Want some opions from experienced HAL cruiser?

[Kamloops50]

I have a number of questions for experienced HAL cruiser.

 

1 - Has the quality of food in the MDR changed ?

 

2 - What is weirdest dish being served in the MDR ?

 

3- How was ordering setup on the menu?

example Did you have to order appy , salad , soup and main course

as fixed package

 

4- Any other comments?

[diane.in.ny]

We have found the food in the MDR good to excellent.

 

You can order, or not order, whatever you want. Some evenings I would just order a main course and skip everything else.

 

There is a list of items always available if nothing on that evening's menu appeals to you.

 

And if you want something special, you can order it for the next night by speaking with your maitre'd

[Fouremco]

I have a number of questions for experienced HAL cruiser.

 

1 - Has the quality of food in the MDR changed ?

While still good, it has certainly slipped a few notches.

 

2 - What is weirdest dish being served in the MDR ?

Nothing that I've seen is weird, but I generally like all foods!

 

3- How was ordering setup on the menu?

example Did you have to order appy , salad , soup and main course

as fixed package

Pick and choose whatever you want.

 

4- Any other comments?

The biggest difference I find is between ships. We thought that the food on the Oosterdam last September in Alaska was very mediocre, but enjoyed our meals on the Nieuw Amsterdam this February in the Caribbean.

See above.

[Roz]

I've been sailing HAL since 2001, and have always been able to order a la carte off the menu, mixing and matching as I choose. No requirement to order all the dishes - app, soup, salad, entree, and dessert - and no requirement to order a packaged meal.

 

What I've seen change is the use of less expensive ingredients, which doesn't necessarily mean the preparation or taste is lacking. For instance, osso bucco is traditionally made with veal shank. Now they use pork shank, which is cheaper but still very flavorful.

 

If you read other cruise line boards, you'll find most of the main stream lines are doing the same types of things.

 

Roz

[Kamloops50]

Friends of ours just got back from Alaska. They where serves Grits and Blue (Blood) pudding at supper. Wondering if normal or just a bad main chief.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Kamloops50

[visagrunt]

My view has always been that MDR food is high quality hotel food. (Realistically, how can it be otherwise, when one kitchen is attempting to put out over a thousand plates in a span of three hours?) I don't think quality has slipped, per se, but I think there have been moves to reduce cost and waste that have resulted in less standardization of portions, some delays and errors in delivery. Frankly the biggest change as been reduction in crewing levels. Waiters are responsible for extra tables, and wine attendants are spread very thin, indeed, from the crewing levels of years gone by.

 

The quality is sufficiently high that on our last cruise (Noordam May, 2015) we dined every night in the MDR, never once going to the Pinnacle.

 

I would not describe anything on the menu as "weird." The weirdest thing I ever saw in the MDR was the Christmas Menu on the Amsterdam which pretended to be an International menu, but caused the multinational party at our table to ponder aloud, "In what part of Canada/Germany/England/the USA is this "traditional Christmas fare?" (For the record, all entrée choices were delicious).

 

My ordering practices have not changed with the new menu setup--I pretty much invariably order four courses: one appetizer, one soup (always consistently excellent), one main, and then either a sweet or cheese, depending upon whether there is anything worth having on the dessert menu (in my opinion, the weakest part of the MDR menu).

 

Waiters have always been most accommodating of our special orders--sometimes I want the risotto from one selection with the meat from another; sometimes someone wants two appetizers as part of a five course meal; invariably someone (everyone!) wants two lobster tails; sometimes someone will have the chilled fruit soup as a dessert. Never once has a waiter batted an eye at any of these requests, or failed to deliver it as ordered. (Oddly, the only errors seem to happen with straightforward orders).

[Alberta Quilter]

Friends of ours just got back from Alaska. They where serves Grits and Blue (Blood) pudding at supper. Wondering if normal or just a bad main chief.

 

Good heavens! What cruise line did they sail? I've never seen that on a HAL menu. Well, I have seen grits on a HAL menu.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Alberta Quilter

[Krazy Kruizers]

Over the last couple of years, we have noticed that the main dining room food has slipped in quality. Prices of everything has gone up forcing many cruise lines to cut back on quality.

We have always been able to pick and choose any item we wanted from the menu. If you want 2 appetizers, then you can order 2, etc.

[OlsSalt]

We have found the food on HAL ships to be consistently good and varied. They were more a meat and potatoes kind of menu in the past, so the changes over time have all been good. The subtle changes have been more creative entrees and plate presentation, more international taste offerings, fresher treatment of vegetables and higher quality of meat with smaller portions as a good thing, not a bad thing.

 

What can't be topped are their fresh breads with sweet butter - always consistently good. Overtime, I find myself now ordering the dinner salad as my main entree since I have already eaten too much during the day, far more than I would normally do at home. Desserts have improved which may not be such a good thing either. But most of them still look better than they taste, particularly at the Lido.

 

Nothing over the top weird that I can recall, but then I always pick their liver dish when it is offered which many probably avoid like the plague - some of the better treatments I have had of this dish have been on HAL ships.

