Dining room menu on Volendam

[drtee]

I was on a northbound cruise on the Statendam in May and then on a southbound on the Volendam this past week. I had a great time, though there were some noticeable problems that appeared to me to indicate deterioration in services, rather shocking after only two months.

One of those was the dinner menu in the Rotterdam was basically a three-course menu, with an appetizer, entree, and dessert. In May we had a list of appetizers, then soups and then salads listed separately. I realize you could still order more choices from the appetizer menu, but it doesn't encourage that. As I was with a group of people I didn't know who were all just ordering three courses, I didn't want to hold everyone up by ordering soup and salad, for example. I'd rather have two appetizers and just skip dessert, as I think HALs desserts are not their strong suit (or was that another deterioration?).

I spoke to two couples (my awesome Team Trivia team) who were also shocked to see this and other apparent cuts and were re-thinking their two upcoming HAL cruises.

I've been very loyal to HAL for twenty years, but I'm thinking of shopping around....

[NoNoNanette]

Because you know better, as well as being "loyal" to this line, why didn't you just order what you wanted?:confused:

In my cruises, I've never been influenced by what the line "encouraged". :confused:

[drtee]

I guess you didn't read my entire post. I did not want to hold up the other diners at my table.

[EGG]

I would order the 2 appetizers. If you are afraid of holding up dinner, I would ask them to serve both together. There should be plenty of time between courses to finish both without rushing. You may find that your table mates would also like the extra course.

The other benefit to this is that this may give Holland America the hint that people want the extra course.

[MercedMike]

I guess you didn't read my entire post. I did not want to hold up the other diners at my table.

I hadn't seen HAL menus that combine Appetizers, Salads, and Soups into a single "Starter" category, but Princess and RCI have been doing it for a while.

I really don't think they would do it to save money on food, or deliberately to speed up diners. Rather I think it is a response to the public's approach to dining. Fast food is so ubiquitious, and diners are so used to rushing through meals, that it actually probably better fits the dining patterns of the majority of pax! I have seen many posts on this board complaining about how long it takes to eat dinner in the dining room.

Now, personally, that is NOT my style of dining, so I just calmly go along ordering an appetizer or two, soup, salad, an entree, a side dish of pasta, and then lingering over dessert and a cheese plate. The waiters certainly seem to have no problem with it (wouldn't they be foolish if they let me see they did, anyhow?) They are adept at timing the dishes so everybody pretty well has something in front of them. Maybe my courses come a bit quicker, others fewer courses come a bit more slowly, but we all pretty much get to the entree at the same time.

Even on Princess with anytime dining, where not all the diners at a large table arrive precisely together, it works out fine.

I would never deliberately arrive at the table late and thereby delay my fellow diners. But OTOH I am certainly not going to curtail my order and impair my dining pleasure from some perceived duty to hurry through my meal so as not to delay them!;)

HMMMMM -- the thought just occured to me ... how long do you think it will be before Carnival starts offering numbered "Combos" in the dining room?

[TylerRose]

Previously posted in my cruise review:
Dining: The new dining room format of half free style and half assigned seating will not go into place on the volendam until October 1st, 2007. We enjoyed wonderful service at the same table for 7 for the full 2 weeks. The biggest change in dining however was the menu. There are now fewer choices per catagory, compensated for by a standard American menu of options available daily to fill the gap. The "Chefs Dinner" presentation show was fun for an evening... but we did head to the pinacle for the second night.

My only true RANT is NUTMEG. Chef Rudy put it in everything.
There is a vegetarian, childrens, and other menus presented if asked. Baked potato is never on menu but always available. Pasta can always be prepared in butter. Jazzy menu items can be prepared plain as well, believe me, my 14 year old won't touch anything that has been near something green!

The food has changed in the past year and some options were disappointing at times, but there was always lido, roomservice and midnight buffet at 11:00PM!:D

[TKandKK]

HMMMMM -- the thought just occured to me ... how long do you think it will be before Carnival starts offering numbered "Combos" in the dining room?

