'Twas the Cruise Over Easter - 9 Day Southern Caribbean - March 29 - April 7, 2024

[chill6x6]

I have a request Sir!

 

How is the availability of loungers around the pool areas?

 

Thank you!

[POA1]

57 minutes ago, chill6x6 said:

I have a request Sir!

 

How is the availability of loungers around the pool areas?

 

Thank you!

Relatively tight around the Lido pool. Somewhat better at the aft pool.

 

If you don't mind not being poolside, head up to Deck 14, where you will likely find a treasure trove of available lounge chairs. Use the port side forward elevators or take any forward elevator to Deck 12 / Observation and walk up the outside stairs. It's only one set of stairs as there's no Deck 13.

[POA1]

Club Orange breakfast menu:

 

 

 

 

 

club_orange_breakfast_menu_2024_en_1_(2).pdf

Edited April 2 by POA1

[POA1]

Michelle started with a Bloody Mary. (There's a rare Brian sighting in the background.)

 

Bloody Mary, "full garden style"

 

Deconstructed Mimosa (Okay, it's a glass of Chateau Ste. Michelle Brut with a side of fresh squeezed orange juice. I don't generally like to add things to my champagne. Well, except for more champagne.)

 

Michelle had the Vegetable Frittata.

 

I had the Aloo Masala and Egg Bhurji. Our waiter gave me a little clap for ordering this. He said he's been on for long time and no one has ordered it before. I'm pretty sure there was a staff betting pool on when this would be ordered.

 

I thought it was excellent. Michelle will probably order it before the end of the cruise. One note: This dish will be scratch-made, so allow some extra time. (I'm sure you're shocked to learn there aren't steamer trays of this sitting around, ready to go.)

[Navybikermom]

16 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Michelle started with a Bloody Mary. (There's a rare Brian sighting in the background.)

 

Bloody Mary, "full garden style"

 

Deconstructed Mimosa (Okay, it's a glass of Chateau Ste. Michelle Brut with a side of fresh squeezed orange juice. I don't generally like to add things to my champagne. Well, except for more champagne.)

 

Michelle had the Vegetable Frittata.

 

I had the Aloo Masala and Egg Bhurji. Our waiter gave me a little clap for ordering this. He said he's been on for long time and no one has ordered it before. I'm pretty sure there was a staff betting pool on when this would be ordered.

 

I thought it was excellent. Michelle will probably order it before the end of the cruise. One note: This dish will be scratch-made, so allow some extra time. (I'm sure you're shocked to learn there aren't steamer trays of this sitting around, ready to go.)

Looks like dirty scrambled eggs and a burnt crepe… 🤔. But - I did look up the ingredients and it does sound delicious. Do they have that in the steerage dining room 😉?

[POA1]

9 minutes ago, Navybikermom said:

Looks like dirty scrambled eggs and a burnt crepe… 🤔. But - I did look up the ingredients and it does sound delicious. Do they have that in the steerage dining room 😉?

I'm almost positive that they do. Today is the Caribbean Brunch, so I cannot see the standard breakfast menu. I'll check tomorrow or Thursday.

[0106]

@NavybikermomAloo Masala is available in the MDR and is delicious.

[POA1]

2 hours ago, chill6x6 said:

I have a request Sir!

 

How is the availability of loungers around the pool areas?

 

Thank you!

At 11:30 AM, Lido pool loungers pretty packed. Aft pool has a smattering of them. The Panorama Deck (10) had decent availability of the big, lounge beds and some chairs.

 

Deck 14,the Sky Deck has chairs galore.

 

 

Because I care, I took a photo to show you just how many chairs are empty up there. This photo is of the starboard side, but the port side was equally empty.

 

 

[Blackduck59]

That is well and truly the Melanoma Deck. I  wouldn't last 30 seconds there. The Aussies call it sun baking, now we know why. 

[Niagarawine]

26 minutes ago, POA1 said:

At 11:30 AM, Lido pool loungers pretty packed. Aft pool has a smattering of them. The Panorama Deck (10) had decent availability of the big, lounge beds and some chairs.

 

Deck 14,the Sky Deck has chairs galore.

 

 

Because I care, I took a photo to show you just how many chairs are empty up there. This photo is of the starboard side, but the port side was equally empty.

 

 

Loungers are not comfy and are harder to get on for my old back

[POA1]

17 minutes ago, Niagarawine said:

Loungers are not comfy and are harder to get on for my old back

I sit bolt upright 80% of the time, so the whole lounging concept is mostly lost on me. I'm happy sitting at a table, dispensing my wisdom and sage advice.

 

I'm also terribly worried about losing the muscle memory needed to sit at my desk all day long.

[Ready2go11]

I tried Aloo Masala first time last year in CO on Rotterdam and was hooked. It is a lot of food but delicious!  
 

incidentally I also tried the congee and Pan Asian breakfasts on the menu in my bid to expand my horizons. I will not be ordering those again. My horizons at breakfast time are exactly where they need to be!

[POA1]

They served the Caribbean Brunch in the MDR today. We didn't go, but I did want to post the menu in case anyone's interested.

