New Menu for Mariners Brunch

[Infi]

I'm so sorry you had that experience, and can't imagine why it happened. We don't attend the Mariner's Lunch every time, but when we do - the line has moved quickly and folks have been personally escorted to a seat. We'll definitely catch the next one, as I'm excited about the new menu - Thanks for posting it, Sail.

 

We have been escorted to a seat on the last two Noordam cruises at the Mariners' Brunch.

 

I am relieved to hear our experience was an exception rather than the rule. :o The escorting sounds much better! I couldn't understand why they didn't do it at the Brunch - they do it every day at open seating, and the waitstaff was standing in a line, not doing anything. I look forward to my next experience with the Brunch, with the new menu and hopefully more organized seating.

[SwissMyst]

The few Mariners Luncheons we attended were also gracious in the usual HAL fashion in their welcome and escorting to our tables. It was more the pointlessness and dreary menu that kept us away from attending more.

 

They are in fact victims of their own success since there are so many repeat HAL passengers that the Mariners groups are large and the main activity of recognizing the upper reward level passengers presentation is often done out of sight or earshot.

 

So in the past it ended up being just a mediocre group lunch, but when shared with fellow repeat HAL passengers it always does offers good company and good conversation.

[SilvertoGold]

Back for the Oosterdam and the new Mariners Brunch menu.

A very welcome change: the original menu was getting old.

The salad was very fresh, very tasty. Shortribs are usually quite fat but HAL does a great job of slow roasting and this dish was wonderfully lean and flavorful. Dessert was sooooo much better than that Mango-Banana Strudel of old. No Petit Fours, unfortunately. Champagne was poured very generously and graciously. The Oosterdam certainly does a good job!

[maxout]

Back for the Oosterdam and the new Mariners Brunch menu.

A very welcome change: the original menu was getting old.

The salad was very fresh, very tasty. Shortribs are usually quite fat but HAL does a great job of slow roasting and this dish was wonderfully lean and flavorful. Dessert was sooooo much better than that Mango-Banana Strudel of old. No Petit Fours, unfortunately. Champagne was poured very generously and graciously. The Oosterdam certainly does a good job!

 

My thoughts exactly :D

[cruz chic]

We were on the Rotterdam in July & enjoyed lunch in the dining room on embarkation day as a pleasant & restful alternative to the hectic activity in the Lido. We did NOT, however, enjoy the Mariners' Brunch. I am sure that it will vary in quality from ship to ship & day to day, as these things do, but alas, we did not enjoy ours. I had the ribs & my wife had the fish. The whole meal was mediocre & definitely did not feel 'special' in any way, like the old event in the show lounge used to. Also, when they started doing the Mariners' Brunch, they used to serve really nice wines. On this occasion, both white & red wines were very poor. No sparkling wine was offered. We probably will not go again, as this is the second of these that we have found to be poor. :rolleyes:

 

I am very glad to read that it is not only us that detest the horrible spectacle of the Master Chef's Dinner. We avoid this too! :D

 

Before anyone asks why we cruise on HAL if we don't like it, we love sailing on HAL ships, we just dislike the Mariners' Brunch & hate the MCD! ;)

 

Come on HAL. You can do better.

I had the same experience with the Mariner brunch. The last time I went it wasn't a positve experience so I haven't gone for a while. I decided to give it a try and found the old menu was much better then this one. I did think the Key Lime pie was really good but the rest I could do without.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Originally we were not going to go to the new brucnh -- but at the last minutes we decided to give it a try.

 

Food was okay. Everyone at our table took one bite of the key lime pie and pushed it aside -- very, very bitter.

[cruz chic]

Originally we were not going to go to the new brucnh -- but at the last minutes we decided to give it a try.

 

Food was okay. Everyone at our table took one bite of the key lime pie and pushed it aside -- very, very bitter.

That's funny about the key lime pie. Maybe they fixed the recipe when I tried it:D.

