HAL good quality.

[amandas friend]

We are sailing soon on NA. The last cruise we took was on Celebrity. Reading reviews before the cruise there were a lot of complaints about food quality. When we cruised, the MDR food was average to bad so the reviews were correct. Now, the reviews on HAL are mixed but mostly negative on quality of food. Should we be worried? TIA

[kazu]

I haven’t sailed on NA in years but have been on Oosterdam, Koningsdam and. Rotterdam post covid.  the Oosterdam cruise was earlier and closer to the end of the pandemic.  Some food was outstanding and some so so.  Koningsdam and Rotterdam were later and the food was very good.

Food is very subjective and while others agreed with me on the Rotterdam these are just my impressions.  It’s important to keep in mind that some people can never be made happy.  

Some people are unhappy with the portion size (which I can’t finish most times) and there can be bad luck.  I take reviews with a grain of salt.

 

Two people can be on the same cruise and one person say it was fantastic and the other that it was the worst ever.  The food has been more than edible for me on my cruises pre and post covid.

[visagrunt]

Food is such a subjective thing, it's very difficult to answer this question.

My general experience has been that the MDR is of a comparable quality to first rate hotel banquet food.  Specialty dining, because of the lower volumes, tends to be comparable with good restaurant fare.  Dive-In and NY Pizza & Deli are very good, indeed.  I find Lido fare to be the least quality, but it is also the fare that comes with the fewest expectations.

I've only had one knock-your-socks-off dining experience on HAL (the late, lamented Die Librije pop-up), but I've never had an inedible meal (Seabourn takes that booby prize).

I'm never worried about food quality on HAL--but my standards and expectations aren't yours so I'm not sure how helpful that observation is.

 

[amandas friend]

Thanks. I never expect cruise food to be 5 star but I must say,our Celebrity food was not very good. Will hope that MDR fare doesn’t disappoint. 

[Blackduck59]

20 minutes ago, amandas friend said:

We are sailing soon on NA. The last cruise we took was on Celebrity. Reading reviews before the cruise there were a lot of complaints about food quality. When we cruised, the MDR food was average to bad so the reviews were correct. Now, the reviews on HAL are mixed but mostly negative on quality of food. Should we be worried? TIA

It really depends on your expectations. Will you get Michelin star dining? Probably not, but it's not Golden Corral either. We have come to temper our expectations. We enjoyed the food on our cruise but we weren't wowed by any of it. Some people choose to complain about everything, others are stuck in "what used to be". There are also those who think the food is fabulous because it is miles better than the best diner they have at home.

Edited February 22 by Blackduck59

[Riversedge]

5 minutes ago, amandas friend said:

Thanks. I never expect cruise food to be 5 star but I must say,our Celebrity food was not very good. Will hope that MDR fare doesn’t disappoint. 

We sailed Celebrity a little over a year ago and the food was horrible.  I don’t think of HAL as being 5* dining but I don’t go hungry.  I’m more unhappy with the slow service in the dining room.   

[cccole]

We were on the Oosterdam for 3 weeks in January.  I have to say that, except for the Pinnacle and Canelleto, I was not impressed with the food.  I agree that food is subjective.  But, how can you ruin potato soup?  There is absolutely no need for the soup to taste like flour.  I love soups and found them lacking in flavor.   I think it is knowing what to order.  We are very happy with late dining and a leisurely dining experience.  I wouldn't be worried...just know what you think you might be happy with.  Also, I ordered small or half orders because I hated leaving a lot of food on my plate.  Cherie  

[Toad]

I think it is just fine because:

1. I don’t have to plan the meal

2. I don’t have to cook it.

3. I don’t have to clean up after it.

Beyond that I will say it seems fine to me especially since I will try things I might not bother with at home, and have found some choices quite good.  

[Toad]

Oh and on some other cruise lines I have consistently lost weight because the food was so bad I didn’t want to eat, which could be a good thing…..

