Shorts in dining room 1st night

[sail7seas]

Olive Garden, Applebee's, Denny's, Ponderosa, Outback, Red Lobster, McDonalds, Burger King, Long John Silver, Wendy's, Bob Evans, Waffle House -- to name just a few.

 

Did you really have to ask that question? Of course, HAL's MDR's do not match shore-based FINE restaurants - but they do surpass the ones most likely to be frequented by the majority of posters here

 

There in lies the problem for me, Ihave never eaten in Red Lobster ( I don't think there is one near me ), nwever in Ponderosa, Bob Evans, Waffle house, long JOHN sILver though I haave had a few whopp ers............... mostt on your listt are not restaurants that have a loca tion in our area . I don't know why.

 

The food on HALin t he last 5 years is not t he same standard as what we get in independent , resttaurants where we and many of our friends meeet for dinne.r Yes, I know t HAL is feed ing huge numbers of people and the restaurants I am used to are feeding hundreds or fewer a a ttime. HAL once did a really good job, so I know it CAN be done. Now the menus are 'ceative writing. I truly believe the decline in food on HAL is due to cutbacks in spendig If they spent a realisitic number of $$ person per day, the food could be better as it once was consierably so. . The menus sound good but what is served does not resemble the written description in far too many cases. ompare the Samd ship, same galley, same number of guestts and the food today vs., what it has been in he past is due to much low er $$,. If tthey could feed us so well in the pastt, they could do so again. They are chsasing the profits far too hard IMO. PROfits certainly will fall if they sttart to lose thoseguests who know th e difference and don't feel they now get value for their money.

 

An Oliv e Garden opened a few towns away and I went with a girlfriend. Not my idea of good food I have not gone again .

 

 

We've had the speech about how much we paid for our cruiserrws then vs now and i can say i haver ther receipteews from 'bqack then' and it jus is not trtue tht wer are all spending so much less in comparrabler dollaarrs todyaw. Somerr ofus arr spending a large nuumber of dollarrs.

Edited January 1, 2018 by sail7seas

[innlady1]

Frankly, I don’t see any correlation here. At least not for us. We dine out A LOT - and always at small, independent restaurants. Most recently, on Friday night at Leena’s Kitchen. Fabulous. We’re blessed with many, many choices in our area.

 

The only exception in recent times would be Texas Roadhouse because it opened nearby and we were curious. And Panera which is great for a quick lunch.

 

Usually, as seniors, we do a late lunch.

 

We don’t cruise solely for the food. And we do enjoy HAL.

 

 

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[Aquahound]

But part of a meal's enjoyment goes beyond the food - and I believe the service on HAL is undeniably superior to that in those chains .

 

Sorry, but I think it is deniable. MDRs are noisy and very chaotic nowadays, especially on the bigger ships. Service is no longer personal. They just want to take your order and rush off. Perhaps it was the advent of anytime dining that did it, coupled with the cutting of staff, but I think mass market cruise line MDRs lost that great personal touch many years ago.

[taxmantoo]

Worth considering ... Just remember that many of the food critiques posted here by CC members on the general quality of MDR food on HAL are done by folks who actually love grits :eek: Just saying ... :confused:

[*Miss G*]

Not necessarily - just by people who make up the customer base of mass market providers: be they chain restaurants or cruise lines.

 

Sorry. Was my attempt at a joke. This thread is so serious!

[RocketMan275]

Worth considering ... Just remember that many of the food critiques posted here by CC members on the general quality of MDR food on HAL are done by folks who actually love grits :eek: Just saying ... :confused:

 

I'd rather have grits than pate which I consider to be a fancy name for cat food.

[iancal]

There is absolutely no comparison between the food and the service that we enjoy from our local medium priced local Italian, Greek, or Thai, etc restaurants and cruise line MDR's including HAL.

 

Certainly the place settings are not the same nor is the dining room as ornate. But we enjoy the meal far more. Why? Personalized, non rushed service, quiet background music instead of the noise levels of a crowded, busy, and understaffed dining room, and our food is always served at the temperature it should be and properly prepared. The menu description agrees with what arrives at our table. The quality and the freshness of the food is as good and usually better than the MDR.

 

If we were to choose dinner in one of these local establishments or dinner in an MDR, our local would win hands down, every time. Not one of rhem is a chain.

 

We enjoy cruising and the whole cruising package. But we are under no illusions about the MDR experience.

Edited January 1, 2018 by iancal

[jagger16]

Just off Eurodam and yes there were lots of shorts and athletic wear the first night in the dining room. The weird thing was that the first night was designated "Gala Optional". It was very strange. We were by no means formal but dressed up a little especially since it was Christmas Eve. But there was a mix of formal, casual, something in between and come as you are. Still scratching my head about that one.

[sail7seas]

There is absolutely no comparison between the food and the service that we enjoy from our local medium priced local Italian, Greek, or Thai, etc restaurants and cruise line MDR's including HAL.

