Coffee?????

[Lynne Myrna]

I am a coffee lover.....can anyone tell me how the coffee is on the Noordam?...We will be cruising in Dec...thanks, Lynne

[sail7seas]

We loved the coffee we had from Explorations Cafe on Noordam. Really good......to our taste. Also, if you happen to be in an "S" or "PS" category and have access to the Neptune Lounge, that coffee machine is wonderful!!!!

[BumperII]

I am a coffee lover.....can anyone tell me how the coffee is on the Noordam?...We will be cruising in Dec...thanks, Lynne

The Statendam Lido has the new Cafemat V coffee maker and hotwater dispenser. This is a state of the art machine to make sure there is fresh coffee and plenty of it, all the time. We too are coffee drinkers, and to our taste, the coffee in the lido was the best, followed closely by the main dining room and Pinacle grill. The Explorations Cafe has an excellent coffee bar for cappichino, French Pressed, etc. :)

[RedmondCruiser]

Being Norweigen and coming from Seattle I'm double picky on coffee. HAL coffee is acceptable to good. That means for mass produced coffee that is very good.

[Lynne Myrna]

Thank you all for sharing that info with me, I really appreciate...Lynne

[TaraBelle1069]

I recently received my cruise documents and noticed in the gifts brochure that you can purchase a coffee mug that comes with a card for 8 coffees for around $40. This made me think it would be difficult to get "free" coffee. As my most recent cruise was on the Disney Magic where pretty much any non-alcoholic beverage (pop, ice tea, coffee, tea) is available for free, I found this coffee mug thing to be weird. Can anyone advise if I'll have to pay for my coffee during the day?

[BumperII]

I recently received my cruise documents and noticed in the gifts brochure that you can purchase a coffee mug that comes with a card for 8 coffees for around $40. This made me think it would be difficult to get "free" coffee. As my most recent cruise was on the Disney Magic where pretty much any non-alcoholic beverage (pop, ice tea, coffee, tea) is available for free, I found this coffee mug thing to be weird. Can anyone advise if I'll have to pay for my coffee during the day?

Would you check that gift brochure again? I think that coffee mug might be a contraption similar to one that Starbucks sells with a rod and sieve device in it for a speciality coffee. On the HAL ships, they keep "free" coffee on just about all day and evening in the Lido. (Acutally, nothing is free, it is included in your ticket price.) The Explorations Lounge serves the specialty coffees in generous mugs for $2.00.

As to what is good coffee, well, coffee is an acquired taste, so just about every person has a different idea of what a good cup of coffee is. I think that there are enough different kinds of coffee in the Explorations Cafe so there is literally something for everyone. They even serve a pretty good cop of Hot Chocolate! :D

[Stevesan]

As to what is good coffee, well, coffee is an acquired taste, so just about every person has a different idea of what a good cup of coffee is.

You've never experienced the Lido Buffet coffee on a Princess ship. It is vile, syrup based, c**p.:eek:

[Lynne Myrna]

I have to say that on every ship we have cruised on, the diningroom coffee was pretty good. Also the speciality coffee's were great....i'm hoping that the Noordam has great coffee that I can grab during the day.

[AZjohn]

Has anyone had good café mocha in the Explorations lounge (for the extra charge)? We were on the Volendam exactly one year ago when the espresso drinks weren’t an extra charge. But they used powdered chocolate which is a disgrace in my book. The powder would never dissolve completely and you would get that initial blast of “dry powder coco” on the first few sips.
Thanks,
John

[Lynne Myrna]

now that sounds pretty gross!!!!

[Love Cruises]

I am a coffee lover.....can anyone tell me how the coffee is on the Noordam?...We will be cruising in Dec...thanks, Lynne
I find that the coffee on all the HAL ships we have been on is really good compared to other cruiselines we have traveled on. The LIDO coffee/tea/hot chocolate is available 24 hours a day. The crew is very diligent in keeping the coffee machines in the LIDO very clean resulting in the good tasting coffee. I travel with my HAL coffee container that I won some years ago at trivia. I fill it up in the LIDO and go on my way.

You can also order a pot of coffee from room service any time of the day.

Of course, there is always the Explorer's Cafe for the specialty coffees for a fee.

[kakalina]

coffee/tea/hot chocolate is available 24 hours a day from room service also.

Virgil

[TaraBelle1069]

Would you check that gift brochure again? I think that coffee mug might be a contraption similar to one that Starbucks sells with a rod and sieve device in it for a speciality coffee.

Even if that were the case, it was the card for 8 coffees that indicated to me that coffee wasn't readily available for "free". You note that "nothing is free, it is included in the ticket price." That is why I put the quotes around the word free in the first place. I used the word free to distinguish between that and something they charge extra for which I'm learning is more than I would have thought.

