Recent Experience - Carnival vs HAL

[djhsolara]

I begin by saying that I’m writing this as somewhat of a comparison between our recent experiences on Carnival Splendor compared to a normal experience for us on Holland America Line (which is our “go-to” cruise line). I’m not looking for criticism because I’m not a Carnival cheerleader and I’m not a HAL cheerleader…I’m just stating facts that we observed, mixed in with a few of my personal opinions.

EMBARKATION

I’ll just say that embarkation in NYC runs circles around any other embarkation that we’ve experienced. From the time that we got out of the taxi it was about 10 minutes or less until we checked our luggage, were checked in and were sitting in the lounge waiting to board the ship. Extremely smooth experience.

SHIP

When I heard that the ship was basically decorated in pink, I was expecting Pepto everywhere, but that was not the case. We found the ship to be in very good repair and found it to generally be very nice in appearance. I have to say that the Farcus Carnival ships all basically look the same to me with a little change up in the theme…but isn’t that every ship of a particular line? I’m not sure how they do it. I think they come up with a palate of about 100 different patterns/colors and say that this is the palate for this particular lounge/room. For instance, the Gold Pearl Dining Room has gold pearls EVERYWHERE…the chandeliers, around all the lights, around all the windows, the whole way around the overhang of the balcony…not to mention the gold pearls in the shells that are on the ceiling that look like fried eggs. They are also in the carpet…but the chairs are somewhat of a strange thing…they match or go with nothing. I just think they over-do it to the extreme…to me it is sensory overload in almost every public space. We much prefer the simple beauty of the HAL ships…understated elegance. Something that we did notice, however, was that on HAL most of the furniture in the public lounges/dining rooms is covered in some sort of leather (or faux leather) while on Carnival mostly everything is covered in fabric.

FOOD

IMHO, the food on this Carnival sailing was far inferior to HAL. This is not how we remembered it from our two past Carnival sailings. On our past Carnival sailings we remember liking the food very much, but it was just “meh” this time (We even did the Chef’s Table and were not nearly as impressed with it as we were when we did it on the Pride). Other than the Filet Mignon that was available at the Seaday Brunch in the dining room, I couldn’t get a good piece of beef at all…steak, prime rib, chateaubriand…they were all bad and I had to get replacement dinners (and I’ve never done that before on any cruiseline). I never tried the everyday Flat Iron steak because I was too scared since none of the other beef was good. The soups and salads were good and the desserts were okay.

The Seaday Brunch had some of the best food in the dining room. You can’t go wrong with Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon…or the Steak and Eggs with the Filet Mignon as the steak…or Froot Loop crusted French Toast. The brunch concept there is great.

Food in the Lido was at best “so-so”. The Mongolian Wok is a nice idea but there are usually such long lines and there is nothing in that Lido (other than the pizza) that I considered good enough that I wanted to stand in line for it. There were two good things in the Lido: the Rotisserie and the Pizza. The Rotisserie is upstairs and had a few salads, baked potatoes, Mac & Cheese (the same stuff you could get at the Seaday Brunch) and rotisserie chicken pieces/parts…and it was all good and it was much less crowded up there. The pizza (which was located outside of the Lido restaurant by the midship pool) was wonderful. Individual hand-stretched pizzas that were cooked to perfection…the only problem was that there were never enough pizzas. There was almost always a line there and many evenings there was only one person working and he wouldn’t serve up any of the pizzas until he had like 4 or 5 of them out of the oven to serve rather than serving as they came out. It just didn’t seem like an efficient operation to us, but the pizza was so good that we still waited for it. HAL could take a lesson from Carnival on this one…and specifically Splendor. We don’t remember pizza like this at all on our other Carnival sailings.

Two other food items outside of the dining rooms that we enjoyed were 1) The Taste (I believe that is what it was called). It is at what I believe was previously a Sushi bar. On sea day evenings prior to dinner they provided tastings of bits of food from different Carnival food venues (not specifically those on Splendor). These tastes were very good. The other thing was 2) the desserts that were available at the coffee bar by the casino. The Carrot Cake there was “to die for”…many layers and just heaven. We got a few other desserts there as well that were very delicious. The alcoholic coffee beverages were also very good there and a very good deal for price.

