food variety on 30 day cruise

[Captain_MM]

We are thinking about doing the 30 day cruise on the Statendam next Feb. Do the meals repeat each week or is there some variety throughout the cruise?

[cruz chic]

I think it depends. If it's a collectors cruise (two cruises joined by the cruiseline) you will see some repetition. I took at 26 day cruise in 2008 and I don't recall at lot of repartition. Things may have changed since then.

[Shmoo here]

We are thinking about doing the 30 day cruise on the Statendam next Feb. Do the meals repeat each week or is there some variety throughout the cruise?

 

We did a 21 night cruise and, while there were some individual item repeats, the menus each night were different. That is, out of the 3 or 4 entrees offered, after about day 8, one or two of them had been offered previously on the cruise, but the other entrees would be different.

 

So, each menu was different, but some individual things were repeated. I wish they had offered the sweet & sour shrimp more than once on our cruise :rolleyes:.

[Kamloops50]

Most menus will have some fixed items. These are the items that people want on a regular basis.

[KirkNC]

We did a 21 night cruise and, while there were some individual item repeats, the menus each night were different. That is, out of the 3 or 4 entrees offered, after about day 8, one or two of them had been offered previously on the cruise, but the other entrees would be different.

 

So, each menu was different, but some individual things were repeated. I wish they had offered the sweet & sour shrimp more than once on our cruise :rolleyes:.

 

Thats been our experience as well, the repeats are mingled with new items.

[Chmielel]

On my 21 day cruise there where new items each night. One night one of our table guest requested an Indian menu, for the follow night, for the table to share (we could also order off the evenings menu). It was an interesting treat.

 

On a longer cruise the entrée changed often but it seem that green beans where always served with my entrée choice. The fix was simple I requested a substitute veggie be served with my meal. The waiters have always been pleased to make dinner enjoyable.

[Lady Chew]

One of the things we like about the longer cruises on HAL is the opportunity to personalize your meals. We have had trays of raw veggies & dip delivered to our table every night, a hot platter with broccoli & asparagus every night, sometimes with a third vegetable of our choosing ... we were even able to arrange family-style meals of Indonesian & Philippine food as it would be cooked for the crew (we had to have several discussions with our head waiter & MDR manager to arrange this) ... not to mention ordering menu items with no sauce, or extra sauce, or no onions & mushrooms, or extra onions & mushrooms ...

 

We don't mind a certain amount of repetition in the menus; after all, when we're at home, we usually repeat meals quite a bit over a month's time!

[Vict0riann]

One of the things we like about the longer cruises on HAL is the opportunity to personalize your meals. We have had trays of raw veggies & dip delivered to our table every night, a hot platter with broccoli & asparagus every night, sometimes with a third vegetable of our choosing ... we were even able to arrange family-style meals of Indonesian & Philippine food as it would be cooked for the crew (we had to have several discussions with our head waiter & MDR manager to arrange this) ... not to mention ordering menu items with no sauce, or extra sauce, or no onions & mushrooms, or extra onions & mushrooms ...

 

We don't mind a certain amount of repetition in the menus; after all, when we're at home, we usually repeat meals quite a bit over a month's time!

 

Nice to know. We'll be on for 42 days (2 cruises), and it is funny how you can become more bored with repeated menus when you're away from home that you do at home!

[runnergirl71]

We are thinking about doing the 30 day cruise on the Statendam next Feb. Do the meals repeat each week or is there some variety throughout the cruise?

 

I'm curious... Do you have different food every day for 30 days at home? I definitely don't, and even when I was younger and lived with my parents we didn't - and my mom's a great cook!

[kakalina]

We cruise only on longer cruises now. The last few cruises in the welcome aboard info there is a mention that no dinner menu will be repeated. And for the most part they are not.

However, this doesn't mean the same entrée won't be served with different sides and desserts. That is a different menu. We've never had a problem being bored with the offerings on long cruises, other than desserts. HAL stopped doing edible desserts ( other than the PG ) a few years back. They look great taste meh.

[RuthC]

So, each menu was different, but some individual things were repeated.

That's been my experience, too, over quite a few longer cruises. An entrée may be repeated, but the other selections that night are not the same ones that appeared with it before. Overall, the choices that night are different.

[RuthC]

We've never had a problem being bored with the offerings on long cruises, other than desserts. HAL stopped doing edible desserts ( other than the PG ) a few years back. They look great taste meh.

If you like lemon, try any of the lemon desserts. They are consistently good. Another taste that's good is pistachio; HAL does that pretty well.

There are still a few chocolate desserts that I will not miss, but not as many as there used to be :(.

[Typhoon1]

There are some repeats on a seven day. On a 21 day, you'll find some thrown in throughout the voyage.