No more dining room buffets or Lido BBQ's?

[whogo]

Bill and Mary Ann reported on their world cruise blog that Sunday brunch in the main dining room and cook outs at the Lido pool have been eliminated on the world cruise and fleet wide.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=51949233#post51949233 Big change, anyone else heard anything?

[cabinluvn]

I am hoping the Mexican food cart in the pool area is still going to be there. My favorite lunch!

 

 

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[RocketMan275]

Bill and Mary Ann reported on their world cruise blog that Sunday brunch in the main dining room and cook outs at the Lido pool have been eliminated on the world cruise and fleet wide.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=51949233#post51949233 Big change, anyone else heard anything?

 

They said it was a problem with the setup of the buffet. It makes no reference to this being fleet wide. A setup issue can be corrected and it doesn't necessarily affect anything but this one ship.

[SilvertoGold]

I am hoping the Mexican food cart in the pool area is still going to be there. My favorite lunch!

 

 

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I think it will be because it is a dedicated set-up, not an ad hoc one like HAL uses for the BBQs.

 

Stay tuned and we'll eventually have reports from pax of other ships.

[kazu]

Well, I sure hope it isn't fleet wide. the bbq's we had on our Westerdam South Pacific were very good. I still remember our fantastic ones on the P'dam.

 

Both were well worth lining up for ;).

 

It really adds to a cruise with sea days.

 

And, yes, things can be fixed. If the Amsterdam hit a burp right before there World Cruise, there wouldn't be much they could do unless it can be done on board.

 

Remember how long it took to fix a sneeze guard in a Neptune Lounge? I think that was the Westerdam, but my memory can be short.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Isn't the Sunday brunch only on the World Cruise?

We have never had it on any of our normal longer cruises.

[kazu]

Isn't the Sunday brunch only on the World Cruise?

We have never had it on any of our normal longer cruises.

 

I was referencing the bbq's on the Lido KK, but now that you mention it, we did have a Sunday brunch on the Prinsendam on our 30 day cruise. I don't know if it was the same as what is offered on the World Cruise or not, but it was excellent.

 

As well as the Indonesian and other type brunches. They were all very nice :)

[SilvertoGold]

Sunday Brunch is similar to the Show Buffet that is held on longer cruises. Both very elaborate displays of food in the MDR. Very well attended and very good food. I hope they can keep those, but it looks as if those may be gone, too.

Edited January 10, 2017 by SilvertoGold

[Sir PMP]

Bill and Mary Ann reported on their world cruise blog that Sunday brunch in the main dining room and cook outs at the Lido pool have been eliminated on the world cruise and fleet wide.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=51949233#post51949233 Big change, anyone else heard anything?

 

yes, no more bbq in the Lido, no more breakfast buffet for the suites, no more white chair covers in the dining room, cost cutting, personnel cuts the usual reasons, pretty soon they'll drop the word cruise and change it to boat tour...

[SilvertoGold]

yes, no more bbq in the Lido, no more breakfast buffet for the suites, no more white chair covers in the dining room, cost cutting, personnel cuts the usual reasons, pretty soon they'll drop the word cruise and change it to boat tour...

 

Better enjoy that HK to FLL then.

Will you be blogging? I bet you will have a ton of info to write about.

 

Have a good cruise!

[iflyrc5]

During our recent (Oct-Nov 2016)cruise on the Maasdam they had a BBQ around the Lido pool area twice. Don't know if makes a difference but we were in Australian and New Zealand waters at the time.

 

We did not have the white chair covers on Gala nights but that is OK - I didn't really like them anyway.

 

I hope they keep up the BBQ. We have enjoyed these in the past while enjoying the view of the Pitons at St Lucia while floating around the bay.

[sammygoose]

I'll make a point to get some pics on our Feb Mexican Riviera cruise whatever that may be.

 

We've had some really great Lido BBQ's..........it would be a shame if they disappeared.

Edited January 11, 2017 by sammygoose
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[Boytjie]

On our 7-day charter in 25 days we are scheduled to have two brunches in the dining room. (That will also be the only time the dining room will be open in the morning - our dining patterns are a bit different from regular cruises; most eat in the Lido or do room service.)

[Jade13]

There was neither of those on the Koningsdam transatlantic.

 

They have also eliminated the Royal Dutch tea and Indonesian tea along with the crew shows.

 

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Edited January 11, 2017 by Jade13

[Krazy Kruizers]

It is sad to see so many things disappear.

[bUU]

And equally exciting to see new things introduced.

[TheCalicoCat]

I'll take the blame.

 

I was looking forward to a salmon bake on my upcoming AK cruise - someone must have gotten wide of that desire.

[Tampa Girl]

And equally exciting to see new things introduced.

 

Such as? It seems that most of the new things, i.e. BB King, are not being universally appreciated. Nor is the transformation of the Crows Nest, the elimination of dance floors, and the lack of music in the Oceans Bar. Oh, and the diminishing library.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Tampa Girl

[innlady1]

And equally exciting to see new things introduced.

 

 

 

When was the last time you saw something of significance introduced?

 

Oh....maybe the $18 corkage fee added to every bottle of wine [emoji485] passengers bring on board??? Yep, that was really exciting!

