Jeconk
July 11th, 2004, 09:23 PM
Dining: Ok, the area that has received the most press so far and the single biggest problem faced by the Pride of Aloha is its dinning services. I never patronized the 3 pay restaurants during the cruise. I read their menus and only one dish appealed to me (filet mignon) and I was able to get it in the main dinning room, so why pay extra? I did look into two of the restaurants during the dinner hour and neither was full so I’m not sure what kind of success those restaurants are having. That left us with three choices. The Palace, The Crossings and the Hukilau Café (and Hukilau Lanai…. outside dining) First, the Hukilau. The Hukilau Café was open for all meals although their operating hours varied. Some mornings they opened at 6:30 and others at 7:00. I will say that I wished they would open earlier on days in port with early shore excursions. We had a 7:15 report time one morning and even though they opened at 6:30, it really wasn’t enough time to eat a good meal for a long day and have time to make your excursion. I would suggest that they open the Hukilau one hour before the first scheduled report time for the day. For lunch, the Hukilau opened at 12 noon and there was always a line when they opened. There is not enough seating in the Hukilau and so you always had one person in your party save a table while the rest of you went through the line. Another problem with the Hukilau is the way they open the line…. there are blinds that hang down from the top to cover the line when it is closed. (there are about 10 per line.) When they open the line, a crewmember must use a crank to raise each blind individually. The crewmember always started with the last blind and worked his way back to the first blind. If he had started with the first blind and worked up, people in line could be working their way through the line as he went instead of waiting until he was all done. The set-up of the buffet line is also not good. Of course this is a permanent thing that can’t be changed. There is a 90-degree turn in the line right at the hot foods. This causes a person to serve themselves from the salad area and then turn and serve themselves hot food. As a result of this 90-degree turn, no one else can access these areas while one person is there thus slowing down the line. Due to the lines that formed, there were all kinds of incidents of people cutting in line which caused more than one argument that I witnessed. (More of that under “people”) As for the Hukilau Lanai, it was nice to be able to sit out there when the weather cooperated, but rain or wind usually caused one to avoid that area. During the early part of the week, they had the hot cereals like oatmeal, grits and cream of wheat away from the line in their own separate area. (toast and fresh fruit were the same way.) By the end of the 12 days, they had moved the hot cereals, toast and fruit onto the main serving line. One crew member told me that it was because they were running out of the hot cereals (especially grits) and were trying to stretch it by only offering two each day. Same was true of the fruit I was told.
Another example of them stretching the food came with the iced tea. One of my favorite drinks on the Star was the Iced Tea. It was the best I had ever had. When I got on the POA, I found the same to be true and loved it. By the end of the trip, I noticed it tasted differently. One day I asked a crewmember if they changed teas and he said that they were watering it down to make it last longer and not use as much. They were taking the containers of tea that normally would be hooked into the vending machine and splitting it in half by putting half in another container. They then filled the container the rest of the way with water. Anything to save money NCL?
As far as the food in Hukilau, I have to agree with the other posters that it was below standard. The eggs were never done and it was always casseroles.
The Main Dining Rooms: These were very slow and didn’t open until 5:30 for dinner. I stongly urge NCL to look at opening them at 5:00 p.m. in order to help people make the early show and to help shorten wait times. Why were they slow? Not sure. First they do serve everything by course and they don’t order your next course until you finish the first one. You have two waiters per table but it is still slow and sometimes getting refills on your beverages takes several requests. One night, two of us who ordered a baked potato waited 10 minutes for the waiter to come back with the topping tray to give us sour cream and cheese! The waiters are also quick to blame the kitchen. We kept hearing about how the kitchen couldn’t get it together and was always screwing up orders. Not sure if that is the case or not. According to more than one of the crewmembers that I talked to, the problem is that the waiters have too many tables to cover since the ship is shorthanded. If they had fewer tables, they could concentrate more on your needs. I tried to remember back to the Star and I do believe the waiters had less tables. Something has got to change in the way they serve the meals in the main dining rooms. We were always there around 5:30 and still we NEVER got out of there before 7:00 and that was when we skipped dessert! #1 suggestion for passengers on this ship: arrive at the dinning rooms by 5:30 (or opening time) or expect to wait. One night I heard the waits were 90 minutes just for a table. Add a 2-3 hour meal and most of your night was gone!!
