LAFFNVEGAS "LIVE" from the Nieuw Amsterdam/The Return.... Part Two

[12cruise2]

3 hours ago, ger_77 said:

Thanks @LAFFNVEGAS for your insights, it will be interesting to see how others felt about their Pinnacle experiences.  It is disappointing when you go for breakfast and the service is dismal but really, watered down V8 juice?  Ugh.  Just say "we're out" and go from there.

 

A question - are you allowed to bring on your own refillable Nalgene (a type of hard plastic) water bottles, or do you have to use their aluminum bottled water?  DH takes meds at noon and it's convenient to bring along a bottle of water that we just fill from the tap in the cabin.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

Gerry

We're on right now; I didn't notice any problems with any drinking cups brought on board.  Just fill them up with your own tap water from the room.  Or, I've seen waiters use glasses of coffee to fill folks' personal cups, bottles.

[TiogaCruiser]

3 hours ago, luvteaching said:

HI,  yes Chef Steven from Montreal was on-board with us last week. He did the Port to Table presentations with Valerie. He was a hoot. He also let us know he doesn't do the breakfast service!

 

Karen

That’s an interesting comment. Or am I reading into it?

[12cruise2]

Goodness, I'm sorry Lisa had a disappointing experience.  We are on the NA now, got on for 9/4 cruise and are staying on for 9/11 cruise.  We are plainer cruisers, have a wonderful room on deck four looking between life boats with tons of light, floor-to-ceiling windows, great service from our cabin stewards.  Everyone is happy on board.  We eat all our breakfasts in the Lido in a corner area; the eggs benedict and other entrees have been perfectly cooked to order, the dishes are wonderful.  At lunch, wonderful meats, chicken, sandwiches, halibut fish and chips, delicious soups.  We eat in the MDR each night, and the food has been so tasty, beautifully presented and honestly very well done.  Last night for gala night the first filet I got was an end piece and I did have to send it back--no steak knife offered and it just was not suitable.  They brought me a much more normal serving in less than 5 mins.  The staff is all wonderfully friendly and accommodating. 

I use a computer for the internet, so it's been fast and wonderful.  I usually am by a window when I use it.  The problem has been that it's an ISP for the satellite that is based in Chile or Peru and the search engines come up in Spanish.  The tech manager honcho came by last Friday and we met with him to show him problems we were having--like I can't get onto the CVS web site to book an appt for a test 9/30 because CVS thinks we're foreigners and it's blocking us! I've had great luck with the internet; I've worked for hours at a time, rearranging cruises, flights, hotels, rides since HAL cancelled our cruises in Nov, so getting dif. cruises on Nieuw Amsterdam out of Fort Lauderdale.  I hope they go!  We've not gone to the shows, BB Kings or any of that.  We're happy doing our thing, reading, seeing the sights around the ship, planning trips.  Everyone has been good about wearing masks, and people are so glad to do it and glad to be on a 100% vaccinated cruise.  Anyway, my two cents.  And we'll come back to Seattle and be on 10/2 for three weeks through the Canal to Fort Lauderdale, go home, then return for the 11/13 two Carib. cruises.  Hope the last two go!  Thanks, Lisa, for all your thoughts and hours spent posting.  I did run into Bruno and his dad at lunch; I recognized him from his picture online and had a nice visit with him.

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by 12cruise2
changed date

[aliaschief]

1 hour ago, oaktreerb said:

Is there a charge for the French Press coffee for breakfast in the Pinnacle?  

No. You just have to ask for it.

[Cruising-along]

54 minutes ago, dobiemom said:

Our cabin steward “Agus” introduced himself on embarkation day.

I'm wondering if your cabin steward was "our Agus" who we had for 39 days on the Nieuw Statendam in 2019. He's here on the right in this photo.  He was our best cabin steward *ever* hands down!

 

[aliaschief]

19 minutes ago, 12cruise2 said:

Goodness, I'm sorry Lisa had a disappointing experience.  We are on the NA now, got on for 9/4 cruise and are staying on for 9/11 cruise.  We are plainer cruisers, have a wonderful room on deck four looking between life boats with tons of light, floor-to-ceiling windows, great service from our cabin stewards.  Everyone is happy on board.  We eat all our breakfasts in the Lido in a corner area; the eggs benedict and other entrees have been perfectly cooked to order, the dishes are wonderful.  At lunch, wonderful meats, chicken, sandwiches, halibut fish and chips, delicious soups.  We eat in the MDR each night, and the food has been so tasty, beautifully presented and honestly very well done.  Last night for gala night the first filet I got was an end piece and I did have to send it back--no steak knife offered and it just was not suitable.  They brought me a much more normal serving in less than 5 mins.  The staff is all wonderfully friendly and accommodating. 

