"Live from" ms Volendam to Alaska! My First HAL Experience

[Krazy Kruizers]

O really? Wow, what a shame :(

 

Different chefs - different ideas -- different desserts for the most part.

[lovely_serenity]

I was thinking the opposite, but it has been 2011 since I cruised on HAL. Although at the time I wasn't overally impressed with the Dessert Extravagnza, I will say the creations were a bit more elaborate and creative than what I am seeing here.

 

What shocked me so much about the Dessert Extravaganza was all the waste. After the event was over, they just threw out everything that was left and there was a lot left. Besides the waste factor, I thought the crew must be disheartened to see the fruits of their labors just dumped in the trash. :eek:

 

Oh, is that so o_o?

 

& I'm actually not surprised with the amount of food cruise ships waste, I mean, what else are they going to do to it? I already knew that everything that wasn't consumed was going to be dumped. That's why dad said that, me eating the decorations is helping not waste anything because they were going to get thrown away anyways :)

 

Even in the main dining room, you know the bread basket they always leave there? Even if you don't touch it, they throw it away. They can't be sure it's sanitary anymore.

 

And whenever you send back a dish/dessert because you don't like it, they dump it. Even when you request alterations to plates. Let's say there's a dish with item A, B and C & you say you don't want item A. All plates are pre-made by chefs, so your server will order it, throw away A and bring it to you. That's just how they work :/ sanitation purposes.

Edited May 31, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

Day 6: Ketchikan

 

 

 

So the night before, I had already read in the "today On Location" and saw that there would be no breakfast in the Main Dining Room. I actually found this to be an annoying occurrence where randomly, a meal wouldn't be available in the MDR. o_o Like, why?

 

Well, I woke up this morning at around 10am because I knew there wasn't anything to wake up to. Everyone got up and got ready for (what would now become) brunch.

 

At around 11am, we arrived in the Lido for our first meal of the day. I then proceeded to go on my daily dessert photo shoot:

 

Some sort of pie, Banana Cream I believe:

 

 

Little tarts/marbled cheesecakes:

 

 

Swiss Cake Rolls:

 

 

Chocolate Cakes:

 

 

Chocolate Cupcakes:

 

 

Tiramisu:

 

Edited May 31, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

Bread Pudding w/ chocolate chips:

 

 

Some sort of Fruit Cobbler:

 

 

Another Bread Pudding (normal one):

 

 

Jello:

 

 

Coffee Mousse I think:

 

 

Either Orange or Lemon mousse thing:

 

 

(*By the way, I believe I was using the landscape lens)

[lovely_serenity]

And this dry looking little sponge cake:

 

 

I continued today (LOL, just today) to take pictures of all the other aspects of the buffet. Here's the sad, sad looking salad station: (self serve)

 

 

The fruit/random cold food station: (self serve)

 

 

The sandwich station: (a guy makes it)

 

 

I then ran over to the other area where they serve you hot food. You line up and then tell the servers what you want. Here I took a picture of the pasta station:

 

 

(Meat sauce, spaghetti, penne and stupidly salty cream sauce)

 

and the area to the right of it where they can cook it for you (ASK.)

 

 

In the little boxes are stuff you can ask them to cook in it.

[lovely_serenity]

Next, here's the random hot food that changes daily (except for fries) to the left of the pasta area:

 

 

I proceeded to move to the right side of the pasta cooking area (I'm running around in a bizarre order because I don't want people who are lining up to get in my shots :/)

 

Here's some more random cold food. We often ate the food on this side. There's fruit and cold food that changes daily.

 

 

To the farther right are the sushi! First I took a picture of it: (I found the sushi never had much variety, I could usually only find one type I actually wanted to eat. And they're all maki :/)

 

 

Then I looked at my camera and saw that Dad was in my shot. -_- Hey.

 

I then tried to take another shot, but some people kept taking it. I stood around awkwardly for a good 20 seconds before I could get an actual proper shot of the darn sushi:

 

 

And still wound up with a hand in my shot. -_-

 

Anyways, I progressed in my picture taking and moved on to the cheese. Bro ate this stuff often (it's not my thing) and seemed to enjoy it. He'd keep telling me it was good. Then again, he's the type who likes this stuff.

 

 

Now all the way to the end! (right next to the cheese) The bread! (Pastries at night)

 

Edited May 31, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[erewhon]

You mention the sad, sad looking salad station, what would you have preferred to have available at the salad station?

[vbmom87]

Could you tell my what kind of safes the Volendam currently has? The ones that take a card with a magnetic strip, are the type with numbered buttons? Thanks!

[lovely_serenity]

You mention the sad, sad looking salad station, what would you have preferred to have available at the salad station?

 

Well personally, seafood LOL. But really, I thought their salad bad would have had more vegetables & greens, other than what you'd find in a hamburger o_o I didn't even see like, romaine lettuce or spinach. Typical salad vegetables.

[lovely_serenity]

Could you tell my what kind of safes the Volendam currently has? The ones that take a card with a magnetic strip, are the type with numbered buttons? Thanks!

 

I didn't use it, but I did see the safe in our closet. (It was located in the door next to the vanity thing) I'm pretty sure it was the type with a number pad :)

[Rowsby]

Could you tell my what kind of safes the Volendam currently has? The ones that take a card with a magnetic strip, are the type with numbered buttons? Thanks!

