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

[Krazy Kruizers]

What??. D: MOLTEN LAVA CAKE?? I love molten lava cake! :,( I was looking for it all cruise. I guess next time, we should go!

 

In the main dining room, on some cruises, there is a Flourless chocolate cake. It has the 'molten' center and is HAL's version of the "molten" lava cake.

In the Pinnacle I often get the Chocolate Lava Cake as it is available there every night.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Is this the menu you saw for the Pinnacle Grill?

 

Pinnacle Menu - $25 per person -- can be booked online, via Ship Services at 1-800-541-1576 or once on the ship

 

The Beginning:

French Onion Soup King Louis XV - beef broth with aged cognac & caramelized onions, baked with gruyere croutons

Spicy Chicken Coconut Soup - fragrant coconut milk & lemon grass

Lobster Bisque - crème fraiche & aged sherry

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail - brandy horseradish cocktail sauce

Vine Ripened Beefsteak Tomato Salad - sliced purple onion, balsamic vinaigrette or blue cheese dressing

Baby Arugula Salad - tossed with sliced red onion, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and a warm bacon dressing topped with smoked bacon & chopped egg

Caesar Salad - crisp romaine tossed with very own Caesar dressing, grated parmesan cheese, garlic croutons and anchovies, prepared tableside

Dungeness Crab Cakes - spiral shaved cucumber & sweet chili-mustard sauce

Pinnacle Ocean Platter - carpaccio of lightly smoked salmon, accompanied with hot smoked salmon, sea scallops and wasabi cream

 

The Intrique:

Land & Sea - master chef Rudi Saloman’s interpretation of Surf & Turf - filet mignon and jumbo prawns on whipped potatoes with garlic, rosemary beurre blanc

Lobster Macaroni & Cheese - chef’s favorite: a delicate gratineed combination of mascarpone-enriched pasta and creamy lobster broth with chunks of lobster

Roasted vegetable tower -- with onion confit and tomato coulis

 

 

 

The Grill:

Filet Mignon, New York Strip Steak, Bone-In Rib Eye Steak, Porterhouse - served with our own hand crafted sauces: sun-dried tomato; Master Chef's green peppercorn bearnaise; horseradish mustard; hollandaise; maitre d' garlic butter

 

Colorado Lamb Chops - spiced apple chutney & fresh mint jelly

 

Grilled Veal Chop - marinated overnight in a savory blend of rosemary, garlic & pepper vinegar with scallions

 

Chicken Breast - stuffed with spinach & garlic herb cheese & served with lemon garlic beurre blanc sauce

 

Filet Steak Diane - pan-seared medallions of beef tenderloins & enriched with mushrooms & cognac

 

Filet Mignon Burger - a half-pound of freshly ground beef, fin herbs & truffle-infused

 

 

Sea Food:

Broiled King Salmon - troll caught (for sustainability) in Alaskan waters, quick seared & broiled, served with your choice of lemon garlic herb splash or sesame-soy kalbi

 

Broiled or Poached Lobster Tail - on a bed of wilted spinach & arugula, mustard seed & "mangochurri" pesto sauce or melted butter

 

Cedar Planked Black Cod with Shrimp Scampi - roasted garlic & cilantro butter

 

Pinnacle Signature Skewers:

 

Beef Delight - beef tenderloin marinated with parsley, onion, thyme, rosemary & marjoram

 

Tantalizing Lamb - lamb loins marinated with herbs, garlic, cumin, honey, coriandor & red chilies, served with yogurt sauce

 

Vegetarian Zen - array of mixed vegetables seasoned with herbs de provence

 

 

Side Dishes:

Creamed Spinach, Sautéed Button Mushrooms, Sautéed Onions, Asparagus, Scalloped, Whipped, Jumbo Baked or Shoestring Potatoes and/or Basmati Rice

 

The Finale:

Not-So-Classic Baked Alaska, Warm Grand Marnier Chocolate Volcano Cake, Velvet Soufflé – Chocolate or Vanilla, Creamy Homemade Raspberry Cheesecake, Chocolate And Raisin Bread Pudding, Pinnacle Crème Brulee, Fresh Seasonal Fruits and Berries, Premium Ice Cream or Sorbets and/or the Assortment of International Cheeses.

 

Edited June 23, 2013 by Krazy Kruizers

[Krazy Kruizers]

Since DW and I are not big eaters the Pinnacle Grill is not one our favorite places to dine for dinner, however the lunches are great. As a side note, our travel agent gifted DW and I a dinner and we able to trade it for two lunches.