[sciencewonk]

Food is so subjective that this is hard to answer.  In my personal experience on HAL ships, the food in the MDR has ranged from mediocre to exceptional.  For me it has never been bad.  I have a high tolerance for a wide variety of foods, so this might be coloring my response.

[cccole]

3 minutes ago, Toad said:

Oh and on some other cruise lines I have consistently lost weight because the food was so bad I didn’t want to eat, which could be a good thing…..

I always lose weight on a cruise, not a bad thing!!!!!!!  You walk a long distance to and from the dining area and just enjoy the experience.   I think that if I was on a long cruise, 25 or more days, I would eat more often when in a port.  JMO. Cherie 

[REOVA]

You should be able to find a good meal. HAL wants to please so if you order something you don't like, you can order something different. You may have hit or miss service depending on what time you dine. But again, communicate any problems and the next night they will focus on doing better. (You will be flagged in their system...kidding...kinda 😉)

[OlsSalt]

Still trying to remember if there was a single HAL cruise I did not come back 5 pounds heavier, and I consider myself somewhat of a "foodie". Also can't remember coming back from a cruise where I actually honored my promise to lose those extra five pounds before my next cruise either. And so if goes after a decade or so of HAL cruises ........  (insert sad emoji here)

 

There is so much variety, it is hard to think you will not find something, somewhere to enjoy. But as a mass market cruise line, it will be at a hotel banquet level for the most part, but a good hotel banquet level.

 

Some of the smaller HAL speciality restaurants are better than others, but tend to be more inconsistent across the line. But again, never bad. (Well once, when they really blew the "Fegato ala Veneziana" at Canaletto.)

 

The Club Orange upcharge option, if available, gets pretty solid positive reviews if you want the best possible execution of the more standard dining choices. Individually made servings from the standard menus, in a special dining setting, so the menu items can be customized more to your own liking. 

 

I personally am a fan of the variety one finds at the Lido -more for the extra things they offer, but not necessarily for their main entree items which tend to be less interesting. They have many international options also which add a lot of variety to the choices too. Love HAL breakfasts and lunch has plenty of tasty items at the Lido.  Plus free room service can still be a good option too, though they have cut back on the number of choices. 

 

Check out their main dining room Indian menus, and their vegetarian menus - they have really upped their game offering variety for these choices which are available to anyone if you request them up front. 

 

Do stay away from the freshly made large crepes at the Lido for breakfast with butter, sugar and lemon, if you don't want to follow down my path. I seem to stop only at number three. 

[Candyman232]

1 hour ago, amandas friend said:

Thanks. I never expect cruise food to be 5 star but I must say,our Celebrity food was not very good. Will hope that MDR fare doesn’t disappoint. 

We used to be Celebrity Cruisers but with the decline in their service and dining have moved to Holland. So far in 3 straight cruises we have found Holland America to be Superior over Celebrity!

[RICHARD@SEA]

1 hour ago, amandas friend said:

We are sailing soon on NA. The last cruise we took was on Celebrity. Reading reviews before the cruise there were a lot of complaints about food quality. When we cruised, the MDR food was average to bad so the reviews were correct. Now, the reviews on HAL are mixed but mostly negative on quality of food. Should we be worried? TIA

You really should book on another line - the cutbacks in service & food is very apparent - I sailed in ROTTERDAM last Nov / Dec & after many years & cruises it is my last w HAL.

 

I'm not a foodie or a food snob - but the lido was no better than a mall buffet, the only thing special about the specialty steak house was the food poisoning I had after eating there.  I ate alot of pasta(which was pretty good) & the GRAND DUTCH CAFE had good coffee, croissants & apple pie, at ports I ate ashore at restaurants I researched - usually at hi end hotels.

 

I'm amazed at what people eat - I keep measured expectations & don't pile food onto my plate.  But even the cookies in the lido were tasteless.....

