LAFFNVEGAS Live from the Koningsdam California Pacific Coastal 11/03/2023

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Let’s start with the Paloma, then the chicken soup, spiced pork belly and the mango mousse. Thanks!

[Eggy13]

Deviled eggs

 

fish

red velvet cake

Boston lettuce

[dobiemom]

Glass (or 2) of moscato, Seafood deviled eggs, Chile rellenos, hot fudge sundae. 

[SUESEABE]

Boston lettuce

Chili prawns

Banana Crisp

[LAFFNVEGAS]

45 minutes ago, dobiemom said:

Glass (or 2) of moscato, Seafood deviled eggs, Chile rellenos, hot fudge sundae. 

Tom says go for two 😂

[LAFFNVEGAS]

No starter for Tom but I had the Seafood Deviled Eggs, then the Spaghetti and meatballs and the Red Velvet Cake, of course we both had Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling then I had Coffee with dessert, Tom had the Filet and Lobster
 

[tiller]

I'd start with a white wine. A Pinot Grigio maybe?

Chicken and Chorizo soup

Seafood Deviled Eggs

Salmon

Mexican chocolate tart, though I do like red velvet

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Greetings from Ensenada Mexico, weather is nice although a bit foggy. I am pretty sure not many got off the ship this evening especially based on how full the show lounge was.

Tonight was a comedian by the name of Chris Strait. He was pretty funny with a family friendly comedy. He stated he would have a show later in the week that was more adult themed.

After the show we walked past the Rolling Stone Lounge, it was packed there was not even standing room. The band sounded pretty good. BB King Lounge had not started up yet, they are doing Memphis Nights starting at 8:45.

 

 

[erewhon]

Dinner:

Boston lettuce

Salmon

Mango Mousse Terrine

[SanDiegian]

still on a cruise to nowhere?

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Breakfast in the Main Dining Room. Different for at least us I have never seen specials on the breakfast menu.

[BetsyS.]

That's a big menu! I'll have a Bloody Mary, Texas toast French toast and coffee.

Thank you! 

Your breakfasts look good.

Have a great day.

[lazey1]

Breakfast looks wonderful but I will go with dinner last night.

Patrone Paloma

French Onion Soup

Salmon

Chocolate Tort with Decaf Coffee.

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

The Immigration Inspection information was handed out this morning. 
This looks like a real cluster, 

I had a 75 minute massage scheduled for 9:30, I called to cancel and moved it to Friday. The Spa knew nothing about this.

The part I find strange is that you cannot reboard the ship till everyone has gone through immigration. 
Several years ago I did this similar itinerary with Princess but our last port stop was Ensenada.

[OlsSalt]

Our last big group "US immigration" in SF, on board the Noordam required filing into a large room and having one of the many, many Immigration agents floating around shoot a "camera' at our face and then send us on our way.  

 

Facial recognition I suppose that must have given an instant green light.  We were coming down from Vancouver. - SF was our first US stop, then disembarking in San Diego - already cleared.

 

it was a lot quicker than having to line up for individual contact. It felt more  like a milling crowd party room. Always wondered what that room would look like if a "stowaway" was discovered in one of the scans.  Would guns be drawn and we would all need to fall to the floor and duck and cover?

[SanDiegian]

My understanding is that to meet the criteria of the JonesAct there must be a Zero Passenger count aboard or there is a $1000/pax fine. So all the rig-a-ma-roll is also to count heads but the threat of a Homeland security take-down? No

Sorry if this interrupts breakfast. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by SanDiegian
Apology

[cbr663]

Lisa, was there an additional charge for the Daily Specials on the breakfast menu?  

[oaktreerb]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

The Immigration Inspection information was handed out this morning. 
This looks like a real cluster, 

I had a 75 minute massage scheduled for 9:30, I called to cancel and moved it to Friday. The Spa knew nothing about this.

The part I find strange is that you cannot reboard the ship till everyone has gone through immigration. 
Several years ago I did this similar itinerary with Princess but our last port stop was Ensenada.

When we booked this cruise Ensenada was our last stop, as typical for a Pacific Coast cruise out of San Diego.  I am curious about why they made the change.  There were already 2 ships ported in Ensenada so we were last ship in after dark!  What a mess this turned out to be for both time in port and immigration!

