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ms Amsterdam, just back

TraelorMex

By TraelorMex,
in Holland America Line

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TraelorMex

TraelorMex

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Low Notes: 32 day cruise just concluded. Food quality was simply BAD. Part of our enjoyment of cruising with HAL had always been their food. Apparently cost savings have really taken a bite out of this budget item.

 

32 days, prime rib was offered twice. 5-6 times the featured carving board item was 'meatloaf' (Chef Rudy's meat loaf..Grandmas' favorite recipe meatloaf) surprised they didn't run out of adjectives.

 

Lobster tail was offered once. HAL no longer makes their own desserts, and the proof IS in the pudding here.

 

All in all, the cruise was a very big '7' out of '10' for us. May be time to look elsewhere......

 

High Notes: Enjoyed the cruise director (Carlos Mendoza). Very dapper fellow. Food servers and cabin stewards were fantastic as always.

 

Also, for you coffee lovers, they have installed new coffee makers and the morning coffee was very palatable. Coffee quality tended to wane appreciably as the day wore on though.

 

By note of comparison, we did this exact same cruise on the ms Rotterdam 7-8 years ago. The differences were simply stunning.

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shrimp56

shrimp56

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Thank you for your report.

 

Glad you enjoyed the cruise in spite of the bad food.

 

I was on the second half of this voyage with a different experience. But then we value different aspects of cruising.

 

The MDR food was quite to very good, but then I'm not a beef/lobster person, although those who were at our table said the lobster was excellent. I also tend to have sorbet for dessert.

 

Where the food was bad was in Pinnacle. Both the special Latin America dinner and the regular dinner were not of the quality I expect and have experienced on other dam ships. In the regular dinner my lamb chops, for example, bore no resemblance to the delicious versions I have had previously.

 

No argument on Carlos. It's the second time we have enjoyed his presence on a longish voyage. He really does care and it shows.

 

I hope to get around to a trip report before the year ends.

Edited by shrimp56
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RedmondCruiser

RedmondCruiser

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I was also on this cruise and have a different take. The food in the MDR was good and the deserts have improved. I enjoy breakfasts and HAL has improved this meal so much. They also have Asian soups available in the Lido, for lunch, and these were great. Pinnacle was very good and we ate there four times. We were invited to dine with the captain in the Pinnacle and that was a dinner to remember. Several courses that were all good and the service was fantastic.

 

The ship was in good shape and the crew were great, as always. Previously we had limited our cruising to 3 weeks so at 32 days this was our longest cruise. At the end we were ready to come home, especially since we wanted to be with family at Christmas.

 

Since this was a back to back cruise, on the trip down we were four star mariners and on the way back we were five star. Though we did not take advantage of all the five star perks it was nice that HAL elevated us to five star on this cruise rather than wait until our next sailing.

 

All in all it was a great cruise.

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shrimp56

shrimp56

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I appreciate all three comments about the Amsterdam, still my favorite ship. Thanks.

She's my new favorite too. So elegant and classy with a excellent crew.

 

What I am wondering is whether a new Pinnacle chef came on board in Lima as our food, at least, was not Pinnacle-worthy.

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Alberta Quilter

Alberta Quilter

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She's my new favorite too. So elegant and classy with a excellent crew.

 

What I am wondering is whether a new Pinnacle chef came on board in Lima as our food, at least, was not Pinnacle-worthy.

 

That change in chef would explain the different views of the PG food quality.

 

The chef can certainly make a difference as I found out on my recent France river cruises (b2b). We were on two different ships but almost the identical menus. The food was very different from one cruise to the other.

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ellieanne

ellieanne

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My family is on the Amsterdam right now for the holiday/Panama Canal cruise.

 

I specifically asked about the food and condition of the ship. We were on the Amsterdam last for the 2005/2006 Circle Hawaii Holiday Cruise, so it's a fair comparison time wise.

 

They say the food is fine, and even the desserts in the Lido are great. We find desserts in the Lido to be the worst part of food on cruises.

 

My brother notes that the ship is showing it's 15 year age, but it's mostly cosmetic -- worn carpeting, upholstery, and other fabrics.

 

He reports everything is as it should be for Holland America -- and nothing protocol wise is significantly different from the cruise we had in January this year.

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LordSpain

LordSpain

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Last month we ended a 45 day cruise on the Amsterdam. While there was a lot of meatloaf we wouldn't characterize the food as generally being bad.

 

Our biggest gripe was the loss of the sandwich station where they made sandwiches to order. It used to be that lunch was one of the highlights of our day on HAL - we could choose our bread, toppings and condiments to our liking - get it toasted etc. Now they have only pre-made sandwiches that are in bags. They are way to bready with skimpy ingredients. We saw people grab two or three just to rip them apart in order to make one decent sandwich. If you happen to get a bag that had been sitting around for a few hours the bread was hard and whole thing had a stale taste. We heard many complaints about this from other passengers.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Tfquig

Tfquig

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We greatly enjoyed our voyage on the Amsterdam, 32 day out of San Diego to Peru. The crew were exceptional with many calling us by name within a few days. Usually avoided the lido due to noise and crowds, but dinning room food and service were excellent. Only two meals failed to impress, crab legs and Peruvian fish and chips.

Canaletto was excellent but pinnacle not so much. I heard culinary arts chef David took over midway so might take a while to find his way!

cruise director Carlos had remarkable energy and talent. His dance classes were memorable!

Overall a fine ship worthy of a holland America flagship.

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