DINING EXPERIENCE

1) We had what was probably the worse dining team that we’ve experienced on any cruise. It seemed that often they were very disorganized…one person would take our order but then another would come to take our order. It just didn’t seem like they were communicating with one another. Many evenings they would bring out an extra plate of something and just sit it on our table and say “Here, try this”. One other thing that we noticed was that not once did we see the Maitre d’ going through the dining room asking how everything was going. We have never seen this before…every cruise (Carnival and non-Carnival) we’ve been on the Maitre d’ has gone through the dining room stopping at every table to ask how things were going. Finally, after a few nights we talked to the Maitre d’ about the sloppy service…and we told him that if he were going through the dining room checking on his diners we wouldn’t have had to have this conversation with him. Funny thing was, the next two nights the Maitre d’ came to our table to talk to us, but he didn’t stop at any other table to check on anyone else…so this was just something to shut us up and try to make it right with us.

2) Many people are upset about the upcoming changes to the Carnival menus and dining rooms…tablecloths going away other than on elegant nights, etc. Here is my take on it (and I’m sure it is going to tick off many Carnival cruisers)…first of all I think that Carnival is changing to the desires that their clientele shows in their dining rooms. It is not “fine dining” on Carnival Splendor...it is tan tablecloths and napkins (as opposed to white), regular dinnerware and glassware (as opposed to china and stemware), stainless steel flatware (as opposed to silver)…not a proprietary piece of anything on the table (unlike HAL who has HAL china and silver flatware). Regarding changing to the desires that their clientele show…when you dress for dinner like you’re going to Denny’s or a backyard BBQ, why would you expect to be served according to fine dining establishments? I realize that the Carnival ships are the “Fun Ships” and there isn’t a specific dress code, but on HAL (and on every cruise we do) we dress for dinner…we don’t dress up every night, but at least a shirt and long pants. When you’re wearing shorts, t-shirts, baseball hats and flip-flops to dinner what do you expect? Why shouldn’t they take the tablecloths away? They aren’t lessening the experience; they are equating it to what their customer’s are showing they want. I must say, however, that generally people looked very nice on the elegant nights…with the exception of the t-shirt with the tie printed on it and the people in uniform (these were not military) that did not remove their hats at the table.

SPA

We were in a Spa Balcony…the perks of this stateroom included upgraded toiletries (little bottles of the Elemis shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, lotion and a bar of soap), towels, linens, beach towels and robes as well as unlimited access to the Thalassotherapy Pool and various thermal rooms (two steam rooms, heated lounger room and heated bench room). There was a circular stairway (and elevator that wasn’t working) in our area that took us directly up to the spa. It could have been used by anyone, but was specifically in the spa stateroom area and made it feel like a private stairway just for the spa rooms. We did not pay that much more for a spa balcony (just a bit more than we would have paid for the unlimited Thalasso Pool/Thermal Suite pass), so this was a no-brainer for us. One nice thing about the Thalasso Pool/Thermal Suite on Splendor is that those getting spa treatments do NOT get access to this area as part of their treatment since people pay specifically to use this area (we asked about this). This whole spa room concept as well as the access to the T-pool/Thermal Suite is something that HAL should incorporate. A spa room on HAL is nothing other than upgraded décor, a useless water feature, a yoga mat and a few bottles of water (along with perhaps a few “discounts” on spa services)…not really any good spa features are included…and the staircase connecting the T-pool to the spa room floor on Eurodam has been closed and from what I’ve been told is going to be removed (if it hasn’t already been removed).

Additionally, the staff at the desk in the Spa was very friendly and professional. When there was an issue for two days with T-pool, rather than just passing it off as an issue, the Spa Manager provided us with scrubs to use in the special shower areas. When we’ve had issues at the Spa on HAL, it is like jumping through hoops to get anything done…and they still don’t want to do it or seem to want to take responsibility for it.

