CSI: NA Reloaded (Nieuw Amsterdam 11/30 to 12/14/14)

[mactire]

Lammy1952,

Great information on the ship we are going to call home from January 25th for two weeks. Can you confirm that they do not provide trays in the Lido restuarant.

Patrick

[regnig]

Oh, breakfast in the Lido, right. ...........

 

One of the highlights, for me at least, was the cinnamon roll. It's very much like the sticky buns I had growing up. They're delicious.

 

Wouldn't have been the Amish ones from Lancaster County in PA would they? If not, if you are ever in the area you have to try them. I've never had better! :D

[lammy1952]

Lammy1952,

Great information on the ship we are going to call home from January 25th for two weeks. Can you confirm that they do not provide trays in the Lido restuarant.

Patrick

 

mactire

 

The review info is courtesy of POA1, however from memory of our previous cruise with HAL, there were trays provided in Lido.

 

We are on the sailing 25 January also, if you are interested there is a M&G being arranged on the thread for that cruise.

 

Only two weeks before sailing, and 12 days before flying to Miami!!

[kazu]

POA - the reason you have so many views is that you are so DAM entertaining :D

 

I am sure many, like myself, don't want to miss a single post of yours.

 

You are truly talented, sharing cruise experiences and entertaining the reader at the same time.

 

You have put many smiles on my face and I thank you:D

[kazu]

mactire

 

The review info is courtesy of POA1, however from memory of our previous cruise with HAL, there were trays provided in Lido.

 

We are on the sailing 25 January also, if you are interested there is a M&G being arranged on the thread for that cruise.

 

Only two weeks before sailing, and 12 days before flying to Miami!!

 

I haven't seen a tray in the Lido in years (for us to use). The only trays I have seen are the ones the crew use. :confused: Guess I better get my eyes tested:p

[POA1]

POA

 

Thanks for the great review(s), however I wonder if you could answer one specific question. On our previous cruise with HAL on Noordam there was an Asian station in the Lido at lunchtime, is this available on NA. My wife loved it previously and is really hoping it will be on NA.

 

Thanks

There is, indeed. The Asian station had a pretty big following as well, and people said it was excellent.

[POA1]

Lammy1952,

Great information on the ship we are going to call home from January 25th for two weeks. Can you confirm that they do not provide trays in the Lido restuarant.

Patrick

Correct. There are no longer any Lido trays. I'm pretty sure that's fleet wide, but if someone knows of a ship with trays, let us know.

[POA1]

Wouldn't have been the Amish ones from Lancaster County in PA would they? If not, if you are ever in the area you have to try them. I've never had better! :D

Close. It was Lehigh County, just a stone's throw away.

 

Speaking of Lancaster County... The only buffet we have ever loved is in Lancaster County. It's Shady Maple in East Earl Township.

[momatibm]

Close. It was Lehigh County, just a stone's throw away.

 

Speaking of Lancaster County... The only buffet we have ever loved is in Lancaster County. It's Shady Maple in East Earl Township.

 

everybody loves Shady Maple :)

[RuthC]

Correct. There are no longer any Lido trays. I'm pretty sure that's fleet wide, but if someone knows of a ship with trays, let us know.

I know of NO HAL ship where trays are regularly available any longer. If they were, I am certain that I would know about it, as I need one desperately.

[POA1]

Now that we've got breakfast covered, Let's do lunch!

 

Embarkation Lunch Options:

 

Beginning at the beginning, we'll start with your options on Embarkation Day. If you've sailed on Holland America before or if you have sailed on any of Carnival Corporation's other lines, you will be eligible to attend the Mariner's Embarkation Lunch. Just look at your room key. If it indicates one or more Mariner stars, you're eligible to attend. The Mariner's lunch is held in the Main Dining Room and typically runs from noon until 1:30 PM. It's a waiter service, fixed menu luncheon, and offers you a quieter, more formal way to begin your cruise. If you've spent the morning eyes-deep in crowds of people at the airport and the cruise terminal, this lunch option provides a respite from the masses. The downsides are that the menu is limited compared with the Lido, and the table service meal usually takes a little longer. I could be wrong, but I don't think that there have been many changes to the Embarkation Lunch Menu over the years. That's not a big issue for us, but I know that it sticks in the craw of some folks.

