Back to Black and the Med too.... Live from the Prinsendam

[blue whale]

Thanks Michelle. What thread is this on Please? Sadly, I don't have time to look too much ;)

 

 

 

I should add that some workers were getting off at Corfu today. They were doing work that would Normally be done in a refit. Nothing wrong, they just want this ship up to snuff all the time.

 

 

Very good. Thank you. We are all set to book when we board a ship of the line at the end of the month.

 

D

[1of4]

Thanks Michelle. What thread is this on Please? Sadly, I don't have time to look too much

.

 

I have emailed them to your home address so no need to look. They are waiting for you but they are patient so don't hurry back! ;)

[kazu]

I have emailed them to your home address so no need to look. They are waiting for you but they are patient so don't hurry back! ;)

 

Ah thank you:)

[MissShelllly]

I have emailed them to your home address so no need to look. They are waiting for you but they are patient so don't hurry back! ;)

 

 

I have others where the ship is closer, and you can see people on their balconies. I shall use the email address you had last year, hoping it has not changed Jacqui.

 

Michelle.

[rafinmd]

I have others where the ship is closer, and you can see people on their balconies. I shall use the email address you had last year, hoping it has not changed Jacqui.

 

Michelle.

 

FWIW, if you have signatures turned on or can look at them, there's a link to her email address there. I am pretty sure it has not changed from last year.

 

Roy

[kazu]

Well, as you can tell, I am starting to fall behind!

 

I will try to catch up but first a couple of things I forgot.

 

The night we did our Pinnacle Grill dinner ended up being International menu night in the dining room and Heritage night in the Lido.

 

Meant to be a surprise and a treat, I am still perplexed as the International menu has always been on the last night.

 

Speaking of food And out of order, we went to the cellar master's dinner last night in the Pinnacle Grill. The menu changes and, yes, I got one for HALfacts but if POA1 is around or any other wine connoisseur could you confirm something please? DH says that the champagne we were served was one of the best and very expensive. He said that alone was worth the price of the dinner.

 

So, for those That are interested, we were served a Kirsch sparkly thing to start with and an amuse bouche of course.

 

Then, Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Brut N. V., champagne from France to go with our salmon crudo.

 

Then a green lentil light cream soup with duck pate and pumpkin accompanied by Lumina Pinot Grigio Ruffino Italy. Now, I am not a lentil fan and wrinkled my nose at this one, but it was very good and I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Then we had our spook. A basil and lemon granite to cleanse our palates.

 

On to our entrees....atlantic halibut and scallop with grilled fennel,etc. with Cloucy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand And then a lamb loin with parsnip purée and wild mushrooms with Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino, Italy. I am not a red wine fan and have to be careful with them, but this one was very nice with no bad reactions :)

 

Our pre-dessert was Gorgonza and cherries with Otima 10 year old Tawny, Oporto, Portugal. Followed by the finale. ..... Apricot clafoutis, amaretto and bitter almond glacé with Errazuriz, late harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Chile.

 

Following That a huge round of applause for the chef, waiters and cellar master:)

 

By the way did you know that the cup they wear was originally silver to detect poisons? I didn't.

 

Anyone hungry yet?

 

Kazu's rating on the dinner was pretty dam high. We might even do it again on the next segment if the menu is different

 

Price....$69....... Compared to Le Cirque with wine pairing, this is by far the best buy IMO.

 

Le Cirque is coming up though. We are trying everything :). After all, it's our duty to try and report.

 

Oh the sacrifices we are making.

 

Live from the best ship in the fleet still in our book

[kazu]

Still trying to catch up.

 

Venice...what can I say? Beautiful to sail in and out of! But that blasted marriage of George Clooney created massive crowds.

 

Fortunately we have been here before for several days so we had already done the"must see" sites.

