Is HAL as BAD as the latest reviews-------food-entertainment??????

[mwj]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:45 PM, fb0075 said:

AWFUL AWFUL reviews last several months---

The food on HAL is never as good or as bad as reviewers say ...

 

Personally, we were only disappointed one evening.

In general, I found the steaks lacking, and I don't eat steak on a regular basis.

On the other hand, my partner eats steak even less, and they had an excellent filet.

 

I found that asking the waiter for recommendations generally helpful, as I was seldom steered wrong.

 

[Live4cruises]

We've been back a week from our 17-Day Circle Hawaii cruise on Koningsdam.  We are experienced cruisers; quiet with lower requirements for entertainment.  We go to be AWAY, be taken care of politely,  and to have no responsibilities.  We tend to roll with the punches and expect and accept minor imperfections.  HAL's customer-facing staff in our experience is consistently wonderful.  

 

We ate one lunch in MDR.  Not at all a good experience, so won't do that again.  We did two Pinnacle dinners and one lunch, all good; skipped Tamarind this time because we couldn't make a schedule work.  Dinners and most breakfast were at Club Orange, which has become a "must have" when we select a ship.  Oh! Spicy food - in general the food is not spicy, but as someone else commented, the Lido curries pack a punch. We think the Lido variety and quality is good.  We never went hungry!  

 

"Someone" - I think it was on a panel of Cruise Director and food and beverage managers - said that they have supply chain issues with staffing.  That there are people who have completed their training, but are caught up in Visa issues, primarily in the US.  Accurate or not, it is plausible. 

 

We have also cruised Celebrity several times, and one recent family cruise on Royal Caribbean.  HAL has become our preferred line. Maybe we're boring??  It's consistent, familiar, suits our style (if we have a style), and we have status - although "status" on HAL is not as meaningful as on others.

[Colorado Klutch]

1 minute ago, Live4cruises said:

We've been back a week from our 17-Day Circle Hawaii cruise on Koningsdam.  We are experienced cruisers; quiet with lower requirements for entertainment.  We go to be AWAY, be taken care of politely,  and to have no responsibilities.  We tend to roll with the punches and expect and accept minor imperfections.  HAL's customer-facing staff in our experience is consistently wonderful.  

 

We ate one lunch in MDR.  Not at all a good experience, so won't do that again.  We did two Pinnacle dinners and one lunch, all good; skipped Tamarind this time because we couldn't make a schedule work.  Dinners and most breakfast were at Club Orange, which has become a "must have" when we select a ship.  Oh! Spicy food - in general the food is not spicy, but as someone else commented, the Lido curries pack a punch. We think the Lido variety and quality is good.  We never went hungry!  

 

"Someone" - I think it was on a panel of Cruise Director and food and beverage managers - said that they have supply chain issues with staffing.  That there are people who have completed their training, but are caught up in Visa issues, primarily in the US.  Accurate or not, it is plausible. 

 

We have also cruised Celebrity several times, and one recent family cruise on Royal Caribbean.  HAL has become our preferred line. Maybe we're boring??  It's consistent, familiar, suits our style (if we have a style), and we have status - although "status" on HAL is not as meaningful as on others.

 

That's too bad about the MDR lunch. Likely I will try MDR lunch as least once for my upcoming Koningsdam cruise. If it's a "meh", I'll head over the Lido. 

[0106]

44 minutes ago, Colorado Klutch said:

will try MDR lunch as least once for my upcoming Koningsdam cruise. If it's a "meh", I'll head over the Lido. 

We are on the Rotterdam,  enjoyed an excellent lunch in the Grand Dutch Cafe, the Dive In and 2 at the NY Pizza & Deli (once pizza, once sandwiches). There are many choices for lunch on the Pinnacle ships.

[Z0nker]

On 2/1/2023 at 5:00 PM, Arizona Wildcat said:

What is your point?  In general Cruise Critic has turned into exactly that.

For example, a recent Celebrity cruise had some 6 mostly negative reviews and zero positive.  We observed things very differently.   Many of the negatives such as a cruiser who went to breakfast for about 30-45 minutes and railed that his cabin had not been cleaned are either silly or people looking to gripe.

On our holiday Princess cruise service was slow and reviews went on and on about this, problems with the app and an issue with tender tickets.  The app having issues?  I simply turned on the TV in our cabin.  The dinner service was the result of a holiday cruise and about 500 children.

Plus remember few people give compliments; while many more like to complain.

Same for everything today from cruising, driving in traffic and shopping.

CC used to be a great source of cruising info. I've learned so much.  Lately, it's becoming NextDoor at sea. I'm about to give up on the Top 10 as it's mostly people moaning about some perceived slight.

[Colorado Klutch]

54 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

it's becoming NextDoor at sea. I'm about to give up on the Top 10 as it's mostly people moaning about some perceived slight.

 

Are people talking about lost dogs and cats? 😀

 

What's the Top 10?

[DCThunder]

56 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

CC used to be a great source of cruising info. I've learned so much.  Lately, it's becoming NextDoor at sea. I'm about to give up on the Top 10 as it's mostly people moaning about some perceived slight.

Next Door at Sea.  I love it!💗

[cruisin'teach]

Recently back from 4th SA-Ant. cruise. From reading some of the negative reviews on CC, I wonder if I was on same trip. True there were some food shortages but there were supply issues in SA too. I was impressed that some supplies were brought in by tender since many of our later stops were tender ports. That is a port decision, not HAL. 

I also agree from talking to staff that there are issues with getting full staffing back onbosrd!

We loved our cruise and thankful for all the hard work from staff!

[OlsSalt]

9 hours ago, 0106 said:

We are on the Rotterdam,  enjoyed an excellent lunch in the Grand Dutch Cafe, the Dive In and 2 at the NY Pizza & Deli (once pizza, once sandwiches). There are many choices for lunch on the Pinnacle ships.

 

Didn't care what the lunch food was since my real reward was two scoops at the Gelato Bar - which was magnificent on the recent Konigsdam.  (Small surcharge - $2.50)

[Hflors]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:45 PM, fb0075 said:

AWFUL AWFUL reviews last several months---

I just did 11 days on the Eurodam and the food was AMAZING!!!!  The service was awesome and the shim and our suite were SUPER CLEAN!!!

I can't say enough good things about the staff, room stewards and room service!  We felt totally spoiled after being onboard!