On Nieuw Statendam... Club Orange... is it worth the extra cost?

[C-sea]

We love quality, well prepared meals but the look of Club Orange is a bit cold in photos.Does the food trump the environment?  We don't care about the other benefits like...priority lines. Are we better to spend our money on specialty restaurants?

[Florida_gal_50]

The food comes from the mdr at night except the daily special.  The food is cooked in there in the morning.  The food is hot which is important to me.

[colin v]

The biggest benefit for us is the cabin upgrade (within the same category type)

 

 

[garon&arlene]

Was on this ship in March and used club orange.  I was not impressed by the service.

 

[Crew News]

I was on the Nieuw Statendam in Nov/Dec for two weeks and enjoyed my Club Orange experience with dining whenever I wished.  Club Orange got me a nice stateroom upgrade.  With the exception of one night, I requested the same table and waiter.

 

Whenever I cruise on a Pinnacle-class ship, I take advantage of the Club Orange upgrade option.

[DaveOKC]

Also on the NS in Dec. and dined in Club Orange most evenings.  Really enjoyed the service and relative quiet vs the MDR.  Breakfast was prepared there and thus hotter - plus one time the waiter messed up and being right there the chef was quick to fix it.

 

I would recommend Club Orange on the Pinnacle Class ships, for the dining area and the free upgrade.  Not sure it is worth it on the older ships however (they should lower the costs more on them IMO).

 

  

[Domer81mpc]

Doing the TA on NS nextspring.  Knew what cabin we wanted. In working with our PCC, it was actually cheaper to book it with Club Orange than without.ii Its short sighted to judge it only by its dining room.

[sofietucker]

We get Club Orange access as a benefit of the Neptune Suite... Because the other bennies--priority boarding/tendering and special concierge--are already available, the restaurant is the one additional feature of note. And, well, I wouldn't spring for it. You can see the daily CO additional dishes in the Navigator app's menu. Maybe for breakfast if as others have noted, that's important (NS guests can have breakfast in Pinnacle too).

 

Agree 100% on the "coldness" of the venue. We actually ate there before it was converted to CO. It had been America's Test Kitchen--hence open kitchen and glass walls. Then, I don't remember the name but it was briefly a FABULOUS restaurant that had less known, international/Latin American dishes, tapas, special cocktails (try a Compadre, or a classic Kalimotxo "calimocho": red wine and coke). We ate there every chance we got. Great upbeat music, happy frisky staff--it was like a party. Next time, it had become CO. 

 

And the first night it was mostly empty; asked to sit along the outer wall (where the 2-tops are); told they were all reserved. No one ever showed up at those. Next day, tried to reserve one of those tables and told "no reservations." They seated us--on gala night--at a high table behind the waiter station and next to the stoves. We roasted in there--little ventilation. And our food was cold. Pretty miserable.

 

From now on, we check the menu and see if we want to get that CO entree. If not, off to the MDR or a specialty restaurant. Of course, YMMV.

[kittyboomboom1]

So my rule of thumb for purchases like this is YES if your net worth is over $3million and your disposable income after all monthly living is expenses is more than $5K per month.  That is my rule, and thankfully I can do this, but I often don't.  I have sometimes, but normally it is not worth it and seems a bit snobby.  That is just me.

[vicd1969]

10 minutes ago, kittyboomboom1 said:

So my rule of thumb for purchases like this is YES if your net worth is over $3million and your disposable income after all monthly living is expenses is more than $5K per month.  That is my rule, and thankfully I can do this, but I often don't.  I have sometimes, but normally it is not worth it and seems a bit snobby.  That is just me.

Are you confusing the threshold to get a Neptune suite vs just getting Club Orange? My financial stats are well under yours and I was able to afford Club Orange just fine. Like others said, the cabin upgrade from Club Orange more than paid for itself. 

 

Edit: NVM. I see you posted the exact message on other cruise threads today. Maybe it's just a troll account.

Edited August 4, 2022 by vicd1969

[kittyboomboom1]

4 hours ago, vicd1969 said:

Are you confusing the threshold to get a Neptune suite vs just getting Club Orange? My financial stats are well under yours and I was able to afford Club Orange just fine. Like others said, the cabin upgrade from Club Orange more than paid for itself. 