I use a computer for the internet, so it's been fast and wonderful.  I usually am by a window when I use it.  The problem has been that it's an ISP for the satellite that is based in Chile or Peru and the search engines come up in Spanish.  The tech manager honcho came by last Friday and we met with him to show him problems we were having--like I can't get onto the CVS web site to book an appt for a test 9/30 because CVS thinks we're foreigners and it's blocking us! I've had great luck with the internet; I've worked for hours at a time, rearranging cruises, flights, hotels, rides since HAL cancelled our cruises in Nov, so getting dif. cruises on Nieuw Amsterdam out of Fort Lauderdale.  I hope they go!  We've not gone to the shows, BB Kings or any of that.  We're happy doing our thing, reading, seeing the sights around the ship, planning trips.  Everyone has been good about wearing masks, and people are so glad to do it and glad to be on a 100% vaccinated cruise.  Anyway, my two cents.  And we'll come back to Seattle and be on 10/2 for three weeks through the Canal to Fort Lauderdale, go home, then return for the 11/13 two Carib. cruises.  Hope the last two go!  Thanks, Lisa, for all your thoughts and hours spent posting.  I did run into Bruno and his dad at lunch; I recognized him from his picture online and had a nice visit with him.

 

Glad you enjoyed yourself. See you in October on the NA. Thanks for sharing your cruise experience.

[Laminator]

There is a huge shortage for tests now. I am wondering if that is the issue. 

[madera1]

3 hours ago, igar39 said:

Would like to know if raisen buns are in the Lido for breakfast.  We have done 32 HAL crusies and always loved them.  Hope they still have them.

 

Yes I had one last week!

[idiebabe]

1 hour ago, 12cruise2 said:

Goodness, I'm sorry Lisa had a disappointing experience.  We are on the NA now, got on for 9/4 cruise and are staying on for 9/11 cruise.  We are plainer cruisers, have a wonderful room on deck four looking between life boats with tons of light, floor-to-ceiling windows, great service from our cabin stewards.  Everyone is happy on board.  We eat all our breakfasts in the Lido in a corner area; the eggs benedict and other entrees have been perfectly cooked to order, the dishes are wonderful.  At lunch, wonderful meats, chicken, sandwiches, halibut fish and chips, delicious soups.  We eat in the MDR each night, and the food has been so tasty, beautifully presented and honestly very well done.  Last night for gala night the first filet I got was an end piece and I did have to send it back--no steak knife offered and it just was not suitable.  They brought me a much more normal serving in less than 5 mins.  The staff is all wonderfully friendly and accommodating. 

I use a computer for the internet, so it's been fast and wonderful.  I usually am by a window when I use it.  The problem has been that it's an ISP for the satellite that is based in Chile or Peru and the search engines come up in Spanish.  The tech manager honcho came by last Friday and we met with him to show him problems we were having--like I can't get onto the CVS web site to book an appt for a test 9/30 because CVS thinks we're foreigners and it's blocking us! I've had great luck with the internet; I've worked for hours at a time, rearranging cruises, flights, hotels, rides since HAL cancelled our cruises in Nov, so getting dif. cruises on Nieuw Amsterdam out of Fort Lauderdale.  I hope they go!  We've not gone to the shows, BB Kings or any of that.  We're happy doing our thing, reading, seeing the sights around the ship, planning trips.  Everyone has been good about wearing masks, and people are so glad to do it and glad to be on a 100% vaccinated cruise.  Anyway, my two cents.  And we'll come back to Seattle and be on 10/2 for three weeks through the Canal to Fort Lauderdale, go home, then return for the 11/13 two Carib. cruises.  Hope the last two go!  Thanks, Lisa, for all your thoughts and hours spent posting.  I did run into Bruno and his dad at lunch; I recognized him from his picture online and had a nice visit with him.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience!  We were on July 24th and had a wonderful Cruise with excellent Service and  enjoyed the Music Venues.  Tamarind was great, MDR was good to very good and Crew was extremely friendly.  
 

A few minor hiccups which were quickly resolved so I was shocked to read Lisa’s experiences.  
 

Thanks again for sharing yours!  