 

We are not big eaters either.

We only had lunch once in the Pinnacle. It was very good but the portions were huge -- like having dinner at lunch time. We have early dinner and it was just too much food within a few hours.

[lovely_serenity]

Since DW and I are not big eaters the Pinnacle Grill is not one our favorite places to dine for dinner, however the lunches are great. As a side note, our travel agent gifted DW and I a dinner and we able to trade it for two lunches.

 

Waah~ lucky! ^^ how is the lunch? What kind of things do they serve then?

[lovely_serenity]

Where did you look up the Pinnacle menu? HAL's site is not always up to date.

 

We looked at the Pinnacle menu once we were on board. It's displayed right outside the menu!

 

In the main dining room, on some cruises, there is a Flourless chocolate cake. It has the 'molten' center and is HAL's version of the "molten" lava cake.

In the Pinnacle I often get the Chocolate Lava Cake as it is available there every night.

 

Oh, I didn't see any molten cakes during mine :(

 

Is this the menu you saw for the Pinnacle Grill?

 

Pinnacle Menu - $25 per person -- can be booked online, via Ship Services at 1-800-541-1576 or once on the ship

 

The Beginning:

French Onion Soup King Louis XV - beef broth with aged cognac & caramelized onions, baked with gruyere croutons

Spicy Chicken Coconut Soup - fragrant coconut milk & lemon grass

Lobster Bisque - crème fraiche & aged sherry

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail - brandy horseradish cocktail sauce

Vine Ripened Beefsteak Tomato Salad - sliced purple onion, balsamic vinaigrette or blue cheese dressing

Baby Arugula Salad - tossed with sliced red onion, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and a warm bacon dressing topped with smoked bacon & chopped egg

Caesar Salad - crisp romaine tossed with very own Caesar dressing, grated parmesan cheese, garlic croutons and anchovies, prepared tableside

Dungeness Crab Cakes - spiral shaved cucumber & sweet chili-mustard sauce

Pinnacle Ocean Platter - carpaccio of lightly smoked salmon, accompanied with hot smoked salmon, sea scallops and wasabi cream

 

The Intrique:

Land & Sea - master chef Rudi Saloman’s interpretation of Surf & Turf - filet mignon and jumbo prawns on whipped potatoes with garlic, rosemary beurre blanc

Lobster Macaroni & Cheese - chef’s favorite: a delicate gratineed combination of mascarpone-enriched pasta and creamy lobster broth with chunks of lobster

Roasted vegetable tower -- with onion confit and tomato coulis

 

 

 

The Grill:

Filet Mignon, New York Strip Steak, Bone-In Rib Eye Steak, Porterhouse - served with our own hand crafted sauces: sun-dried tomato; Master Chef's green peppercorn bearnaise; horseradish mustard; hollandaise; maitre d' garlic butter

 

Colorado Lamb Chops - spiced apple chutney & fresh mint jelly

 

Grilled Veal Chop - marinated overnight in a savory blend of rosemary, garlic & pepper vinegar with scallions

 

Chicken Breast - stuffed with spinach & garlic herb cheese & served with lemon garlic beurre blanc sauce

 

Filet Steak Diane - pan-seared medallions of beef tenderloins & enriched with mushrooms & cognac

 

Filet Mignon Burger - a half-pound of freshly ground beef, fin herbs & truffle-infused

 

 

Sea Food:

Broiled King Salmon - troll caught (for sustainability) in Alaskan waters, quick seared & broiled, served with your choice of lemon garlic herb splash or sesame-soy kalbi

 

Broiled or Poached Lobster Tail - on a bed of wilted spinach & arugula, mustard seed & "mangochurri" pesto sauce or melted butter

 

Cedar Planked Black Cod with Shrimp Scampi - roasted garlic & cilantro butter

 

Pinnacle Signature Skewers:

 

Beef Delight - beef tenderloin marinated with parsley, onion, thyme, rosemary & marjoram

 

Tantalizing Lamb - lamb loins marinated with herbs, garlic, cumin, honey, coriandor & red chilies, served with yogurt sauce

 

Vegetarian Zen - array of mixed vegetables seasoned with herbs de provence

 

 

Side Dishes:

Creamed Spinach, Sautéed Button Mushrooms, Sautéed Onions, Asparagus, Scalloped, Whipped, Jumbo Baked or Shoestring Potatoes and/or Basmati Rice

 

The Finale:

Not-So-Classic Baked Alaska, Warm Grand Marnier Chocolate Volcano Cake, Velvet Soufflé – Chocolate or Vanilla, Creamy Homemade Raspberry Cheesecake, Chocolate And Raisin Bread Pudding, Pinnacle Crème Brulee, Fresh Seasonal Fruits and Berries, Premium Ice Cream or Sorbets and/or the Assortment of International Cheeses.

