What? No maple syrup on HAL?

[Gamelan1971]

My husband and I just took a cruise (Singapore to Hong Kong) on the Volendam in February 2013. The last time I'd been on a ship of any kind was a 7 day Alaska trip on the Rotterdam in September 2010.

 

For the most part, we did enjoy our trip, and we had a fun group of table mates at early seating. We are considering another cruise on HAL later this year.

 

What was noticeable on this trip was the cost cutting. While I still noticed orchids in the Lido and other parts of the ship, I don't remember the gorgeous bouquets from years past. In addition, the staff seemed to be stretched very thin. I speak some Indonesian, and give kudos to our cabin steward, Matt, from West Java. His wife is having a baby in April; I hope everything works out for him and his family. He worked really hard for us, and we were always able to get whatever we needed. Our dining room steward seemed like he was mentally somewhere else, and was only friendly and engaging with our table the last couple of days of the cruise. It was noticed by everyone at our table and surprising to all of us, as I've always thought the dining room stewards were excellent on previous cruises. In fact, seeing how stretched thin the Indonesian and Philippine staff were on the trip was heartbreaking. They are not able to give the level of customer service they once could, and this is disturbing as it is one of the reasons I like cruising with HAL most.

 

We ate the majority of our meals in the Main Dining Room. The food was good but not as great as I had remembered. A lot of it was bland and tasteless. The cheese plate, one of my favorite after dinner desserts, was definitely not as good as I remembered. We ate once at the Pinnacle Grill and while I did enjoy the meal, I felt like there was something missing. My husband loves steak and was not impressed with the PG. Oddly, he was impressed with the Pizza at the terrace grill, which he liked having upon return from shore excursions in early/late afternoon. With most meals, it was hard for me to put my finger on any one thing, but it felt like the quality of ingredients was not as good as it once was. On the other hand, I had a club sandwich (room service) that was out of this world!

 

What I found surprising was that when we went for our first breakfast in the dining room, there was no REAL maple syrup to be had, none period. I don't remember this from previous cruises. My husband is Canadian and we strongly prefer to have real maple syrup rather than the high fructose corn syrup fake stuff. In fact, we'd rather do without pancakes, waffles, or french toast if this is the case. When we asked about this in the dining room, the main dining room captain blew off the idea as silly and then mentioned that it was too expensive to have real Maple Syrup available for breakfast. We complained about this, and received a very nice apology from HAL and the dining room captain. I think they handled the situation OK and I am appreciative of the gesture. We never did get real maple syrup on this trip.

 

But my question stands- is there no maple syrup available on HAL? where does the cost cutting stop? Who decided that it was OK to not provide maple syrup while continuing to make available balsamic vinegar, smoked salmon, and other little luxuries that others would miss? And will we see a point when those things and other luxuries start to disappear, not to mention what has already been lost???

 

Will we need to bring our own bottle of authentic maple syrup on our next cruise? We are seriously considering it.

 

Can anyone tell me which lines serve real maple syrup at breakfast? This may come off as silly, but it is an important questions for us.

 

I like the HAL product very much, but the cost cutting is starting to make me consider other lines.

 

Regards,

 

Valerie

[catl331]

I would bring it if I were you. Really wrap it in plastic unless some comes in unbreakable containers now. It is quite expensive now compared to other years. I often wondered how they keep these voyage ships supplied with goodies. I know they ship some supplies ahead to different ports but I don't like it when they run out of bananas!!:) (New Englander who hates the fake stuff)

[two4me]

Funny, you brought that subject up of maple syrup. I noticed that our last trip also. I am not big on the fake stuff either. Either I pack my own or pass on the things that need syrup.

[foodgirl]

First of all I don't think you are silly. We all have little things that we enjoy. I will say that coming from the food industry real maple syrup is quite expensive and is also the type of item that people tend to waste easily. I am not surprised to hear that they don't offer it anymore as most breakfast restaurants in the US use the fake stuff so the average consumer has forgotten what authentic tastes like. Not all of us mind you, but I am guessing that it would be an easy thing to cut for lowering costs. I would bring my own if it matters to you. Same reason DH brings his soda of choice as not available on the ship. It is the little things that keep us all happy!!! :)

[Gamelan1971]

Yes, I was thinking the same thing- there was probably a lot of wastage and corporate thought this could be eliminated easily. That wastage problem could be mitigated by finding a maple syrup supplier that would put maple syrup in the same little tear-off single serving cups that are used for the high fructose corn syrup fake maple syrup served on our ship in February. Seems like best of both worlds to me- the real stuff could be made available upon request, and the passengers happy with the fake stuff could continue to have it available as the default, served with all plates unless the real stuff is requested.