 

Certainly the place settings are not the same nor is the dining room as ornate. But we enjoy the meal far more. Why? Personalized, non rushed service, quiet background music instead of the noise levels of a crowded, busy, and understaffed dining room, and our food is always served at the temperature it should be and properly prepared. The menu description agrees with what arrives at our table. The quality and the freshness of the food is as good and usually better than the MDR.

 

If we were to choose dinner in one of these local establishments or dinner in an MDR, our local would win hands down, every time. Not one of rhem is a chain.

 

 

Yes, I agree. We have such wonderful independent restaurants in our area. Maygbe we are spoikled but the point i tired to make above it there was a time on the same HAL aships when we had dinners we thought were good and we enjoyed. The food served today does not resemble much from those meals.

We enjoy cruising and the whole cruising package. But we are under no illusions about the MDR experience.

.....

[Sea girl 23]

Just off Eurodam and yes there were lots of shorts and athletic wear the first night in the dining room. The weird thing was that the first night was designated "Gala Optional". It was very strange. We were by no means formal but dressed up a little especially since it was Christmas Eve. But there was a mix of formal, casual, something in between and come as you are. Still scratching my head about that one.

 

This is the sort of thing that gets hairs split even further :p

[Cruzaholic41]

.....

 

Interesting thought.

[SetAnOpenCourse]

In terms of variety and nutrition, I think the MDR compares very favorably with most restaurants.

[ithaca gal]

Interesting thought.

 

Very. Just goes to show you that you don't have to be verbose to up your post count.

[KroozNut]

The MDR may have nice tableclothes, tableware etc. and look like formal dining (to some) but the food is far from fine dining.

 

Again, this is only your opinion of MDR food on HAL. There are plenty of folks on these boards (including us) that feel the MDR food is fantastic.

[Kingofcool1947]

Fantastic? Why is that?

Quality? Variety? Service?

[KroozNut]

Fantastic? Why is that?

 

Fully understanding the high subjectivity of food quality evaluations form person to person, DW and I love the food on HAL, and that is our opinion, nothing more.

 

And we're not newbies by any means, having about 25 cruises under our belts on 4 or 5 different lines.

[Lady Arwen]

Again, this is only your opinion of MDR food on HAL. There are plenty of folks on these boards (including us) that feel the MDR food is fantastic.

I tend to agree with you. We are not "foodies" by any means. The MDR food we receive on HAL is, for us, really, really good. Is it fine dining? Probably not. However, we always enjoy our meal and leave satisfied. We're realistic enough to understand that it's not possible to service hundreds, if not thousands, of meals that will be to everyone's taste. If you're looking for an upscale dining experience, there are a number of cruiselines that would be happy to cater to you......for a price.

[iancal]

I cannot imagine that anyone wearing shorts in the MDR on the first night really cares one iota about how those on this board feel about it.

 

And why should they?

[JRG]

Each of us falls into one of 2 categories:

 

1) Rockstars---are okay if they or others wear shorts in the MDR on day 1

2) Hardliners---are not okay with it and probably wouldn't do it.

 

There is nothing wrong with being either one. It is just a function of your values system.

[Host Walt]

Several posts have been removed.

 

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[innlady1]

As far as I’m concerned, I love not having to cook. Period.

 

 

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[Sea girl 23]

As far as I’m concerned, I love not having to cook. Period.

 

 

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I love to cook but I like getting a 1-2 week "vacation" from it!:p

[Lady Arwen]

Lady A, your comment was fine and I agree with your assessment. We also usually enjoy the food in MDR and it is not exactly fine dining based on our experience but we enjoy it.

 

The tricky word FOODIE probably lent some ambiguity to some readers, but I did not feel you were implying anything.

Thank you for your kind comment. I get the feeling that there are some people here who enjoy being critical of others. Yes, we do not have any problems with the food in any venue on HAL ships and always enjoy ourselves. Others are certainly entitled to their opinions, as food is very subjective.

[Lady Arwen]

Of course you didn't ;)

 

Sadly, lately it appears that there are some people now that just want to challenge rather than help. they prefer to be argumentative.

 

the less attention they get the better ;)

 

Let's continue to focus on helping and valid opinions :). Such as yours :)

Kazu, thank you for being one of those people who make it pleasurable to participate in these boards. It's is, thankfully, just a handful of people who enjoy being confrontational. The vast majority of people are lovely and I really do enjoy sharing information with them. Happy New Year!

[kazu]

Kazu, thank you for being one of those people who make it pleasurable to participate in these boards. It's is, thankfully, just a handful of people who enjoy being confrontational. The vast majority of people are lovely and I really do enjoy sharing information with them. Happy New Year!

 

Thank you :o

 

Happy New Year to you and yours. May you always have a smooth flight - and all your cruises be bright :D