Is Food Really that Bad on HAL

[dakrewser]

Not to mention the late night buffet at approx 11 PM...

[hypercafe]

I think it's hard to separate the food and service, especially in the MDR. I have to say on my last trip in April I was not happy with the MDR. The food was wedding food, ok and like all mass market lines. I felt the service was slow and very disjointed. We wound up eating mostly in the lido which I felt was far better. The place was quite and orderly while the dinning room was noisy and felt like a crazy house. The worst was the Marriner brunch, was like a free for all.

[boulders]

I just got off the Nieuw Amsterdam on Monday. The food in the MDR was the best I've had on all of my cruises. The surf and turf was especially good. I did find the service lacking though. We often received our dessert 1 1/2 hours after being seated. I did not care for the Lido as I found the choices limited and it was very difficult to find a table the first couple of times I went. I tried the Le Cirque dinner and did not like it at all. We later had lunch at the Pinnacle and that was very good. Lunch and dinner in the Tamarind were also good.

[bluehorizonlover123]

Not to mention the late night buffet at approx 11 PM...

 

No late night buffet on our sailing on the Veendam. Everything shut down at 9pm and no more food anywhere to be found.

[IRL_Joanie]

Not to mention the late night buffet at approx 11 PM...

 

Also not to forget the 24/7 Room Service....

 

Joanie

[whogo]

Food is extremely subjective. 100 people would probably give 100 different opinions, for 100 different reasons.

 

Given all the considerations- number of people to serve in a limited time being the most prominent, the food is pretty good. If you want true gourmet food, a mainstream cruise line is not the place to find it, except for perhaps in a surcharge resturant.

 

Good comment. I have generally been pleased with HAL's food. I eat lamb any time I can. Offerings have gotten cheaper in the main dining room. Meatloaf? If you want your steaks served with a warm red center and can not accept it with a pink warm center you are apt to be disappointed, steaks may vary from what you request. My biggest gripe would be that hot food is served warm, not hot. Ice cream in the dining room is served half melted in warm from the dishwasher dishes.

[George C]

Food in general is better than most cruises, I am very picky and was very happy with food on Veendam a couple of months ago, only ate 2 meals in MDR but they were both great one was trout . The 3 meals in Pinnacle were equal to any 1st rate steak resturant, and 2 meals in Canellto was also very good.

[bellarosa]

The food on Hal is amazing.... gosh we dont recall having a bad meal on the Noordam. This was 2 years ago on our med cruise. We just came back from Celebrity in Jan and were very very disappointed with the taste, quality of food, it was very run of the mill and bland to say the least!

 

Hal have amazing food and the Pinnacle... is superb!!!!!! :)

[3rdGenCunarder]

Good comment. I have generally been pleased with HAL's food. I eat lamb any time I can. Offerings have gotten cheaper in the main dining room. Meatloaf? If you want your steaks served with a warm red center and can not accept it with a pink warm center you are apt to be disappointed, steaks may vary from what you request. My biggest gripe would be that hot food is served warm, not hot. Ice cream in the dining room is served half melted in warm from the dishwasher dishes.

 

Have you ever looked at the stacks of covered plates the runners carry out? By the time the last one gets served, it's likely to have lost some heat. That doesn't excuse it, but it does explain it. If the waiter has trouble keeping track of who gets what, he may open the covers serveral times as he searches for the right meal for the next passenger. It's another effect of staff cuts.

 

I enjoyed the lamb, too.

[Linda VH]

As another poster said "food is subjective". Yes the MDR is like banquet food. We did a 16 day TA and after a couple of days never went to the MDR again. Back then you could go to the Lido for tablecloth service and order the same food as in the MDR. I would get a salad from the salad bar and a pasta or the like. After a couple of days we never even had to go up to order - the manager had a table set aside for us at the window with a printed menu. Last Christmas/New Year on Noordam we went to MDR once. Food was just okay and service was slow. Wine pouring from the wine I brought was a joke as there was no one to do it - I went over and got my own (unfortunately it was not next to the table). We ate in Pinnacle or Cannaletto each night and were very happy. We have a 14 day booked on Maasdam in December and I doubt we will do the MDR at all. The people we shared a table with on Noordam the one time in the MDR LOVED the food. As I said "subjective".