 

The Department of Scanning Things has provided a PDF of the menu at the following link.

 

Mariners' Embarkation Lunch Menu

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFjLjJu6VgZLkYIm8RBqld3XBgqPDBOS1l0/

 

Unless you specifically request otherwise, you will be seated at a larger table with other passengers. It's a nice way to meet people. Probably people you won't see again for the entirety of the voyage, but that's okay. The lunch service in the MDR on embarkation day was pleasant and professional. The meal proceeded at a relaxed pace. We skipped dessert, because we were still operating under the delusion that we're going to be good. For two weeks. On a cruise ship.

 

Your other option is to dine on the Lido deck, where the choices are more varied and you can experience the hustle, bustle and energy of embarkation day up close and personal. If you enjoy people-watching, this is the choice for you.

 

In the Lido, you have a wide array of stations available to you. There's everything from pizza (out back by the aft pool,) to pasta, to Mexican, to Asian fare. There are also carving stations, salad bars, sandwich bars, and a host of other choices.

 

Again, some photos would have been helpful here. Do I have them? Nope. I guess I'll have to remember that for our next trip. I'll put that on my list o' continuous improvements.

 

If you aren't boarding the ship until after 1:30, then the Lido is your only option. Otherwise, it's a personal choice. We've done both and were not disappointed with either option. Our favorites from the MDR lunch are the salmon, the fried chicken, and the burger. The Reuben has been great on occasion, and other times it's just made me sad. Our table mates have reported good things about the chicken & mango salad. Every time we see someone with the burger, it gives us food envy. We resist the burger on the simple - and absolutely correct -assumption that we're going to order Dive-In burgers a couple of times during the cruise. Choosing the salmon lets us delude ourselves into thinking that on this cruise, we're going to eat healthfully. (That's right. Healthfully. Somewhere up in heaven, A. David Deery, one of my high school English teachers is smiling.)

 

If you are going to go with the Lido option, you owe it to yourself to walk around, survey the situation, and learn the lay of the land. You are a mighty hunter, and a full belly is your quest!

 

Seriously, though... Walk around and familiarize yourself with the locations of the various stations. Be aware that there are differences between the aft side of the buffet and the port side. The basic layout and location will stay the same from day to day. (You know what would have been awesome? A sketch of the station layout! You know, sort of a handy reference guide to the Lido buffet. You could print it out and refer to it when you needed to home in on the nachos with laser-like precision.)

 

I'll add to to the list for next time we cruise. If anyone is traveling on the Nieuw Amsterdam in the near future and would like to provide a sketch, that would be an excellent service and I'm sure that your fellow cruisers would be grateful.

Coming up next: Surely you didn't stop having lunch after the first day... What we had the rest of the time.

[kazu]

a layout of the stations is a really good idea and would be great on HALfacts.

 

I'll try to remember to take notes when we are on the Westerdam

 

You are full of awesome ideas POA1

[POA1]

a layout of the stations is a really good idea and would be great on HALfacts.

 

I'll try to remember to take notes when we are on the Westerdam

 

You are full of awesome ideas POA1

Thanks. It's too bad that I can't think of them in a timely fashion. After all, we were on the ship twice, and three out of four weeks. You'd think that these good ideas would occur sooner. I guess I'm just slow. :(

[Crew News]

Based on a recommendation that having a map of the Lido Restaurant serving stations would be a good idea, I have added the Lido Restaurant serving layouts, to include examples of what is served, for both Signature and Vista classes to my HAL menus tab:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/here/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Signature-Lido-Restaurant-layout.pdf

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/here/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Vista-Class-Lido-Layout.pdf

 

As I complete my image uploads for each ship, I will include the applicable serving layouts and Lido Restaurant images for each ship.

[POA1]

Based on a recommendation that having a map of the Lido Restaurant serving stations would be a good idea, I have added the Lido Restaurant serving layouts, to include examples of what is served, for both Signature and Vista classes to my HAL menus tab:

 

Thanks so much! Very helpful.