 

 

The one I saw outside of the restaurant was something along these lines!

 

We are not big eaters either.

We only had lunch once in the Pinnacle. It was very good but the portions were huge -- like having dinner at lunch time. We have early dinner and it was just too much food within a few hours.

 

LOL That's never an issue with us kids. I love having dinner at lunch ;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

The Pinnacle lunch menu you missed

Pinnacle Lunch Menu

Menu - $10 per person - can not be booked until you are on the ship.

Starters:

1)Grilled Prawn Bruschetta with a primavera salsa - aged asiago cheese and balsamic fusion

2)Mediterranean antipasto plate - pesto virgin olive oil

3)Lobster creme brulee - caramelized parmesean wafer

4)Northwest five onion soup - tomato shallot soubise

5)Chilled carrot and ginger soup - creme faiche and fried sage

6)Chiffanade of greens and tomato tower salad - Italian vinaigritte

Entrees:

1)Pacific rim beef salad - mesclun leaves, mangoes and lotus fruit

2)Alaskan halibut fillet sandwich - sour dough bread, cilantro relish and cucumber potato salad

3)Lobster and shrimp cake - exotic fruit chutney, lime Thai curry sauce and orange rice with pine nuts

4)The Pinnacle burger - apple smoked bacon, cheddar cheese and bistro style shoestring potatoes. This dish can be served with a low carb bun and without the potatoes.

5)Bistro Steak with Oregon blue cheese crust - grilled asparagus and scalloped potatoes

6)Penne with grilled chicken breast, lemon basil sauce, sun dried tomatoes and arugula

7)Vegetarian couscous - grilled vegetables and fried mint leaves and harissa

Desserts:

1)Fresh strawberries with raspberry sorbet - sugar dough gaufrette

2)Chocolate brownie decadence - an explosion of chocolate

3)Orange and lime panna cotta

4)Ice creams and sorbets - ask for the day's selections

5)Fruit plate

[lovely_serenity]

The Pinnacle lunch menu you missed

Pinnacle Lunch Menu

Menu - $10 per person - can not be booked until you are on the ship.

Starters:

1)Grilled Prawn Bruschetta with a primavera salsa - aged asiago cheese and balsamic fusion

2)Mediterranean antipasto plate - pesto virgin olive oil

3)Lobster creme brulee - caramelized parmesean wafer

4)Northwest five onion soup - tomato shallot soubise

5)Chilled carrot and ginger soup - creme faiche and fried sage

6)Chiffanade of greens and tomato tower salad - Italian vinaigritte

Entrees:

1)Pacific rim beef salad - mesclun leaves, mangoes and lotus fruit

2)Alaskan halibut fillet sandwich - sour dough bread, cilantro relish and cucumber potato salad

3)Lobster and shrimp cake - exotic fruit chutney, lime Thai curry sauce and orange rice with pine nuts

4)The Pinnacle burger - apple smoked bacon, cheddar cheese and bistro style shoestring potatoes. This dish can be served with a low carb bun and without the potatoes.

5)Bistro Steak with Oregon blue cheese crust - grilled asparagus and scalloped potatoes

6)Penne with grilled chicken breast, lemon basil sauce, sun dried tomatoes and arugula

7)Vegetarian couscous - grilled vegetables and fried mint leaves and harissa

Desserts:

1)Fresh strawberries with raspberry sorbet - sugar dough gaufrette

2)Chocolate brownie decadence - an explosion of chocolate

3)Orange and lime panna cotta

4)Ice creams and sorbets - ask for the day's selections

5)Fruit plate

Ooo thank you! That looks pretty awesome (:

[magandab]

We came outside right when the mint-ginger-fig-date guy was starting to pack away the after-dinner thing cart, and quickly got some before he did.

 

I am not sure if this is still the case, but that guy is/was the Yum Yum Man.

