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Just off the Nieuw Amsterdam after 3 years away from HAL. How bad has it gotten?

dakrewser

By dakrewser,
in Holland America Line

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Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

Posted
Posted
We didn't go to PG, Tamarind or Canaletto on this cruise - just couldn't agree on venue/time/people. But I did try both Dive-in and NY Pizza.

 

For my taste, Dive-In and NY Pizza were decidedly a downgrade from the Terrace Grill I used on previous cruises. The big problem with the pizza is that it wasn't cooked enough - cracker-crisp edge and mushy middle. Once I started asking for "extra cook time" it improved but still not particularly good. My granddaughters did report that the pizza served (from bthe Kid's menu) in the MDR was "good".

 

Dive-in, so much bad, where to begin. First, I found the actual product to be less than that from the old Terrace Grill, both the bun and the patty. Second, I found the service to be really poor. The guy standing in front of the window taking orders and delivering orders was more often simply in the way and really should have had a better grasp of both English and his product. For example, here's one transaction I had with him:

 

Me: I want a hamburger, plain, with just mustard.

He: Hamburger. You want cheese?

Me: No, just burger, bun and mustard.

He: You want lettuce & tomato?

Me: No, just burger, bun and mustard.

He: You want hot dog?

Me (speaking louder, as the Brits do): No, just burger, bun and mustard.

He: OK

15 minutes later my buzzer goes off and I pickup my food. Go back to the table open the bun to salt it and - there's bun and mustard, but no burger! Back to guy at window

Me: there's no burger in my burger!

He: You want beef? Why you no say you want beef?

Me: just add a burger, please

He (to cook): add beef!

Cook: You want cheese?

 

And don't believe that "made to order" stuff. The cook opened the warming drawer, pulled out a burger and dropped it on the grill to warm it up - just like the guys at the Terrace Grille used to do.

 

So, my impression of these areas is decidedly that they're a negative.

 

 

Disclaimer: these are my experiences and opinions, YMMV.

 

 

I don't remember which cruise we were on - about 1 1/2 years ago, DH ordered one of those messy burgers -- he hated it. I ordered a plain burger -- too big for me. DH tried one of the hot dogs -- another no -go.

We haven't been to Dive In since.

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cruz chic

cruz chic

Posted
Posted
I don't remember which cruise we were on - about 1 1/2 years ago, DH ordered one of those messy burgers -- he hated it. I ordered a plain burger -- too big for me. DH tried one of the hot dogs -- another no -go.

We haven't been to Dive In since.

 

The first time I had a dive in burger I was getting a cold and it tasted like nothing. My last cruise I decided to try one again. They just aren't good. I wonder what people eat at home that makes these burgers seem so good. The hotdogs are marginally better. Just about anything else in the lido is better than that.

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luv2travel06

luv2travel06

Posted
Posted
Nope, no paninis. Nothing grilled or toasted.

 

 

Our Eurodam cruise ended yesterday. My wife was able to get a panini in the Lido. But a manager said the Eurodam will be switching to the Lido Marketplace concept after dry dock. So does that mean only pre-made sandwiches on that ship in the Lido from now on too?

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RuthC

RuthC

Posted
Posted (edited)
Thanks for letting us know about Gala nights. It sounds like anything is ok as long as you are dressed nicely.

Not that high a bar when I was on the Nieuw Amsterdam a few weeks ago.

I saw people at night who would have had to take it up several notches to be dressed for a cook-out. :rolleyes:

 

The guy taking orders at Dive-In was new on the job there; he was being trained by someone excellent when I was on board.

Too bad Yan started his well-deserved vacation by the time you boarded, Dave. He was so good---got every nuance of what you were asking for.

Edited by RuthC
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dakrewser

dakrewser

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Entertainment is - if possible - even more subjective then food or dress. With that said, I'll dive right in.

 

Damian, in the piano bar, was the same sort of simpering, sleazy, lounge singer we've seen in every piano bar on every ship of every line we've cruised. 10 minutes on one night, 5 minutes on another were all I needed to confirm how bad it was. Still, it wasn't a decline, nor really a change.

