dinin room menus for longer cruies

[happy cruzer]

Hi, Does anyone have menus for the longer cruises(10 or 11 nights). I saw the thread that said we will have 3 formal nights. So I wondered what we have to eat on the 3 formal nights and really on any night. I found Candy the Zuider Princesses menus for a 7 night cruise. I would love to see menus for a longer cruise.

Thanks.

[MikeinSA]

me too - we're on a 21 day Panama Canal cruise on the Westerdam and have no idea what they do for a menu on a long cruise, Do they just repeat the same menu over and over? Help please.

[kakalina]

We have been on several long cruises. Normally, the menus are repeated on a 14 day basis By the time they repeat a meal ( or the drink specials of the day for that matter) you are ready for it again. We only found the repeats to be a bit of a problem with the desserts. They tend to get a little repititious.

[CoconutFish]

I have found: 67z28.com/personal
Panama / Amazon 2005
Menus and Programs, towards the bottom

This was a longer cruise than you are enquiring about, but it gives you some ideas. We have been on several long cruises and have never seen menus repeated, just varied a bit.

[MikeinSA]

CoconutFish

What a wonderful site, it's a tremendous help. I think I need to go out and buy a ream of printer paper and print it all. Thanks again, your help is very much appreciated.

[happy cruzer]

wow great site. many thanks!

[RedmondCruiser]

Great web site. The menus very representative of the dinners on a longer cruise. They do not repeat every 14 days. The attempt is to have a different offering every night. The person who put the menus on this web site did a very thourough job. Was impressed with the menu from the captains table.

[RuthC]

I'm a veteran of many longer cruises (30-35 days). In recent years I've noticed some repetition of menus in some cases. If the cruise is broken down into segments it's more likely the menus will repeat at the end of a segment.
Other than that, any given choice does repeat, but not with the entire menu as a whole on any given night.

Does that make any sense?

[R&CCruisers]

Is the menu for a longer cruise a big problem? I'm wondering if you vary your menus at home as often as on a cruise? I'm happy with the variety of choices offered as long as I don't have tt think about cooking!

[MikeinSA]

I wasn't complaining about menu's repeating, just curious how HAL did longer cruises. They could have lobster tails, crab legs, filet mignon, and rack of lamb every night and I wouldn't complain.:)

[happy cruzer]

Some lines (I have been told) have a set seven menus that they repeat over and over. If I were on a 21 day cruise, I would like to know ahead of time if I was going to see the exact same menus in the same order 3 times. I find if I can set my expectations ahead of time properly then all goes well.

But looking at HALs menus, not a problem.

the only thing I noticed looking at the menus was that I did not see as many souffles and I like them alot being something I don't do at home (DH makes some mean flambeas). I think I only saw two? Can you request a souffle a night ahead??? Not really important.

FYI, I had been booked on RCI for a cruise at the same period that I will be on the Volendam. Their menus did not repeat but they have fewer courses. they had Starter (which included appetizers and soups), salads, entrees, and desserts. I like HALs menus much better; my favorite courses are appetizers and soups and I usually get multiple of each. So on HAL there is usually have more time to enjoy them before everyone starts getting salads and sometimes even entrees. I tried to start a thread about how different ships do their courses over on the foodies board with no luck. Anyone have a comment about how you like to see the courses listed and served, for example how much time for each, how many choices for each, how ofter they can repeat, special requests? Any thoughts are welcome.

[kryos]

Is the menu for a longer cruise a big problem? I'm wondering if you vary your menus at home as often as on a cruise? I'm happy with the variety of choices offered as long as I don't have tt think about cooking!
LOL ... my feelings exactly. I did a 30-day cruise this past January which was NOT broken into segments. I don't honestly recall if any of the menu items repeated, though I am sure they did. As long as there is always something on the menu I enjoy, I could care less if they repeat. I just wanna eat ... and have someone to cook for me, and then clean up afterwards. :)

Blue skies ...

--rita

[happy cruzer]

I know that this is weird but it is my pet peeve to see people say that they are happy if someone buys, cooks, serves and cleans up then the food if fine with them. McDonalds each night fits that requirement. I expect more and of course I expect it to cost more than McDonalds. And I know everyone does too but I hate the implication that the details of what being served is not important.

OK back to my happy face:o Thanks for reading my vent.

Cheers to all.

[peaches from georgia]

I know that this is weird but it is my pet peeve to see people say that they are happy if someone buys, cooks, serves and cleans up then the food if fine with them. McDonalds each night fits that requirement.


Thank you for posting that, happy cruzer. I feel exactly the same way. In addition to being served and walking away from the dirty dishes, I expect that I have paid for excellent food, too. This willingness to accept less by so many on CC really gets to me, but I'm sure the cruiseline(s) love that attitude! I don't feel my expectations are out of line either.

[kryos]

I know that this is weird but it is my pet peeve to see people say that they are happy if someone buys, cooks, serves and cleans up then the food if fine with them. McDonalds each night fits that requirement. I expect more and of course I expect it to cost more than McDonalds. And I know everyone does too but I hate the implication that the details of what being served is not important.

Actually I enjoy McDonald's very much, though I wouldn't want a steady diet of it night in and night out.

I remember on my Hawaii/South Pacific cruise, I actually had a "Big Mac attack" and couldn't wait to get off the boat in Nawaili so that I could find a local Mickey D's and get one. Then, on disembarkation day, I had a few hours to kill waiting for my flight home. The sight of a McDonald's in the San Diego Airport brought a smile to my face.

