It Appears HAL is adding to the MDR Menus

[LAFFNVEGAS]

3 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Thanks for posting this menu.  My opinion:  more "tweaking" is needed.  

I agree but I am just thrilled see more improvement, I am thinking part of problem was supply that or the on lines reviews are telling them they need to change.

What is not on tonight’s menu is the Upsell add on. Which was on every menu last week.

[woodworker&knitter]

18 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I just showed this menu to Tom and we both agree the Coconut Shrimp were not there Las week as well as the Sushi trio and the Halibut. They are Thankfully tweaking and improving the menu.

I was told that the menu is  an A, B A B rotation 

[zgscl]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I just showed this menu to Tom and we both agree the Coconut Shrimp were not there Las week as well as the Sushi trio and the Halibut. They are Thankfully tweaking and improving the menu.

So this menu matches the screen shot I took last week also from navigator. Wondering now if there is a placeholder we see from home and then it is getting changed onboard? Would love to hear from someone onboard this week if the shrimp are there or not in reality

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, woodworker&knitter said:

I was told that the menu is  an A, B A B rotation 

 

Interesting.  That's not the HAL menus that I once experienced.  Just as examples:  

 

Embarkation Dinner

Caribbean Dinner

Gala Dinner

American Dinner

Dutch Dinner

Another themed Dinner

Farewell Dinner

 

All were different, particularly the Dutch Dinner menu.  What's offered now is not the same.  

 

One thing that has caused the difference, in my opinion, is the "need" to have some "Celebrity Chefs" involved with menu item creations.  

 

The above listing of menus were made without "Celebrity Chefs" input to the best of my knowledge.  (If there were any, they were not so recognized on the menu.)  But, the menu selections were more appealing and the cuisine prepared was excellent. 

 

 

[quack2]

Let me know when they bring back the cold fruit soups.

 

[atexsix]

On 8/2/2021 at 12:49 PM, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

There have been so many supply chain issues in the food service industry (restaurants, grocery stores, etc) would not be surprised if cruise lines aren't also facing supply chain issues as they start back up.

I think that is true.  I have to watch the supply chain as part of my job.  Because the cruise lines were originally not sailing in 2021, many suppliers most likely lowered their projections for procurement, nobody wants to be stuck with excess inventory.  So now they're scrambling.  Instead of stocking 1,000 cases of lobster tail, they suddenly had to locate 5,000.  

[atexsix]

On 8/2/2021 at 12:08 PM, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Since we have another Alaska cruise coming up my Navigator App updated Sunday showing our September 4 sailing. I can now finally access that reservation there. 
Yesterday I pulled up the menu for what would hav been Silver Gala night and it was identical to what we had last week. But in pulling up up this evenings menu it appears to have several new selections. Now last week we dined in Tamarind on Monday night but we had pulled up the menu before heading up to Tamarind. This menu is definitely has more entree’s and some interesting ones I would definitely try if this will be the menu for September. 
so with fingers crossed HAL is upping the game with the menus. 

As long as the French Onion soup is there, DD will be happy, he has it almost every night, he even got me started on it, normally I don't like it, but HAL's version is the best!

[KirkNC]

7 minutes ago, atexsix said:

I think that is true.  I have to watch the supply chain as part of my job.  Because the cruise lines were originally not sailing in 2021, many suppliers most likely lowered their projections for procurement, nobody wants to be stuck with excess inventory.  So now they're scrambling.  Instead of stocking 1,000 cases of lobster tail, they suddenly had to locate 5,000.  

I don’t buy the supply chain issues.  If all eleven ships were sailing maybe but we are talking about one ship.

[atexsix]

2 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

I don’t buy the supply chain issues.  If all eleven ships were sailing maybe but we are talking about one ship.

Suit yourself.  But you realize all industry came to a stop for a few months, we had customers cancelling everything, we in turn had to cancel all of our PO's.  Now we have a 9 month wait for fulfilment or to get cargo space because Apple, Microsoft, and Home Depot are chartering entire ships to bring over their product.  

[KirkNC]

5 minutes ago, atexsix said:

Suit yourself.  But you realize all industry came to a stop for a few months, we had customers cancelling everything, we in turn had to cancel all of our PO's.  Now we have a 9 month wait for fulfilment or to get cargo space because Apple, Microsoft, and Home Depot are chartering entire ships to bring over their product.  

We are mainly talking about food and beverage products which HAL procures locally (or at least no container ship required).   I go to the grocery store and have no problem getting items I need.  Again, one partially full ship.

[AncientWanderer]

It would be foolhardy to buy tons of perishable stuff, given the unknowns of restarting cruising.  Heck, the Disney parks reopened with hardly any restaurants open and extremely limited menus at those that did open.   Frankly, I've been surprised at just how much there is on the NA menus.  The potential is there for a huge amount of waste, if things go sideways.

 

 

[Roz]

35 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

I go to the grocery store and have no problem getting items I need.  

 

You're lucky.  We regularly have empty spaces on grocery store shelves here in Nashville.  Friends and family in other parts of the country report the same thing.  I work in transportation and there is indeed a supply chain issue in all sectors of the economy.

[AncientWanderer]

More than variety of offerings, I'm more concerned with execution of menu items.  Another post mentioned cold escargot.  I was served cold escargot on my last pre-covid cruise.  I should have complained and asked for a replacement.  Next time, I will.

