Food: Current vs pre-covid

[HALcruiser2001]

 

5 hours ago, Mary229 said:

With egg prices I wonder if they might start up charging.  😊

 

Powdered eggs are more expensive than eggs, but do not require refrigeration.  They can only be used for a scramble or perhaps a horrific omelet.  I use them or better (freeze dried) when camping/backpacking.

 

[MAVIP]

17 hours ago, jimbob22 said:

There was no salmon coubiliac on my recent Rotterdam cruise. 

You meant coulibiac? Must be because it is a russian recipe. 😉

[jimbob22]

25 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

You meant coulibiac? Must be because it is a russian recipe. 😉

Hey, I was close. They did serve it a couple of times on Koningsdam a few years ago.  It's transcended Russia into the realm of classic 'cruise food'.  Carnival was serving it around once a week last year (not sure if that's still ongoing, as it was part of their 50th anniversary recognition).

Edited January 11, 2023 by jimbob22

[mamapirk]

Thanks so much everyone! Especially to outtahand7 for providing the great pictures. All the positive comments have helped me make the decision to book a HAL trip as soon as possible. I now know I need never go on Royal Caribbean, even as a favor to a friend, ever again. You guys are great, as always.

[ChinaShrek]

I took three HAL cruises in 2022 and these were my first since 2018. Two of the cruises were on the Rotterdam and one on the Koningsdam. I thought the food and service were excellent on the Rotterdam. The Koningsdam cruise was over Christmas out of San Diego and was very crowded. Service at dinner was slow (two hour dinners) and chaotic (forgetting second appetizers and trying to match drinks with those who ordered them). I thought the food was very good to excellent, although the portions were smaller. 

[Diver2014]

The food on Royal Caribbean was 'shockingly bad'?????   We're leaving Sunday on RCI again and it has never been 'shockingly bad'.  In fact, after 37 cruises, 9 of which were on HAL, I've never had any food on a cruise ship that I would call 'shockingly bad'.   And we were told on many ships that no one uses powdered eggs. I seem to think chengkp75 verified that at one time.  Good heavens! If you are that picky, go to a land based five star restaurant and pay their prices.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Diver2014

[foodsvcmgr]

I think there may be some confusion with pasteurized liquid eggs which are near universally used in food service except for eggs up or over and powdered eggs which are occasionally a baking ingredient.

[ModMs]

My current favorite topic. We took our first HAL cruise on Oosterdam in October, previously only Princess pre-pandemic. I have to say the food on the Oosterdam was absolutely atrocious. Very little choice in Lido and servers very stingy with portions, same with MDR. For example, in MDR one night ordered the grilled salmon. Menu said it came with grilled vegetables and Wasabi mashed potatoes. The piece of fish was fine but "vegetables" was a bit of onion and one small piece of carrot and mashed potatoes was a piped thin ring around fish.DH ordered rock fish one night. The piece of fish was just a 3" x 3" piece with the same vegetables. Gala night did have lobster and steak, but I can't eat shell fish. Other dishes were very meh. For the record, I do eat pretty bland food as a rule, but this was out of line, especially the misleading descriptions on the menu. Going on the Rotterdam in a couple of weeks, hoping for better. Thanks for the posts.

[jimbob22]

23 minutes ago, ModMs said:

My current favorite topic. We took our first HAL cruise on Oosterdam in October, previously only Princess pre-pandemic. I have to say the food on the Oosterdam was absolutely atrocious. Very little choice in Lido and servers very stingy with portions, same with MDR. For example, in MDR one night ordered the grilled salmon. Menu said it came with grilled vegetables and Wasabi mashed potatoes. The piece of fish was fine but "vegetables" was a bit of onion and one small piece of carrot and mashed potatoes was a piped thin ring around fish.DH ordered rock fish one night. The piece of fish was just a 3" x 3" piece with the same vegetables. Gala night did have lobster and steak, but I can't eat shell fish. Other dishes were very meh. For the record, I do eat pretty bland food as a rule, but this was out of line, especially the misleading descriptions on the menu. Going on the Rotterdam in a couple of weeks, hoping for better. Thanks for the posts.

You may still want to order extra sides, since small sides does seem to be a trend.  One night my wife did order some extra steamed vegetables, and the extra veggies was not a very large portion.  To us, the lido on Rotterdam was good enough that we ate there 4/7 nights (the non-gala nights), and it typically had the meats served in the mdr that night.  I think the consensus of recent Rotterdam posters is that the food has overall been really good, with good selection too.