[lovely_serenity]

Once the show was finished (they had a special finale where the main singer lady sand Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You!, everyone got up to leave. When I turned around, I saw (from left to right) Julie Barr & The Magic "Bob" (& some lady) sitting together. I get a quick shot of them (Julie Barr posed ^^), but I was moving so it's blurry.

 

 

We exited the theater and walked along deck 4 to first go to the bathroom. Located right across from the bathroom, there is the Pinnacle Grill! :) Those finished just read the menu and checked out the inside:

 

 

We headed up to the Lido for some ice cream and late night snacking, and stayed there until midnight-ish. As we got up to leave, I saw Hank (our assistant server) and he waved and bid us farewell. c: Bye Hank ^^~

 

Soon after that, we made it back to our rooms to be met with (instead of a Daily On Locations), this:

 

 

(*I'll scan the Cruise Log after this)

 

While Mom & Rachel were packing up and getting ready for bed, I recalled a fact that I had read on Cruise Critic where, there was supposedly a special secret drawer located beneath my bed that would serve as an extra space for storage. I rummaged around and managed to pull this out:

 

 

-_- That doesn't look like extra space to me.

 

I closed it back and opened the one on my side. Here I found a few things that had been hidden from my line of sight the past few days.

 

First of all, I had also read on CC that this existed:

 

 

for your everyday use. Apparently not >_> ..

 

I also found something else interesting, this order form for the bathrobes if you liked them (will also scan this soon):

 

 

I recall the costed around $50 each.

 

We finished loading all of our belongings into our luggage, filled out a room service card for the first time (writing our own things on it too), and hung it outside.

 

At around midnight, Dad, Bro & Sis decided that they wanted to play some ping pong. (I actually had some trouble remembering whether it was tonight or not, but now I remember at the time, I was packing away the necklaces I brought by wrapping them up and tying them with little hair elastics to keep from tangling in my bag). Sis was still finishing her packing, so Dad & Bro headed up to Lido poolside first. I recall Mom telling me to walk her up, but me being reluctant. She then brought up the point that she didn't want Sis to feel left out and live the last night of the cruise sad. *sigh* Fine. I picked up one of my necklaces and continued complicatedly twirling and tying the thing in the elastic.

 

I called Sis and told her let's go. She followed me and we made our way down the hall. I noticed something odd that I had never noticed on other cruise lines. Tonight was the last night of our cruise, yet I only saw about 2 bags waiting outside of people's staterooms. O_o? Huh? Don't people usually have a lot of bags waiting outside of their rooms to be checked in or something?

 

I also noticed a lot of people with room service cards waiting outside. More, but still less than the average amount I'd see.

 

We walked all the way to the back of the ship and came out at the aft elevators block. When we came out into the open space, Sis & I noticed a random little luggage smack dab in the middle of nowhere. O_o? We looked around, nobody was anywhere. I picked up the luggage tag to check out who it belonged to. I read the number and then looked around. !!! It was right there! The room that faced the open elevator area was the owner of the bag. We laughed at the thought that perhaps the bag crawled here by itself.

 

I proceeded to bring Sis upstairs to play with Bro & Dad and watched her run over to them before going back downstairs. I went back into the elevator and hit "deck 2" on the touch screen metallic surface.

 

I arrived back on deck 2 and emerged from the tiny elevator. I walked around the corner and then came upon the little bag again.

 

Hmm..

 

I made my resolve to help these people. I picked up the handle and started rolling it to in front of that stateroom's door (note that the bag was only about a foot tall). Maybe I was making a mistake and the bag was meant to be in the middle of nowhere. Oh well, no harm no fowl. I dragged it toward their room, and in the process, clumsily rolled over my foot.

 

._______.

 

That bag was small, but it was heavy and very densely packed. I was like rolling a brick or a cement block. Ouch.

 

Once that was done, I also picked up a person's room service card off the floor and put it back on their door handle.

 

(LOL, those are my good deeds of the week)

 

I went back to my room and finished packing up all of my stuff. (My luggage bag is double the size of everyone else's LOL, yup, teenage girls).

 

Eventually, Sis came back and said that she was kind of bored, since Dad & Bro were mostly playing with each other. :( Awh. (For shame! Play with the child! Gosh!)

 

Oh well.

 

We brushed our teeth, triple checked everything and went to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

End of Day 7

Edited June 24, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

Day 8: Disembarkation

 

 

 

 

We woke up early in the morning between 7 & 8am to wrap up our packing and get the bags ready.

