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Please tell me about the Pinnacle Grill and the MDR

MsSoCalCruiser

By MsSoCalCruiser,
in Holland America Line

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KroozNut

KroozNut

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The same cruise or a longer one? I wish ours was longer but a week later I'm off to Alaska.... Guess I have to show up for work some times :')

 

A little longer.. 7 days to Mexico from San Diego in December. We're retired now, so work doesn't get in the way of our cruising anymore! ;):D

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MsSoCalCruiser

MsSoCalCruiser

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I think we have decided on going to Tamarind and the Pinnacle Grill. Two of the four nights we will be in port until late at night.

 

Do you know, if I book ahead (I like to pre-pay for everything) will I get to choose which nights we go or will they be assigned by HAL? I know I can call but I would rather ask you :)

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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I think we have decided on going to Tamarind and the Pinnacle Grill. Two of the four nights we will be in port until late at night.

 

Do you know, if I book ahead (I like to pre-pay for everything) will I get to choose which nights we go or will they be assigned by HAL? I know I can call but I would rather ask you :)

 

If you go on line on the HAL site, you can choose any available date and time. So the date you want and the time you want :)

 

Or you can call too and they can do it but just make sure you ask them for a confirming email and take it with you.

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KroozNut

KroozNut

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I think we have decided on going to Tamarind and the Pinnacle Grill. Two of the four nights we will be in port until late at night.

Good choices IMHO! :)

 

 

Do you know, if I book ahead (I like to pre-pay for everything) will I get to choose which nights we go or will they be assigned by HAL? I know I can call but I would rather ask you :)

 

If you don't already have a HAL account online, recommend setting one up and pre-booking your specialty dining rezzies there. As Kazu mentioned, you can choose any day/time that is still available at the time you reserve.

 

Have a great cruise!

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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I’m really not sure what day or time yet. Would we be allowed to book the reservation once we are on the ship while still pre-paying? Or do they fully book quickly?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

You can certainly book on board IF there is availability.

 

You might not have times of your choosing available or the day you want.

 

It can vary from cruise to cruise but I have seen the PG fully booked on the repositioning portion and on our P'dam cruise last time, the PG was so good that despite my reservations, I thought it would be nice to add another one. The PG was fully booked except for 2 nights at 9 pm.

 

On Other cruises there can be all kinds of availability as long as you are flexible on times. It's hard to say.

 

If you prebook you are guaranteed the time and day of your choice (and may be able to change on board if there is availability and you are giving sufficient notice). If you wait until you are on board, you may be disappointed and you may not. There is no way to predict.

 

If you check the on line reservations periodically, it may give you an indication what is remaining available.

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janftica

janftica

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So we just returned from a 11 day cruise on Eurodam. We ate at Pinnacle Grill twice, once at Canneletto

and twice at the MDR. Here is my take on these.

 

First off let me say I do NOT like spicey food, so based on that you can make your own decisions on which one to eat at.

 

Pinnacle Grill we bought the 2 dinner package for this and Canneletto. Of the two the Pinnacle Grill was the better one for food quality.

 

Pinnacle Grill on 1st try was eeeeh...Shrimp Cocktail was just OK...no flavour to the shrimp and they weren't cleaned properly which put me off....don't like to see any black parts on a shrimp Im eating.

Ceasar Salad was next...not enough dressing and not made as good as the one in MDR which is the traditional way to make it with hand made ceasar dressing, this one was bottle dressing....you can tell.

Steak was asked for medium well as I do not like pink in my meat! Came Medium barely, and it was TASTELESS for a steak...I could have sent it back but by then I was aggravated and still hungry didn't even stay for the dessert I was so pissed off.

2nd time we were given very good service even the Manager asked why we left with no explaination? Guess they remembered us? We just made an excuse and said I was not feeling well and had to leave immediately..OK small white lie. This time everything was extremely good and the service impeccable. So have to give it 4 out of 5 for the effort to please.