The breakfasts in the main restaurants were usually very good and you could be out in about an hour if you got there early. We only ate a couple of lunches in the Crossings and one was quick and the other a marathon. I asked for mustard for my cheeseburger and waited 5 minutes and no mustard. So I ate my burger without it. I was completely finished with the burger and halfway through the fries before the waiter brought the mustard and catsup!
The problem with the lunches was that you never knew which dining rooms would be open. At first the Crossings was the only one open, but after about two days, both dining rooms opened for lunch due to the long lines. When we got to port days, they once again closed the Palace. They didn’t learn from their mistake and when we had an all aboard at noon in Kauai, they kept the Palace closed for lunch and had huge lines at the Hukilau and Crossings! Our first day in both Maui and Kauai, the closed both main restaurants, leaving only the Hukilau. We came back from our morning shore excursion, came on board to change clothes and drop off stuff and decided to have lunch in the Crossings before going back out since we basically had already paid for it. They were closed and when we went up to the Hukilau, the line was very long. Not smart NCL.
As far as the food in the Main restaurants? I am not that picky and I found it to be just fine. They also substituted the sides from one dinner to the other without even blinking an eye. The only negative about the selections was that we did not have a Lobster night. Everyone I talked to was quite upset about not having a lobster night since, from what I understand, it is a standard thing on all other NCL ships. There also was no midnight buffet or chocoholics buffet that is standard on other NCL ships. Another cost cutting move I would guess.
The one major flaw that reared its head in the dining room was my mother’s meals. Due to a stomach problem she cannot have any food that has been seasoned or even pre-marinated. We spoke to the Maitre’d in the Crossings the first night and he said that she could pre-order her meal the night before and it would be ready. So the first night, she made her order from the next night’s menu and said we would be there at 5:30. When we got there, her food was not ready and they had to start from scratch. The maitre’d that night said that there was no pre-ordering. The next night we ate in the Palace and had a wonderful waitress who understood the problem and went back to the kitchen to check on the entrée’s of evening for us. The maitre’d in the Palace came over after hearing the story and we told him of our adventure in the Crossings. He said that any meat on the menu could be prepared without seasoning on the spot and no pre-ordering was necessary. The next few nights went off without any problems. Then a bad night occurred. We had the same waitress that we had the first night in the Palace and it was fish night. She ordered the fish plain as usual but it came out seasoned. She put in another order and this time, the Asst. Maitre’d got involved and went back to the kitchen. The kitchen said they could not prepare unseasoned food. The Asst. Maitre’d and the waitress both worked very hard but the kitchen was not cooperating. We made a comment about the cooks being stubborn and dragging their feet because of the special request and the waitress didn’t answer but smiled at us in an acknowledging way and the Maitre’d said quietly, “if you only knew the truth.” Basically, the rest of us ate our meals and left for the show. (at my mother’s urging) She and my father then waited another hour before her food came correctly. We got back to our cabin from the show before they got back from dinner! The Matire’d kept apologizing and took my mother’s name and cabin number, but nothing ever came of that. On the Star when a similar incident happened, they waived the service charge for my mother and father for that day. I even made that suggestion to the Maitre’d and was greeted with the response: “they will never do that on this ship.” The waitress was frustrated, my parents were frustrated and the maitre’d was frustrated, but nothing was ever done except apologizing. So basically, if you have special dietary needs, I suggest you have alternative plans on this ship.
Another example of them stretching the food came with the iced tea. One of my favorite drinks on the Star was the Iced Tea. It was the best I had ever had. When I got on the POA, I found the same to be true and loved it. By the end of the trip, I noticed it tasted differently. One day I asked a crewmember if they changed teas and he said that they were watering it down to make it last longer and not use as much. They were taking the containers of tea that normally would be hooked into the vending machine and splitting it in half by putting half in another container. They then filled the container the rest of the way with water. Anything to save money NCL?
As far as the food in Hukilau, I have to agree with the other posters that it was below standard. The eggs were never done and it was always casseroles.