HANDWASHING/CODE

We found it interesting that there was a general lack of “required” hand sanitizing on Splendor. On HAL, we are used to being met by a crew member at the doors to the Lido and the MDR basically squirting hand sanitizer onto everyone’s hands (I don’t think anyone gets through without sanitizing their hands). This was not so on Splendor and I rarely saw others using the hand sanitizer station prior to entering the dining room.

On the same level, everyone serves themselves in the buffet, etc for the entire cruise unlike on HAL, where you are served for the first so many hours (sorry, I don’t remember how long, but I’m thinking 48 hours). I don’t know if it has to do with the general demographics on Carnival vs HAL (mostly younger vs mostly older)…are younger people less susceptible to noro?

ENTERTAINMENT

We enjoyed that there was almost always some sort of live entertainment available all over the ship in the evenings. Whether it was the show in the main showroom or singers in the lobby atrium or by the casino or the comedy club…there was always something for everyone.

Speaking of the comedy club…we went for a show twice and enjoyed them. I know they were adult shows, but I still have a hard time believing that the corporate moguls at Carnival approve the script of “This is an adult show and if you don’t like it then get the f*** out”. I’m not a prude and am not easily offended, but this was bordering offensive to me. As I said, it really doesn’t matter to me, but I find it hard to believe that this is a script that is approved by their corporate.

In the main showroom, there were a few decent shows but the main male and female singer just didn’t seem to “gel” together. I don’t know if they were just recently put together, but there didn’t seem to be any performance chemistry between them (and I’ve seen this in other’s reviews as well, so it isn’t just me). Additionally, there was a Latin themed show and it honestly was far from Latin.

OVERALL

We went into this cruise with an “it is what it is” attitude. It was a very inexpensive vacation for us and we didn’t have high expectations. I say this because the first time we cruised Carnival we left saying “We could go back here” and based on that experience, the second time we cruised Carnival we cruised with every intention of making a future cruise deposit for the Breeze or Dream (I’m not sure which one it was at the time), but did not enjoy the experience as much and never made that deposit…in fact we left that cruise saying “How soon can we get back on Holland America?”. It was only because of the great deal that we received that we booked this cruise (not to mention the fact that we just took the train and spent the day prior to sailing in NYC shopping and seeing a show). In the end, even though there are some things that we didn’t specifically enjoy, there were many things that we did enjoy and we said that given the right opportunity we would definitely cruise on this ship again.

[K&RCurt]

Thanks for your review and comparison.

 

Our DD and her, at the time, fiance sailed with us on the Eurodam then the next year went on a Carnival cruise for their honeymoon. Their experience pretty much parallels yours. They are in their late 20s and prefer HAL by a long sho, for just the reasons you state.

[jbhcw]

Good review…thanks for posting…many of my same thoughts. Our last Carnival cruise may just be our last…although I love Carnival the product has just changed so much over the years…and we have gotten older too:eek: and don't see things in the same light we did 20 years ago.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head with your description of the dining experience…we have always thought Carnival's food very good…but our last cruise food was just food..nothing else…waiters were so rushed they were just flying by our table…I miss the Sushi, not so crazy about the taste bar…and never even tried a Guy Burger…just too much heartburn staring at me…But I do love their pizza!

 

We have also sailed Hal many times and this is where we are now leaning…that being said I would still book a cruise on a newer Carnival ship with a good itinerary….

 

Our last cruise was so disappointing am probably canceling our current booked cruise…just cannot get excited about it at all.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the Good review..

[rjrpar]

Good post, we think Carnival is cutting on service in the MDR. However, you're right about the "fine dining comment", but do you really believe HAL is fine dining? Dining on all mass market cruises is following the same trend.

[POA1]

Thanks for the review!

[Roz]

Thanks for the review. HAL is also my "go to" line, but I stretch my vacation budget with a few cruises on Carnival. Last Carnival cruise was the Freedom in 2011, and I noticed the food had taken a downturn. Not terrible, but not up to previous cruises.

 

My next Carnival cruise is the Miracle to Alaska this coming September. I'm hoping we'll have the new menues so I make my own determination after reading about so much negatives on the Carnival board.