[zgscl]

@LAFFNVEGAS Thank you so much for sharing your honest review, and I am sorry to hear it was a disappointing cruise. As you mentioned HAL is consistently inconsistent. We wrote off HAL in 2017, took 4 years off and came back to the best cruise we have ever taken 4 weeks ago. I know the apologists on here will not like your review, but I think it is important for folks to see both the good and the bad. Everyone is paying a lot of money for their vacation and should know what they are getting (even if it is so inconsistent) and of course everyone will value different parts of the experience and has different expectations for their trip. 

 

I really don't understand what they are trying to do with the brand. Pushing everyone to Have it all is theoretically trying to go after a more premium/all inclusive market. Great idea, but then only to cut the dining room menu in a third and remove all the premium items but push upsells at every meal? It is totally counter intuitive. I am pretty sympathetic to the supply chain issues as my industry has been severely impacted, but it seems all the other cruise lines have figured it out. I am sure the crew is trying their best to figure everything out but adding water to the juice to make it last longer is totally unacceptable. Just say it is out of stock and have people choose something else. 

 

Your Pinnacle review is very disheartening. We enjoyed our Pinnacle brakfast daily, the 1 dinner and both lunches. Service was a bit hit or miss especially considering that we had 10 meals there so you would think they would know us better than the MDR servers who were excellent and had 5 meals with us. 

 

 

I have 4 trips with HAL booked currently. 3 on the Koningsdam and one Eurodam to Alaska next year. It will be interesting to see how the next couple go. We usually travel with HAL in a Neptune and depending on how the next couple go may consider upgrading lines even if we dropped our cabin category. I really have loved HAL and we enjoyed their enrichment focus/EXC talks quite a bit. Fingers crossed for my trip in November. 

[bluesplayer]

No room service on day of departure!!!    NOooooo!!!!   Big take away..    sigh

[CruiseMGM]

I agree with all the posters who offered their thanks for an honest review, and I add to their numbers! Thank you very much for your reviews, we followed them eagerly, and it was interesting to read of the differences between your first and second trips this summer. I think we're all anxiously awaiting a return-to-cruising and your reviews filled in some empty spots on our horizons! 😃

 

Your issues with the PG on your latest cruise sound familiar. We were on the August 21st cruise and while our cruise was wonderful (and a much needed respite from the last year and a half), I had similar issues with the PG. My SIL and I went there for lunch one day and it was nice ......but not top notch like I was expecting. Saving what I thought would be the best for last, I'd made reservations at the PG for the 4 of us for our last night. The PG on various ships has been my favorite happy place, most often just once per cruise, but almost always a fantastic meal. This time, not so much. The haphazard and unexceptional service was the main culprit, IMO. The food was good (sadly, not great) but the service was really lackluster. Plates were "plunked" down in front of us, tableware too.  I tried to convince myself that it was just that the staff are so busy or that it was an 'off' day, but after reading your comments, I'm wondering! We have a PG dinner booked on our next cruise and I really hope it's much better than our last experience.

 

Welcome home, GO RAIDERS! Wow, exciting game last night! 😄

Edited September 14, 2021 by CruiseMGM

[NCTribeFan]

Lisa, I very much agree with your comment about how one's experience can vary greatly from even someone in the cabin next door.

 

I appreciate all the time and effort it takes to write these reviews.  I used to write very comprehensive day-by-day reviews but, honestly, it got to be So Much Work that I haven't done an in-depth review in several years.

 

I do always preface my reviews by saying that my experience can be very different from someone else's on the same sailing.  What I do, and when, and what my expectations are can definitely impact my impressions.  It doesn't mean I'm "right" or that someone on the same sailing who had a very different experience is "wrong."  It just means that it's such a miniscule sample size that, statistically-speaking, my views are meaningless! 

 

I don't have Have It All on Eurodam in November, so I'm trying to decide what to do about specialty dining.  I've never eaten dinner in Pinnacle.  I did have lunch there on K'dam but, unfortunately, I'd had a bit too much to drink the prior evening and don't feel I did it justice.  No fault of anyone in Pinnacle, though.  I'm thinking I'll definitely try Tamarind and may even spring for Sel de Mer.  I do typically purchase a wine package.  I'll have DOU while gambling, but I'm just not going to get a couple of glasses of wine in the casino and carry them to the MDR!  Tacky!  I may pre-purchase the base wine package before I sail and see how that goes.

 

I do have Have It All on NA in December (for 12 nights).  It will be interesting to compare the two ships and the two experiences.

 

Thank you, again.