 

We were just on the Volendam and our room had the magnetic strip kind.......I used our AAA card.....

[Rowsby]

Well personally, seafood LOL. But really, I thought their salad bad would have had more vegetables & greens, other than what you'd find in a hamburger o_o I didn't even see like, romaine lettuce or spinach. Typical salad vegetables.

 

I thought you were saying it was "sad" because no one was eating there......:)

Love your photos....you are doing a super job....!!!!

[vbmom87]

We were just on the Volendam and our room had the magnetic strip kind.......I used our AAA card.....

 

Thanks!!

[lovely_serenity]

We were just on the Volendam and our room had the magnetic strip kind.......I used our AAA card.....

Oh, my bad LOL, sorry, I don't remember very well. ^^'

[lovely_serenity]

I thought you were saying it was "sad" because no one was eating there......:)

Love your photos....you are doing a super job....!!!!

Oh! Haha :P No, it's because there's like, nothing to eat there. LOL

 

&& Thank you! :D

Edited May 31, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

Once I finished my daily picture taking, I started hunting for food. (In actuality, my family winds up getting most of the food I eat because I'm so busy taking photos o_o)

 

We plopped down at our usual table (we like the one at the end of the buffet with a couch c:) and started digging in. *Not before I took the pictures of course (:

 

Here's our brunch today! Here are just Dad & Sis's plates:

 

 

(seafood salad and the pasta were AWESOME)

 

 

The rolls were better than the maki (seaweed on the outside).

 

As we ate our brunch, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery that was, Ketchikan.

 

First up in the sky:

 

 

Then, down on the ground :)

 

 

Mom, Sis & Bro (& food :D) began to arrive and our table started to fill up:

 

Here's Mom's plate:

 

 

The cheesy eggplants were good.

 

Here's mine:

 

 

Mmm... c: I found that today, their stuffed avocados were pre-cut, making them easier to eat, as opposed to trying to scoop it with a fork and spoon. Normally, avocados are one of my favourite foods. Here, they were good, but I found the texture to be a little... raw tasting? Perhaps overly refrigerated, as its texture was kind of hard. The avocado in the sushi were better.

Edited May 31, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

Here's Sis's:

 

 

Here's Dad's plate #2:

 

 

Bro's plate:

 

 

and my watermelon I had to get after Sis refused to give me more than one piece >_> Still, the watermelon was always sweet, chilled and delicious (:

 

 

Although all of these plates were grabbed by individuals, we still basically ate everything together. ^^

 

It felt so relaxing, sitting and eating our brunch next to the window while the weather was so nice. ~ ^_^

 

Finally, time for dessert!

 

The marbled cheesecake:

 

 

This was by far the best cheesecake I had all cruise. It wasn't half sponge cake, and you could taste that this was the type that used real cream cheese :D SO GOOD.

 

Then here's the chocolate cake:

 

 

I liked it :D! Usual, similar to fudge brownie, but not flour-based tasting. It was like eating a piece of chewy fudge (:

Edited May 31, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

Could you tell my what kind of safes the Volendam currently has? The ones that take a card with a magnetic strip, are the type with numbered buttons? Thanks!

Oh, apparently yeah, I was wrong. It used the magnetic strip. My dad said :p

[erewhon]

Well personally, seafood LOL. But really, I thought their salad bad would have had more vegetables & greens, other than what you'd find in a hamburger o_o I didn't even see like, romaine lettuce or spinach. Typical salad vegetables.

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

You were lucky to have such a beautiful sunny day in Ketchikan.

[cruiseclues]

Here's the grill, as well as a shot of the main chef in the Lido. He proved to be one of the most friendliest staff on board. Since we were easy to recognize (asian kid (LOL) in a mainly

Caucasian cruise w/ a huge camera), he greeted us often with "Hello Darling! :D" and with my Bro "Hello my friend!" , he was one of our favorite crew members!

 

 

I was actually disappointed with the lack of friendliness from the staff from around the rest of the ship, but more on that later.

 

Just from the photo, his general countenance and smile would lead one to believe he was a very friendly character...very good photo...:):):):)

[lovely_serenity]

Thanks for your reply.

 

You were lucky to have such a beautiful sunny day in Ketchikan.

No problem! (:

 

And I agree! I've actually been quite lucky regarding the weather I've experienced during my 3 trips there. Every single time I've been in Ketchikan, the weather has always been beautiful! Sun, clear skies, the works :)

[lovely_serenity]

Just from the photo, his general countenance and smile would lead one to believe he was a very friendly character...very good photo...:):):):)

I agree! Haha :) & Thanks!

 

He was always super nice to us every time I saw him, always greeted us with a big smile!

[cruiseclues]

Are you editing your photos? They look like magazine pics!!

No, I actually don't! The only things I do sometimes would be cropping, but that's pretty much it. Thank you by the way ((: means a lot to an amateur with a camera haha.

 

You are well past the vast majority of amateurs with your photography.

:):):):)

[lovely_serenity]

You are well past the vast majority of amateurs with your photography.

:):):):)

Awh, thank you! (: That's so kind of you to say.

[lynette delamore]

New to Alaska cruise...any tips...