harmony LIVEish, 7 Days on Harmony (05/12/2018 or 12/05/2018 add to the mix May 12, 2018)

[rjac 2,592]

35 minutes ago, Matt said:

I'm ready for a drink!

This early in the day and you're not on a cruise ship??

[twangster 25,046]

2 hours ago, rjac said:

This early in the day and you're not on a cruise ship??

According to Jimmy Buffet, It's five o'clock somewhere.

[CGTLH 2,616]

Been spending waaaytooo much time at Sabor Bar so far this cruise, should have supported RCB and purchased the shirt.

Think the only ones I haven't done yet are the flights and Sweet and Spicy. They also have the Mezcal selection that isn't on the shirt.

 

[Matt 10,659]

1 hour ago, CGTLH said:

Does the menu have a weird shape, or is the fisheye lens playing tricks on me?

[twangster 25,046]

5 minutes ago, Matt said:

Does the menu have a weird shape, or is the fisheye lens playing tricks on me?

Fixed it for you.

[WAAAYTOOO 11,222]

1 hour ago, CGTLH said:

Been spending waaaytooo much time at Sabor Bar so far this cruise, should have supported RCB and purchased the shirt.

Think the only ones I haven't done yet are the flights and Sweet and Spicy. They also have the Mezcal selection that isn't on the shirt.

Are you in Star Class this trip ?

[CGTLH 2,616]

18 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Are you in Star Class this trip ?

Not this time around 

[CGTLH 2,616]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Does the menu have a weird shape, or is the fisheye lens playing tricks on me?

Fisheye playing tricks, better now...

Still make the menu look wider than it is.

[CGTLH 2,616]

Finished up with a flop of a Cabin Crawl. Only one other person showed up and the host was no where in sight.

Had the "Genie" aka TV and Room Service deliver some last stop munchies. Go figured that I wound up ordering too much food.

Wings, I don't call mild or hot buffalo sauce varying amounts of sweet chili sauce. Both the mild and hot had just about the same level of heat.

Also, ordered the pizza. Not the best, but not bad either.

[Lovetocruise2002 10,563]

1 hour ago, CGTLH said:

Finished up with a flop of a Cabin Crawl. Only one other person showed up and the host was no where in sight.

That's terrible!  Was this a FB group cabin crawl or one organized through your CC roll call?

[Sweety 1,398]

2 hours ago, CGTLH said:

Finished up with a flop of a Cabin Crawl. Only one other person showed up and the host was no where in sight.

Had the "Genie" aka TV and Room Service deliver some last stop munchies. Go figured that I wound up ordering too much food.

Wings, I don't call mild or hot buffalo sauce varying amounts of sweet chili sauce. Both the mild and hot had just about the same level of heat.

Also, ordered the pizza. Not the best, but not bad either.

Can I come over for dinner?

[CGTLH 2,616]

22 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That's terrible!  Was this a FB group cabin crawl or one organized through your CC roll call?

Was last minute in the FB group. I personally wasn't active at all in the CC roll call. Think it was mentioned on CC, but no one ever stepped up.

[CGTLH 2,616]

Room Service Food review:

Items ordered: Chicken Tenders, The Royal Burger, Wings (mild buffalo, hot buffalo, and Smokey BBQ), Grilled Quesadilla (one chicken, one steak), Fresh Baked Pizza (one cheese, one pepperoni),  French Fries, Potato Chips, and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Chicken Tenders: Three tenders per an order plus french fries, comes with a side of honey mustard. Picture on TV show vegetables, none found on the plate. Best guess the tenders were coated in panko bread crumbs. No mystery chicken puree, best to say they were cut from whole pieces of chicken.

The Royal Burger: Sorry no picture. Still have to say it is one of the best burgers on the ship. Was juicy and seasoned well, had a nice crust on it from cooking. The menu says it comes with bacon, mine was missing the bacon. Also served with fries.