 

We scheduled a San Francisco excursion for 10 a.m. which was changed to 9 a.m. with a meet time of 8:30 so we will have to do room service for breakfast.  At least we may be among the first through immigration.  I was told that the excursion time was changed to 9-12 by the vendor.

 

It sound like you were able to make a great plan for dinner in the MDR.  Club Orange has had lines at the door before opening and fills up quickly with the two large tables for 6 at the front used for sharing.  People who come later may have to wait for a table to clear.

 

 

 

 

[Banditswife]

Enjoying your menu pics & food porn- now I am hungry.

[kazu]

5 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Different for at least us I have never seen specials on the breakfast menu.

 

We had the standard menu on the Rotterdam a couple of weeks ago - no breakfast special that I can recall.

[kazu]

3 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

It sound like you were able to make a great plan for dinner in the MDR.  Club Orange has had lines at the door before opening and fills up quickly with the two large tables for 6 at the front used for sharing.  People who come later may have to wait for a table to clear.

 

 

Wow!  Completely different than when I was on the K December & January.  The MDR was lined out past CO.  Never a line up but one morning at CO.  When it appeared there was a line up it was usually people who didn’t know what CO was and wanted to dine there 😉 

 

If you have CO, just ask the ideal time to come.  I was given several times that were ideal based on their experience and I never waited.  Hoping it helps.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

3 hours ago, cbr663 said:

Lisa, was there an additional charge for the Daily Specials on the breakfast menu?  

No, no extra charge but wonder if it was a mistake or should have been on the Club Orange, I chose the pancakes and he is surprised and said oh we do t have those then looks at our menus and goes over to a supervisor and comes back and says yes they are available. Actually they remind me of what was offered when they offered the Brunch. It do s not appear there will be one for this sailing.

[hobo1937]

I think the removal of Monterey and subsequent "musical chairs" with the remaining ports on the Cal Coastals has caused all these problems. We were on a Princess Coastal in April out of San Pedro. They removed Monterey but also switched other ports around so that we went to Ensenada before San Diego and then San Pedro. That required immigration in San Diego and it was a MESS. They did it onboard but no one paid attention to their assigned times and there were lines wrapped around the deck. They started at 8 AM and didn't get done till around 11. And they also shortened the time in San Diego to 5PM instead of 10PM departure. Hope things go better in SF. They were using facial recognition in SD, maybe it would have been worse if they had not been.

[oaktreerb]

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Wow!  Completely different than when I was on the K December & January.  The MDR was lined out past CO.  Never a line up but one morning at CO.  When it appeared there was a line up it was usually people who didn’t know what CO was and wanted to dine there 😉 

 

If you have CO, just ask the ideal time to come.  I was given several times that were ideal based on their experience and I never waited.  Hoping it helps.

We have had CLub Orange several times on the Koningsdam.  This is a 7 day cruise and for sea days everybody seems to be up early….we also experienced  the end of daylight savings time.   On our Hawaii cruise in February, the manager opened about 10 minutes early if people were lined up.  Today CO opened 5 minutes early for breakfast.  The food is good and the service is good.  It is convenient for us to come early.  We are West Coast early diners, as I think a lot of the passengers are!   

[LAFFNVEGAS]

3 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

When we booked this cruise Ensenada was our last stop, as typical for a Pacific Coast cruise out of San Diego.  I am curious about why they made the change.  There were already 2 ships ported in Ensenada so we were last ship in after dark!  What a mess this turned out to be for both time in port and immigration!

 

We scheduled a San Francisco excursion for 10 a.m. which was changed to 9 a.m. with a meet time of 8:30 so we will have to do room service for breakfast.  At least we may be among the first through immigration.  I was told that the excursion time was changed to 9-12 by the vendor.

 

It sound like you were able to make a great plan for dinner in the MDR.  Club Orange has had lines at the door before opening and fills up quickly with the two large tables for 6 at the front used for sharing.  People who come later may have to wait for a table to clear.

 

 

 

 

Actually our table for 2 early dining has worked great. We have a very good server been with HAL 20 years.