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'Twas the Cruise During Christmas - Zuiderdam 2018


POA1
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Just now, RuthC said:

Does this mean I can once again use Comic Sans on my laptop, and those with a phone will be able to read it???
I am waiting as patiently as I can for you to make that announcement (and I don't do patience very well at all).

 

Don't pull the trigger just yet.  Once CC releases their white label app, it should be safe to get back to expressing yourself the way you want. (All that bottled up fonty goodness.)

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9 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

Don't pull the trigger just yet.  Once CC releases their white label app, it should be safe to get back to expressing yourself the way you want. (All that bottled up fonty goodness.)

ok. :classic_sad:

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Drink Menus - Part 5- Vodka

 

Everything is covered under the SBP.  Bacardi 8 is a good sipping rum, but you will want to wear a white suit, a Panama hat and ask your server to call you "Don Fecundo."

 

RUM
Cruzan   $7.00
Cruzan Flavors: Vanilla / Coconut / Pineapple / Banana   $7.00
Malibu   $7.00
Brugal   $7.25
Bacardi Superior (Silver)   $7.50
Bacardi Gold   $7.50
Bacardi Limon / Bacardi Razz   $7.50
Bacardi Oakheart   $7.50
Bacardi 8   $7.50
Myers' Dark   $7.25
Pyrat   $7.25
Captain Morgan Spiced Rum   $7.25
Gosling's Black Seal   $7.75
Appleton Estate   $7.75

 

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Drink Menus - Part 6 - Bourbon

 

Everything is covered under the SBP. If you fancy bourbon, you may want to look at the back bars or ask, because there may be a bottle of Booker's, Basil Hayden's, Baker's or Maker's 46 lurking about. There was some other like-minded soul who was drinking Maker's on the rocks on our cruise and the Billboard Bar ran out of Maker's Mark on the last night.  The bartender offered to send someone out in search of a red waxed bottle for me, but it was nearing the end of the night, so I switched brands.

 

BOURBON
Wild Turkey (It's the 101, not the 80.)   $7.25
Jim Beam   $7.25
Jim Beam Red Stag   $7.25
Buffalo Trace   $7.25
Jack Daniels   $8.00
Jack Daniels Honey   $7.50
Knob Creek   $8.50
Maker's Mark   $8.50
Tatoosh   $8.00

 

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Drink Menus - Part 7 - Rye, Irish & Canadian Whiskies

 

Everything is covered under the SBP

 

RYE, IRISH & CANADIAN WHISKEY
Seagram's VO   $7.25
Seagram's 7 Crown   $7.25
Canadian Club   $7.25
Jamison Irish Whiskey   $7.25
Crown Royal   $7.50
Tatoosh Rye   $8.00

 

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Excellent!  That's a thread worth starting [emoji6]. 
 
I deleted the app.  I'll re-download it and see if it works on my Ipad.  Too bad it's too late for your cruise [emoji20] 
Jacqui -

The people on the geek forum, aka the support board, said that they can get the iOS version to work. You may want to give it a try. Just be prepared for weirdness. 'Cause they're "working on things."

The login process is a bit strange. It looks like you are logging into the web version. Then, you back up in Tapatalk and get the normal presentation view you'd expect.
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16 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Jacqui -

The people on the geek forum, aka the support board, said that they can get the iOS version to work. You may want to give it a try. Just be prepared for weirdness. 'Cause they're "working on things."

The login process is a bit strange. It looks like you are logging into the web version. Then, you back up in Tapatalk and get the normal presentation view you'd expect.

 

Thanks Brian. 😄 

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Drink Menus - Part 8 - Scotch & Single Malts

 

If you are a Scotch drinker and you prefer higher end whiskys, you might want to look at the EBP. SBP holders will still have 10+ choices though.  This category introduces our first alcohol that exceeds the EBP threshold, Macallan 12 Year Old.

 

 

SCOTCH & SINGLE MALT WHISKY
Ballantine's   $7.25
Cutty Sark   $7.25
J&B   $7.25
Johnnie Walker Red Label   $7.50
Dewar's White Label   $7.50
Dewar's 12 Year Old   $7.75
Johnnie Walker Black Label   $8.25
Aberfeldy   $7.75
Chivas Regal   $7.75
Tatoosh Single Malt   $8.00
Glen Deveron   $8.50
Glenlivet   $9.50
Laphroaig   $9.50
Glenmorangie   $10.25
Glenmorangie 19   $12.50
Glenfiddich   $10.75
Dalmore   $10.75
Macallan Select Oak   $12.50
Macallan 12   $19.00
Highland Park   $12.00
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Drink Menus - Part 9 - Gin

 

The Signature Beverage Package covers all your gin options. I could have sworn I saw Beefeater, but it's not on the list so I may be mistaken.

