Traveling with the Jones

Beverage packages on cruises seem to be a topic of high interest to many readers of this blog. We’ve shared our experiences with the Signature Beverage Package on Holland America Line several times, most recently in this December, 2015 post: An Improved Signature Beverage Package on Holland America Cruises.

In addition to being popular, posts on cruise beverage packages tend to stimulate a lot of questions.

When we cruised on Holland America’s ms Zuiderdam during the New Year’s Holiday, we enjoyed the Signature Beverage Package as a perk of booking our cruise during last fall’s Explore 4 promotion.

As we received our boarding package with cruise key cards, there was a small piece of paper included that detailed the “rules” of the package.

Mr. Jones said, “I’m taking a photo of this. It answers all of the questions.”

If you have a Signature Beverage Package on an upcoming Holland America cruise, or if you intend to purchase one on board, this photo covers all of the key details.

• A 15 percent service charge is automatically applied to your purchase. When you buy the Signature Beverage package either on board your cruise or online before you sail, 15 percent is automatically added to the entire amount to cover tips. However, if you receive the package through the Explore 4 promotion, the 15 percent service charge is included. This doesn’t mean that you can’t show your favorite bartenders a little love with extra cash tips.
• Up to a 15-drink maximum/day. If you drink more than 15 coffees, or sodas, or smoothies, or cocktails, or combination of drinks covered under the package in a single day, you will be charged for those exceeding the 15 drink limit. Yes, 15 is a lot of beverages, but we hear that some people can exceed that number.
• Participants may only order 1 drink at a time. This is pretty clear: no ordering a bucket of beer or two drinks at a time on the beverage package.
• Includes beverages priced at an $8 or lower menu price. Any drink on the menu that is $8 or less is covered by the package. If the drink on the menu is $8.95, you will be charged $8.95 for it. There is no “pay the difference” option like there is on some cruise lines beverage packages.
• Package excludes Mini-bar, In-Room Dining and Half Moon Cay. The bars on Holland America’s private island Half Moon Cay offer stellar views and cold drinks, but all of your drinks on the island will show up on your bill as they aren’t covered by the Signature Beverage Package. Ditto for those sodas in your mini-bar. You can, however, request a can of soda or a bottle of water from a bar on the ship under the package, and then take it to your stateroom to enjoy it.
• All adults 21 years of age or older booked in the same stateroom must also purchase the package. If you are a drinker, and your cabin-mate(s) are not, you cannot buy the package unless adult in your stateroom buys the package.
• Package is not transferable or refundable. You can’t change your mind half way through the cruise and get your money back. Likewise, if you were given the Signature Beverage Package through Explore 4, you cannot “gift” it to someone who does not have the package.
• Sharing is not permitted. You cannot order drinks with the package and give them to someone else.
• Must be 21 years or older and agree to not give to minors. You can’t share drinks, and sharing them with someone under 21 might get you kicked off the ship.
• Beverage management reserves the right to revoke the package if misused and refuse service for any reason. In other words, if you try to “break” these rules, you will lose your package benefits. Or, if you are viewed as intoxicated, you will not be served any more drinks, regardless of how many of your daily “15” you have consumed.

These posts are on drink packages offered by other cruise lines:

• Details About The Ultimate Beverage Package on Norwegian Cruise Line
• Is the All-Inclusive Beverage Package on Princess Cruises a Good Deal?
• Is the Premium Beverage Package on Royal Caribbean Cruises A Good Deal?

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During our recent 7-Day Holiday Cruise on Holland America’s ms Zuiderdam, we enjoyed lunch in the Pinnacle Grill specialty restaurant.

We were surprised to find a new, updated lunch menu in the Pacific Northwest-themed steak and seafood restaurant. While dinner in the Pinnacle Grill is $29.00 per person and may be reserved in advance of your cruise, lunch reservations may only be made once on board.  The lunch menu, priced at $10 per person, with discounts for 3-, 4- and 5-star Mariners, is quite a good value for fine dining, especially given the new, more expansive menu.

Take a look at the New Pinnacle Grill Lunch Menu

The new three-course lunch menu still has some of our favorites such as the Grilled Prawn Bruschetta on the appetizer list, but drops others favorites such as the Scallop Creme Brulee and the Five Onion Soup.

There are nice additions to the lunch menu, taken from the dinner menu, such as the guest-favorite Dungeness Crab Cakes with sweet chili-mustard sauce. Lots of crab with a little binding agent, coated in Panko and lightly fried.

Another first course choice is the Tomato Broth with Spicy Lemongrass Chicken. This is another dish from the dinner menu. A spicy, Thai-style soup, this was one of my favorite starters on the Pinnacle Grill menu, before someone involved in the last Pinnacle Grill menu decided to add the tomato broth to the recipe. (Tomato broth in a spicy lemongrass chicken soup with kaffir lime and cilantro is just weird and wrong, in my opinion.) Regardless, I tried it again during this lunch and enjoyed the spice that tried to mask the tomato.

