The Special Restaurants on HAL ships

[mcrcruiser]

 We are reading so many different opinions for Canaletto ,Pinnacle & Tamarind . Does it vary that much from ship to ship . We loved Tamarind on  Koningsdam & Eurodam  .We only had lunch in the Pinnacle 7 it was ok  . Canaletto has changed the menu ,so we are not thrilled with the changes  . What have you  observed dining in these special restaurants ?

[CruiserBruce]

Food is tremendously subjective. You could ask 100 people and get 150 different answers. There are many discussions here on people's perceptions about the specialty restaurants.

[albingirl]

To answer your question, I think they are all good.  Beats cooking at home.

[cbr663]

Our experience is that HAL’s speciality dining suffers from HAL’s overall service philosophy in that it is consistently inconsistent.

 

We’ve had exceptional dining experiences in the PG and we’ve had disappointing experiences, not only from different ships but also on the same ship on the same sailing.

 

We have always had an excellent experience with Tamarind.  It saddens us though that the menus have been reduced so much and now offer a very limited variety.

 

Overall we have enjoyed our experiences at Canelleto.

 

Our experience at Rudi’s wasn’t great and we will not return.  We even had breakfast there one morning instead of CO and will never do that again.

 

With CO, our first cruise experience was exceptional.  When we sailed the second time though in the same ship all the crew had changed and it wasn’t as stellar as our first experience.  
 

 

 

Edited August 12 by cbr663

[oakridger]

2 hours ago, cbr663 said:

Our experience at Rudi’s wasn’t great and we will not return.  We even had breakfast there one morning instead of CO and will never do that again.

 

I have never seen Rudy's open for breakfast.  Are you sure you ate there?  If so, which ship please?

 

5 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Food is tremendously subjective. You could ask 100 people and get 150 different answers. There are many discussions here on people's perceptions about the specialty restaurants.

 

Exactly!

 

~Nancy

[julia]

Honestly, if the HIA package didn't include specialty dining credits, we wouldn't bother with the various restaurants.  Been there, done that.

[cbr663]

45 minutes ago, oakridger said:

 

I have never seen Rudy's open for breakfast.  Are you sure you ate there?  If so, which ship please?

 

~Nancy

 

The Koningsdam.  It isn't "open" per se.  We were lead there from the Club Orange dining room so it was made available for those of us with Club Orange.  

[Roupa2]

With HIA…

It is my understanding that gratuities are included in beverages ( the “ house” offerings)of $11 or less. Are gratuities also included at the specialty restaurants?

[oakridger]

2 minutes ago, Roupa2 said:

With HIA…

It is my understanding that gratuities are included in beverages ( the “ house” offerings)of $11 or less. Are gratuities also included at the specialty restaurants?

 

Yes

[Cruise Junky]

Is Pinnacle the only one open for Lunch?

[0106]

@Cruise JunkyThe Pinnacle is the only specialty restaurant open for lunch.

[Blackduck59]

18 minutes ago, 0106 said:

@Cruise JunkyThe Pinnacle is the only specialty restaurant open for lunch.

And it is quite a good value for lunch. Note your HIA specialty dining credit does not cover lunch, it is extra charge whether you used the HIA credit or not.

[Cruise Junky]

19 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

And it is quite a good value for lunch. Note your HIA specialty dining credit does not cover lunch, it is extra charge whether you used the HIA credit or not.

Yes, I remember that from our last HAL cruise, great deal.   We have a dinner booked there under the HIA.  

[CruiserBruce]

But the menu is different at lunch in the Pinnacle. Quite different.

[grannyshell]

Here's my limited experience:

Pinnacle - awful; steaks tough and the second visit I decided to avoid meat and went for the scallops which were overcooked (Rotterdam and Oosterdam)

Rudi's - amazing (Rotterdam)

Tamarind - 2 visits during the same cruise because it was awesome (Rotterdam)

Canaletto - best meal of our 11 day cruise (Oosterdam)