 

 

Once that was done, we left our bags all over the place in our room. We then all met up in Dad & Bro's room to wait for our room service breakfast to arrive. While we waited, we saw that the movie "Battleship" with Rihanna in it.

 

 

I found a lot of the movies that are being played to be pretty awesome. For instance, yesterday when we were watching the 11'o'clock special show in the Franz Hal Lounge (explains disembarkation process & special gathering of a whole bunch of staff who sang a song together), we watched the Avengers which basically played on a loop all day. And the day before that, we watched the new Wizard of Oz movie featuring Mila Kunis! :D

 

 

Anyways, while the alien monsters had finally destroyed their ship and the old sailor guys booted up the museum ship (LOL spoiler?), there was a knock at the door. Breakfast was here! ^^

 

 

There was a lot more than expected. For instance, I asked for a (ONE) chocolate muffin. THEY GAVE MY A BASKET FULL. OMG WHY. SAME WITH BRO'S CROISSANTS. =_= I felt bad wasting so many, but seriously, I wanted ONE. They succeeded in bringing us our smoked salmon too. Five of them :D (I wrote it on the card myself). They seriously bring you everything you want when you write it on the card.

 

 

Full, we wrapped it up. I had forgotten something on my nightstand, so I told Dad I'd be right back. I opened the hallway door to see that our stateroom attendants had started cleaning it already. They both looked at me a little bit alarmed that I had caught them in the act or something (LOL), and asked me if it was okay to clean the room. I laughed and said "Yeah, it's cool ^^", scurried around my luggage and grabbed the thing I came to get.

 

 

After a bit, we noticed more and more people showing up around our room. The gangway was right outside our room o_o, so everyone was showing up here. As Cruise Director Brett Rudolph announced that the gangway was 3 meters to our left, more and more people started to fill our hallway. Like, literally, the line went for miles. =_="

 

 

Eventually, Brett Rudolph announced that people with "Expedited" cards may now proceed to the gangway and disembark. We said okay! And gathered our things. Mom, Sis & I went back to our room to grab our luggage, do one final check and then head off. At this time, I had already put my camera away into my luggage, so I don't have any pictures ^^"

 

 

I wheeled our bags out and then proceeded to the gangway. When we turned the corner, we saw that everyone who had come early, but didn't have an expedited card, had lined up along the walls to watch us leave (:P). We passed through the pathway of people, pulled out our card, beeped them (LOL Sis makes the alarms go off one last time) and stared wheeling our bags down the ramp.

 

 

 

I am not kidding you when I say that this was our fastest disembarkation EVER.

 

 

 

I rolled our bags down and passed 4-5 crew members that were asking if we remembered certain documents, and other things. We also passed a lady that told us to get our declaration forms out. We pulled to the side, got out our declaration forms out (as did a few more people) and rolled over to the customs people, who were literally just taking our papers and telling us to keep moving.

 

 

We then passed through the arch that had a "Bye-Bye! Cruise again!" message painted on it. We literally disembarked in MINUTES. We then walked through the underground Canada Place cruise terminal back out the upward slope and emerged to the sunny streets of Vancouver.

 

 

We then backtracked our steps to get to the Canada Line. We went down the escalator into the glass box and followed the path to Waterfront station, got on the train that goes to YVR and relaxed.

 

 

Upon arrival at the stop before the airport, we got off, went down some more escalators into the parking lot and got back to our car. We loaded all of our bags on and went into post-vacation mode. We sat into our so-very-familiar SUV and sighed. Man, were we beat.

 

 

 

 

And we were on our way home. :)

 

 

 

(a shot of outside my house)

 

 

 

 

End of our Cruise

Edited June 25, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[Vict0riann]

Sorry it's over! We enjoyed it all over again with you. Thanks for letting us join you.

[pv girl]

Tell your Dad that your family deserves another vacation before school starts - so we can see more of your fabulous pictures!

 

Canada/New England would be nice.

 

And if your next cruise happens to be on another line, please post here at HAL to give us a link to follow you.

 

:):):)

[Readytokruise]

So sad your cruise review is over. We leave next week from Alabama and fly to Seattle. Spend a few days in the northwest then take the train to Vancouver and board the Volendam on July 10. Just wanted to tell you again how much I enjoyed your review and hope you get to enjoy another cruise soon. Enjoy your summer break.

[erewhon]

Thank you for taking so much time writing and posting your review and for sharing all your great photos.

Will miss your daily updates.

 

Are you planning another cruise?

