A Close-up Look at Holland America’s Dive-In at the Terrace Grill Menu

by Janis on January 14, 2015

Within the past year, Holland America Line has added cooked-to-order gourmet burgers, hot dogs and French fries to its newly-branded Dive-In at the Terrance Grill lido poolside dining location.

During our recent 14-day Asian Holiday cruise on Holland America’s Volendam, we tried many of the items on the menu.The made-to-order burgers, fries and hot dogs are a significant upgrade from the past burger-bar offerings on Holland America Line. At the Dive-In, you order what you want, and are given a buzzer. Generally, within about 10 minutes or less, your cooked-to-order food would be available for pick-up, piping hot and cooked to perfection, along with sides of your favorite accompaniments.

Here’s a look at some of our favorite menu items at the Dive-In:

The Cannonball burger, served with Gouda cheese, applewood smoked bacon, sweet caramelized onions, and topped with lettuce, tomato and Dive-In Sauce on a toasted brioche bun was my favorite.

The Cannonball is not a light burger. Change your Fitbit from 10,000 steps to 15,000 steps per day, and complete them all before you dive into this scrumptiously rich burger.

Mr. Jones’ favorite was The High-Dive burger, served with American cheddar cheese, and topped with lettuce and tomato on a toaster brioche bun with Dive-In Sauce.

This is a well-made, straightforward cheeseburger.

Don’t forget to order fries, although we quickly learned that one order is plenty for two people. These are double-fried, you-can’t-possibly-stop-at-one fries. They are even better when dipped in a mixture of mayo and ketchup.

The fries can also be ordered topped with Dive-In Sauce or smothered in melty cheese sauce, but that seemed like overkill, so we didn’t try either.

Signature hot dogs feature Nathan’s Famous all beef dogs, served with Dive-In Sauce in a poppy-seed bun. The straight-forward Dive-In Dog is topped with American-style mustard and a mound of crispy frizzled onions.

My favorite was The Dog Paddle, which is topped with sauerkraut, crispy bacon bits and grainy German mustard.

The Dunkin’ Dog (pictured above) is another favorite, topped with melty cheese sauce, pickled jalapenos and chopped red onions, served on a fresh poppy seed bun. It is delicious, but you may need an antacid or two after this one.

The only flop, for us, at the Dive-In was The Freestyle, a vegetarian burger with grilled portabella mushroom topped with melting Gouda and cheddar cheeses, avocado and Dive-In sauce. We love grilled portabellas, and we also enjoy vegetarian burgers (well, Mrs. Jones, anyway.) In our version (pictured above) the tiny portabella was buried under piles of cheese, avocado, and lettuce and tomato. It seems like a vegetarian burger patty might be a better option, available without the cheese for vegans.

All of these burgers, hot dogs and fries were enhanced when consumed with an ice cold Tiger beer from Singapore. (The Volendam brought on this local beer for this cruise; it’s perfect for cooling off from the intense heat and humidity in the Southeast Asia region.)

Have you dined at the Dive-In on one of Holland America’s ships? What is your favorite menu item? Please share in comments below.

You may want to check out these other posts about our 14-Day Asian Cruise Holiday:

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