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Suggestion for HAL: swap Tamarind and Club Orange


JennysUncle
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We are recently back from the Koningsdam, where we ate at Tamarind and walked past Club Orange.  As many have already commented, Club Orange in the former Culinary Center looks sort of like a cafeteria, and many (most?) of the tables are right up against the clear glass wall that everyone traversing deck 2 walks past, checking out your meal.

 

Now, it seems that the idea was that Club Orange would be a private perk for the upper tier of passengers, sort of a dining counterpart to the Neptune Lounge - and they missed that mark.  My suggestion is that HAL swap the Tamarind and Club Orange spaces.  (They seem to have about the same table capacity.)  The advantage for Club Orange -- the Tamarind location is almost isolated up on deck 10, but has an attractive view, and the possibility of open-deck dining.  Nice and private and discrete, a real perk.  The advantage for Tamarind -- this would make deck 2 the Dining Walk as well as the Music Walk.  It would put Pinnacle, Rudi's, and Tamarind in a row on the walkway back to the MDR, encouraging 'premium dining'.  The open glass wall would be less of an issue for Tamarind (and anyhow could be partly opaqued).  And the open kitchen, rather than a drawback, would accommodate Nami Sushi, and make that more accessible to the general public.

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Please, please, please, leave Tamarind out of any changes that you might want to suggest for Club Orange. Tamarind is one of the things that HAL got absolutely right, and based on posts here, is probably the most enjoyed specialty restaurant in the fleet. 

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Leave the Tamarind where it is and don't get the  brilliant idea that allocating this space to the new HAL Queens Grill (ie. Club Orange)  There have been enough bone headed ideas that have come out of Seattle (retreat wading pools)   ----  leave well enough alone.

Edited by RedmondCruiser
print came out too small.
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34 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Please, please, please, leave Tamarind out of any changes that you might want to suggest for Club Orange. Tamarind is one of the things that HAL got absolutely right, and based on posts here, is probably the most enjoyed specialty restaurant in the fleet. 

 

Definitely agree. HAL would have to totally remodel the Club Orange space to make the Tamarind what it is. It now is an excellent restaurant away from everything else which helps give it the atmosphere we all enjoy.

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Tamarind has a loyal following and this would provoke many more complaints than kudos. And from a practical standpoint, Tamarind's location is far from the main kitchen. Since most CO food is the same as MDR food, there would be unnecessary duplication of kitchen space and staff. 

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1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

Please, please, please, leave Tamarind out of any changes that you might want to suggest for Club Orange. Tamarind is one of the things that HAL got absolutely right, and based on posts here, is probably the most enjoyed specialty restaurant in the fleet. 

👍👍👍 Agree wholeheartedly - leave Tamarind as it is and make changes to Club Orange!

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24 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

I, also, do not want to see any changes in Tamarind -- we eat there a lot on the ships that have this specialty restaurant.

 

Just rip out Club Orange!!

 

No, find another use for Club Orange. I like the gastropub idea suggested above. They've got Blend for wine aficionados, so why not something for craft beers? They could do tasting dinners and teach people that there's more to beer than Bud lite.

 

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OK for me I do not use suites and perhaps a bit old fashioned but I really did like the America Test Kitchen when it was first trialled on the Koningsdam.  We had a great meal in there but unfortunately on that transatlantic cruise not many of the paying passengers agreed with me.  On the night of our visit there was only myself and DW and a table of people from the cast.  

 

CO does not appeal to me at all but I understand the reasons people have given views both for and against this concept.  Time will tell if the can make a go of it.

 

I would absolutely hate any move for the Tamarind which I still think provides the best meals onboard.

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Install Canaletto into the Club Orange space.  Canaletto's location is still part of the Lido Restaurant.  Moving it to its own dedicated space would make Canaletto more "special" in my opinion than where it now is.

 

As a previous poster mentioned, putting another "specialty restaurant", available to all who wish to patronize such on Deck 2 would make that deck not just the Music Walk deck, but the Specialty Restaurant Dining deck as well.  

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5 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Please, please, please, leave Tamarind out of any changes that you might want to suggest for Club Orange. Tamarind is one of the things that HAL got absolutely right, and based on posts here, is probably the most enjoyed specialty restaurant in the fleet. 

Agree.  We have stayed in every cabin category from an inside (K category) to NS.  One thing we enjoyed on almost every cruise that had Tamarind was Tamarind & it's location.  Suite passengers, even without CO, must be satisfied because this category generally sells out first.  I don't think HA needs to add more than is already there for a passenger to enjoy the experience.  We certainly did those few times we stayed in a suite.  

 

I dislike the idea of a "ship within a ship", and hope HA never initiates this idea as other lines have.   

