Grand Dutch Cafe

[BermudaBound2014]

12 minutes ago, AerynSun_JohnCrighton said:

Cool. I didn't see it on menu someone posted a link to so was trying to future out where to go for a must do drink in am.

 

It's been my experience that any coffee menu that includes latte, also includes mocha latte :). In the dutch cafe they were just using Herseys chocolate syrup, but it still did the trick 🙂

[highscar]

Home made bailies:  1 can condensed milk, 1can evaporated milk, 3 eggs, I tbls chocolate syrup, 1 tbs instant coffee, 1 or more cup rye.  Blend well.  Enjoy.  

[Catlover54]

On Rotterdam recently, there were almost constant long lines at the Dutch cafe at all but the most inconvenient times (though getting the hot food after ordering only took 10-15 minutes). We would have gone there almost every day and spent more money (e.g., on the specialty beers DH enjoys), but for the lines (I have trouble standing for a long time, especially when tired after already standing in very long tender return lines). 

 

You cannot use the app to pre-order like you can for the very efficiently run Navigator app for Dive-in and NY Deli.

Does anyone know why HAL has not yet moved the GDC to app ordering?  

 

[Wayward Son]

On 6/22/2024 at 11:17 AM, Catlover54 said:

On Rotterdam recently, there were almost constant long lines at the Dutch cafe at all but the most inconvenient times

 

And that surprises you? That's when you should plan to go. Going where the crowds aren't is Cruising 101.

 

 

[crystalspin]

On 6/22/2024 at 10:17 AM, Catlover54 said:

there were almost constant long lines at the Dutch cafe at all but the most inconvenient times (though getting the hot food after ordering only took 10-15 minutes).

We were happy to wait, often chatting with Ship's Officers (apparently GDC has the best coffee on board). The quick arrival of our order of Frites was a bonus! Of course, we had no pressing deadlines...

[Bimmer09]

Irish coffee as served in Dublin

The circle of chocolate floating on the cream isn't normal. It was a gimmick of the hotel I was staying in. Yes I did call the Garda.

 

and as served in Chicago and elsewhere in the USA where whipped cream flows from a can at the press of a nozzle.

 

Norris

[Sea42]

57 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Irish coffee as served in Dublin

The circle of chocolate floating on the cream isn't normal. It was a gimmick of the hotel I was staying in. Yes I did call the Garda.

 

and as served in Chicago and elsewhere in the USA where whipped cream flows from a can at the press of a nozzle.

 

Norris

I would expect a higher end restaurant in the US would whip their own cream and use a dispenser to give it a nice presentation.

[Infi]

On 6/22/2024 at 12:17 PM, Catlover54 said:

On Rotterdam recently, there were almost constant long lines at the Dutch cafe at all but the most inconvenient times (though getting the hot food after ordering only took 10-15 minutes). We would have gone there almost every day and spent more money (e.g., on the specialty beers DH enjoys), but for the lines (I have trouble standing for a long time, especially when tired after already standing in very long tender return lines). 

 

You cannot use the app to pre-order like you can for the very efficiently run Navigator app for Dive-in and NY Deli.

Does anyone know why HAL has not yet moved the GDC to app ordering?  

 

Also disembarked the Rotterdam recently and can concur with this. The waits at the Grand Dutch Cafe were AWFUL, no matter when you went. It seems like a real missed opportunity to not introduce app ordering here, but there must be some reason why they don't - probably can't handle the volume of orders they would get, since I imagine the kitchen is rather tiny. To add insult to injury, many of the European guests seemed to treat the space like their personal lounge, camping out there for hours on end and playing games, chatting, reading, etc. leaving no tables available for patrons who wanted to eat or drink. The GDC was easily the biggest disappointment of my first cruise on the Pinnacle class. 

 

13 hours ago, Wayward Son said:

 

And that surprises you? That's when you should plan to go. Going where the crowds aren't is Cruising 101.

 

 

 

I visited the Grand Dutch Cafe on different days at different times for snacks, and the only time there wasn't a line was very early in the morning (before they started serving food) or late at night (after they stopped serving food). Perhaps you should think before you post, since you didn't personally experience these ridiculous lines throughout the day. 

