Rudi's Sel de Mer?

[G&G]

Sorry to read of your and others' subpar experiences. It appears, as with so many HAL features, that the passengers are at the mercy of the experience of a particular ship's crew. It totally depends on the caliber of the Pinnacle Grill chef on board. When the chef is good, the Sel de Mer experience is outstanding.

 

It was not good. I wrote about our experience in another thread. DW Dover sole was terrible though PG Manager bought her a lobster tail as a substitute. The seafood tower that included shrimp was baby shrimp ! The crepes were also not good. The only thing that was good was my filet. Also there were only 6-7 couples dining between 5:45 & 7:15 pm

[SeaBands]

Loved it on Kdam but it was not good as a pop upon our sailing in Feb on Rotterdam. Fish was over cooked and dry.

[Jeremiah On a Cruise]

I leave on my first HAL cruise in 34 days, and this thread is disheartening.

 

Pre-cruise, one of my biggest concerns about HAL has been the lack of specialty dining options. We try and avoid the MDR and buffet (and are happy to pay for such), but that's a bit hard on HAL. Princess has lots of creative options (dinner on the balcony, chef's table, winemakers table, crab dinner thing, etc.) and Celebrity lets you upgrade to separate dining which is outstanding (e.g. Blu). HAL only has a couple specialty options, with only one of these having a menu that we're drawn to (Pinnacle Grill). So, we were really hoping for Sel de Mer to be the exceptional dining experience that often highlights our cruise.

 

I think we'll keep our reservations, but I'm going to be grumpy if our most exquisite and expensive meal on our first HAL cruise is overcooked frozen fish...

[*Miss G*]

I leave on my first HAL cruise in 34 days, and this thread is disheartening.

 

Pre-cruise, one of my biggest concerns about HAL has been the lack of specialty dining options. We try and avoid the MDR and buffet (and are happy to pay for such), but that's a bit hard on HAL. Princess has lots of creative options (dinner on the balcony, chef's table, winemakers table, crab dinner thing, etc.) and Celebrity lets you upgrade to separate dining which is outstanding (e.g. Blu). HAL only has a couple specialty options, with only one of these having a menu that we're drawn to (Pinnacle Grill). So, we were really hoping for Sel de Mer to be the exceptional dining experience that often highlights our cruise.

 

I think we'll keep our reservations, but I'm going to be grumpy if our most exquisite and expensive meal on our first HAL cruise is overcooked frozen fish...

What ship are you on? Your options vary based on the ship.

[POPDISPLAY]

I talked with Clifford in HAL customer service. He ashamedly confessed that all of the fish, poultry, seafood (lobster, crab, and shrimp), beef, pork, and lamb that's served in Sel de Mer is frozen and then thawed for dinner. I asked Clifford what guests are supposed to conclude from the menu's "broiled fresh catch of the day"? He replied- well, I guess it was fresh when they caught the fish.

Given the above, an extra $49 per person for frozen fish and frozen broiled maine lobster seems to me to be a pretty big waste of $

[OlsSalt]

On 7/1/2018 at 1:25 PM, Jeremiah On a Cruise said:

I leave on my first HAL cruise in 34 days, and this thread is disheartening.

 

Pre-cruise, one of my biggest concerns about HAL has been the lack of specialty dining options. We try and avoid the MDR and buffet (and are happy to pay for such), but that's a bit hard on HAL. Princess has lots of creative options (dinner on the balcony, chef's table, winemakers table, crab dinner thing, etc.) and Celebrity lets you upgrade to separate dining which is outstanding (e.g. Blu). HAL only has a couple specialty options, with only one of these having a menu that we're drawn to (Pinnacle Grill). So, we were really hoping for Sel de Mer to be the exceptional dining experience that often highlights our cruise.

 

I think we'll keep our reservations, but I'm going to be grumpy if our most exquisite and expensive meal on our first HAL cruise is overcooked frozen fish...

 

I'd recommend lowering your expectations about "exquisite" dining on any HAL ship, because it is not going to happen. And concentrate on the itinerary, the nice cabin, the lovely public rooms, the outdoor promenade and the wonderful crew. The other ships you are using for comparison are a lot larger and hence do have more options to offer.  HAL ships will tend to put their emphasis on where they go, ships for travellers, and less on making the onboard experience duplicate or exceed a land-based experience. 

 

You will dine nicely in a very lovely setting if you choose late fixed dining in the upper dining rooms. We think there is very nice variety of options on HAL ships and are never unsatisfied. But for celebratory "exquisite" dining you might want to look into what is available in the ports you will visit and spend your money there. 

[Jeremiah On a Cruise]

On 12/4/2018 at 11:56 AM, OlsSalt said:

 

I'd recommend lowering your expectations about "exquisite" dining on any HAL ship, because it is not going to happen. And concentrate on the itinerary, the nice cabin, the lovely public rooms, the outdoor promenade and the wonderful crew. The other ships you are using for comparison are a lot larger and hence do have more options to offer.  HAL ships will tend to put their emphasis on where they go, ships for travellers, and less on making the onboard experience duplicate or exceed a land-based experience. 

 

You will dine nicely in a very lovely setting if you choose late fixed dining in the upper dining rooms. We think there is very nice variety of options on HAL ships and are never unsatisfied. But for celebratory "exquisite" dining you might want to look into what is available in the ports you will visit and spend your money there. 

 

Our cruise was several months ago, but this advice is spot-on.

 

We tried all the dining options on our cruise (NA), and found each to be good to various degrees.  We never had a bad meal, but also didn't have any great ones.  We ended up trying lots of options the first few days before spending the final few nights in the Pinnacle Grill which we enjoyed, and was our favorite restaurant on the ship by a fair margin.

 

We loved the ship, crew, and itinerary - and had what was probably the most relaxing vacation we've ever had.  We will consider HAL in the future.  But if I'm being honest, the food on HAL didn't have the wow factor as the other cruises I've been on (Princess & Celebrity).   To each their own, right :)

 

But going back to the original topic, we found the Sel de Mer to be a bit unimpressive.  We both enjoyed the broth on the soup a lot (bouillabaisse?), but everything else was just OK.  I don't regret going, but in the future, we will probably skip it.  And if price is a factor, I personally found better value at literally every other specialty restaurant.