For the main course choices, there are a number of new lunch entrees from the Pinnacle Grill dinner menu such as the West Coast-Style Seafood Cioppino, the Roasted Jidori Chicken with Porcini Mushrooms and the Wild Mushroom Ravioli with pesto cream sauce.

This gives guests a chance to try something new for the lessor lunch cost that they might not want to have for dinner.

I chose the Broiled Alaska King Salmon, with wild rice pilaf and sauteed pancetta-spinach. Mr. Jones – who grew up in Alaska, won’t usually touch salmon because he claims that he ate it for months on end as a kid – salmon cakes, salmon casserole, baked salmon, etc. – and therefore retired salmon from his adult diet.

I loved this salmon so much that I insisted that he try a bite. He begrudging agreed that it was delicious.

The Beef Tenderloin with Oregon Blue Cheese, served with grilled asparagus and scalloped potatoes is still on the Pinnacle Grill lunch menu. This makes Mr. Jones was very happy as this is his favorite lunch entree.

We are always to full to order dessert, but the updated menu is shown above. I enjoyed the Fresh Berries with sabayon sauce during an evening meal in the Pinnacle Grill. This dessert is pictured above at the top of the post.

If you love great food and superior service, you will enjoy lunch at the Pinnacle Grill. Lunch reservations can be made once you are on your Holland America cruise. We recommend that you do so the first day of your cruise, as lunch is generally only offered during sea days and reservations fill quickly.

Since the three-course Pinnacle Grill lunch is a substantial meal, you may want to skip breakfast or just have a coffee and light snack at the Explorations Cafe on the day you schedule lunch. With a glass of wine, this lunch is the perfect prelude to an afternoon nap. Now isn’t that the way that days at sea are meant to be enjoyed on cruise ships?

What’s your favorite dish in the Pinnacle Grill? Is it still on the new lunch menu?  Please share in comments below. 

You may be interested in these other posts on cruising with Holland America Line:

• A Peek at Holland America’s New Pinnacle Grill Menu
• A Look Inside an Obstructed Ocean-view Stateroom on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam
• A Look at New York Pizza on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam
• Daily Programs from a Caribbean Cruise on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam
• The Master Chef’s Table on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam
• A Look Inside a Verandah Stateroom on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise Ship

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We started completing a travel year review in 2014, which made for a fun recollection of the places we’d visited.

While our travels during 2015 were not quite as exotic as those in 2014, we explored quite a few new places and reconnected with some favorite destinations.

Here’s a recap of our travel highlights of 2015

Batu Caves, KL, Malaysia

After ringing in the New Year at sea on Holland America’s just-out-of-dry-dock ms Volendam, we spent the first two days of 2015 exploring Kuala Lumpur by taxi from Port Kelang, Malaysia. To maximize our time in port, we spent the night off of the cruise ship, in the Hilton Kuala Lumpur, giving us plenty of time to explore some of the city’s highlights such as the Petronas Twin Towers, Batu Caves and the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall with its Egyptian-inspired sphinx architecture.

During the end of our cruise when we had two nights in Singapore, I took a quick ferry trip to Batam in Sumatra Indonesia. Why? When I got my passport stamped, I achieved my 100th Country for the Travelers’ Century Club. I became a member later in 2015, and enjoy meeting like-minded travelers in my hometown at quarterly meetings. Since the Traveler Century Club (TCC) counts countries, territories and islands with distinct different cultures, the organization has a list of 324 destinations to visit. As of the end of 2015, Mr. Jones has visited 101 of them, while I’ve traveled to 103 of the destinations. You can view our list here.

Mr. Jones and I visited three other new countries and/or unique destinations as defined by the Traveler’s Century Club in 2015:

• Panama
• Northern Ireland
• Prince Edward Island, Canada (Mr. Jones had previously visited PEI during his childhood years.)

Fun Facts 

Before we visit a new destination, we try to learn a little bit about it in advance. Often, we compile a list of “Fun Facts” about a destination, such 25 Fun Facts About the Azores (which, sadly, we didn’t get to visit, but want to now more than ever.)

Here are more Fun Facts posts from 2015:

• 32 Fun Facts About Barcelona, Spain

• 17 Fun Facts About Bar Harbor, Maine

• 33 Fun Facts About Prince Edward Island, Canada

• 14 Fun Facts About Quebec City, Canada

• 15 Fun Facts About Halifax, Nova Scotia

• 17 Fun Facts About Ghent, Belgium

• 20 Fun Facts About Antwerp, Belgium

• 20 Fun Facts About Panama City, Panama

• 30 Fun Facts About Fort Worth, Texas

• 15 Fun Facts About Alicante, Spain

• 53 Fun Facts About Key West, Florida

• 9 Fun Facts About Costa Maya, Mexico

• 16 Fun Facts About San Juan, Puerto Rico

• 18 Fun Facts About Albuquerque, New Mexico

• 34 Fun Facts About Belfast, Northern Ireland

• 33 Fun Facts About Turks and Caicos Islands

• 15 Fun Facts About Malaga, Spain

Cruising continued to be one of our favorite ways to explore the world

We sailed on five different cruises on Holland America Line in 2015:

We started the year on a 14-day Asian Holiday cruise on Holland America’s Volendam. The attraction for this cruise was spending 2-nights and 3-days in Myanmar (Burma) which did not disappoint.