 

GIN
Bombay London Dry   $7.25
Tanqueray   $7.95
Tanquery 10   $7.95
Bombay Sapphire   $7.95
Hendricks   $8.25
Jack Daniels Honey   $7.50
Bols Dutch Genever Young   $7.25
Bols Dutch Genever Old   $7.25

 

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Drink Menus - Part 10 - Tequila

 

This is another category where SBP cruisers have a limited number of selections. They can have either Cuervo Gold or Cuervo 1800. (They could also have the house/well tequila, but why?) Elite Beverage Package people can have all the tequilas.

 

TEQUILA
Jose Cuervo Gold   $7.50
Jose Cuervo 1800   $7.50
Cabo Wabo Blanco   $10.25
Cabo Wabo Reposado   $10.25
Herradura Silver   $9.75
Herradura Reposado   $9.95
Cazadores   $9.95
Patron Silver   $10.25
Patron Reposado   $7.50
Patron Cafe XO   $12.00
Patron Anejo   $14.00

 

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We did it! We booked for the 6th! 🙂 

 

Now, can you give me a little guidance on The Retreat, please? I know we need to call guest services to book, but how do I request one with an ocean view? Are they numbered or is there a map that designates which are which? Thank you so much! 🙂

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We did it! We booked for the 6th! [emoji846] 
 
Now, can you give me a little guidance on The Retreat, please? I know we need to call guest services to book, but how do I request one with an ocean view? Are they numbered or is there a map that designates which are which? Thank you so much! [emoji846]
Let look at the photos. It's either the high numbers or low numbers. The middle ones are the ones overlooking the lido pool. You can probably just ask for one on the side, not open on both ends - but I'll [emoji85] if I can tell from my photos.
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1 hour ago, POA1 said:

Let look at the photos. It's either the high numbers or low numbers. The middle ones are the ones overlooking the lido pool. You can probably just ask for one on the side, not open on both ends - but I'll emoji85.png if I can tell from my photos.

Thank you so much! 😎

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Just now, Classynfun1 said:

Thank you so much! 😎

 

Congratulations on booking your cruise!  The service we received was excellent. Our "cabana guys" were Conrado and Juville. 

 

The cabanas you do not want based on wanting to be along the sides are 5-12.  Cabanas #5 & #12 are family cabanas. Numbers 6, 7, 8. 9, 10 & 11 are 1 through 4 or 12 through 16.  The phone rep may have cabana names and not numbers on their worksheet.  Here's what the diagram looks like on the cabana sales sheet:

 

 

image.png.2f448213b36510a91ef24937412797f6.png

 

However, in real life, they're numbered with 1 being Corsica and 16 being Monte Carlo.  Here's how we make the request:  We reserve the cabana through Ship's Services. Then I ask for the email of the Ship Coordinator for the ship, in this case the Zuiderdam.  This is a person at HAL who communicates with the person on the ship. I email the Ship Coordinator with a list of my preferred cabanas. You can use both the names and numbers if you want to play it safe. In my case, we wanted a "middle" aft-facing cabana, so I asked for Cote d'Azure (7), Palma de Mallorca* (8), Sorrenton (9) or Portofino (10).  Palma de Mallorca was our first choice and we got it.  I had a confirmation of the cabana assignment from the Ship Coordinator and an order email confirmation (from Shore Excursions for some reason) for the purchase of the cabana. We always take a print out of the correspondence with us. We've never needed it with HAL, but I like to be safe.

 

* It's spelled Palma de Mallora on the diagram, but it should be Palma de Mallorca - a real place.

.

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Drink Menus - Part 11 - Aperitif

  

Everything is SBP eligible.

 

APERITIF
Vermouth - White   $6.50
Vermouth - Red   $6.50
Dubonnet   $6.50
Pernod   $6.75
Aperol   $7.00
Campari   $7.00

 

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We're a little over half way through the core drinks price list and it's time to take a short break from the list and move on to something else for a few posts. I also realize that upon further review, some of the drink price tables don't render well on a phone screen. The price column gets cut off. Fortunately I saved copies of them and I can go back and fix them. Maybe for a standalone drink menu post. 

 

The tables were built using a different editor on the IOC web server and then pasted here. Somewhere along the line, some fixed width formatting snuck in, throwing off the way that the table shrinks on smaller screens. I'll have to figure out where that happened and correct it. (Manual HTML editing, yay!) 

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Friday, December 21st - Bonaire

 

At this point, I'm as many days behind as our cruise was long.  This was another smart casual night. Our schedule in Bonaire was modified from what was on our boarding passes and we didn't leave until late. That's fine because our next stop, Curacao was only a few miles away.

 

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As always, Poohby Joe dressed for dinner, but did not leave the room.

 

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Meanwhile, back in the Main Dining Room...