The Main Dining Rooms: These were very slow and didn’t open until 5:30 for dinner. I stongly urge NCL to look at opening them at 5:00 p.m. in order to help people make the early show and to help shorten wait times. Why were they slow? Not sure. First they do serve everything by course and they don’t order your next course until you finish the first one. You have two waiters per table but it is still slow and sometimes getting refills on your beverages takes several requests. One night, two of us who ordered a baked potato waited 10 minutes for the waiter to come back with the topping tray to give us sour cream and cheese! The waiters are also quick to blame the kitchen. We kept hearing about how the kitchen couldn’t get it together and was always screwing up orders. Not sure if that is the case or not. According to more than one of the crewmembers that I talked to, the problem is that the waiters have too many tables to cover since the ship is shorthanded. If they had fewer tables, they could concentrate more on your needs. I tried to remember back to the Star and I do believe the waiters had less tables. Something has got to change in the way they serve the meals in the main dining rooms. We were always there around 5:30 and still we NEVER got out of there before 7:00 and that was when we skipped dessert! #1 suggestion for passengers on this ship: arrive at the dinning rooms by 5:30 (or opening time) or expect to wait. One night I heard the waits were 90 minutes just for a table. Add a 2-3 hour meal and most of your night was gone!!
The breakfasts in the main restaurants were usually very good and you could be out in about an hour if you got there early. We only ate a couple of lunches in the Crossings and one was quick and the other a marathon. I asked for mustard for my cheeseburger and waited 5 minutes and no mustard. So I ate my burger without it. I was completely finished with the burger and halfway through the fries before the waiter brought the mustard and catsup!
The problem with the lunches was that you never knew which dining rooms would be open. At first the Crossings was the only one open, but after about two days, both dining rooms opened for lunch due to the long lines. When we got to port days, they once again closed the Palace. They didn’t learn from their mistake and when we had an all aboard at noon in Kauai, they kept the Palace closed for lunch and had huge lines at the Hukilau and Crossings! Our first day in both Maui and Kauai, the closed both main restaurants, leaving only the Hukilau. We came back from our morning shore excursion, came on board to change clothes and drop off stuff and decided to have lunch in the Crossings before going back out since we basically had already paid for it. They were closed and when we went up to the Hukilau, the line was very long. Not smart NCL.
As far as the food in the Main restaurants? I am not that picky and I found it to be just fine. They also substituted the sides from one dinner to the other without even blinking an eye. The only negative about the selections was that we did not have a Lobster night. Everyone I talked to was quite upset about not having a lobster night since, from what I understand, it is a standard thing on all other NCL ships. There also was no midnight buffet or chocoholics buffet that is standard on other NCL ships. Another cost cutting move I would guess.
The one major flaw that reared its head in the dining room was my mother’s meals. Due to a stomach problem she cannot have any food that has been seasoned or even pre-marinated. We spoke to the Maitre’d in the Crossings the first night and he said that she could pre-order her meal the night before and it would be ready. So the first night, she made her order from the next night’s menu and said we would be there at 5:30. When we got there, her food was not ready and they had to start from scratch. The maitre’d that night said that there was no pre-ordering. The next night we ate in the Palace and had a wonderful waitress who understood the problem and went back to the kitchen to check on the entrée’s of evening for us. The maitre’d in the Palace came over after hearing the story and we told him of our adventure in the Crossings. He said that any meat on the menu could be prepared without seasoning on the spot and no pre-ordering was necessary. The next few nights went off without any problems. Then a bad night occurred. We had the same waitress that we had the first night in the Palace and it was fish night. She ordered the fish plain as usual but it came out seasoned. She put in another order and this time, the Asst. Maitre’d got involved and went back to the kitchen. The kitchen said they could not prepare unseasoned food. The Asst. Maitre’d and the waitress both worked very hard but the kitchen was not cooperating. We made a comment about the cooks being stubborn and dragging their feet because of the special request and the waitress didn’t answer but smiled at us in an acknowledging way and the Maitre’d said quietly, “if you only knew the truth.” Basically, the rest of us ate our meals and left for the show. (at my mother’s urging) She and my father then waited another hour before her food came correctly. We got back to our cabin from the show before they got back from dinner! The Matire’d kept apologizing and took my mother’s name and cabin number, but nothing ever came of that. On the Star when a similar incident happened, they waived the service charge for my mother and father for that day. I even made that suggestion to the Maitre’d and was greeted with the response: “they will never do that on this ship.” The waitress was frustrated, my parents were frustrated and the maitre’d was frustrated, but nothing was ever done except apologizing. So basically, if you have special dietary needs, I suggest you have alternative plans on this ship.