LAFFNVEGAS Live from the Nieuw Statendam December 10, 2023

[POA1]

To push the high top table chairs in the NS Club Orange dining room back, or pull them in, use your foot, while standing, and "loop" it under the bottom cross bar. You can pull or push down below the center of gravity.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Good morning from a Sea Day on the Nieuw Statendam. 
We slept in this morning and just grabbed a very light breakfast in Lido. We are having lunch in Pinnacle at noon so did not want a big breakfast. I have not even had my coffee.

Tom was just looking at the lunch menu for Pinnacle and the extra charge of $5.00 was a surprise. I had not seen that before, I had seen the $10 extra for lunch for entree. I would almost rather have two appetizers and no entree.

I am going to see if they will give me the Pinnacle lunch for our complimentary 5 Star meal. We are already going to Pinnacle tomorrow night under HIA.

Seas were rough again last night but great for sleeping. But also very normal for this time of year.

Also in looking at the Club Orange menu tonight it will be the third night of NO Special CO entree. 
This just seems odd to me since our previous CO dining every night had a special that was different.

 

[kazu]

30 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Good morning from a Sea Day on the Nieuw Statendam. 
We slept in this morning and just grabbed a very light breakfast in Lido. We are having lunch in Pinnacle at noon so did not want a big breakfast. I have not even had my coffee.

Tom was just looking at the lunch menu for Pinnacle and the extra charge of $5.00 was a surprise. I had not seen that before, I had seen the $10 extra for lunch for entree. I would almost rather have two appetizers and no entree.

I am going to see if they will give me the Pinnacle lunch for our complimentary 5 Star meal. We are already going to Pinnacle tomorrow night under HIA.

Seas were rough again last night but great for sleeping. But also very normal for this time of year.

Also in looking at the Club Orange menu tonight it will be the third night of NO Special CO entree. 
This just seems odd to me since our previous CO dining every night had a special that was different.

 

 

Wow Lisa!  this is definitely new.  There was no charge for an extra appetizer that I can recall on the Rotterdam a couple of months ago.  I don’t think I missed it.

 

No CO special - is it a Gala night or Culinary council meal by any chance?  We didn’t have a CO special on those nights on my last sailing.

[Haljo1935]

59 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

...Tom was just looking at the lunch menu for Pinnacle and the extra charge of $5.00 was a surprise. I had not seen that before, I had seen the $10 extra for lunch for entree...Also in looking at the Club Orange menu tonight it will be the third night of NO Special CO entree. 
This just seems odd to me since our previous CO dining every night had a special that was different.

Hey @LAFFNVEGAS we were on the 2 cruises right before you (Oct 26 - Nov 9 & Nov 29 - Dec 10) and did not notice the $5 surcharge at PG lunch; not saying it wasn't there, just if it was, we didn't notice. Pretty sure I didn't snap a pic of the menu - looked and only saw food, no menu, for both cruises.

We did notice the lack of CO special entrees and commented about it several times. It was disappointing as they were very good when we had them.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Haljo1935
Additional comment

[Haljo1935]

@Crew News do you have a recent PG lunch menu so we can see if it has a $5 extra app surcharge?

[canadianbear]

We had a Pinnacle lunch when on the Eurodam in November and there was no mention of a $5 charge if you had more than one appetizer.   Wonder why they’ve started that now.  I took photos of the menu and nothing about an additional charge. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by canadianbear

[atexsix]

17 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Unfortunately I am not sure, I do not believe any of us has ordered a chicken dish yet this week. But it sounds like something they would do.

If they ran out of something and then changed it in a pinch I can see it, we've all been in those situations in our own kitchens, however it happened twice, once with room service and then again in the MDR, so....

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

Hey @LAFFNVEGAS we were on the 2 cruises right before you (Oct 26 - Nov 9 & Nov 29 - Dec 10) and did not notice the $5 surcharge at PG lunch; not saying it wasn't there, just if it was, we didn't notice. Pretty sure I didn't snap a pic of the menu - looked and only saw food, no menu, for both cruises.

We did notice the lack of CO special entrees and commented about it several times. It was disappointing as they were very good when we had them.

Geez - why can I not keep those dates straight?! 😪I think they were actually Oct 29 - Nov 9 and Nov 26 - Dec 10. Sorry...again...🫣

[Crew News]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

@Crew News do you have a recent PG lunch menu so we can see if it has a $5 extra app surcharge?

My latest menu was from September and it is not on the Navigator app sample menu for my Feb Eurodam cruise.  Maybe someone will post a copy of it.

[kazu]

12 minutes ago, Crew News said:

My latest menu was from September and it is not on the Navigator app sample menu for my Feb Eurodam cruise.  Maybe someone will post a copy of it.

 

I checked my Navigator for my upcoming cruise and there is no mention of an additional charge for an appetizer.  Something is very wrong in Denmark aka Lisa’s PG.  

 

Quick screen shots below:

 

 

 

 

 

[nw gardener]

I just looked on the app for my upcoming June cruise on the Koningsdam Pinnacle lunch menu and it does have the 5 dollar additional charge listed. ☹️

[Crew News]

3 minutes ago, nw gardener said:

I just looked on the app for my upcoming June cruise on the Koningsdam Pinnacle lunch menu and it does have the 5 dollar additional charge listed. ☹️

Thanks. 