 

What has greatly improved is the Dive-Inn pool side grill and the Canaletto menu of late. Pinnacle has gone up and down and around -some being close to the finest land-side restaurants we have enjoyed and others more ho-hum. They have dropped some of the items we used to enjoy (lamb skewers) so it is back to being more an oversize "meat" restaurant. Mixed feelings about their speciality Le Cirque or Liberjie offerings.

 

The one menu item that could consistently use improvement is ....the Hollandaise sauce ..... on the eggs benedicts. Ta da, Holland America - let's see you create a killer Hollandaise sauce that becomes your home grown signature touch? Also the panini sandwiches are not an improvement - no a BLT should not be squished with heated lettuce and the tuna melt needs an entire redo - not a panini sandwich either.

Edited July 28, 2015 by OlsSalt

[Roz]

Was blood pudding the main dish??? Never heard of this. Not typical of HAL.

 

Roz

[OlsSalt]

Had blood pudding in Europe and it was pretty bland. We like our steaks "rare" (bloody) but we reject the idea of "blood pudding"? I did expect blood to squirt out all over the place when the sausage was first pierced at just the sound of its name but it is really more a bad translation than anything when you think of how much "blood" is part of most red meat dishes. But agree, have never seen this offered on HAL ships either. Grits would certainly a nice staple though.

 

The Liberjie (famous Dutch 3 star restaurant) will most definitely have "weird" offerings as this is very avant, molecular cuisine affair with the waiter having to constantly tell diners what has been put in front of them, but that is a specialty offering only on some nights in the Pinnacle.

[Boiler Cruiser]

Does anyone of photos of menus from their past HAL cruises?

 

As one who will be on their first HAL cruise next year, it would be interesting to see menus from the MDR as well as the specialty restaurants.

 

Thanks.

[solocanadian]

Friends of ours just got back from Alaska. They where serves Grits and Blue (Blood) pudding at supper. Wondering if normal or just a bad main chief.

 

It's called Black pudding but is really blood sausage. I consider these items odd for dinner time. They are more like breakfast items for me.

[solocanadian]

Good heavens! What cruise line did they sail? I've never seen that on a HAL menu. Well, I have seen grits on a HAL menu.

 

I think Princess serves blood sausage at breakfast and grits.

[kazu]

Does anyone of photos of menus from their past HAL cruises?

 

As one who will be on their first HAL cruise next year, it would be interesting to see menus from the MDR as well as the specialty restaurants.

 

Thanks.

 

There are lots of menus out there. Try googling HAL cruiser information or HAL cabin pictures.

[rafinmd]

Does anyone of photos of menus from their past HAL cruises?

 

As one who will be on their first HAL cruise next year, it would be interesting to see menus from the MDR as well as the specialty restaurants.

 

Thanks.

 

These are from the Prinsendam in May and June:

 

https://serenitytokiel.wordpress.com/menus/kielmenu/

 

Roy

[OlsSalt]

Agree with visa grunt, go in with hotel banquet food expectations due to the nature of the operation and it is remarkably good when you consider the constraints any ship operates under with both food prep space limitations, range of passenger/crew dietary appeal, inventory storage and relentless nature of a 24 hour operation on a moving target. Even when we might be queasy and in our beds, food service goes on.

[take us away]

It's called Black pudding but is really blood sausage. I consider these items odd for dinner time. They are more like breakfast items for me.

 

wow - have never seen blood sausage on a HAL menu. As mostly of Slovenia heritage, would love a good blood sausage!

 

Have been able to mix and match as previously cited and often have a shrimp appetizer (or from an entrée) added to a salad and call that dinner, have had appetizers for the main course and they 'dressed it up' with a baked potato and steamed vegies. Remember the maître de was most concerned that I was still on the appetizer course while the rest of the table was on the entrée, then laughed when I explained.

Edited July 28, 2015 by take us away

[USN59-79]

In the past, most ships would have a sample of the half dozen or so desserts in a glass cabinet when you entered the dining room. This was helpful as often the names of the dishes were unfamiliar to many of the guests. One thing that surprised me is that in all of our cruises I have never had a waiter say that they had ran out of a dish on the menu. I do remember an incident once when we were served lobster; some were ordering an extra or two and one person at our table ended up eating six. I asked the waiter if that was a record and he replied "No sir, the record is twelve!"

[cruz chic]

In the past, most ships would have a sample of the half dozen or so desserts in a glass cabinet when you entered the dining room. This was helpful as often the names of the dishes were unfamiliar to many of the guests. One thing that surprised me is that in all of our cruises I have never had a waiter say that they had ran out of a dish on the menu. I do remember an incident once when we were served lobster; some were ordering an extra or two and one person at our table ended up eating six. I asked the waiter if that was a record and he replied "No sir, the record is twelve!"

 

Years ago they used to bring a display of desserts to the table so you could see them.

[dakrewser]

Years ago they used to bring a display of desserts to the table so you could see them.

 

Years ago, they used to prepare your flaming desserts (a different one each night) tableside...

[kalliekae]

There is a list of items always available if nothing on that evening's menu appeals to you.

 

Wow! I was not aware of this. There have been times when nothing sounds good so I will definitely remember this tip. Thanks!

[prettyblue2]

Thanks for the menu link Roy. I very much enjoyed reading about all the food. I am not hungry now, but I sure will look forward to my cruise on the Westerdam (first cruise on Holland America) November 28th.