 

So, gigianne ( Georgina) came across a tour that the alilaguna provides. It's a tour of the three islands...Murano (famous for its jewellry)' Burano (famous for its lace) and Torcello ( not sure what this is famous for other than its church) . It's around a 4 hour tour giving you 45 minutes on each island. The tour is 20 euros if you buy in Venice but if you plan ahead a pm'd book online, it is 17 euros, so needless to say Kazu booked 4 tickets and off we went. The tour is quite decent, nice scenery and an actual guide goes with you and gives you a narrative. It was perfect for me as I had come down with a cold (Georgina had it first so I am blaming her and while I always appreciate her gifts, this is one I could do without) and my legs felt like rubber. Of course, as my luck would hold we were parked a fair distance from the alilaguna shuttle to get to St. Mark's Square to turn our on line vouchers into tickets and catch the tour. It seemed like a LONG walk. I never complain about walking so it is not a good sign. Half way through my bag felt like it weighed a ton and DH took it from me. Another not good sign. Thankfully, Gerry (gigianne's DH ) spotted a pharmacy on one of the islands and they had a good pharmacist who offered some decent sounding stuff so at least, we were now ready. (Why didn't I pack my ColdFx this time? I always bring it). At the third island I planked myself down and just sipped a beverage. If you haven't been to the islands, it's a nice way to get a taste. We really enjoyed it.

 

Then we headed to get through St Marks Square to get to some of the back streets to do some serious shopping. What a zoo! We could only fight our way so far and my tolerance for crowds was lessened by the cold which was starting to hit hard. How long does George Clooney have to be here anyways? A regular wedding and then a civil ceremony. Huh?

 

Not wanting to miss the boat nor be rushed, we headed back to the alilaguna to get to the ship. The walk was too long to run:). No free wifi in this port near the ship either.

 

The Prinsendam had prepared what was advertised as an Italian wine and cheese on deck for the Venice sail away. That was The understatement of the year! Gorgeous meats, olives, pasta, lasagna, etc. it was really scrumptious. The four of us picked some up, I got out some of the olives I had bought and we enjoyed the view on our verandah. The only bad thing, it was all so yummy we knew none of us were doing dinner. Our sail a way was gorgeous as Dominic provided some Commentary. Once it was over and our guests left, the normally later owl Kazu knew that the cold was winning the war and went to bed.

 

Thankfully the next day is a sea day giving us a chance to sleep in and take it easy. Believe it or not, I would sleep for 12 hours straight, even missing the PG breakfast! Probably the best thing I could do. The legs were still rubbery in the morning but I felt better.

 

So, as it is now morning that brings us to our SEA DAY. I don't hear anyone complaining about it, that's for sure.

 

Although I was still weak I "forced" myself to go to bingo. No luck today. But you can't blame a girl for trying.

 

They had the Wine Lovers Tour today. A walk around the world wine tasting. Last time we were on, they had this and you walked from table to table and then drank the wine of your choice. This time there was a table set up with the six glasses of wine and it was more like the standard wine tasting. What was interesting was to hace the cellar master at our table. There were four of us. They traditionally require 10, so I don't know if it was our charm or our good looks (I have swamp land in Florida to sell if you believe that one) but the show went on. It was fun with some different information and nice wines. We don't regret the $20 pp price tag. I did ask the cellar master why they don't pick up some of the lovely wines in port (you knew I would, didn't you?). Seattle has contracts with certain wineries,etc. which ties his hands. Also, they DuPont carry a lot of expensive vintages as they have to be kept in a special place. The vibration is too hard on the really fine wines.

 

 

The entertainmenT deserves its own post and this one is too long anyways

 

Catching up on my days.......live from the Prinsendam

[kazu]

now that's entertainment :)

 

 

Still our sea day, I was determined to make the show and we did. Performing tonight are the MacDonald Brothers. I don't watch the X Factor but apparently they were finalists in the 2006 show. And I can understand why. Scottish, they still played and sang other songs, alternating instruments. They had the audience captivated and standing on their feet. Clapping to 400 miles, in awe at the music from the Last of the Mohicans.

 

Their music was varied and wonderful, wonderful voices, one playing several instruments. I hope they are on the next segment as I would happily listen to them again. Even DH who is not a big entertainment buff was enthralled!

 

And before I forget, the Prinsendam, orchestra gave them a great back up. They are doing a good job.

 

Ok, how good was it and how objective is my reporting? hard to say but when was the last time you saw a long line and people jammed on a HAL ship to buy a performers cd? It seems they had a lot of fans.