[AKJonesy]

13 hours ago, Laminator said:

There is a huge shortage for tests now. I am wondering if that is the issue. 

At the ANC airport at the Testing area, the sign said that due to a nationwide shortage, there are no quick tests available.  They only offered the PCR test and said the results are USUALLY available in 24-48 hours.  

[Boytjie]

18 hours ago, ger_77 said:

Thanks @LAFFNVEGAS for your insights, it will be interesting to see how others felt about their Pinnacle experiences.  It is disappointing when you go for breakfast and the service is dismal but really, watered down V8 juice?  Ugh.  Just say "we're out" and go from there.

 

A question - are you allowed to bring on your own refillable Nalgene (a type of hard plastic) water bottles, or do you have to use their aluminum bottled water?  DH takes meds at noon and it's convenient to bring along a bottle of water that we just fill from the tap in the cabin.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

Gerry

 

You can bring your own bottle but I believe you cannot fill it at the Lido drink stations.

 

The water aluminum bottles they sell are rather flimsy and I don't think would hold up well for multiple uses. I usually try to refrain from buying bottled water if possible, but did do so one day when I was on my laptop in the Crow's Nest and it was included in my beverage package. I did save it to reuse it but discarded it soon after. I used my own metal water bottle instead.

[bcummin]

Nobody's views are meaningless!

I savor each and every one, delighting in your experiences.

Barbara

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Thank you for all your comments I do want to stress that our cruise in no way was terrible. There were lots of high lights and over all was a good cruise but in truth I have never had one that was 100% horrible. Some are better than others. My main point is that one of the biggest down falls for Holland America is the Pinnacle Grill. This should be the Best Dining Venue and Experience that Holland America offers. Sadly this is not the case and it cannot be blamed on the pause from covid, or suppliers. The current problems have been going on long before the cruise pause. I live in a city where dining is top notch at some of the casinos. Where the restaurants want to impress those they know are High Rollers or those in Suites, they want those people returning to spend money again and again. You would think that HAL would want those in the Neptune Suites to return since on average they are spending well over $1400 a day for accomodations. Those are the guest you want to impress or at least give your best impressions to. Those not staying in Neptune Suites but dining for lunch or dinner in the Pinnacle should also be WOWed with the food and Service and want to return and possibly book a suite to enjoy the perk of breakfast dining. What does it say when I thought the Food quality and Service in the Lido was the best for the week? Our first week in July we did have lunch in the Pinnacle but were dining with Seth Wayne from HAL, yes service was good as was the food. We also return the last night of that cruise and was again impressed. Mostly because our previous dining experience prior to covid had not been great. This cruise was as if we walked into a different venue all together.But then again it was what we had come to expect from Pinnacle Grill. Again just no consistancy. Sadly we have not encountered this with the other cruise lines we frequent with their speciality or Suite Dining.

In reading many of the comments as well as others on our cruise it is obvious it was not just Tom and I that also ran into these same problems. 

For HAL to compete with their competition they need to improve on what they are offering for perks on their promotion of Have it All. With Specialty Dining experience sub par and WiFi sub par as well it really does not speak well for what they are trying to sell.

[Love the beach]

2 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Thank you for all your comments I do want to stress that our cruise in no way was terrible. There were lots of high lights and over all was a good cruise but in truth I have never had one that was 100% horrible. Some are better than others. My main point is that one of the biggest down falls for Holland America is the Pinnacle Grill. This should be the Best Dining Venue and Experience that Holland America offers. Sadly this is not the case and it cannot be blamed on the pause from covid, or suppliers. The current problems have been going on long before the cruise pause. I live in a city where dining is top notch at some of the casinos. Where the restaurants want to impress those they know are High Rollers or those in Suites, they want those people returning to spend money again and again. You would think that HAL would want those in the Neptune Suites to return since on average they are spending well over $1400 a day for accomodations. Those are the guest you want to impress or at least give your best impressions to. Those not staying in Neptune Suites but dining for lunch or dinner in the Pinnacle should also be WOWed with the food and Service and want to return and possibly book a suite to enjoy the perk of breakfast dining. What does it say when I thought the Food quality and Service in the Lido was the best for the week? Our first week in July we did have lunch in the Pinnacle but were dining with Seth Wayne from HAL, yes service was good as was the food. We also return the last night of that cruise and was again impressed. Mostly because our previous dining experience prior to covid had not been great. This cruise was as if we walked into a different venue all together.But then again it was what we had come to expect from Pinnacle Grill. Again just no consistancy. Sadly we have not encountered this with the other cruise lines we frequent with their speciality or Suite Dining.

