No LeCirque?

Last year my wife and I cruised on the Oosterdam on its first voyage out of dry dock in the Med. and had an amazing meal at Le Cirque....long story but the cruise ship sent us there to apologize for some construction material that flew down on our balcony. The meal was amazing. This year we are sailing on the Zuiderdam in August in the Baltic and I went online to book the Pinnacle Grill and wanted to book the Le Cirque but it isn't listed for its one night. Then I read online that some ships have a different specialty night Sol de ?????couldnt find much info other that you pay ala carte. Does anyone know any more about that? Is that what I should expect on the Zuiderdam? Anyone have a menu? Thanks for the help cc friends!

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Le Cirque is being dropped from all ships. We also enjoyed it quite a few times.

Sel de Mer is replacing it. I have read that some ships will be doing it ala carte while others will have a limited menu and a set price.

Time will tell what will happen.

... Anyone have a menu? ...

Here a copy of the Sel-de-Mer "sample" menu that I downloaded from the HAL web site.

Smooth sailing ...

sel-de-mer(1) 3-14-17.pdf

Here a copy of the Sel-de-Mer "sample" menu that I downloaded from the HAL web site.

Smooth sailing ...

Press release from Seattle said that Sel de Mer would be a "pop up" restaurant on the Vista and Signature class ships. According to the release will be $49 per person fixed price on these ships (likely due to limited menu).

We are still waiting for it to appear on our late September cruise- that night still only shows Canaletto. I called Ship Services and got the "should be available any day now" answer.

Le Cirque is being dropped from all ships. We also enjoyed it quite a few times.

Sel de Mer is replacing it. I have read that some ships will be doing it ala carte while others will have a limited menu and a set price.

Time will tell what will happen.

Sel de Mer? What an unfortunate name. My mind immediately went to "mal der mer". A not very good mental connection considering dining on a ship.

Sel de Mer? What an unfortunate name. My mind immediately went to "mal der mer". A not very good mental connection considering dining on a ship.

It's salt of the sea or sea salt. You can only imagine my "mental connection" when I read that you got sea sickness from sea salt. Remind me not to ask you to pass the salt. ;)

It's salt of the sea or sea salt. You can only imagine my "mental connection" when I read that you got sea sickness from sea salt. Remind me not to ask you to pass the salt. ;)

Oh but salt is gooooood....mmmmmmm. :)

Well, this is disappointing... We're booked on the westerdam over xmas and we were looking forward to le cirque. I'm OK with paying a supplement for an elevated service, but making a restaurant la carte for the meal makes little sense to me. We will not be supporting that change.

Well, this is disappointing... We're booked on the westerdam over xmas and we were looking forward to le cirque. I'm OK with paying a supplement for an elevated service, but making a restaurant la carte for the meal makes little sense to me. We will not be supporting that change.

According to press release only Koningsdam will be a la carte pricing. Pop ups will be $49 fixed price on other ships

We were on the WC in January and I noticed from some of the paperwork in the room that there was a Le Cerq coming up in about ten days. Knew that early reservations were a must, so walked up to the Pinnacle to see if I could make them. They told me that there was no Le Cirq (or however it is spelled) scheduled for that day. Thought maybe I made a mistake, so walked back to the room and found the flyer and went back to the Pinnacle. They seemed confused, looked into their records, and said that there was a President's Club event scheduled that day. I said "OK, we are on for 56 days, when is the next one scheduled?" They said "Sometime after you get off in Hong Kong." Kind of disappointing that now I know the real reason they gave me the run around.

According to press release only Koningsdam will be a la carte pricing. Pop ups will be $49 fixed price on other ships

How does a pop up restaurant on a cruise ship work, exactly? I understand the concept of a pop up restaurant, but the cruise ship part baffles me. Is there a pop up restaurant submarine that follows the ship? Are there stealth chefs booked who create the restaurant? If so, what's their luggage like? Carry on shallots and quail? Very confusing.

Over the last 5 or 6 years we have been to quite a few Le Cirque evenings in the Pinnacle Grill Restaurant . The evenings were always very nice but the menu it seemed had never been changed . Than about a year and a half ago we heard that the contract with Le Cirque New York had been cancelled .

On the Premier Cruise of the Koningsdam we tried out the Sel de Mer and were sold on it right away so over the three weeks we had four different and all great dinners there . Setting , service and menu choices were great ! :DBecause we found the dining room of the Koningsdam extremely noisy during the one lunch we had there , and it looks like an Ikea Cafeteria we stuck to doing a different specialty restaurant each night , The Pinnacle Grill (not as nice as on other ships ) Canaletto , Cullinary Arts Restaurant and our favourites the Tamarind and for lunch the Dutch Cafe :D:D:D. My friends and I thought the restaurant choices were one of the better things on the Koningsdam . We were no happy campers as far as the none existence of a library and that the rich long history of Holland America was nowhere to be seen and the ship was decked out as a modern arts museum :o

The new set up of the Lido Restaurant was also a big mis on the Koningsdam , to get a normal breakfast you had to go from station to station and you had to wait most of the time to be served , even for little things like some pieces of cheese .:o

How does a pop up restaurant on a cruise ship work, exactly? I understand the concept of a pop up restaurant, but the cruise ship part baffles me. Is there a pop up restaurant submarine that follows the ship? Are there stealth chefs booked who create the restaurant? If so, what's their luggage like? Carry on shallots and quail? Very confusing.

I laughed when I saw that. Perhaps one will pop up in the Neptune Lounge occasionally -)

How does a pop up restaurant on a cruise ship work, exactly?

I have a mental picture of a tent, or a camper, out on Lido Deck aft. Those are the only "pop up" images I otherwise have.

My TA called HAL and confirmed no Le Cirque. It will be sol de mar but no date avail as of yet. Also they said it was French sea food.

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I don't think it's related to HAL's break with them, but Le Cirque in New York filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It seems they owe many creditors a lot of money. They're staying open while they sort it all out.

http://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/news/le-cirque-files-bankruptcy

It will be sol de mar but no date avail as of yet. Also they said it was French sea food.

I don't think it's related to HAL's break with them, but Le Cirque in New York filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It seems they owe many creditors a lot of money. They're staying open while they sort it all out.

http://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/news/le-cirque-files-bankruptcy

It's important to note that Le Cirque (NY) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which involves a reorganization to keep the business going, and not a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which involves a liquidation of the business. So, yes, the NYC Le Cirque will remain open ... at least for the foreseeable future.

IMEO the Chapter 11 filing was very likely related to (or possibly even caused by) the termination of HAL's contract with the Maccioni family. The Maccioni family will be losing a significant amount of free cash flow when the HAL contract ends. After all, the Maccioni family incurs no operating expenses (food, labor, rent, utilities, etc.) in order to receive fees (for what amounted to a royalty for a license to use the Le Cirque service mark, recipes and "feel") from HAL. So virtually all of the HAL fees "fall to the bottom line" and, in turn, are available to the Maccioni family to cover cash flow shortfalls at any of their other bricks-and-mortar restaurants such as the NYC Le Cirque restaurant.

And now, this: http://www.grubstreet.com/2017/03/le-cirque-owners-filed-for-bankruptcy-then-the-chef-quit.html