 

Roz

[djhsolara]

Good post, we think Carnival is cutting on service in the MDR. However, you're right about the "fine dining comment", but do you really believe HAL is fine dining? Dining on all mass market cruises is following the same trend.

 

 

Compared to the Carnival dining experience, in my opinion HAL would be considered fine dining, but compared to what I consider fine dining on land, to answer your question, no.

 

The only fine dining experience we've ever encountered on a ship was in the Olympic Dining Room (specialty) on Celebrity Millennium. Several courses spaced out properly, basically someone watching over our table from afar the entire time, domed entrees with the domes removed simultaneously and food that went beyond expectation...a great experience. That experience was actually one of the best meals that I've ever experienced anywhere (and we've been around the block with dining).

Edited February 12, 2014 by djhsolara

[sppunk]

Thanks for your review- it has been many years since we sailed Carnival, back then I honestly thought their food was amongst the best. You aren't the only one I've heard say its quality has seriously diminished, esp in the lido.

 

On an unrelated note, I live just north of you in Camp Hill. I hope you have your snow shovel ready for Thursday! :)

[djhsolara]

Thanks for your review- it has been many years since we sailed Carnival, back then I honestly thought their food was amongst the best. You aren't the only one I've heard say its quality has seriously diminished, esp in the lido.

 

On an unrelated note, I live just north of you in Camp Hill. I hope you have your snow shovel ready for Thursday! :)

 

 

Yes, we're ready...so bring on the snow...AGAIN. We just bought a snowblower this year and it is certainly getting broken in this year.

[sppunk]

Yes, we're ready...so bring on the snow...AGAIN. We just bought a snowblower this year and it is certainly getting broken in this year.

 

That was a wise purchase, I hope you weren't one of the many w/ out power until Saturday or Sunday. What a mess that storm was, destroyed one of our apple trees.

[Jemery]

We took a two week cruise on the Carnival Breeze in October-November 2012 and the overall experience was so bad, with some bright spots, that it will be a long time before we go back. Carnival had no control over the weather, but there was enough advance notice of it that they could have gone to alternate ports; the CD was flat out not up to the task, and her sarcastic comments about it infuriated the passengers. The entertainment in the main lounge was below par, and the accompanying music was so loud that it drove people out of the main lounge. It was all followed up by Carnival's indifferent corporate attitude (if anyone doubts me, they can read any number of reviews of the October 21, 2012 Carnival Breeze cruise here and on the Carnival site).

 

On the other hand, we had no problems with the food in the MDR or lido although not quite the same expereince as earlier Carnival cruises, service was decent, but it was obvious that they were serving more tables than they had on our previous cruises, afternoon tea was a joy. The entertainment in the atrium was very good, and also in some of the bars. I think it comes down to the difference between having someone who is customer oriented running the company and following him with a bean counter.

 

-John

[erewhon]

Thank you for your interesting review.

[djhsolara]

That was a wise purchase, I hope you weren't one of the many w/ out power until Saturday or Sunday. What a mess that storm was, destroyed one of our apple trees.

 

 

Fortunately we did not lose power at all...but about 1 mile from us they were out for a while and we had friends who didn't get power back until Sunday. It was very eerie driving down the road with absolute darkness...stop signs in place of the red lights...grocery stores and mini markets closed, etc.

[cruisetrail]

I begin by saying that I’m writing this as somewhat of a comparison between our recent experiences on Carnival Splendor compared to a normal experience for us on Holland America Line (which is our “go-to” cruise line).

I’m not looking for criticism because I’m not a Carnival cheerleader and I’m not a HAL cheerleader…I’m just stating facts that we observed, mixed in with a few of my personal opinions.

EMBARKATION

I’ll just say that embarkation in NYC runs circles around any other embarkation that we’ve experienced.

From the time that we got out of the taxi it was about 10 minutes or less until we checked our luggage, were checked in and were sitting in the lounge waiting to board the ship. Extremely smooth experience.