In reading many of the comments as well as others on our cruise it is obvious it was not just Tom and I that also ran into these same problems. 

For HAL to compete with their competition they need to improve on what they are offering for perks on their promotion of Have it All. With Specialty Dining experience sub par and WiFi sub par as well it really does not speak well for what they are trying to sell.

Thanks Lisa for all your reports. I hope you have passed this along to the "Powers that Be"!

[Live4cruises]

I hope the Powers That Be peruse some of these postings!

[Florida_gal_50]

I agree with you Lisa on the pinnacle grill.  My last cruise was on the nieuw statendam in November of 2019.  I eat most nights in specialty restaurants.  I thought sel de mer was the best restaurant on that ship even though I thought it was meh on the koningsdam.  Canaletto tied with tamarind  for second with the pinnacle coming in third.  I canceled pinnacle reservations to go to the Canaletto.  For the price pinnacle should be much, much better.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Rather than start a new thread on the Sept 4-11 Nieuw Amsterdam Alaskan cruise, I thought I would add my comments to Lisa’s reporting.

Specialty restaurants: I travel as a solo older woman and eat meals at the earliest time available.  Because of that I cannot complain about service in any of the restaurants and I ate in each of them 2 times. I know that early eating is not everyone’s cup of tea but I think the earlier one is, the better service.

 

Food wise I would rank the Pinnacle Grill 3^rd among the three. Until this cruise, the Canaletto was subpar for me but I really enjoyed both meals there – tasty and well presented The Tamarind is a gem IMO but the menu seems more limited than it used to be. The Pinnacle Grill choices seem pretty much the same before “the pause” but portions are considerably smaller IMO. I can remember when 4 large shrimp composed the shrimp cocktail; now there are only 3 and smaller. There used to be 3 lamb chops and I was served two. The Caesar salad was considerably smaller, lacking dressing, and with one lone hidden anchovy.  I much preferred the old days when the salad was made at the table. However, the 7 oz. petit filet had to be the best piece of beef I have ever had in the PG on my 37 HAL cruises.

 

The Captain said at his Chat that portions are now smaller (but you can request more) and the food waste is down 50%.

 

Entertainment and Activities: In the evenings I attended Lincoln Center Stage quintet and the Billboard Onboard– both groups were excellent.

 

Whoever created the EXC talks did a fantastic job. I assume these were done in Seattle and presented very well by Valorie. Very professionally done and interesting as well.

 

My Problem: Unfortunately, I encountered the problem of not receiving credit on my onboard account for the prepaid specialty restaurants for which I am entitled free or half price due to 5* status. In the past, depending on the ship, these were credited to the onboard account at the beginning of the cruise or the Neptune Lounge Concierge took care of getting those loyalty benefits on the account. Not so this time as the Concierge did not seem to understand this benefit and told me all would be on the onboard account on Friday. I was skeptical but gave him the benefit of the doubt. It did not happen and I am dealing directly with Seattle on this issue.

 

Safety; I felt completely safe on this cruise. I think HAL is doing the best it can with the ever- changing virus and the CDC guidelines which they must follow. The virus is a moving target; I think we have to give the cruise lines some slack as they navigate through these trying times. Most of the world is not open and might not be for a year or more; we have to roll with the punches. Masks may be around for some time.

 

The Best;  A clear day in Glacier Bay and no rain in Ketchikan – a beautiful sunny day. And as we left Ketchikan,  looking at the pier and not seeing 4 large ships docked  mind boggling.

 

Barbara

 

 

[aliaschief]

1 hour ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

Rather than start a new thread on the Sept 4-11 Nieuw Amsterdam Alaskan cruise, I thought I would add my comments to Lisa’s reporting.

Specialty restaurants: I travel as a solo older woman and eat meals at the earliest time available.  Because of that I cannot complain about service in any of the restaurants and I ate in each of them 2 times. I know that early eating is not everyone’s cup of tea but I think the earlier one is, the better service.

 

Food wise I would rank the Pinnacle Grill 3^rd among the three. Until this cruise, the Canaletto was subpar for me but I really enjoyed both meals there – tasty and well presented The Tamarind is a gem IMO but the menu seems more limited than it used to be. The Pinnacle Grill choices seem pretty much the same before “the pause” but portions are considerably smaller IMO. I can remember when 4 large shrimp composed the shrimp cocktail; now there are only 3 and smaller. There used to be 3 lamb chops and I was served two. The Caesar salad was considerably smaller, lacking dressing, and with one lone hidden anchovy.  I much preferred the old days when the salad was made at the table. However, the 7 oz. petit filet had to be the best piece of beef I have ever had in the PG on my 37 HAL cruises.

