Congratulations, Holland America!!

I see in Cruise News that HAL was chosen as the best ocean cruise line in 2017 for dining.

Our first cruise on Hal is Jan 28, 2018. Looking forward to it even more.

Congratulations Holland America.

e3g - hope you have a wonderful cruise.

Congratulations to HAL. Good to hear because there are always so many negative comments about food.

Allan

Nice to know! Congrats to HAL!

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They weren't evaluating the cruise we were just on--bad in dining room and Pinacle Grill. Lido was loaded with people that just couldn't deal with the dining room. We stuck it out (except for the bad experience at Pinacle), but strolled through Lido to see what was going on, and of course, we talked to people. Breakfast was also very lacking in the dining room. Can't speak about lunch; we just couldn't deal with it and the other two meals.

Congrats to HAL!

Denise:)

Congrats, HAL, and thanks for making cruising so scrumptious! (y)(y)(y)

They weren't evaluating the cruise we were just on--bad in dining room and Pinacle Grill. Lido was loaded with people that just couldn't deal with the dining room. We stuck it out (except for the bad experience at Pinacle), but strolled through Lido to see what was going on, and of course, we talked to people. Breakfast was also very lacking in the dining room. Can't speak about lunch; we just couldn't deal with it and the other two meals.

Sounds like a lot of not being able to “deal” with things. Any specifics you can mention?

Of course, you should probably avoid HAL in future.

Congratulations HAL.

I sure hope that it is true as we gave up eating in the dining room a number of years ago. Quality of food had gone downhill.

They weren't evaluating the cruise we were just on--bad in dining room and Pinacle Grill. Lido was loaded with people that just couldn't deal with the dining room. We stuck it out (except for the bad experience at Pinacle), but strolled through Lido to see what was going on, and of course, we talked to people. Breakfast was also very lacking in the dining room. Can't speak about lunch; we just couldn't deal with it and the other two meals.

Please tell us more details.

What did you do about lunch?

As we reported to the hotel manager,

1) service was slow, slow, slow--and the dining room on our level was only half to a little over half

full. I assume that more diners would have made it worse.

2) food that was supposed to be hot was often only luke-warm.

3) shrimp were improperly cooked--some of the 5 undercooked and some over cooked, none had

made it to "as they should be."

4) recipe for Shrimp Diablo as served in the dining room was lacking. The next day, Shrimp

Diablo was one of the recipes prepared in the Cooks Illustrated kitchen. I asked if it were the

same recipe as served in the dining room the night before. The answer, "Definitely not."

5) Even though the dining room had many empty, or nearly empty tables, there were too many

for the space. Our table for 10 had 4 diners. Tables were so crowded that servers had to walk

around 3 tables to get two people after taking the order for the first two. After the first night, we

tried to sit so they would be able to reach all four of us using the same path--not possible, but

we did manage to sit so that they had to travel around only one table to reach the two that

could be reached on the "first pass."

6) breakfast required signing in with our cabin number--why? Obviously, we were on the ship

and entitled to eat there. The sign-in process and checking us off took quite a bit of time and

resulted in slow entrance to the room. The computer, apparently, assigned which table we

would go to for sharing. One morning, the table was for 6 and 4 were already seated. That left

spaces for the two of us at opposite ends of the table. We could have done it, but didn't want

to, nor did we want to make the people already seated shuffle about. The waiter told us to

"stand here, and I will go find out where I can seat you." We did, and waited, and waited.

Finally, we left. At the desk, they said, "Oh, don't leave. We have found a table for you."

There were tables as far as the eye could see-----why the wait for the computer to decide

where it wanted us to be? We went to the Lido and had a far better selection of food. Our

experience, I think, explains why almost no one was eating breakfast in the main dining room.

The days we did eat there--5 of the 7--again, the service was incredibly slow: slow to take

the orders, very slow to bring the food, and day after day, not getting everything required at

anything like the same time: bread without marmelade; coffee, but a long wait for anyone

having tea; danish delivered, but toast/English muffin/ not appearing until long after the food

it was to be eaten with had been delivered. Just a generally unsatisfactory experience--not

once, every day.