[cormike1]

Thanks so much for a great review. We are on the NA next month and looking forward to our first HAL cruise. It sounds like it will be a great ship to start out with. I have question about the chocolate factory you toured in Cozumel. Did you book ahead or just take a taxi from the pier to the factory at the correct time for a tour? It sounds interesting but don't want to commit right now so I would like to wait until we arrive in Cozumel. Thanks so much for your help with this question.

[Lizzie68]

Based on a recommendation that having a map of the Lido Restaurant serving stations would be a good idea, I have added the Lido Restaurant serving layouts, to include examples of what is served, for both Signature and Vista classes to my HAL menus tab:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/here/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Signature-Lido-Restaurant-layout.pdf

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/here/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Vista-Class-Lido-Layout.pdf

 

As I complete my image uploads for each ship, I will include the applicable serving layouts and Lido Restaurant images for each ship.

 

I have something quite similar to this that was given to me on the Zuiderdam by a crew member. I'll see if I can find it and scan. I don't have one for Signature class.

[POA1]

Thanks so much for a great review. We are on the NA next month and looking forward to our first HAL cruise. It sounds like it will be a great ship to start out with. I have question about the chocolate factory you toured in Cozumel. Did you book ahead or just take a taxi from the pier to the factory at the correct time for a tour? It sounds interesting but don't want to commit right now so I would like to wait until we arrive in Cozumel. Thanks so much for your help with this question.

 

I think you're supposed to book the tour ahead of time, but we did not do so. We lucked out and our tour driver was friends with the factory owners, so they arranged a tour for the 3 of us. The tours are scheduled at 11:00 AM local time. If you want to e-mail me at poa1 -at- instituteofcheer.com, I can give you more details than I can in a post.

 

The tour takes about an hour and it's $10 per person. We've toured Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and this is about as far from that as you can get. This is a very small, family-owned, artisanal chocolate making operation. We really enjoyed it because it was hands-on, and is a really nice change of pace from looking at "Free!" Silver Earrings and going to Senor Frogs.

 

Here are the URLs for the websites of both the chocolate company, and the tour reservations. The tour site has a contact form. You can write to them and see if they'll allow you to tentatively schedule a tour without committing to it.

 

The company:

 

http://www.chocolateskaokao.com/DefaultEng.aspx

 

The factory tour reservations:

 

http://www.kaokaochocolatefactorytour.com

 

We found them on the CC ports of call boards and Trip Advisor, where they got a 98% positive review score. Read the reviews and descriptions to see if it appeals to you. Huskerchick likes anything chocolate, so it was sort of a lock for her.

 

As an added bonus, KaoKao Chocolate is very close to Casa Mission, the most popular restaurant with the locals. (We will definitely make that our go to restaurant the next time we're in Cozumel.)

[kazu]

I have something quite similar to this that was given to me on the Zuiderdam by a crew member. I'll see if I can find it and scan. I don't have one for Signature class.

 

thanks Lizzie :D

[Cruisergal1208]

POA1, I just tried emailing you for more info on the Chocolate Tour but the address wasn't recognized as a valid one. Did I do something wrong. I typed it in with the correct subs in the way you typed it.

Thanks.

[POA1]

POA1, I just tried emailing you for more info on the Chocolate Tour but the address wasn't recognized as a valid one. Did I do something wrong. I typed it in with the correct subs in the way you typed it.

Thanks.

 

You needed to substitute the @ symbol for the -at-, but you can use the contact form here instead:

 

http://www.instituteofcheer.com/contact-us/

[POA1]

On the Nieuw Amsterdam, you have several options for lunch. There's the main dining room (MDR) which serves a sit down, table service lunch daily. There's the Tamarind, a waiter service, sit down venue which serves an Asian dim sum menu for lunch. There's the Lido, a multi-station buffet which has a wide range of choices, as mentioned in my previous post. There's the Dive-In which serves burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and French fries. There is also Slice, which is a walk up pizza window located by the aft pool. All of these options are included with your cruise fare. There is one lunch choice that is not included in your base cruise fare, and that's the Pinnacle Grill. The Pinnacle's lunch is a $10 per person supplement.

