Favorite HAL Things?? What's not to be missed?

Favorite things:

Zuppa de Pesce with its abundant seafood and savory broth in the Canaletto.

Chicken wing appetizers every afternoon.

Nachos.

Panama buns.

Fresh-squeezed orange juice for breqkfast.

Watching cooking demos.

Dining on the verandah.

The abundant art work.

Meeting new friends.

Incredible Room Stweards

Friendliness of the crew.

Doing a Panama Canal cruise and having those wonderful Panama Buns.

Chocolate Volcano Cake in the PG.

Dinners in the Pinnacle (and Tamarind on the Nieuw Amsterdam and Eurodam).

I'm more about the entertainment than the food:

1. The B.B. King Blues Club (5-stars for this!)

2. The Piano Bar

3. Adaggio (classical music duet)

We really appreciate the staff. It's always nice to board the ship and see people you know - and I'm always amazed at how often they remember us. We only have a few waiters, room stewards, bartenders, and beverage servers. They have hundreds of customers, week after week. It's also really impressive how quickly your servers learn our preferences.

I know that a lot of people feel that service isn't what it was in the good old days. We've been cruising for a little over 20 years, and I think that the service component is just as good as it ever was. (I like to think that we're really nice guests, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't quite explain it.)

So for us, the service is the best thing.

Since you're about to go on the Statendam, I'm assuming that you're doing the 14 day cruise to Alaska. It's a great cruise!

The one thing that no one has yet mentioned, is the Dutch Pea Soup that is served in Alaska. IIRC, it should be on the Hubbard Glacier day. They pass it out in the Crow's Nest and the Promenade Deck. Maybe at the bow, too. Make sure to have some of that. I think it's also served at lunch in both the Lido and MDR.

The Indonesian afternoon tea.

my fav, is the last day, getting up around 5 am, getting coffee then up to the crows nest to watch us coming into to port, -last sept, on the zuiderdam, coming into Vancouver, was magical, there where no lights on and I could here the whispers of others up there, it felt like a church, we were all there to watch the dawn ,, but I tried that on the NA in Jan. and not as good, the lights where on and the bloody music was blaring, I tried to find the off switch but no go, so I went to the retreat cabanas and bingo, I found my peace and the dawn again, just lovely - :)

I know, I tried that. Then I went "advanced" and inserted the green guy. And I did capitalize LOL. I think CC was being weird. Let's try this again:

 

LOL! :D

I think there needs to be at least a few words (letters) of text for the emoticon colon capitol D to produce the desired image.

If you just type the symbols, that is all that will show.

I think there needs to be at least a few words (letters) of text for the emoticon colon capitol D to produce the desired image.

 

If you just type the symbols, that is all that will show.

 

:cool: :eek: :D

:cool: :eek: :D

I'm pretty sure that it's a 5 character minimum for smiley face parsing.

In your case, it's COLON cool COLON SPACE COLON eek COLON SPACE COLON D

This is a wonderful thread. I've enjoyed reading all the responses. It helps fuel my excitement for our first HAL cruise next Summer. :D

:cool: :eek: :D

Love it :D The board was being weird when I tried the post of "LOL! :D" and wouldn't even recognize my capital letters. Just showed lower case when the post posted. Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? So you've saved me typing many words :D

For breakfast I'll have a made to order omelette from the lido. I like to eat at the tables by the pool. If the weather is nice and the roof is open it's even better.

i'm pretty sure that it's a 5 character minimum for smiley face parsing.

 

In your case, it's colon cool colon space colon eek colon space colon d

:d:d

I'm pretty sure that it's a 5 character minimum for smiley face parsing.

 

In your case, it's COLON cool COLON SPACE COLON eek COLON SPACE COLON D

:d:d

Confirmed! Thanks, POA1. Also, I did type capital Ds, but, as you can see, they were rendered as lowercase ones in the submitted message. Interesting.

