'Twas Two Weeks Before Christmas - Live from the Nieuw Statendam, Dec. 10 - 17, 2023

[POA1]

For dessert Michelle had the Chocolate Soufflé. I had the Crème Brûlée. She had a cappuccino while I had a cognac, Remy Martin VSOP.

 

Chocolate Soufflé with Vanilla Chantilly Crème Anglaise. If there is a chocolate soufflé on the menu, it will be Michelle's order.

 

Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée. The blow torch puddin' is accompanied by Almond Tuile. There are a couple of berries which makes this a healthful fruit snack. It was very good but I preferred the old "3 Rivers" version with vanilla, chocolate and coffee flavors.

 

Lest you think our experience was flawless, I have three minor markdowns. Michelle's steak knife wasn't very sharp. When I left the table to go to the gents, my napkin was not replaced by the time I returned to the table. Asep's, our otherwise outstanding waiter replaced it without me having to ask.

 

The third issue was not the fault of the restaurant. It had to do with the couple seated  next to us. They were genuinely unhappy. They got greasy fingerprints and an oily nose print on the Bubble of Awesome. Fortunately they skipped ddessert and were only beside us for a short while.

Edited December 14, 2023 by POA1

[POA1]

Just now, LouChamp said:

Aloha. Thank you for the pictures. Have been blessed to sail HAL for decades and thoroughly enjoy their various dining options. David Burke is well know in the NYC area for his clothes line bacon and we have enjoyed it many times. Many restaurants have copied the idea and refer to it as Neuskes bacon which is a particular brand and most often not on a clothes line but is becoming as popular as shrimp cocktail lol.  

For the bacon lovers out there: If you have the opportunity, try Benton's bacon. They are in Madisonville, Tennessee. You can get it via mail order, but go to the store and smokehouse if you are in the neighborhood. You will come out smelling like bacon. If you have dogs in the car, they will love you more than they already do.

[POA1]

2 hours ago, oakridger said:

So, the tableside prep for Michelle's drink was 1- pour the gin in the glass and 2- pour the tonic into the glass?  Ha ha.... that doesn't compete with a Champagne sabering for sure!!   🙄

 

~Nancy

The gin was in the glass with ice. There was tonic pouring and botanicals sprinkling.

[POA1]

We are headed to the Club Orange dining room for breakfast shortly. Then we are doing the most touristy thing we could think of this side of Diamonds international: The Skyride to Paradise Point.

 

We've been to St. Thomas many times. We even rented a house up by Magen's Bay for a week. If we were in port later and longer, we'd have headed to St. John for snorkeling. But we're going full tourist mode. Skyride. Bushwacker. Photos. I'll skip the dark socks and sandals though.

[Huskerchick]

View from our veranda

 

[Huskerchick]

8 hours ago, BruhnSisters said:

The thing that MOST of us need to know is . . . have you noticed any hidden ducks on your voyage so far?  (Quickly “ducking” from other’s responses now . . . 😂. . . though I seriously enjoyed hiding some ducks during the child-filled Koningsdam Thanksgiving week cruise. )

 

PS. Loving your ongoing reporting!

I have not spotted any Ducks yet but have been keeping an eye out. 

[POA1]

Today's breakfast is Full English Breakfast for DW and Eggs Benedict for moi.

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by POA1

[POA1]

Dinner tonight is at Rudi's Sel de Mer. The menu, presented for your perusal.

 

 

[POA1]

The Orange Party is tonight and Poohby Joe is ready to tear it up in his classic Statendam shirt with orange sleeves.

 

 

Rip roarin' and ready to party!

[POA1]

Oh no! I left the ship without posting my Greetings from St. Thomas banner. This thread is ruined.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

The Orange Party is tonight and Poohby Joe is ready to tear it up in his classic Statendam shirt with orange sleeves.

 

Inquiring minds need to know - where do you get the cool outfits (many personalized) for Poohby Joe?  Does Michele make them?  He always looks wonderful 🙂 

 

[POA1]

Let's get the banner thing out of the way and see if I can salvage this "Live From."

 

 

We went to breakfast before I remembered to post the morning bumper post card graphic.  Without these, ow the heck do I know what day it is?

 

Consider these images the elevator rugs of my thread.

 

 

I got some great photos from the Skyride. They also had an excellent Bushwacker for twelve bucks. (Not sure of the wisdom of having a really strong drink before you climb down 60+ stairs... But we made it unscathed and are back in the NS.)