 

Edit: NVM. I see you posted the exact message on other cruise threads today. Maybe it's just a troll account.

no troll, been on this board for years.  I see people spending a lot of money they asking very arbitary questions.. worth is a unique to each person.  I find it funny when people ask if upgrades are worth it..that is like asking if the food is good.  No one can answer that for another person but only give their opinion.

 

[Petrocelli]

I got Club Orange because I didn't want to eat in a large dining room.  On a recent 7 night cruise, we ate there for the first two nights.  The food was fair to good, but it was never great.  The next two nights, we ate at Tamarind, and then at Rudi's.  The food was outstanding.  We finished the trip with three more specialty restaurant meals.

 

Next trip we have resolved to skip CO, and eat all dinners in specialty restaurants.  The cost will be about the same.

[C-sea]

12 minutes ago, Petrocelli said:

 

 

Next trip we have resolved to skip CO, and eat all dinners in specialty restaurants.  The cost will be about the same.

We have used this strategy on RCCL and Celebrity with success. However the food photos and menus I have seen in the main dining room of Nieuw Statendam look more enticing...so....  We shall give the MDR a try.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, Petrocelli said:

I got Club Orange because I didn't want to eat in a large dining room.  On a recent 7 night cruise, we ate there for the first two nights.  The food was fair to good, but it was never great.  The next two nights, we ate at Tamarind, and then at Rudi's.  The food was outstanding.  We finished the trip with three more specialty restaurant meals.

 

Next trip we have resolved to skip CO, and eat all dinners in specialty restaurants.  The cost will be about the same.

I buy club orange for the upgrade mostly. I eat mostly at specialty restaurants and without a doubt they are better, except for the pinnacle lately.  I do eat breakfast in there pretty much every day.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, kittyboomboom1 said:

no troll, been on this board for years.  I see people spending a lot of money they asking very arbitary questions.. worth is a unique to each person.  I find it funny when people ask if upgrades are worth it..that is like asking if the food is good.  No one can answer that for another person but only give their opinion.

 

I didn’t see the op ask if it was worth it.  I don’t know why people get so offended about this.  Had a poster go on about this when I asked a completely different question a couple days ago.  I never said anything about “worth”.  This is a place to ask questions, at least for most of us.

[scubacruiserx2]

On 8/2/2022 at 6:46 PM, C-sea said:

We love quality, well prepared meals but the look of Club Orange is a bit cold in photos.Does the food trump the environment?  We don't care about the other benefits like...priority lines. Are we better to spend our money on specialty restaurants?

 

We didn't think so . The food wasn't that good . It was loud , noisy and looked like a diner with people peering through big spoons on the windows .

 

http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p629/scubax2/HAL/DSC05872_zpskucg3gwn.jpg

http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p629/scubax2/HAL/DSC05795%203_zpss5fscvsr.jpg

 

The service was worse .  If you have a Neptune Suite you eat eat breakfast here instead of the Pinnacle Grill . We like a variety of specialty restaurants and that's we and our money go .

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[Florida_gal_50]

14 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

We didn't think so . The food wasn't that good . It was loud , noisy and looked like a diner with people peering through big spoons on the windows .

 

http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p629/scubax2/HAL/DSC05872_zpskucg3gwn.jpg

http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p629/scubax2/HAL/DSC05795 3_zpss5fscvsr.jpg

 

The service was worse .  If you have a Neptune Suite you eat eat breakfast here instead of the Pinnacle Grill . We like a variety of specialty restaurants and that's we and our money go .

 

Do you actually eat in there? Your links are not links at least on my device.  I don’t enjoy when people stare at me and I never felt that way in there.  The mdr is 10 x as noisy.  A specialty restaurant will almost always be better than a non specialty restaurant.  I’ve had not great service in club orange as well as specialty restaurants.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Florida_gal_50

[*Miss G*]

We really enjoy the Club Orange restaurant.  The MDR is far too big and noisy and the servers there are rushing around overworked.  In CO they get to know your likes and dislikes pretty quickly so your cranberry mimosa and Americano is poured and on the table the moment they see you, for example.  It’s also nice to have a view of the sea, for a change, instead of noisy serving stations and masses of people.