 

A dam good performance IMO and I thought of several of you when we saw it and wished you were here:)

Edited October 2, 2014 by kazu

[Vict0riann]

I agree with you, Jacqui, the Cellar Master's dinner is better than Le Cirque! However, make the sacrifice and do them both! Please. :) We will do the same on Maasdam, and we can compare notes!

 

Feel better soon.

[Mtn2Sea]

Great update, especially considering you've been under the weather. Hope you bounce back to 100% quickly!

[cruisingxpert]

Not POA but Veuve Cliquot is wonderful and cost $69 in Ontario at LCBO

 

Really enjoying your posts. And yes I'm hungry after reading that.

 

Catherine

[POA1]

Jaqui -

 

It sounds like you are talking about Veuve Clicqout "Yellow Label." (Yes, I know the label is orange. Beats me why they call it yellow.)

 

It's a very nice Champagne and it sells for around $17.50 a glass on HAL ships, or $85-ish a bottle. A bottle is about $50 in most stores or $41.97 at Total Wine here in Fort Lauderdale.

 

If this is what you drank, then my information is correct. If the label was pink, it was the Veuve Rosé. If the label was White is was the Demi-Sec. The Rosé and the Demi-Sec are a little more expensive.

 

The NV for non-vintage narrows it down to one of those three, with the yellow label being far and away the most popular. If the bottle said La Grand Dame or Cave Privée, it would have been the costlier ones. Those have a vintage year on the label.

 

The yellow label, while not super expensive, is very good and I would never turn my nose up at it - nor would I turn down a glass.

 

 

[MissShelllly]

FWIW, if you have signatures turned on or can look at them, there's a link to her email address there. I am pretty sure it has not changed from last year.

 

 

 

Roy

 

 

Thanks Roy. I have them turned off, and had forgotten about the signatures. Jacqui's address hasn't changed.

 

Michelle.

[RuthC]

I'm appreciating all your reports, and am especially appreciating that you are including info on the entertainment.

For whatever reason the Prinsendam has managed to book some good groups of male singers. I saw one trio on the ship that's coming to town here next week, and I bought tickets. They were good. They used to do a post-show up in the Crow's Nest, and the place was packed.

 

Those comments about the special dinners in the Pinnacle made me wonder what I have in the house for supper. It's getting on to be that time, and I haven't got a clue what to fix. I want the steward to hand me a menu!

 

Feel better.

[1of4]

Oh great, my shade of green just got deeper! :D I would have LOVED that show. Can you convince, or strongly suggest, that they really, really want to sail on the Westerdam through the Panama Canal next April...pretty please! :o

 

I am with Ruth on dinner...any chance for a home delivery?

Edited October 2, 2014 by 1of4

[ger_77]

Despite the onset of a cold, it sounds like you are making the best of your time. Did you purchase any jewelry from Murano? I had my eye on at least a dozen pieces at the factory, mostly bowls, but wasn't willing to pay the horrendous shipping prices to have them wait for me at home!

 

BTW, I have heard that drinking alcohol helps kill off the cold germs . . . just sayin' :D

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[Chelly]

Hi Kazu,

Many thanks for sharing your magnificent cruise with us. Lucky you to get that Neptune Suite after all. I am so happy for you that I'm all smiles following your journey. Wishing you continued happy sails.

Best,

Chelly

[erewhon]

Am enjoying reading your reports, hope you are soon fully recovered.

[Mumsysailor]

Thanks for keeping up these excellent reports. I hope the cold is better soon - you know what they say: "feed a cold, starve the flu." That means you have to keep eating lots of that wonderful food to get better. ;)

 

We only once did Le Cirque on the Zaandam and wasn't really impressed. However, we will try the Cellar Masters next time instead, it sounds lovely.

[innlady1]

Loving your "live from" on this end, Jacqui. I am so sorry about your cold...I hope you're feeling better with each passing day.

 

Bummer about George Clooney's wedding dominating Venice. Good idea to go to the islands.

[Vict0riann]

We only once did Le Cirque on the Zaandam and wasn't really impressed. However, we will try the Cellar Masters next time instead, it sounds lovely.