I'd much rather see a few items come out just right than a lot of different things sloppily done.  Just my take on it.

[KirkNC]

Just now, Roz said:

 

You're lucky.  We regularly have empty spaces on grocery store shelves here in Nashville.  Friends and family in other parts of the country report the same thing.  I work in transportation and there is indeed a supply chain issue in all sectors of the economy.

We haven’t seen that since the great toilet paper shortage of 2020.  I know things aren’t going smoothly, Lowe’s wanted 5 months to get my new stove.  I did go elsewhere and got it in 2 weeks.  I just don’t think provisioning around 1,200 people would cause global shortages.  I am curious if other lines were able to get foodstuffs for the few ships they have sailing.  I have not heard anything so that makes me think they did ok.  I just often see things like this used a an excuse for why something is not where or what it should be.

[KirkNC]

25 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

It would be foolhardy to buy tons of perishable stuff, given the unknowns of restarting cruising.  Heck, the Disney parks reopened with hardly any restaurants open and extremely limited menus at those that did open.   Frankly, I've been surprised at just how much there is on the NA menus.  The potential is there for a huge amount of waste, if things go sideways.

 

 

Certainly true with perishables but much of what is served is frozen , canned or in dry form prior to cooking.  We were once on an Amazon cruise and HAL had containers pre-positioned five months in advance as they did not trust local suppliers.  They had perishables as well stored in nitrogen filled containers but my understanding that was only a limited success as those items spoiled quickly once removed from storage.

[kazu]

30 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

It would be foolhardy to buy tons of perishable stuff, given the unknowns of restarting cruising.  Heck, the Disney parks reopened with hardly any restaurants open and extremely limited menus at those that did open.   Frankly, I've been surprised at just how much there is on the NA menus.  The potential is there for a huge amount of waste, if things go sideways.

 

 

 

Very good point on if things go sideways.  Look at the Delta Variant and the situation in Greece right now (thinking about the upcoming Eurodam cruises).

 

@KirkNC glad you are not having any problems in your grocery stores.  We are certainly not starving but the stores are not stocked as well as they once were and certain products can be very hard to come by.  When they appear, I tend to buy extra knowing how long I waited for it to appear before that.  

I suspect if HAL had all their ships selling, they would have more “buying power” than they do with just one currently.  Just a juxtaposition on my part 😉 

[KirkNC]

Ok, I can tell I am swimming 🏊‍♀️ upstream.  I don’t buy it and think many of you are giving HAL a mulligan I am unwilling to give them but that’s ok.  Hopefully the next cruises will due better in this regard.

[kazu]

Just now, KirkNC said:

Ok, I can tell I am swimming 🏊‍♀️ upstream.  I don’t buy it and think many of you are giving HAL a mulligan I am unwilling to give them but that’s ok.  Hopefully the next cruises will due better in this regard.

 

Speaking only for myself - I’m not giving them a mulligan.  HAL re-started on about 30 days notice -not a lot of time to train / re-train crew and procure.  Things were bound to be not perfect - sort of like an inaugural cruise 😉 

 

I guess because I know how tough it is to get some things here and how pricey some things have gotten I can picture HAL being in the same position with such a short time to procure and order.

 

You chose not to cruise in 2021 IIRC due to the unpredictability.  Your unwillingness to give HAL a mulligan means you chose very wisely 😉  

[KirkNC]

1 minute ago, kazu said:

 

Speaking only for myself - I’m not giving them a mulligan.  HAL re-started on about 30 days notice -not a lot of time to train / re-train crew and procure.  Things were bound to be not perfect - sort of like an inaugural cruise 😉 

 

I guess because I know how tough it is to get some things here and how pricey some things have gotten I can picture HAL being in the same position with such a short time to procure and order.

 

You chose not to cruise in 2021 IIRC due to the unpredictability.  Your unwillingness to give HAL a mulligan means you chose very wisely 😉  

🏊‍♀️ 🏊‍♂️ 😎

[cruisemom42]

21 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

Ok, I can tell I am swimming 🏊‍♀️ upstream.  I don’t buy it and think many of you are giving HAL a mulligan I am unwilling to give them but that’s ok.  Hopefully the next cruises will due better in this regard.

 

Not sure I buy it either. Looking at a competitor line that also started cruising Alaska at the same time as HAL (with equally short notice), their initial voyage menus offered significantly more choices -- and choices that I would have preferred...

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Well today’s menu on the Navigator app is identical to what it was last week, so hard to tell if changed or not. But possibly not.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Looking at a competitor line that also started cruising Alaska at the same time as HAL (with equally short notice), their initial voyage menus offered significantly more choices --

 

It would be appreciated by this CC member if you would be specific as to which lines of which you write.  If you care not to do so, that's OK.  

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

It would be appreciated by this CC member if you would be specific as to which lines of which you write.  If you care not to do so, that's OK.  

 

I was referring to Celebrity.  

 

I brought it up on another thread but I guess it may have been "unappreciated" as the post was removed later. Hence my hesitancy to give names...

 

[kazu]

31 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I was referring to Celebrity.  

 

I brought it up on another thread but I guess it may have been "unappreciated" as the post was removed later. Hence my hesitancy to give names...

 

 

“Unappreciated” perplexes me as comparisons are always good.  Thanks.

[SumoCitrus]

Can I get my seafood cocktail without the hardboiled egg? Yuck.