 

The Band. They did back the ship's cast on one show ("On Tour") and were reasonably good. The other cast show (and a half, as they performed at the DAncing With The Stars finale) was done to pre-recorded music. Since our laast few cruises were all pre-recorded music in the showroom, this was an improvement.

 

The Band. Played in the Ocean Bar as a replacement for HAL Cats. Not an improvement. They were leaden, lacked tonality, and played as if they'd never seen - nor heard - the songs before. A big downward slide.

 

The Duo in Explorers' lounge were, while not bad, certainly not very good. A sad replacement from the usually top botch Adagio strings.

 

Each day at lunch a man would play the steel "pans" at the Lido pool. He was quite good bbut that does get a bit repetitive after a few days. Still, I thing this is an improvement.

 

There was also a comedian and a magician on board. Standard downbill Vegas-grade talent. Not great, not bad, fairly HAL-standard (we've seen much better shows on Celebrity and Renaissance).

 

The ship's cast - this was, by far, the biggest improvement we saw in all of the entertainment. In fact, I consider them the best HAL cast we've seen. 6 singers, six dancers all with ability, any of whom could step into a Broadway touring company tomorrow. Our last few cruises saw no more then 6-8 singer-dancers some of whom could barely perform. Singers who couldn't sing, dancers who could barely move (this might be from 8-10 years ago). On balance this - along with the handling of gluten free - were the two biggest improvements on our cruise vs our last HAL cruise 3 years ago.

 

The cooking demos were as good as we remember. Trivia was, well, trivia but seemed more robotic with little actual interaction. Mario, the CD, was enthusiastic, entertaining and - if he had a weak point - seemed to occasionally try to hard.

 

We did miss not having a disembarkation talk, always a good source of humor.

 

Happy Hours were all well attended (that counts as entertainment, doesn't it?) and service was quite good.

 

 

Disclaimer: these are my experiences and opinions, YMMV.

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RuthC

RuthC

Posted
Posted
Quick comment. Those dive in burgers scare me. They probably are 1500 calories each, not to mention fries. No thank you.:)

You don't have to order them with the ingredients combinations listed on the menu board.

I just read it over to see what individual ingredients they have to work with, and I build my own burger with exactly what I want.

Fortunately, I never had the problems Dave did. ;)

 

(those frizzled onions are so good, skip the fries and have them on the side instead)

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cruz chic

cruz chic

Posted
Posted
Quick comment. Those dive in burgers scare me. They probably are 1500 calories each, not to mention fries. No thank you.:)

 

That's the thing. If you are going to spend that many calories it should taste good. I'd rather have a sandwich and a salad than one of those reheated burgers.

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cl.klink

cl.klink

Posted
Posted
We didn't go to PG, Tamarind or Canaletto on this cruise - just couldn't agree on venue/time/people. But I did try both Dive-in and NY Pizza.

 

For my taste, Dive-In and NY Pizza were decidedly a downgrade from the Terrace Grill I used on previous cruises. The big problem with the pizza is that it wasn't cooked enough - cracker-crisp edge and mushy middle. Once I started asking for "extra cook time" it improved but still not particularly good. My granddaughters did report that the pizza served (from bthe Kid's menu) in the MDR was "good".

 

Dive-in, so much bad, where to begin. First, I found the actual product to be less than that from the old Terrace Grill, both the bun and the patty. Second, I found the service to be really poor. The guy standing in front of the window taking orders and delivering orders was more often simply in the way and really should have had a better grasp of both English and his product. For example, here's one transaction I had with him:

 

Me: I want a hamburger, plain, with just mustard.

He: Hamburger. You want cheese?

Me: No, just burger, bun and mustard.

He: You want lettuce & tomato?

Me: No, just burger, bun and mustard.

He: You want hot dog?

Me (speaking louder, as the Brits do): No, just burger, bun and mustard.

He: OK

15 minutes later my buzzer goes off and I pickup my food. Go back to the table open the bun to salt it and - there's bun and mustard, but no burger! Back to guy at window

Me: there's no burger in my burger!

He: You want beef? Why you no say you want beef?

Me: just add a burger, please

He (to cook): add beef!

Cook: You want cheese?

 

And don't believe that "made to order" stuff. The cook opened the warming drawer, pulled out a burger and dropped it on the grill to warm it up - just like the guys at the Terrace Grille used to do.

