Quality of food in MDR - Noordam

[cruisun]

And things can change drastically even from one sailing to the next. We loved NA and Eurodam and food great on both several different times.

 

Once on a b2b on Noordam food went from excellent first ten days to poor on the second 10.

[mickey89]

Thanks for all your replies, just shows how easy it is for a thread to be distracted. The question was , has the food improved over the last year. I for one really enjoyed the Noordam and hope the food improves. So probably will give it a shot maybe later this year.

Edited February 3, 2014 by mickey89

[Lara Cruising]

Hi Mickey89,

I was interested in your question as we sail on her in April. Not really sure it has been answered but will post once we get back....mind you we only have one HAL cruise under our belts so don't have much to compare it to.

Edited February 3, 2014 by Lara Cruising

[POA1]

Thanks for all your replies, just shows how easy it is for a thread to be distracted. The question was , has the food improved over the last year. I for one really enjoyed the Noordam and hope the food improves. So probably will give it a shot maybe later this year.

 

We sail at the end of the month and will try to post something. A couple of regular CC posters are either on now or getting on soon, so I expect we'll know more shortly.

[catl331]

WOW you are scaring me. I had to check to see if this was an April Fool's joke. I never have had poor food on HAL ever. Sure sometimes something was done too much or not enough or came a little cooler than I would've liked but poor? Now I am hesitating making a reservation for another cruise. Should I switch cruiselines? I am in the process of exciting two friends to come along. I am disappointed that the poor food was on my favorite ship.:(

[sail7seas]

And things can change drastically even from one sailing to the next. We loved NA and Eurodam and food great on both several different times.

 

Once on a b2b on Noordam food went from excellent first ten days to poor on the second 10.

 

 

Do you know if there was a change of Executive Chef between the two cruises?

 

[sun~]

A female Dining Supervisor in MDR on an HAL ship?

This is the first I've heard of this in a very long time. I remember one years ago on Maasdam but the only ladies we've seen working in MDR have been bar department/wine stewardess.

 

Interesting......

 

 

I remember that woman on the Maasdam. She was wonderful to my lads. She had nice chats with them. She was focusing on my wee lad (I think he was 9) and asking him if he liked the adult menu or kids menu. Typical Ian fashion, he said "both" so she told him to go ahead and order two meals :D So he did! He ate everything. My wee lad is now 6'3" and about 200lb of lean rugby player. Ian loves cruises, since he discovered on that ship he could eat as much as he wanted thanks to that manager :)

[mickey89]

WOW you are scaring me. I had to check to see if this was an April Fool's joke. I never have had poor food on HAL ever...........(

 

I was equally of that belief. We sailed the Noordam on 4 consecutive years 2010 to 2013 each time 21 days and the food was excellent, with little room for compliant. But after our last cruise in Feb/March 2013 the change was significant, some meals were inedible, all were below the standards of previous years. Consequently we changed cruise-lines to Celebrity.

 

Without doubt Celebrity were a notch above HAL with many innovative deals namely the Ultimate Dining package but would still love to cruise Noordam again, as we really did missed their promenade deck and their age profile is more to our taste. But food quality is so crucial and the option of the Pinnacle Grill is not persuasive enough, their recently published PG menu is so limited.

 

I am hoping their standards have improved and are prepared to chance it on a shorter cruise, maybe a B2B - Noordam followed by Equinox. (Smoking apart - wake up HAL)

Edited February 3, 2014 by mickey89

[Hlitner]

Perhaps the issue needs to be put in proper perspective. Cruise lines are simply large businesses and must generate a profit in order to stay in business. As part of the business model, cruise lines allocate a specific amount of money, per passenger day, to pay for food and other related items. When a line cuts back, or does not expand that budgeted amount of money per passenger day to keep up with food inflation, the cuisine begins to suffer. Executive chefs are forced to substitute lower cost products on menus and buffets and to also reduce portion size. You can see this on cruise ships where, for example, the large cold shrimp that used to be on a lunch buffet, is now replaced with tiny bay shrimp or even no shrimp. Salad bars have fewer items. What was previously a nice grilled salmon entrée is replaced by barramundi or farmed Tilapia. Lobster tail and filet mignon surf and turf becomes shrimp and a smaller filet mignon surf and turf. Expansive midnight buffets (arguably a horrible waste of food resources) all but disappear and is replaced by a smaller very limited late night snack/buffet.

 

And we could carry this even further. Good Philippine dance bands are replaced by the HAL Cats. And the HAL Cats brass section is entirely eliminated (this happened before they called them the HAL cats). The wonderful string quartet becomes a less wonderful piano/violin duo. Cabin stewards are assigned more cabins. 12 dancers in the show become 8 dancers. 6 singers become 4 singers. An aft pool is replaced by a large "bird bath" so there is room for more passenger cabins (and passengers). Times in ports are reduced by 1 or 2 hours so the ships can slow down and save valuable fuel. and it goes on and on. Skilled lecturers disappear on many cruises. A bottle of Champagne prize becomes a cheap keychain. Unfortunately this is the way of the cruise world these days, but there are some who would quickly counter that these "reductions" allow the cruise lines to maintain lower prices.