 

While we ate some of our lunches in the Lido, for the most part we dined al fresco in our cabana. As you may recall from reading our multi-part series, "Poohby Joe's Guide to Cabana Living," (Posts 627, 646, 652, 656, and 662) our excellent cabana attendants were pretty eager to bring us lunch each day. We could choose from either the daily Lido lunch menu offerings or from the Dive In's selections. On several occasions we made the healthful choice and selected a simple lunch consisting of meat, poultry, or fish, and either vegetables or a salad. More often than not, however, we went with something from the Dive-In. (Our underlying logic was that if we split an order of fries, we were making "good choices.")

 

 

Ed, the "Ed half" of our awesome cabana attendant duo, John & Ed, arrives with our lunch. You will note from the photo that we did not always stick to the shared order of fries thing.

 

Lunch at The Dive-In:

 

The Dive-In, Holland America's new cooked to order grill, is located by the Lido pool. It's open longer lunch hours than the rest of the Lido, usually staying open until around 5:30 PM. When you order from the Dive-In, you are given a pager and buzzed when your order is ready. For the most part, the process is pretty quick and painless. We usually sent one person to order, and another to get drinks and a table. To say that we liked the Dive-In is an understatement. We thought that burgers were excellent and we really appreciated not having to eat them well done. The hot dogs were quite good, and the diet-friendly, low-calorie fries were yummy.

 

The Dive-In Menu is on a wall board, but we hgad paper copies in our cabana. Unfortunately, taking a portable scanner to the cabana was a little too geeky, even for me. (I must admit "Cabana-Scanna" has a neat ring to it though.) So, because I love you guys, I typed it out.

 

Dive In Menu:

Dive-In Burgers:

Burgers are 1/3 pound beef patties cooked to order. All beef burgers are prpeared well done unless otherwise specified.

 

The High Dive

Served with American cheddar cheese and topped with chop-chop lettuce salad, and sliced tomato on a toasted brioche bun with Dive-In Sauce.

 

The Cannonball

Served with Gouda cheese, applewood smoked bacon, sweet caramelized onions, al topped with chop-chop lettuce salad, and sliced tomato on a toasted brioche bun with Dive-In Sauce.

 

The Gainer

Served with a mound of crispy, frizzled onions and topped with chop-chop lettuce salad, and sliced tomato on a toasted brioche bun with Dive-In Sauce.

 

The Freestyle

Grilled portabella mushroom, topped with cheddar and Gouda cheese, chop-chop lettuce salad, and sliced tomato on a toasted whole wheat bun with Dive-In Sauce.

 

The Back Flip

Grilled chicken breast topped with guacamole, hop-chop lettuce salad, and sliced tomato on a toasted brioche bun with Dive-In Sauce.

 

Dive-In Dogs:

featuring 100% all beef Nathan's hotdogs, ,seasoned with celery salt in a poppy-seed bun:

 

The Dive In Dog

Topped with American-style yellow mustard, Dive-In relish and piled high with a mound of crispy, frizzled onions served on a poppy-seed bun.

 

The Dog Paddle

Topped with sauerkraut, crispy bacon bits, German (brown) mustard and Dive-In Sauce served in a poppy-seed bun.

 

The Dunkin Dog*

Topped with melty cheese saunce, pickled jalapenos, chopped red onion & Dive-In Sauce served in a poppy-seed bun.

 

The Sturdley**

100% all beef hot dog wrapped in bacon, dipped in the Dive-In French fry batter coating, topped with melty cheese sauce and a generous helping of frizzled onions on a poppy-seed bun. Served with a side of Lipitor and a Diet Coke.

 

Dive In Fries:

(Crisped to perfection and served three ways)

 

Naked, Topped with Dive-In Sauce, or Topped with melty cheese sauce.

 

*I saw the name "Dunkin Dog" and was expecting a donut-based bun.

 

**Not a real thing. There is, however a bacon wrapped hot dog called "The Sturdley" at Red's Eats in Wiscasset, Maine. This fake Sturdley is a an amalgam of Red's Puff Dog and The Sturdley.