Wings: 6 per order, comes with carrots and celery plus blue cheese dressing. Smokey BBQ was spot on, not overly sweet. The buffalo sauces were a miss. Nowhere near what my opinion of buffalo is. I would doubt on drop of butter was in the sauce much less any other typical ingredients. To me it tasted like a sweet chili sauce was used.

Quesadilla: Served with (sad looking) quac, sour cream, and pico de gallo. Great amount of cheese and both the chicken and steak was well seasoned and cooked. Outside was nice a crispy and cheese inside was melted goodness.

Fresh Baked Pizza: My opinion it is better than Sorrento's. Does anything more need to be said?

French Fries: No clue why I had ordered an extra order. Them like all the other fries arrived hot and still has some crispness to them.

Potato Chips: Three bags of Lays

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Thin and chewy, looked like a three chip variety (white, milk, and dark). 

 

For what was order: At $7.95 it would be a steal. A single order with a burger or two and the quesadilla would be worth it. Still say the burger is better than what Johnny Rockets offers.

[CGTLH 2,616]

So dinner tonight was Cabin Crawl leftovers... Still didn't keep me heading off for the Windjammer Recon.

Tonight's Chef's Special was a Pasta Station where they would whip up your own custom creation. If you happened to be indecisive they had  two premade selections. Also this was the first time I happened to notice a theme at one of the stations.

Theme extension over in the "Bakery" section.

Next up in the secondary action type station was a chocolate fountain.

Also noticed tonight that the donuts and waffles are made fresh.

Finally for safe measures, the large dessert bar.

[CGTLH 2,616]

After the Windjammer recon took advantage of the last bits of sunlight to take some outside ship "glamor" shots.

 

[Jason.H. 70]

What's your camera and lens setup for the outdoor night photos? I shoot with a nikon d7200 dx format and am wanting to pick up a wide angle lens before our next cruise. The new nikon 10-20mm is what I have been considering but largest aperature is f/4.5 so not sure I could pull off any decent night shots without a tripod. Thank you for the great live blog! 

[CGTLH 2,616]

7 minutes ago, Jason.H. said:

What's your camera and lens setup for the outdoor night photos? I shoot with a nikon d7200 dx format and am wanting to pick up a wide angle lens before our next cruise. The new nikon 10-20mm is what I have been considering but largest aperature is f/4.5 so not sure I could pull off any decent night shots without a tripod. Thank you for the great live blog! 

Thanks, some ways the live blog is what I enjoy the most about cruising. Being able to share the experience with others.

Canon 7D MKII, last night shots were from the Canon 10-22 EF-S lens of the top of my head think it is 3.5/f to 4.5/f. Key thing was 7 bracketed shots (-3 to +3 in one stop increments) then HDR in Lightroom.

 

I'll add @twangster is a Nikon shooter so he might be able to give some further input.

[Jason.H. 70]

7 bracketed shots hand held and everything lined up?!? You're are a robot. 

[Guy Gadwa 127]

Great pics!!!

Thanks

[CGTLH 2,616]

49 minutes ago, Jason.H. said:

7 bracketed shots hand held and everything lined up?!? You're are a robot. 

High speed/continuous shooting works wonders. Combine that with auto bracketing.

Also help to take advantage of hidden tripods. Example the gap between glass ledges/wall or resting the lens or camera on anything.

[CGTLH 2,616]

The inner OCD in me is going crazy. Three plates, none the same. Other confusion, three plates....

 

[CGTLH 2,616]

On 5/14/2018 at 1:33 PM, CGTLH said:

Been spending waaaytooo much time at Sabor Bar so far this cruise, should have supported RCB and purchased the shirt.

Think the only ones I haven't done yet are the flights and Sweet and Spicy. They also have the Mezcal selection that isn't on the shirt.

 

I've now enjoyed all the tequila offerings (minus flights). Favorite is a toss up between the "Sabor Grand" and "Simply Perfect". Avocado one isn't bad, but not my thing. Jalapeno-Cucumber reminds me of grass. Never been a huge fan of raw jalapenos, pickles or grilled pile them on.

Next step is the Mazcal section.