[dakrewser]

No late night buffet on our sailing on the Veendam. Everything shut down at 9pm and no more food anywhere to be found.

 

Was that the one in 2007? No longer very relevant, is it?

[Taz]

As others have said, food is subjective. We all have different tastes and preferences. A group of 25 people would likely have 25 different opinions of the exact same meal.

 

With that being said, my opinion of the food that I had on Zaandam last summer is "meh".The MDR was nice, but not a fine dining experience....more like a nice banquet or reception venue. Although presentation of the food was lovely, I found it to be largely tasteless. Hot food was rarely served hot. The experience was very nice as I enjoyed the company of the folks we met at our table and the servers were great, but the food didn't really contribute to it. My traveling companion loved the food and ate heartily throughout the trip. I lost 6 pounds.

[Viesczy]

I've yet to have "bad" food on a ship on any line, meaning that it was low grade dog/the steak still having marks where the jockey was beating (borrowing 2 great lines from "Caddyshack").

 

Yes I have had some meals where the meal wasn't what I thought/hoped it would be, but it was because of my tastes/ideas and not the quality of victuals served. Too many folks believe that if they don't like it the food, the food is bad and will go on & on about their personal preference as if that is the only preference needed.

 

How many folks have come back from a cruise lighter than when they started due to not being able to eat anything? Really?

 

I've put on an lb a day average. I workout like a fiend before the cruise so I'll be @ my "normal" weight upon return. :o

 

Derek

[swedish weave]

When we were on pride of america we couldn't eat anything

Nonsense !!!! Do you expect anybody to believe you went seven days without ANY food.

 

I believe you are just taking an untrue potshot at NCL.

[FrankNJ]

Much better than on my one and only Princess cruise .

[Boytjie]

I have been reading some other threads, and I am really confused about what the issue is re: HAL meals. Is it 1) lack of choice or 2) poor quality of food or 3) poorly cooked food or 4) poor service coupled with one or all of the above? I am getting the impression from some posts the MDR meals almost equate with fast food cafes as opposed to medium/high range restaurants. I guess we hoped for a minimum equivilent of a medium priced land based restaurant. Coming from western Canada, my husband does like his steaks..one poster indicated their steak could not be cut even with a steak knife. We are neither "gourmets" nor "gourmands" but as we are on an 18 night cruise, we were anticipating some well prepared food with acceptable cuts of meat. Are we expecting too much??:confused:

 

I am not sure where you have read all the reports of bad food on HAL. :confused:

 

I don't recall any posts recently equating the MDR quality with fast food! I have found the food on HAL ships to be quite good. I wish they had fats food like that available close to home. ;)

 

I usually don't order steaks in the MDR as there are usually other things I would rather eat but teh ones I have had were very good. On one of our cruises we had a friend that had the NY strip steak every night in the MDR (because he could and he said he would never cook it for himself at home!) so it could not have been all that bad. :D

[Watson's aunt]

Maybe the food in the mdr on any ship is not good or served cold is because the company has a place where you will pay extra for a meal that should be served in MDR. Keep offering to pay for services that were free and the cruise line see that some people are willing to pay for it. Then everyone pays

 

 

Mary

[travelnap]

I would agree with some of the other posters. I have not had a bad meal while sailing with HAL. I have not had a bad meal on any other line I have sailed with before either. I loved the Pinnacle on my last trip, and since I travel solo, I dine a lot in the Lido for evening meals as I can get the same foods as the MDR which is one thing I really like about HAL. You can't do that on most other lines. I would also agree with the comments on the Canelletto, the food was ok but nothing great, but the service left something to be desired. Overall I have found dining on HAL to be among the best of the other lines that I have sailed. No, it's probably not as good as it was 5 or 10 years ago, but none of the cruise lines are, as they have all had to make some cuts.

