HA Pizza (YUCK)

[Hlitner]

A pizza-related thread on another board made me think about this topic. We cruise on quite a few different cruise lines (12 to date) and love them all. HA is currently our line of choice (Celebrity would be in 2nd place) and we typically take pretty long HA cruises (generally on the Prinsendam). One thing that is consistently awful on HA is their Pizza! On the Prinsendam (we love the ship and most of its cuisine) the Pizza is usually so bad that it is rumored that the fish even go swimming away from the ship screaming about the bad pizza. When we cruise on Princess (the best pizza at sea) or Celebrity we love to have pizza at lunch as a change of pace. On HA we just scowl at the pizza chef and walk towards other options (such as the very good sandwich bar). So, if any HA staff is monitoring this board and sees this post, please please please send your chefs over to Princess for some Pizza 101 training :)

 

Hank

[LindaM]

A pizza-related thread on another board made me think about this topic. We cruise on quite a few different cruise lines (12 to date) and love them all. HA is currently our line of choice (Celebrity would be in 2nd place) and we typically take pretty long HA cruises (generally on the Prinsendam). One thing that is consistently awful on HA is their Pizza! On the Prinsendam (we love the ship and most of its cuisine) the Pizza is usually so bad that it is rumored that the fish even go swimming away from the ship screaming about the bad pizza. When we cruise on Princess (the best pizza at sea) or Celebrity we love to have pizza at lunch as a change of pace. On HA we just scowl at the pizza chef and walk towards other options (such as the very good sandwich bar). So, if any HA staff is monitoring this board and sees this post, please please please send your chefs over to Princess for some Pizza 101 training :)

 

Hank

 

I think pizza is a personal preference. We live within walking distance of Little Caesars, so we know bad pizza very well!! I liked the pizza on Prinsendam in August and brought a lot of it to our cabin for a late night snack. (I also happen to like cold pizza!)

 

We are going on Princess next Sept., so I can see what you are talking about! In retrospect, I guess Celebrity's pizza is much better! I wouldn't have wanted to make a meal of the HAL pizza, but it was good for a snack.

[Krazy Kruizers]

It has been a while since we cruised Princess -- but we did love their pizza.

I have never had any good pizza on any HAL ship -- soggy crusts -- cold -- thin -- greasy -- you name it. We always try the pizza once just to see if it has improved.

[bet410]

IMO the quality of the pizza varies from ship to ship on the HAL line. Unfortunately my favorite ship (the Amsterdam) didn't have very good pizza. The pizza we had on the Maasdam last summer was passable. But the pizza we had on the Westerdam was pretty good. Not my favorite pizza as I'm spoiled by really good Chicago-style pizza, but at least it satisfied my pizza craving. My other "pizza problem" is that I'm one of those Mid-westerners who really likes sausage pizza rather than pepperoni, and you just can't find that on a HAL ship!

[luvcruisn']

I have tried the pizza on a few ships, and it does vary. On the Veendam, it was very poor, but on some of the Vista ships - Zuiderdam and Westerdam, it was good. I will keep trying it at least once on every ship to see how it is.

[Lesinindy]

Those folks in Chicago don't like any other pizza. I'm from LA and will eat anything.

[sail7seas]

We have found pizza inconsistent among the ships. I don't rave about any of it but we thought pizza on Eurodam and Noordam was better in fairly recent cruises than we have had on Maasdam and Westerdam. We'll try it on Nieuw Amsterdam soon and I expect it will probably compare to Eurodam's.

 

It seems clear from this thread we all have very individual ideas of what is good pizza. If we can't agree, I can see it would be hard for the ships to please all (most ?) of us. :D

 

[bet410]

Those folks in Chicago don't like any other pizza. I'm from LA and will eat anything.

 

Hey, I'm from the Chicago area, and I can eat other kinds of pizza. :D My preference is for a good deep dish sausage pizza, but I do like other kinds - preferably Margherita, which IIRC they sometimes serve on the ships.

[kjw869]

We've found the best time to eat HAL pizza is after 9 PM when many of the crew, entertainers and sales support staff fill the Lido area. I notice the staff bringing one pizza out after another.

 

However, we don't go on cruises to eat pizza. But when we do, it's at the time mentioned above.

[terrydtx]

Come on pizza on a cruise? Save pizza for your favorite pizzeria back home. Eat the foods you can't make or eat back home while on a cruise. Let's throw in how bad the burgers are as well at the Terrace grill.:eek: I think the coffee on HAL is nothing short of dish water but I do not pick my cruises because of the quality of the coffee, pizza or burgers, good thing for HAL.:eek:

[tcook052]

A pizza-related thread on another board made me think about this topic.

 

It was recently discussed in this HAL thread also:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1495818&highlight=pizza

[SwissMyst]

Come on pizza on a cruise? Save pizza for your favorite pizzeria back home. Eat the foods you can't make or eat back home while on a cruise. Let's throw in how bad the burgers are as well at the Terrace grill.:eek: I think the coffee on HAL is nothing short of dish water but I do not pick my cruises because of the quality of the coffee, pizza or burgers, good thing for HAL.:eek:

 

We thought HAL french fries from the Grill were particularly good, but with "Dutch" potato traditions, they should have been.