[AFNavigator]

On 8/2/2022 at 9:20 PM, Crew News said:

I was on the Nieuw Statendam in Nov/Dec for two weeks and enjoyed my Club Orange experience with dining whenever I wished.  Club Orange got me a nice stateroom upgrade.  With the exception of one night, I requested the same table and waiter.

 

Whenever I cruise on a Pinnacle-class ship, I take advantage of the Club Orange upgrade option.

The within meta-category cabin upgrade can be the best reason to buy Club Orange.  We will be on the NS in December.  We wanted a specific V-category balcony cabin.  Called HAL and booked an obstructed balcony for $410 less than that V-cabin we wanted.  We then immediately purchased Club Orange for $350 ($25/day x 2 people) and had them upgrade us no charge to the exact V-category cabin we wanted.  As a result, the $350 Club Orange cost bought us a $410 cabin upgrade.  Pretty sweet...got the cabin we wanted, got Club Orange essentially for free, lowered our cruise fare $60.

[iceman93]

Our experience on the NS cruise we just disembarked was similar.  We're big fans, usually, of the main dining room; this was our first cruise on a Pinnacle-class ship with more extensive specialty options but still intended to eat most of our dinners in the main dining room.  We were in the pinnacle suite so had access to Club Orange and thought we'd just use it for breakfasts.

 

We were given a wonderful 6-top table (for our family of 4) in the main dining room at the window at the very aft of the ship, but after a couple of dinners there we found we just weren't enjoying the experience that much.  The staff were friendly and tried really hard, but seemed extremely stressed and overworked.  There was no elegance to the service, nor time for friendly conversation like we've had in the past with our dining room stewards.  It was also frustrating that our 8pm fixed dining time (which we requested and always have enjoyed in the past) made attending either the early or late show in the World Central Stage impossible due to timing.

 

One night we actually wanted to see the show so we decided to drop into Club Orange around 7:30, and we never ate in the main dining room again.  This is where we found the level of interaction and personalized service we were expecting.  A few nights the "bonus" entree was also tempting and delicious so that was an unexpected pleasure.  While the fishbowl atmosphere wasn't ideal, it also didn't bother us that much given the other positives.

 

Our next cruise is back on a Vista-class ship, and my whole family agreed one of the biggest things we're going to miss is the Club Orange restaurant!

[twodjs]

Since the menu is the same as the MDR with the exception of the one extra main course item, you can't expect the food to magically transform into specialty restaurant fare. But we found the service much more personalized and not rushed. And the prep chef behind the glass did add special flair to several of the dishes we ordered. Sorry, but if you think people are staring at you, why not smile back? We didn't find it to be a problem at all. Two thumbs up for the Club Orange venue on Pinnacle Class ships.

[BermudaBound2014]

16 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I didn’t see the op ask if it was worth it.  I don’t know why people get so offended about this.  Had a poster go on about this when I asked a completely different question a couple days ago.  I never said anything about “worth”.  This is a place to ask questions, at least for most of us.

 

I believe the OP did ask if it's worth the extra cost. Title of thread: 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, twodjs said:

Since the menu is the same as the MDR with the exception of the one extra main course item, you can't expect the food to magically transform into specialty restaurant fare. But we found the service much more personalized and not rushed. And the prep chef behind the glass did add special flair to several of the dishes we ordered. Sorry, but if you think people are staring at you, why not smile back? We didn't find it to be a problem at all. Two thumbs up for the Club Orange venue on Pinnacle Class ships.

I can't imagine someone peering into those windows.  Its just such an odd thing to do.

[crystalspin]

I will peer in! Now that I know it exists. We always book the cabin we want, can't imagine booking something less and then HOPING that the one I want doesn't disappear by the time it takes to buy CO. But I will peek in and see if the experience looks worth the cost on the K'dam.

[*Miss G*]

15 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

I will peer in! Now that I know it exists. We always book the cabin we want, can't imagine booking something less and then HOPING that the one I want doesn't disappear by the time it takes to buy CO. But I will peek in and see if the experience looks worth the cost on the K'dam.

 

CO is purchased during the booking process so there’s no extra time involved.  For example, when talking to HAL to make a booking it goes like this:

 

PCC:  Which category room would you like?

Me:  Verandah with Club Orange.

PCC:  Okay.  Which room would you like?