"Uh....You want fries with that?" :eek:

[NoNoNanette]

I would never deliberately arrive at the table late and thereby delay my fellow diners. But OTOH I am certainly not going to curtail my order and impair my dining pleasure from some perceived duty to hurry through my meal so as not to delay them!;)

That is PRECISELY my mindset, Mike! :)

[MHS4]

[QUOTE=MercedMike;11102191]I hadn't seen HAL menus that combine Appetizers, Salads, and Soups into a single "Starter" category, but Princess and RCI have been doing it for a while.

I have seen many posts on this board complaining about how long it takes to eat dinner in the dining room.
QUOTE]

I was on the Coral Princess April 2006 & the menu was still Appetizers, Salads, Soups as 3 seperate listings -- although there was only 1 salad option offered plus the "Always Available" Ceasar Salad. Has Princess changed its menu format since then?

The length of time has always been one of my quiet peaves -- even with the full 5 courses, it does seem that 2 hours is on the lengthy side when one can wait 10-15 minutes for plates to be cleared or the next course to appear.

"Baked potato is never on menu but always available."
This would be my first HAL cruise. Does this mean, that unlike Princess, HAL does not list the "always available" options -- newcomers have to guess what they are? Is there the suggested Spa menu options, like Princess lists on the left side of the dinner menu? They also did the same for vegetarian, at least on the Coral in April 2006.

Another question raised by the responses to this post -- does HAL still have the late night/Midnight Buffet? That was omitted on Princess some time ago -- actually didn't miss it at all & it was great having the Chocolate Extraganza at 2pm rather than midnight.

Marion in CT

[drtee]

They do list some thing as always available (french onion soup, steak, can't remember what else because I never ordered from that part of the menu.

They do have a late buffet described as a "snack" from 10:30 to 11:30, but I never made it so can't comment on it. One night it is a "dessert extravaganza," and I don't know if they also have regular food that night or if it is sweets only.

I was talking to a friend today who did a transatlantic on Princess and I was shocked to find they had to pay for ice cream! The horror! The horror!

[gizmo]

I hadn't seen HAL menus that combine Appetizers, Salads, and Soups into a single "Starter" category, but Princess and RCI have been doing it for a while.

I really don't think they would do it to save money on food, or deliberately to speed up diners. Rather I think it is a response to the public's approach to dining. Fast food is so ubiquitious, and diners are so used to rushing through meals, that it actually probably better fits the dining patterns of the majority of pax! I have seen many posts on this board complaining about how long it takes to eat dinner in the dining room.

Now, personally, that is NOT my style of dining, so I just calmly go along ordering an appetizer or two, soup, salad, an entree, a side dish of pasta, and then lingering over dessert and a cheese plate. The waiters certainly seem to have no problem with it (wouldn't they be foolish if they let me see they did, anyhow?) They are adept at timing the dishes so everybody pretty well has something in front of them. Maybe my courses come a bit quicker, others fewer courses come a bit more slowly, but we all pretty much get to the entree at the same time.

Even on Princess with anytime dining, where not all the diners at a large table arrive precisely together, it works out fine.

I would never deliberately arrive at the table late and thereby delay my fellow diners. But OTOH I am certainly not going to curtail my order and impair my dining pleasure from some perceived duty to hurry through my meal so as not to delay them!;)

HMMMMM -- the thought just occured to me ... how long do you think it will be before Carnival starts offering numbered "Combos" in the dining room?

Another example where HaL has to do it because someone else is. :rolleyes:

I think it is very possible that it may have something to do with saving money on food. The choices are already being cut back. Some people might think they can only order 1 starter.
Maybe this is to speed up dining for AYW . :rolleyes:

[MHS4]

I was talking to a friend today who did a transatlantic on Princess and I was shocked to find they had to pay for ice cream! The horror! The horror!

That's true and well discussed on the Princess board so you could easily be aware of it beforehand. I can understand with children it could be a problem.
Actually for myself, since one can have ice cream anytime here at home & there are 3-4 "special home-made" ice cream shops locally, it's a "so what" item, no big deal Horror. On a cruise I personally want food & especially dessert items that are not offered locally at every grocery store/deli etc... snails, pheasant, venison... and HAL's special bread pudding might fall into that grouping. We'll see come October.