 

SHIP

 

When I heard that the ship was basically decorated in pink, I was expecting Pepto everywhere, but that was not the case.

We found the ship to be in very good repair and found it to generally be very nice in appearance. I have to say that the Farcus Carnival ships all basically look the same to me with a little change up in the theme…but isn’t that every ship of a particular line?

I’m not sure how they do it. I think they come up with a palate of about 100 different patterns/colors and say that this is the palate for this particular lounge/room.

For instance, the Gold Pearl Dining Room has gold pearls EVERYWHERE…the chandeliers, around all the lights, around all the windows, the whole way around the overhang of the balcony…not to mention the gold pearls in the shells that are on the ceiling that look like fried eggs.

They are also in the carpet…but the chairs are somewhat of a strange thing…they match or go with nothing.

I just think they over-do it to the extreme…to me it is sensory overload in almost every public space. We much prefer the simple beauty of the HAL ships…understated elegance.

Something that we did notice, however, was that on HAL most of the furniture in the public lounges/dining rooms is covered in some sort of leather (or faux leather) while on Carnival mostly everything is covered in fabric.

FOOD

IMHO, the food on this Carnival sailing was far inferior to HAL. This is not how we remembered it from our two past Carnival sailings.

On our past Carnival sailings we remember liking the food very much, but it was just “meh” this time (We even did the Chef’s Table and were not nearly as impressed with it as we were when we did it on the Pride).

Other than the Filet Mignon that was available at the Seaday Brunch in the dining room, I couldn’t get a good piece of beef at all…steak, prime rib, chateaubriand…they were all bad and I had to get replacement dinners (and I’ve never done that before on any cruiseline).

I never tried the everyday Flat Iron steak because I was too scared since none of the other beef was good. The soups and salads were good and the desserts were okay.

The Seaday Brunch had some of the best food in the dining room. You can’t go wrong with Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon…or the Steak and Eggs with the Filet Mignon as the steak…or Froot Loop crusted French Toast.

The brunch concept there is great.

Food in the Lido was at best “so-so”.

The Mongolian Wok is a nice idea but there are usually such long lines and there is nothing in that Lido (other than the pizza) that I considered good enough that I wanted to stand in line for it.

There were two good things in the Lido: the Rotisserie and the Pizza. The Rotisserie is upstairs and had a few salads, baked potatoes, Mac & Cheese (the same stuff you could get at the Seaday Brunch) and rotisserie chicken pieces/parts…and it was all good and it was much less crowded up there.

The pizza (which was located outside of the Lido restaurant by the midship pool) was wonderful. Individual hand-stretched pizzas that were cooked to perfection…the only problem was that there were never enough pizzas.

There was almost always a line there and many evenings there was only one person working and he wouldn’t serve up any of the pizzas until he had like 4 or 5 of them out of the oven to serve rather than serving as they came out. It just didn’t seem like an efficient operation to us, but the pizza was so good that we still waited for it.

HAL could take a lesson from Carnival on this one…and specifically Splendor. We don’t remember pizza like this at all on our other Carnival sailings.

Two other food items outside of the dining rooms that we enjoyed were 1) The Taste (I believe that is what it was called). It is at what I believe was previously a Sushi bar.

On sea day evenings prior to dinner they provided tastings of bits of food from different Carnival food venues (not specifically those on Splendor). These tastes were very good. The other thing was 2) the desserts that were available at the coffee bar by the casino.

The Carrot Cake there was “to die for”…many layers and just heaven.

We got a few other desserts there as well that were very delicious.

The alcoholic coffee beverages were also very good there and a very good deal for price.

DINING EXPERIENCE

1) We had what was probably the worse dining team that we’ve experienced on any cruise. It seemed that often they were very disorganized…one person would take our order but then another would come to take our order.

It just didn’t seem like they were communicating with one another.

Many evenings they would bring out an extra plate of something and just sit it on our table and say “Here, try this”.

One other thing that we noticed was that not once did we see the Maitre d’ going through the dining room asking how everything was going.

We have never seen this before…every cruise (Carnival and non-Carnival) we’ve been on the Maitre d’ has gone through the dining room stopping at every table to ask how things were going.

