ZGSCL Live from the Koningsdam: November 14th 7 day Mexican Rivera

[westcoastsue]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

It's a pretentious item on the menu and totally unacceptable for me as an appetizer.  Others enjoy it; please do so.  But, it is something that I would never consider ordering as an appetizer for dinner.  

We ordered it for dessert once!

[zgscl]

11 minutes ago, westcoastsue said:

We ordered it for dessert once!

Not a bad idea at all. 

[Mr. Dog]

31 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’ve found the Internet to be the worst of the trip all day today.  So slow.

Funny, I could swear I've been reading posts from you all day.

 

Relax and enjoy your cruise.  🙂 

[zgscl]

34 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’ve found the Internet to be the worst of the trip all day today.  So slow.

I have been mostly OK today, but 1000x better than it was in Alaska. 

[Florida_gal_50]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Dog said:

Funny, I could swear I've been reading posts from you all day.

 

Relax and enjoy your cruise.  🙂 

Oh digging out this old user id again are we?  Where did I say I couldn’t post?  I said it was slow 🙄

[zgscl]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I said it was slow 🙄

Now mine is slow! CC has been alright but most of my other sites and apps are extremely slow or not working 

[Florida_gal_50]

Uggggg, my email seems to be fine but nothing else.

 

Also my account has errors on it again 🙄.  I had 2 cosmos with dinner and apparently 2 glasses of wine in just over an hour.  I can pound it.  What is odd is that the charge is on my account.  I’ve had nowhere near 15 drinks today

[nimiq]

Took a pic of your ship at Puerto Vallarta port before your departure.

 

Sea Ya 

Eric

 

 

[SilvertoGold]

15 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Uggggg, my email seems to be fine but nothing else.

 

Also my account has errors on it again 🙄.  I had 2 cosmos with dinner and apparently 2 glasses of wine in just over an hour.  I can pound it.  What is odd is that the charge is on my account.  I’ve had nowhere near 15 drinks today

Same old with the promo Bev Pkg.  Maybe the Accounting Fairy will make this disappear for you if you wait long enough.

[zgscl]

18 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Uggggg, my email seems to be fine but nothing else.

 

Also my account has errors on it again 🙄.  I had 2 cosmos with dinner and apparently 2 glasses of wine in just over an hour.  I can pound it.  What is odd is that the charge is on my account.  I’ve had nowhere near 15 drinks today

That was the thing I liked about having two cards. There didn’t seem to be so many issues. And the server always knew so they would charge couples separately. 

[PSR]

23 hours ago, zgscl said:

I thought it was quite good. I had the lamb which was done perfectly. Everyone was on their A game as the captain and hotel director were having dinner there. 
 

I agree about club orange, I might actually cancel my tamarind for tomorrow night and just do C.O. 

Thanks for the tip on tonight’s special, not my thing at all either 

 

I've been enjoying reading all your comments about the ship and dining. I do have one question that I have not seen answered about CO. Is there  ever a problem getting seated when you arrive? I assume some times are slower than others. What are the AM and PM dining hours...same as open seating in the MDR? What happens if CO is full when you get there...do you get a pager? (I guess all of these are more than one question...😄)

[Florida_gal_50]

24 minutes ago, PSR said:

 

I've been enjoying reading all your comments about the ship and dining. I do have one question that I have not seen answered about CO. Is there  ever a problem getting seated when you arrive? I assume some times are slower than others. What are the AM and PM dining hours...same as open seating in the MDR? What happens if CO is full when you get there...do you get a pager? (I guess all of these are more than one question...😄)

I can answer.  Hopefully I won't get told I'm posting again to much.  I was being pokey this morning and I didn't get there until about 8:45 I think.  I had maybe a 15 min wait in the chairs outside club orange.  It is the same the same hours as the open dining or dining room morning hours.

 

[canadianbear]

54 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I can answer.  Hopefully I won't get told I'm posting again to much.  

 

  For people that think the above they can ignore & move on.  I enjoy reading live threads and seeing photos.  We are unable to cruise yet so living vicariously through the people on the ship.  

[Florida_gal_50]

15 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

  For people that think the above they can ignore & move on.  I enjoy reading live threads and seeing photos.  We are unable to cruise yet so living vicariously through the people on the ship.  