7. Pinacle Grill, which has, in the past, been a favorite for us. This time, many of the same

problems evident in the dining room were a part of the Pinacle Grill experience: slow service,

and servers who really didn't know what to do. We had baked potatoes served with the sour

cream already on them; butter traditionally goes first to from the foundation for adding cream--

and I never add sour cream, so the potato had to go back. Another was not brought for some

time even though the rest of my meal was there, and I had, of course, planned to eat the

potato with the meal. Asparagus was to be for sharing: the dish it was brought in had 4 tiny

spears. One of us took the four there were and sent the waiter back for more. Did it come

quickly? So that it could be enjoyed with the meal? No. We have always felt the fillet was a

good one in the Grill--not this time. I looked over and saw that the slice my husband had cut off

was lying on the plate, and he was "attempting" to cut it. He ate it, but very obviously, it wasn't

what it supposed to be, nor was it anything we have ever experienced there before. They

provided a desert and asked if we wanted to eat it there or take it to our room. We said we

would eat it there. They left with it, which we both felt was not a good sign: plates could have

simply been brought. Sure enough, after a long wait, it was returned, packaged to take to

the room. During this time, did we get our coffee? NO. We said, again, we wanted to eat

it there. Oh, yes, right away. But of course, it wasn't anything like right away. Again, not a

horrible experience, just a long way from a good one, and definitely not one would choose to

pay extra for.

8. Lunch? We utilized the taco bar in the pool area, the hot dog/hamburger spot, a salad or two from the Lido, etc.

After returning home, we were chatting with friends who recently did a 28 day cruise with HAL. Their experience was much the same. The husband said, "Honestly, I've never been on a cruise before where I either didn't care whether we went to dinner or disliked the thought of going." Their report made me glad this was only a 7 day cruise for us. Will we book HAL again? I honestly don't know. It was the cruise line we began on and enjoyed. Then we migrated to another line, but returned to HAL last year and enjoyed the experience--but this experience was definitely the worst we've ever had on any line.

What ship were you on and when? We were on the Rotterdam in Feb/Mar 2017 and the Veendam Oct 2017 and did not experience anything like this. Good food and excellent service for 50 days.

Westerdam, Dec. 1st-8th.

Yikes Pstreet 12. I don't blame you for not wanting to return real quick. If I have a bad experience at a restaurant for example I will give them one more chance. Maybe the staff was new?? Hoping for the best on our upcoming cruise in August on the Volendam.

Westerdam, Dec. 1st-8th.

What Dining Time did you have in the MDR? Was it Open Seating?

Hopefully, it will be a good one. We've never experienced anything like this cruise--on any line--so perhaps there were factors operating that we couldn't see.

We felt we gave the main dining room more than enough chances; it wasn't just one dinner: it was every dinner. It wasn't just one breakfast: it was every breakfast. This certainly wasn't a maiden cruise--but they definitely had problems.

What Dining Time did you have in the MDR? Was it Open Seating?

Early seating. We've decided that switching to open seating is probably a smart move, certainly more chance to consistently have a full table. (The lack of a full table wasn't the staff's fault, of course, but since there were so many empty or partially full tables, we did wonder why some combinations weren't done.)

I will say with hundreds of sail days under our belt that we've found quality of food to be totally ship-specific. Some pizzas are good, some dreadful, some seafood very good, some terrible, cookies great on one ship dreadful on another. The only thing that's a constant? Cold coffee in the MDR! Coffee carafes in the Lido keep it much hotter!

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We, too, have hundreds of nights sailing, so we aren't evaluating based on only a few experiences--though that cruise was bad enough to make a new cruiser not repeat the experience.

Congratulations HAL!

Thanks for posting.

David

I see in Cruise News that HAL was chosen as the best ocean cruise line in 2017 for dining.

Our first cruise on Hal is Jan 28, 2018. Looking forward to it even more.

Can you provide a link to this information?

Thanks

That is very nice.

I read about HAL winning the Dining category for ocean cruises on CC under Cruise news.

OMG, I can only imagine the whinning when people find that cruise line X won a particular category they disagree with. Katy, bar the door!!!!

Can you provide a link to this information?

 

Thanks

Cruise Critic picks world's best cruise ships for 2017

http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cruise-critic-editors-picks-2017/index.html

Best New Ship: MSC Seaside

Best Ship Refurbishment: Holland America Line's Westerdam

Best for Adventure: Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic

Best Cabins: Celebrity Cruises

Best Dining: Holland America Line

Best Entertainment: Disney Cruise Line

Best for Families: Disney Cruise Line

Best Itineraries: Princess Cruises

Best Nightlife: Norwegian Cruise Line

Best for Romance: Celebrity Cruises

Best Service: Carnival Cruise Line

Best Shore Excursions: Celebrity Cruises

Best for Solo Travelers: Norwegian Cruise Line

Best Suites: Royal Caribbean International

Best Value for Money: Carnival Cruise Line

Best North American Homeport: Quebec Cit

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We are sailing on zuiderdam later this month, first time on HAL. Made the choice based on itinerary and sail dates. Though we booked quite early we had to take anytime dining (dh a bit disappointed as we prefer a 2 top late assignment). Can’t wait to tell my husband HAL received best dining (he’s a foodie).

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