 

Sorry, those of us who are frequent HAL cruisers know better. Each cruise, something else has been taken away...and nothing added.

 

 

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[Tampa Girl]

There was neither of those on the Koningsdam transatlantic.

 

They have also eliminated the Royal Dutch tea and Indonesian tea along with the crew shows.

 

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However, the Oosterdam TA did have the crew shows. I am not a tea drinker, so I don't know about the teas.

[luv2cruisenz]

Hi we're just off the Zaandam, from the South America and Antarctica cruise that just finished. We haven't cruised HAL in over a year and did notice some changes, not sure if they are cutbacks or what.

 

I was disappointed with the lack of Christmas trees and decorations around the ship, it was a bit of a half hearted attempt as there were only a few trees around with little colour. But the gingerbread houses were amazing and I always like the big chocolate santas in the lido.

 

The afternoon tea was in the ocean bar every day at 3pm, only had 'classic tea' and 'tea'. We went just once and the classic tea was a generous plate of little sandwiches and cakes. It was quite nice having it in the ocean bar actually.

 

We also had a couple of buffets in the lido pool area, the last one a superb Argentinian BBQ with coal BBQs grilling with lots of meat and a pig on a spit.

 

There was also no librarian or guitar person which I really missed so the music was very limited. The 'neptunes' was a South American band that played mostly soft sounding music sung in Spanish, I think they did a few other sets with songs in English but it would have been nice to have a bit more variety especially on New Year's Eve.

 

The Hal cats band played a lot on stage with the guest entertainers and the normal ship shows. So the singer had an easy cruise as she probably only performed about 5 or 6 times! We did have the crew shows though.

 

The main issue we had was the chairs in the lido were in bad need of repair, as in they need new stuffing! Most of them had a big dip in the middle so were rather uncomfortable !

 

What we did notice too was the beautiful floral arrangements lacked attention and were often wilted. I left two comments with the front desk asking for someone to give the flowers some attention and to water the poor ponsietta plants in the lido as they were just hanging on! On the last day they were replaced with orchids so perhaps they just have a life span and are discarded.

 

Overall it was an amazing cruise though, and the Captain did a fantastic job of our scenic cruising in the Antarctic peninsula, it was so stunningly beautiful and we were blessed with fantastic weather as well and a smooth-ish crossing in Drakes passage.

Edited January 11, 2017 by luv2cruisenz

[bUU]

When was the last time you saw something of significance introduced?

 

http://www.hollandamerica.com/pageByName/Resp.action?requestPage=Onboard_ATK&showHeader=true&showFooter=true&WT.ac=brandLP_OurStory-Activities_ATK_img

[POA1]

When was the last time you saw something of significance introduced?

 

Oh....maybe the $18 corkage fee added to every bottle of wine [emoji485] passengers bring on board??? Yep, that was really exciting!

 

Sorry, those of us who are frequent HAL cruisers know better. Each cruise, something else has been taken away...and nothing added.

 

 

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Lincoln Center Stage, Boardwalk Onboard (much bigger than the old piano bar,) and a lot more cooking classes than we've seen previously.

 

Also - and the biggest one of all - napkin folding class was back.

 

In food, the composed cheese and charcuterie plates in the Lido are a nice touch.

 

As for corkage, we've been paying that for years and years, because we take wine to have with dinner. I'm sure that the $18 impacts room drinkers, but for us it's moot.

Edited January 11, 2017 by POA1

[oaktreerb]

RE: BBQ ON DECK. We had a BBQ on the Mexican Riviera cruise in November that was awful. Fixed dining was closed in the upstairs dining room and we were informed the day before to go to the BBQ. We were not told that the lower dining room would be open. The BBQ was at night, the food was some kind of Mexican menu that I could not relate to. The lighting was inadequate as was the seating. SOme people went into the Lido looking for food. There were self serve desserts in the Lido including tubs of ice cream for scooping. What a mess.

 

I wrote my complaints on a "let us know" form and an officer tracked me down the next day to apologize. We talked about the health and safety issues and about the issue of closing one of the dining rooms in favor of the BBQ. He acknowledged my concerns and said that they would not close the dining room on future cruises and people would not be scooping their own ice cream.

 

I enjoy the salmon bakes in Alaska and we had a lovely BBQ in Curacao on a Panama Canal cruise. Both dining rooms were still open during the BBQ.

 

BBQ's are a Lido eating experience which should always be a choice. Closing the upper dining room to which people are assigned to a daily fixed dining experience should not have happened.

[kazu]

Sadly, the new food venues are limited to only certain ships. Same for the Lincoln Stage Centre.

 

Napkin folding classes have been on all of our cruises so I never missed them ;)

 

The problem is when these bbq's, lunches are removed from and R ship or an S ship or the Prinsendam, there is little to replace it with. These ships just don't have the room. The stuff bUU links doesn't apply on these ships and I sympathise with the World Cruisers.

 

I love sailing these ships and they are our choice for our next 58 days of cruising.

 

So, if the bbq & lunches are removed, I can't see anything new being added to them to replace it since the food venues on these ships are limited by nature of their size. Just my 2 cents, which is worth nothing in Canada ;)

 

edited to say, considering what a verandah and up can cost on these ships the concern is valid IMO.

Edited January 11, 2017 by kazu