KK, You mentioned Baked Alaska

[gizmo]

KK,

You mentioned Baked Alaska in one of your threads and said something about "more on that later". Did I miss it?

Thanks,
Giz

[Krazy Kruizers]

gizmo


Thanks for reminding me - I knew I forgot samething this morning when I was writing up the report for the last days of the cruise.

Nov 3 was the Captain's Farewell Dinner. Dinner was great. But the parade of the Baked Alaska was a disaster. The waiters from the upper level of the dining room starting collecting at the kitchen door at 7. Everyone waited a few minutes but nothing happened. The cruise director came and checked her microphone and then sat down on a chair by the piano. Several times she got up and walked over to talk to the maitre'd - still nothing happened. At 7:15 many people on the upper level got up and left. At 7:25 we also got up and left. We did notice that many of the people on the lower level of the dining room had finished dinner.

The next day we asked what happened. The maitre'd decided to wait for both levels of the dining room to finish their meals before the parade began - having just one parade. We were told that the parade started around 7:35 and nearly the entire upper level of the dining room was gone. So a lot of Baked Alaska was wasted and on our level we didn't even get a chance to order another dessert from the menu.

[tomc]

Huh. Now I wonder if that happened on the Rotterdam, as we had only one parade that I know of. I was on the lower level and it was served on time (never thought of the upper level and its earlier seating). Unless the m.d' figured out a way to serve both levels at their appropriate times. But I'm sure we would have heard that. Unless upper received it without music and lower got the full treatment.

[Orcrone]

I believe they're doing the same thing on the Maasdam. We were at the 6:15 dinner seating. I can't see any way possible that they could have had the parade for the upper level (5:45 seating) prior to us arriving at the dining room. They didn't have the parade until we had completed our entrees. I wonder how many people from the 5:45 seating had stayed around long enough for the parade.

[jhannah]

You'd think that they would have thought about this before implementing the staggered dining times!

[elmorejj]

With the new dining times, I think they could avoid the confusion by just doing away with the parade altogether. This is just my opinion, as I never stay for it anyway....jean :cool:

[Himself]

I will let you know what happens on the Volendam. I believe the Captain's farewell dinner is Saturday Evening.
Himself

[gizmo]

No matter how they do it, it is screwed up with those 4 dining times. On my cruise in April I had the 8:00 seating. The Baked Alaska Parade took place when for 8:00 pax were ready for dessert, and the 8:30 pax were still eating salads and entrees.

I still wish they would go back to the 2 dining times.

[bepsf]

UGH!!!

(Flashbacks of our Baked Alaska parade...)

We were seated in the lower dining room and waited FOREVER for dessert - no waiters to bring coffee or champagne or anything...

When it finally happenned, we were served the worst melty "baked" alaska ever. Someone in the kitchen put way too much minty food coloring in the merangue to make it as blue as the glaciers ourside...


Blech.


...& of course, there doesn't seem to be a way to order a different dessert that evening.:(

[Roadwork]

With the new dining times, I think they could avoid the confusion by just doing away with the parade altogether. This is just my opinion, as I never stay for it anyway....jean :cool:My thoughts exactly. Like jean, we seldom hang around for it.

[peaches from georgia]

On the Maasdam this summer we were upper level at 8. The night of the baked alaska our steward told us they were going to do it right after the lower level had had their entrees served. Well, there was some kind of problem in the kitchen and we waited and waited. Would have been very happy to have ordered another dessert, but that was not an option. We finally left along with the rest of the upper level long before they ever had the parade.

They need to scrap the parade and offer baked alaska as one of several desserts one night.

[RedmondCruiser]

No matter how they do it, it is screwed up with those 4 dining times. On my cruise in April I had the 8:00 seating. The Baked Alaska Parade took place when for 8:00 pax were ready for dessert, and the 8:30 pax were still eating salads and entrees.

I still wish they would go back to the 2 dining times.
I second the motion. On the Statendam they did the baked alaska parade and the Indonisian farwell song while we were on our salads. The lights went out and I figured they just had another mechanical problem. On the Ryndam, this summer they held the upper section and served the lower section faster then had the parade for both at the same time. This worked but not very well. I hope they go back to two seatings again. I still don't understand why they went to four seatings in the first place.

[tomc]

I assume the four seatings make it easier for the kitchen staff to prepare the meals in a fast manner, as they are offset by half an hour. Maybe there are slightly fewer people in the kitchen and this makes it work.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were told that HAL went to the 4 seatings because of cutbacks in staff. And it also lessened the congestion in the kitchen at the various stations.