 

Canneletto...strange menu. You share plates of food between you so you better both like the same thing! The antipasta was yucky...the soup they brought was delicious, the lasagna....they need help to make Italian food...it was the worst Ive ever eaten...I can make better Italian spaghetti/lasagna than this. Fish dish I like but it was barely there, Hubby hated it and left it...so Manager came by and asked how we liked it....after we told him, he brought us another soup because we had expressed our delight in it....Only problem he spiced it with Chili flakes???? *** was that? The first one had none, maybe he thought he'd just spice things up for us but we both couldn't eat it so left it. Didn't go back.

 

MDR Well I guess people like this one....we didn't. Every meal we chose and there were nights we couldn't pick one thing to eat that we liked, was SPICED! The Chef is either Indian or Indonesian and he obviously thinks everyone should eat food with spices in it, because he spiced even the vegetables! I mentioned it several times and was told I could pre-order my food without spice...well how am I going to know what I want days in advance? dumb.

 

Lido Market....was the only place we could eat and that was a hit or a miss over the 11 days too! Same

food was served there as in the MDR but with a few extra dishes. However, again everything was spiced...several nights I could only eat a Cheese Plate for Dinner! Was NOT impressed by HAL food and probably because of other issues we won't cruise with them again.

 

Pizza was passable. Dive IN burgers/hotdogs...Hubby said they were good I don't eat that stuff

 

You will have to get used to not being able to help yourself at the Lido Market either, it is serve you only! Everything was limited, cheese plates, deli meats, and only 3-4 choices of fruit....No Peaches, Pears, Grapes. Melon was the choice of the day, served with everything, and one grape per plate!

Must have been a shortage of Grapes in the US because we only got one per plate...geez.

Bananas you had to grab at the beginning of breakfast or you were out of luck! none later.

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KroozNut

KroozNut

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So we just returned from a 11 day cruise on Eurodam. We ate at Pinnacle Grill twice, once at Canneletto

and twice at the MDR. Here is my take on these.

 

I do NOT like spicey food

 

That's your fault, can't help with you with that! ;););)

 

Pinnacle Grill on 1st try was eeeeh...Shrimp Cocktail was just OK...no flavour to the shrimp and they weren't cleaned properly which put me off....don't like to see any black parts on a shrimp Im eating.

This is very picky... 'no flavor' is highly subjective (therefore of no value), and de-veigned shrimp usually containes black parts... no worries! ;)

 

 

Ceasar Salad was next...not enough dressing and not made as good as the one in MDR which is the traditional way to make it with hand made ceasar dressing, this one was bottle dressing....you can tell.

 

PG Ceasar Salad is the best we've ever had... every time!

 

Steak was asked for medium well as I do not like pink in my meat!

 

Medium well is defined as slightly pink inside.

 

 

Came Medium barely, and it was TASTELESS for a steak

Tasteless, can you elaborate?

 

 

Canneletto...strange menu. You share plates of food between you so you better both like the same thing! The antipasta was yucky...the soup they brought was delicious, the lasagna....they need help to make Italian food...it was the worst Ive ever eaten...I can make better Italian spaghetti/lasagna than this. Fish dish I like but it was barely there, Hubby hated it and left it...so Manager came by and asked how we liked it....after we told him, he brought us another soup because we had expressed our delight in it....Only problem he spiced it with Chili flakes???? *** was that? The first one had none, maybe he thought he'd just spice things up for us but we both couldn't eat it so left it. Didn't go back...

 

MDR Well I guess people like this one....we didn't. Every meal we chose and there were nights we couldn't pick one thing to eat that we liked, was SPICED! The Chef is either Indian or Indonesian and he obviously thinks everyone should eat food with spices in it, because he spiced even the vegetables! I mentioned it several times and was told I could pre-order my food without spice...well how am I going to know what I want days in advance? dumb.

 

Lido Market....was the only place we could eat and that was a hit or a miss over the 11 days too! Same

food was served there as in the MDR but with a few extra dishes. However, again everything was spiced...several nights I could only eat a Cheese Plate for Dinner! Was NOT impressed by HAL food and probably because of other issues we won't cruise with them again.

 

Pizza was passable. Dive IN burgers/hotdogs...Hubby said they were good I don't eat that stuff

 

You will have to get used to not being able to help yourself at the Lido Market either, it is serve you only! Everything was limited, cheese plates, deli meats, and only 3-4 choices of fruit....No Peaches, Pears, Grapes. Melon was the choice of the day, served with everything, and one grape per plate!