I agree.  I just don’t understand what possesses a person to start a new thread to say this.  If someone posts a 1000 pages about being the ship I will likely read them.  Might take a while but I will if interested 😛.  If not I move on.  I appreciate people like you and ger77.  Love to read anything either of you write.

[canadianbear]

6 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I agree.  I just don’t understand what possesses a person to start a new thread to say this.  If someone posts a 1000 pages about being the ship I will likely read them.  Might take a while but I will if interested 😛.  If not I move on.  I appreciate people like you and ger77.  Love to read anything either of you write.

It’s also why there is an ignore button!!!  Comes in handy once in awhile, lol.  
 

It is up to people to move on or read-their choice.  If only some would not bother posting rude or insensitive posts when not interested it would be more pleasant.  
 

Carry on and don’t feel guilty or unwanted! 
 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, PSR said:

 

I've been enjoying reading all your comments about the ship and dining. I do have one question that I have not seen answered about CO. Is there  ever a problem getting seated when you arrive? I assume some times are slower than others. What are the AM and PM dining hours...same as open seating in the MDR? What happens if CO is full when you get there...do you get a pager? (I guess all of these are more than one question...😄)

A bit more info.  There doesn’t seem to be rhyme or reason to when it gets busy in the morning.  At night it hasn’t been busy when I’ve gone or walked by.

[zgscl]

3 hours ago, PSR said:

 

I've been enjoying reading all your comments about the ship and dining. I do have one question that I have not seen answered about CO. Is there  ever a problem getting seated when you arrive? I assume some times are slower than others. What are the AM and PM dining hours...same as open seating in the MDR? What happens if CO is full when you get there...do you get a pager? (I guess all of these are more than one question...😄)

The occupancy on this cruise is around 49% so it is really not a good sample. I have never waited  at breakfast or dinner but I have usually come early or late. 

[zgscl]

2 hours ago, canadianbear said:

  For people that think the above they can ignore & move on.  I enjoy reading live threads and seeing photos.  We are unable to cruise yet so living vicariously through the people on the ship.  

I have loved and followed every single one (not always in a timely manner) but it has been great reading all of the live from threads when not traveling and I have really enjoyed doing them when onboard. Pre-covid they had fallen off for the most part and this is a trend I hope will continue far into the future. 

[zgscl]

On 11/18/2021 at 3:35 PM, kazu said:

 

I have never ever ordered the wedge salad.  It looks good with a clean taste.  I may just try it next time and maybe even the clothes line bacon.

 

I join you in the love of the spinach & the souffle.  Thanks so much for sharing so much.  Really enjoying your thread 🙂 

Thank you so much! The wedge salad was really great, it may be a new regular for me at the Pinnacle. 

[zgscl]

On 11/18/2021 at 3:53 PM, oaktreerb said:

@zgsclDid you receive the dish of candies and truffles at the conclusion of your Pinnacle dinner?   They were not offered to us last week and I had forgotten about that tradition until I saw your pictures.  Our service was not that great.  We have always been reminded to order the chocolate souffle when we order our meal because it takes more time to prepare but our waiter said that would not be an issue.  We waited a long time for the chocolate souffles to arrive.   

 

 

I have gotten them at both lunches and at dinner. Thank you for troubleshooting the Souffle for me. They seem to have figured out that it takes a long time and were happy to take the order for it when I ordered everything else this week. 

[zgscl]

We got a nice evening sail away from Cabo San Lucas where we could waive at our Cruise Critic regulars. 

 

For Tuesday evening the late night buffet had vegetable potstickers and pasta and I took this opportunity to try NY Pizza. The app worked and told me when the pizza was ready. 

 

 

Wednesday Morning we arrived in Mazatlan and were joined by the Carnival Panorama. On another thread someone (I am sorry I can't recall who it was) made a great point. You should sail on other cruise lines so that the pretty HAL ship will be in your photos as when you sail on HAL you get the ugly Carnival and NCL ships in your photos 🤣. Thank you @nimiq for the photos of our beautiful ship to spare me from needing to switch cruise lines! 