 

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I believe Tamarind has it's own kitchen - designed for the cooking of that restaurant.

 

I highly doubt it would be feasible to move it to the location of Club Orange.

 

You could end up with two losers instead of one winner.

 

And yes, we can be in suites and sometimes not.  Nevertheless, I'd leave the Tamarind alone.  Club Orange is what needs fixing. 😉   The Tamarind they got right 😉 

 

 

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Why does HAL have to offer more Neptune suite level perks?

 

If they are not filling those cabins then convert them to cabin classes that do sell without the extra perks -  put them back as two regular verandahs,  or series of three solo cabins.  

 

HAL does not make or break its bottom line on its relatively few high-end suites because there are too few of them and one hears over and over the often get fire-saled or comped anyway -they are more an anachronism from cruising days gone by.  HAL makes its bread and butter on its variety lower prices cabins.

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HAL needs to stop copying some Class-based lines like Celebrity and Cunard, and provide the same, excellent service, amenities and facilities to ALL its guests. Choice of cabin/suite and their prices should only be based on location and space.

 

I simply detest these “suite only” perks that are in fashion on more and more mainstream lines, they are actually cheapening the experience. HAL needs to seperate itself and focus on giving a better quality to all the guests.

a lounge, ok, a suite breakfast area, I can live with, but seperate decks and suite-only areas, well, we are not livingmin the 19th century anymore, if that would happen, I will take my money elsewhere. 

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22 hours ago, JennysUncle said:

We are recently back from the Koningsdam, where we ate at Tamarind and walked past Club Orange.  As many have already commented, Club Orange in the former Culinary Center looks sort of like a cafeteria, and many (most?) of the tables are right up against the clear glass wall that everyone traversing deck 2 walks past, checking out your meal.

 

... The open glass wall would be less of an issue for Tamarind ....

 

Are you saying that passengers not in suites have lower standards for dining venues and privacy? 

 

igraf

 

 

 

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13 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Why does HAL have to offer more Neptune suite level perks?

 

If they are not filling those cabins then convert them to cabin classes that do sell without the extra perks -  put them back as two regular verandahs,  or series of three solo cabins.  

 

HAL does not make or break its bottom line on its relatively few high-end suites because there are too few of them and one hears over and over the often get fire-saled or comped anyway -they are more an anachronism from cruising days gone by.  HAL makes its bread and butter on its variety lower prices cabins.

Celebrity and other cruise lines are not losing money on their suites.  Try booking a suite on X.  They are much more expensive than on HAL.

The reason HAL has to 'fire-sale' suites is the vast disparity between HAL perks and Celebrity perks.

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5 hours ago, Despegue said:

HAL needs to stop copying some Class-based lines like Celebrity and Cunard, and provide the same, excellent service, amenities and facilities to ALL its guests. Choice of cabin/suite and their prices should only be based on location and space.

 

I simply detest these “suite only” perks that are in fashion on more and more mainstream lines, they are actually cheapening the experience. HAL needs to seperate itself and focus on giving a better quality to all the guests.

a lounge, ok, a suite breakfast area, I can live with, but seperate decks and suite-only areas, well, we are not livingmin the 19th century anymore, if that would happen, I will take my money elsewhere. 

The major cruise lines are moving surely towards the 'ship in a ship model' because there are sufficient number of passengers willing to pay for those perks.    Failure to innovate.  Failure to provide what passengers want is a 'sure-fire' way to go out of business.

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7 hours ago, Despegue said:

HAL needs to stop copying some Class-based lines like Celebrity and Cunard, and provide the same, excellent service, amenities and facilities to ALL its guests. Choice of cabin/suite and their prices should only be based on location and space.

 

I simply detest these “suite only” perks that are in fashion on more and more mainstream lines, they are actually cheapening the experience. HAL needs to seperate itself and focus on giving a better quality to all the guests.

a lounge, ok, a suite breakfast area, I can live with, but seperate decks and suite-only areas, well, we are not livingmin the 19th century anymore, if that would happen, I will take my money elsewhere. 

If you take your money elsewhere, your quality options are pretty slim. Most lines that serve the U.S., with the exception of pricier lines like Viking or suites-only lines, have some amenities only available to suites. Even Virgin, with it's first ship sailing in 2020, has a suites-only area. Looks like old is new again. Don't see how suite-only perks "cheapen" the experience for the rest of the guests. On NCL, I didn't even know the suites area existed, until I was invited there one evening. Same with Celebrity on their new ships - the suites area actually relieves pressure for loungers around the main pool and lessens the demand for tables in the MDR. Airlines have first-class seating and lounges, hotels offer upscale rooms with VIP areas - why should ships be different? This is not a class seperation, but rather options depending on the price you are willing to pay.

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