 

I'm upgrading my cruises - not just for the food but for the overall experience!!!

 

PS - be cautious of the HAL cheerleaders on these boards - they'd be served dog food & still defend the line!!!

[cccole]

15 minutes ago, REOVA said:

You should be able to find a good meal. HAL wants to please so if you order something you don't like, you can order something different. You may have hit or miss service depending on what time you dine. But again, communicate any problems and the next night they will focus on doing better. (You will be flagged in their system...kidding...kinda 😉)

But when the food has no flavor, ordering something else does not make a difference.  In 22 days we tried several dining options, communicating to the server that the food has no flavor would not do anything to alter what is done in the kitchen.  It would just create a difficulty for the server.  I just think you have to know what to order..   We didn't go hungry, just left a lot on our plates and tried a bit harder to order what we would like.  The Canelleto was a favorite.  JMO. Cherie 

[Blackduck59]

4 minutes ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

You really should book on another line - the cutbacks in service & food is very apparent - I sailed in ROTTERDAM last Nov / Dec & after many years & cruises it is my last w HAL.

 

I'm not a foodie or a food snob - but the lido was no better than a mall buffet, the only thing special about the specialty steak house was the food poisoning I had after eating there.  I ate alot of pasta(which was pretty good) & the GRAND DUTCH CAFE had good coffee, croissants & apple pie, at ports I ate ashore at restaurants I researched - usually at hi end hotels.

 

I'm amazed at what people eat - I keep measured expectations & don't pile food onto my plate.  But even the cookies in the lido were tasteless.....

 

I'm upgrading my cruises - not just for the food but for the overall experience!!!

 

PS - be cautious of the HAL cheerleaders on these boards - they'd be served dog food & still defend the line!!!

I have read your constant blather about "Food Poisoning" and "Dog Food" on at least 3 different thread 2 of them started by you. I'm not a cheerleader, I have only ever been on one HAL cruise and the food was fine.

Until you have some viable proof of "Food Poisoning" maybe give that a rest because it really is bordering on Liable. At no point have you ever mentioned the visit to the sickbay or how exactly you came that "Diagnosis". I'm afraid "my tummy hurt" doesn't make it "Food Poisoning". I'm sorry you had a bad cruise but please get a grip.

[OlsSalt]

13 minutes ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

.......

 

PS - be cautious of the HAL cheerleaders on these boards - they'd be served dog food & still defend the line!!!

 

Woof, woof. That would be me, except HAL food is not dog food and I do know the difference. So I am confused. Four years living in Europe, I did develop a palate. Kein tierfutter heir. 

[OlsSalt]

Let them eat cake, Holland America says:

https://profcruise.com/holland-america-new-cakes/

 

So I guess if I woof down their food, this does qualify as dog food. 🐶

[kazu]

2 hours ago, amandas friend said:

Thanks. I never expect cruise food to be 5 star but I must say,our Celebrity food was not very good. Will hope that MDR fare doesn’t disappoint. 

 

I haven’t been on Celebrity in a while - just once and I was one and done.  I lost 10pounds on that cruise. If I don’t like the food, I don’t eat it.  I’m not overly fussy but the food has to be decent.

 

I am not a big person - and I didn’t need to lose 10 pounds. 😉 

I don’t run that risk on a HAL cruise -at least, not yet 😂 

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

I was on Zaandam last week, and the MDR food was good but not great. Pinnacle and Canaletto were excellent. 

 

Dinner mains always had too little vegetables. Two tiny asparagus are a garnish, not what I consider a portion. OTOH, vegetarian options looked delicious. A woman at my dinner table was vegetarian, so she got the next night's menu plus the vegetarian menu to choose for the next day. Sometimes she went with the vegetarian on the main menu, other times she chose from the vegetarian menu (same choices every day). The grilled portobello mushroom with zucchini "spaghetti" on top looked delicious. 