Must have been a shortage of Grapes in the US because we only got one per plate...geez.

Bananas you had to grab at the beginning of breakfast or you were out of luck! none later.

...

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Epicureangirl

Epicureangirl

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Ceasar Salad was next...not enough dressing and not made as good as the one in MDR which is the traditional way to make it with hand made ceasar dressing, this one was bottle dressing....you can tell.

 

Sorry, no, mine was actually made table-side and I could have as much of any ingredient added as I want. Are you sure you went to these restaurants?

 

Steak was asked for medium well as I do not like pink in my meat! Came Medium barely, and it was TASTELESS for a steak...I could have sent it back but by then I was aggravated and still hungry didn't even stay for the dessert I was so pissed off.

 

Medium-well is not what a steak-lover does to a steak. No wonder it was tasteless. There were also many choices for excellent sauces. Most were not spicy.

 

2nd time we were given very good service even the Manager asked why we left with no explaination? Guess they remembered us? We just made an excuse and said I was not feeling well and had to leave immediately..OK small white lie. This time everything was extremely good and the service impeccable. So have to give it 4 out of 5 for the effort to please.

 

It sounded like you weren't given poor service the first time, but you rudely left without giving them a chance to rectify raw issues you experienced with your meal. The service is gracious and they are there to make things right.

 

Canneletto...strange menu. You share plates of food between you so you better both like the same thing!

 

There is no obligation to share at Canaletto (name is the same as the Venetian Painter). They make a 'suggestion' of how many appetizer and entrees you may require per person, but you can order differently if you like. My daughter keeps her bolognese to herself (a.k.a. spaghetti with meat sauce), and if you don't like something order something else. Pretty straightforward, no one is making you finish what is on your plate.

 

MDR Well I guess people like this one....we didn't. Every meal we chose and there were nights we couldn't pick one thing to eat that we liked, was SPICED! The Chef is either Indian or Indonesian and he obviously thinks everyone should eat food with spices in it, because he spiced even the vegetables! I mentioned it several times and was told I could pre-order my food without spice...well how am I going to know what I want days in advance? dumb.

 

Hmmm, I don't think the nationality of a chef plays into this at all. You know, MOST people quite like many of the foods you described. Chefs are supposed to salt and season the food, even vegetables. The staff in the MDR would have been happy to let you choose selections from the kids-menu if you would have liked to stick to chicken tenders (which happen to be amazing I might add) or grilled cheese, etc. If you found something you actually liked, you could have also pre-order that for other nights. But I suppose that is dumb too.:confused:

 

Lido Market....was the only place we could eat and that was a hit or a miss over the 11 days too! Same food was served there as in the MDR but with a few extra dishes. However, again everything was spiced...several nights I could only eat a Cheese Plate for Dinner! Was NOT impressed by HAL food and probably because of other issues we won't cruise with them again.

 

Not sure if you have cruised before successfully -- good luck with those other cruise lines.

 

Pizza was passable. Dive IN burgers/hotdogs...Hubby said they were good I don't eat that stuff
Dive-In is quite good -- that may have saved you this cruise. They are made to order and you could have left anything off that you didn't like -- should have been a pretty decent option IMO.

 

You will have to get used to not being able to help yourself at the Lido Market either, it is serve you only! Everything was limited, cheese plates, deli meats, and only 3-4 choices of fruit....No Peaches, Pears, Grapes. Melon was the choice of the day, served with everything, and one grape per plate! Must have been a shortage of Grapes in the US because we only got one per plate...geez.

Bananas you had to grab at the beginning of breakfast or you were out of luck! none later.

 

There are health reasons they are assisting with serving, they are not trying to keep you from your food. The grapes were probably a garnish to decorate the plate, not the main-event as it were. As for fruit, your room-steward will fill and replenish a basket in your room with many fruit choices. There is a card in your room inside the silver bowl that explains it. Endless bananas if you wanted. Sorry you missed out. Sounds like a terrible experience, I'm so glad I haven't experienced any of these issues.