So, while I wouldn't be willing to eat anything just to be served (sushi comes to mind), there's nothing wrong in my opinion with a bit of variety ... including some tasty fast food on occasion. :)

Blue skies ...

--rita

[kryos]

Thank you for posting that, happy cruzer. I feel exactly the same way. In addition to being served and walking away from the dirty dishes, I expect that I have paid for excellent food, too. This willingness to accept less by so many on CC really gets to me, but I'm sure the cruiseline(s) love that attitude! I don't feel my expectations are out of line either.
I'd be very curious to know just what percentage of one's cruise fare is allocated to food. Betcha it's not more than $100 tops for a seven-day cruise.

Figuring $200 for two people, you can easily spend that in a shore-side restaurant for just two or three meals. So how many meals of "excellent" food do you think $100 would buy you onboard in a week?

Blue skies ...

--rita

[CoconutFish]

happy cruzer:

Souffles: not a favourite; have seen only chocolate and vanilla; very small, very light (mostly egg white), decent sauces, though. Have no idea if you can order in advance: never hurts to ask.

Flambes: last cruise in April: none. Still think these are the best desserts on HAL most nights.

Appetizer and soups: agree! Hope you have tried all the cold soups; really outstanding :D

Thanks for starting this thread. Your comment on other cruise lines that repeat 7-day menu cycles confirms for us why we sail only HAL! We like variety; on long cruises we hope that cetain items will be repeated once or twice, but would not appreciate 4 or 5 cycles of the same menu!

[Tinknock50]

I know that this is weird but it is my pet peeve to see people say that they are happy if someone buys, cooks, serves and cleans up then the food if fine with them. McDonalds each night fits that requirement. I expect more and of course I expect it to cost more than McDonalds. And I know everyone does too but I hate the implication that the details of what being served is not important.

OK back to my happy face:o Thanks for reading my vent.

Cheers to all.

happy cruiser,
Could you e-mail me at Bicepeak@aol.com I need to ask you question.

Thanks,

[peaches from georgia]

Figuring $200 for two people, you can easily spend that in a shore-side restaurant for just two or three meals. So how many meals of "excellent" food do you think $100 would buy you onboard in a week?

Blue skies ...

--rita
I think exactly as you that the portion of your cruise fare allocated to food is low. But I really was talking about expectations. If HAL advertises excellent food- which they do, look at their website- than I think pax saying they don't care as long as they are not cooking and cleaning allows the cruiseline to meet only those lower demands, rather than pax putting HAL's feet to the fire to produce what they promise.

[kakalina]

Peaches: I gotta agree with you. I expect fine food on HAL. I feel that great cuisine is part of my cruise.
When I said earlier that menus were repeated I meant main courses just slightly changed. If you look at the bottom of your menus you will see a start and end date and what day of the cruise it is for. I have only seen a 14 day spread on the bottom of my menus. That said, just because I haven't seen longer ones doesn't mean they don't exsist.

[happy cruzer]

Costs - I think Rita is just about dead on on how much cruiselines allocate to food, HAL probably does a spend little more. This much is still plenty of money to provide an excellent dining experience IMHO:
1) You can not comapare to a land based restaurent. the dining room on HAL doesn't have hardly any of the expenses that a land based one does - rent, advetising, utilities etc are very low or nonexistent. the labor is covered alot with out tips that get divided up
2) They get alot of economy of scale. When they buy there ingredients they buy probably 1000X more that a restaurent because they are buying for alot of people and for at least 3 meals a day. I am able to buy groceries at home at per diem cost than they seem to spend. and I have the just about the worst case of buying for 2 people.

So I don't think I'm expecting too much and as Peaches said they do promise to deliver excellent dining for your fare.

Now back on topic. coconutfish, we like variety too. and it doen't have to be a show stopper like lobster. A good soup or appetizer prepared well from fresh ingredients is a real wow for us. DH loves the chilled soups and gets one almost every night. I like the hot soups and sometimes get both of them. I heard someone on another line complain that the chilled apple soup was simple applesauce, that would cause a not happy surprise.:)
We do like those favorites to be repeated but there are probably alot of ways to prepare them and I would like to get to try them all. If I don't like it I too will move onto another item. Also looking forward to trying some new seafood.

[happy cruzer]

Sorry, I had trouble with the tool.
Sean , do you mean me - Happy Cruzer or someone else?

[CoconutFish]

happy cruzer:

I like your attitude about appetizers and soups, both of which HAL does very well. We often order two appetizers, as we have found the salads mostly uninteresting. Hope your DH has tried the chilled pumpkin, cranberry, apple and pear soups. There seems to be a trend towards cold vegetable soups, instead of fruit. I think I will be trying more hot in the future if that is the case.

We have been lucky enough to be on a ship where the Executive Chef really believes in grilled fish. Wow. Fabulous halibut, snapper, cod, sole, mahi mahi, swordfish, grouper, yellowfin tuna; prawns and scallops, too.

Enjoy!

[MikeinSA]

My DW LOVES the cold fruit soups while I'm a seafood lover (especially scallops), so we are both looking forward to HAL dining. Our only HAL experience was on the Oosterdam and we enjoyed the food very much.

[happy cruzer]

I looked at the menus again from the z28 file. Is there a paging missing on each one? Seems to me there used to be a page with the Chef's recommendations? And recommended wines? Or am I getting this confused with another line??

Anyway I never get tired of looking at the choices. each time I look I see a different thing to try. DH wants to bring some wine on board so he is happy deciding which bottles to bring to match up with the general selections.