Which HAL Ship Has The Best Food / Dinning Room Service?

[Astron]

Having yet to sail on a HAL ship, I am impressed by the strong feelings of loyalty expressed by past HAL passengers. So many of you seem to have sailed on many if not all of the ships in their fleet. So, I have a simple question - Which ship in the HAL current fleet 1) serves the best tasting food and 2) has the best main dinning room service? Simple question, so I hope there is a clear consensus, but some how I think there may be a little disagreement even among you seasoned HAL cruisers :rolleyes:

[localady]

Although it has been a couple of years since I have cruised on her, we found the Prinsendam to have the best food and wait staff. I think it's just the fact they are cooking for only 800. Additionally, I suspect the pax/crew number is also lower.
Of course this in just an opinion having sailed at least once on 11 of the current 13 ships in the HAL fleet.....

P.S. Not to fear, the food on the Veendam hasd been great both times I've sailed her!! ;)

[Nancyquilts]

Prinsendam.

[dakrewser]

Prinsendam, hands down.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Food is very subjective. Although I have to admit that we loved the food on the Ryndam for our 23 day cruise -- best we have had in a long time.

Service -- that can be hit or miss. We have been on cruises where we had excellent service and others on the same ship had nothing but complaints about slow service, food cold, etc. One can never tell in this area.

[helenp2]

Prinsendam

[prescottbob]

Ahoy!

The 'Elegant Explorer', ms Prinsendam, IMO.

Bon Appetit!

Bon Voyage & Good Health!
Bob:)

[sail7seas]

As other have said, food is so subjective.

To our taste, the best food we have had in recent cruises is on Maasdam and Noordam.

[bobpatj]

We haven't sailed on Princendam, so from our experience, it's been Amsterdam. But on our recent Ryndam cruise, it was hard to beat! :)

[sail7seas]

This is truly an impossible question to answer as so much depends upon not only personal taste but particularly WHO IS THE EXECUTIVE CHEF aboard? It is not always the same Chef on the same ship. They go on vacation and they transfer to other ships etc

Chef Robert Schumann has been on three of our five most recent Maasdam cruises and the food has been really, really good. He is leaving (has left) to go to Eurodam as Take Out Executive Chef (and we can't wait to enjoy his food on the Prelude and Maiden Voyages.). :)

I don't know who is currently Chef on Maasdam and he may be really, really great also. Don't know.

Though the menus and recipes are the same throughout the fleet, all Chefs (and influence of Hotel Managers) put their personal touch on what comes out of the galley.

And that changes as fast as who is Hotel Manager and Chef on a given cruise.

[AWED23]

:D Can there be any doubt??? Prinsendam wins hands down.....:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

One of the reasons I chose Ryndam -- 23 days -- and 23 different menus -- so many choices.

[Krazy Kruizers]

One of the reasons I chose Ryndam -- 23 days -- and 23 different menus -- so many choices.

[Nancyquilts]

Maybe we shouldn't tell people about Prinsendam - will make it harder for us Prinsendam-lovers to book it. Nancy

[Roz]

The crew is constantly changing, so what may be top notch today may change tomorrow. I don't think you can compare the Prisendam to the other ships in the fleet. Cooking and serving a few hundred passengers is quite a bit different than handling 1,800.

Roz

[Copper10-8]

As far as the food, I have not seen/tasted a difference ony any individual dam ship. It is my understanding that the menus are the same fleet-wide. As far as the preparation, the buck stops with the onboard exec. chef like S7S spelled out but when all is is said and done, the food fleet-wide is prepared to the specs set out by HAL's Master Chef and culinary consultant Rudy Sotamin.

