About MIX ?

[sail7seas]

On the ships that now have MIX......

 

I understand it is a beer, martini and champagne bar service area.

 

Does that mean if you want a different sort of drink such as wine or mixed drink, you have to go to another bar? Are those drinks not served in MIX?

[Linda&Vern]

I'm curious about that also. Thanks for asking!

[indokiwi]

2 of the bars (Spirits and Ales and Martini) have pretty much all of your drinks (including sodas) but Champagne is simply a wine and champagne bar, no other drinks offered. Very rarely is it really staffed. They always have the wine and champagne cooling, but not someone standing there on duty.

[Krazy Kruizers]

You can get any kind of drink you want in the MIX bars -- wines, cocktails, after dinner liquors -- anything

also in MIX from 11:30 am - 2 PM you can get snacks like sliders and a cheese plate

[Zezzie]

You can get any kind of drink you want in the MIX bars -- wines, cocktails, after dinner liquors -- anything

also in MIX from 11:30 am - 2 PM you can get snacks like sliders and a cheese plate

 

Good to know - never heard about the snacks before! :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

I thought i had posted the list -- very limited -- somewhere -- but can't find it

 

they are not big portions

[Krazy Kruizers]

[Krazy Kruizers]

I found the above MIX menu from DBA's site

[RetiredMustang]

Here is the MIX menu from Ryndam in February.

 

Dave

Mix menu.txt

[sail7seas]

Thanks for the info.

 

For those who have sailed with a MIX, do you like it?

Did you continue to go there after your first visit or roam back to a different bar that you used in the past like Ocean Bar or Crows Nest?

 

[SwissMyst]

On recent Statendam, we didn't quite get the concept of Mix - there was zero action at the Champagne bar and it was pretty irrelevant tucked back in a corner with nothing at all to make it engaging. The excellent Statendam piano man was holding forth in the middle of it all.

 

Early photos show the new post-dry dock Maasdam Mix now looks like an exact replica of the new Statendam Mix with same colors and furniture. It was an odd transformation, and not entirely appealing color/fabric "mix" for Mix that it deserved to be replicated.

 

Anyone looking for the "new" Maasdam apparently need look no further than the public room photos of the Statendam. However, these things are clearly outside of my own frame of reference, knowledge or understanding when ship corporate makes its decisions. But I had hope for a fresher design on the Maasdam than what they installed as "new" (retro is new?) on the Statendam.

[aliaschief]

Our first experience with the Mix was on our December MS Ryndam cruise. The Ocean Bar is still our on-board favorite. Feels like home.

 

On the Ryndam the renovated Ocean Bar was completely reversed from our past experiences on other ships. If you were standing looking out the window the bar area was now on your right whereas in the past it was always toward the left.

[sail7seas]

Maasdam has bar on left when you enter and I recall Ryndam had bar on right. Funny they reversed it. Wonder why? Seems that want everything uniform among all the ships....where possible.

 

It's disappointing they are putting exact same decorating on all ships within the same class. To use same furniture and colors etc is good economically but disappointing for those who like individuality among the ships. Sorry to hear they are making all the "S" ships look exactly the same.

 

And drat but I will miss Maasdam's canon. We loved seeing it 'guard' the casino.

 

[aliaschief]

Maasdam has bar on left when you enter and I recall Ryndam had bar on right. Funny they reversed it. Wonder why? Seems that want everything uniform among all the ships....where possible.

 

It's disappointing they are putting exact same decorating on all ships within the same class. To use same furniture and colors etc is good economically but disappointing for those who like individuality among the ships. Sorry to hear they are making all the "S" ships look exactly the same.

 

And drat but I will miss Maasdam's canon. We loved seeing it 'guard' the casino.

 

 

Being my first time on the MS Ryndam maybe the bar was on the right before renovation but it was different from our experiences on other similar class ships.

[SwissMyst]

.......

 

And drat but I will miss Maasdam's canon. We loved seeing it 'guard' the casino.

 

 

I will also miss some of the Maasdam eccentricities too and also agree this generic decor treatment for these ships is a disappointment, particularly when the original new decor scheme was not well-executed in the first place.

 

But it is not terrible and looks far better than the photos which show shiny weird crushed velvet glare in bizarre color combos. Not quite so bad and the seating is comfortable and it is more open allowing easy drop in and drop out, but now sure if there was any "improvement" to warrant the costs of this make-over.

 

One problem having different color schemes on the different ships like the Vista classes is there are only so many color combos and some of them like the Oosterdam get down to some pretty bizarre color groupings. However from just the HAL website photos of the Zuiderdam I thought I would hate it, but it actually was a fairly pleasing signature color combo - dark woods, burgundies, reds and purples.

 

Decor has to be the hardest corporate decisions they make - how to be all things to all people at all times yet still be fresh and appealing and traditional and comfortable all at the same time. Luckily decor comes down pretty low on our own list of priorities - it is just nice when it is personally pleasing but not a deal killer when it is weird to "our" tastes.

 

However, I do think HAL corporate has missed several opportunities to do things better when changes were made and they missed the mark.

[sail7seas]

Likes and dislikes in decor and colors are the same as food....... we all have our individual tastes.

 

What one doesn't care for another thinks is fabulous. ;)

We will be aboard Maasdam soon and will 'see for ourselves', as they say.

 

 

[fann1sh]

Retired Mustang: thanks for the text document which includes both the snacks and the cocktails.

 

I'm glad to see better champagne choices like Veuve Yellow Label, even at $15 a glass.

[Zezzie]

 

Thank you for posting! :)

[CtheW0rld]

is there a charge for the snacks?

[Krazy Kruizers]

is there a charge for the snacks?

 

No charge for the snacks as along as you order a beer, wine or cocktail

[sail7seas]

Same as at Explorations Cafe... If you order a coffee, you get a complimentary choice of pastry.

 

At MIX, you get a 'snack'.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We went to the crow's nest for happy hour

the guitarist was so loud in the mix from 5 - 9 we avoided it -- so we only stopped in there a couple of times when we came back from walking around in a port -- order the snacks a couple of times

we did go back to mix after 9 to get an after dinner liquor and listen to the piano man

[mamaofami]

I'm not loving the pictures that have posted of Maasdam post dry dock. I thought she was looking pretty good before all these renovations, but I will reserve judgment until I sail her next month.

[SwissMyst]

No charge for the snacks as along as you order a beer, wine or cocktail

 

Which gets us back to same thing as the Explorations Cafe pricing policy: the beer is free, but you pay for the snacks.

 

Or, the snacks are free but you pay for the beer. Whatever:p

[RuthC]

For those who have sailed with a MIX, do you like it?

Did you continue to go there after your first visit or roam back to a different bar that you used in the past like Ocean Bar or Crows Nest?

I sailed for a week on the Veendam after The Mix was installed. I didn't care for the brightness, and the open feeling. The glare from the shops across the way was too much.

I also didn't like the fact that the barstools at the piano were simply too high. There was no need to have stools like that. It was difficult to climb up there, and, once up, you were sitting too high for comfort above the piano.

 

One thing that is nice is that there are several little sitting groups, so conversation is possible. However, the lounges The Mix replaced also offered those.

 

After a few nights I retreated to the Ocean Bar.