Cruising-along Posted February 20, 2020 #1 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Has anyone heard of this before? I was looking at the dining options for our upcoming cruise in April (Noordam April 2) and this was just added within the past few days. Offered only twice on our 39-day cruise. Starts with cocktails, 6-course dinner with wine, $120/pp. I'm assuming there's no Mariner discount on this specialty dinner... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising-along Posted February 20, 2020 Author #2 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Nobody? I did find this, apparently it was announced in October (I was on a cruise, so didn't see it). https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/4602/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted February 20, 2020 #3 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Well...as the story says it will "roll out in the first part of 2020", it seems reasonable to think that either it hasn't rolled out yet, or nobody on Cruise Critic has yet experienced it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfish Posted February 20, 2020 #4 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Just noticed that it is available for our cruise as well. The article says menu information would be available by the end of last year. Hmmmm Let me know how it is. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising-along Posted February 20, 2020 Author #5 Share Posted February 20, 2020 47 minutes ago, dfish said: Just noticed that it is available for our cruise as well. The article says menu information would be available by the end of last year. Hmmmm Let me know how it is. Thanks Debbie. I'm hoping to see the menu too, it would be helpful before I decide whether or not to book it. I was curious if anyone's cruise before ours had it, but maybe not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alberta Quilter Posted February 20, 2020 #6 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Not available on our cruise right now. However we do have an Aficionado dinner with Rudi Sodamin. We went to it last year and chose not to attend this year. But the Aficionado dinner is $89 pp, so at $120/pp this must be above and beyond the Aficionado dinner. Btw there is no mariner discount wth the Aficionado dinner either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted February 20, 2020 #7 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Now I am very curious about this new dinner. Hope someone can give us more information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ski ww Posted February 20, 2020 #8 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Too rich for my blood. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted February 20, 2020 #9 Share Posted February 20, 2020 10 hours ago, Cruising-along said: Nobody? I did find this, apparently it was announced in October (I was on a cruise, so didn't see it). https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/4602/ It sounds to me like this is similar to a cellar master dinner only upgraded? It’s now offered on our cruise too. I think I will wait until I am on board to see if I can look at the menu, wines, etc and know if there are other specialty dining options (like Cellar Master) on the cruise or not. Checking the date it’s offered on our cruise it seems that it is a Gala Night which explains the name of the dinner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeRockChalkKU Posted February 20, 2020 #10 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Chef Kristan Kish was very impressive when she was on Top Chef. So despite the premium price, I bet we will be signing up for it first chance we get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted February 20, 2020 #11 Share Posted February 20, 2020 52 minutes ago, WeRockChalkKU said: Chef Kristan Kish was very impressive when she was on Top Chef I agree. But, sadly Chef Kish is not there cooking the food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeRockChalkKU Posted February 20, 2020 #12 Share Posted February 20, 2020 13 minutes ago, kazu said: I agree. But, sadly Chef Kish is not there cooking the food. So true but hopefully HAL chefs can make attempts to replicate and come somewhat close....hope folks post about their experiences Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising-along Posted February 20, 2020 Author #13 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I thought others might be curious about it. I'd never heard of it and was hoping others may have or at least be curious as I am. I agree, it sounds like the cellar master dinner but upgraded. We'll have a ton of OBC on our next cruise along with prepaid gratuities and beverage package, so this may be something to try. It will be offered twice on our cruise. But like Kazu, I'd like to see the menu, wine offerings, and what else may be offered on our cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare *Miss G* Posted February 20, 2020 #14 Share Posted February 20, 2020 This sounds like the David Burke evening we were offered on a cruise last year. $120/pp in the Pinnacle Grill. David Burke was in attendance. At $240 I chose not to attend but I feel some regret for that. We did attend a dinner with Andy Matsuda on another cruise but it was less expensive and was held in the Tamarind restaurant. We enjoyed ourselves and Mr. Matsuda was also in attendance. There was no Mariner discount for either of those dinners. I