Volendam Master Chef Dinner

[Krazy Kruizers]

There were only 2 dining times for this: 5:45 and 8:30.

 

It was on day #7 - an Informal night.

 

The group "The Mix" from the Crow's Nest played the music about 80% of the time. The crew staff and dancers from the production shows led the waitstaff in the dance routines. The lead singer from the cast did the opening song. It was the only time she sang. Since she was on the steps, halfway down, many people didn't even know that she was singing.

 

When we entered the dining room there was already a Parker House with various seeds on top on the butter plate which was under your chef's toque and menu. The menu was a special cut out showing a spatula, cork screw, rolling pin, chopping knife and big spoon.

 

Then we had the Ballet Service. This was the only time we had a singer. The waitstaff entered both levels of the dining room to the tune of "Swan Lake". The assistant waiter held the try of napkins while the waiter placed them in our laps. The crew and cast had to help out here in some sections as there weren't enough waitstaff to quickly get the napkins to everyone.

 

Act 1 - Once again the waitstaff, crew and cast entered the dining room carrying the Chef's Amuse Surprise -- mushroom mousse with asparagus en bouche. This was a tiny empty puff pastry with a tiny dab of mouuse on top.

 

After those dishes were cleared away, the waitstaff. crew and cast again assembled in the hall and entered the dining room to begin Act 2 -- The Swing Service. The crew and staff "mixed" the salad in HUGE salad bowls to music -- waitstaff get throwing in fake tomatoes, peppers, etc -- some of the waitstaff tried to juggle the peppers -- very funny. Show Salad Spectacular: menu said that we were to have assorted baby greens, pepper rings, mushrooms, scallions & cherry tomatoes with a honey mustard dressing. What we actually got was a tomato stuffed with the assorted baby greens, enoki mushrooms with chopped up onion, scallions and peppers sprinkled on top and the honey mustard dressing drizzled over everything.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Then the waiters came around and took our orders for the Starters and Entrees.

 

Starters:

1.Dialogue of Alaskan Salmon Tartare with avocado: cold smoked, pickled and chipotle-hot-smoked salmon with lime-avocado-tomato sauce. DH had this -- loved it the first segment. 2nd segment -- it was mostly BIG chunks of onion and very little salmon.

 

2.Golden Baked Brie in Phyllo Dough served with a cinnamon-spiced apple cranberry compote -- have had this many times in the past -- love it -- it was excellent the first segment -- not completely heated through -- brie -- wasn't even melted a little bit.

 

3.Lobster Bisque sensuously smooth classical shellfish soup enhanced with aged French cognac and whipped cream. We both have had this in the past -- it's okay -- not one of our favorites.

 

4.Oxtail En Crote - flavorful classical soup slow-simmered and served in a crisp pastry crust -- excellent both segments.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Entrees:

 

1.Tagliatelli with Roasted Chicken & Portobello Muchrooms tossed in olive oil and lemon cream.

 

2.Sauteed shrimps "Provencales" scented with Mediterranean herbs, tomato concassee', florets of crisp, tender broccoli and sticky rice -- you got 4 medium size shrimps -- some people ordered 3 of this dish in order to get more shrimp -- which sent the waiter into a tizzy since they were on a time schedule.

 

3.Apricot Glazed Salmon with Soya Garlic and Ginger Spalsh -- I have had this on other ships and love it. 1st segment -- excellent RED sockeye salmon -- 2nd segment -- pink salmon -- tasteless.

 

4.Duck Breast a l'Orange - the old time favorite, oven roasted until crisp amd served with a Grand Marnier sauce, braised red cabbage, pea pods, carrots julienne and William potatoes. DH had this the first segment -- excellent.

 

5.Whole Roasted Tenderloin of Beef on an earthy bed of calvados-spiked mushroom ragout, with vegetable bundle, braised onion & horseradish mashed potato. DH had this the second time -- beef was tough and fatty.

 

6.Wild Mushroom Strudel - selected forest mushroom spinach & feta cheese rolled in Phyllo dough and baked until crisp and flaky. Served with a Thai red curry sauce and a timbale of basmati rice.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Act 3 - The Final Service --- the waitstaff, crew and cast began to assemble out in the hallway around 7:15 for this. Then they came parading into the dining room carrying trays of Chef's Rudi's "Hat's Off" dessert. Some of the cast and crew members had bottles of fake champagne that when they popped the corks, some bottles sent out streamers aimed towards the chandeliers which also landed on the people and tables directly below. Other fake botles of champagne gave off smoke. We have had this dessert before. There is a small piece of cake resembling a peg that holds the chef's hat in place - the chef's hat is made out of white chocolate - chef's hat conceals a small amount of chocolate mousse. It was excellent the 1st segment. The second segment -- the cake was flavored in mint -- the mousse was flavored in mint. All you could taste was mint!! A lot of white chocolate went to waste. Many people could not (including us) break the hat up -- it was too thick in places.