 

PDF and PNG images posted as part of our pledge to quality.

 

 

caribbean_brunch_2023_food_only_(1).pdf

[POA1]

1 minute ago, Ready2go11 said:

incidentally I also tried the congee and Pan Asian breakfasts on the menu in my bid to expand my horizons. I

Funny you should mention that. Congee is in the batting order for Thursday. We're off early tomorrow in Bonaire, so it's room service for us.

 

You can always try the Full English Breakfast. DW suggests asking for a good sear on the banger.

[Navybikermom]

2 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Funny you should mention that. Congee is in the batting order for Thursday. We're off early tomorrow in Bonaire, so it's room service for us.

 

You can always try the Full English Breakfast. DW suggests asking for a good sear on the banger.

I’ll be interested in your pics of congee. I’m not a big fan of rice (and neither is my digestive system), so I might not try that one. However, if it’s well-camouflaged with other ingredients I might be tempted. 

[POA1]

1 minute ago, Navybikermom said:

I’ll be interested in your pics of congee. I’m not a big fan of rice (and neither is my digestive system), so I might not try that one. However, if it’s well-camouflaged with other ingredients I might be tempted. 

Most congee is going to be a bowl of rice porridge with the other ingredients on the top. If you aren't wild about rice, you may want to steer clear.

 

I'll have better advice in a few days.

 

There is always kippered herring with scrambled eggs. 😉

 

[Navybikermom]

Just now, POA1 said:

Most congee is going to be a bowl of rice porridge with the other ingredients on the top. If you aren't wild about rice, you may want to steer clear.

 

I'll have better advice in a few days.

 

There is always kippered herring with scrambled eggs. 😉

 

Ewwwww! 🤢

Not much of a seafood fan…

[Huskerchick]

It's a lovely day Cabana day on the Rotterdam as we sail at 7 knots the 100 some odd miles to Bonaire.its not very windy today so Poohby Joe is very happy to be enjoying the day on his lounger out of his Poohby bag 😉

 

Edited April 2 by Huskerchick

[Huskerchick]

And we had a medical emergency on the ship very early this morning (around 4am) and we had to make a quick stop at Curaçao. At noon when the Captain did his talk he mentioned it and said the person was having surgery and said thoughts and prayers were with the person and their family which I thought was very kind that he gave us an update. As you long time HAL cruises already know the staff on the ship is simply fantastic. 

[POA1]

59 minutes ago, Navybikermom said:

Ewwwww! 🤢

Not much of a seafood fan…

No fish in this version. It does have chicken and an egg though. (Two generations of chicken! With ginger and rice! 😯)

[POA1]

Some photos from our Natural Wonders of Aruba tour yesterday.

 

Our tour bus. A new Volvo Marcopolo bus.

 

Benjamin, our guide. Witty and knowledgeable. He did a great job.

 

One of the island's many cacti.

 

Tree-sized Christmas Cactus. Ironically, this is not a big one for Aruba. These must be spectacular when they're in bloom.

 

The baby natural bridge. The big one collapsed on 2005.

 

The baby natural bridge has fissures on both sides. You aren't allowed to walk on it.

 

 

A couple of beach pictures to establish "atmosphere."

 

Michelle is in this one, to help prove we were there.

 

This is the remains of a gold smelting operation that closed during World War I. You need to use your imagination here.

 

The famous California lighthouse.

[Navybikermom]

43 minutes ago, POA1 said:

No fish in this version. It does have chicken and an egg though. (Two generations of chicken! With ginger and rice! 😯)

lol - I meant the kippered herring… ick

[POA1]

Our final stop on the Natural Wonders of Aruba tour was the Butterfly Farm. We had about 45 minutes to have a guided tour, and explore the garden. The guide was informative. The butterflies were plentiful, albeit a little hard to photograph.

 

 

The Blue Morpho is one of the cooler inhabitants of the farm. To successfully photograph them, t recommend taking a crap ton of photos in their general direction. Then, later, scroll through your shots to see if you got anything.

 

 

[POA1]

The Monarch Butterfly, prized for (a) being one that you know by name, and (b) being pretty easy to spot against the green foliage.

 

 

I'll be honest. You'd think that the Blue Morpho is really easy to photograph based on this report, since there are bunch of images containing them.

 

In the professional travel writing biz, we refer to this as "dumb luck."

 

If you zoom in on this one, you'll see that Michelle is looking at a Monarch to her right. So, in essence, you are looking at Michelle, who is looking at a Monarch butterfly.

 

This is the kind of "You are there" experience that makes The National Institute of Cheer the most prestigious body of scientific investigation you have encountered in the last five minutes. (Or your money back!)

 

 

 

Edited April 2 by POA1

[POA1]

Tonight's dinner is the Culinary Council menu. We used to avoid this one and schedule speciality dining. Around 2015 or so, we gave it another try. (We are nothing if not fair.) It turns out that it's surprisingly good, and we were being short-sighted.

 

 

co_mdr_dinner_day_4_ccc.pdf

Edited April 2 by POA1