It says "1 Coffee Card for any 8 12 zo coffees featuring Starbucks' specialty brand - Torrefazione - and a beautiful keepsake HAL commuter mug". That's $39.25 US.

[BumperII]

You've never experienced the Lido Buffet coffee on a Princess ship. It is vile, syrup based, c**p.:eek:

OOOOOOOHHHHHHH YES I HAVE!!!!! I think you might be referring to the Horizon Court Buffet coffee on Princess. :mad: :( :eek:

And I couldn't agree with you more, especially that first few cups in the morning. We wound up buying our morning coffee fresh brewed at the Patisseieri in the Atrium Lounge on that cruise.

The bottom line is that HAL ships have plenty of coffee that is pleasing to my tastes, available around the clock at no extra charge. Dare I say HAL has the best coffee of any ship we've ever been on?

In fact, we think that HAL does just about everything a little bit better. That is why our next three cruises just happen to be booked on HAL.

[AlohaPride]

Even if that were the case, it was the card for 8 coffees that indicated to me that coffee wasn't readily available for "free". You note that "nothing is free, it is included in the ticket price." That is why I put the quotes around the word free in the first place. I used the word free to distinguish between that and something they charge extra for which I'm learning is more than I would have thought.

It says "1 Coffee Card for any 8 12 zo coffees featuring Starbucks' specialty brand - Torrefazione - and a beautiful keepsake HAL commuter mug". That's $39.25 US.

It seems that the 8 drinks might be the specialty drinks you have to pay $2 for. I mean, you are probably free to fill the mug with the "free" stuff, or you can get the specialty stuff "free" because you bought the mug. I would think the mug would be worth the $40 alone. As that's how much they usually sell for at any Starbucks here.

Sigh, too bad I'm allergic to caffeine. :(

[Lynne Myrna]

Mary.....I couldn't surrive without my caffeine...I would definitely buy the mug, I think it would be worth it....& yes....nothing is for free, you pay for everything!!!

[funlovin'cruiser]

Hey Everyone,

In case you actually wanted to know the brand of coffee used on board and not just the quality, it's Torrefazione Italia. My last cruise, the Beverage Manager said that they tend to use the Perugia Blend because it's the most even and reliable.

FYI - Terrefazione is owned by Starbucks, but the higher ups at SB let them continue with roasting their own coffee (in Seattle) - basically a holding company of SB, like HAL is to Carnival Corp.

I live in Seattle and am a large shareholder with SB, therefore I can say that the HAL arrangement has been quite lucrative.

[hammybee]

Hey Everyone,

In case you actually wanted to know the brand of coffee used on board and not just the quality, it's Torrefazione Italia. My last cruise, the Beverage Manager said that they tend to use the Perugia Blend because it's the most even and reliable.

FYI - Terrefazione is owned by Starbucks, but the higher ups at SB let them continue with roasting their own coffee (in Seattle) - basically a holding company of SB, like HAL is to Carnival Corp.

I live in Seattle and am a large shareholder with SB, therefore I can say that the HAL arrangement has been quite lucrative.

Who knew?

[SanDiego Single]

How about that coffee machine in the Neptune lounge!! Now thats my kind of coffee maker!!!

[Lsimon]

How is room service coffee in the morning, and how quickly will it come if we order after we wake up (as opposed to an advance order the night before)?

We've had bad experiences with the coffee quality in the room or lido cafe on our past Princess and Celebrity cruises. We've even brought our own coffee pot on our past couple of cruises. Do we need to do this on HAL too?

While we'll occasionally have a cup of specialty coffee in the late afternoon, the most important cup of coffee is the one we wake up to in the morning - and for us this is in our room or the lido and not the specialty coffee bar.

[BumperII]

We just completed our ninth cruise, but we have never called for room service. We have "commuter cups" that go along on the cruise, so when we get up in the morning, it is my job to take the elevator up to the Lido and fill them. No big deal, but I don't have the patience to wait for room service, and sometimes I like to take my coffee out on the walk around deck while the bride puts herself together. Let me repeat, the coffee is always good from those new machines in the Lido.

On the last cruise, we were invited up to the Neptune lounge by our Trivia team mates, and that machine also makes an outstanding cup of just about anything you like.

[Chorts]

You've never experienced the Lido Buffet coffee on a Princess ship. It is vile, syrup based, c**p.:eek:

I totally agree with this assessment :D . That sentiment also includes X coffee :mad: Nasty, vile stuff. And as long as I'm complaining about coffee on those lines, I might as well include Carnival in there too :D . I become a tea drinker while on board.