 

We noticed that on the 1st segment, the section of tables in front of ours were all served their dessert before the Act 3 parade took place. As a result, several people left early not knowing that something else was going to happen.

[Krazy Kruizers]

One other difference between the segments (other than the quality of the food that I mentioned): on the 2nd segment there was a bottle of white wine and a bottle of red wine on each table trying to get people to buy some wine. It worked -- that was the only evening that they sold quite a few bottles of wine at dinner. And the only time the wine stewards seemed happy.

 

DH did have a long talk with our area captain and the maitre'd at the end of dinner about the differences. That was when we learned that Seattle had sent this "specialist" to work on things.

[jagsfan]

Whoa......do you mean that unless you had one of those 2 seatings, you

missed out completely? Obviously we wouldn't be able to change just for

that dinner. Seems to me there would be a half a ship full of unhappy

passengers. Is this the norm with HAL? As a first time cruiser, I have a lot

of information holes to fill.

[2bout2c]

Whoa......do you mean that unless you had one of those 2 seatings, you

missed out completely? Obviously we wouldn't be able to change just for

that dinner. Seems to me there would be a half a ship full of unhappy

passengers. Is this the norm with HAL? As a first time cruiser, I have a lot

of information holes to fill.

No you don't miss out. On Master Chef night the 4 different times are combined into the old 2 times. No one misses unless they choose not to go to the dining room for dinner.

[arzz]

As I have exerienced the Master Chef dinner, on that night they only have two seatings (both upper and lower seat together like they used to do) -- no one who wishes to partake misses dinner -- some, however, eat at a time that is a few minutes shifted from the norm.

[RuthC]

The menu doesn't change one iota from one cruise to the next. (On my Volendam cruise at least my steward offered to get my nightly salad as requested; that was thoughtful of him.) The song and dance doesn't change, either.

The only difference from one presentation to another is guessing who is going to drop which vegetables when they toss them around. And how far they roll! :D (Was very glad to see this wasn't the food actually served. :rolleyes: )

[sail7seas]

Master Chef's dinner gets very old, very fast IMO

 

We enjoyed it when we first saw it on Volendam last October. Then we saw it again in either January or April....can't remember whether it was again on Volendam or our Ryndam cruise.

 

Then we saw it the first week on Maasdam. Then our second segment on Maasdam. Next cruise, I think we'll go to Pinnacle.

 

The singer and music was SOOOOOO Loud on Maasdam that the noise was ear piercing. We happened to be dining with two senior officers that night and both were noticably disturbed with the noise level. Hopefully, they turned the volume down.

 

It is entertaining the first few times you see it but for people who cruise HAL often, once you've seen it a few times......

[dakrewser]

THis sounds positively awful. That's the night for the PG, the Lido - or room service (well, unless some poor steward has to dance into my cabin! :rolleyes:)

 

How appalling to make what are very professional wait staff into not very competent entertainers.

[SDHALFAN]

 

It is entertaining the first few times you see it .......

 

Sorry Judy, but I have to disagree with you here. It irritated the heck out of me the first time I was subjected to it. Many of us "oldtimers" have mentioned that one of the things we like about Hal, as opposed to other cruiselines, is the elegant dining experience. I found absolutely nothing "elegant" about this dining experience - and the food wasn't even up to par, but maybe it varies from ship to ship. The dessert though was interesting and tasted pretty good.

 

Valerie :)

[SDHALFAN]

THis sounds positively awful. That's the night for the PG, the Lido - or room service (well, unless some poor steward has to dance into my cabin! :rolleyes:)

 

How appalling to make what are very professional wait staff into not very competent entertainers.

 

Hi Dave,

 

Apparently we were posting about the same time. A huge YES - the Master Chef's Dinner is most definitely the night to go to the Lido or call Room Service. I've been there (Master Chef's Dinner), done that and never have to do it again, God willin' and the Creek don't rise.

 

Valerie:D

[debjo]

We recently returned from a WESTERDAM Eastern Caribbean cruise. It was our first time with HAL. I had read about the MASTER CHEF'S DINNER and was looking forward to the "show". I don't believe it was offered on the WESTERDAM...at least not during our cruise! Is it only offered on the VOLENDAM?

 

Debjo

[arzz]

"Experienced" the master chef dinner in October, 2005 on the Volendam. I felt so sorry for the waiters who were asked to entertain in addition to their normal work -- and I really felt for them when anyone made a special request (which happened now and again as the menu choices were limited -- many people have allergies or other special needs and did not always have enough variety from which to choose) -- I hoped at that time that it would disappear.

