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Pinnacle Gala Dining Experience

Cruising-along

By Cruising-along,
in Holland America Line

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Cruising-along

Cruising-along

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Has anyone heard of this before?  I was looking at the dining options for our upcoming cruise in April (Noordam April 2) and this was just added within the past few days.  Offered only twice on our 39-day cruise.  Starts with cocktails, 6-course dinner with wine, $120/pp.  I'm assuming there's no Mariner discount on this specialty dinner...

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Cruising-along

Cruising-along

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47 minutes ago, dfish said:

Just noticed that it is available for our cruise as well.   The article says menu information would be available by the end of last  year.   Hmmmm   Let me know how it is.

Thanks Debbie.  I'm hoping to see the menu too, it would be helpful before I decide whether or not to book it.  I was curious if anyone's cruise before ours had it, but maybe not.

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Alberta Quilter

Alberta Quilter

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Not available on our cruise right now. However we do have an Aficionado dinner with Rudi Sodamin. We went to it last year and chose not to attend this year. But the Aficionado dinner is $89 pp, so at $120/pp this must be above and beyond the Aficionado dinner. Btw there is no mariner discount wth the Aficionado dinner either. 

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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10 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

Nobody?

I did find this, apparently it was announced in October (I was on a cruise, so didn't see it).

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/4602/  

 

It sounds to me like this is similar to a cellar master dinner only upgraded?

 

It’s now offered on our cruise too.

 

I think I will wait until I am on board to see if I can look at the menu, wines, etc and know if there are other specialty dining options (like Cellar Master) on the cruise or not.

 

Checking the date it’s offered on our cruise it seems that it is a Gala Night which explains the name of the dinner.

 

 

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Cruising-along

Cruising-along

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Thank you everyone for your thoughts.  I thought others might be curious about it. I'd never heard of it and was hoping others may have or at least be curious as I am.  

 

I agree, it sounds like the cellar master dinner but upgraded.  We'll have a ton of OBC on our next cruise along with prepaid gratuities and beverage package, so this may be something to try.  It will be offered twice on our cruise.  But like Kazu, I'd like to see the menu, wine offerings, and what else may be offered on our cruise.

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

*Miss G*

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This sounds like the David Burke evening we were offered on a cruise last year.  $120/pp in the Pinnacle Grill.  David Burke was in attendance.  At $240 I chose not to attend but I feel some regret for that.  We did attend a dinner with Andy Matsuda on another cruise but it was less expensive and was held in the Tamarind restaurant.  We enjoyed ourselves and Mr. Matsuda was also in attendance.  There was no Mariner discount for either of those dinners.  I would be surprised if the featured chef was not in attendance at that price-point.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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2 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

This sounds like the David Burke evening we were offered on a cruise last year.  $120/pp in the Pinnacle Grill.  David Burke was in attendance.  At $240 I chose not to attend but I feel some regret for that.  We did attend a dinner with Andy Matsuda on another cruise but it was less expensive and was held in the Tamarind restaurant.  We enjoyed ourselves and Mr. Matsuda was also in attendance.  There was no Mariner discount for either of those dinners.  I would be surprised if the featured chef was not in attendance at that price-point.

 

If the featured chef were going to be on board, I would book it now.

But, if it’s being offered on numerous cruises, then I have some doubts.

Although, it might explain the timing on our cruise.  We’re doing a Transatlantic and instead of it being on a Gala night (or another night) with 8 days at sea it is instead on the only seas day between two very busy port days.

 

I might call HAL and see if I can find out.  If I do find out anything of value, I’ll certainly post.  I can’t imagine it would be sold out before we board though.

I wouldn’t expect the Mariner discount since there is no Mariner discount for the Cellar Master.  Thanks for the info Miss G - that’s very helpful.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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17 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

Thank you Kazu, I hope you can get some helpful information.  I have some doubts too because the two times it's offered on our cruise are sea days (first one between NZ and Australia) and the second one on our last night between Hawaii and Victoria.  24 days apart. 

 

I did call and spoke to Shawn who knows no more than what is on the website.

 

He said the information is still filtering down so perhaps calling later might yield results, I’m not sure.

I’ll just wait until I am onboard I think and check it out and ask questions.  I suspect we would go (especially if there is no Cellar Master) but I think that will be the 3rd Gala night which is usually quite nice.  Once on board, we’ll know how good the MDR is and can take it from there.

 

Definitely without more info, I’m not pre booking.

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taxmantoo

taxmantoo

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Pretty disappointing wine selection for such a nice menu.  All wines are in the $20-$25 range.  

Wonder if we could bring our own, like we do for most meals ?  :classic_biggrin:  Gala night should not be a step down!

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tunafish

tunafish

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9 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

Pretty disappointing wine selection for such a nice menu.  All wines are in the $20-$25 range.  

Wonder if we could bring our own, like we do for most meals ?  :classic_biggrin:  Gala night should not be a step down!

I do not see anything on the menu worthy $120 either. would like to see at least an oz of caviar for this price, but anyting "with" caviar is usually 10 eggs or so. Also... all the ingredients from the typical PG menu. beef, halibut, lobster

 

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Cruising-along

Cruising-along

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37 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

Pretty disappointing wine selection for such a nice menu.  All wines are in the $20-$25 range.  

Wonder if we could bring our own, like we do for most meals ?  :classic_biggrin:  Gala night should not be a step down!

I wondered the same.  Didn't someone recently post that they got the Cellar Dinner minus the wine? 

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