[Bick53]

Currently on the Koningsdam - 24 day Mexico and Hawaii Cruise.

I  am very disappointed with the food choices from appetizers to dessert in the MDR and have been eating more often in the Lido.

By comparison - our last HA cruise was on the Volendam - pre Covid and would never miss a meal in the MDR.

I believe that this is a cost savings strategy which is regrettable.

[JCrewz]

On 1/11/2023 at 11:51 AM, ottahand7 said:

We are currently on the Volendam Grand South America 74 days with about 66 left. Our food and service is at pre pandemic quality. Each ship is different but our MDR, Lido, Pinnacle and Canaletto have been terrific. The breads and pastries are abundant and excellent. Food is hot when it arrives other than breakfast coffee in the MDR so we just get breakfast in the Lido.  A lot of our staff are new but they work so hard to get our meals to us hot and plated beautifully.  I can say the same for the Nieuw Statendam from last February.  Sorry for an opportunity to drop some food porn.  First two MDR last 4 Canaletto. 

OttaHand....every dish looks fantastic.  We were on the Westerdam in September and Holland's food far surpassed Carnival Vista's.  Going on the Eurodam on Sunday and looking forward to more great, hot, fresh plates.  Hoping my wife doesn't catch me looking at these pictures!

[Stateroom_Sailor]

10 hours ago, Bick53 said:

Currently on the Koningsdam - 24 day Mexico and Hawaii Cruise.

I  am very disappointed with the food choices from appetizers to dessert in the MDR and have been eating more often in the Lido.

By comparison - our last HA cruise was on the Volendam - pre Covid and would never miss a meal in the MDR.

I believe that this is a cost savings strategy which is regrettable.

 

HAL should never cut significantly from food, just as Royal Caribbean shouldn't cut from entertainment.  I am shocked at the latest reviews across the fleet.  A few days ago a Holland Rep implied that I was a liar about a prior phone call done an hour earlier, and refused to let me forward the email produced from it.  Unless we're pleasantly surprised, we're planning to downgrade our 2024 cruise to burn through our remaining credits, and move on to the luxury-light market.  

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

and move on to the luxury-light market.  

And here is the crux of the issue.   These 7 day cruises are offered at pre-inflation bargain prices and that simply cannot continue without major degradation to the product.  I fail to understand how someone thinks they will get a great meal and spectacular entertainment for the price of a road side motel.  I am serious.   These cruises are being offered for $100 a day and that is what a roadside motel costs these days.  
 

My advice in this current circumstance is buy the lowest end of the rooms, there is no point buying the suite and getting steerage class service . At $700 it is a decent bargain holiday but at $2200/ 7 days it is not.

 

HAL. Needs to think carefully before launching their new long, exotic itinerary model.  It is one thing to suffer cutbacks for 7 days but could be mutinous for 30 days. 

[Stateroom_Sailor]

10 hours ago, Mary229 said:

And here is the crux of the issue.   These 7 day cruises are offered at pre-inflation bargain prices and that simply cannot continue without major degradation to the product.  I fail to understand how someone thinks they will get a great meal and spectacular entertainment for the price of a road side motel.  I am serious.   These cruises are being offered for $100 a day and that is what a roadside motel costs these days.  
 

My advice in this current circumstance is buy the lowest end of the rooms, there is no point buying the suite and getting steerage class service . At $700 it is a decent bargain holiday but at $2200/ 7 days it is not.

 

HAL. Needs to think carefully before launching their new long, exotic itinerary model.  It is one thing to suffer cutbacks for 7 days but could be mutinous for 30 days. 

The MDR food on our 2011 Carnival Victory cruise was better than our food in Blu on Celebrity Eclipse in 2019.  We're experiencing product devaluation across all mass market lines.  I think the problem is that these cruise lines built too many ships, as if we'd never have another recession, poop cruise, or global crisis again.  Now they're overwhelmed with debt, having to fill up these cabins for too cheap.  

 

We're paying $7,000 for our Alaska cruise in a veranda.  You're right, if I were paying $1,400 it might be easier to swallow.  Our 10 Night Caribbean cruise is outrageous at $8,000 for a suite, all because I didn't want to lose a $600 deposit, I paid for a higher tier.  That is getting scrapped as soon as Fall 2024 gets released, probably Mexican Riviera that we can drive to, and in a cheaper cabin..