 

The Captain said at his Chat that portions are now smaller (but you can request more) and the food waste is down 50%.

 

Entertainment and Activities: In the evenings I attended Lincoln Center Stage quintet and the Billboard Onboard– both groups were excellent.

 

Whoever created the EXC talks did a fantastic job. I assume these were done in Seattle and presented very well by Valorie. Very professionally done and interesting as well.

 

My Problem: Unfortunately, I encountered the problem of not receiving credit on my onboard account for the prepaid specialty restaurants for which I am entitled free or half price due to 5* status. In the past, depending on the ship, these were credited to the onboard account at the beginning of the cruise or the Neptune Lounge Concierge took care of getting those loyalty benefits on the account. Not so this time as the Concierge did not seem to understand this benefit and told me all would be on the onboard account on Friday. I was skeptical but gave him the benefit of the doubt. It did not happen and I am dealing directly with Seattle on this issue.

 

Safety; I felt completely safe on this cruise. I think HAL is doing the best it can with the ever- changing virus and the CDC guidelines which they must follow. The virus is a moving target; I think we have to give the cruise lines some slack as they navigate through these trying times. Most of the world is not open and might not be for a year or more; we have to roll with the punches. Masks may be around for some time.

 

The Best;  A clear day in Glacier Bay and no rain in Ketchikan – a beautiful sunny day. And as we left Ketchikan,  looking at the pier and not seeing 4 large ships docked  mind boggling.

 

Barbara

 

 

Thanks for sharing your cruise observations. I agree that one has to have the mind set that recent pandemic era cruises are not going be totally like past experiences. Our bottom line is we had a great time, ate way to well and loved being back on a Dam ship.

 

 

 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

56 minutes ago, aliaschief said:

Thanks for sharing your cruise observations. I agree that one has to have the mind set that recent pandemic era cruises are not going be totally like past experiences. Our bottom line is we had a great time, ate way to well and loved being back on a Dam ship.

 

 

 

 

Yes some things will be different, that is understandable.  When you are paying a premium to eat in a specialty restaurant the food should be better than the mdr or lido. They are now adding 18 percent to the bill for a tip.  The service should be very good for that.  If you are fine with mediocre service and food that is your choice.  I am not.  They’ve been at sea for well over a month.  Service should be getting better, not declining.  

[roxybear135]

Thanks for your review Lisa.  I have to agree that service during our dinner at Pinnacle was lackluster.  We thought the food was pretty good (with some things being better than others) but the service needed a lot of improvement.  I had called before the cruise and requested they put a note down that we would like a window table as we would be celebrating our anniversary.  When we got on the ship on the first day, we stopped by the front desk area of Pinnacle and confirmed this request with them and were told there would be no issue accommodating it.

 

When we got there for our reservation, they tried to seat us at a table shoved between two other tables far away from the window.  We told them we had requested a window table but they were all full and we opted to wait for one to become available.  Service throughout the dinner was pretty inattentive and we often had to flag down a waiter to get any help.

 

Despite us telling them prior to the cruise and again when we checked for dinner that we were celebrating our anniversary, they did absolutely nothing to acknowledge it.  This was certainly disappointing and even more so learning that others got birthday cakes, etc.  We had our dinner included in our Have It All promotion so I did not complain but I likely would have had we been paying for it out of pocket.

 

Tamarind, on the other hand, had some of the best service any where on the ship and we felt like true VIPs there.  We loved it so much we went back a second time to try Nami sushi and were greeted with warm welcomes and given fantastic service.  I would head back to Tamarind and skip Pinnacle on my next cruise.

[chefestelle]

17 minutes ago, roxybear135 said:

Tamarind, on the other hand, had some of the best service any where on the ship and we felt like true VIPs there.  We loved it so much we went back a second time to try Nami sushi and were greeted with warm welcomes and given fantastic service.  I would head back to Tamarind and skip Pinnacle on my next cruise.

Yes, Tamarind was my happy place. It has been a very long time since I cruised but I had three meals in Tamarind on my last one. It was wonderful food and wonderful service. Back then, Pinnacle did not seem to attract these complaints so we had a few meals in there too. I do hope they up their game soon because there is no Tamarind on my  next cruise!