 

This October on the Volendam we had a nice dinner in the Lido that evening.

[sail7seas]

Sorry Judy, but I have to disagree with you here. It irritated the heck out of me the first time I was subjected to it. Many of us "oldtimers" have mentioned that one of the things we like about Hal, as opposed to other cruiselines, is the elegant dining experience. I found absolutely nothing "elegant" about this dining experience - and the food wasn't even up to par, but maybe it varies from ship to ship. The dessert though was interesting and tasted pretty good.

 

Valerie :)

 

;) I was trying to be kind, Valerie.

 

We won't be in the dining room again on a night when they have a Master Chef's Dinner scheduled.

 

I agree the dining room is best without singing and dancing and the noise and confusion of the Chef's Dinner.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were supposed to have had the Master Chef's dinner on our 15 day Hawaiian cruise on the Amsterdam. We received the menus in our suite but when we got to the dining room - nothing. So we asked what happened. We were told that since so many had written negative reviews about it on the previous cruise, they decided to drop it.

 

This was our first time to have this dinner. It wasn't on our Volendam cruises in Feb/Mar 2005.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We also didn't have the Master Chef's dinner on our 7 day Alaskan cruises in June 2006 on the Statendam.

[sail7seas]

We were supposed to have had the Master Chef's dinner on our 15 day Hawaiian cruise on the Amsterdam. We received the menus in our suite but when we got to the dining room - nothing. So we asked what happened. We were told that since so many had written negative reviews about it on the previous cruise, they decided to drop it.

 

This was our first time to have this dinner. It wasn't on our Volendam cruises in Feb/Mar 2005.

 

I think they first introduced Master Chef's Dinner on Volendam and that was not until about October, 2005. We sailed VODM October 20, 2005 cruise and that was the first time we saw it.

[djallar]

... We were told that since so many had written negative reviews about it on the previous cruise, they decided to drop it...

Thank goodness! We were alomst embarassed for the wait staff when we attended on the Maasdam.

 

I would prefer to stick with fine dining and dispense with the theatrics.

[kryos]

Then we had the Ballet Service. This was the only time we had a singer. The waitstaff entered both levels of the dining room to the tune of "Swan Lake". The assistant waiter held the try of napkins while the waiter placed them in our laps. The crew and cast had to help out here in some sections as there weren't enough waitstaff to quickly get the napkins to everyone.

Oh, dear. I hope this is just a joke. :( I can't imagine expecting the dining room staff, as busy as they are, to participate in these antics. Hopefully, this is only done occasionally, and not on every cruise. I'd rather just eat at the Pinnacle that night.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Master Chef's dinner gets very old, very fast IMO

 

We enjoyed it when we first saw it on Volendam last October. Then we saw it again in either January or April....can't remember whether it was again on Volendam or our Ryndam cruise.

See how truly blessed I am? I've yet to see it ... and hope to keep it that way. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

We were supposed to have had the Master Chef's dinner on our 15 day Hawaiian cruise on the Amsterdam. We received the menus in our suite but when we got to the dining room - nothing. So we asked what happened. We were told that since so many had written negative reviews about it on the previous cruise, they decided to drop it.

Bravo, HAL! At least they listen to passenger complaints ... and your complaints saved me having to endure this fate on my recent Amsterdam cruise last month.

 

Look, I'm not against some fun and games occasionally in the dining room ... especially on long cruises ... but this Master Chef presentation sounds like a heck of a lot of work for the servers ... as if they are not over-burdened already?

 

Now this one "event" we had on my Hawaii/South Pacific cruise in January was kind of nice ... and didn't appear to take too much of the staff's time. We had a "Love Boat Singalong" and believe it or not, the passengers (including myself) really got into it and enjoyed it. The dining staff assembled right before dessert on the steps. They had a CD player there, and they played the Love Boat theme, while all the stewards and other dining room personnel led us in a rousing singalong. It was actually fun, and most importantly, it didn't take a very long time. After a few minutes, it was back to business as usual ... and that's the way it should be. We had a similar "special event" on the day we crossed the equator. King Neptune and his Queen made the rounds of the dining room offering to pose for pictures if anyone wanted them. People were told in advance to bring their cameras if they wanted to have a picture taken with King Neptune. I liked the fact too that they didn't use the opportunity to sell photo shop pictures either ... people were told to bring their own cameras.

 

But this Master Chef's thing ... sounds like a lot of bother ... with little gain.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[thomasale]

I was at our Master Chef's dinner on our 10/14/2006 HAL Volendam cruise. All I can tell you is it was PAINFUL...do something else...