 

So, my impression of these areas is decidedly that they're a negative.

 

 

Disclaimer: these are my experiences and opinions, YMMV.

 

 

cheeburge cheeberge cheeberge ...

 

- Joel

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aliaschief

aliaschief

Posted
Posted (edited)
Ever seen the skid with Belushi, Aykroyd and Murray? Classic SNL

 

 

A Pepsi man it is! Must have a lot of soda runs on contract. By the way, Merry Christmas and safe travels to both of you. Your special folks.

Edited by aliaschief
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svalbard

svalbard

Posted
Posted

Such bad news, hearing rumor that after dry dock Eurodam will no longer provide custom made sandwiches. I really appreciate those custom sandwiches (cold or hot) for lunch. However, I kinda understand why these sandwiches may be discontinued. On a recent Eurodam cruise, very day, when ordering a heated or cold sandwich I was amazed at how impolite and obnoxious passengers were during the ordering process. They would say "gimme a xxx sandwich". No please or thank you from them. They would just point to meat or condiments and say "I want that", etc. They would even stuff their hands under the glass thingie to explicitly point. So, I think the custom sandwich will disappear due to the (quite a few) nasty passengers, who do not treat the staff well at all. I have had my amusing encounters with the sandwich-making people; but that does not mean that one should be patronizing to the hard working staff in the Lido.

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idiebabe

idiebabe

Posted
Posted
I'm pretty sure others recently on the NA reported the same. I think every ship is different but they will likely all get rid of the "custom" made sandwiches.

 

Yes, this is what we were told last April on the Nieuw Amsterdam TA by the COM which was the first sailing after Drydock when it rolled out. He also informed us that they made the change on the Rotterdam on her Drydock but since we haven't sailed her I don't know if that was done. Our hope is that if enough comment about this, they may change their position on it for other Ships. It's kind of sad when Carnival's Deli beats HAL's hands down as it is let alone for HAL not to even have one!

 

Our sailing on the NA last April was wonderful and near perfect with Waitstaff, Service, etc. Our only disappointment was the elimination of the Made-to-Order sandwiches.

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Happily@Sea

Happily@Sea

Posted
Posted

Good to hear such a current report. I'm leaving aboard this ship on Sunday.

 

Sounds like a typical cruise, some letdowns and lots good things. I don't want my picture taken at the beginning of a cruise, my hair is a mess because of my sunhat, if I leave the hat on - I could be anyone because you really can't see my face [maybe that is a good thing].

 

Thanks for the review.

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dakrewser

dakrewser

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I am a little confused by all your percentages. What percent followed the old requirement of tux, business suit or sport coat with tie? 50%?

 

The old requirement was tux or dark suit - sport coat was for "informal" nights, now gone completely. It was about 40% all told.

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cruz chic

cruz chic

Posted
Posted
Such bad news, hearing rumor that after dry dock Eurodam will no longer provide custom made sandwiches. I really appreciate those custom sandwiches (cold or hot) for lunch. However, I kinda understand why these sandwiches may be discontinued. On a recent Eurodam cruise, very day, when ordering a heated or cold sandwich I was amazed at how impolite and obnoxious passengers were during the ordering process. They would say "gimme a xxx sandwich". No please or thank you from them. They would just point to meat or condiments and say "I want that", etc. They would even stuff their hands under the glass thingie to explicitly point. So, I think the custom sandwich will disappear due to the (quite a few) nasty passengers, who do not treat the staff well at all. I have had my amusing encounters with the sandwich-making people; but that does not mean that one should be patronizing to the hard working staff in the Lido.

 

I very much doubt that is the reason. Wouldn't these same people have the same poor manners when ordering anything? What it likely boils down to is cash savings.

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crusinpsychRN

crusinpsychRN

Posted
Posted (edited)
Nope, no paninis. Nothing grilled or toasted.

 

On Westerdam they made any sandwich you wanted and put it in a George Foreman style grill. Too bad the grill wasn't hot and the Reuben came out cold...

 

Big mistake to stop making them. I liked the chicken salad and would hate to have a premade sandwich with that as it'd be all soggy.

Edited by crusinpsychRN
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