HAL Cakes and Desserts

[cruiseaholic78]

On the Westerdam last week, was there for tea (really) and it looked as though they were just setting this up.

They all looked great.

[syesmar]

@cruiseaholic78 those look delicious! Thanks for sharing! 

[mightycruisequeen]

16 hours ago, RuthC said:

I'll just skip lunch and head straight for the cakes. Yum! 

My thought, exactly!😋

[Cruising-along]

We had something like this on a recent Celebrity cruise, so glad to see HAL is doing it too.

[ski ww]

I got hungry looking at all the cakes, that's all I need more calories.

[DaveOKC]

Three weeks ago on the Eurodam we saw this - no notice nor announcement of it before hand.  Very good cakes, but the signage was small and you could not get close to the cakes to read.

 

[OlsSalt]

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

We had something like this on a recent Celebrity cruise, so glad to see HAL is doing it too.

 

HAL has already been doing this on some prior cruises. This was only the announcement it was  now going fleet wide.  Who knows who copied whom?

[Cruising-along]

1 minute ago, OlsSalt said:

 

HAL has already been doing this on some prior cruises. This was only the announcement it was  now going fleet wide.  Who knows who copied whom?

True, who knows...our Celebrity cruise was in September.

[Hlitner]

Just an observations from one who cruises on many different cruise lines (5 in the past year).  Every line we have cruised (luxury and mass market) really seem to have lacked the quality and selection we used to see in the ole days of cruising.  It seems like a lot the emphasis on desserts ended when the late night buffets became a thing of the past.  It is terrific to see HAL bringing this back and perhaps it will start a trend.

 

Hank

[saturn93]

I have to wait a year for my next cruise on the NS.  I guess I am going to probably skip dinner that night for this.  Those cakes look so tempting. Probably will get a couple of slices to take back to the room.

[REOVA]

5 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Three weeks ago on the Eurodam we saw this - no notice nor announcement of it before hand.  Very good cakes, but the signage was small and you could not get close to the cakes to read.

 

On same cruise 

[Lakesregion]

Love cake and would hope that in addition to the lido which they really seem to be pushing, HAL might put up a roving desseert cart with the cakes for the Main Dining room at dinner time.

[cruisn71]

They had Cake Bliss on our Circle Japan cruise.  It was the 1st time they did it.  The Fleet Executive Chef and Fleet Pastry Chef joined the cruise for the first presentation of it.  I was impressed that they had gluten free and vegan cakes.  Those often get overlooked.

 

 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

On 11/17/2023 at 6:12 PM, Kc52 said:

Yum. What a great idea. We will be trying them out for sure. Thanks for sharing. 

Us as well.

[CH_ca]

2 hours ago, REOVA said:

On same cruise 

Looks great! Is this served or self served. I intend to avoid touching those tongs and knives that are touched by many people.

[OlsSalt]

7 minutes ago, CH_ca said:

Looks great! Is this served or self served. I intend to avoid touching those tongs and knives that are touched by many people.

 

Keep your fingers out of you own nose, mouth and eyes after touching the tongs, and break any possible infection chain. 

[REOVA]

2 hours ago, CH_ca said:

Looks great! Is this served or self served. I intend to avoid touching those tongs and knives that are touched by many people.

They rope the area off and have servers cut and serve whatever cake that you want. You can ask for different sizes or different samples of each. 

[CH_ca]

Phew! 😄

[Infi]

We had must have been a pilot of this on VOV on the Zuiderdam on August. The event was called "Let them eat cake". Staff was dressed in bowler hats and ties, and they also had the jazz trio play in the Lido. The displays were impressive and most of the cakes were pretty tasty. It took place in the middle of the afternoon on a scenic cruising day in Prince Christian Sund. 

 

This event (unfortunately) was very well-advertised and it resulted in huge lines and a crush of impatient and rude folks in the Lido. People were pushing, complaining, and yelling at the staff. Probably some of the worst behavior I have seen on a HAL ship in recent memory, sadly, and put a damper on what was supposed to be a very nice event. 

[Blackduck59]

@Infi yes what a great idea, cake in the afternoon while scenic cruising. It feels like HAL had a good concept. Unfortunately there are always the rude few who can ruin a great event. Isn't it funny how some people are completely unable to find a drop of patience. That being said I'm sure there were those who got to the front of the line who took 5 minutes deciding what and how much of each cake to take. This would be time for a "soup ***" approach from the servers; make your choice and get out of the way.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

On 11/17/2023 at 5:38 PM, oaktreerb said:

Was there advance notice of the cake extravaganza?  I try to stay out of the Lido so I hope this is announced in the Daily Planner so I don’t miss it.   I just got off the Koningsdam and as far as I know it didn’t happen there.

I am pretty sure they did not do it our week on the Koningsdam I usually try to read the daily the night before and definitely would have seen this plus we did hit up the Lido daily. But I did see on FB that those  on Koningsdam this week in Mexico had it and they posted pictures of the cakes.

I get a second chance at it since be will be on Nieuw Statendam 3 weeks from today.

[OlsSalt]

Let's hope the slow roll-out on various ships before the current formal announcement going fleet wide, helped them work out some of the kinks in crowd control and presentation.

 

Having also the little "cakes in a jar" should ease some of the reported concerns of over-crowding and sanitation.

 

If all else fails, there remains the room service chocolate cake - one of the best items on the entire ships menu - the Good Chocolate flavor, rich, moist, just about perfect.

[Banditswife]

Looking forward to trying this next week on the K.  I am wondering: is this usually held on a sea day?  During lunch?  Later afternoon? 

The jars look yummy, decisions, decisions-cake or jar or both.  Then how to burn those calories.  Guess it is an extra walk around the outer decks for me.

I hope they will add some of these cakes to their everyday menus in lido or MDR.  Hubby loves carrot cake, but rarely find it on the menu.

 

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I am pretty sure they did not do it our week on the Koningsdam I usually try to read the daily the night before and definitely would have seen this plus we did hit up the Lido daily. But I did see on FB that those  on Koningsdam this week in Mexico had it and they posted pictures of the cakes.

I get a second chance at it since be will be on Nieuw Statendam 3 weeks from today.

We did not have it on NS Oct 29 - Nov 9 unless it was during one of the two times we ate elsewhere or mid-day. There was a beautifully done presentation of Halloween bakery choices on that 1 night. Hopefully we will have it on NS after dry dock next week.

[REOVA]

15 hours ago, Banditswife said:

Looking forward to trying this next week on the K.  I am wondering: is this usually held on a sea day?  During lunch?  Later afternoon? 

The jars look yummy, decisions, decisions-cake or jar or both.  Then how to burn those calories.  Guess it is an extra walk around the outer decks for me.

I hope they will add some of these cakes to their everyday menus in lido or MDR.  Hubby loves carrot cake, but rarely find it on the menu.

 

We had carrot cake in a jar on various days for in the daily dessert displays by the ice cream on Eurodam.