Holland America MS Amsterdam – Day 3 Pt. 2 – May 2015 – Sea Day

(Continued from Day 3, Pt. 1) …  After our trip to the front desk for quarters, we made our daily pilgrimage to the entrance of the Main Dining Room, to gaze upon the holy relic known as the “Daily Menu”… I will save the dinner menu for the dinner post, but here’s the lunch menu….

MS Amsterdam Main Dining Room Lunch Menu

But…. and that’s a big but…. in spite of the glorious offerings that were on the menu, we found out that they were setting up a Mongolian BBQ in the Lido Pool area.  If you’ve never had a Mongolian-Style BBQ, it goes a little like this…. You select raw meats and seafoods (if you wish), as well as veggies, rice, and noodles… Then you take it to someone who will cook it for you right then and there, while you wait.  Guaranteed fresh and hot, as well as entertaining.  The oldest of the teens decided to join me on my Mongolian adventure, while the other two went with my wife to the Lido Buffet.  We queued up for the Mongolian BBQ, and shortly thereafter learned that there were two lines, one starting fore, and one aft… We moved from the aft line to the fore line.  The line was still rather long and honestly, poorly managed… but the promised land lay just ahead.  After arriving at the raw food station, we piled our bowls high with fresh ingredients… which we now carried to another line… the cooking station line.

MS Amsterdam Lido Deck Mongolian BBQ

MS Amsterdam Lido Deck Mongolian BBQ Cooking Station

The lovely young lady cooked my goodies perfectly, and seasoned them as I wished (sweet and very spicy).  There was a decent variety of sauces available for the dish, some of which would be exotic to someone who had never set foot in an Asian market (i.e. fish sauce, and sambal oelek).  After being cooked up, my meal looked like this:

MS Amsterdam Lido Deck Mongolian BBQ Results

I had chosen clams, squid, mussels, shrimp, beef, and lots of yummy veggies.  This was stir-fried for me and although the wait (which I have to say was the ONLY line I stood in for the entire 3 days – another difference from other ships we have been on) was quite long, it was WELL worth it.  I would do it again, without a doubt.  I would likely show earlier and get a better spot, but other than that… I would not change a thing. … (Continue to Day 3, Pt. 3)