Edited by Epicureangirl
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MsSoCalCruiser

MsSoCalCruiser

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So we just returned from a 11 day cruise on Eurodam. We ate at Pinnacle Grill twice, once at Canneletto

and twice at the MDR. Here is my take on these.

 

First off let me say I do NOT like spicey food, so based on that you can make your own decisions on which one to eat at.

 

Pinnacle Grill we bought the 2 dinner package for this and Canneletto. Of the two the Pinnacle Grill was the better one for food quality.

 

Pinnacle Grill on 1st try was eeeeh...Shrimp Cocktail was just OK...no flavour to the shrimp and they weren't cleaned properly which put me off....don't like to see any black parts on a shrimp Im eating.

Ceasar Salad was next...not enough dressing and not made as good as the one in MDR which is the traditional way to make it with hand made ceasar dressing, this one was bottle dressing....you can tell.

Steak was asked for medium well as I do not like pink in my meat! Came Medium barely, and it was TASTELESS for a steak...I could have sent it back but by then I was aggravated and still hungry didn't even stay for the dessert I was so pissed off.

2nd time we were given very good service even the Manager asked why we left with no explaination? Guess they remembered us? We just made an excuse and said I was not feeling well and had to leave immediately..OK small white lie. This time everything was extremely good and the service impeccable. So have to give it 4 out of 5 for the effort to please.

 

Canneletto...strange menu. You share plates of food between you so you better both like the same thing! The antipasta was yucky...the soup they brought was delicious, the lasagna....they need help to make Italian food...it was the worst Ive ever eaten...I can make better Italian spaghetti/lasagna than this. Fish dish I like but it was barely there, Hubby hated it and left it...so Manager came by and asked how we liked it....after we told him, he brought us another soup because we had expressed our delight in it....Only problem he spiced it with Chili flakes???? *** was that? The first one had none, maybe he thought he'd just spice things up for us but we both couldn't eat it so left it. Didn't go back.

 

MDR Well I guess people like this one....we didn't. Every meal we chose and there were nights we couldn't pick one thing to eat that we liked, was SPICED! The Chef is either Indian or Indonesian and he obviously thinks everyone should eat food with spices in it, because he spiced even the vegetables! I mentioned it several times and was told I could pre-order my food without spice...well how am I going to know what I want days in advance? dumb.

 

Lido Market....was the only place we could eat and that was a hit or a miss over the 11 days too! Same

food was served there as in the MDR but with a few extra dishes. However, again everything was spiced...several nights I could only eat a Cheese Plate for Dinner! Was NOT impressed by HAL food and probably because of other issues we won't cruise with them again.

 

Pizza was passable. Dive IN burgers/hotdogs...Hubby said they were good I don't eat that stuff

 

You will have to get used to not being able to help yourself at the Lido Market either, it is serve you only! Everything was limited, cheese plates, deli meats, and only 3-4 choices of fruit....No Peaches, Pears, Grapes. Melon was the choice of the day, served with everything, and one grape per plate!

Must have been a shortage of Grapes in the US because we only got one per plate...geez.

Bananas you had to grab at the beginning of breakfast or you were out of luck! none later.

 

How terrible, it sounds like you didn't like anything on your cruise. I've had one or two things on a cruise that I didn't like but I've never disliked every single thing. Hopefully your next cruise will be better. Thank you for sharing.

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*Miss G* "Live from...." Rare

*Miss G*

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Yes, I think there are times I should probably use that. :')

 

No no! KroozNut inserted text within the body of someone else's post! I finally understand that ... means "I've inserted text within the body of someone else's post." All this time I've been seeing Sail do that, not understanding why. Hahaha

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
Posted
So we just returned from a 11 day cruise on Eurodam. We ate at Pinnacle Grill twice, once at Canneletto

and twice at the MDR. Here is my take on these.

 

First off let me say I do NOT like spicey food, so based on that you can make your own decisions on which one to eat at.

 

Pinnacle Grill we bought the 2 dinner package for this and Canneletto. Of the two the Pinnacle Grill was the better one for food quality.

 

Pinnacle Grill on 1st try was eeeeh...Shrimp Cocktail was just OK...no flavour to the shrimp and they weren't cleaned properly which put me off....don't like to see any black parts on a shrimp Im eating.

