Dinner menus on HAL

[Cybercsp]

This will be our first HAL cruise (on the Zuiderdam - Caribbean), having sailed on Celebrity, Princess, and RCCL before. As part of our booking incentive, our travel agent is providing us with vouchers to the Pinnacle Grill.
I would like to schedule our dinner there for the "weakest" dining room menu. Knowing very well that food is a VERY subjective issue, I am soliciting any advice from those who would be willing to assist with our decision making. I know that Princess, for example, tends to rotate menus in a predictable order and am hoping for any feedback.
Thanks in advance. We are happy to be joining your boards!!

[bruceh4]

On our recent Pacific cruise the "head steward" thats the guy in the white jacket who supervises the stewards would show us the menu for the next day at dinner the night before. Also the dinner menu is posted outside the dinning room early in the day so you can make up your mind if you want to go. On 7 day cruises the menu stays pretty much the same from week to week. Generally getting reservations in the Pinnacle is not a problem if you do it early in the day.

[Willsot]

If we go to the Pinnacle, we do it to duck Dutch Night. Wife hates the idea of the hats. Last month it was a double score because Dutch Night was also Baked Alaska night, which we also normally choose to do without.

[kaleighsgram]

On the Noordam, I would ask for a copy of the lunch and dinner menus in the dining room at breakfast. It wasn't a problem. That should be enough time for you to get a reservation in. One thing that was a problem was getting a confirmation from my TA to say that we did indeed have a "free" dinner in the Pinnacle. Apparently the names of many people who were told they had a free dinner never made the list. It helped that we had carried the confirmation we had received at home to the ship. We eventually did have dinner in the Pinnacle and it was worth the wait. Imer, the head waiter, was extremely helpful and we enjoyed both the food and the service.

[jessemon]

We cruised on the Veendam at Christmas. We found that on the second day of the cruise it was next to impossible to get a reservation in the Pinnacle Grill until the next to last night of the cruise. I agree with a previous poster that I would find out as soon as I got on board when Dutch night was and go right to the Pinnacle and book for that night.
If you would like to see a list of menus go to www.cruiseclues.com and click on menus and look for the ship you are sailing on. If there is no menu for that ship click on any ship and the menu will be very simular. You will also find one there for the Pinnacle...
Hope thus helps.;)

[CruisinGrams]

Thanks Jessemom. I checked it out and I can hardly wait to try out some of the selections. My mouth is watering already.

[Slinkiecat]

We found that the food, choices and service in the regular dining room on the Prinsendam were at least as good and in some instances better than the Pinnacle. Also, toward the end of the cruise it was very hard to schedule a table for all eight of us in the Pinnacle. We had at least four paid nights in the Pinnacle that we never used.

Slinkie