 

Seems like a win-win way to cut costs and satisfy passengers and probably would not cost that much more money.

[josie724]

Yes, I was thinking the same thing- there was probably a lot of wastage and corporate thought this could be eliminated easily. That wastage problem could be mitigated by finding a maple syrup supplier that would put maple syrup in the same little tear-off single serving cups that are used for the high fructose corn syrup fake maple syrup served on our ship in February. Seems like best of both worlds to me- the real stuff could be made available upon request, and the passengers happy with the fake stuff could continue to have it available as the default, served with all plates unless the real stuff is requested.

 

Seems like a win-win way to cut costs and satisfy passengers and probably would not cost that much more money.

 

 

You mean these? I don't think they are very cost effective.

http://gourmetfood.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=gourmetfood&cdn=food&tm=8&f=20&su=p284.13.342.ip_p830.19.342.ip_&tt=3&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.stonewallkitchen.com/prdsell.aspx%3FL0%3DSpecialtyFoods%26L1%3DPancakeandsyrup%26L2%3DSyrups%26L3%3DMiniMapleSyrup

 

[innlady1]

For the past few years, I've been bringing small bottles of maple syrup...I've bought them in restaurants when all that's served is the fake stuff and they charge for these small bottles. I take home the bottle and refill it.

Ruining French toast, waffles or pancakes with the fake stuff is not my thing.

We've been cruising HAL since '07, and I don't recall ever seeing real syrup.

[Gamelan1971]

Thanks Josie. I was thinking more specifically of the smaller smuckers jam style containers. Perhaps they could find a maple syrup supplier willing to put maple syrup in a similarly sized portion cup. I can't figure out how to paste an image on here, otherwise I would, but the link is as follows:

 

http://www.smuckersfoodservice.com/product_line_list.cfm

 

You will also notice if you go to the link and scroll through the product line, that there is maple syrup available, although in a slightly different type of container than I have described.

[josie724]

Thanks Josie. I was thinking more specifically of the smaller smuckers jam style containers. Perhaps they could find a maple syrup supplier willing to put maple syrup in a similarly sized portion cup. I can't figure out how to paste an image on here, otherwise I would, but the link is as follows:

 

http://www.smuckersfoodservice.com/product_line_list.cfm

 

You will also notice if you go to the link and scroll through the product line, that there is maple syrup available, although in a slightly different type of container than I have described.

 

From what I know about maple syrup it stays fresher in glass. Believe me I'm with you on the maple syrup bandwagon, nothing better than some good local maple syrup.

[Gamelan1971]

Hi Josie- Yes, and you will notice on the link in my previous message that the real stuff was in small jars.

 

Would be nice if HAL could find a way to provide real maple syrup, even if they charged for it or only had it available in the MDR. It seems silly to spend thousands on a vacation and have to bring a bottle with us.

[Gamelan1971]

I'd like to know if real maple syrup is served on the Grand World Voyage?? I did a couple of segments of the GWV in 2010 but I can't remember if real maple syrup was served or not.

[Boytjie]

I think they handled the situation OK and I am appreciative of the gesture. We never did get real maple syrup on this trip.

 

I don't think they would have many places where they could pick maple syrup up somewhere between Singapore and Hong Kong. ;)

[CRUZBUDS]

"No outside condiments of any kind"

 

For Seinfeld fans only ;)

 

[Gamelan1971]

Peter- My husband is a diplomat with the Canadian Government, and we actually contemplated asking the Canadian Embassy in BKK or the consulate in HCMC if they could assist us in getting some. Alas, we didn't think we'd be able to work this (trying to get to the Embassy/Consulate and back) into our shore excursion schedule.

 

Cruzbuds- Thanks for the Seinfeld reference-I love it!!!!

[innlady1]

Thanks Josie. I was thinking more specifically of the smaller smuckers jam style containers. Perhaps they could find a maple syrup supplier willing to put maple syrup in a similarly sized portion cup. I can't figure out how to paste an image on here, otherwise I would, but the link is as follows:

 

http://www.smuckersfoodservice.com/product_line_list.cfm

 

You will also notice if you go to the link and scroll through the product line, that there is maple syrup available, although in a slightly different type of container than I have described.

 

That - in the photo - and in the small jars is one that I brought along this cruise! Got it in a restaurant...can't remember where.