Ceasar Salad was next...not enough dressing and not made as good as the one in MDR which is the traditional way to make it with hand made ceasar dressing, this one was bottle dressing....you can tell.

Steak was asked for medium well as I do not like pink in my meat! Came Medium barely, and it was TASTELESS for a steak...I could have sent it back but by then I was aggravated and still hungry didn't even stay for the dessert I was so pissed off.

2nd time we were given very good service even the Manager asked why we left with no explaination? Guess they remembered us? We just made an excuse and said I was not feeling well and had to leave immediately..OK small white lie. This time everything was extremely good and the service impeccable. So have to give it 4 out of 5 for the effort to please.

 

Canneletto...strange menu. You share plates of food between you so you better both like the same thing! The antipasta was yucky...the soup they brought was delicious, the lasagna....they need help to make Italian food...it was the worst Ive ever eaten...I can make better Italian spaghetti/lasagna than this. Fish dish I like but it was barely there, Hubby hated it and left it...so Manager came by and asked how we liked it....after we told him, he brought us another soup because we had expressed our delight in it....Only problem he spiced it with Chili flakes???? *** was that? The first one had none, maybe he thought he'd just spice things up for us but we both couldn't eat it so left it. Didn't go back.

 

MDR Well I guess people like this one....we didn't. Every meal we chose and there were nights we couldn't pick one thing to eat that we liked, was SPICED! The Chef is either Indian or Indonesian and he obviously thinks everyone should eat food with spices in it, because he spiced even the vegetables! I mentioned it several times and was told I could pre-order my food without spice...well how am I going to know what I want days in advance? dumb.

 

Lido Market....was the only place we could eat and that was a hit or a miss over the 11 days too! Same

food was served there as in the MDR but with a few extra dishes. However, again everything was spiced...several nights I could only eat a Cheese Plate for Dinner! Was NOT impressed by HAL food and probably because of other issues we won't cruise with them again.

 

Pizza was passable. Dive IN burgers/hotdogs...Hubby said they were good I don't eat that stuff

 

You will have to get used to not being able to help yourself at the Lido Market either, it is serve you only! Everything was limited, cheese plates, deli meats, and only 3-4 choices of fruit....No Peaches, Pears, Grapes. Melon was the choice of the day, served with everything, and one grape per plate!

Must have been a shortage of Grapes in the US because we only got one per plate...geez.

Bananas you had to grab at the beginning of breakfast or you were out of luck! none later.

 

Oh my heavens!

 

It sounds like you were miserable the whole time.

 

I think you are wise to not sail HAL again if you were that unhappy.

 

If you think HAL's food is spicey, I just have no words. The MDR food is anything but spicey and I have a number of days on HAL, but, food is always subjective. And I have NEVER in all my cruises seen the caesar salad in the PG made with bottled dressing. Methinks you do protest too much. ;)

 

OP - in the Tamarind, while the food can be spicey, you can request no spice, less spice, most spice, etc.

 

so, don't worry about it at all. HAL's food is NEVER spicey. DH would be delighted if it was. That's why there is always sambol for him to add at dinner ;)

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MsSoCalCruiser

MsSoCalCruiser

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OP - in the Tamarind, while the food can be spicey, you can request no spice, less spice, most spice, etc.

 

so, don't worry about it at all. HAL's food is NEVER spicey. DH would be delighted if it was. That's why there is always sambol for him to add at dinner ;)

 

Thank you, Kazu. I will make sure my daughter and I say mild since we both are wimps :')

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KroozNut

KroozNut

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No no! KroozNut inserted text within the body of someone else's post! I finally understand that ... means "I've inserted text within the body of someone else's post." All this time I've been seeing Sail do that, not understanding why. Hahaha

 

Cool... And to be honest, I'm really not sure what I did! Lol.. :o

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*Miss G* "Live from...." Rare

*Miss G*

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How do you mess up lasagna?

 

It was more like moussaka than lasagna. Which is fine if you want, or like, moussaka. The noodles were paste so the texture was like baby food. I believe it was a Chef Rudi dish. But don't quote me on that because I'm not positive. Whoever it was, they need to go back to school. Or supervise the staff making it. Only bad meal I had so 1 out of 15 isn't bad!

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