 

For breakfast Wednesday I decided to try the cabana service. The cabana attendants are happy to bring you basically whatever you want from the lido and I went with oatmeal and an omelette and a muffin and I was given a bonus pastry. 

 

 

 

 

[zgscl]

For lunch Wednesday I decided to try the Grand Dutch Cafe (our cabana attendants were really heartbroken I left & let me know they would be happy to bring me something from the Grand Dutch Cafe). I did decide to go down there for the full ambiance. I had the french fries with mayonnaise (mixed with peanut sauce) and a grilled ham and cheese. Both were really good though I prefer traditional mayo. I also had to try one of the jumbo cookies from the wonderful desert display case. 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful and hot day in Mazatlan. Here are a couple photos of the harbor as well as the ugly Carnival Panorama. 

 

 

 

Also, I took this chance to take a picture of the deck 4 balconies - as you can see they are entirely viewable from above. I would tend to prefer something higher up and more private but I will be staying in the deck 4 Neptune on my next cruise and it will be interesting to see how I like it. The balcony is significantly larger. 

[zgscl]

I spent the afternoon up in the cabana which was absolutely lovely. We have a really nice group of people up there this cruise, many of whom have been there for weeks and will be staying for weeks so it has been fun getting to know them. The cabana attendants are great at keeping drink glasses full and bringing whatever you need. They brought my afternoon frozen grapes and chocolate covered strawberries and I decided to try another shake from Gellato as well. 

 

 

 

The sail out of Mazatlan was beautiful and I really love having the aft wrap balcony for sail aways. One thing to note is that this ship definitely rattles and shimmies more than the Nieuw Amsterdam did. It did not bother me but as with all aft wraps they are not recommended for people who are motion or noise sensitive. I have not had any issues with exhaust. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zgscl]

For dinner Wednesday I finally was able to try Tamarind which I have somehow missed on all of my HAL cruises. Shortly before I got there a passenger fell and was injured badly. There were a number of crew members tending to her and a couple minutes after I arrived the officer of the watch came on the PA and ordered the medical response team to report to Tamarind which produced many more officers, security and medical personnel. At this point one of the officers came to those of us waiting to go in and escorted us down to the lido and back to the aft pool and up the side stairs to come in the back way as there is no alternate way into Tamarind. The crew did an excellent job handling the situation and I hope the guest has a speedy recovery. 

 

 

I decided to start with the lobster and shrimp potstickers and my go to drink a tequila sunrise. The potstickers are very good though they do not have a strong lobster flavor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also tried the beef salad which was excellent. It is light and refreshing with a bit of sweet and a hint of spicy. The steak was cooked perfectly. 

 

 

 

For a main course I had the lamb, also excellent and cooked perfectly. It was also very flavorful. I had this with the crab fried rice which was good but not particularly noteworthy.

 

 

 

 

I did find the portion sizes to be on the smaller side and thought this was a great opportunity to try out the wok seared lobster - oh my goodness was that excellent. It has a really interesting fried flavor and is beautifully served. Also of note, I was charged $20 for the surcharge but I was not charged $10 for an extra entree. If you are planning on ordering consider asking as you may be able to try two things if you are paying the up-charge anyway. 

 

 

 

For desert I tried the Yuzu cheesecake. It is not at all what I expected but it was really quite good. The best way that I can describe it is as a lemon flavored cheesecake moose dolloped on a piece of white chocolate bark. It was sweet, tangy, light and perfect and I really enjoyed it. 

 

I thought Tamarind was excellent and I cannot believe what I was missing all this time. The service was friendly and efficient and the crew were very attentive, even despite the medical crisis that was going on for the first part of our meal. 

 

 

[zgscl]

I felt that I had been missing out on Club Orange so I decided to have a second dinner at Club Orange to at least sample some of the items. Again, the service was flawless and friendly and the servers all knew me by name. The food quality has been great - always hot and fresh off the stove. 

 

 

 

None of the starters interested me so I had the Beecher's Mac & Cheese to start. This was very good and exceptionally hot - still bubbling around the edges. 

 

For a main course I tried the Club Orange special which was veal with mushroom risotto. This was excellent and one of the best dishes that I have had onboard (or ever). 

 

For desert I had the Ricotta Raspberry Tart which was fine but not special.