would be surprised if the featured chef was not in attendance at that price-point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted February 20, 2020 #15 Share Posted February 20, 2020 2 hours ago, *Miss G* said: This sounds like the David Burke evening we were offered on a cruise last year. $120/pp in the Pinnacle Grill. David Burke was in attendance. At $240 I chose not to attend but I feel some regret for that. We did attend a dinner with Andy Matsuda on another cruise but it was less expensive and was held in the Tamarind restaurant. We enjoyed ourselves and Mr. Matsuda was also in attendance. There was no Mariner discount for either of those dinners. I would be surprised if the featured chef was not in attendance at that price-point. If the featured chef were going to be on board, I would book it now. But, if it’s being offered on numerous cruises, then I have some doubts. Although, it might explain the timing on our cruise. We’re doing a Transatlantic and instead of it being on a Gala night (or another night) with 8 days at sea it is instead on the only seas day between two very busy port days. I might call HAL and see if I can find out. If I do find out anything of value, I’ll certainly post. I can’t imagine it would be sold out before we board though. I wouldn’t expect the Mariner discount since there is no Mariner discount for the Cellar Master. Thanks for the info Miss G - that’s very helpful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising-along Posted February 20, 2020 Author #16 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Thank you Kazu, I hope you can get some helpful information. I have some doubts too because the two times it's offered on our cruise are sea days (first one between NZ and Australia) and the second one on our last night between Hawaii and Victoria. 24 days apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted February 20, 2020 #17 Share Posted February 20, 2020 17 minutes ago, Cruising-along said: Thank you Kazu, I hope you can get some helpful information. I have some doubts too because the two times it's offered on our cruise are sea days (first one between NZ and Australia) and the second one on our last night between Hawaii and Victoria. 24 days apart. I did call and spoke to Shawn who knows no more than what is on the website. He said the information is still filtering down so perhaps calling later might yield results, I’m not sure. I’ll just wait until I am onboard I think and check it out and ask questions. I suspect we would go (especially if there is no Cellar Master) but I think that will be the 3rd Gala night which is usually quite nice. Once on board, we’ll know how good the MDR is and can take it from there. Definitely without more info, I’m not pre booking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising-along Posted February 26, 2020 Author #18 Share Posted February 26, 2020 (edited) This was just posted on Facebook, she was given the menu for this dinner. Sorry for the double post! Edited February 26, 2020 by Cruising-along Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare *Miss G* Posted February 26, 2020 #19 Share Posted February 26, 2020 I can’t wrap my head around “Fried Steam Bun”. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising-along Posted February 26, 2020 Author #20 Share Posted February 26, 2020 7 minutes ago, *Miss G* said: I can’t wrap my head around “Fried Steam Bun”. I agree! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare *Miss G* Posted February 26, 2020 #21 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Okay, I had to google it and it seems it’s a thing. “Fried” and “Steam” seemed like an oxymoron. Throw in “Bun” and I lost all sense of reality. This result had pretty pictures: Pan-Fried Pork Buns 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxmantoo Posted February 26, 2020 #22 Share Posted February 26, 2020 (edited) Pretty disappointing wine selection for such a nice menu. All wines are in the $20-$25 range. Wonder if we could bring our own, like we do for most meals ? Gala night should not be a step down! Edited February 26, 2020 by taxmantoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocketMan275 Posted February 26, 2020 #23 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Thank you for posting the menu. It's just not appealing. I'll take my chances in the buffet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunafish Posted February 26, 2020 #24 Share Posted February 26, 2020 9 minutes ago, taxmantoo said: Pretty disappointing wine selection for such a nice menu. All wines are in the $20-$25 range. Wonder if we could bring our own, like we do for most meals ? Gala night should not be a step down! I do not see anything on the menu worthy $120 either. would like to see at least an oz of caviar for this price, but anyting "with" caviar is usually 10 eggs or so. Also... all the ingredients from the typical PG menu. beef, halibut, lobster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising-along Posted February 26, 2020 Author #25 Share Posted February 26, 2020 37 minutes ago, taxmantoo said: Pretty disappointing wine selection for such a nice menu. All wines are in the $20-$25 range. Wonder if we could bring our own, like we do for most meals ? Gala night should not be a step down! I wondered the same. Didn't someone recently post that they got the Cellar Dinner minus the wine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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