[Mike B Landlubber]

I had two good experiences in the Dutch cafe, once on embarkation day when I arrived just before they opened at 11:30 am so nobody was on board yet 🙂 and once when I chose to sit out a day at a major port and just stay on the ship. Again, the ship was deserted. I went down once at a fairly late lunch hour (about 3) on a sea day and it was a jammed madhouse. I intruded on a couple that were at a four-chair table and they were as nice as could be asked, but I felt like an intruder and of course the line to order was awful.I stopped by a couple of times in what I thought might be less busy hours and the place was so overcrowded. I just went to the Lido. After those I didn’t even check out the Dutch Café, unless I had reason to believe the ship was almost deserted. It’s a shame because I really like their grilled ham and cheese!

[Catlover54]

1 hour ago, Infi said:

Also disembarked the Rotterdam recently and can concur with this. The waits at the Grand Dutch Cafe were AWFUL, no matter when you went. It seems like a real missed opportunity to not introduce app ordering here, but there must be some reason why they don't - probably can't handle the volume of orders they would get, since I imagine the kitchen is rather tiny. To add insult to injury, many of the European guests seemed to treat the space like their personal lounge, camping out there for hours on end and playing games, chatting, reading, etc. leaving no tables available for patrons who wanted to eat or drink. The GDC was easily the biggest disappointment of my first cruise on the Pinnacle class. 

 

 

I visited the Grand Dutch Cafe on different days at different times for snacks, and the only time there wasn't a line was very early in the morning (before they started serving food) or late at night (after they stopped serving food). Perhaps you should think before you post, since you didn't personally experience these ridiculous lines throughout the day. 

 

I guess we both need to take "Cruising 101", and/or learn how to not get exhausted standing in long barely moving lines while in our 8th decade of life.  Or we should learn to appreciate the opportunity to talk to officers (who BTW are trying to take a coffee break and unwind a bit themselves). 🙂  Per our room steward, most of the guests had Dutch passports this cruise, and it is of course customary in land-based cafes in Europe to just sit and hang out  for hours after ordering just one coffee.  So they may not have seen their hanging out as inconsiderate.  And of course there aren't that many convenient public spaces *with food and drink service* during the day for groups to cozily hang out (Crow's Nest is small).  But I would have been happy just to order on an app (even if there would be a long waiting time to pick it up) and then take away my food and feast on it in my cabin (cabin eating is allowed). For what it is worth, I will provide feedback on my cruise review to HAL about moving to an app and hope you and others do the same (unless of course the idea is to advertise that there is a nice Dutch Cafe but then deliberately  limit availability of access to the foods there via the  rationing that great inconvenience creates).The one time we did get in this cruise (when there was an important talk given in Dutch), we both loved the pea soup, the ham/cheese sandwich, the trappist beer, and that giant waistline killer ball that is  full of cream.  After my first experience in the DC last year I thought I would select all future HAL cruises based on whether or not they had a DC on the ship, but won't do that anymore, at least not for cruises based out of Rotterdam that will likely all have many Dutch on board.  Maybe close to half of the Lido should be converted into an expanded DC area, given its understandable popularity.    

Edited Monday at 08:03 PM by Catlover54
Typo

[Kay S]

I guess I'm the exception.  I don't have much desire to hang out at GDC, and I'm not crazy about the food offerings (quiche excepted).  I get my latte in the Crow's Nest.  The line there is never very long.  

[Infi]

22 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

I guess we both need to take "Cruising 101", and/or learn how to not get exhausted standing in long barely moving lines while in our 8th decade of life.  Or we should learn to appreciate the opportunity to talk to officers (who BTW are trying to take a coffee break and unwind a bit themselves). 🙂  Per our room steward, most of the guests had Dutch passports this cruise, and it is of course customary in land-based cafes in Europe to just sit and hang out  for hours after ordering just one coffee.  So they may not have seen their hanging out as inconsiderate.  And of course there aren't that many convenient public spaces *with food and drink service* during the day for groups to cozily hang out (Crow's Nest is small).  But I would have been happy just to order on an app (even if there would be a long waiting time to pick it up) and then take away my food and feast on it in my cabin (cabin eating is allowed). For what it is worth, I will provide feedback on my cruise review to HAL about moving to an app and hope you and others do the same (unless of course the idea is to advertise that there is a nice Dutch Cafe but then deliberately  limit availability of access to the foods there via the  rationing that great inconvenience creates).The one time we did get in this cruise (when there was an important talk given in Dutch), we both loved the pea soup, the ham/cheese sandwich, the trappist beer, and that giant waistline killer ball that is  full of cream.  After my first experience in the DC last year I thought I would select all future HAL cruises based on whether or not they had a DC on the ship, but won't do that anymore, at least not for cruises based out of Rotterdam that will likely all have many Dutch on board.  Maybe close to half of the Lido should be converted into an expanded DC area, given its understandable popularity.    