Finally, after a few nights we talked to the Maitre d’ about the sloppy service…and we told him that if he were going through the dining room checking on his diners we wouldn’t have had to have this conversation with him.

Funny thing was, the next two nights the Maitre d’ came to our table to talk to us, but he didn’t stop at any other table to check on anyone else…so this was just something to shut us up and try to make it right with us.

2) Many people are upset about the upcoming changes to the Carnival menus and dining rooms…tablecloths going away other than on elegant nights, etc.

Here is my take on it (and I’m sure it is going to tick off many Carnival cruisers)…first of all I think that Carnival is changing to the desires that their clientele shows in their dining rooms.

It is not “fine dining” on Carnival Splendor...it is tan tablecloths and napkins (as opposed to white), regular dinnerware and glassware (as opposed to china and stemware), stainless steel flatware (as opposed to silver)…not a proprietary piece of anything on the table (unlike HAL who has HAL china and silver flatware).

Regarding changing to the desires that their clientele show…when you dress for dinner like you’re going to Denny’s or a backyard BBQ, why would you expect to be served according to fine dining establishments?

I realize that the Carnival ships are the “Fun Ships” and there isn’t a specific dress code, but on HAL (and on every cruise we do) we dress for dinner…we don’t dress up every night, but at least a shirt and long pants.

When you’re wearing shorts, t-shirts, baseball hats and flip-flops to dinner what do you expect?

Why shouldn’t they take the tablecloths away?

They aren’t lessening the experience; they are equating it to what their customer’s are showing they want.

I must say, however, that generally people looked very nice on the elegant nights…with the exception of the t-shirt with the tie printed on it and the people in uniform (these were not military) that did not remove their hats at the table.

SPA

We were in a Spa Balcony…the perks of this stateroom included upgraded toiletries (little bottles of the Elemis shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, lotion and a bar of soap), towels, linens, beach towels and robes as well as unlimited access to the Thalassotherapy Pool and various thermal rooms (two steam rooms, heated lounger room and heated bench room).

There was a circular stairway (and elevator that wasn’t working) in our area that took us directly up to the spa. It could have been used by anyone, but was specifically in the spa stateroom area and made it feel like a private stairway just for the spa rooms.

We did not pay that much more for a spa balcony (just a bit more than we would have paid for the unlimited Thalasso Pool/Thermal Suite pass), so this was a no-brainer for us.

One nice thing about the Thalasso Pool/Thermal Suite on Splendor is that those getting spa treatments do NOT get access to this area as part of their treatment since people pay specifically to use this area (we asked about this).

This whole spa room concept as well as the access to the T-pool/Thermal Suite is something that HAL should incorporate.

A spa room on HAL is nothing other than upgraded décor, a useless water feature, a yoga mat and a few bottles of water (along with perhaps a few “discounts” on spa services)…not really any good spa features are included…and the staircase connecting the T-pool to the spa room floor on Eurodam has been closed and from what I’ve been told is going to be removed (if it hasn’t already been removed).

Additionally, the staff at the desk in the Spa was very friendly and professional.

When there was an issue for two days with T-pool, rather than just passing it off as an issue, the Spa Manager provided us with scrubs to use in the special shower areas.

When we’ve had issues at the Spa on HAL, it is like jumping through hoops to get anything done…and they still don’t want to do it or seem to want to take responsibility for it.

HANDWASHING/CODE

We found it interesting that there was a general lack of “required” hand sanitizing on Splendor.

On HAL, we are used to being met by a crew member at the doors to the Lido and the MDR basically squirting hand sanitizer onto everyone’s hands (I don’t think anyone gets through without sanitizing their hands).

This was not so on Splendor and I rarely saw others using the hand sanitizer station prior to entering the dining room.

On the same level, everyone serves themselves in the buffet, etc for the entire cruise unlike on HAL, where you are served for the first so many hours (sorry, I don’t remember how long, but I’m thinking 48 hours). I don’t know if it has to do with the general demographics on Carnival vs HAL (mostly younger vs mostly older)…are younger people less susceptible to noro?