 

HAL pizza makes a good lunch time light snack - hot bread crust, some things on top, some cheese - okay, good enough, save room for dinner later. Have some ice tea. Done.

[HoneyGV]

I know pizza is different for different folks, but I love the pizza on old Carnival Fantasy and Sensation.

 

They have a pizza "parlor" and ice cream/yogurt bar 24/7, and I thought the pizza was terrific. It had a light crispy crust and the plain pepperoni tasted super to me.

 

HAL's is ok for a quick bite but nothing like Carnival's. IMO.

 

HAL's french fries are good too.

[jbhcw]

I know pizza is different for different folks, but I love the pizza on old Carnival Fantasy and Sensation.

 

They have a pizza "parlor" and ice cream/yogurt bar 24/7, and I thought the pizza was terrific. It had a light crispy crust and the plain pepperoni tasted super to me.

 

HAL's is ok for a quick bite but nothing like Carnival's. IMO.

 

HAL's french fries are good too.

 

Another carnival pizza person. It is really good for a late night snack before bed, I know bad for you, but if it's hot, a nice slice of plain cheese is great:) our last Hal cruise was the Zaandam and it never in 15 days looked good enough to eat, I will give it a look on the NA next month:)

[piscesgal223]

The Oosterdam's pizza's pizza was really good. Didn't try the pizza on the Eurodam but I have heard it's below par.

[innlady1]

When I want pizza, I order the Greek pizza from a local pizzaria...however, we do enjoy the antipasto in the Canaletto! :cool:

We, too, don't sail on HAL for the pizza, burgers, or quality of the coffee...for good coffee, we either bring our own starbuck's instant packets and order hot water or order from the Explorations Cafe. We sail to enjoy the escargot, the creme brulee, the room service breakfasts, and all the wonderful meals in the MDR or Pinnacle!

[terrydtx]

[We, too, don't sail on HAL for the pizza, burgers, or quality of the coffee...for good coffee, we either bring our own starbuck's instant packets and order hot water or order from the Explorations Cafe. We sail to enjoy the escargot, the creme brulee, the room service breakfasts, and all the wonderful meals in the MDR or Pinnacle! [/size][/font]

 

Exactly:D

[bepsf]

You're on a Dutch ship that's staffed by Indonesians and Filipinos, and expecting great PIZZA?

:confused:

[KirkNC]

I agree, we just avoid it.

 

Kirk

[Taxguy77]

You're on a Dutch ship that's staffed by Indonesians and Filipinos, and expecting great PIZZA?

:confused:

 

The chef who developed the menus is another nationality and the food manager is probably not any of the above.

My first TA was on a Japanize freighter in the 50s, only 11 pax so everyone was seated with an officer. The chefs had to prepare working-class food for the crew and European food for the officers and pax. He had two cookbooks (We figured out), one in English and one in French. Every evening we had a freshly printed menu listing each dish in the language it appeared in the book. The only choice was eat it or not, but I never heard anyone complain.

By the way, cruise ships today with all the ammenities and choices cost less in $$ and much less in inflation-adjusted $$. Now you hear complaints Go figure. :rolleyes:

[SwissMyst]

With each cruise, I become more and more grateful when food is more okay than wowsie delectible, gotta have more, best in the world and can't live without it. Makes for clothes that still fit by the end of the cruise.

 

Pleasant food, nice variety, the fresher the better, charming service, speedy delivery and reasonable preparation when on a cruise ship works best for me ..... and my foodie palate is far more demanding when going to land-based restuarants.

 

But on a cruise, I have found I had better just "eat" than dine finely every single meal. Ice tea with that, and please half-portions always. Just don't get between me and the fresh baked breads and sweet butter though. Stay away from that bread basket and no one gets hurt. :p

[Himself]

A pizza-related thread on another board made me think about this topic. We cruise on quite a few different cruise lines (12 to date) and love them all. HA is currently our line of choice (Celebrity would be in 2nd place) and we typically take pretty long HA cruises (generally on the Prinsendam). One thing that is consistently awful on HA is their Pizza! On the Prinsendam (we love the ship and most of its cuisine) the Pizza is usually so bad that it is rumored that the fish even go swimming away from the ship screaming about the bad pizza. When we cruise on Princess (the best pizza at sea) or Celebrity we love to have pizza at lunch as a change of pace. On HA we just scowl at the pizza chef and walk towards other options (such as the very good sandwich bar). So, if any HA staff is monitoring this board and sees this post, please please please send your chefs over to Princess for some Pizza 101 training :)

 

Hank

 

None of them are as good as Lou Malnattis', Uno's or Due's

[bet410]

None of them are as good as Lou Malnattis', Uno's or Due's

 

:D Uno's and Gino's East are my absolute faves! (Love the patty sausage.) Never tried Lou Malnati's but googled it. Uh, oh... one in close to home! I hear a pizza calling me! :D

[Richie2pies]

People have different tastes in pizza, but I think most people would agree that HAL's pizza is B-A-D! HAL should send their pizza chefs to Princess to learn how to make a pizza that most people like.

[Typhoon1]

We've seen worse on CCL.