[dakrewser]

Maybe the food in the mdr on any ship is not good or served cold is because the company has a place where you will pay extra for a meal that should be served in MDR. Keep offering to pay for services that were free and the cruise line see that some people are willing to pay for it. Then everyone pays

 

 

Mary

 

Hilarious! So the line serves bad food to 1600 people so they'll all clamor to go to the PG - which usually services no more than 60 a night. That's the business plan?

[Boytjie]

When we were on pride of america we couldn't eat anything, but HAL was good. Room Service is good, so don't know about any one else but we had good food

 

I wouldn't rave about the food on POA but I still found something to eat onboard. That's said, my best meal during the cruise was lunch at the Kona Brewing Company. :D

[swedish weave]

Maybe the food in the mdr on any ship is not good or served cold is because the company has a place where you will pay extra for a meal that should be served in MDR. Keep offering to pay for services that were free and the cruise line see that some people are willing to pay for it. Then everyone pays

 

 

Mary

 

I see this statement and "nickel and diming" so much, I feel like I am listening to a group of parrots repeating what they have heard !!!

[jaguarstyper]

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am super critical when it comes to food and service. Sometimes to a fault. That said I think the food on HAL is just fine for what it is. Of the four cruise lines I have been on, its been significantly better than two of them, Carnival and Norwegian. The other one is Seabourn and considering the difference in price, its unreasonable to expect HAL to be at the same level as they are. I think the food in the MDR is good for the most part. I do feel they don't do a good job with steaks, but everything else has been quite satisfying. Some things are better than others, but I have not had anything that was truly bad or comparable to "fast food". They are not going to compete with your favorite land-based 5 star restaurant, but most places cant. It's your favorite for a reason, right? My biggest gripe with the MDR is in the service. Its just not as good as it used to be or as it should be.

 

The Lido is as good or any other buffet I have experienced, and better than most. They have a good variety, everything seems fresh enough and its well prepared.

 

IMO, the Canaletto should just be avoided. I find it to be very much on par with Olive Garden. But, its been my experience that Olive Garden is always quite busy, so they must be doing something right. Its just not my favorite thing.

 

The Pinnacle is the shining star of HAL dining. I feel its as good as most higher-end land based restaurants. The food is consistently good and the service is attentive, but not obtrusive. Sure, I've dined at better restaurants, but the list is not very long. I think its a great upgrade for the price and dine there often.

 

So, if your expecting something that's going to blow you away, you're apt to be disappointed. But if you accept what it is, a restaurant trying to serve hundreds of people at once, you should not be unhappy with what you get onboard HAL.

[sharks48]

The food on HAL is just fine, I've found. And, the Pinnacle Grill is VERY good. Service is terrific, or at least it always has been - I haven't sailed with HAL for over a year.

[Alberta Quilter]

I've found the food on HAL to be good to very good. As others have said, I've not had a bad meal on the ship. I have made some not so great choices.

 

For the OP, from one Albertan to another, the beef on the ship is not quite as good as what we can get here at home. I've also enjoyed the prime rib on the first night; being an Albertan born and bred, I can't go too long without some beef!! The best place for beef on the ship is in the Pinnacle Grill - still not Alberta beef but darn good beef.

 

I use my travels to try foods that I won't cook, are not readily available, or at a reasonable price, here at home.

[Mickb]

We cruised on Eurodam in Nov of last year having had a rest from HAL for 5 years.

We thought that the quality and hoice of food in the MDR had definitely diminished

but one must bear in mind that this is effectively mass catering. The menu choices have certainly been cut back and personally I am not sure that Jerk Chicken is quite what I would expect on a premium line!

To us the extra tarif Tamarind was outstanding and saved the day and we ended up here 5 nights out 7. In the context of what the cruise cost, it was not that much extra.

The buffet restaurant was perfectly acceptable for lunches.

But I do agree - food is very personal!