 

You're 100% right about longer itineraries.  I saw this first hand on our 2019 Celebrity Hawaiian cruise, which was experience supply chain or budgetary shortages.  The B2B2B people were the most irritated and outspoken, having experienced it for 4+ weeks from Chile or Argentina.

 

 

[MereBooty]

On 1/13/2023 at 2:39 PM, Bick53 said:

Currently on the Koningsdam - 24 day Mexico and Hawaii Cruise.

I  am very disappointed with the food choices from appetizers to dessert in the MDR and have been eating more often in the Lido.

We were on the first seven days of this cruise and thought the food in the MDR was excellent and the service was usually good, with a few minor hiccups. 
 

[mwj]

We have found the MDR dinner food good to excellent on our recent cruises. We have only had one bad dinner meal. The portions are smaller, and that is appreciated.

 

We have found the MDR desserts lackluster, with only a handful we would rate as good.

 

We have found the MDR breakfasts fair to poor, with limited exceptions where we rate them as good.

 

We have found Dive-In consistently good.

 

We have found the pizza poor.

 

We do not consistently use the Lido Market, and so we won't rate it. (fair)

[Seacruise]

I am able to shed some light on how ships are stocked.

Having someone who works for one of the companies that supply cruise ships in the family has taught me a lot.

 

The Ship has to submit their food order 88 days before sailing date.
So this is a complete guess in some cases on what the passenger makeup will be but is based on past cruises on how many items used.

The 88 days is needed to make sure the supply chain can provide the items and shipped to the ship. In many cases right now this even isn't enough time.
What you are likely unaware of is cruises not out of North America has the majority of it's supplies shipped via container to a port. This takes time to pack the container and then put it on a ship to arrive in time at the port for the ship. How do you think US wine, USDA Beef etc. gets to the ship in far off places. Some cruise lines when in Europe change to a mainly European Wine list while other don't.

In North America right now we have "Bird" flu going through farms. This causes complete farms to be culled. This also creates a problem where some country's won't allow poultry products into their ports. This includes eggs. Have you noticed the shortage of Turkeys? How about the cost of eggs?
In North America there is a shortage of vegetables. I am sure we have all noticed that trying to buy things like lettuce is not only a problem but expensive. Think on a large scale of trying to buy lettuce for a ship. Remember it just isn't the ship you are going to go but all ships in the port the day you sail that are trying to get the exact same items. 

 

Pork is another one right now that is having a problem because of what California is trying to do to pork producers.

Beef production is down this year due to feed costs.

What we are seeing I think is the cruise lines trying to do what they need to do so they have enough food onboard and designing menus around what they can get.
Just think how much we pay as consumers for food now compared to a year or two ago.

Just some things to think about why cruise lines change things we are not happy about.

[shack]

20 hours ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

 

HAL should never cut significantly from food, just as Royal Caribbean shouldn't cut from entertainment.  I am shocked at the latest reviews across the fleet.  A few days ago a Holland Rep implied that I was a liar about a prior phone call done an hour earlier, and refused to let me forward the email produced from it.  Unless we're pleasantly surprised, we're planning to downgrade our 2024 cruise to burn through our remaining credits, and move on to the luxury-light market.  

 

Hospitality has seemed to forget the mantra to under-promise and over-deliver.  Leads to customer satisfaction and surprise every time.

[paulvdb1]

7 hours ago, mwj said:

We have found the MDR dinner food good to excellent on our recent cruises. We have only had one bad dinner meal. The portions are smaller, and that is appreciated.

 

We have found the MDR desserts lackluster, with only a handful we would rate as good.

 

We have found the MDR breakfasts fair to poor, with limited exceptions where we rate them as good.

 

We have found Dive-In consistently good.

 

We have found the pizza poor.

 

We do not consistently use the Lido Market, and so we won't rate it. (fair)

Taking into account value for money, If we had paid $100 a night I'd shut my mouth and just order some extra dishes to replace the not so good. In my case (Christmas cruise - which is always expensive) we were looking at around $250 a night. Inherently, when you are paying more you have higher expectations. I also had been told that HAL were much more serious about food - which simply wasn't true. I think one of the key issues is the the head chefs are not 100% sure about the food they are cooking - without being racist, it's simply not the food they themselves would normally eat. 

 

I think the MDR food was generally good - I didn't send stuff back - but it was a laugh to see what we would end up with. Very unusual items together, nothing matched how the menu described the item, foods that missed all the key items normally in that dish. I just ordered extras of a lot of dishes, which increases the waste. 