[sail7seas]

Eurodam did a very nice job with Mariners Brunch. Both the Captain and Hotel Manager came and each hosted a table side by side which was extremely gracious of them. We were privileged to lunch with the Captain. They first had a gathering at Queen's Lounge where folks were acknowledged for medallions they already had and new ones were presented. Everyone was then escorted to dining room for a delicious lunch with all the wine or champagne we wanted. :)

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

That's funny about the key lime pie. Maybe they fixed the recipe when I tried it:D.

 

We were on a Collector's cruise and were only invited to the second Mariner's lunch -- 12:30 on Oct 23rd.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Eurodam did a very nice job with Mariners Brunch. Both the Captain and Hotel Manager came and each hosted a table side by side which was extremely gracious of them. We were privileged to lunch with the Captain. They first had a gathering at Queen's Lounge where folks were acknowledged for medallions they already had and new ones were presented. Everyone was then escorted to dining room for a delicious lunch with all the wine or champagne we wanted. :)

 

 

 

It has been a long time since any captain or hotel manger hosted any tables at hour Mariner brunches. They just come in -- say a few words -- walk out.

You get one glass of wine.

[Kay240]

That's funny about the key lime pie. Maybe they fixed the recipe when I tried it:D.

 

 

DH and I will not have a chance to try the new Mariner Brunch menu until next month. I wanted to say that different opinions about how delicious or terrible something tastes is due to more than our individual preferences. As I understand it, the Chefs are given some artistic leeway; they do not all use the same recipes! I discovered this when we cruised on the Statendam for 10 days Dec. '09, 33 days on the Rotterdam March-April '10 and 14 days on the Amsterdam June '10. I never noticed a real difference previously, and ate the corned beef hash on every cruise. It was really fantastic (to me) on the Statendam (mostly meat, not potatoes). I really looked forward to eating it many times on the Rotterdam, but it looked like it was beef, not corned beef, and had a lot of onions (possibly peppers, I can't remember) and GREASE...I could NOT eat it at all. The Amsterdam had a different recipe which to me was edible, but not good, so I only ordered it once.

[Krazy Kruizers]

DH and I will not have a chance to try the new Mariner Brunch menu until next month. I wanted to say that different opinions about how delicious or terrible something tastes is due to more than our individual preferences. As I understand it, the Chefs are given some artistic leeway; they do not all use the same recipes! I discovered this when we cruised on the Statendam for 10 days Dec. '09, 33 days on the Rotterdam March-April '10 and 14 days on the Amsterdam June '10. I never noticed a real difference previously, and ate the corned beef hash on every cruise. It was really fantastic (to me) on the Statendam (mostly meat, not potatoes). I really looked forward to eating it many times on the Rotterdam, but it looked like it was beef, not corned beef, and had a lot of onions (possibly peppers, I can't remember) and GREASE...I could NOT eat it at all. The Amsterdam had a different recipe which to me was edible, but not good, so I only ordered it once.

 

So very true. DH loves escargo and on our recent Ryndam cruise they came with a tomato sauce on top!! He loves it with the garlic and butter. Didn't order them the second week.

[m steve]

and ordered escargot with a garlic butter sauce and he would have been served it. I have had it with a Burgundy sauce with chopped mushrooms and that tasted pretty good but it had garlic.

[cruz chic]

We were on a Collector's cruise and were only invited to the second Mariner's lunch -- 12:30 on Oct 23rd.

We were on the ship at the same time then. My invite was on Oct.30th.

[esther e]

Gee, we thought the sole was excellent. However, the Key Lime Pie....well, it sure isn't "my" homemade KLP. I couldn't eat it and I love desserts!:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

and ordered escargot with a garlic butter sauce and he would have been served it. I have had it with a Burgundy sauce with chopped mushrooms and that tasted pretty good but it had garlic.

 

Unless something is really bad -- we don't make a fuss and as a rule don't request special food orders.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were on the ship at the same time then. My invite was on Oct.30th.

 

Then they had a week to get the recipe right.