[Haljo1935]

23 minutes ago, nw gardener said:

I just looked on the app for my upcoming June cruise on the Koningsdam Pinnacle lunch menu and it does have the 5 dollar additional charge listed. ☹️

Thanks, but you have made me very sad 😪 I will report my findings next week from K'dam. 

[wdw1972]

1 hour ago, canadianbear said:

We had a Pinnacle lunch when on the Eurodam in November and there was no mention of a $5 charge if you had more than one appetizer.   Wonder why they’ve started that now.  I took photos of the menu and nothing about an additional charge. 

Same here.  My guess is they haven't started it at all - HAL consistently has old/outdated menus linked to their website and app, and Lisa's picture seems to be a shot of the menu on the TV in the stateroom.  Certainly wouldn't surprise me for that to be old/outdated. 

 

The Rudi's menus online make no mention of the upcharge for the Dover Sole, and there was something else on there that jumped out at me as being "old" - not current.  It seems to be a HAL problem all around!

 

Sue/WDW1972

[Haljo1935]

32 minutes ago, wdw1972 said:

Same here.  My guess is they haven't started it at all - HAL consistently has old/outdated menus linked to their website and app, and Lisa's picture seems to be a shot of the menu on the TV in the stateroom.  Certainly wouldn't surprise me for that to be old/outdated. 

 

The Rudi's menus online make no mention of the upcharge for the Dover Sole, and there was something else on there that jumped out at me as being "old" - not current.  It seems to be a HAL problem all around!

 

Sue/WDW1972

Here is the sheet w/new pricing and supplements removed; it doesn't mention a $5 supplement for extra app PG lunch. So, maybe it's coming, but not yet released? Or it's really old and the TV menu has not been updated?

Edited December 15, 2023 by Haljo1935
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[LAFFNVEGAS]

4 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Wow Lisa!  this is definitely new.  There was no charge for an extra appetizer that I can recall on the Rotterdam a couple of months ago.  I don’t think I missed it.

 

No CO special - is it a Gala night or Culinary council meal by any chance?  We didn’t have a CO special on those nights on my last sailing.

Yes it is a Gala night, but oddly on our past cruises such as Westerdam in September we had Club Orange entree every single night. One of the Gala nights was an excellent Short Rib entree. That is why we were surprised there was none.

[nw gardener]

So I went back and looked further at the menu's on the app for my upcoming June Koningsdam cruise. The updated prices that haljo1935 posted are the same, but the following had surcharges.  Pinnacle grill lunch, 5 for extra app, 10 for extra entrée. Dinner 15 for extra entrée.  Canaletto, 10 for extra entrée. Rudi's, 15 for extra entrée. No similar extra charges found for Tamarind or Morimoto. 

 

So I know there have been extensive discussions previously about these extra charges..I'm fine with extra entrée charges. I've seen the obscene waste when a diner at a shared table ordered everything off the menu to "taste ".  Not ok with an extra app charge...and hopefully never do that for an extra dessert 😱.

[nw gardener]

And apologies,  I don't mean or want to hijack this thread!!

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, nw gardener said:

I just looked on the app for my upcoming June cruise on the Koningsdam Pinnacle lunch menu and it does have the 5 dollar additional charge listed. ☹️

I have looked on the app for our upcoming April Nieuw Statendam cruise and it does not mention any $5 additional charge.

[Haljo1935]

13 minutes ago, nw gardener said:

And apologies,  I don't mean or want to hijack this thread!!

Same @LAFFNVEGAS - thanks for allowing us to go off topic.

[kazu]

53 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Yes it is a Gala night, but oddly on our past cruises such as Westerdam in September we had Club Orange entree every single night. One of the Gala nights was an excellent Short Rib entree. That is why we were surprised there was none.

 

When I was on my Koningsdam cruise my first segment had a special on Gala night and I do believe it was the short ribs.  By the next segment (or the segment after - my memory can be short ), there was no CO entree on the Gala nights.  You could colour me confused so I asked, they explained it was Gala night and CO specials were not on Gala nights any longer.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

It’s that time of night for What’s for Dinner in Clu Orange.

 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Oh goodie-I'm 1st so they haven't run out of my choices. Lemon drop, asparagus and artichoke without the sauce, tenderloin with shrimp and the Caribbean bread pudding with extra sauce. And Bailey's with decaf coffee, please.

[BetsyS.]

I'll have 2 Cosmopolitans, shrimp cocktail, grouper, and chocolate cake with tea. Thanks!

             Years ago on the Veendam, I had grouper and it was very good.  We were 

not in the Caribbean. It was a cruise north of Boston. I have not seen it on a HAL menu in years, so I'm glad it's back. 😊

[cbr663]

Lisa, perhaps your ship is the "pilot" ship, as in let's try some changes and see the response?

 

When we were in CO in November on the Koningsdam we indeed had a CO entree every night.  Here is a blurb from HAL's CO Benefits that mentions that CO offers Premium Dining with an expanded menu: