Escargot any night?

[cruisebax]

On Celebrity, if you want escargot any night as an appetizer, you can order it the night before from your waiter. Can you do the same on Holland America?

[sail7seas]

You could try but I don't think it likely. It is offered on one of the formal nights.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

It is usually on the last formal night of the cruise.

 

I am certain that if you ask your area captain, he will have it prepared for you for the following evening. HAL doesn't do special orders for the same night.

[peaches from georgia]

I think HAL newbies may be led a little bit astray on CC and may be set up for disappointment when it comes to some of the 'food' posts. It is always mentioned how escargot, jumbo shrimp, crab legs, lobster, prime rib, filet mignon, etc. are served in the dining room. You can tell from the replies that many newbies think these items are standard dining room fare or at the very least served a number of times on each cruise. That just isn't so. Most of these dishes are served once a cruise. (On a 10 day you may see prime rib and jumbo shrimp twice at the max.) I highly doubt that you could order escargot and get it at will, even when ordered the night before. If so, it would start a 'trend' that I don't think the dining room would honor very often. I just haven't seen it done or at least haven't seen pax being served any of these foods when they are not on the menu. If so, I for sure will be asking for escargot many times.

[doone]

I am not sure if this is still true or not, but one cruise a few years ago I was on, I asked the Matre D if I could get a shrimp cocktail that evening in the dining room as it was not on the menu. He said yes, I could, but there would be a charge for it and the waiter had to go out of his way to get it for me.

 

I forget what the charge was going to be, not much, I would have ordered it, but I felt bad for the waiter as I know he was busy as it was, never mind if I asked him to go get me the shrimp cocktail.

 

I did not get the shrimp cocktail and I now only order what's on the menu.

[toban]

Doone; they were going to charge you for a shrimp cocktail ??? I would sure like to know what cruise line that was.

[doone]

Holland America. Like I said, it was a few years ago, if it wasn't on the menu, you could get it, but you were going to be charged for it. I am just wondering if this was still true on HAL or just a short lived thing????

[mamaofami]

It has been my understanding that food for the entire cruise is loaded on the ship at the home port. At least, for the shorter cruises. If everyone ordered things like escargot every night, they wouldn't have enough to serve on the formal night when it is on the menu. Just my understanding. Now, I have read on these boards that when they are on the menu, and when lobster is on the menu, people order two and three servings then. perhaps, they are prepared for that to happen, but not to serve these foods every night.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Doone

 

I remember when you mentioned that a few years ago.

[Krazy Kruizers]

It was about 3 years ago that we went to the dining room on a formal night and DH missed his escargot. He mentioned it in conversation to our area captain. The next evening he got a surprise -- escargot.

[doone]

KK, I wish I could remember exactly which cruise it was, but I am thinking it was about 3 years ago on the Volendam. Does anyone else remember being charged in the dining room for ordering things not on the menu????? Just curious.

 

Nice surprise for your husband.

[cruisebax]

It doesn't sound like something that Holland America does, so we won't be requesting it. I just thought I would ask.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Believe me - we didn't request it and DH was really surprised. We have never made any requests for anything special at dinner.

 

I agree that it would be too hard for HAL to meet everyone's requests each night -- not talking about people who have special diets.

[satine]

I think HAL newbies may be led a little bit astray on CC and may be set up for disappointment when it comes to some of the 'food' posts. It is always mentioned how escargot, jumbo shrimp, crab legs, lobster, prime rib, filet mignon, etc. are served in the dining room. You can tell from the replies that many newbies think these items are standard dining room fare or at the very least served a number of times on each cruise. That just isn't so. Most of these dishes are served once a cruise. (On a 10 day you may see prime rib and jumbo shrimp twice at the max.) I highly doubt that you could order escargot and get it at will, even when ordered the night before. If so, it would start a 'trend' that I don't think the dining room would honor very often. I just haven't seen it done or at least haven't seen pax being served any of these foods when they are not on the menu. If so, I for sure will be asking for escargot many times.

 

Last June my I was on a 9 day RC cruise on Graduer of the Seas. One of my table mates ordered escargot the first night and when I mentioned that I had never had it and neither had my two daughters who were with me she immediately ordered some for us also. When we found we loved them she talked to the head waiter and we were (all 10 at the table) served escargot every single night! This table mate was a regular cruiser on this ship as she lived in the port city so I guess that made the difference but just wanted to pass this on to you. Good luck. Satine

[peaches from georgia]

Sounds good to me, Satine. Thanks. I'll remember this and we will place an order every night for the next night for escargot, jumbo shrimp, etc. :D

[cruz chic]

I think you MAY be able to get a special item after they have served it to the masses ie the next night after it was on a menu. I have never had any luck with special requests for the following night. Perhaps people may be lucky catching someone on a ship that is willing to go the extra mile. Good luck with that!

[peaches from georgia]

Uh-Oh. I didn't notice that Satine was saying it was on Royal Caribbean that they had the escargot whenever they wished. I really don't think HAL will do this as a general practice any night someone wishes. I can see if there are leftovers from the night before, but any night on HAL. Don't think so.

[Jade13]

On Celebrity, if you want escargot any night as an appetizer, you can order it the night before from your waiter. Can you do the same on Holland America?

 

I don't know about that. I had it on the first formal night on the Westerdam. It was excellant and one of the signature dishes of the Executive Chef as I recall.

 

There is soo much food available, it's fun to order diff appetisers every night, plus the ship we were on really did excel with the soups (not onion - we didn't order it after seeing what our friends got. We never did figure out why the chef had no idea how to make onion soup. This group had to meet with the Ex Chef because they were not happy with the Vegitarian selections - he ended up making them a special menu and also said he was contacting Seattle about having the same veg menu every night. They also told him the onion soup was horrible. Even the head waiter came over to my DH and asked him how he made onion soup because he knew we were friends with the other table and they were not happy with the soup. The only point is that every Chef can not know how to make everything.

 

Sorry for the long ramble, but the Escargot was one of the best appetizers that I had all week.

[CruiserBruce]

mamaofami:

 

The ships frequently pick up supplies at various ports, if they can get a good deal, or that port is a good supplier.

 

Examples from past cruises; salmon at several ports in Alaska, frozen, but I assume reasonably fresh.

 

St Thomas is duty free for alcohol, so on a repo from San Juan to Acapulco, the ship accepted large quantities of beer and hard liquors.

 

We are doing a 19 day repo FLL-Sea next year. I believe the ship will pick up some supplies in San Diego (Day 15) as we have noticed on previous long cruises fresh vegetables and fruits get a little ripe and a little short in supply after about 12 days. The lobster tails can also get a little "flexible" on longer cruises.

 

I know the ships can carry food for about 14 days. Don't know how much longer than that they can go. On your standard 7 or 10 day, they probably do load the vast majority at the departing port.

 

Bruce

[pearliemae]

When we did our fall 06 Milli TA Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale, escargot was on the "always available items" on the dinner menu every night. But that was then.....................

[OceanLiner]

I have always found HAL to be very accommodating for any dining request. The only stipulation was to make the request 24 hours in advance. I have never been turned down for whatever idea that I dreamed up.

The HAL escargots are very good, but oddly enough the best escargot that I have ever had, at any venue, was on the Disney Magic. Not just good, but spectacular. After my first bite I did not say a word about them until my wife had a chance to try her serving, and she said they were amazing. We both had two appetizers of them, and then jokingly said we would like to have them again for dessert………at which time two more servings promptly arrived at the table during dessert, much to the horror of those seated near us!

[Krazy Kruizers]

OceanLiner

Please don't keep us in suspense!!

What made the Disney ones more spetacular???

[OceanLiner]

OceanLiner

 

Please don't keep us in suspense!!

 

What made the Disney ones more spetacular???

 

They were a very simple presentation of butter, garlic, parsley, shallots, and coarse salt. The escargot themselves were perfectly cleaned and very tender, so tender that we think that they were either frozen or fresh, but not tinned. They were so delicate that they melted in your mounh. Most of the time escargot are overcooked to the point where they chew like an old piece of latex, but not this time.

 

I should also note that the HAL were very good, just not as tender and they seem to devoid of shallots.

[C 2 C]

When we did our fall 06 Milli TA Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale, escargot was on the "always available items" on the dinner menu every night. But that was then.....................

 

It was available nightly, as was shrimp, on Celebrity Infinity in March and Century in May 2007. I don't like the escargot because I find it so rubbery but I had them replaced with mushrooms in the garlic sauce.. by request of course. Celebrity chefs also don't know how to make French onion soup. Only Princess seems to have mastered that dish.

[iceman93]

My elderly father LOVES shrimp cocktail. On our Maasdam cruise last year (the first my folks took with us, as they had previously been NCL loyalists), he mentioned on the first night that he was surprised shrimp cocktail wasn't one of the appetizer choices. Guess what? Every night after that there was a shrimp cocktail with his place setting when we arrived in the dining room.

 

These are the wonderful details that set HAL staff apart and make us loyal to the line!