[lovely_serenity]

**I am currently scanning all of the papers and whatnot that I have collected over the course of my trip

 

I'm going to upload them as their own segment :)

[lovely_serenity]

Sorry it's over! We enjoyed it all over again with you. Thanks for letting us join you.

 

Aw ^^~ I'm glad! Thank you for following all this time! I hope you liked it c:

[lovely_serenity]

Papers and Fun stuff!

 

 

Upon arrival into the HAL area of the Canada Place terminal, after we checked in, we were given a package (one per stateroom) as we waited to be loaded onto the ship.

 

One part was the key cards. The other was this welcome book:

 

(Front cover & other side of front cover)

 

 

The contents (port + attractions):

 

 

 

 

 

(*Note: The book is arranged a little stupidly. It goes port -> turn page -> attractions next to other port. So don't get mixed up)

 

Back cover; inside & out

 

 

 

It provides a little preview to which ports you're going to be visiting and what you can find there.

Edited June 25, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

Within the "Your Alaska Explorer" were 3 pieces of paper.

 

 

one was this suggested excursions sheet:

 

 

 

one was this disease letter apologizing for the delay; also explained the

gastrointestinal ordeal:

 

 

 

 

and the other was today's daily On Location. The flap all the way to the left is the cover. It's actually arranged a little differently, but I arranged it in a way that makes more sense. The actual thing is arranged stupidly too.

 

 

 

 

 

Occasionally, you'll see blue highlighter marks on some of the daily On Locations. I do that so I can keep track of what I want to do the next day c:

 

 

With our key card holder, we got a map of the ship. Here's both sides of the paper, but the actual thing folds down to the size of the upper right hand rectangle.

 

 

 

 

 

****I'm sorry the size is so small. The other alternative is WAY too big. The dimensions are either this, or double the size :/ It'll go out of screen if I make it bigger.

[lovetocruise2020]

Thank you so very much Lovely_Serenity.

I read every page of your report. You did an amazing job.

 

We do LOVE HAL, they are our favorite line, but after 2 Carnival cruises last month, I have completely decided they have the best food that I have experienced at sea...

 

The items are as described and not as complicated. lol. Everything does not have to sound so gourmet and the desserts are the best at sea...

 

Did you say they did not serve complimentary hot chocolate on the open decks?

 

Thanks so much again!

Edited June 25, 2013 by surfergirle

[lovely_serenity]

Thank you so very much Lovely_Serenity.

I read every page of your report. You did an amazing job.

 

We do LOVE HAL, they are our favorite line, but after 2 Carnival cruises last month, I have completely decided they have the best food that I have experienced at sea...

 

The items are as described and not as complicated. lol. Everything does not have to sound so gourmet and the desserts are the best at sea...

 

Did you say they did not serve complimentary hot chocolate on the open decks?

 

Thanks so much again!

 

Haha, you're welcome! ^^ && thank you for taking the time to do that!

Thank you~ :p

 

Personally, I just go with whichever line offers me the best food LOL. I too have been on Carnival twice when I was younger. And my parents (who actually remember their experience) agree that Carnival has the best desserts.

 

Regarding food, I actually like the super gourmet-y kinds of foods, as well as simple ones. It depends on which taste better to me c:

 

Since I'm pretty fluent in Frenc &, a lot of the so called "gourmet foods", simply integrate a bit of french in its name, the names don't sound complicated to my ears. So when others see gourmet, I literally tanslate it to English in my head and usually, it just says the same ingredient, but in French ^^

For example, Creme Brulee, literally translates to burnt cream. Not so fancy anymore, right? LOL :D

 

I actually couldn't find any hot chocolate being served outside. I did see a thingy in the Crow's Nest with hot chocolate, but the hot chocolate being served out on deck was the kinds that come in the metal tumblers and were being sold. I don't remember how they cost though :/

Edited June 25, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL started selling the hot chocolate in tumblers a few years ago -- to make money. The only place you could get it free was in the Lido -- instant stuff.

We have always been able to get Pea Soup in the Crow's Nest.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great reports and great pictures.

[brazilgirl]

Sad to see your cruise end... Like all the others hoping you can take another soon!

Excellent report!

[monina01]

thanks for taking us along with you! Wonderful wonderful thread. I will miss it very much. :)

[nana51]

I have been so impressed with your writing and your pictures. If you hadn't mentioned you were a teen, I would have thought you were about 30! I am saving this thread to convince my husband to go to Alaska. Thanks again.