[3rdGenCunarder]

There's fake and there's fake. I like the real thing, but I can be satisfied with the ones that are a mix of a few percent real maple syrup and the rest corn syrup. It isn't real, but it isn't exactly fake, either. Log Cabin, Aunt Jemima, etc are not as expensive as the real thing, and probably not much more than the fake "maple flavored" stuff.

 

The completely fake "maple flavored" corn syrup is an insult to the word maple. But that's what you get on ships these days. (I was on QM2 this past fall, and that's all I ever saw at breakfast.) You get the fake stuff in a lot of restaurants, too, unless you're in New England.

[sail7seas]

Please don't suggest that because they removed a luxurious item you like they should remove items others of us enjoy. I'm sorry for your disappointment but hope you didn't mean to wish disappointment on the rest of us that enjoy other items you called luxurious. :( (doesn't feel all that diplomatic to me. :eek: )

 

 

I agree there have been many cutbacks and there are things I miss as well. I'm trying hard to not suggest to them more places they can cut. They seem to be using that axe quite well without our help. Sigh.........

 

Tuck a bottle of real maple syrup in our suitcase next time. That's an 'easy fix'. :)

 

[RuthC]

I've been on 40 HAL cruises since 1992 and don't recall ever seeing real maple syrup, with one exception. The Prinsendam has served it in the little jars, just as has been suggested HAL do. It did run out before the end of the cruise, and we were back to that awful pap.

The syrup they serve doesn't even pretend to be "maple"; it's "breakfast syrup". Frankly, the sugar-free tastes better, although it will never come close to the real thing.

Before the real thing was forbidden to me, I used to bring real maple syrup in a small can. I purchased it in the Vancouver terminal, and just kept refilling it when I cruised. Worked fine.

[innlady1]

There's fake and there's fake. I like the real thing, but I can be satisfied with the ones that are a mix of a few percent real maple syrup and the rest corn syrup. It isn't real, but it isn't exactly fake, either. Log Cabin, Aunt Jemima, etc are not as expensive as the real thing, and probably not much more than the fake "maple flavored" stuff.

 

The completely fake "maple flavored" corn syrup is an insult to the word maple. But that's what you get on ships these days. (I was on QM2 this past fall, and that's all I ever saw at breakfast.) You get the fake stuff in a lot of restaurants, too, unless you're in New England.

 

 

We're in New England and we get fake stuff here, too, most of the time. They always have real maple syrup...but there's usually an extra charge...which I always add on.

[kjw869]

I've been on 40 HAL cruises since 1992 and don't recall ever seeing real maple syrup, with one exception. The Prinsendam has served it in the little jars, just as has been suggested HAL do. It did run out before the end of the cruise, and we were back to that awful pap.

 

The syrup they serve doesn't even pretend to be "maple"; it's "breakfast syrup". Frankly, the sugar-free tastes better, although it will never come close to the real thing.

 

Before the real thing was forbidden to me, I used to bring real maple syrup in a small can. I purchased it in the Vancouver terminal, and just kept refilling it when I cruised. Worked fine.

 

I've been on roughly a quarter of number of HAL cruises you have been on in the past five years, and there was never any maple syrup on these trips.

[catl331]

Cracker Barrel gives you little bottles of the warm real stuff. I never saw the little bottles sold though. New Englanders unite!!

[cruisinjudy]

Not a cruise but at Caesar's Tahoe hotel years ago the menu said maple syrup. What they brought was the sugar stuff that didn't even claim to have maple flavoring! Boy did I raise a stink for false advertising. They did search the hotel but did not find any real maple syrup. It should not have been listed on the menu.

[josie724]

Cracker Barrel gives you little bottles of the warm real stuff. I never saw the little bottles sold though. New Englanders unite!!

 

 

Funny you should mention that....I found this story on the subject, I know it's old, but it still makes you go hmmmmm? Amazing what you can find on the internet.:eek:

 

 

http://popurls.com/view/cracker-barrel-maple-syrup-struck-by-shrink-ray-an-44fe28c0ff1217a4685c24a8b7b9222d

[Copper10-8]

"No outside condiments of any kind"

 

For Seinfeld fans only ;)

 

 

"Well, I told my wife not to bring it";)

[WeRockChalkKU]

You can buy small bottles of the real stuff on www dot minimus dot biz It's a great place to find all kinds of travel size things.

 

Our last cruise was on the Pdam for the holidays and there were passengers that brought their own maple syrup but they brought the medium size in plastic bottles.