 

[CGTLH 2,616]

Lightroom is still working it's magic in the background for the rest of the daily photos. In the meantime I'll post a quick review and some photos of the Food Tour I did today.

The tour has a total of four places tastings took place. Amsterdam Cheese Shop and Liquor Store, Sky's the Limit Lolo Bar and Restaurant, Karakter, and finally the French Bakery "La Sucriere" Pastry. 

First off the question that might be on anyone's mind. Yes, the hurricane damage is still obvious. Some areas are rebuilt more than others. I don't feel the damage has overall impacted the experience. Traffic in some areas can be bad due to repairs and construction. No, I didn't get any pictures of damage.

First stop/meeting location was the Amsterdam Cheese Shop and Liquor Store. If you happen to need to catch a cab, it was $3 a person. Otherwise it could be walked, traffic however on this stretch was somewhat slow. 

At the Cheese Shop we sampled five different varieties of cheese. A baby gouda, sheep's milk cheese, herbed gouda, an aged gouda, and finally a well aged gouda. In this shop we also sampled two different wines. Didn't get any pictures but did pick up a can koozie (came with a beer as well). As a side note the cheeses can be brought back to the US if still sealed and could last a few days at AC/indoor temperatures.

Next stop was over on the French side at Sky's the Limit Lolo Bar and Restaurant.

Here we sampled a few items. Chicken leg or thigh, pork rib, coleslaw, potato salad, and a Johnny cake.

Various meats in the cooker

Johnny Cake being fried up fresh

Next stop was over by the infamous Princess Juliana International Airport at a spot called Karakter. Here we were served Dutch tapas, some Gouda, sausage, and olives. One of the other highlights was estennaly being left a bottle of vodka, rum, Blue Curacao, pineapple juice, and fruit punch. With those we were told to whip up our own concoctions and enjoy. Wanted to take the creation with you, a "Journey Cup" was provided.

Final stop was at French Bakery "La Sucriere" Pastry (on the Dutch side). Here we got a plate of various petit fours.

Overall I had a great time and thought it was well worth it. Was a great way to get driven around the island and absorb the scenery. The tour started and 9:30am and I was back on the ship before 2:30pm.

If you happen to be a "Foodie" type person I would say give the tour a shot.

[CGTLH 2,616]

If the previous post didn't get you hungry, time for the Windjammer Recon.

The Chef's Special for the night was "Caribbean Theme and Mongolian Live".

Before we start, anyone want to grab one of the included beverages?

First we'll hit up the Caribbean Theme section.

Next heading over to the back section where the Mongolian Live station is.

Pick some veggies

Can ask for various meats as well.

After that grab some dessert. Tonight they had various cupcakes and cookies.

Yes, the cookie selection did include the Coconut Ranger once (last ones on the right)

Not sure what these might be, I'll ask @Sweety

Finally if you happen to need to stick with a gluten free selection.

Also had hand scooped ice cream at this station as well.

[JLMoran 6,640]

7 hours ago, CGTLH said:

First stop/meeting location was the Amsterdam Cheese Shop and Liquor Store. If you happen to need to catch a cab, it was $3 a person. Otherwise it could be walked, traffic however on this stretch was somewhat slow. 

At the Cheese Shop we sampled five different varieties of cheese. A baby gouda, sheep's milk cheese, herbed gouda, an aged gouda, and finally a well aged gouda. In this shop we also sampled two different wines. Didn't get any pictures but did pick up a can koozie (came with a beer as well). As a side note the cheeses can be brought back to the US if still sealed and could last a few days at AC/indoor temperatures.

Was this cheese shop about a 10-minute walk down the main road from the port, basically hang a left at the port village exit and go to a long yellow building on the left side of the road? That was the cheese shop that we stopped in after our all-day tour with Capt. Bob / Soualiga Destinations, and they also noted we could bring the cheese back to the ship and expect it to be OK until we got back home. Had an amazing aged Gouda there that they were giving samples of as their "cheese of the day".

The marina entrance for Soualiga was at the end of that building, through a "tunnel" / archway in the building.