In early March, we sailed on a 7-Day Western Caribbean Cruise on Holland America’s ms Nieuw Amsterdam to warm up and forget that I was turning another year older. The BB King Blues Club, the Cabana Club, the Signature Beverage Package and the Le Cirque dinner all worked wonders.

We celebrated Canada Day and the U.S. 4th of July on a 7-Day Canada and New England cruise on Holland America’s ms Maasdam. Finding the best lobster roll among all of the port destinations was our mission.

In early November, after spending a couple of days in Barcelona, we headed to the port to catch our 13-Day Transatlantic cruise to Florida on the Nieuw Amsterdam. A planned call in the Azores was a big attraction, but rain and high winds kept the ship from reaching our port and we remained in Barcelona overnight. Our cruise became a 12-day Transatlantic voyage with a record eight straight sea days after port days in Alicante, Malaga and Cadiz, Spain.

After spending Christmas Day at home with family before heading to Florida, we caught a 7-Day Holiday cruise to ring in the New Year on Holland America’s ms Zuiderdam.

2015 was our year for Europe Visits

Over the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, we visited the delightful Belgium cities of Antwerp and Ghent, with an overnight in Amsterdam before flying back to the U.S.

We used the Labor Day holiday to explore Belfast and the Northern Ireland countryside. Little did we know that Brad Pitt would be in town at the same time, filming a movie he is producing.

We explored the Palau de la Musica Catalana, new neighborhoods and a new hotel in Barcelona before our Transatlantic cruise.

Hotels

Road warrior Mr. Jones spent a significant number of nights in hotels for work in 2015, which provided some of the points for us try delightful hotels:

• A Look Inside the Hilton Panama Hotel

• A Peek Inside the Hilton Antwerp Old Town Hotel

• A Look Inside the JW Marriott Marquis Miami Hotel

• A Peek Inside the Ghent Marriott Hotel in Belgium

• A Look Inside the Cotton House Hotel, Barcelona

• A Look Inside the JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square Hotel

• A Look Inside the Wit Hotel, Chicago

Weekend Wanderings

With the help of the Companion Pass from Southwest Airlines, we met up or traveled together for quick Weekend Adventures in these cities during 2015.

• Albuquerque, New Mexico (green chili cheeseburgers and a side-trip to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico)
• Clearwater Beach, Florida (picture-perfect sunsets)
• Chicago (two visits with opposite weather extremes; one in August and one in December)
• Fort Worth, Texas (bluebonnets, sushi and good friends)
• Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, Florida
• San Francisco (celebrating our wedding anniversary)

Food & Wine

We ate memorable meals at a range of eating establishments:

• A Delightful Dinner at Ristorante Gallo Nero in Antwerp, Belgium
• Dinner at the James Street South Bar + Grill in Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Presidential Dim Sum in San Francisco
• A Taste of Tokyo at Shinjuku Station in Fort Worth, Texas
• Dining at La Taberneta in Barcelona’s La Barceloneta Neighborhood
• Not Your Average Hotel Restaurant: Chynna in the Hilton Kuala Lumpur

We also discovered that cocktail bars are trendy in Europe (and elsewhere): 

• The 2 Best Cocktails Bars in Antwerp, Belgium
• 3 Favorite Cocktail Bars in Ghent, Belgium

Tours

We explored culture, history and food on tours in a number of locations:

• A Visit to the National Airline History Museum in Kansas City, Missouri
• Exploring Chicago’s Architecture by River Tour
• A Visit to the Titanic Quarter and Titanic Belfast
• Eating Our Way Through Barcelona’s Gracia Neighborhood With Devour Barcelona

We Explored by Walking and Counting Those Fitbit Steps:

• Climbing on the Giant’s Causeway in Antrim County, Northern Ireland
• Crossing the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge in County Antrim, Northern Ireland
• A Walk Around Halifax, Nova Scotia During Our Visit By Cruise Ship
• A Walk Around Bar Harbor, Maine via a Cruise Ship Visit
• 15 Views From Walking Around Belfast
• A Do-It-Yourself Port Day in Quebec City

Finally, we increased our use of technology, putting Pinterest to use for our travel planning, and finding Favorite Podcasts to Listen to While Flying or Exercising.

As we look back, we realize how incredibly grateful we are to be able to travel and experience new cultures, make new friends, try new things outside of our comfort zone, and go with the flow when plans go awry.

If you want to travel more in 2016 and beyond, don’t wait.  Start by making your destination wish list and then take little steps to figure out how you can get there.

Where did your travels take you in 2015?  We’d really like to hear.  Please share in comments below.

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