 

Our general impressions of the lunch options on the Nieuw Amsterdam:

 

Lido Lunch - The selections were good, and varied. Items that were supposed to be hot were hot. A couple words of advice: The peak time in the Lido appeared to be between noon and noon and a half. If you can eat lunch before or after peak time, you will avoid the crowds. Have a plan of attack. The Lido's lunch menus are posted outside the entrance each day. These menus don't cover every single item available, so it still makes sense to make a lap around the room before you decide what you want to eat. Roger Jett (Crew News) has the most recent comprehensive set of menus for the Nieuw Amsterdam's Caribbean sailings. He's much more enterprising than me. While I managed to get most of the dinner menus, he tracked down and scanned all of the menus from his recent trip. He and Joanie did a two week NA cruise that overlapped our second week, so I think his menus should be the freshest available. (They've even got that "new menu smell.") He has each day's Lido & MDR menus in a single PDF.

 

The menus for the Eastern Caribbean can be found here:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/?page_id=3787

 

The ones for the Western Caribbean can be found here:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/?page_id=3791

 

One last obscure bit of information on the Lido lunch - If you are looking for a particular flavor of ice cream, make sure you check the dessert station on both sides. We found that there were times when certain flavors were only on one side and not the other. We came to this realization when I spotted DW's favorite, coffee ice cream, on one side of the Lido and not the other.

 

My one criticism of the Nieuw Amsterdam's Lido layout has to do the the location of the Mexican station. On most of the other ships we've sailed, the Mexican station is fully self service. On the NA, it was combined with the pasta station. Only certain Mexican items were self serve. If you wanted taco meat, or cheese sauce, for example, you had to wait for someone to serve you. Since the same people were responsible for getting pasta ready, the Mexican part of the station was often unstaffed. It wasn't the servers' fault, per se. It was usually the fault of people butting in line at the pasta station and insisting that they were next in line, despite the fact that were easily 5 people ahead of them. The downside to this is that we never got our afternoon nachos. We just sort of gave up after a few attempts. The upside is that we didn't eat a plate of nachos in the afternoon.

 

Lunch in the Pinnacle Grill:

 

By far our favorite "big people" lunch on Holland America is having our mid-day meal in the Pinnacle Grill. As I mentioned earlier, it's a $10 per person extra cost restaurant, but we feel it's well worth it. We consider it to be one of the best deals on the ship. We've had most everything on the Pinnacle lunch menu and we have never been disappointed. (The one thing we have not had is the vegetarian couscous. We're afraid it might disappoint us, and ruin a perfectly good winning streak.) Your $10 supplement includes an appetizer, main course, and dessert.

 

Here's a link to a scan of the Pinnacle Lunch Menu:

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFhBlHMvCvdGR5xc0NwFW-l9K7rIXQNarLg/

 

Lunch in the MDR:

 

No personal experience, and almost everyone we spoke to enjoyed it. I'll admit that we generally opted for lunch choices that were quick and casual. If we decided that we wanted a nicer lunch, we typically ate in a specialty restaurant. The MDR lunch menus from December 2014 can be found on Roger's site using the links above. If you are on a different ship, you may want to check HALfacts.com to see if they have recent menus for your ship. Chances are that they do.

Tamarind Lunch:

 

The Tamarind serves a Dim Sum lunch. It's predominantly dumplings and rolls. There's no additional charge, but reservations are suggested:

 

The Tamarind's Lunch Menu can be found, courtesy of the Department of Scanning Things, at the link below:

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFj4MRiJPn5PwoLUKsE1taAJUATBoJOviOY/

 

Slice, Walk-Up Pizza Window:

 

We didn't eat any of Slice's pizza for lunch. We preferred to wait until late at night, after we had been out all evening, to have a piece of pizza. Was it great pizza? No. But, it's pretty good, especially after the last B.B. King set ends for the night and you don't want a room service club sandwich.

 

Coming up next: All this talk of food is making me hungry. What's for dinner?

Edited January 10, 2015 by POA1

[Cruisergal1208]

You needed to substitute the @ symbol for the -at-, but you can use the contact form here instead:

 

http://www.instituteofcheer.com/contact-us/

That's what I did but I have sent you a message via your web site Contact Us. Thanks for your help.

[POA1]

That's what I did but I have sent you a message via your web site Contact Us. Thanks for your help.

 

Got it, and sent you a reply with the info and review links. :)

[Cruisergal1208]

Got it, and sent you a reply with the info and review links. :)[/QUOT

 

Thanks so much. I will check out the tour company.