A few questions about the Oosterdam

[tiller]

My mom and I are taking the Oosterdam Mexican Riviera cruise on January 29, 2011. We've been on Holland America twice but have a few questions.

 

1. Is the Pinnacle Grill open for lunch when the ship is in port?

2. Is there afternoon tea every day? If so, on this cruise, which days are the Royal Dutch and Indonesian teas held? We really enjoyed those on the Maasdam a couple of years ago.

3. Does anyone have a copy of the current bar menu? I'm especially interested in the non-alcoholic drinks, if they have anything interesting beyond soda and iced tea, like "mocktails."

4. We're staying in Cabin 5107. Does anyone have any experience with that cabin or ones nearby? It's VE class.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

Laura

[catl331]

I'll give your thread a bump up by saying the PG will probably be open for lunch on some port days, but not all, and there should be a tea every day.

[IRL_Joanie]

I'll give you another bump up by telling you that the new Bar & Beverage Manager (as of this past Saturday) is JJ Jorissen.

 

Can you tell him Joanie from Nieuw Amsterdam says Hey!!!

 

Joanie

[SilvertoGold]

Laura

 

We found that the Pinnacle is VERY difficult to get into for lunch. Whether this is just the Oosterdam, we are not sure.

Do not leave it until the day or day before you want to go, but decide when you embark and get up there and make your reservations.

We tried three times to get a lunch reservation -- no space. They severely limit the number of guests they will take for lunch. There were not very many when we walked past on several occasions between noon and 1pm.

 

Afternoon tea every day. Royal Dutch is usually the first sea day; the Indonesian one the last day or last sea day.

 

There are some good mocktails, the Pina not-Colada is my personal fav. The actual menu for mocktails is small, but they are open to suggestion: just tell them what you would like. I think you can order just about any alcoholic drink as a mocktail. The Shirely Temple is not very good, way too sweet, no orange juice, just a lot of cherry syrup.

 

The crew was fantastic, especially in the Dining Room.

 

If you have any more questions, please ask.

[tiller]

Thanks for all the info! We'll be sure to book lunch in the PG as soon as we can--I noticed that you can reserve dinner via Holland America's website but not lunch. Hopefully it won't be the same day as one of the big teas, that's a lot of food for one afternoon : ).

[cruiserchuck]

We just got off the Oosterdam today. The Pinnacle Grill was open for lunch from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We went on Tuesday, and booked it the day before. There were very few people there.

[NMJack]

I also got off the Oosterdam on the 11th - the PG appeared to be less than half full when I looked and when we went on Friday (last sea day) and reserved it on Wedesday.

 

Also, we received a coupon for a free lunch at the PG -"from your travel agent"

it seemed as if Everyone on the ship received the free lunch from their travel agent. I assumed this was HAL's way of drumming up business.

 

The PG was interesting, but not for me, I wouldn't go back -- the service was slow and my wife eats "gluten free" - While they tried to be accommodating (they called to have her review the menu beforehand), there wasn't any choices for her - she ended up having a salad, and the vegetarian couscous (without the couscous) which ended up being just roasted vegetables. -- the MDR and the buffet were more accommodating to her diet.

[CruiserTarheel]

I don't want to start a new thread for this simple question so please excuse my interruption.

 

Could you please tell me the correct pronunciation for Oosterdam and Zuiderdam?:confused:

[garydm]

I am not a linguist but think toast and cider and rhyme them with Oost and Zuider and it might be close!

 

Gary

[scopewest]

We got off on the 11th as well. PG had lunch on the days mentioned above, and we ate there once. We thought the food was great but we have no food allergies.

 

The Indonesian tea was either Wednesday or Thursday because Friday was the Cupcake Tea. I know because we wandered by the dining room right before it started and decided to go in. A table of young ladies nearby were very excited about those cupcakes. I must say they were pretty good.

 

I rather enjoyed the PG meals on our cruise. But remember, taste is subjective.

[tiller]

Cupcake Tea? Can't think of a tastier-sounding combo. It also looks like the second sea day might be the best day for a PG lunch.

 

Thanks again to everyone for all this great info.

[ccruisequeen]

do you have any daily schedules for O-Dam that you can post?