 

MDR deserts range from what-on-earth to quite good. Again I ordered extra, often. Try the licorice icecream and the coffee icecream. Had lots of what Americans call a crisp and Aussies call a crumble. Banana / Blackberry options were great but then strawberry was a few strawberries in topping !! so inconsistent. 

 

Breakfast was well cooked but very simplistic. If you like deepfried bacon, eggs, hash browns every day then you would love this cruise. I sort of wanted a bit more variety but no variation at all

 

Dive-in was great until they ran out of their fancy chips/fries. went back to generic store-bought fries half way through the cruise. Mexican section OK

 

Didn't risk the pizza. It looked soggy and uninspiring

 

Tried Lido market at lunch and simply not enough variety for 16 days - same stuff every day. It's easy to be snobby but I would loved to see more Asian dishes (we eat a lot more asian food in Australia than I think the US eats). When Lido tried to make Australian items they were REALLY wrong - nearly comical and unfortunately inedible. This reflects again on head chefs who simply don't know the foods they were cooking. The few asian dishes were often not quite right as well. Would have been better if they had cooked more indian dishes.  

[*Miss G*]

It’s the galley crew making the meals; not the Executive Chef.  Whether that chef is hands-on or occupied with staffing and budget cuts is another matter.  

 

Each ship follows standardized recipes from a standardized rotating menu, with regional enhancements.  That removes any guesswork on how to make a dish, whether it’s something they would “normally eat” or not.  (It is not.  Nor is it how I “normally eat”.)  Provisions and quantities are ordered based on menu requirements and current supplies.  Menu rotation and recipes are tweaked depending upon availability of supplies.  It is institutional/banquet fare and the cruise lines know it.  That is why HAL has a Culinary Council; to raise the bar with specialty restaurants.  (And, therein, lies another topic of discussion.)

[CNSJ]

On 1/11/2023 at 10:55 AM, dogo88 said:

Real eggs cooked anyway you want are available. You just need to ask. The big dish of scrambled eggs is usually powdered. 

The big dish of scrambled eggs is more likely to be Frozen Liquid Whole eggs.  They come in cartons or large boil in bags.  

 

You can ask them to scramble up fresh eggs, the same ones they use for fried eggs.  Even on our 36 day transpacific in OCT-NOV 2022 they had fresh eggs the whole trip.

[westcoastcruiser]

I am reading with interest everyone’s take on current vs pre-pandemic.  We notice some of our favorites  glaringly absent and missed.  The fresh squeezed orange juice has been replaced with highly concentrated tasteless liquid.  Fresh shrimp cocktail is no longer a regular offering.  Used to love and look forward  to the daily fruit crisps that are now only an occasional offering.  
 

since many cruisers have the HIA package, we were surprised and disappointed to see no sommelier in the MDR.  Our waiter finally brought our beverage, ordered before our meal, at the time he brought dessert.  No one came around to offer mixed drinks or wine.  Perhaps because it is part of a package, there is no extra money to be made by selling drinks.  
 

similarly, we saw very few individuals walking around the pool offering drinks of any kind.  
 

i am comparing this to Celebrity which we sailed two months ago. All of these were offered by them for a less expensive price.  HAL has always been, imo, a step up so seeing these favorites  now absent for more money is discouraging.  

[oakridger]

4 minutes ago, westcoastcruiser said:

 

...similarly, we saw very few individuals walking around the pool offering drinks of any kind.  
 

 

That's a shame.  What ship were you on? I was on Nieuw Amsterdam and Rotterdam in September through November 2022 and there were enough waiters at both the aft and Lido pools serving drinks. I had to flag down a pool waiter when they were busy only a couple of times but the service after the first drink was then very attentive.

 

~Nancy

[0106]

You can order fresh squeezed OJ anytime; it counts for one drink of your HIA package.  Fruit crisps are available every night, even if they aren’t on the menu in the MDR, just ask( so is a cheese plate).  I had excellent service from the servers at the  Seaview pool, even if all I wanted  was water.

[Guest ldtr]

20 hours ago, shack said:

 

Hospitality has seemed to forget the mantra to under-promise and over-deliver.  Leads to customer satisfaction and surprise every time.

For many land based hotels the mantra has become over charge, and stick to Covid service level and staffing.

 

 Far worse than any changes to the cruise line.