 

Mumsy, we much prefer the Cellar Master's dinner - I took pictures of ours on the Volendam, which Jacqui put on the Halfacts site - it was different from hers. but excellent, nevertheless: http://halfacts.com/volendam-sommelier-dinner/

[K & S]

Jacqui, thank you very much for sharing your description of the CellarMaster's Dinner! We have not done that before, but we will this sailing!

 

HAL offered us an upsell yesterday and we took it:) Started a little packing today.

 

Hope you are "all better" by now!

[madera1]

We too went to the cellar master dinner for the first time and were on the sailing prior to Kazu's. It was outstanding and we were very much pleased with the food, service, and education about the wine provided by Bernard. The chefs came out of the kitchen and received a round of applause on our trip too.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[kazu]

I have struggled with reporting on this port because of some issues.....but what the heck, this is a cruise blog, so if it is boring to you, just skip it. It is a tad personal, but as much as I tried I couldn't help it.

 

ThIs port is the spot for Delphi. We were looking forward to this one. I had arranged a private tour after a lot of work and digging as not many companies can/ will come to Itea to do tours. They are allowed to do tours from Athens to Itea but not from any other spots. Don't ask. To be honest, I would have happily done a ship's tour here, but you had to choose between the monastery or the Delphi site. HAL only offered one tour of each at the same time so you had to choose. Are you kidding me? We are in this port for over 12 hours and all HAL is offering is a four hour tour? What genius comes up with this stuff???.??

 

It's a tender port and we do have a private tour so I had to do some thinking. I canvassed our group of 16 (16 is a larger than normal group for me but it made the tour reasonable and with the difficulty of finding a tour and guide for this port and the large bus they were supplying, there was plenty of room) and discovered that we had 8 4* Mariners. Bonus! So I had everyone meet in the Ocean Bar and having, discussed it with the four stars earlier, everyone had a new partner for two minutes as we joined the back of the tender line. Smooth as silk and we were off on the second tender to Itea. One of the roll call members told me on another cruise the person in a unite just took the group and said, they're with me, but I don't have the nerve to do that as I told her and don't know if it's right. I was happy with the way we did it.

 

(Although Itea is marked as a tender point it actually does have a very tiny dock and the captain announced that he had hoped to Dock there as the EE would fit. Sadly, though the water was one metre too shallow so a tender it would be. It would have been really nice if we could have docked a pr another tender port of course, but we were prepared for the tender and I was impressed that he reported to us that he had considered docking. Totally unexpected.)

 

So, we are in port before 10:30 am. Great! Where is the sign for my tour? Nothing, no one, nada. The worst fear anyone has who organizes private tours has just come true. Uggher. Kazu always brings her emails and cell phone with her so she called and said hello? We're here where are you? Tour guy is shocked we are there already. The guide will be there in 5 minutes and the bus should be there in 10. Ok, that's fine but I had originally suggested a start time of 11:00 am and it was the company that insisted they would be there for 10:15 and would wait for us. Finally, we connect with the guide, but there is still no bus. I feel a bit better now as we have the guide and he can do the dirty work but he tells me that our start time he was told was 11:00 am. He has come from Athens to meet us and thought he was 45 minutes early. Hmmm? Sounds like Travel Coaches did the opposite of what they told me despite my confirming emails, etc. And believe me, this planner confirms and re-confirms.

 

A bit mortified and embarrassed, we finally do board the coach and head for Delphi. By the way, Itea is a very small town without buses, etc. so all the buses, etc. come from outside. Our bus came from Petra which is over 200 miles away if my memory is correct.

 

Sadly though we are now not beating the crowds but we arrive in Delphi and head to the museum where our guide gives us some explanation on what we are seeing and what we will see. Our guide is very knowledgeable, no question and shares a ton of information with us. The museum is wonderful with many exhibits bit it is hugely crowded and while the guides co-operate with each other. But his stories seem to be getting longer and the museum stuffier. Kazu's brain is like a sponge and will happily soak up whatever she can learn but eventually when a sponge gets full, it can't retain the stuff anymore and it starts to drip out. I think you get the picture.

 

After the museum we were off to see the site. Warning .....the stones can be very slippery....be careful on your way up and especially in the way down. Several people nearly took a tumble including me!