 

I tried asking for something without the sauce and the sauce came anyway. I think they plate what they plate and no hope of asking for something not cookie-cutter. Sometimes I wondered how long ago the meal had been plated. Sole meuniere, one of my favorite fish dishes should be LIGHTLY sauteed in butter. It was sitting in a pool of butter, soggy. Beef was seldom cooked as ordered. I asked for rare and the closest I got was pink. Another person at the table had steak nearly every night and it was usually rarer than he preferred. I don't remember any stand-out great MDR meals. Nothing terrible, but nothing fantastic, either. 

 

One night the shrimp on the shrimp cocktail had no taste. Blindfolded, I might not have known what it was. Another night, it was delicious. 

 

Variety and quality of dinner rolls wasn't great. This was a good thing, as it kept me from eating them.

 

The salad bar was excellent, as always. That's my usual lunch. Plus dessert, usually a fruit tart or a piece of cake. There were always 3 kinds of cookies. The double chocolate cookies were so good I wished they had made those every day.  The did the "cake me away" thing. The line stretched way back, but even after those people got their cake, there was plenty left. 

[crystalspin]

1 hour ago, OlsSalt said:

I personally am a fan of the variety one finds at the Lido -more for the extra things they offer, but not necessarily for their main entree items which tend to be less interesting. They have many international options also which add a lot of variety to the choices too. Love HAL breakfasts and lunch has plenty of tasty items at the Lido.

We did a 16-day B2B over New Years 2023 on the K'dam. We registered as open dining and ate all meals in the Lido or Specialty, If you want to eat in MDR, I advise you to choose Early or Late and go for Fixed. The option of making reservations three days at a time for Open dining meant that a spontaneous "Let's have lamb shank Thursday" was met with no reservation available except very late at a large shared table. (I did find out we could have gone with no reservation and queued up with a pager for a smaller table. Not sure we would have chosen that either.) 

 

Here is the great thing for Lido (lunch OR dinner) -- the menus by station are on the Navigator! Assuming you have a smartphone, you can peruse and decide ahead of time, what you will have for the meal. No loading up with things from the first station and having no room on your plate (no trays) for items that look better later. No need to survey all of the stations before making your choices.

 

Like @OlsSalt, we really favored the international choices. Or the Carvery with side dishes from various stations. 

[OlsSalt]

3 hours ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

You really should book on another line - the cutbacks in service & food is very apparent - I sailed in ROTTERDAM last Nov / Dec & after many years & cruises it is my last w HAL.

 

I'm not a foodie or a food snob - but the lido was no better than a mall buffet, the only thing special about the specialty steak house was the food poisoning I had after eating there.  I ate alot of pasta(which was pretty good) & the GRAND DUTCH CAFE had good coffee, croissants & apple pie, at ports I ate ashore at restaurants I researched - usually at hi end hotels.

 

I'm amazed at what people eat - I keep measured expectations & don't pile food onto my plate.  But even the cookies in the lido were tasteless.....

 

I'm upgrading my cruises - not just for the food but for the overall experience!!!

 

PS - be cautious of the HAL cheerleaders on these boards - they'd be served dog food & still defend the line!!!

 

HAL cheerleader here:

Gimme a Bee

Gimme a Why

Gimme a EEEEE

 

What does it spell?

BYE!

[albingirl]

I know there is no "wow" factor to my home cooking, but it keeps me alive and sometimes is tasty and something to enjoy at the end of the day.  That's how I see cruise food. A chance to sit down and partake a meal in the company of others.  It can be a fine experience if a person isn't too pickey. Half the enjoyment of a meal is the company shared.

[horseymike]

I know this post will be apple vs. oranges because the principles I will mention are totally different products.

All this talk of complaints about food harkens me to a time when airlines served meals onboard to all passengers. For the most part people complained about the quality of the food served by the airlines , and before you know it ...poof .... no more airline meals for most passengers as they were discontinued.