 

[POA1]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

Inquiring minds need to know - where do you get the cool outfits (many personalized) for Poohby Joe?  Does Michele make them?  He always looks wonderful 🙂 

 

 

Michelle said, and I quote: "Tell her, heck no. I can't even sew on a button."

 

We found PJ's Mile Marker Zero (for US Coastal Route 1) in Key West years ago.  After that, we tried in vain to find him shirts in port.  The Research Department found a company called Mandy's Moon that does small run, custom imprint shirts in Poohby Joe's size. He's hard to fit.

 

We have a concept meeting to decide what shirts we should create. Then, the Art Department comes up with the art work in the correct format, 300 dpi JPEG or PNG with an alpha channel transparency.  We order the shirts and they're back within a week or so.

 

Here are the designs for the current trip:

Embarkation Day - Classic HAL Logo

 

We're coming up on the 10th Anniversary Edition of the guide, so there's this collectable shirt.

 

And finally, Club Orange is new since we last sailed.  We have a vintage Holland America poster on an orange shirt. He's got a Rotterdam version for our Spring '24 cruise.

 

 

 

[POA1]

We are in Chef Rudi's tonight (you know, before they close 😉) but here's what we're missing in the Club Orange dining room. Note that since it's not a dressy night nor the Culinary Council night, CO is back to the regular CO menu with the Beecher's Mac and Cheese, the Seared Tuna & Asparagus Salad, and the special CO entrée.

 

I know there's been discussion that there is always a Club Orange special. However, we've been watching the menus for months and the dressy & Culinary Council nights have been an exception.

 

Anyway... Here is what we're not eating tonight.

 

 

Very glad to see the Weiner Schnitzel isn't on the menu. It was would have been quite the quandary.

[albingirl]

3 hours ago, POA1 said:

Dinner tonight is at Rudi's Sel de Mer. The menu, presented for your perusal.

 

 

Wow. They are charging extra for sole now. It's not a particularly expensive fish. That's a Debbie downer.

[hrhdhd]

5 hours ago, Huskerchick said:

I have not spotted any Ducks yet but have been keeping an eye out. 

I saw one on the Christmas display on Deck 2 this morning. I tried to remove it (it's tacky, IMO), but it's glued down and I didn't want to damage the display.

[POA1]

Years ago, we rented a house in St. Thomas for the week. We ate at a restaurant in Blackbeard's castle. The view was great and we wanted to get similar photos.

 

The best option is the Skyride. You have to climb somewhere around 60 stairs to get to the platform. It's not super strenuous, but be aware that it's not accessible.

The entrance to the Skyride is about 0.4 miles (0.65 km) from the dock HAL uses in Havensight. That part of the journey is flat.

You walk up around 30 stairs to get to the loading platform.

 

You climb down stairs to get to the restaurant, bar, and gift shops - as well as the observation decks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[POA1]

Just now, hrhdhd said:

I saw one on the Christmas display on Deck 2 this morning. I tried to remove it (it's tacky, IMO), but it's glued down and I didn't want to damage the display.

The duck is glued down? That's messed up.

[kazu]

50 minutes ago, POA1 said:

I know there's been discussion that there is always a Club Orange special. However, we've been watching the menus for months and the dressy & Culinary Council nights have been an exception.

 

That was my experience on the Rotterdam, too.

 

 

48 minutes ago, albingirl said:

Wow. They are charging extra for sole now. It's not a particularly expensive fish. That's a Debbie downer.

 

They have been for a while, sadly.  I think it happened when they did the specialty dining price changes IIRC.

[POA1]

I had kicked around the idea of having the Dover Sole, but I think I'm leaning towards the Tornadoes Rossini. They're a signature item and truffles are involved.

[POA1]

The struggle is real.

 

[POA1]

Hey, -

@Haljo1935

 

Where was the Egg Nog cocktail?

 

I'll trade you two art pictures from the Lido deck 9 forward. 😁

 

 

[Haljo1935]

40 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Hey, -

@Haljo1935

 

Where was the Egg Nog cocktail?

 

Grand Dutch Cafe; coffees, not cocktails, but lightening in a bottle is still lightening and they do have a proper bar...

Edited December 14, 2023 by Haljo1935
Additional comment

[POA1]

Just now, Haljo1935 said:

Grand Dutch Cafe; coffees, not cocktails, but lightening in a bottle is still lightening and they do have a proper bar...

We asked about those the other day and the girl said they did not have the ingredients yet.

[hrhdhd]

I saw a lot of art today when they took the elevators out of service to test the backup generators. Who knew there were that many stairs between deck 1 and deck 9?