PS:

Yes, it was necessary. It was FOR SCIENCE!!

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. :)

Thanks to Alberta Quilter for reminding me about the pea soup! I love pea soup and make it often. I am going to Alaska and I will be looking forward to trying their soup. I think it will be fun to have hot soup on deck. On this cruise, we have a special added trip to Glacier Bay in addition to Tracy Arm and Hubbard Glacier. I wonder if that will change the 'pea soup day'. I guess I'll have to keep an eye out.

106f: I love a good egg white omelette, so I'll definitely be trying that. As I mentioned, I'm not a morning eater, but sometimes I have a late breakfast instead of lunch.

Thanks again....

and desserts from the Explorer Cafe are so yummy - help to tide us over till late dinner.

We normally eat our breakfast on the balcony. Then skip lunch - so we need a bit of something to tide us over till we have our late dinner.

Many afternoons I either head up to the cafe or to the lido - to grab some snacks to go with our happy hour drink on the balcony.

BTW I take these little food grade shower cap looking cover's I buy at the Dollar store to keep the snacks fresh on the way back to our cabin.

My favorite things on Holland:

 

1. Walking laps on a nice fake teak deck that goes all the way around the ship.

2. The usually good library.

3. Sitting at the rear pool at sunset time with a glass of wine.

4. Afternoon naps.

5. The crow's nest early in the morning before all the people show up.

6. Burgers etc out by the pool.

7. The smiling faces of the crew and learning a bit about their lives.

Wow, remove the naps and this would be my exact same list!!!! :)

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. :)

 

Thanks to Alberta Quilter for reminding me about the pea soup! I love pea soup and make it often. I am going to Alaska and I will be looking forward to trying their soup. I think it will be fun to have hot soup on deck. On this cruise, we have a special added trip to Glacier Bay in addition to Tracy Arm and Hubbard Glacier. I wonder if that will change the 'pea soup day'. I guess I'll have to keep an eye out.

 

106f: I love a good egg white omelette, so I'll definitely be trying that. As I mentioned, I'm not a morning eater, but sometimes I have a late breakfast instead of lunch.

 

Thanks again....

Oooh, maybe with your itinerary change, you'll get the pea soup twice! Wouldn't that be yummy?! Probably won't happen but one can hope, right?

May I ask what 'panama rolls' are? Since we will be doing the Panama Canal cruise......

May I ask what 'panama rolls' are? Since we will be doing the Panama Canal cruise......

It a roll filled with custard and orange segments. Very tasty.

1. Ice Cream (cinnamon)

2. The beds

3. Lido pasta bar

4. Slower pace

5. Thermal Spa on newer larger ships

6. price

7. cooking classes (my wife's favorite)

We have only been on five cruises, and started out on HAL. Took our last cruise on Celebrity, and as much as it was fun and nice, we are scampering back to HAL for our next trip.

HAL: A wonderful walk-around deck for morning exercise with a world class view. The beautifully quiet library/coffee bar for reading, relaxing, watching the sea go by. The superb Pinnacle Grill for quiet, elegant and fabulous dining.

Lots more, but these are the things we missed while on the other ship. Can't wait for our trip!

1. Ice Cream (cinnamon)

2. The beds

3. Lido pasta bar

4. Slower pace

5. Thermal Spa on newer larger ships

6. price

7. cooking classes (my wife's favorite)

Ohhh! The cooking classes! I love those too. Ditto on the slower pace. I also love meeting new people while playing Trivia in the afternoon. :)

1. Watching the sunrise.

2. Watching a sunset.

3. Reading a book on your balcony or library.

4. Meeting the nicest people on HAL.

5. The best crew on any ships.

6. Dinner in Pinnacle.

7. Anytime dining.

8. Cheeseburgers at the Dive In.

9. Working the Cheeseburgers off walking the promenade deck.

10. Hydrotherapy pool.

11. Drinking wine by the aft pool and watching the wake.