Dining room service is supposed to be the same also but obviously will depend on the experience level of your stewards since they all receive the same basic training in Djakarta before coming to the fleet. We have had no major complaints on any ship. There were some problems about four or so years ago when the dr stewards appeared understaffed but, in our experience, things have greatly improved. Haven't experienced AYW dining yet though;)

[grannynurse]

As we haven't sailed on the Prinsendam, and haven't been on Maasdam for 3 years, My DH and I agree that the Noordam is best for food taste and preparation and DR service, with Maasdam a close second.
GN

[RuthC]

Prinsendam. Everything on that ship is kicked up a notch. Or two. :D

[btobey]

We haven't sailed on Princendam, so from our experience, it's been Amsterdam. But on our recent Ryndam cruise, it was hard to beat! :)
I was hoping for a vote for Amsterdam--we sail her for the first time in April. :D

[NoNoNanette]

I was hoping for a vote for Amsterdam--we sail her for the first time in April. :D

You're going to love the Amsterdam! Happy Anniversary. :)

Pics from our Dec. cruise in my snapfish link. Review in my Amsterdam link in my sig.

[btobey]

You're going to love the Amsterdam! Happy Anniversary. :)

Pics from our Dec. cruise in my snapfish link. Review in my Amsterdam link in my sig.
Thanks, Nanette! After looking through some of your pictures and reading your journal, I am even more sure that we will have a wonderful time. :D Your food comments have my stomach growling right now!

I saw you mentioned the topless deck--do people really sunbathe topless there? On our honeymoon cruise, I decided to be daring one day, so DH and I went up to the topless deck, but there was no one there.

[NoNoNanette]

Trying to coax btoby's latest post into appearing. ;)

[NoNoNanette]

Yes, there was topless sunbathing on both the Volendam and the Amsterdam. There weren't many of us, but we were there. :) (We even had cocktail service on the Volendam!).

[mybagsarepacked]

I love HAL and have sailed on the Rotterdam, Noordam and Prinsendam. As some of you know, my Prinsendam experience was not at all up to standard and so I couldn't figure out why people always raved about that ship. That being said, I would give the P another try, because when we boarded they had a brand new crew, right down to the wait staff in the dining rooms. We had a special meeting with the Maitre'D because of all the problems and he was furious because (his story to us) he had come back from a vacation with no warning that the entire kitchen/wait staff had been changed in his absence and none of them had been trained and he was pulling his hair out because if it had even been 50/50 on the trained and untrained he would not have had so many pow-wows with disenchanted diners on our 16 day cruise.

We ended up changing tables three times in the dining room. Not because of the fellow diners, but because the wait staff was untrained and could not cope at all. Our first waiter literally did not speak english and everything we ordered we had to repeat 5 or 6 times and he still called other waiters over to help and he still got all the orders wrong. We tried him three straight nights, wrung our hands in frustration and just decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and maybe it was us so we just changed tables. Similar troubles there so we changed a final time and things began to iron out but they still only improved slightly. It was tolerable, let me put it that way.

THe Pinnacle Grill was the one exception and we ate there three times on that cruise.

We are leaving in a few weeks on the Zui and I am sure it will be magnificent. I am sure the Prinsendam was just a wierd fluke and it is water under the bridge. I'd try the Prinsendam again. I hear nothing but fantastic things about that ship, but not on our sailing, and actually we weren't the only ones with difficulties. But like I said, in the past and filed under 'weird travel tales'.

[btobey]

Yes, there was topless sunbathing on both the Volendam and the Amsterdam. There weren't many of us, but we were there. :) (We even had cocktail service on the Volendam!).
I'm sure DH will be happy to hear this.;)

[NoNoNanette]

I'm sure DH will be happy to hear this.;)

Yeah, for some reason, men like the view from up there.... some claim it's the best spot on the ship. ;) Have fun, kiddo!

[Golfette]

Having seen the view from the Oosterdam pool, I'm sure the topless decks on the Amsterdam and Volendam will win hands down;) .

As to the food, since the cruiselines are always rearranging & economizing, I think, from what I've heard and experienced on our December cruise, that the food has changed considerably from several years ago, both in quality and quantity. As a sign of the times, I guess it will continue to do so.

[Astron]

Thanks for all of your insights and experiences. Having last cruised on the Carnival Glory (or was it Gory?) I am sure the Veendam will be a great improvement. Sadly, the Prinsendam cruises listed on the HAL site do not seemed likely to fit into our schedule in the next year or two. Perhaps some day.

[sea-cruise]

This thread is very interesting to me because it's been a few years since I've sailed HAL, and I remember the food was excellent. I've been curious as to whether the quality and selections are still the same as they use to be. :)