 

Delphi is quite spectacular and it was great that we had been to the museum first to get a good overview but sadly our guide began his dissertations again. One nice thing I did retain was a wall that was built by slaves, but on a voluntary basis. They worked for their masters in the morning and then volunteered at the site to work in the afternoon. After six months the priests bought them from their masters and then they freed the slaves. They then recorded their thanks and dates on the wall so there is a lot of history there for the archeologists.

 

After our visit to this wonderful site, we were off to lunch. With everyone full and refreshed, we Headed to Arachoca, a picturesque village for some photo ops and then we were off to see the Ossios Monastery. What a sight this place is. The mosaics in it are absolutely wonderful! The monastery dates from the 10th century and is still in use. We were the only ones there at that time and got to enjoy the beauty and peace of this wonderful place all to ourselves. Our guide who was a professor still was trying to lecture despite my efforts and I finally succeeded.

 

Heading back to the ship we saw some magnificent views but I was very hopeful we would be off these narrow roads on the winding mountains before darkness fell on us.

 

We arrived back and had just missed the tender so had to wait a bit. The ship was serving a nice Greek buffet On the Lido deck until 8:00 pm and it looked like we weren't going to make that or dinner. We got back on the EE and headed straight to the Lido. Fortunately they kindly said of course so we gathered up some great Greek food and watched as they tore the display down two minutes later.

 

It had been a long day and since we were anchored up until midnight, we all chatted for a bit and most of us headed to our rooms as we have another early start and a full days tour tomorrow!

 

Travel Coaches did call our guide and asked him to extend to me an offer for a tour in our next port at a deeply discounted price, by the way. Thanks but no thanks, I'm not taking a chance with you again and besides I have a great guide all arranged.

 

The sites themselves were great but the late start put a bad taste in my mouth and our guide's love of listening to himself speak out a damper on things, but still a good day and glad we got to both Delphi and the monastery.

[kazu]

We are dining with our friends tonight so our dining time is earlier. Might all work out as tomorrow is another early start at the island Hydra. It's a short stop, just spa few hours but Hydra is an intriguing port. No cars, no scooters, just bicycles and donkeys so we want to be up to get on the tender and experience it.

 

 

The bad thing is it's the last formal night and what is on the menu In the MDR but my escargots and lobster!

 

So, we met our friends in the Ocean Bar and there with us was Moses, the head chef. Moses is from Brampton, Ontario (Canadian). He called us the Canadian circle. LOL. I lamented missing my lobster and escargot and he told me no worries, he would get me whatever I wanted. Since there is lobster on the menu anyways, the escargot was my goal! Big smiles!!!!

 

We all had the lobster salad and it was really good! The rest ordered the butternut squash soup and I ordered escargot. Yummy, yummy. Elvyra insisted I have a taste of the soup and I said only a taste, not a big bowl. She brought me a nice tiny bowl and it was just perfect. A few spoonfuls are more than enough for me. Have to save room for the chateaubriand.

 

By the way, before I forget our waiter did recommend what were the best dishes on the menu. The chateaubriand came and it was cooked to perfection. Tender, succulent, delicious. Sadly, the portions are way too large and none of us could finish it. I found myself missing the dogs as I am sure they would have appreciated the tasty left overs:)

 

Although I try to resist having too many desserts, you just couldn't pass on the Creme brûlée (at least I couldn't). Delectable. I know my creme brûlée and this was a very good one. All, in all, a lovely Le Cirque and we truly enjoyed it.

 

Service in the Pinnacle was par excellence as usual. Gigianne looked around and said, you know, this really is the nicest Pinnacle in the fleet. Of course, I think she is absolutely right.

 

After a lovely evening we quickly checked out the show which did not appeal to us (A combination of rock and opera? It looked like rock to us ) and headed to the casino to gamble a bit. Besides, it would be our last night to see Raylene and a few others that we have had fun with in the casino. They are getting off in Athens and since we overnight in Piraeus tonight is the last night the casino will be open until the second leg starts.

 

After a fair bit of joviality and a lot of fun, we all headed to our rooms around 10:30 to try to be up early for our day in Hydra.

 

A great night. Definitely do Le Cirque on the Prinsendam