For her first course, Michelle ordered the Curried Vegetable Empanadas, stuffed with Pumpkin & Butternut Squash Tossed With Cumin. (I had this as my second course.) We both agreed that it was good, but needed more filling.

 

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Her dad had the Sweet Tomato And Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella with Aged Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil, Basil, & Focaccia

 

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My starter was the Thai Beef And Pickled Papaya  with Scallions, Cilantro, & Lime. We agreed that this was the winner of the appetizer round, so I ran victory laps around the table, high-fiving people seated near us, until the men with the tranquilizer darts showed up.

 

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For her second course, Michelle had the Roasted Beet And Blue Cheese Salad. Bibb Lettuce, Avocado, Cherry Tomatoes, and Red Bell Peppers. As mentioned above, I had the empanadas.  The salad was pronounced "tasty." She's a big fan of beets on salads.

 

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My lovely wife ordered the salmon of the everyday selections as her main course.  Grilled Salmon w/ Ginger-Cilantro Pesto, Basmati Rice, Swiss Chard, and Garlic Cherry Tomatoes

 

 

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DFIL chose Oven-Roasted Quail with a Spinach-Goat Cheese Stuffing, Shiitake Mushroom Risotto, and Glazed Pineapple

 

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I ordered the Mustard Crusted Tuna With Onion Rings, Tomato-Shrimp Vinaigrette, and Honey-Soy Glazed Carrots.  They brought me the Petite Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Sauce, Creamy Mashed Potato And Grilled Vegetable Medley. I sent it back, seeing how I ordered "swimming" and got "lowing and mooing." I took a photo because I had a few seconds between entree swap-outs. It looked good. It was even mid rare, which is now I would have ordered it.

 

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My tuna was only delayed by about a minute. I was good, but a little cool - probably because it was hanging out in the wings during the beef dish's photo session.

 

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For dessert, Michelle picked the White Chocolate Sundae.  Vanilla ice cream, white chocolate ganache, butterfingers, and whipped cream.

 

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My father-in-law ordered the Pineapple Crisp with French vanilla ice cream. I had him pegged for a fruit crisp-a-day, but he surprised us by switching it up.  Come to find out he was having supplemental desserts at lunch in the Lido. And, the man never gains any weight, which is impressive.

 

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I ordered the Banana Tatin with Vanilla ice cream. This was also the winner of the dessert round. I was unable to do my victory laps because the restraints were too tight.

 

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The cordial of the day was the Southern Belle Cordial, Grand Marnier & Southern Comfort. I ordered this, not only because of its manly name, but also because we had decided to collect the cordial glass set and I was taking one for the team. Michelle had her usual cappuccino. Our waiter Agung, had her after dinner coffee on autopilot - one of the many reasons we're an assigned seating people.
 

IMG_3689_LUCiD.JPG.395edeba81c04437dbc49f84fe349335.JPG

 

 

 

Most nights, Agung would greet us with an origami creation, which we took back to Poohby Joe. (Don't tell him that they were given to us. He thinks they're his special treat.)

 

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1 hour ago, POA1 said:

Most nights, Agung would greet us with an origami creation, which we took back to Poohby Joe. (Don't tell him that they were given to us. He thinks they're his special treat.)

 

Love the pic - and the candy canes for Poohby Joe.

 

Your secret is safe with us 😉. LOL 😄 

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3 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Love the pic - and the candy canes for Poohby Joe.

 

Your secret is safe with us 😉. LOL 😄 

 

We we a little disheartened that none of the candy canes had an "open" hook part. We'd have liked to go for a "holding the candy cane" look instead of a "leaning the cane against the bear" look. 

 

I blame cutbacks for the slightly misshapen candy. :classic_wink:

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So, I am noticing a pattern. When I take the time to type out the drink list, there's barely a reaction. When I post pictures of Michelle and her celebrity friend, I get likes out the wazoo. 

 

You know she's going to rub this in, right? (I'm referring to my wife. Poohby is comfortable with his celebrity and is completely nonplussed.) 

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We've tentatively picked out next year's holiday cruise. Our first choice is an 11 day Koningsdam cruise that hits a bunch of southeastern ports we've not been to since 2012 on the Maasdam. Our second choices are 14 day 2B/Collector's sailings, of which there are two. Our third choice is a Veendam Cuba cruise. 

 

Our number one selection spans both Christmas and New Years. The others are Christmas only. 

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14 hours ago, Stratheden said:

I didn't enjoy the Banana Tatin the other night on the Noordam.  Extremely sickly sweet. 🙁

 

 

Then I'd take yours. :classic_biggrin: It reminded me of Bananas Foster. I'm not really a dessert person, but I did like this one. I used to love the Bananas Foster sundae, but it did not make an appearance this cruise. 

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