept the plot from me. I was working on Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series, aka the Burglar books.