ENTERTAINMENT

We enjoyed that there was almost always some sort of live entertainment available all over the ship in the evenings.

Whether it was the show in the main showroom or singers in the lobby atrium or by the casino or the comedy club…there was always something for everyone.

Speaking of the comedy club…we went for a show twice and enjoyed them. I know they were adult shows, but I still have a hard time believing that the corporate moguls at Carnival approve the script of “This is an adult show and if you don’t like it then get the f*** out”.

I’m not a prude and am not easily offended, but this was bordering offensive to me.

As I said, it really doesn’t matter to me, but I find it hard to believe that this is a script that is approved by their corporate.

In the main showroom, there were a few decent shows but the main male and female singer just didn’t seem to “gel” together. I don’t know if they were just recently put together, but there didn’t seem to be any performance chemistry between them (and I’ve seen this in other’s reviews as well, so it isn’t just me).

Additionally, there was a Latin themed show and it honestly was far from Latin.

OVERALL

We went into this cruise with an “it is what it is” attitude. It was a very inexpensive vacation for us and we didn’t have high expectations.

I say this because the first time we cruised Carnival we left saying “We could go back here” and based on that experience, the second time we cruised Carnival we cruised with every intention of making a future cruise deposit for the Breeze or Dream (I’m not sure which one it was at the time), but did not enjoy the experience as much and never made that deposit…in fact we left that cruise saying “How soon can we get back on Holland America?”.

It was only because of the great deal that we received that we booked this cruise (not to mention the fact that we just took the train and spent the day prior to sailing in NYC shopping and seeing a show).

In the end, even though there are some things that we didn’t specifically enjoy, there were many things that we did enjoy and we said that given the right opportunity we would definitely cruise on this ship again.

 

Thank you for an interesting wright-up.

Edited February 12, 2014 by cruisetrail

[campisfortis]

" Regarding changing to the desires that their clientele show…when you dress for dinner like you’re going to Denny’s or a backyard BBQ, why would you expect to be served according to fine dining establishments? I realize that the Carnival ships are the “Fun Ships” and there isn’t a specific dress code, but on HAL (and on every cruise we do) we dress for dinner…we don’t dress up every night, but at least a shirt and long pants. When you’re wearing shorts, t-shirts, baseball hats and flip-flops to dinner what do you expect? Why shouldn’t they take the tablecloths away? "

 

I think that you hit the nail on the head. And why should you expect quality food if you do not know how to dress?

[OutofNJ!]

Compared to the Carnival dining experience, in my opinion HAL would be considered fine dining, but compared to what I consider fine dining on land, to answer your question, no.

 

The only fine dining experience we've ever encountered on a ship was in the Olympic Dining Room (specialty) on Celebrity Millennium. Several courses spaced out properly, basically someone watching over our table from afar the entire time, domed entrees with the domes removed simultaneously and food that went beyond expectation...a great experience. That experience was actually one of the best meals that I've ever experienced anywhere (and we've been around the block with dining).

 

The Olympic has been one of our best dining experiences as well. Loved the antique panels from the sister ship to the Titanic. Our waiters actually said "viola" when they lifted the domes. Exceptional food as well. I dream about that experience all of the time.

 

Another spectacular cruise dining memory was the chef's table on the Ruby Princess. HAL chef dinner on the Noordam was a total let down.

[david,Mississauga]

The Olympic has been one of our best dining experiences as well. Loved the antique panels from the sister ship to the Titanic. Our waiters actually said "viola" when they lifted the domes. Exceptional food as well. I dream about that experience all of the time.

 

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I prefer it when waiters say "cello" when they lift the domes. Sorry to be "cheeky" but as someone who has made typos myself I know they can bring a smile. ;) I have seen pictures of the Olympic room and it is definitely an experience I would like to enjoy. The best fine dining we have experienced at sea is in the Princess and Queen's Grills of Cunard. There is a lot of table-side cooking and quite a few flambé items. There is even higher quality silver and china in the Grills than in the main (Britannia) dining rooms.