 

Lol, agreed about our "education" in cruising. You're right that the European guests likely viewed camping out in the GDC as a natural extension of their usual café culture, but as an American who wanted to enjoy a meal and sit at a table, it felt disrespectful and was pretty disappointing. The few times I was able to grab a snack in the GDC (after waiting in a lengthy line), I took it back to my cabin to enjoy. I'd also be curious to see how much more or less used the GDC would be with a greater diversity of nationalities onboard, or on a warm weather cruise where folks are less likely to camp out indoors. Hmm...

 

To your point about the Lido serving GDC food, I've taken other cruises RT Rotterdam where they served Dutch snacks (mainly the small fried stuff - bitterballen, kaas souffle, kroketten etc.) at the Dive In, so it wouldn't be unheard of. Granted, those ships also lacked a GDC, so that was probably their only way to offer Dutch snacks to that passenger demographic.

 

I'll definitely add my comments to the survey re: having the GDC available for mobile ordering. It would improve the experience there greatly. Thanks to mobile ordering, I never wait in lines at the Dive In or NY Pizza and Deli; life's too short for that. I taught others about this life hack on our sailing and was surprised by how many app-literate folks didn't even know this feature existed.

Edited Tuesday at 06:35 PM by Infi

[crystalspin]

7 minutes ago, Infi said:

I'd also be curious to see how much more or less used the GDC would be with a greater diversity of nationalities onboard, or on a warm weather cruise where folks are less likely to camp out indoors. Hmm...

We sailed on the Koningsdam at New Years (2022-23), on a B2B double R/T out of San Diego. Pretty full ship! Never was there not a table when we went to get our Frites -- either in the alcove near the windows, sometimes in the attrium for people watching. Never had to take food to our (nearby) cabin.

[Catlover54]

2 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

We sailed on the Koningsdam at New Years (2022-23), on a B2B double R/T out of San Diego. Pretty full ship! Never was there not a table when we went to get our Frites -- either in the alcove near the windows, sometimes in the attrium for people watching. Never had to take food to our (nearby) cabin.

 

Good to know.  

But there were a couple variables here -- not just that it was a warm weather cruise (which as suggested by Infi may have encouraged people to go outside), but that it sailed out of San Diego and not Rotterdam.  My guess is that unlike on our recent sailing on the Rotterdam , out of Rotterdam and back to Rotterdam, you did not have a big majority of pax on board who were Dutch (I would love such an itinerary if I were Dutch -- no need for flying irritations!).  I envy Europeans their ability to easily sail  to many different and interesting European venues without having the expense and stress of airlines.

 

 

[crystalspin]

5 minutes ago, Catlover54 said:

But there were a couple variables here -- not just that it was a warm weather cruise (which as suggested by Infi may have encouraged people to go outside), but that it sailed out of San Diego and not Rotterdam.

Yes, I was supporting @Infi's point that the European and particularly Dutch passenger load was specifically the "problem". 

[scooter6139]

For ships that don't have a GDC, like Westerdam, is there any place to get some of their wonderful Dutch food items?  I especially want to find some Split Pea soup and not just get it on Glacier Cruising Day.

[Catlover54]

44 minutes ago, scooter6139 said:

For ships that don't have a GDC, like Westerdam, is there any place to get some of their wonderful Dutch food items?  I especially want to find some Split Pea soup and not just get it on Glacier Cruising Day.

 

I was on Westerdam a few years ago and they offered pea soup at least once at the Lido, but I don't know if that is still ongoing or routine. 

 

The Lido and/or MDR also periodically offer other Dutch food items on select dates, (like the date of the Orange party and the day after) including some not offered at the DC.  They are hearty and delicious. 

 

And if you want to make pea soup at home, to get you in the mood, here is the complicated recipe:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/whats-new/dutch-pea-soup-recipe/  

 

 

[tupper10]

The hot chocolate is also good and not on the menu.  There is a charge for it.

[Catlover54]

1 hour ago, tupper10 said:

The hot chocolate is also good and not on the menu.  There is a charge for it.

 

On my recent Rotterdam cruise, crew came out with trays of paper cups with about 70cc of hot chocolate each, to hand to guests when they stood for long periods in the cold in line trying to get back on the ship.  Guests fortunately did not have to take off their gloves and whip out their room cards to get a serving.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Some people like to sit there for hours ...😆