 

Hank

[Tarpeian Rock]

Perhaps the issue needs to be put in proper perspective. Cruise lines are simply large businesses and must generate a profit in order to stay in business. As part of the business model, cruise lines allocate a specific amount of money, per passenger day, to pay for food and other related items. When a line cuts back, or does not expand that budgeted amount of money per passenger day to keep up with food inflation, the cuisine begins to suffer. Executive chefs are forced to substitute lower cost products on menus and buffets and to also reduce portion size. You can see this on cruise ships where, for example, the large cold shrimp that used to be on a lunch buffet, is now replaced with tiny bay shrimp or even no shrimp. Salad bars have fewer items. What was previously a nice grilled salmon entrée is replaced by barramundi or farmed Tilapia. Lobster tail and filet mignon surf and turf becomes shrimp and a smaller filet mignon surf and turf. Expansive midnight buffets (arguably a horrible waste of food resources) all but disappear and is replaced by a smaller very limited late night snack/buffet.

 

And we could carry this even further. Good Philippine dance bands are replaced by the HAL Cats. And the HAL Cats brass section is entirely eliminated (this happened before they called them the HAL cats). The wonderful string quartet becomes a less wonderful piano/violin duo. Cabin stewards are assigned more cabins. 12 dancers in the show become 8 dancers. 6 singers become 4 singers. An aft pool is replaced by a large "bird bath" so there is room for more passenger cabins (and passengers). Times in ports are reduced by 1 or 2 hours so the ships can slow down and save valuable fuel. and it goes on and on. Skilled lecturers disappear on many cruises. A bottle of Champagne prize becomes a cheap keychain. Unfortunately this is the way of the cruise world these days, but there are some who would quickly counter that these "reductions" allow the cruise lines to maintain lower prices.

 

Hank

 

You've done a great job of summing-up the "state of the union" of the cruise industry today. But for me, the "missing link" is the area of price competition. In a world where the average middle- / upper-middle class consumer doesn't bat an eyelash at a $5 bag of potato chips, premium-priced adult beverages, spending hundreds of dollars on various iToys, where what was once free TV now produces a cable bill of $80-$100 monthly (not counting Internet), where fast casual dining such as Applebee's or Olive Garden can easily hit $60 for two -- why, in a marketplace like that, the cruise lines of interest to us couldn't add $100--$200 or so per fare to restore a level of food quality / service / amenities that many yearn for. That amount is practically a rounding error in terms of the overall cost of a cruise.

[startwin]

You've done a great job of summing-up the "state of the union" of the cruise industry today. But for me, the "missing link" is the area of price competition. In a world where the average middle- / upper-middle class consumer doesn't bat an eyelash at a $5 bag of potato chips, premium-priced adult beverages, spending hundreds of dollars on various iToys, where what was once free TV now produces a cable bill of $80-$100 monthly (not counting Internet), where fast casual dining such as Applebee's or Olive Garden can easily hit $60 for two -- why, in a marketplace like that, the cruise lines of interest to us couldn't add $100--$200 or so per fare to restore a level of food quality / service / amenities that many yearn for. That amount is practically a rounding error in terms of the overall cost of a cruise.

 

I must say I agree with you. I would much prefer to pay more to get what we used to have. And if that means that it puts it out of the range of some people - oh well, it was years before I could afford to cruise, too. I cruise for the "special-ness" of it, but you might as well go to a holiday camp these days. I hate to see the constant lowering of HAL's standards.

[G&G]

You've done a great job of summing-up the "state of the union" of the cruise industry today. But for me, the "missing link" is the area of price competition. In a world where the average middle- / upper-middle class consumer doesn't bat an eyelash at a $5 bag of potato chips, premium-priced adult beverages, spending hundreds of dollars on various iToys, where what was once free TV now produces a cable bill of $80-$100 monthly (not counting Internet), where fast casual dining such as Applebee's or Olive Garden can easily hit $60 for two -- why, in a marketplace like that, the cruise lines of interest to us couldn't add $100--$200 or so per fare to restore a level of food quality / service / amenities that many yearn for. That amount is practically a rounding error in terms of the overall cost of a cruise.

 

Excellent observations !

 

That is why we will be spending more money to jump ship to Oceania to enjoy the high quality service and food that once existed everyday on HAL.

[nana51]

I have to say I'm always pleased with the food on HAL. I'm not very fussy and almost any meal I don't have to cook is always good. I also like the desserts. Probably because my expectations for feeding over 1,000 people at a time aren't quite as high as some.

[Girl from Ipanema]

My wife and I both seniors have been cruising at least once a year and the quality of food is very important to us. In the last 10 years we cruised Norwegian twice, good food, Oceania 3 times superb food,Celebrity once, never again, and Princess twice food almost as good as Oceania. In our opinion the quality of food served depends 80% on the chef and 20% on the money he has available to purchase the ingredients, if the chef is good he can produce miracle plates with imagination and knowledge, you can screw up boiled eggs if you are not interested in what you serve your clients. This will be our first experience on HAL and we try hard not to come with set ideas about the food we will be served, a good waiter or waitress can enhance your food experience just as a lousy one can spoil it for you.Looking forward to the Noordam February 28 B2B, see you there.

[catl331]

Okay, you have just signed on as our test cruisers. Please write about your meals. Thanks!

[fivechip]

My last cruise was on the Noordam.I got off Jan 27,after 21 wonderful days.I thought the food was very,very good.Greatly improved from the last few HAL cruises I have been on.The only let down was the food in the Pinnacle Grill,which was just plain bad